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CA P. V.S:
I
o,
The
vanity
of
impof ngConditions
on
God's
Promifes.
120 follow
him
,
obey
him,
live
unto
him , abide with
him
,
becaufe he
Lover
us
with
an
Everlafting Love.
2.
That
thefe
Promifes
of
God doe not properly, and
as
to
their
origi-
nall rife ,depend
on
any
conditions
in
Believers,
or
by them
to
be
fulfilled,but
are the Fountains , and
Springs
of
all
conditions whatever
, that
are
required to be in them ,
or
expe&ed from them
s
though the
Grace
and Obedience
of
Believers
are often mentioned
in
them
, as
the
means,
whereby they are carried on according
to the appointment
of
God
,
unto
the
enjoyment
(
or
continued
in
it) of
what
is
promifed. This one
Confideration,
that
there
is
in
very many
of
thefe
Promifes,
an
expreffe
non
obffante, or
a
not-
withftanding the
want
of
any fuch
condition,
as
might
feeme
to
be
at
the
bottome,
and
to
be the
occafion.
of
any fuch Promife,
or
Engagement
of
the
Grace
of
God,
is
fufficient
to
give light and evidence
to
this
Afertion.
If
the
Lord
fayeth exprelly,
that
he
will
doe
fo with
men
,
though it
be not fo
with
them,
his
doing
of
that
thing
cannot depend
on any
fuck thing
in
them
,
as
he
faith, notwithftanding the want
of
it,
hewill doe it.
Take
one
initance, Ifai.
54.
v.9,10.
In
a little
wrath have
I
hid
my
face
from
thee,
for
a
morent,but
with
everlafting
kindneffe
will
I
have
mercy on
thee,
faith
the
Lord
thy
Redeemer
:
for
this
is as the
waters ofNoah unto
mees
whereas
I
have fworne,
that
the
waters
of
Noah
(hall
no more cover
the Earth,fo have
1
fworne
that
I
will not
be
wroth
with
thee, nor
rebuke
thee:
for
the mountaines
(hall
depart
,
and the
hills
be
removed,
but
my
kindneffe
(
hall
not
depart
from
thee,
neither Jhall the
Covenant
of
my
peace
be
removed,
faith
the
Lord
that
hath
mercy on
thee.
He will have mercy
on
them with
everlaffing kindneffe
v.8.
Yea,
but
how
if
they walke not worthy
ofit?
Why
yet
thiskindneffe
£hall
not
faile,
faith the Lord
:
for it
is as the
waters
ofNoah:
God
fweareth
that the
waters
of
Noah
fhould
no more cover
the
Earth, and you
fee
the
ftability
of
what he hath
fpoken.
The World
is
now
xeferved for Fire
,
but
drowned, it
(hall
be no more:
my kindneffe
to
thee
(
Taies
God
)
is
fuch,
it
lhall no more
depart
from thee, then thofe
waters
thall
return
againe upon
the Earth. Neither
is
this
all, wherein he compareth
his
kindneffe
to the
waters
of
Noah
,
but
in this
alfo,
in
that
in
the
Promife of
drowning
the
World
no more, there
was an expreffe
non
ob
f/ante for the
finnes
ofinen.Gen.8.2r.The Lordfaidin
his
heart,
I
will
not againe
curfe the
ground
any more
for
mans
fake,for
the imagination
of
mans
heart
is
evillfrom
his
youth.
Though
men grow full
of
wickednefle and violence,
as
before
the
Flood they were,
yetfaith the Lord,
theWorldfhall
be
drowned
no more.
And
in this
doth the
Promife
of
kindneffe
hold proportion with
that
of
the
waters
of
Noah:
there
is
an
expreffe reliefe in
it,agaitift
the
finnes
and
failings
of
them, to
whom it
is
made,
viz:
fuch
as
he
will
permit them
to
fall
into,
whileft he certainly preferves them from all fuch,as are
inconfiftent with
his
Love
and Favour, according
to
the tenor
of
the Covenant
of
Grace
:
and
therefore
it
depends
not
on any thing
in
them
,
being
made
with a
provifo
for
any fuch defeat,
as
in
them
may
be imagined.
.
3.
To
affirme
that
thefe Promifes
of
God's abiding
with
us
to the
end do
depend on
any condition,that may
be
uncertain
in its
event, by
us
to be ful-
filled,
as
to
their
Accomplifhment
,
doth
wholly
enervate
and make them
void
in refpe&
of
the
maine
end,
for which
they
were
given us
of
God
.
That
one
chiefe
end
of
them
is
to
give
the
Saints
confolation in every condition,
in
all
the
ftraights, tryalls,and temptations, which they are
to
undergoe
, or
may
be
called
to,
is
evident. When
Iofhua
was
entring
upon
the great
work
offubduing
the
Canaanites,
and
letting the Tabernacle,
and people
of
God
in
their
appointed Inheritance, wherein he
was
to
paffe
through
innumerable
difficulties,
tryalls, and
prefeures,
God
gives
him
that
word
of
Promife,
I
will
never