194 / 504
C®P.VI.g;
tt.
138
Pfd.
125.
at.
i,2.
Explained.
upon
a
heart
any
way
enobled
with
the
ingenuity
ofGrace, to
make
fuita-
ble returne,as farre
as
poffible
it
can,
to
fuch
eminent Mercy and
Goodnefle.
I
profeffe,
I
know not what thofe men thinke the
Saints
of
God to
be,
who
fuppofe them
apt
to
make
conclutions
of
wantonneffe and rehellion,upon
the
account
of the
Stedfaftneffe
of
the
Love and
Kindnefle
of
God
to
them. l
{hall
not
judge
any,
as
to their ftate
and Condition: yet
I
cannot
but
thinke, that
fuch mens
prejudices, and
fulneffe
of
their
own
perfwafions
doe
exceedingly
interpofe
in
their
Spirits,from receiving
that
impreflion
of
this Grace
of
God,
which
in
its
owne nature
it
is
apt
to
gives
or
it would.
be
impoflible
they
fhould
once imagine,
that
of
it
felfe
it
is
apt
to
draw the
Spirits
of
men
into
a
negle&
and contempt
of
God.
2.
As
the
end
ofGod
intended
in giving
that
affurance,
to the
effe&ing
whereofit
is
'exceedingly
operative and
effe&uall ;
foyou have it
Luke s.
74,
75.
This
is
the intendment
ofGod
in
confirming
his
Oath
and Promife
unto
us, that
he may
grant
unto
us,
that
wee
being
delivered
out
of
the hands
of
oar
ene-
mies, might
ferve
him without
feare,in
rigbteoufneffe
and
holineffe
all
the daies
of
our lives.
Now though thefe forementioned, with
many
other
Texts
of
Scripture, are plaine, evident, and
full
to
the
bufineffe we
have
in
hand
;
yet
theAdverfariesofthis
truth
having theirhands
fo
full with
them
that
are com-
monly
urged
,
that
they cannot
attend unto them,I
(hall
not
need
to
fpend
time
in
their vindication from
exceptions,
which none,
that
I know, have
as
yet brought
in
againft
them (though,
upon
their
principles,they might poflì-
bly
be
invented
)
but
fhall
leave
them
to
be mixed with faith
,
according
as
God
by
his
Spirit
fhall
fet
them home upon
the
foules
of
theta,
who doe con-
fider
them.
The
whole
1
25.
Pf.
might
in
the next
place
be
brought
in,
to
give Tefri-
mony
to
the
truth
in
hand.
I fhall
only
take
a
Proofe
from the
firft verfes
of
it.
They
that
Ina
in
the
Lord
'hall
be
as
mount Sion, which cannot
be
removed;
as
the tnountainesround
about 7erufalem,
fo
is the
Lord
round
about his
people
from
hence
forth
even
for
ever.
whereunto
anfwereth
that
ofPf
:37.28.The Lord
loveth
judgment, and
forfal¿eth not
his
Saints,
they
are preferved
for
ever, as
a!í
Deut.
33.3.
Tea he
lotieth
his
people,
all
his
Saints
are
in
thy hand.
In
the
verfes
named,
I
{hall
a
little
fixe
upon two
things conducing to
our
purpofe , which
are evidently contained
in
them.
1.
A
Promife
of
Gods everlafting prefence with
his
Saints, Believers;them
that
trufl
in
him; and
their
tied'
ftneffe
thereupon, they'hall
be
as
mount Sian
that
can never
be
removed,
and
that,
becaufe
the
Lord
is
round about
then,
and
that
for
ever.
2.
An
alIufivecomparifon
of
both
thefe,
both their 'lability,
and Gods
prefence with
them,
given for
the encouragement
of
weake
Believers ,
with
fpeciall
regard to the
dayes wherein
the Promife
was firft
made,
which
a
&u
ally
alfo
belongs
to
them,
on whom
the
ends
of
the World
are
fallen.
The
Pfalmift bids them
(as it were)
lift up
their
eyes,
and look upon mount
Sian,
and the
hills
that
were
round about
Jerufalem,
and tells
them
that God
will
as
certainly,and
affuredly
continue with
them,
and give them
eftabli{hment,
as
thofe
hills
and Mountaines which they beheld
round about,
abide
in
their
places:
fo
that it
(hall
be asimpoflible for
all
the powers
of
Hell
to
remove
them
out,
of
the Favour
ofGod,asfor
a
man
to
pluck up mount
Sion
by
the
rootes,
or
to
overturne the
foundations
of
the
Mountaines,
that
ftand round
about
7eru/alem.
It
is
true, the
HolyGhoft
bath
fpeciall
regard
to
the
oppofi-
tions
and Temptations
that they
were
to undergo° from
men,
but
bears
an
an
equall regard
to all
other
meanes
of
feparating them
from
their God; It
would
be
a
matter
of
fmall confolation
unto them, that
men fhould not pre-
vaile