230 / 504
C
A
p.Vl I.4,az
The
Spirit
beftowed on,&abiding
with
Believers.
174
ofthe
New
Teftament.
Now
in
this way he would have
us
aske
the
Holy
Spirit at the
hand
of
God.
Luke
11.9,
r 3.
Aske
him,
that
is,as
to
a clearer,
full-
er Adminiftration
of
him
unto
us: for he
is
antecedently
bellowed;
as
to
the
working
of
Faith, and Regeneration,
even
unto
this
Application, for
without
him we
cannot
once aske
in
the
name
of
Chrift; for none
can call Jefus
Lord
4.
22.
or doe
any
thing
in
hisnane,
but
by
the
fpirit
of
God: This
I fay
then;
He,
is
Eph. r:4.
whom we
are
bleffed
with all fpirituall
bleffings
,
.bath
procured
the
Holy
Spirit for
us,
and through
his
Interceffìon he
is
beflowed on
us.
Now
where
2
cor.3. i7.
the
Spirit
of
God
is,
there
is
liberty from
finne, peace
and
acceptance
with
God.
But
it
may
be obje&ed,although
this Spirit
be thus beflowed on
Belie
-
Hom.8.14.
vers, yet may they not call him
off, fo
that
his
abode with
them
may be but
fora
feafon,
and their Glory not befafegarded
in
the
Iffue,but
their
condem-
nation increafed by their receiving
of
him
?
This being the only thing,
wherein this proofe
of
Believers
abiding with God
,
feemes
lyable
to
ex-
ception,
I fhall
give
a
triple Teftimony
of
the certainty
of
the
continuance
of
the
Holy Spirit with
them,
on whom he
is
bellowed,
that
in
the mouth
of
two
or
three
witneffes this
Truth
may
be
eflablifhed: and
they are no
meane
ones neither,
but the
three
that
beare witneffe
in
Heaven, the
Father, theSonn,
and
the
Holy
Ghofl.
4
23.
The
firfl
you
have
Ifa.
59. 21: Ent
as
Or
me,
this
is
my
Covenant
with
them
faith
the Lord,
my
Spirit
which is
upon
thee,
and
my
words which
I
have
put
in
thy
mouth,
(hall
not depart out
of
thy month, nor out
of
the
mouth
of
Seed, nor
out
ofthe
mouth
of
thy seeds
seed,
faith
the Lord
hence
forth
and
for
ever.
That
which
theLord
declares here
to
theChurch,he
calls
hisCovenat.Now
whereas
in
a
Covenant
there
are
two things,
1.
What
is
flipulated,
on
the
part
ofhim
that
makes
the Covenant.
2.What
of
them
is
required,with
whom
it
is
made,
(which
in
themfeives, are
diftincl,
though
in
the
Covenant
of
Grace,
God
bath
promifed,
that
he
will
worke
in
us, what
he
requires
of
us) that
here
mentioned
is
clearely an Evidence
of
fomewhat
of
the firftkinde,
ofthat
Goodneffe,
that
in
the Covenant, doth promifeto beftow;Though
per
-
haps words
of
thefuture
tent
may fometimes have an
Imperative
Conftru-
&ion, where
the import
ofthe
relidue
ofthe
words inforces
fuch
a
fence,
yet
becaufe
it may
be fo,
in
fome place,
therefore
it
is
fo in
this
place, and that
therefore thefe words are not
a
Promife,
that the
Spirit (hall
not depart, but
an
injun&ion
to take
,care ,
that
it do not depart (as Mr
Goodwin
will
have
it)
is
a
weakeinference.
And
the
dole
of
the words
will by
no
meanes
be
wre-
fled
to
fpeake fignificantly
to
any fuch
purpofe,
saith
the Lord,henceforth
even
for
ever;
which plainely make
the words
Proiniffory,&
an ingagement
of
God
himfelfe
to them, to
whom they are fpoken:
So,
that
the interpretationof
thefe words, this
is
my
Covenant with them,
by Mr
Goodwin
Cap.
I.
Seel-
4.
rag.
227.
7hat
covenant
of
perpetual! Grace
and
Mercy,
which
I
made
with
them
requireth this
of
them,
in
order
to
the performance
of
it
on
my
part,
that
they
quench not my
spirit,which
I
have put into
them,doth
plainly
invert the intend-
ment of
God
in
them,
and fubflitute
,
what
is tacitely
required
as
our duty,
into the roome
of
what
is
exprefsly proniifed
as his
Grace. Obferve
then
Secondly,
that,
as
no Promife
of
God
given
to
Believers,
is
eitherapt of
átfelfe
to
ingenerate, or
by
them to be
received
under
fuch
an abfurd
noti-
on,
of
being made good,whatfoever
their deportment
be, it being
the
nature
of
all
the
P
romifes
of
God
to,
frame and
mould them, to
whom they are
gi-
ven
into
all Holineffe and
purity
(2
Cor.7.
s.)
and
this
in
efpeciall
is a
Pro-
mile
ofthe
principali Author and caufe
all Holinefle,
to
be continued
to
them, and
is
impoffìbie
to
beapprehended under
any
fuch foolith
fuppofall,
fo