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The
Promife
ofthe
Holy
Spirit
notConditionall.
CAP.V11.4:i4,
fo alfo
that
this Promife
is
abfolute,¬ Conditionall,can neither
be
colou-
rably gainefaid,nor
the contrary
probably confirmed;
fo-
that the
ftrength
of
Mr
(
aodwins
tw0
next Exceptions.
1.
That
this
cannot
be
a Promife
of
Perfe-
veranee
unto
true Believers, whatfoever
their
deportment
fhall
be.
And
2.
That
it
muß
be
Conditional!
(which
cannot,as
he
faith,
be
reafonably
gainefaid)
The
firft
of them
not
looking towards
our
perfwafion in
this thing:
And
the
latter
being not
in
the
leaft
put upon
the
proofe,
is
but
very
weakenetfe;
For
what
Condition
(I pray)of
this Promife
can
be
imagined
?
God
promifcs
his
Spirit
of
Holineffe,
that
fan
&ifyeth
us,and
worketh
all holineffe in
us;and
therewith
the
holy
Word
ofthe
Gofpell,which
is
alto
San&ifying
.
John
17./7.
that they
(hall abide with
us
for ever:It
is
the
continuance
of
the
pretence
of
God with
us
for our
Holineffe,
that
is
here promifed. On what condition
{hall
this
be
fuppofed
to
depend
?
Is
it
in cafe
we continue Holy
?
Who
feeth
not
the
vanity
of
interferting
any condition?
I
will
be with
you by my
Spi-,
rit,
and
Word
for ever,
to
keep you Holy,
provided you continueHoly.
3.
Thirdly, It
is
a
hard
talke
to
feeke
to
fqueeze
a
condition
out
of
thofe
gracious words
in
the
beginning
of
the
verte,
As
for
mee
:
which Junius
ren-
ders
(de
me
autem);words wherein God gracioufly
reveals himfelfe,as
the
foie
Author
of
this
great
blefïing
promifed, it being
a
worke
of
his
owne,which he
accomplitheth upon
the account
of
his
free Grace.
And
therefore God
fig-
nally placed
that
expreflion
in
the entrance
of
the
Promife
,
that
we may
know,whom
to
look
unto
for
the
fulfilling
thereof; And
it
is
yet
a
farther cor-
ruption,
to
fay,
that
as
for
me, is
as
much, as, for
my
part,
I
will deale bountifully
with
them, provided
that
they
doe
fo
&
fo,
what
I.
require
from
them ,
which
is
Mr
Goodwins
Interpretation
of
the
words; for
of
this fuppofition
there
is
not
one word
in
the
Text,
as
incumbent on
them,to
whom this Promife
is
made,
in contradìftin
&ion
to
what God here
promifeth;
yea he
promifeth
them,at
leaft
in
the root and principali, whatfoever
is
required
of
them:
Let it
be,
that
as
for
mee,
is,
as
for
my
part
I
will doe,
what
here
is
promifed
:
and
there
is
an end
of
this
debate.
4.
The
Perfons,to whom
this
Promife
is
made, are called
thee,
and
thy
Seed,
that
is
all thofe,
and only thofe, with whom God
is
a
God
in
Covenant.
God
here minds them
of
the
firft
making
of
this Covenant with
Abraham,
and
his Seed
Gen.I7.7. Now
who are this
Seed
of
Abraham?
Not
all
his
car-
nal]
Pofterity,not the
whole
Nation
of
the Jewes;
which
is
the
laft fubterfttge
invented
by
our Author
,
to
evade
the
force
of
our Argument
from this
place.
Our
Saviour not only denies,
but
alto proves
by many
Arguments,that
the
Pharifees
and their
followers, who doubtleffe were
of
the Nation
of
the
Jewes, and
the
carnallfeed
of
Abraham,
were not
the Children
of'
Abraham
in
this fence,
nor
his
Seed,
but
rather
the
Devills,
loh:8.
39,4o,41. And the Apo-
file difputes and argues
the
fame cafe,
Rom.
4.9,10,11.
and proves undenia-
bly,
that
it
is
Believers
only, whether
Circumcifed
or
Vncircumcifed,
whether
yewes
or
Gentiles,that
are
this Seed
of
Abraham,
and
Heires
of
the
Promife.So
plainly,
Gal.
3.7.
Know
ye
therefore
that
they,
which are
ofthe
Faith
are
Blefed
with
Faithfall
Abraham,
and then concludes againe
as
the
¡flue
of
his
debate,
v.9.So then
they
which
be
ofFaith,
are Blefed
with
Faith
fall
Abraham: And
this
is
the
fumme
of
what Mr
Goodwin
obje
&s
unto
this
Teftimony
in
our
cafe,
to
the
perpetu
ali
abiding
of
the Spirit with the
Saints.
The
force
then
of
this
Promife,&
the
influence
it bath into
the
eflabliffiment
of
the
Truth we
have
in
hand,
will
not
be
evaded and
turned
afide,
by
affir-
ming that
it
is
made to
the
whole
people
o
fifrael
:for befides,that theSpirit
of
the
Lord
could
not be
Paid
to
be
in
the ungodly
reje&ed
part
of
them, nor
his
Word
in
their mouth, there
is
not the leaft
in
Text
or Context, to intimate
fuck
17.5
4.24