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223
The
lntércetlion
ofChriíl,
as
affigned
byMr
G,
difproved.CAP.I
X.4:
to,
Secondly,
Were
it
granted,
that part
o
f
chrifi's
InterceJfzon
for,
his
Saints,
is,
that
their Faith
may
never
faile,yet
the
intent
thereofwoidd
not
neceffarily,
nor
indeedwith
any
competent
probability,
be
this,
that
no
finne
nor wickednefe
what-
foever,
that
{hall, or
can
be
perpetrated
by
them, might
caufe
them
to
make
fhip.
wracke
of
their
Faith,
but
rather that
God
wouldgracioufly
vouch
fife
fuch
meanes
and
fuch
a prefence
of
his
Spirit
unto them,,
as
whereby they may
be
richly
inabled,
to
keepe
themfelves
in Faith
6,
Good
confcience,
to the
end.
Anf.
Whether
prejudiced men will
grant it or
no
it
is
clearly
proved,
ifthe
words
of
Chrift themfelves may be taken for
proofe, that
he
Inter-
cedes for
his Saints,.
that
their Faith
may not
farle
,
and
that,
notwithftanding
the
interpofition
of
any fuch
firmes,
as
they can
or
may
(fuppofitis
fiepponendir;
amongft which
is
his Intercefsion)fall
into
So
he tells
Peter
upon
the
predicti-
on
of
his
dreadful]
fall,
that
nevertheleffe
he
had
prayed
for him
that
hi
r
Faith
fhould not
file;
That they
may
fall
into
fuch finnes,
and
contit;ue
in fuch
, as
are
inconfftent with their
Acceptation with God
,
according
to
the
termes
and
tenor
of
the
new
Covenant,
is
that
,
which we
have been difproving
all
this
while; and which
our
Author ought
not,
As
he
loth
in all his
Reafonings,
tofuppofe; In the not
failing
or dying
of
their Faith,
in
their.prefervation
therein,
is
included
their
deliverance from
the perpetr ation
of
the
finites
in-
timated,
or
at
leaft from fuch
a
manner
of
committing
,Any
finne
,
as
fhould
utterly
feparate them from God.
It
is
the
continuance
of
a.
living
Faith,
that
Chrift
prayes
for; and where
that
is,
there
will be workes
of
new
Obedience:
and there
will
be the work
of
that
Faith,
in
purifying
theHeart
,
and
morti-
fying
of
the
finnes
fuppofed.
Farther,
the
way
here prefcribed
and limited
to
the
Lord Jefus, how he
{hall
intercede
for
his
, and for
what, viz. not
for
aetuall
Perfeverance, and
continuance in
the Faith ,
to
be wrought
in
them
by the
exceeding greatneffe
of
the
power
ofGod,
but for
meanes
to
finable
them
-to
preferve
themfelves,
we
are perfwaded he walkes not
in
5
And
that
much
uponthis
account,
that the
way,
whereby God
begins
and carries on
Believers, in
the
way
of
Faith and
Obedience,
is
not by fuch
a fupply
of
meanes, as leaves
them
to
themfelves
to
work and
effe&
the
things,for
which
they are
fo
fupplied;
but
he
himfelfe worker
in
them
to
will
and
to
doe
of
his
own
good
pleafure,
fulfilling
in themall the good
pleafure
of
his
Goodneffe,
and
the
worke
ofFaith
wit
power,
giving them all
their
fufficiency,andpreferving them
by
his
therein
power,
,
to
follow
through
u
h
Faith
a
fupplof
ineanes,
as
leaves
the produ
&ion
of
them,
to
the
power
of
the
wills
of
men,
fo
that
after God
hath done,
all
that
on
his
part
is
to
be
done or
performed,that
is,quickned them being
dead, giving them
new
Heartsô'Spirtis,(hone into their mindes,to give them the
knowledge
o
f
hi
rGlo-
ry
in
the
Face
of
his
Bonne
&c.it
is
yet uncertaine,whether ever Faith
(hall
be
wrought
in
their
Souks
or
no,
or rather
,
whether men
fo
fupplied
with
means
will Believe
and Perfevere, or
no
,
is
an Affertion,
that
will
never be
proved to Eternity; nor
whileft
Truth
is
Truth
,
it
is
capable
of
proofe
:
The
granting
of
fuch meaner, andfuch
a
prefence
of
his
Spirit,
that
men
may
be
inabled
to
warke
for themfelves,
is
an expreffion exceedingly unfuited to
all
the Promi-
fes
of
the
new
Covenant
;
what ever either
of
the
Spirit
of
Grace,
or the
meanes
of
it,
is
given
out to
Believers,
Chrift intercedes
that
his
Father
would
keepe
them,
not
that
they
fhould keepe themfelves: he
was
too
well
acquain-
ted
with
our frame, and our temptations ,
to
delire we might
be
our
own
keepers; God forbid we fhould beleft
to our
owne prefervation,
to
the
hand
of
our owne
counfell and power,
though
compaffed with all
the fup-
pofed
fufiicient
meanes:
that may
be;
not
eventually
effeduall5
God creates
a
defence upon
our
Glory,
and
doth not
leave
it
to
our
owne'fafegarding.
Our
Salvation
¢:
I
o.