289 / 504
Dat.ofPerfof
Sts
its ufefuInes
to promote
Gofpell-Obedience.C.X.§:9,to.
muft blame themfelves,. and
their
owti
wormewoòd
Lufts,
and not the
Do-
223
&rive which they doe receives
It
is
provided for them
that
feare God
,
and
love the
Lord
Jefus Chrift in
fincerity,
not
for doggs,
£wine,
unbelievers ; we
fhall
not
marvaile,
if
they
trample on
this
pearle ,
and
rend
them
that
bring
it,
To
fuch as
thefe
then,
f
fay,
the Do
&rive
of
the Perfeverance
of
the
Saints,or
the
ftability
orunchangeableneflèofthe Love
of
God
unto
Believers
, and
of
theircontinuation
in
Faith and Obedience,
is
full
of
exceeding
effeetuall
mo-
tives and
provocations
unto
Holineffe,
in
all manner
of
Gofpell
Obedience
and holy
converfation,exceedingly
advantaging the
foules
of
men
in
a
courfe
thereof;
Now the
influence it
bath into the
Obedience
of
the
Saints
,
floweth
from it
upon
a
twofold account.
I.
By
removing
all difcouragements
whatfoever,
that
are
apt either
to
4,
turne
them afide from
their
Obedience, or
to
render their Obediencefervi/e,
flavifh,
or unacceptable
to
God:
it fetts
them
(
through
Chrift
)
at
perfeet
li-
berty thereunto.
2.
By
putting unconquerableand
indiffoluble
Obligations
upon them,
to
live
unto God, and the
praife
of
his
glorious.Grace,
and
evidently drawes
them forth
unto the
Obedience require
I.
It
removeth and taketh out
of
t
o
way all
difcouragements
whatfoe-
ver,
all
things which
are apt
to
enterpofe
to the
weakning
of
their
Faith
in
God, or their
Love
to God,
which,
as
bath
been
faid ,
are at the bottome
of
all
Obedience and Holineffe,
that
is
acceptable
to
God
in
Chrift; Now thefe
may
all
be referred
unto two
heads.
r.
Ofperplexing
anxious
fears,
which
are apt
to
impaire and weaken
the
§
in;
Faith
of
the
Saints.
2.
Of
hard
thoughts
of
God
,
which
affault
arid fhake
their
Love.
That
flavifh,
perplexing, troublefome fearer,
are contrary
to the
free and
ingenuous Rate
of
Children,whereunto the
Saints
are admitted, and
(however
fometimes, yea oftentimes,they are
at
the bottome;
and
the
occafi-
on
ofburthenfome,,fervile,
and fuperftitious Obedience) Impairers
of
their
Faith,
I fuppofe,
I
need
not labour to
prove.
That
kind
of
Feare
whereof
we
fpeake,
(of
which
more afterwards)
is
the
greateft
Traytor,
that
lurkes
in
the
foule;
To
feare
the
Lord
and
his Goodnefle,
is
the
foules Keeper;
but
this
fervile
Hof
3 S
perplexing
feare,
is
the
Betrayer
of
it,
in all
ifs
waies,
and
that
which fowres all
its duties
;,
A
thing which the Lord
fets himfelfe againft, in
rebukes,reproofes,
dehortations,
as
much
as
any failing and rnifcartiage
in his
Saints
whatever.
It
is
the
oppofite
of
Faith ;.hence
the
feare
fill ant
unbelieving
are
put toge-
ther
in
their
exclufon
from
the
new 7erufalem. Rev `2o. 8.
it
is
°that,
which
is
dire&
contrary to
that,
which
the
Apoftle advifeth
the
Saints
unto
, Heb:
ro:
19,20,21,22
it
is
that
which mixeth Faith with
iaggering,
Rom: 4. 20. Prayer,
with
wavering,
making it
ineffeetuall:
Lames
.
Let
us
now fuppofe
a
man to have attained
Tome
affurance
of
the Love
o?
God,
and
7uflifted
by
Faith,
to
have
Peace
with
him,(
which,
as
to
his
prefent
rtotois,tf
condition,
the
Adverfaries
of
the Doctrine
of
Perfeverance acknowledge
that
he
may
attaine,
though, how, upoti their
principles, I
ùnderftand not
)
confider
a
little, how
he can fafegard
his
Peace
for
a
moment,
and deliver
himfelfe from
perplexing
thoughts and feares,
renouncing
any
intereft
in
the
ingagement
of
the Love
and Faithfulneflè
ofGod,for
his
prefervation.He
may
fay
within.himfelfe, I am for
the
prefent
in
fome good Rate
and conditi-
on,
but
were
not
'the
Angels
fo,
that
are now Devills
in
Hell
?
weise
not they
in a
farre
better,
and more excellent frate, then I
am
?
and yet they are now
Phut
up
under chaînes
of
everlafiing
darhneffe,
to
the
judgment
of
the
great
day
Adam in
Paradife
had no luft within
him
'to
tempt
and feduce him,no
World
under the
curfe
to intangle
and
provoke him, and yet
being
in that
honour, he
H
h
had