411 / 504
Regeneration no to
be
reiterated,
C.
XV.
jeCt
fuck,
who by
their
wicked
and
abominable
wages
render
themfeCves
unworthy
355
of
/rich a
Relation.
Anf. Believers
hold not their Relation
to
Chrift
,
upon any worthineffe
that
is
in
themfelves
for it,
but
upon the account meerely
of
Grace, according
to the tenour
of
the Covenant
of
Mercy.
That
they may
fall
into
filch wicked
and
abominable
wales,
as
fhall
render them
altogether
unit-wet
for
that Relati-
on, according
to the
Law
of
it,
is
that
great Argument call'd petitio
principii
which Mr
Goodwin
hath
ufed in this
cafe an
hundred
times. But
the
compa-
rifon
inftituted
in
the
firft
words
is
admirable;
Confeft
it
is,
that
'tis
no dif-
honour
to
Jefus
Chrift;
yea,
that
'tis
his
great honour,
feeing
he came
to
de-
ffroythe
worker
of
the
Devi1G,
t
o
bind
theftrong
man,
to
fpoyle his goods,
to
de-
firoy him
that
had the
power
of
death
and
to
deliver them
who
by
reafon
of
death
were
in
bondage
all their
dayes,to
deliver
his
people
from
their
fines,
wafhing
them in his
blood,
and
to
make them
a peculiar
people
unto
him-
felfe
, zealous
of
good
worker;
that
'tis no
difhonour
(I
fay
)
for
him
to
tranflate them
from
the
power
o
f
Sathan,
into
his
own
ILingdome;
making them
meet for
the
Inheritance
of
the
Saints
in
Light, by redeeming them from
their
vaine Converfation,
to
do
according
as
he
intended,and
to
take
his
own,given
him
of
his
Father, out
of
the hands
of
the
Tyrant
which
held them under
bondage
.
Therefore having undertaken
to
keep
them and preferve them,
having
fo
overcome Sathan in
them, for
them,
by
them,
broken the
head
of
the
Serpent,
'tis
no difhonour for him,
to
lode
ground
given for his
Inheritance;
with
his
fubje
&s,members,
brethren, children,
bone
of
his
bone, and
flefh
ofhis
flefh,
into the hand
of
the
Devill againe; what fort
is
fo
ftrong
as
to hold out
againft
fuch a
battery
?
.If
it
be
no
honour
for Chrift
to
bind Sathan,
and
to
fpoile
his
goods,then
its
no difhonour for him
to
be bound by Sathan and
to
have
his goods fpoiled.
Another
burthen
upon the fhoulders
of
Mr
Goodwin's
Do&rine,whereofhe
c:
44.
labours
to
deliver
it,
is
the
great Abfurdity
of
the
Repetition
of
Regeneration,
whereofthere
is
no mention
at
all in
the
Scripture, and which yet
muff
be
Afferted by him,unleffe
he
will
affirme all
that
fall
away at any time
irrecove-
rably to
perifh; which
howfoever
he waves
at prefent,were with
much
more
probability according
to
his
ovine principles,to
be maintained, than what he
?nfifteth on.
But
this repetition
of
Regeneration
(faith he)
is not
unwárthÿ
Cod, and
for
men
a ble,/fédand
happy
accommodation;
whether it
be
unworthy God
ór no,the
Scrip
-
ture,and the nature
of
the thing
will declare,
The
Accomodation
that
it feemes
to
afford
unto men,being
a
plaine
incoutagement to
finite
at
the
higheft
rate
imaginable,will perhapsnot be found
fo
Happy and
Bleffed
unto
them.
With
great
noife and
clarnour,hath
a
charge beenmanaged againft the
Do&tine
of
the
Saints Perfeverance,upon
the account
of
its giving
fupportment
to
the
thoughtsofinen,
in
and
under the
wayes
of
finne;
whether
Truth
and
Righteoufneffehave been regarded
in
that
charge,
bath
been confidered:
Doubtleffe it
were
a
matter
of
no
difficulty,
dearely to
evince
that
this
Do
-'
urine of
the
Repetition
of
Regeneration,
is
of
the
very fame
tendency
and
im=
port,
which
is
falfly
and injurioufly charged upon
that of
the Perfeverance
of
theSaints;The
worft
that
a
man thinks he
can
do by
any
a&
of
fin,
is
but to
fin
himfelfe
quite
out
of
the favour
of
God,into
a
hate
of
death, and defert
of
wrath.
He
can no
farther injure
his
foule,
than
to
cart
it into the
condition
of
men
by
na,tnre;
Tell
this man,
now,
whom
you fuppofe
to
be under
the
temptation
to
finne,at leaft
thathe
hathin
him
that
great
foo1e
the
flefh
which
longs for
Ble/fed Accommodations
to
its felfe,whileff
it
Makes provifion
to
ful-
fill
its
lofts,
that
if
he fhould
fo
do,
this
is
an
ordinary thing'for
men
to do,
Z z
2
and