495 / 504
Arg.
from the
text
to prove the perlons defcribed
to
be true
Believ,C.(VII.
thefe
we
fay
were never
true
Believers:
a
fmall
matter;
will
ferve
to
make a
4.
ii
man a
true
Believer,
if
thefe are
fuch.
What
tendency thisDoetrine
may
have
to
lull
men
afleepe
in
fecurity,when chrifl
is
not
in
them
of
a
truth,may
eafily
appeare,
&
be judged:
if
men who
are
diftinguifhed from
other
Believers,
by
fuch fignall
differences
as
thefe here
are,
may
yet
paffe
for
true
Believers,
Juttifyed,
San
&ifyed,
Adopted
ones,
folvi
mortales curas,
the
way
to Heaven
is
layed open
to
thoufands, who I feare will never come
to
the end
of
the
journey.
What
remaines
of
M.G's Difcourfe on this text,is fpent
in anfwering fome
44
obje
&ions
which
are made againít
his
interpretation
of
the
places.
it growes
now
late, and this talke
growes fo heavy
on
my hand,,
that
I
cannot
fatisfye
my
felfe
in
the repetition
of
any
thing
fpoken before,
.
or delivered,
which
would
neceffarily enforce
a
particular conftderationof what
M. G.
here
in
-
fïfts
on,let
him
at
his
leifureAnfwer this
oneArgument and
I fhall
trouble
him
no farther inthis
matter.
That
Faith
which
bath neither
root
nor
fruit,
neitherfound heart,
nor
good
life,
that
by
and
by,
readily
and eatly
yeelds
upon
Temptation
to a
tatail
do
fetlion,
not true Paving,
juflifyingFaith.
The
root
of
Faith
taken
fpiritually
,
is
the
habit of it
in
the
hearts
a
4pirituall living habit
,
which
if
it
reticle
not
in
the
heart,
all
affent
whatever
,
wants the nature
of
Faith ,
true
and laving
;
the
W
fruits
of
Faith, are good orkes, and new Obedience;
that Faith
which
bath
not Workes,
James
tells you,
is
dead; dead and
living Faith
doubtletlè
differ,
fpecifically.
Againe
Faith purifieth the
heart,
and
when
a
heart
is
wholly
pol-
luted, corrupted, naught
and
felfe,
there.dwelles no Faith
in
that
heart ; it
is
impofftble
it fhould be
in a
heart;
and
not at
leafs radically
and fundamentally
purify
it: farther
Mr
Goodwin
hath
told
us,
that true
Believers
are
fo
fortified
againft Apoftafy,
that
they are in only
a
pojfìbility,in
nor
probability,
nor great
danger
of total'
Apoftafy:
and therefore they
who
piefently,
and readily fall
away, cannot be
ofthofe,
who are
fcarfe
in
any
danger
of
fo
doing, upon any
account, whatever
:
but
that
the
faith here
mentioned, path neither root, nor
fruit,
good
heart to
dwell
in, nor good
life
attending
it,
but
inftautly
upon
triall
and
temptation,
vanifheth
to
nothing,
we
are taught
in
the
text it fè'fe:
therefore
the
Faith here mentioned,
is
not true
no
Paving
Faith.
That
it
bath
no root
is
exprefsly
affirmed.
V.21.
and
all
the
refl
of
the qualitycs mentioned
are
evidenced from
the
oppofition wherein they, who are thefe
Believers,
are
fet
unto true
Believers ,
they
receive
the
Word
in good
and
honeft
hearts,
they bring forth
fruit
with
patience,
they
endure
in
the time
of
tryall; like
the
houfe
built on theRock,when the houfe built
on
theSand,frlls
to
the ground.
One word more
with
thiswitneffe before
we
part
:
they who
receive
the
Word
in
good and honest hearts, and keepe it, do bring forth fruit with
pa-
tience,
and
fall
not
away
under temptation
:
fo
faith
the teftimony: but
all
true
Believers
recive
the Word
in
good and honest
hearts:
Ergo.
Which
is
the
voyce
of
Mr
Goodwin's
fourth
W
itnefe
in
this caufe.
The
2Pet.4.a8,a9,ao,21,22:is
forced
to
bring
up the
reareoftheTeftimo-
4.45a
ayes by M.G.
produced to
convince
the world
of
the
truth
&
Righteoufneffe
of
his
Do
&rine
of
the
Saints
Apoftacy;ending
his
whole Difeourfe
in
the mire.
Obfervatioas from
theText
or context,from the
words themfelves,or the
co-
herence,to
educe
his
conclufionfrom, he
infifts
not on.Many
excellent words
we have concerning
the
cleareneffe & evidence
of
this.Teftimony,&
the
im
poffibility
of
avoyding what hence
he
concludes,
we want
not,
but
we
have been too
often
inured
to
fuck
a
way
of
proceeding,
to
be now moved
at
it, or
troubled about it, were the
waters deepe. they would not make
filch
a noyfe.
The
ftate and condition
of
men
her;
defcribed
by
the
Apofile
is
fo