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a
Temptation
to Believers.
CAr.t.
ß:8.
grace,
in
the
hearts
of
believers, with fuch
fhines
of
Gods countenance upon
5
them ,
as,
they ufually enjoy. Let thefe
be interrupted, or turned
aude,and
there
is
not the
leafs
blaft
or breath,
that
proceeds
from the mouth
of
the
weakeft enemy,
they
have
to
deale
withall,but
is fufficient
to
calf
there dower
Pa,
30,6,7.
from
the
excellency
of
their
joy and confolation.
The
evidence
of
this
truth
is
fuch,
that
M.
Goodwin
is
forced to
fay *
Farre
4 g,
be
itfrom
me to deny
but
that
a man
may very pollibly
attaine
unto
a
very
s`Irong
*
veri
{çdelü
and
potent afsurance,
and
that
upon
grounds
every
way
firfciently
warrantable
uti
pro
tempo
-
and
good,
that
his
faith
is
found andfàving: Cap:9.
Sea:
9.
but unto
this con
áa
i onfo-
ceffion: he puts in
a
double
exception,
euctæfuæ
sere-
Firft,
That there
is
not
one
true
believer
o
fan
hundred,
yea
of
many thoufands,
fe
peZT
who
bath
any
filch
afsurance
of
his
Faith
as is
built
upon
fàlid
and pregnaní
four-
p7
defa[ute
fa-
dations.
Júì 6-
de
I muff
(by
his
leave)
enter, my diffent
hereunto,
and
as
we have
the
liber-
er,
ipfu
be_
ty
of
our refpediue
apprehenfions fo
neither
the
one,
nor
the other
prove
a-
nevoieutiii
pee
ny
thing
in
the caufe.Setting
afide caufes
of
defertion,
great temptations, and
céret,
ed
po-
tryalls, I
hope
through the
riches
of
the
grace, and
tendernefs
of
the
love
of
tell
&
deter.
their father,the
condition
is
otherwife then
is
apprehended
by
M.
Goodwin
Aft.
18z
de
Synod.
d:
p.
with the
generality
of
the
Family
of
God.
The
reafons given by him
of
his
fenc.Thef.
7:
thoughts
to
the contrary, doe not
fway
me from my hopes,
or
byas my
for-
mer
apprehenfions in theleaff5 His reafons
are;
Firft,
Becaufe
though the teflimony
o
f
a mans
heart
and
confcience
touching his
1,
uprightnefs towards God,er the
foundnefs
of
any
thing
that
is
Paving
in
him,be
comfortable
and
chearing,yet
feldome
are
thefe
properties
built
upon
filchfounda-
tions
which are
fufficient
to
warrant
them;
at
leafs upon
fuch
whofe
fufftciency
in
that
kind
is
duel,
apprehended.For
the teftimony
of
the
confcience
of
a man touch-
ing
any
thing
which is
fpiritually
and
excellentlygood,
is
of
no
fuch
value,
unleffe
it
be
firli
excellently
inlightned with
the
knowledge;
na
ture,proprieties
and
con-
dition
o
f
that
on
which
it
tefiifieth;
and (Secóndly)
be
in
t
he
athuallcontemplati-
on
conf
deration,
or
remembrance
of
what
he
knoweth
in this
kind.Now very few
believers in
the
World
come up
to
this height
and
degree.
Firlt,
There
is
in this reafon couched a
fappofition
which
iftrue,
would be
An[
i,
farremore effeûuall fo
fhake
the
confidence
and Refolution
of
beleevers,
then
the
moft ferions confideration
of
the
Apoftafies
of
all prófeffors,
that
e-
ver
fell
from
the
glory
of
their
profefIion from
the
beginning
of
the
W
orld5
and
that is,that there
is
no
other pregnantfoundation
of
Afs
urance,
but
the
tefii=
mony
of
a mans
own
heart;
and
confcience, touching
his
uprightnef
towards God,
and
there
re before any
can
attaine
that
afurance
Upon
abiding foundations
they
mine
excellently
inlïghtened
in
the
nature,
properties,andcondition
of
that
which
their
confciences
teflifie unto5(as
true
faith
and
uprightneffe
of
heart)and
be
cleare
in
the difputes
and Rue/bons
about them, being
in
theaCtuall
contempla-
tion
of
themwhen
they
give
their
Tef
imony.
Í
no way
doubt but
many thou -
farids
of
believers, whofe apprehenfions
of
the
nature,
properties,
and
conditi-
s
G6r.i.Zó:
ans
of
things,
as
they are
in
themfelves, are low, weake, and confufed
5
yet
Jam:a.
5
hauing received the
Spirit
of
Adoption
bearing
witnefs
with their
fpirits
, that
Á0m
8.,
6.
they
are the Children
of
God,
and
having the
7eflimony
in
themfelves,
hive
been
,
Joh.
5. non
taken up into
as
high a degree
of
comforting
and
cheering affurance,
and
that
Upon
the
moft infallible foundation Imaginable,
(for
the
fpirit
witnefeth
be= J0h.5.6:
caufe
the
fpirit
is
truth)
as
ever,
the
moft
feraphically
_illuminated perfon
in
the World, attained
unto.
Yea
in
the
very graces them
felves
of
Faith
and
uprightnefie
of
heart, there
is filch
a
feale
and
ftamp imprefling
the
image
of
k3od
upon
the
foule,
as
without any
reflex a
&,
or
aftuall contemplation
of
thole
graces
themfelves,have
an influence
into the
effablifhme
sit
of
the
foules
B
3
of