63 / 504
Grounds
ofjudging
mens fpirituall
condition.
C'n
PA. 4tto4.1.
no
comparifon
to
be instituted between
the
obedience and flukes
of
Righte-
7
oufnes in
others,whereby
a
believer makes
a
judgement
of
them, and
that
in
himfelfe from whence
the
teftimony mentioned
doth
flow
:
that of
other
men
being
their
vifibly prathicall converfation, his
being
the
hidden habituall
frame
of
heart and
fpirit
in
his
waies
and
a&ings;
fo
that, though
through the
fallings
of
them, he thould
be
occafioned
to
queflion
his
own faith,as
to triad
and examinatian;yet nothing
can
thence
arife
fufficient
to
inforce him
to let
goe even
that part
of
his
comfort,
which
Howes
from
the
weakefi
witneffe,
and
one
of
the
loweft
vcsyces
of
all his
ftore. Hee
eyes
others without doores,
but
himfelf
within.
Fourthly,
whereas
r
iahñ
3.7.
Little children
let
no
man
deceive you, he
that
4. rod
clothrighteoufraefé
is righteous,
is
produced,
/and
two
things argued from
thence, Firft,
that the
caveat (be not
deceived)
plainly intimates, that
trae be-
lievers
may
very
pojbly
be
deceived
in
the eflimate
of
a righteous man, and
fe-
condly
that
this
is'poken
of
a
man
judging
himfelfe ,
and
that
emphatically
and
exclufively,
he
and
he only is
to
be
judged
a righteous man. I fay,
I. That
though I grant the
firft,
that
we may very eafly
be
and often are
At
deceived
ha
our eftimate
of
righteous perlons, yet
I
doe
not
conceive
the
infe-
rence
to
be
inforced from
that
expreffion,(
let
no
man
deceive you
)
the
Holy
Ghoft
ufing
it
frequently,
or what
is
equivalent
thereunto
,
not
fo
much
to
caution men in
a
dubious
thing,
wherein poffibly they may
be
miftaken,
as
in
a
way
of
deteftation, fcorne,andrejection
ofwhat
is
oppofite
to that
which
he
is
urging upon
his Saints,which
he preflèth
as
a
thing
of
the
greateft evidence
and
cleerneffe
, as I
Cor: 6.
9.
chap:
s
5.32. Gal:
6.7. neither
is
any
thing
more
intended
in this expreffion
of
the
Apo(tle,
then
in
that
of
r Cor:
6.g.
be
not
deceived, no unrighteous
perfon'hall inherit the
Kingdome
of
heaven: fo
here,
no
perfon
not
giving himfelfe up
to
the
purfuit ofrighteoufneffe
in
the
Gene-
rail
drift
and
fcope
of
his
life, (cafes
extraordinary and particular
a
&s,
being
alway in fuch rules
excepted)
is,
or
is
to
be accounted
a
righteous
man.
Secondly alfo
it
may be
granted, (though.
the intendment
of
the
place
leads us
another
way)that
this
is
fo
farce
a
Rule offelfejudging,thathe,whofe
frame and
difpofition fuits
it
not ,
or
is
oppofite
unto it,
cannót keep up
the
power or
vigor
daily
other comfortable
evidence
of
his
(late and conditions
But
that
it Ihould
be
fo
farre extended,as
to make
the
only
folid and
pregnant
foundation
that
any
man bath
of
affurance
and
confolation,
to
arife
and
flow
from
the
Teftimony
of
his
own confcience,concerning
his
own
regular walk-
ing
in waies
of
Righteoufnefs, (feeing perlons
that
walk in
darknefs
and
have
no
light
are called
to
flay
themfelves on God,
Ifai
:50.ro. and
when both
heart
da
flefh
faileth,yet
God
is
the firength
of
the
heart,Pf
al
:737-6.
)is no
way cleare in
it
felfe,
and
is
not by
M.
Goodwin
afforded the
lean contribution
of
affi_
fiance for its confirmation.
Toreturne
then
from this
digrefiion
:
a rempta_
tion we
acknowledge,
and
an
offence
to
be
given
to
the
Saints
by
the
Apo,-
ftafie
of
Profeffors:
yet not
fuch,
but
as
the Lordbath
in
Scripture made
gra-
cious
provifion againft
their
fuffering by
it,
or
under
it,
fo
it
leaves them
not
without
fufficient
teftimony
of
their
own acceptance
with God, and
fincerity
in
walking
with him. This then
was
the hate
of
old, thus
it
is
in
the
claies
wherein we live.
As
the
prallice
and
wales
of
fome, fo
the
principles
and
teachings
of
others,
4.
t
have
an eminent
tendance unto
offence
and fcandall. Indeed ever
fence
the
Reformation,
there
havebeen fome indeavours againft this
truth to
corrode
it,
and
corrupt it:
The
firft
ferious
attempt
for
the
totali
intercfon
ofthe
faith of
true
believers,though
not
a
final
excifion
of
the
faith
of
dell
believers,
was made by one in
the other Univerfity, who
being
a
man
of
a
debauched
and