67 / 504
Grounds
of
judging mcns fpirituall condition.
C a
p.
j.
4:
Peeing
that
they are no where
Paid
to
be Vnited
to
Chrift, Quicknedand
7u-
it
f
ificd,partakers
of
the
firft Refurreilion,
Accepted'
of
God,
&c. You
doe
al-
moft put an
iffue
to
the
whole
Controverfy,and at
once
overturne
the
¡iron
-
gefl
Forts
of
the oppofers
of
this
truth:fome
men
are truly
ready
to think,that
they never had experience
of
the nature
of
true Faith,or
Holinejfe,who can
fuppofe
it
to
confift
in fuch like common gifts,
and
Graces ,
as
are afcribed
to
this
fort
of
men. Yet,as was
Paid
before,if
thefe may
not
paffe
for Saints,
if
our
Adverfaries
cannot proove
thefe
to
be
true Believers
in
the
ftri&eft
notion
and
fence
of
that terme or
expreflion, aílum
efi,
the
very fubje&
about
which they
contend
is
taken
away:
fuch as
thefe
alone are concerned
in
the
Arguments from Heb:6.4,5.
2
Pet
.2.1.6.c.
yea all
the
Teflimonieswhch
they
produce
for
the
fupportment
oftheir
caufe
from
Antiquity, flow
from hence,
that
their
Witneffes
thought
good
to
allow perlons
Baptized
and
profeffing
the Gofpell,
the
name
of
Believers,
and
bein
g
Regenerate
(that
is, as
to the
participation
ofthe
outward
symbol
thereof
)
whom
yet they exprefielydi-
f
inguifhed from
them,
whole Faith
was
the
Fruit
of
their
Eternall Eleaion,
which
they
Conflantly
maintained ¡hould never
falle.
Of
fuch
as
thefe
M.
Goodwin
tells
us
Cap.
9.
Se&.
7.
pag. 107,108.
That
if
7
¢. 18;
there
be any
perfons under Heaven,
who may upon
fuficient
grounds,
and
juflifia-
ble
by
the
word ofGod,
be
judged
true believers, many
of
the
Aposflates we
fpeake
ó
f
were to
be
judgedfilch,
allthe vifible lineaments
of
a
true
faith,
wherein
their
faces,
as
farce
t
the
eye
of
man is
able to pierce, they
lived
Godly, righteoufly
and
Adde
hos
de
foberly
in
this
prefent
World:
doth
any
trae
believer
a
zealoufly
for
his God?
fo
nun
a
did
they: is
any
true believer
fruitfullin
good workes? they were
fuch: yea
there is
vulgares
dr
found
in
thofe
we now
fpeake of,
not
only
fuch
things
upon
the
fight and
knowledge
;n
beioi,
eA.
whereof in
men,we ought to
judge
them true
believers,*
but evenfuchthings
fur-
ther,
nos
dr
eximi-
which
we
ought
to
reverence
and honour,
as lovely
and Maje/lick chars-
osac
eminen-
lier: of
God
and
holineffe,therefore
it
is
but
too
importune
a
pretence
in
men to
de-
`item.Ac
sy,
ny
them
to
have
been
true believers,
p.267.
If
the
proofe
of
the
firfl
confident
affertion concerning
the grounds
ofjudg-
Anf:
ing
fuch as
afterwards have
apofiatized,
to
be
true
believers, were called
into
queftion, I fuppofe
it
would prove one inftance, how much
eafier
it
is confi-
dently to
a
fjirme
any thing,
then foundly
to
confirme
it. And perhaps
it
will
be
found
to
appeare,
that
in
the
mòft,
if not
all
of
thofe
glorious apoflates
of
whom he fpeakes,
if
they were
throughly traced and
ftri fly
eyed, even
in
Pt t.78.
34,
thofe things
which
are expofed
to
the
view
of
men, for any
feafon
or
conti-
13s,36.
nuance,
fuch
warpings and
flawes
might
be
difcovered
,
in pofitives,
or
nega-
2
b
27
9'to.
rives, as
are incompatible with
truth
of
grace,
But
if
this be
granted,
that
29.
they have all the
vifible lineaments
of
a true
faith
in their faces,
as farre
as
the
Ezek. 33.3
r.
eye
of
man
is
able
to judge,
and thereforemen were bound
to
&eeme them
Titus.
n.,s:
for
true
believers,
doth it therefore follow,
that
they were
fuch
indeed
?
This
at
once inflates all fecret hypocrites
in
the
ancient and prefent Churches
of
Chrift,
into
a
condition
of
fan&ification
and
juftification, which
the
Lord
knowes
they were, and are remote
from.'Shall the
eileeme
of
men tranflate
them
from
death
to
life, and really
alter
the
Efate
wherein they
are?
What
ever
honour then and efleemewe may
give
to
the
charaélers
of
holineffe
and
faith
in(famped,
or
rather
painted
on them
,
as
tis
meet
for unto
judge
well
of
all,
who profefíing
the Lord
Chrift, walke in
our
view in any meafure
finable
to
that
profeffion,
and with
jonadab
to
honour
lehu,in
his fits
and
hafty
paffions
of
zeale,
yet this
(alas)
is
no
evidence
unto
them,
nor
difcovery
of
the
thing.
it
felfe,
that
they are in
a
!late
of
faith
and
holinefhe.
To
fay,
that
we
may
not bebound to judge
any
to be
believers, and Godly,unleffe they are
fo
in-
deed and
in
the thing
it
felfe
,
is
either
to
exalt poore
wormes
into
the
C
2
throne