78 / 504
CA
p.
I.
ß:
36.
A
view
of
fume Enemies
of
Sts
Per
(everance..
22
of
that
duty,
which in
the Name
and Authority
of
God,
it
is
to
accòmplifh::
and
in all thefe,
is
dayly enticing, and feducing
the heart to
Folly, conceiving
ram.i.,a,15.
&
bringing forth
finne.
3.
Thirdly,
Its
Power;
the
Apofile
calls
it
a
Law,
a Law
in
his
members,
a
Law offinne,
Róm.7.
21,23.
Such a Law
as
Fights, makes
ware,
and
leads
cap-
tive felling
us under
finne:
not
fuffering
us
to
doe
the good
we
would,forceing
us
to the
evill we
would
not,
drawing
us
off
from
that
we
delight
in.,
bring-
ing
us
under bondage
to
that
which we
abhorre
5
a
powerful!, unmerciful!,
cruell
Tyrant
it is:
oh!
wretchedmen
that
we
are,
verf.
24.
There
is
no Saint
of
Gód,but
in
the inward
man
doth hate
finne,
every
finne
more then
Hell
it
felfe,
knowing the world
of
evills,
that
attend the
leali
rime; vet
is
there not
one
of
them,
but
this powerful!
Tyrant
bath compelled and forced
to
fo
ma-
ny,
as
havemade them
a
burthen
to
their
own
S
oules.
4.
Fourthly: Its
Cunning,
craft,
and
Policy.
It
is
called in Scripture
the
Old
Man,
not
from
the
wealtneffe
of
its Ilrength
,
but
from
the
flrength
óf
its
Heb.3.
i3.
Craft
:Take
heed,faith the Apofile, leaft
any
of
you behardened by the
deceit-
fulneffe offinne.
There
is
abundance
of
deceitfulneffein
it;
being ready,
fit,
and prompt
to
beguile: lying
in
wayt
for
advantages, furni(hed for
all
op-
portunities, and ready
to
clofe
with every
temptation;
yea
the
wayes
of
it
are
fo
large
&
various,its Wiles and Methods
for
deceiving
fo
innumerable;its
fruitfulnefle
in
conceiving and bringing forth
offinne
fo
abundant
,
its
ad-
vantages and opportunities
fo
many,
that
it
is
like the
way
of
et
Serpent
upon
a
Hone,
there
is
no tracing
or
finding
of
it out.
A
feriousconfideration
of
the
oppofition
made
unto our
Perfeverance ,
by
.
this one Enemy,
which
hath
fo
much ability,
and
is fo
refileffe
in its
warfare,
never quiet conquering
nor
conquered,
which can be
kept
out
of
none
of
our
Councells,
excluded from none
of
our
a&ings,
is
abundantly
fufficient
to
evince,that
it
is
not want,or
weakneffe
of
Enemicr,which puttethBelievers
out
of
danger
of
falling away:
5.36.
But all this
perhaps
will
be granted:
Enemies they
have
enough
,
and
thofe
much more diligent and
powerful! every one
of
them, then all
we
have fpo-
ken
of
that
now defcribed,
amouinteth
unto: but the
meaner
of
Pre,
fervation,
which
God
affords
the
Saints,
is
that
which
puts them almoft out
of
Gun-
(hot, and
gives
them
that
Golden fecurity mentioned,
which
cometh not (in
adminifiring confolation)
one
fieppebehind
that
which arifeth from
the
Do-
Etrine
of
abfolute.Perfeverance; Let then
this
be
a
little
confidered, and per-
haps it will allay this
whole
contefi.
Is
it
then,
that
fuch
is
the Grace
that
is
befiowed
Upon
them,
in refpe&
of
the
Principle
whence it
is
bellowed, (the
e-
ternall
Love
o
fGod) and
the
way whereby it
is
for them procured
(the
Blood-
(bedding and Interceflion
of
Chrifî) with the nature
of
it, (being the
feed
of
God,
which
abideth and withereth
not)
and
that
fuch feemes
to
be the na-
ture
ofinfufed
Habits,
that
they are
not removed,
-lst*t
by
the
power, and
immediate
band
of
him, by whom they are
beet-owed? Is
it
from hence,
that
their
Affurance
and
fecurity
Both
arife? Alas,
all
this
is
but
a
fi
&ion
:
there
is
no Faith
that
is
the
fruit
of
Elellion,C
hrifi purchafed
it
not for
any
by
hiS
Death:
InfufedHabits
are
not: the
Grace that'perifheth,
and'
that
,
that abid-
eth
are
the
fame: thefe things
are
but
pretences.
Is
it then,
that
God hath
purpofed from Eternity,
to
continue Confiant in
his
Love towards them,
ne-
ver
to
Leave them nor
Forfaite
them?
Nay but
of
all things Imaginable, this
is
the
greatefl Abomination,which
if
the
Scriptures
did
any where
Afrme,it
were
fuf
ficient
to
malte
a
rational conf
deringman,
to
ectteüion their
Authority.
What then,hath
the Lord
Promifed
to
give themfuch
continued
fupplyes
ofhis
Spirit
&Grace
in JefusChrifi,as
that
they
(hall be
fupported
againft
all
Gt
o-