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Rom:
i
r
29.
The
Gifts
of
God how
not
repented of.
C
n P.
11.
4:
8,p.
men
in
a
ftateof
Enmity, to God,
and
Alienation
from
him,
if
they
may be
pre-
3
5
vailed
withall,to
continue
filch
Hill,
this
gift
(hall
never
be
recalled, nor
re-
pented
of.
But
perhaps
fie
Gift and
Grace
of
SanEfifzcation
finds men in a better condi
--
f
g,
tiora,
in
aftate,wheretn
if
they abide, then
that
alfo
(hall
abide with them
for
ever.
The
Scripture abounds in
the defcription
of
this
flate,
that
we
Shall
not
need to h efitate
about it:
Ephefe
2.12.
you
hath
he
quickned,
who
were
dead
in
trejgaffes
andfins:
oic!¿ning
&
renewing
Grace is
given
to
perfons dead
in fins:
&
is
fo
farre
from depending,as
to
its
Unchangeableneffe,upon
their
Continu-
ance
in
the
State,wherein it
finds
them,
that
it confifts in
a reali change,
and
translation
of
them
from
that
State or
Condition.The
Apoftle
Pets
out
this
at
large,
Titus
3.3,4,
5. wee
our
f
lees
were
fometimesfoolifb
c.
the State
of
men,
when God beftowes
their
Gifts
upon
them,
is
pofitively expreffed
in
fundry
particulars. v:3.
the
qualifications on which this Gift
or
Grace
is
grafted(of
which
M:
Goodwin
(peaks afterwards.)
negatively
y:
5.
it
is
not
of
any
work
that
we
have done, which
is
unqueftionably
exclufive
of
all
thofeTioçks
of
Qtalifications,which are intimated, whereon the Gifts and Graces
ofGod
Ihould
be
grafted.
The
gift it
(elfe
here beftowed,is
the wafting
of
Regenerati-
on, and
renewing
o
(the
Holy Gho
{f,
faveing in
through
mercy
from
the flate
and
Condition
before
defcribed.
In briefe
that
the
Condition wherein this Grace
of
God
finds
the
Sonnes
of
Men,is a
Rate
of
a
Death,
6
Blood,c
Darkneffe,4
Blind
-
a
Mat.s.sz;
neffe,
Enmity,
curfe,and Wrath,
Difobedience, Rebellion, Impotency,
and
Vni-
Rom.6.t3:
verfall
Alienation from
God,is
beyond
all
contradiftion
(by
'T
eftimonies psen-
6Ézei,
1;.e
tifully given
out
here
a
little, and
there a
little,
line
upon line) manifeft
in
the
Ifa4.4
Scripture.
Shall we
now fay,that this
Grace
of
God
is
bellowed on
men
up-
Job
346
`
on
the
account
of
thefe Qualifications, and
continued without
revocation
on
c Ton.
1.51
condition that they abide
in
the
fame State, with
the
fame alifications
?
Let
Lphet 5.s.
col.1.13.
then men
continue
in
fnne,
thatgrace
may abound.
Luk.4.1E.
Is
the'cafe
any
other
as
to
Iuflification
?doth not God juflify
the ungodly?Ro.
d Rom.$:
6
4
5.are
we not
in
filthy
Robes,when
he comes
to
cloath
us
with
Robes
of
Righte-
oufneffe
1
Zech:
3.3.
are we not
reconciléd
to
God,
when
alienated
by
wicked
Col
1.21.;
workes? Col:
3.13.
thefe are
the
Qualifications on which
it
feemes
God,grafts
ca14.1;.
his
Gifts and
Graces:.
and whofe abode
in
the
Perfons;in whom they are,is
the
J
°h'3.35
condition, whereon
the
irrevocableneffe
of
thofe
Gifts and Graces does
de-
pend
:
Who
would have
thought,they had
been'
of
fuch reckoning and e-
fteeme with
the Lord
?
And this,confidering what
is
learnedly difcourfed elfewheremay
fuffice,as
to the otherAffertion;that God
gives
his
Gifts and Graces
to
Qualifications,
1
cot:
4:
7á
not
to
Perfons.Thofe
kylifacations
are either Gifts
ofGod,or not:
if
nit,
who
made thofe men, in whom they
are,
differ
from
others?
if
they
are,
on
what
'qualifications, were
thofe
Rualifacations
beffowed?
That
God
freely beftows
on
Perron,
of
his
own good pleafure,
not Grafting
on
&ualiftcations,his
Gifts
and Graces, we have Teftimonies abundantly
futficient
to out-
ballance
M.
Goodwins
Affertions.
Rome
9.18.
He
hath
Mercy, on
whom' he
will
have Mercy:
he beftowes
his
Mercy and the fruits
of
it, not
on
this
or that
Qualification,
but
on
whom,
or
what
Perfon
he
will,
and
to
them
it
is
given,
faith
our
Saviour,
to
know
the Myfleries
of
the
Kingdom'
of
God
,
but
to
others
it
is
not
given.
I fee
no flock
that
his
gift
is
grafted
on,
but
only
the
Perfons
of
Gods
good
will,
whom
he
graciously
defignes
to
a
Participation
of
it.
Truth
is,
I know
not
any
thing more
directly
contradil.ory
to the
whole
4.
9,
Difcovery
of
the
worke
of
Gods
Grace
in
the
Gofpell,then
that
which
is
cou-
ched
in thefe Affertions
of
M.
Goodwin;
neither
is
it
any
thing
leffe,
or
more,
then
that
which
of
old
was
phrafed,
The
Giving
of
Grace according
tomerit,
F
'2
afcribing