92 / 504
Ce
P.
1I4;
90,t1.
Rom:
It. 29,
vindicated.
'fa
40. 27,28,29,30,31.
34
afcribing
the primitive
difcriminating
of
perfons
as
to
Spiritual] Grace, unto
felfe endeavours,
caf}iug
to
the ground the
free
diftinguithinggood
pleafirre
of
God,
and
that
Gracioufneffe
of
every Gift
of
his,
(I
fpeake
as
to the
fill}
if-
fue
of
his
love in quickning, renewing, pardoning
Grace)
which eminently
confif}s
in
this,
that
he
is
found
of
them
that
f
eke
him not,
and
hath
Mercy
on whom
he
mill,
becaufe fo
it
feemedgood
to
him,
Not to
digreffe
farther(in the
difcovery
of
the
unfatisfa&orinefìè
of
this
pretence)
from
the purfuit
of
the Argument
in
hand;
Becaufe
Gods
gifts
are
not
repented
of, therefore doe men
continue, not in
the
condition where-
in
they
find
them,but
wherein they place
them:
And all
&nalifications
in
men
whatever ,
that
are in
the
leaf}
acceptable
to
God
,
are
fo
farre
from
being
flocks
whereon God grafts
his
Gifts and
Graces,
that
they are Plants them
-
felves, which
he plants
in
whomfoever he pleafeth.
Yea
the
Tree is
made goodbefore
it
Beare
any
good
fruit,and
the
Branch
im-
planted
into
the
True
Olive,before
it
receive
the
fap,or
juyce,of
any
one
good
,uali-
fication.
The
fumme
of
Mr
Goodwin:
Anfwer amounts
to
this;
let men
be
fiedfaf} in
a
good
condition, and
Gods Gifts than
f}edfaf}ly
abide
with
them,
if
they change,they
alfo
íhal
be
revoked:which
is
direaly oppofite
to the
plain
intendment
of
the
place,
viz.
That
the
ftedfaf}neffe
of
men,depends upon the
írrevocableneffe
of
Gods Grace, and not
é
contra:
there
is
not,in
his fenfe,
the
leaf}
intimation
in thefe
words,
of
the
permanency
of
any
Gift or Grace
of
God
with
any
one,
on whom
it
is
bef}owed,
for
a
Day,
an
Haare,
or
a
Moments
but
notwithflanding
this Tet}imony
of
the
Holy
Ghofi,
they
may
be given one
home,
and
taken
away
the next, they
may
flourifh in
a
man in
the
morning,
and
in
the evening
be
cot downe,
dried
up
,
and withered this
is
not
to
Anfwer
the
Arguings
of
men,
but
pofitively
to
deny
what God
affirms.
To
con-
elude,
God
gives
not
his
gifts
to
men
(I
mean thofe
mentioned)
becaufe
lerem.gi,32,
they
pleafe
him,
but
becaufe it
pleafeth him
fo
to
doe:
he does not take them
a-
way, becaufethey diJleaJi him,
but
gives
them
fo
to
abide with
them, that
they
fhall
never
diffileafe
him,
to
the height
of
fuch
a
provocation.
Neither
are
the
Gifts
ofGod
otherwife
to
be repented of, then by taking them from
the
Perforas,
on whom they are
bef}owed: But this heape
being removed, we
may proceede.
§.
to.
Farthermore then,in
fundry
places
doth the
Lord propofethis
for
the
Confo-
lation
of
his,
and
to
affure
them, that
there
fhall
never be an
everlaf}ing fepa-
ration between
him and
them;
which (hall be
further
cleared by particular
inf}ances
;Things or
Truthes
propofed for Confolation,are
of
all
others
molt
clearely
exalted above exception: without
which, they were
no way futable
(confidering
the
promptneffe
of
cur unbelieving
hearts
to
rife
up
againf}
the
worke
of
Gods Grace
and Mercy) to
compaffe
the
end for which they are
propofed.
Ifaiah.4.o.27, 28, 29,
30,
3
I.
why fayefl thou,
O
Pea)
,and
f
eakefl
o Ifraell,
my way
is
hid
from the
Lord and
my
judgment
is paffëdover
from
my
God?
hall
thou not
knowen,
haft thonnot
heard; that
the everlafling
God,
the Lord, the
cre-
ator
of
the
ends
of
the
earth
faint
eth
not, neither is
weary? there is
no
fearching
of
his'Dnderfanding.
He
giveth
power
to
the
faint,&
to
them
that
have
no
might,
he
increafet
ftrength.Even
the youths
limn
faint
and
be
weary,
and
the young men
fhall utterly
fade,
but
they
that
wait
upon
the Lord,fhall
renne
their Jlrength,
they
fhall
mount
up
with
wings as as Eagles, they
fball
renne and not
be
weary,they
fhall
uöalke
and
not
faint.
V.
27,
Jacob
and ifrael
make
a
double complaint,
both
parts
of
it
manifef}ing
fome
feare,or dread
Of
Separation
from
God:
for
though
in
Generals
it could not be
fo,
yet in particular,
Believers under
2emptation,may quef}ion
their
owne condition, with
their right
unto,and
íntereft