Our Expofccionof thofeplaces, vindicated. CA. pill. 4: ;8. dall among Believers thereon (as in fuch cafes it will fall out) infued;&with- 77 all a Temptation ofa not tobe defpifed prevalency , and fad confequence, (which we formerly granted toattend fuch eminent Apoftafie)feems to have laidhold on many weake Saints: they feared,leaft they alto might be over- throwne,and after all their labouring, andPeering in the Workof Faith,and Patienceofthe Saints, come short of the inarke of the high calling fet before them, confidering their own weakneffe and instability, with that powerfull oppofition,whe,reunto (in thole daiesefpecially) theywere expofed.Upon the contemplationoffuch Apoftafes or defections, they wereopportune andob- noxious fufficiently to this Temptation. Yea their thoughts upon the Cafe under confideration, might lead them to feare a moregenerall defeétion : for feeing it is thus with forne, why maynot this bethe Condition of all Belie= vers? and fo the whole Church may ceafe;and come to nothing, notwithftan- ding all the Promifes ofbuilding iton a Rock, and of the prefence of Chrift with it to theendofthe World. Nay may not his whole Kingdome on earth on this account , poffibly fall to utter ruine , and himfelfe be left a Head without members, a Kingwithout Subje&s ? This by Mr Goodwin: own con- feffion, is the Objei on,which the Apoftle anfwereth, and removes in, and by thewords underConfideration. Cap. r4.pag.35g. 36o. Seeing thefe fall away, are not wee li&ewife in dangeroffalling away, and fo of Toolingall that we have done andfujfered in ourChri ian profe on?To this ObjetIionor Scruple, the A- poftle Anfwereth in the Words inhand; Sohe Thus farre then are we agreed. About the fenceofthe words themfelves, and their Accommodation to the removallof the Objeftion, or Scruple nientioned,is our difference. I know Dot how M. Goodwin comesto call it anObjetlion or Scruple,( which is the ex- preflion of thoughts or words, arifing againO that which is, in thetruth ofit) Peeing it is their very State and Condition indeed, and that,which they feare, is that which they are really expofedunto, andwhich they ought to believe that theyare expofed to. Inhis Apprehenfion, they who make the Objeëlion, or whole scruple it was, wereas liableunto inhis judgement, and in the fame danger offalling away, or greater, (their Temptations being increafed, and heightned by theApoftafie ofothers) then them that fell the day and hour before, neither could that falling awayof any be Paid to raife a Scruple in them that they might do fo to, if this were one part of their Creed, that all andevery man in the world might fo doe. TheAnfwer given by the Apoftle, is no doubt fuited to the Objetlion and st. 38é fitted to the removeall of theScruple mentioned, which was alone to be accomplished by an effe&uall removing away the felicitous fears and cares about the prefervation ofthem, in whofe behalfe this is produced. This therefore the Apoftledoth by an exception to the inference, which they, made, or through temptation might make upon the former confederations. (AP 701 are exceptive particles, and anIndutlion into the exemption of Tome from the conditionofbeing indanger of falling, wherein they were conclu- ded in the Objellion propofed. The intendment I fay oftheApoftle in that exceptive plea he puts in , nevertheleffe is evidently to exempt force from the ftateoffalling away, whichmight be argued againft themfrom the de- feftion ofothers. Neither dothhe fpeake to the thing in hand, nor are the particulars mentioned exceptive to the former Intimation, ifhis fpeech looke anyotherway. 'Moreover hegives yet further the accountofthisException hemakes, including a radicali discrimination of profeffours, or men elleesned tobelielievers, exprefíing alfo the Principle and ground ofthat difference. ThedifferingPrinciple hementioneth is,theFoundation ofGod thatRandsfare, or thefirma Foundation ofGod, that is eftablifhcd, or ftands firme: This is not L 3 worth
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