Owen - Houston-Packer Collection BT768 .O9 1654

ThePromife oftheHoly Spirit notConditionall. CAP.V11.4:i4, fo alfo that this Promife is abfolute,&not Conditionall,can neither be colou- rably gainefaid,nor the contraryprobably confirmed; fo- that theftrength of Mr ( aodwins tw0 next Exceptions. 1. That this cannot bea Promife ofPerfe- veranee unto true Believers, whatfoever their deportmentfhallbe. And 2. That it muß beConditional! (which cannot,as hefaith, be reafonablygainefaid) The firft of them not looking towards our perfwafion in this thing: And the latter being not in the leaft put upon the proofe, is but very weakenetfe; For what Condition (I pray)of this Promife canbe imagined ? God promifcs his Spirit ofHolineffe, that fan&ifyethus,and worketh all holineffe in us;and therewith the holy Wordofthe Gofpell,which isalto San&ifying . John 17./7. that they (hall abide with us for ever:It is the continuance ofthe pretence ofGod with us for our Holineffe, that is here promifed. On what condition {hall this be fuppofed todepend ? Is it in cafe we continue Holy ? Who feeth not the vanity of interferting any condition? I will be with you by mySpi-, rit, andWord for ever, to keep you Holy, provided you continueHoly. 3. Thirdly, It is a hard talketo feeke to fqueeze a conditionout ofthofe gracious wordsin thebeginningoftheverte, Asfor mee : which Junius ren- ders (de meautem);words wherein God gracioufly reveals himfelfe,as the foie Author of thisgreat blefïing promifed, it being a worke ofhis owne,which he accomplitheth upon the accountof his free Grace. And therefore God fig- nally placedthat expreflion in the entrance of the Promife , thatwe may know,whom to lookunto for thefulfilling thereof; And it is yet afarther cor- ruption, to fay, that asforme, is as much, as, for mypart, Iwill deale bountifully with them, provided that theydoefo& fo, what I. require from them , which is Mr Goodwins Interpretationof the words; for ofthis fuppofition there is not one word in theText, as incumbent on them,towhom this Promife is made, in contradìftin&ion towhat God here promifeth; yea he promifeth them,at leaft in the root and principali, whatfoever is required ofthem: Let it be, that asformee, is, asfor mypart I will doe, what here is promifed : and there is an endof thisdebate. 4. The Perfons,to whom this Promife is made, are called thee, and thy Seed, that is all thofe, and only thofe, with whom God is a God inCovenant. Godhere minds themof the firft making of this Covenant with Abraham, and his SeedGen.I7.7. Nowwho are this Seed ofAbraham? Not all his car- nal] Pofterity,not thewhole Nationofthe Jewes;which is the laft fubterfttge invented by our Author , to evade the force of our Argument from this place. Our Saviour not only denies, but alto provesby many Arguments,that the Pharifeesand their followers, who doubtleffe wereof the Nation ofthe Jewes, and the carnallfeedof Abraham, were not the Childrenof' Abraham in this fence, nor his Seed,but rather the Devills, loh:8. 39,4o,41. And the Apo- file difputes and argues the fame cafe, Rom. 4.9,10,11. and proves undenia- bly, that it isBelieversonly, whether Circumcifed or Vncircumcifed, whether yewes or Gentiles,that are this Seed ofAbraham, and Heires ofthePromife.So plainly, Gal.3.7. Knowye therefore that they, which areofthe Faith are Blefed withFaithfallAbraham, and then concludes againe as the ¡flueof his debate, v.9.So then they which beofFaith, are Blefedwith FaithfallAbraham: And this is the fummeofwhat Mr Goodwin obje&s unto this Teftimony in our cafe, to the perpetuali abidingof the Spirit with theSaints. The force thenofthis Promife,& the influence it bath into theeflabliffiment oftheTruth we have in hand, will not be evaded and turned afide, by affir- ming that it is made to thewholepeople ofifrael:for befides,that theSpirit ofthe Lordcould not bePaid to be in the ungodly reje&ed part of them, nor his Word in their mouth, there isnot the leaft inText or Context, to intimate fuck 17.5 4.24

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