CA P.VI![.¢,;t Mr G's Exceptions conlîdered & rernooved. 208 phrafe or locution is improper, fo to deny,thàt there is a Promife ofnut g preferved, by the Spirit ofGod in believing, is not to Anfwer our Ar ument, but tobeg the thing in Queftion, vea todeny the pofitive afertion of' the Lord Chrift: But if there benot fuck a Promife in the words, what' then is in them, what doe theycontaine? Saith he, 2. They are only a Declaration and Affertion made by Chr , of theExcel_ lency, anddefreableneffe ofthat life, which he comes togive untothe World, above the life ofnature, which is common untoall;' This, by comparing the words with thofe in theformer verfe, is evident: whofoeverDrinketh of this water,fball thirft againe; but whofoever Drinitethofthewater,tha t I(hall give him&c. that is,the bell meanes, that canbe had andenjoyed, to render this prefent life free from in.. conveniencies, will not effeEt it: but whofoever (hall Drinke , Injoy, Receive and Believe the Doarine,which Ifhall adminiiter untohim, fhall hereby bemade par- taker o ffilch a life, which(hall within a fhort time, if men be carefuli in the in_ terim to preferve it, by reafonofthe nature, andperfect condition, and conttituti_ onofit, beexempt from id/ farrow, trouble, and inconveniencewhatfoever, asbe- ingeternal!, Anf r That thefewords are only an Affertion of the excellency and dcfireablenefhe ofthat eternal! life, which Chrift wouldgive, above the natu- rall, that theWoman fued to futtaine, and that this appears from theCon- text , is faid indeed, but no more. Ít is true,our Saviour doth divert the thoughtsofthe Woman, from the naturali life,and care for provifon about it, with an infinuationofa better life tobe attained: but is this all he doth, or is this the intendment ofthe Words under confideration? Doth not the maine of the oppofition, or difference which at prefent he fpeakes unto , .lye in the fapplies,that aregiven for the two kindsofLife,whereof he fpeakes? TheWa- ter he tells her, whichfhe drewfrom that Well,by which he fate, for thefup- ply Ofher naturall life, was fuch, that after her drinking of it, the fhoulct quickly return to the fame Condition of thirft, as formerly before fhe drankof it But that which he gave, was fuch, as that who ever drank ofit, fhould thirft no more, but be certainely preferved in, andunto the full. fruition Of that Life, whereof it is the meanes and fupply. The oppo fition is not between the lives continued, but the meaneofcpnfolation, and its efficacy. 2. It is not the Condition ofthe Life naturall,which is fiibjelt to diffolu- tion,& not capableofperfection,that is the R eafon why they thirft again k againethat haveWater naturali for therefrefhment thereofBut'tis thenature; of themeanes it felfe,which is fupplyed,that is not fitted nor fuited topenna-; nency, & abiding ufefullneffe,(as the Water, which Clint} Promifes,is,)that heinfifts on.There is not any thing leades us to fuppofe,that it is the Imperfe- EtionofLife,. and not theCondition of the meanesofnatural! life, that is pri- marily intended in the inftituted Comparifon: though the frailty, and no- thingneflëof thatlife alto, be, afterwards intimated, in°the fubítitution ofE- ternall life unto the thoughts of the poore woman, in the Koome there- of. 3. (I fay that) it is not the Doílrine ofChrifi , but his spirit princi- pally,that he is here Paid to give asWater- and that this is not promifed to make.men partakers ofEternall Life, if in the interim they becareful! topre- ferve it but topreferve them to it,-and to give them that Care, whiéh, as a Grace,is needfull thereunto. The plaine intendment ofthe Promife is, that by the water they drinke they thall bekept and preferved in theLife,where ofthey are made partakers,unto the fulnetfe and perfection ofit which pre fervation by the parenthefis(ifanybe carefull in the interim topreferve it)isdi- redly
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