C.Xi11 ; ;1 - Life of Exhortations for thefurtheranceofthe SsPer[ev. 274 but was of another mind, if he underfrood his owne fupplications: To what is here urged againff this CatholickeFaith ofBelievers, I fry. That Exhortations are the meaner of Perfeverance, in as much as by them in their place and kinde, and with them theSpirit ofGod effe&ually workes this Pefeverance or the matter of it in the Saints. Thofe cloudy expreffions [of irrefiflibly andunfruflrably] weowne no farther then as they denote the certainty of the event, and not the manner ofthe Spirits operation, which alto theydo very unhandfomely. We leave out then in the propofall ofour Judgement about the ufeof Exhortations, which Mr Goodwin oppo- feth,thofe rearmes, and adde in theirRoome, by andbywith thofs Exhortations which he omìtts. He faith then, This cannot beproved, becaufe the Saints live, and dye often times in oppofition and difobedience unto theft Exhortations. But Obedience is twofold; Firff, as to the generali frame ofthe heart, Obedience in the habit; and fo 'tis falfe that the Saints live at any time in an ordinary courfe, much lefhe dye in oppofition to thofe Exhortations; the Law ofGod being written in their hearts, and they delighting in it in their in- ward man; they abide therein; the fruit of Obedience for the molt part be- ing brought forth by them; And this fufficeth as to their Perfeverance Secondly, It regardethparticular a&s ofObedience, and in refpeer of theta weall fay, that yet they all finne, (optimzrs ille efi, qui minimis urgetur) but this prejndiceth not their Perfeverance, nor the generall end oftheExhor- tations afforded them for that purpofe. But he adds Secondly, IfGod byhis Spirit irrefiflibly drameshis Saints to perfevere, utopra. But this is lorry Sophiftry, which maybe felt (as they fay) through a paire ofnsittins, For Fitft who fajes that Godworkes byforce immediately upon thewills of men? Or who makes force andpower to be rearmes equivalent?Or that God cannot put forth the exceeding greatneffe of his power in them that believe, but he muff force or compell their wills: or that he can not work in tis to will and to do ofhis owne good pleafure, immediately working in and with our wills, but he muff fo force them. Secondly,whence.arifeththe disjun&ive force of this Argument ? Either by immedáte aelings upontheir mills, or he makes ufe of thole Exhortations % As though the one way were exclufiveof the other, and that the Scripturedid not abundantly and plentifullyofribe both thefe unto God; both thathe exhorts us toknow him, lovehim, believe in him, and gives us an under- ftanding, and an heart fo to do; working Faith and Love in us, by the excee- ding efficacy ofhis powerand Spirit: I fay then that God workes immediately by his Spirit, in, and on the wills ofhis Saints: that is, he puts forth a reall Phyficall power that is not contained in thofe exhortations, though he doth it by, and in, and with them: The impotency that is in us to do good, isnot amiflè termed Eth.ico-phyfca: both Natural]and Moral]; and theApplicati- ons ofGod to the foule in their doing good, are both Really and Phyficaiy efficient, and Moral alfo; the one confining in the efficacy ofhis Spirit,the other lying in the exhortationsofthe Word; yet fo as that the efficacy ofthe Spirit is exerted by, and with the Morali efficacy of the Words his workes being but Grace or the Law in the heart, the Word, being the Lawwrit- ten, fo that all the enfiting Reafonings are bottomed upon things maledivifa, that Rand in a fweet harmony and compliance with each o- ther. But
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