C.X11.ConfiflencyofProm. ofPerf &Exhortations to the ufe ofmeane 286 Anf. That all Promifes ofTemporal/ things without exception, areConditi- onal', that is, fo as to be fufpended on any Conditions, not promifed to be wrought with equal! Affurance to that web depends on them,is not the judg- ment ofarty Divined know, unlefie it beof Mr Goodwin, and thofeofthe fame perfwafion with him in the matter of our prefent Controverfy; Who ever but they will fay,{ifthey will) that the Promifeofbringing the Chil- dren of ifrael out of Egypt was Conditional! ? Let them that do fay foaf- fgne the conditionim which the Accomplithment ofthat Promife was fuf- pended : ThePromife made to the Parents of Sampfon ofhis birth, and mighty actions, what Conditionwas it fufpended on ? And yet was it a.pro- mifeofa Temporal' thing', Though this may be accounted a general! rule becaufe for the molt part 'tis fo, yet maynot God make aparticular excep Lion thereunto ? Did he not fo in the cafe of .Hhezekiah, as to his living 15. yeares, as alfo in thofecafes before mentioned ? 'Tis true all fuch Promifes have appointed meaner for their Accomplifhment,but not Conditions whereon their fulfilling is Abfolutely fufpended. 4.44 But he adds Thole words dsofPaul to the Centurion andSauldiers lately esenti -. oned, (except thefeabide in the(hipye cannot be fafe) undeniably prove thefaid Fromife to have beene sot Abfolute, but Conditionall; for in cafe Godfhouldhave Promifed Abfolutely. & without all exception that theyfhouldhave beenfafe,Paul hadplainly contradilled thetruth ofit by affirming, not that theyfbouldnot, but that they couldnot befafèotherwife than upon the Conditionof the Marinersabi- ding in the (hip. Anf. 1. This isboldly ventured; God promifeth that the End fhalibe accomplifhed; Paul exhorteh to the ufe of the meaner for the attainment of that End, and in that contradicts the Truth ofGods Promife, if it benot Conditional"; And why fo ? Who ever faid that God promifed that they fhou'd be fafe and preferved in the negle& of meanes; They weremen, and not (tones that God promifed fo to fafegard. And it was by his blefiìng upon meanes that he intended to preferve them; therefore he that flirted them up to the ufe ofmeanes, contradi&ed the promife, unleffe it were Conditionall, Paul faies indeed, theycouldnot befafe unlefe the Mariners abode in the (hip; not fufpending the certainty ofGods Promife upon their continuance in the (hip, but manifefting the meaner whereby God would bring about their fafety. That which infues inthe two following Exçeptions, ('as Paul'sperfwading them tg take meat, which conduced to their fafety, and their ca.lsing the reheatinto thefea for theCame end) amounts no higher than theAffirmations already confidered, Afferting an infallible Promife of an end to be attained by meanes, and anExhortation to theufe ofmeanes with the aftuall ufe of them on the accountof their neceffity as meanes, are inconffftent; which is plainely without the leaftffhewof proofe or truth, tobegge the thing in Queftion. Nether is his Cafe inhand at all promoted, by comparing this partial, lar Promife given at fuch a time and feafon, with thofe general! Promifes of EarthlyBleffings made tothe Obedience of the Jewes in the Land ofCanaan, .mentionedDeut. 28.3,4. Ofthat which Sixtly followes in theninthSe&ion, being a marvilous pret- tyDifcourfe about the Promife here made, as though it fhouldbeonly this, that though thefiipwere loft and mifcarried, yet none ofthem init fhould perifh thereby (meetlyupon the account of the (hips mifcarrying) though on fomeother account, they might be drownedat the fainetime; Which up on narrow fcanning hebath at Taft found out tobethe fenceoftheplace,may well
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