C.Xli. Confißency ofProm.ofPeiCwith exhortations to the ufe of means. zgo they maybeare them. So that not only fuffzciency ofmeanes to perfevere, but Perfeverance it felfe by thofe meanes and Gods ordering all things fo in his Faithfulneffe, that no affault{hall befall them above the power of the ftrength given them to bear;is here alferted.Now the Promife heregiven is either Abfolute orCanditionall. IfAbfolute, that is,fo farre as that it (hall in- fallibly be accomplifhed, not fo dependingon any thing that in refpe& of the Event may, or may not be as to be left at uncertainty for its fulfilling, It is all that is ofus cleared. Ífit (hall be faid that it is Conditional!, I delire that theConditon from whence it is fo faid to be, may be alligned ; Ifit (hall be laid (as tis) that it is, in cafe they willingly er not themfelves to to he over- comeofTemptations; I afkgr whether the ftrength and Ability that Godaf- fords to his Saints to refift Temptation, be not in the ftrengthning and con- firming their Wills againft them ?And if fo, whether this Pmmife fo inter- preted doth not refolve it felfe into this propofition, iwillnot Alter mySaints tobeoverborne by Temptations, above the flrength iwill give them to beare, pro- vided they be not preffedwith Temptations above thefirength Igive unto the. The Promife then is .Abfolute, either that no Temptations that! befall Believers a- bove that they have received, or that ftrength not tobe overcome, fhall be afreth communicated to them upon the granites of any new' Tempts Lions. 3. Thisbeing eftablifhed that here is a firmPromife ofPerfeverance,againft whichM. G.oppofeth fcarceany thing at a1,& nothing at all to the purpofe,his whole infuing Difcourfe falls ofit felfe5for fret the caveat ufed at the entrance ofthis Promife,and the Exhortation at the clofe,both tending to (tine upthe Saints,to whom the Promife is,made (many ofwhom have no diftin&Atlìr raneeoftheir intereft in this,or any otherPromife) to beheedfullycareful! in ufing the meanes ofPerfeverance,and avoiding the finnes that in their owne Nature tend to the interruption ofit no other poffibility of falling away can be concluded, but fuch asmayhaveaConfiftency with the Faithfuinelé ofGod in thePromife he bath given: that is, a poffibility as they fayinfenfia divifo, without refpe&had to the infallibly preventing Caufes ofit5 not in fenfu conipofato. A pof ibil'sty in reference to the natureof the things them- (elves, which is a fufficient bottomefor caveats tobe given, and Exhortations to bemade to them concerned in them, not at all in refpe& ofthe purpofes and Promifes ofGod, infallibly preventing the reducing into A&, of that poffibility; Thefeexceptions then notwithltanding it apppeares in the I Cor. io,i1,12,13,& ¡4. verfes, there is a Conjun&ion ofa gracious Promifeof Perfeverance, witheffe&uall Exhortations to the ufeof meanes whereby we may perfevere; and confequently they who deny a due tonfifteney be- tween them, do impute folly or ,weakeneffe to the Holy Ghoft; tar çdc< 4 5i. Heproceedes to thenext placepointed to by himl'elfe, to prove a conlii- Prency between Promifes and Exhortations under Confideration: to wit Phil. 2.12,13. Whereforemy beloved asye have always obeyed, not as inmy pretence only, but now much more in my. abfence,worke outyour own Salvation withFeare andTremblingFor it isGod that worlteth inyou both to willandto doofhis good pleafure: Evident it is that you have here conjoyned by the Holy Ghpft as weighty andpathetical! an Exhortation,as He almoft any where ufeth in the Scripture, with an Affértion ofGrace,as eminently operative and effe&ttall,as by anymeanes can beexpreft. But faith he'Tisone thing to affirme that God workethin man as to will, f to do, i. e. to enable men todo orput in execution what theyftrfl will, or to aft JI in the doingor executing itfelfe, another to Promilaor worke infallibly, andwith- out
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