C.X111. TheAffertors of theSts Perf. comparedwith their Adverfaries' 316 Churches, and the PuritanPreachersofour ownNation. They were a com pany ofsciohys in comparifon, andmen of Nothing, who Arminiani-sd: Men, as the ßifhopofLincolneonce told them, whole Learning lay in afew un- learnedLituegies: It istrue; they had gotten tofuch a Head , and to fuch a Height, notlong before their fall, that they were ready to accule, and charge their Affociates as to Difcipline, Worfhip, and Ceremony, of Puritanifrne, who failednot to retort iirminianifineand Popery back againe to them. We know Who. aidofthe other, that they wereTantm non in Epifcopatu Puritani; änd who returned tohim andhis Affociates, Tantum non inVxoratu Pontifi'cii.`f he truth is, thofe among them, as there were many among them , both sifopf, and men, ( as they fpeak and think ) of Inferior Orders , who were folidly Learned, efpecially in the writings ofthe Ancients (of whom many are yet alive, and tome are fallen a fleepe ) were univerfally, almoft to a man ofthe fame judgement withC4lvin,in the heads ofour Religion under confiderati- on.'Jewell, Abbot, Morton , Vfber , Hall, Davenant, and Prideaux, ( great names among the WorldofLearned men) with aconfiderable retinue ofmen of repute for Literature and Devotion, (with whom on no account whatever theArminianizingparty ofthe Prelatesand their followers, are tobe named the lam© day) have fufficiently teftified their thoughts in this matter to all the World..From what Ambiguity of expreffion it is , that any fentence is ftolne fromAuffine,and others Of the Ancients,feeming to countenance the Dottrine oftheSaints Apoflacy, bath been elfewhere difcovered , and may farther be manifeftedasoccáfion (hall beadminifired 5 And without pretence, to any great skill in the old Learning, this I dare aflèrt, ( whereof I have given Tome account in the Preface to the Reader) that not oneof the Ancients ( much lelfeAuflin) did ever maintaine fuch an Apoffacy of saints , and fuch à Petfe- veranceas that which M. Goodwin contendeth for. 4 z t, This beingthat which M. Goodwinhàth tooffer for the clearingofthe Do- errinehe maintaineth,from the twofirft partsofthe charge exhibited againft it, he applieth himfelfe in the laft place, to contend with a commonObfer- vation made by Chriftians,weighing and ponderingthe principles and wayes ofmen in the daieswhereinwe live; Namely, the degeneracy of the moll of men, mho atany time embrace itfrom theirformer ProfefJon, and their turning afide to thepaths ofloofenefe andfolly. An obfervation which iftrue , (though M. Goodwin is pleated to attest that any confidering man( like himfelfe) will laugh it to fcorne,)will not eafily be digefted in the thoughts ofthem,that are willing to weigh aright the ufuall pretence ofGodwithhis Truths, efpecially at thefirft embracement and entertainement of them. Neither will this ob- fervarion be diverted from purfuing the Doctrine againft which it is lifted up, by comparing it with that ofthe Vehappineffeof Marriages made between Coufen-Germans, therebeing nothing in that Relation,that fhouldbe adifpo- fing caufe, to any fuch iffue as is pretended; much leffe with that farther ob- fervation,Thàtfome Apoilatilefrom the Prote cant Religion,yeafrom Chrifüa- vity it felfe; there being not the leaft Parity, or indeed Analogy in the inftan- ces. ¡fit might beaflirmedofmen, that after their embracing of Chriftiani- ty, or the Proteftant Religion, they generally decline, andgrow'worfe, (as to their Morali Converfation,)then theywere before, I doe not know at prefent what Apologycould be readily fixed on , that might freethe one, and the o- ther, fromgrievous Scandall. To fall from a Profef lion ofany Religion, or any head or part ofa Religion, upon the account of the corruption that is in them, that fo fall from it, is rather anhonour , then a reproach to the Reli- gion to deferred. But in, Andupon the embracementofanyReligion, or any DoClrine in Religion, for men to decline from that, which is the proper end of
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