Secondly, Sin procureth, by the way of merit, the taking away of the Spirit and removal of the habit graciously bestowed. Believers deserve by sin that God should take his Spirit from them, and the grace that he hath bestowed on them: they do so indeed; it cannot be denied. But will the Lord deal so with them? Will he judge his house with such fire and vengeance?^ Is that the way of a father with his children? Until he hath taken away his Spirit and grace, although they are rebellious children, yet they are his children still. And is this the way of a tender father, to cut the throats of his children when it is in his power to mend them? The casting of a wicked man into hell is not a punishment to be com- pared to this; the loss of God's presence is the worst of hell. How infinitely must they needs be more sensible of it who have once enjoyed it than those who were strangers to it from the womb! Certainly the Lord bears another testimony concerning his kindness to his sons and daughters than that we should entertain such dis- mal thoughts of him.* He chastises his children, indeed, but he doth not kill them; he corrects them with rods, but his kindness he takes
' Eph. i. 23; Col. ii. 19; Eph. iv. IG; 1 Thcss. iii. 12; Phil. i. G; 1 Cor. x. 13.
2 llcb. ii. 17, 18, iv. 16, vii. 25; Isa. xl. 11, Ixiii. 9; Ezck. xxxiv. 4, 12.
* Isa. xlvlii. 9. * Isa. xlix. 15, IG, Ixvi. 13; Jer. ii. 1-3; IIos. ii. 11. etc.
I.] THE CONTROVERSY AS STATED BY MR GOODWIN. 99
not from them. Notwithstanding of the attempt made by the Ee- monstrants, in their Synodalia, I may say that I have not as yet met with any tolerable extrication of these difficulties. More to this purpose will afterward be insisted on.
That which we intend when we mention " the perseverance of saints," is their continuance to the end in the condition of saint- ship whereunto they are called. Now, in the state of saintship, there are two things concurring: — 1. That holiness which they receive from God; and, 2. That favour which they have with God, being justified freely by his grace, through the blood of Christ. And their continuance in this condition to the end of their lives, both as to their real holiness and gracious acceptance, is the perseverance whereof we must treat, — the one respecting their real estate, the other their relative ; of which more particularly afterward.
And this is a brief delineation of the doctrine which, the Lord assisting, shall be explained, confirmed, and vindicated, in the ensu- ing discourse; which being first set forth as a mere skeleton, its sym- metry and complexion, its beauty and comeliness, its strength and vigour, its excellency and usefulness, will, in the description of the se- veral parts and branches of it, be more fully manifested.
Now, because Mr Goodwin, though he was not pleased to fix any orderly state of the question under debate, — a course he hath also thought good to take in handling those other heads of the doctrine of the gospel wherein he hath chosen to walk (for the main with the Arminians) in paths of difference from the reformed churches, — yet having scattered up and down his treatise what his conceptions are of the doctrine he doth oppose, as also what he asserts in the place and room thereof, and upon what principles, I shall briefly call what he hath so delivered, both on the one hand and on the other, to an account, to make the clearer way for the proof of the truth which indeed we own, and for the discovery of that which is brought forth to contest for acceptance with it upon the score of truth and use- fulness.
First, then, for the doctrine of the saints' perseverance, how it stands stated in Mr Goodwin's thoughts, and what he would have other men apprehend thereof, may from sundry places in his book, especially chap, ix., be collected, and thus summarily presented. " It is," saith he, sect. 3, " a promising unto men, and that with height of assurance, under what looseness or vile practices soever, exemption and freedom from punishment." So sect. 4, " It is in vain to persuade or press men unto the use of such means in any kind which are in themselves displeasing to them, seeing they are ascer- tained and secured beforehand that they shall not fail of the end however, whether they use such means or no ; — a luscious and ful- some conceit (sect. 5), intoxicating the flesh with a persuasion that
100 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
it hath goods laid up for the days of eternity; a notion comfortable, and betiding peace to the flesh (sect. 15), in administering unto it certain hope that it shall, however, escape the wrath and vengeance which is to come, yea, though it disporteth itself in all manner of looseness and licentiousness in the meantime. A presumption it is that men (sect. 18) may or shall enjoy the love of God, and salvation itself, under practice of all manner of sin and wickedness; represent- ing God (sect. 20) as a God in whose sight he is good that doth evil ; promising his love, favour, and acceptance, as well unto dogs return- ing to their vomit, or to swine wallowing in the mire after their wash- ing" (that is, to apostates, which that believers shall not be is indeed the doctrine he opposeth), " as unto lambs and sheep. A doctrine this whereby it is possible for me certainly to know, that how loosely, how profanely, how debauchedly soever, I should behave myself, yet God will love me, as he doth the holiest and most righteous man under heaven."'