But all this perhaps will be granted. Enemies they have enough,
' John iii. G; Matt. vi. 23, xi. 27; Luke xi. 34-36; Acts xxvi. 18; 2 Cor. vi. 14; Eph. V. 8; Isft. xxix. 18, xx.w. 5, xlii. 7; Koni. ii. 19; Col. i. 13; 1 Pot. ii. 9; Lukq iv. 18; Eph. iv. 18; Rev. iii. 17; Matt, xxiii. 16, iv. 16; John i. 5; 2 Cor. iv. 6; Luke xiv. 18 ; John viii. 34 ; Rom. vi. Id, vii. 18, viii. 7, 8 ; Jcr. vi. 13 ; Gen. vi. 5 ; Jcr. xiii. 23 ; Heb. ii. 1 ; James i. 14, 16.
l] TliE ENEMIES OF THE DOCTRINE CONSIDERED. 107
and those much more diligent and powerful every one of them than all we have spoken of that now described amounteth unto; but the means of preservation which God afibrds the saints is that which puts them almost out of gun-shot, and gives them that golden secu- rity mentioned, which cometh not, in administering consolation, one step behind that which ariseth from the doctrine of absolute perse- verance. Let, then, this be a little considered, and perhaps it will allay this whole contest. Is it, then, that such is the grace that is bestowed upon them, in respect of the principle whence it is be- stowed (the eternal love of God), and the way whereby it is for them procured (the blood-shedding and intercession of Christ), with the nature of it (being the seed of God, which abideth and withereth not), and that such seems to be the nature of infused habits, that they are not removed but by the poAver and immediate hand of him by whom they are bestowed? Is it from hence that their assurance and security doth arise ? " Alas ! all this is but a fiction. There is no faith that is the fruit of election; Christ purchased it not for any by his death; infused habits are not; the grace that perisheth and that that abideth are the same. These things are but pretences.'' Is it, then, that God hath purposed from eternity to continue constant in his love towards them, never to leave them nor forsake them? " Na.j, but of all things imaginable this is the greatest abomination, which if the Scriptures did anywhere affirm, it were sufficient to make a rational, considering man to question their authority." What then? Hath the Lord promised to give them such continued sup- plies of his Spirit and grace in Jesus Christ as that they shall be supported against all opposition, and preserved from all or any such sins as will certainly make a separation between God and their souls? *' Nay, there is not one such promise in all the book of God ; they are conditional, for the enjoyment o^ aiE gocd things whereof believers stand all their days ujDon theirout /i behaviour." Is it, then, that the Lord Jesus, '^ 8 '3 alway-vithjard of his Father, intercedes for them that their fai. '^ "1 no>y and that they may be preserved hy the power of God unto ba:ivation, and that not only upon condition of their believing,- but chiefly that they may be kept and preserved in believing? Or is it that their enemies are so conquered for them and on their behalf,, in the death and resurrection of Christ, that they shall never have dominion over them, that tlieir security doth arise? Neither the one nor the other, nor any nor all of these, are the grounds and foundations of their establishment, but they are wholly given up to the powerful hand of some considerations, which Mr Goodwin expresseth and setteth out to the life, chap. ix. sect. 32-34, pp. 174, 175.
Now, because the Remonstrants^ have always told us that God 1 Coll. Hag. A. 5, Act. Synod. Dec. Setit. A. 5, thes. ii.
108 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
hath provided sufficiently for the perseverance of the saints, if they be not supinely wanting to themselves in the use of them, but have not hitherto, either jointly or severally, that I know of, taken the pains to discover in particular wherein that sufficiency of provision for their safety doth consist, or what the means are that God affords them to this end and purpose, Mr Goodwin, who is a learned mas- ter of all their counsels, having exactly and fully laid them forth as a solid foundation of his assertion concerning only a remote possi- bility of the saints' total defection, let it not seem tedious or imper- tinent if I transcribe, for the clearer debate of it before the reader, that whole discourse of his, and consider it in order as it lies.
" If," saith he, " it be demanded what are the means which God hath given so abundantly to the saints, to make themselves so free, so strong in inclinations to avoid things so apparently destructive to the spiritual peace and salvation of their souls, as naturally men are to forbear all such occasions which are apparently destructive to their na- tural lives, so that they need not to be any whit more afraid of losing their souls through their own actings than men are, or need to be, of destroying their natural lives upon the same terms? I answer, —
" First, He hath given them eyes wherewith, and light whereby, clearly and evidently to see and know that it is not more rational or man-like for men to refrain all such acts which they know they can- not perform but to the present and unavoidable destruction of their natural lives, than it is to forbear all sinful acts whatsoever, and espe- cially such which are apparently destructive to their souls.