680 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
if they persevere. That, I say, the instruction of the saints in this doctrine is a singular means of promoting their consolation and establishing their peace is that which (doubtless with undervaluing thoughts of all with whom he hath to do) he hath undertaken to prove. I doubt not but that Mr Goodwin thought sometimes of the good old rule : —
" Sumite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, aequam Viribus; et versate diu, quid ferre recusent, Quid valeant humeri." Hor. Ep. ad Pison., 38.
Self-confidence is hereby settled and fixed with considerations; and though Mr Goodwin, in the close of this section, tells us "that sundry godly and seriously religious persons, when they heard this doctrine published which he now asserts, with their whole hearts blessed God for it," yet truly I cannot but question whether, yea, I must posi- tively deny that ever, any saint of God received consolation by the doctrine of the saints' apostasy, — a lie exceedingly unsuited to the l^roduction of any such effect, any farther than that all error what- soever is apt to defile and cauterize the conscience, so deceiving it with senselessness for peace. Perhaps some of Mr Goodwin's hearers, (who either were so ignorant or so negligent as not to be acquainted with this doctrine before, in the attempts made for the propa- gation of it by the later brood of prelates and Arminians amongst us,) upon his deliver}^ of it with enticing words of human wisdom, helped on by the venerable esteem they have of his transcendent parts and abilities, through the cunning of Satan, improving the itch- ing after new doctrines which is fallen upon the minds and spirits of many professors in this age, have rejoiced under the shadow of tliis bramble, set up to rule in their congregation, and (according as is the constant manner of all in our days that are ensnared with any error, be it never so pernicious) have blessed God for it, profess- ing they never found rest nor peace before : yet I no way question but such as fear the Lord, and are yet bowed down under the weight and carried away with the strength of Mr Goodwin's rhetoric for a season, will quickly find a fire proceeding out of that newly-enthroned doctrine, preying upon and consuming all their joy, peace, and con- solation ; or (which I rather hope) a fire proceeding out of their faith " the faith once delivered to the saints," to the utter confusion and consum[)tion of this bramble, — [this] scratching error. In the mean- time, if the eminent appearance of many thousands of the saints of God in this nation (whereof many are fallen asleep, and many con- tinue to this day), testifying and bearing witness to the joy and con- solation they have found, and that upon spiritual, demonstrative grounds, in being cast into the inould of the doctrine of the saints' perseverance, for many days, be of no weight with Mr Goodwin, I know not why his single testimony (which yet, as to the matter of
XVI.] NO CONSOLATION IN THE OPPOSITE DOCTRINE. 581
fact, I no way question) concerning some few persons, by himself seduced into a persuasion of their apostasy, blessing God for the dis- covery made to them (the constant practice of all persons in their first entanglement in the foulest and grossest error whatever), shouhl sway us much to any good liking of it.
The influence of the doctrine of the saints' perseverance into their consolation hath been sufficiently already evinced, when we mani- fested the support of their faith and love, the conquest of their fears and troubles thereby, so that I shall not need farther to insist there- on. It was in my thoughts, indeed, to have handled the nature of gospel consolation, — that which God is so abundantly willing the heirs of promise should receive, — at large, both as to the nature and causes of it, the means of its preservation, and the oppositions that lie against it; and by all the considerations of it to have manifested that it is utterly impossible to keep it alive one moment in the heart of a believer without the contribution of supportment it re- ceives from the doctrine in hand, and that those who refuse to receive it, as usually delivered, indeed have none, nor can have any drop of it, but what is instilled into them from and by the power and efficacy which secretly in and upon their hearts that truth hath which in words they oppose, all their peace and comfort being in- deed absolutely proportioned to that which the doctrine of the saints' perseverance tends to confirm, and to nothing else: but this dis- course growing under my hands beyond all thought or expectation, I shall now only keep close to the removal of the exceptions made against it, and hasten to a close.
I must not leave this argument without taking notice of the me- dium whereby Mr Goodwin supposeth himself to have confirmed the truth of the assumption laid down at the entrance, or to have manifested " the good complexion,"' as he phrases it, " of that nurse he hath provided" for the consolation of the saints. A nurse with breasts of flint and a heart of iron hath this cruel man provided for them; — a nurse whom God will never admit into his family, nor ever expose his children's lives to any such wolf or tiger as will cer- tainly starve them, if not devour them; — rather a curst, yea, an ac- cursed stepdame than a nurse, who when the children ask for bread gives them a stone, and when they beg for a fish gives them a scor- pion;— a false and treacherous hireling, doing not the least service for God, but labouring to stir up strife in his family, to set his poor children and their heavenly Father at variance; filling them with hard thoughts of him, as one that takes little or no care for them, and discouraging them in that obedience which he requireth at their hands; continually belying their Father to them, and that in refer- ence to the most desirable excellencies of his faithfulness, truth, mercy, and grace; never speaking one good or comfortable word to