4. That among these persons many are oftentimes endued with excellent gifts, lovely parts, qualifications, and abilities, rendering them exceedmgly useful, acceptable, and serviceable to the church of God, becoming vessels in his house to hold and convey to others the precious liquor of the gospel, though their nature in themselves be not changed, they remaining wood and stone still.
5. That much of the work wrought in and upon this sort of per- sons by the Spirit and word lies, in its own nature, in a direct ten- dency to their relinquishment of their sins and self-righteousness, and to a closing with God in Christ, having a mighty prevalency upon them to cause them to amend their ways, and to labour after life and salvation; from which to apostatize and fall off, upon the ac- count of the tendency mentioned of these beginnings, is dangerous, and for the most part 'pernicious.
6. That persons under convictions and works of the Spirit for- merly mentioned, partakers of the gifts, light, and knowledge spoken of, with those other endowments attending them, are capacitated for
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642 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
the sin against the Holy Ghost, or the unpardonable apostasy from God.
These things being commonly known, and, as far as I know, uni- versally granted, T affirm that the persons mentioned and intended in these places are such as have been now described, and not the believers or saints, concerning whom alone our contest is.
Mr Goodwin replies, sect. 19, p. 283: —
" To the latter exception, which pretends to find only hypo- crites, and not true believers, staged in both passages, we likewise answer, that it glosseth no whit better than the former, if not much worse, considering that the persons presented in the said passages are described by such characters and signal excellencies which the Scriptures are wont to appropriate unto saints and true believers, and that when they intend to show them in the best and greatest of their glory. What we say herein will, I suppose, be made above all gainsaying by instancing particulars."
A71S. That this is most remote from truth, and that there is not here any one discriminating character of true believers, so far are the expressions from setting them out in any signal eminency, will ap- pear from these ensuing considerations : —
1. There is no mention of faith or believing, either in express terms or in terms of an equivalent significancy, in either of the places mentioned; therefore true believers are not the persons in- tended to be described in these places. Did the Holy Ghost intend to describe believers, it is very strange that he should not call them so, nor make mention of any one of those principles in them from whence and whereby they are such. Wherefore, I say, —
2. There is not any thing ascribed here to the persons spoken of which belongs peculiarly to true believers, as such, or that constitutes them to be such, and which yet are things plainly and positively asserted and described in innumerable other places of Scripture. That the persons described are " called according to the purpose of God, quickened, born again or regenerated, justified, united to Christ, sanctified by the Spirit, adopted, made sons of God," and the like, which are the usual expressions of believers, pointing out their dis- criminating form as such, is not in the least intimated in the text, context, or any concernment of it. That they are elected of God, redeemed of Christ, sanctified by the Spirit, that they are made holy, is not at all affirmed.
3. The persons intended are, chap, vi., verses 7, 8, compared to the ground upon which the rain falls, and [which yet] beareth " thorns and briers." True believers, whilst they are so, are not such as do bring forth nothing but " thorns and briers," faith itself being an *' herb meet for Him by whom they are dressed."
4. "Things that accompany salvation" are "better things" than
XVII.] CERTAIN PASSAGES IN SCRIPTURE CONSIDERED. 643
any [which] in the persons mentioned were to be found. This the apostle asserts, verse 9, " We are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation." Now, neither of these, neither *' better things," nor " things that accompany salvation," were upon them whose apostasy the apostle supposeth. The exceptive particle at the entrance, with the apologetical design of the whole verse, ascribes such things to the saints, to whom the apostle speaks, as they were not partakers of concerning whom he had immediately before discoursed. The " faith of God's elect," whereby we are jus- tified, is doubtless of the " things that accompany salvation."
5. The persons intended by the apostle were such as " had need to be taught again the first principles of the oracles of God," chap. v. 12; that were " unskilful in the word of righteousness," verse 13; that had not their " senses exercised to discern both good and evil," verse 14; and are plainly distinguished from them to whom the promise made to Abraham doth properly belong, chap. vi. 9-14, etc.
6. True believers are opposed, in the discourse of the apostle, chap, vi., unto these persons lying under a possibility of apostasy, so far as they are cast under it, by the conditional discourse of it, upon sundry accounts: as, of their "work and labour of love" showed to the name of God, verse 1 0 ; of their preservation, from the righteous- ness or faithfulness of God in his promises, verse 10; of the immu- tability of the counsel of God, and his oath for the preservation of them, verses 13, 17, 18; of their sure and steadfast anchor of hope, verse 19, etc. Upon all which considerations, it is abundantly evi- dent that they are not believers, the children of God, justified, sanc- tified, adopted, saints, of whom the apostle treats in the passages in- sisted on.