sinnes by his name as many as beleeve in him c. Rom. 3.24.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood Therefore although this promise bee not divulged unto all in every time and place yet it is of that nature that it may be truly published to all and every one For the nature of the promise extends it selfe perpetually to mankinde although the knowledge of the promise according to the speciall providence of God is published sometimes to these sometimes to other Nations Marke 16.15 Goe into all the world and preach the Gospell to every creature He that beleeveth c. THE FIFTH POSITION IN the Church wherein according to the promise of the Gospel salvation is offered to all there is such an administration of grace as is sufficient to convince all impenitents and unbeleevers that by their owne voluntary default either through neglect or contempt of the Gospell they perish and come short of the benefit offered unto them CHrist by his death not onely established the euangelicall covenant but moreover obtained of his Father that wheresoever this Covenant should bee published there also together with it ordinarily such a measure of supernaturall grace should bee dispensed as may suffice to convince all impenitents and unbeleevers of contempt or at least of neglect in that the condition was not fulfilled by them Here two things are briefly to bee explained Whereof the first we put downe for a supposition That some measure of grace is ordinarily offered by the Ministerie of the Gospell The second for a position That that grace is sufficient to convince all impenitents and incredulous persons either of contempt or at least of neglect The first is plaine out of the Scriptures Esay 59. and the last verse This is my covenant with them saith the Lord My Spirit that is upon thee and my word which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth from henceforth and for ever Hence it is evident that the word and the Spirit are inseparably joyned together by the promise of God in the Ministery of the word Hence the Ministers of the new Testament are called the Ministers not of the letter but of the spirit not of the killing letter but of the spirit that giveth life 2 Cor. 3.6 The ministery of the Gospell v. 8. is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The ministration of the Spirit Hence is the Gospell styled Tit. 2.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saving grace or the grace that bringeth salvation and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 5.19 The word of reconciliation And our Saviour Luke 10.9.11 when he sent the 70. Disciples to preach the Gospell commanded them that they should say to the people to whom they preached it The kingdome of Heaven is come neare unto them Because that some supernaturall grace is offered unto them to whom the Gospell is preached It is not well said that all those are not called to grace to all whom the Gospell is preached although there may be some who obey not the Gospell The second is proved out of the 15 of Iohn 22. If I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sinne but now have they no cloake for their sinne Out of this place it is certaine that Christ in propounding the Gospell did withall dispence that internall grace which so far forth sufficed that in that they accepted not or rejected the Gospell they might bee justly taxed of positive infidelity Iohn 3.19 This is condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darknesse rather then light So are men justly damned because they turne away from the light of the Gospell Heb. 2.3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation For the neglect of salvation offered in the Gospell we are subject to just punishment therefore salvation is offered in the Gospell Heb. 4.12 The Word of God is quicke and powerfull and sharper then any two edged sword piercing even to dividing asunder of soule and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Hence it comes to be manifest that there is such power and efficacie of the word that it insinuates it selfe even into the secretest closets of the soule and as it doth without faile quicken those which truely beleeve so it doth truely inflict a deadly wound upon the stubborne Lastly the Scripture threatneth most bitter punishments to those who doe not receive who neglect who despise the preaching of the Gospell Mat. 10.14 Whosoever shall not heare your words It shall be easier for Sodom Heb. 6.4 It is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the good gift of God c. For the earth which drinketh in the raine and yet beareth thornes and bryars is nigh unto cursing THE SIXT POSITION NOtwithstanding this generall Covenant of saving those that beleeve God is not tyed by any covenant or promise to afford the Gospel or saving grace to all and every one But the reason why hee affords it to some and passeth by others is his owne mercie and absolute freedome 1 CHrist hath no otherwise established this covenant then that the communicatiō of this covenant shold remaine in the free full power of the Father But God in giving one grace is not tyed to the giving of another Matt. 10.15 Is it not lawfull for me to doe with my owne what I will No such covenant or promise is to be found in the Scriptures God promiseth in the old Testament that the preaching of the Gospell should be communicated to the Gentiles In the new Testament the partition wall is broken downe and it is given in charge to the Apostles Marke 16.15 Goe into all the world and preach the Gospell unto every creature but God no where promised that universally in the world at one and the same time it should be preached Nay rather as is well noted by Prosper Even at that very time in which the preaching of the Gospell was sent to all Nations hee who would have all men to be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth yet forbad the Apostles to goe to some places And so by this stopping or delaying of the Gospel many were so foreslowen or hindred that they dyed without the knowledge of the truth and without sanctifying regeneration Let the Scripture speak what was done But passing through Phrygia and the Region of Galatia they are forbidden by the holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia but after they were come to Mysia they assayed to goe into Bithynia but the spirit suffered them not Thus farre Prosper 2 Moreover it is plainly evident notwithstanding this universal Covenant which was of force even in the old Testament that God revealed not the knowledge hereof unto the Gentiles Psal. 147.8.19.20 Hee sheweth his word unto Iacob he hath not dealt so with any Nation and therefore they knew not these
regeneration do not carie themselves so but that for their negligence and resistance they may justly be relinquished and forsaken of God but such is the speciall mercy of God towards them that though they doe for a while repell and choake the grace of God exciting or enlightning them yet God doth urge them againe and againe nor doth he cease to stirre them forward till hee have throughly subdued them to his grace and set them in the state of regenerate sonnes IOhn 6.37 Whatsoever my Father gives me shall come to me and him that commeth unto mee I will in no wise cast out Ier. 14.7 O Lord though our iniquities testifie against us doe thou it for thy names sake for our backslidings are many And 32.39 I will give them one heart and one way that they may feare me for ever Philip. 1.6 He that hath begunne a good worke in you will performe it untill the day of Iesus Christ. But if God should not goe on thus to follow even those that hold off and retire from him no calling would bee effectuall there would be no filiall adoption and even election it selfe grounded upon the good pleasure of God would be frustrated Since the fall of man God would have it ascribed to his grace that a man doth come unto him neither will he have it ascribed to any thing but his grace that a man doth not goe from him THE SEVENTH POSITION THose that are not elected when they resist the Spirit of God and his grace in these acts foregoing regeneration and extinguish the initiall effects of the same in themselves by the fault of their own free-will are justly forsaken by God whensoever it pleases him whom by their owne fault so forsaken we truly pronounce to remaine by the same demerit hardened and unconverted WE thinke it to be without all doubt that no mortal man doth so cary himselfe toward God but that either by omitting that which he should have done or committing that which hee should not have done he deserves to have the grace taken frō him which hee hath Which ground being forelayed it is cleere that God without all injustice and cruelty may take from such men that grace which hee hath extended to them and leave them to the hardnesse of their own hearts Rom. 9.18 Hee hath mercy on whom hee will have mercy and whom hee will hee hardeneth God oweth this to no man that when he resists enlightening exciting grace and serves his own lusts he should then soften and mollifie him by that speciall grace which no hard heart doth resist Rom. 11.35 Who hath first given unto him and it shall be recompenced unto him againe Againe he that is thus forsaken being not converted perishes through his owne fault Iohn 5.34.40 I say these things that yee might be saved and ye will not come unto me that ye might have life Acts 28. The heart of this people is waxed grosse lest they should be converted and I should heale them Of conversion as it designes the immediate worke of God regenerating men THE FIRST POSITION GOd doth regenerate by a certaine inward and wonderfull operation the soules of the elect being stirred up and prepared by the aforesaid acts of his grace and doth as it were create them anew by infusing his quickning spirit and seasoning all the faculties of the soule with new qualities HEre by regeneration we understand not every act of the holy Spirit which goes before or tends to regeneration but that act which as soone as it is there we conclude presently this man is now borne of God This spirituall birth presupposes a minde moved by the spirit using the instrument of Gods Word whence also wee are said to bee borne againe by the incorruptible seed of the word 1 Pet. 1.23 Which must be observed lest any one should idlely and slothfully expect an Enthusiasticall regeneration that is to say wrought by a sudden rapture without any foregoing action either of God the Word or himselfe Furthermore wee conclude that the spirit regenerating us doth convey it selfe into the most inward closset of the heart and frame the minde anew by curing the sinfull inclinations therof by giving it strength and infusing into it a formall originall cause or active power to produce spirituall actions tending to salvation Ephes. 2.10 We are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus to good works Ezek. 36.26 I will take away your stony heart and give you an heart of flesh From this worke of God commeth our ability of performing spiritual actions leading to salvation As the act of beleeving 1 Iohn 5.1 Whosoever beleeves that Iesus is the Christ is borne of God Of loving 1 Iohn 4.7 Every one that loveth is borne of God Lastly all works of piety Iohn 15.5 Without me ye can doe nothing Prosper saith that Grace creates good in us The Schoolemen doe not deny so manifest a truth Thomas Aquinas affirmes that this grace of which we speake doth give a certaine spirituall being to the soule that it is a certaine supernaturall pertaking of the divine nature that it is in respect of the soule as health is in respect of the body THE SECOND POSITION IN this worke of regeneration man is meerly passive neither is it in the power of mans will to hinder God regenerating thus immediately IOhn 1.13 Which were borne not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God For if in the naturall creation it be true that God made us and not we ourselves much more in the spirituall recreation Ier 13.23 If the Ethiopian cannot change his skin neither can man defiled with sinne correct his naturall corruption In the will depraved there is the passive power to receive this supernaturall being comming from without but not the active to produce it of it selfe or with another Ier. 17.14 Heale me O Lord and I shall be healed In quickning of men God doth expect no beginning from mans will but hee quickneth the will it selfe by making it good What doth freewill I answer briefly It is saved This worke cannot be effected without two one by whom it is done the other in whom it is done God is the Author of salvatiō freewil is only capable of it Our creation in Christ was made into the freedome of the will and without us if into freedome then not out of freedome If without us then it is not in us to hinder this worke of God When God determineth to save no will of man resisteth Of Conversion as it imports what man himselfe doth in turning to God by faith and saving repentance THE FIRST POSITION VPon the former conversion followeth this our actual conversion wherein out of our reformed will God himselfe draweth forth the very act of our beleeving and converting and this our will being first moved by God doth it selfe also worke by turning unto God and beleeving that is by executing withall its
be saved such as are to turne unto God to beleeve to persevere and particular ensuing acts which being considered by themselves are not absolutely necessary to salvation as the avoyding of this and that sinne the not omitting of such and such a good deed For the performing of the former actions grace doth so worke that it gives the Elect both power and will to accomplish them But as for the latter there is not wanting unto us the motion and guidance of Gods Spirit through the whole course of our lives yet so that wee may bee wanting unto those motions of grace yea and too too often wee are wanting unto them and ever and an on we both freely and foully obey our owne corruptions Hence that of the Apostle Gal. 5.16 Walke in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh Ephes. 4.30 Grieve not the spirit of God by whom yee are sealed unto the day of redemption For they are said to grieve the holy Spirit who resist the guidance thereof and with a servile libertie goe after their owne concupiscenes contrary to the motion of grace and suggestion of their own conscience Erroneous Opinions which wee reject THE FIRST THat the will is not capable of spirituall gifts and that therefore there never were any spirituall gifts in the will of man before his fall that these graces were never severed from the will of man upon his fall and that such graces are never infused in regeneration into the wills of men THe holy Scripture in placing Gods spirituall gifts in the heart acknowledgeth also them to be in the will As namely uprightnesse or truth Psal. 32.12 Rejoyce all yee that are true in heart puritie Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart goodnes Luke 8.15 They are those which with an honest and good heart heare the word of God and keepe it 1 But if any man shall referre these graces to the affections and place them without the will he shall which were a foule enormity settle the chiefest gifts of divine grace in the unreasonable part of the soule Moreover the very habituall conversiō of the will unto God the Creator the aversion or turning away thereof from the inordinate desire it had to commit fornication with the creature without doubt is to be counted a chiefe and principal gift And that the will was capable of this gift it doth hence plainly appeare because it was created with such uprightnesse For God in the beginning made man righteous But that this righteousnes is lost it is over manifest by the effects seeing that now the will being carnall cannot choose but injoy and rest in those things which it ought onely to make use of and use the things which it ought rather to injoy forasmuch as a whole trope of sinfull dispositions have rushed and broke in upon the will 2 Furthermore as the will of a meere naturall man is said to be vicious frō a certaine inbred inherēt wickednes which in a wicked man even thē when he doth nothing is habituall so againe we must acknowledge that in the will of the regenerate there is a certaine righteousnesse infused and given from God which is presupposed in their religious actions Saint Austin in many places setteth forth this habituall righteousnesse The good will of man goes before many graces of God but not before all and this good will it selfe is to be reckoned among those gifts which it selfe cannot precede But lest any man should dreame that this goodnesse of the will is not an inward gift infused into that very faculty but onely a bare denomination fetched from the act of the will Prosper calls it the first plantation of the heavenly husbandman Now a plantation notes something engrafted in the soule not an act or action flowing from the soule THE SECOND ERRONEOVS OPINION THat that grace by which wee are converted is onely a gentle and moral swasion or inducement WEE deny not but in the worke of conversion whether in fitting us for that future grace or in confirming us therein as already performed God useth the perswasive force of his threats promises exhortations by which he allureth stirreth and ploweth up the fallowes of mens hearts But moreover for adding without faile the last close to this operation hee works more powerfully and unconquerably according to the exceeding greatnesse of his power and the working of his might Ephes. 1.19 Neither is swasion sufficient which no more then contingently affecteth and inviteth the will 1 For morall swasion moveth onely by way of object and so farre forth as the end propounded can allure But the Philosophers rightly determine that as the inclination of any one is accordingly hee apprehends the end So long therefore as a man is carnall and unregenerate his will cannot so bee affected with supernaturall benefits proposed unto it that by the desire of them hee should bee throughly enflamed to beleeve and convert But the will must be overcome and changed by a powerfull operation exceeding all swasion that so it may effectually embrace the good represented unto it 2 If men should be converted unto God onely by a morall swasion then this question why upon profer of equall grace one man beleeves another doth not might be answered out of the free wils owne power of willing or nilling neither should we have herein any cause to admire the unsearchable wisedome and justice of our God But this sound doctrine hath alwaies beene defended against the Pelagians That conversion faith comes from the secret grace of God which according to his mercie is afforded to some and according to his justice is not vouchsafed to others 3 If men were converted onely by morall swasion he which receives this swasive grace might truly say I have separated my selfe For I have received this gentle and swasive grace which hath solicited me to faith and conversion but no more then it solicited others they by the liberty of their free-will did reject this morall swasion and therefore they still remaine unconverted but I by the libertie of my free-will have given way and embraced the same swasion and therefore I am converted To what purpose then is that of Saint Paul Who hath separated thee What hast thou which thou hast not received Faith both begunne and perfected is the gift of God and no man who doth not oppose most manifest Scripture will doubt but that this gift is given to some and not given to other some THE THIRD ERRONEOVS OPINION THat presupposing all the operations of grace which God useth for the effecting of this conversion yet the will of man is still left in an equall ballance either to beleeve or not to beleeve to convert or not to convert it selfe to God 1 IF after all the workings of grace the will of man be left in eaven point it will necessarily follow that not God by his grace but man by his free-will is the chiefe cause and author
If any man therefore walke in a way contrarie to Gods ordinance namely that broad way of uncleannesse and impenitencie which leads directly downe to hell he can never come by this meanes to the kingdome of heaven Yea and if death shall overtake him wandring in this by-path hee cannot but fall into everlasting death This is the constant and manifest voice of the holy Scripture Except ye repent yee shall all likewise perish Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters c. shall inherit the kingdome of heaven They are deceived therefore that thinke the elect wallowing in such crimes and so dying must notwithstanding needs be saved throgh the force of election For the salvation of the Elect is sure indeed God so decreeing but withall by the decree of the same our God not otherwise sure then through the way of faith repentance and holinesse Without holinesse no man shall see God Heb. 12.14 The foundation of God standeth sure Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2.19 As therefore it was sure out of the decree and promise of God that all those who sailed in the ship with Saint Paul should escape alive out of shipwracke and notwithstanding Pauls saying was also as certaine Vnlesse these remaine in the ship ye cannot be saved So also it was certaine that the elect servants of God David and Peter should come to the kingdome of heaven yet withall it was no lesse certaine that if they had remained unrepentant the one in his homicide and adultery the other in his denying and forswearing Christ neither of them both could have beene saved For that Theologicall rule is most true Any one defect maketh a thing bad but to make truly good no parcell requirable must bee wanting Therefore for that incomparable good of life eternall wee are not fitted out of that onely that wee are elected unlesse there concurre other things which are by Gods decree necessarily required to the accomplishing of Election If any of these things be wanting nay if the contrary hereto bee in the elected there seemes then to arise a strange impossibility thwarting on both sides As for example It is unpossible that Paul being chosen should perish T is also unpossible that Paul being a blasphemer against Christ and an unbeleever if he dye in this state should not perish Or thus It is unpossible that David being chosen should perish T is also unpossible that David being a man-slayer and an Adulterer dying impenitent should not perish But Gods providence and mercy doth easily loose this knot by taking care that none of the elect dye in such estate by which according to some ordinance of Gods will he must be excluded from eternall life THE FIFTH POSITION IN the meane time betweene the guilt of a grievous sinne and the renewed act of faith and repentance such an offender stands by his owne desert to bee condemned by Christs merit and Gods decree to be acquitted but actually absolved he is net until he hath obtained pardon by renued faith repentance THere can bee no question of the merit of damnation for such a sinne They which doe such things shall not inherit the Kingdome of God Gal. 5.21 Notwithstanding in such a guilt the faithfull are not in the like case with the wicked To the faithfull the blood of Christ is a prepared antidote at hand ready to be applyed which as soone as their faith is awaked and rouzed up they can use to the overcomming of this deadly poyson But to the unfaithfull this inward active cause is wanting to wit faith without which the remedy though soveraigne in it selfe is as if it were layed afarre off out of reach neither can it be made their owne or actually applyed to them Ad moreover hereunto Gods speciall love which though it doth not hinder but that his fatherly indignation ariseth against an undutifull sonne yet it keepes of hostile hatred such as carieth with it a purpose of condemning 1 Corinth 11.32 When we are judged wee are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world Notwithstanding in this case the Father of mercies who will not condemne with the world his children though bound with the guilt of sinne yet on the other side he will not have them lye still sleeping in their sinnes together with the world And therefore hath he set downe this order that the act of repentance must goe before the benefit of forgivenesse Psal. 32.5 I acknowledge my sinne unto thee and mine iniquitie have I not hid I said I would confesse my transgression unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sinne Ezek. 18.27 When the wicked man turneth away from the wickednesse that hee hath committed he shall save his soule alive If any man therefore would know the very moment in which after the guilt procured by a grievous sin he becommeth actually absolved Saint Cyprian seemes manifestly to have shewne it in these words When I see thee sighing in the sight of God I doe not doubt but the holy Ghost breatheth with thy sighes When I behold thee weeping I perceive God forgiving THE SIXT POSITION IN the foresaid space the right to the Kingdome of God is not taken away universall justification is not defeated the state of adoption remaineth undissolved and by the custody of the holy Spirit the seed of regeneration with all those fundamentall graces without which the state of a regenerate man cannot stand is preserved whole and sound OVr right to the Kingdome of Heaven is not founded on our actions but on the free gift of adoption and on our union with Christ. And consequently the right to the Kingdome of Heaven is not taken away unlesse that be first taken away upon which it is founded If Children then heires heires of God and coheires with Christ. Therefore adoption remaining and the engrafture into Christ the faithfull may wander out of the way which leadeth to the Kingdome of heaven but hee cannot be said to lose his right of inheritance to that Kingdome For as he which fell into a leprosie was debarred from his own house untill hee was clensed and yet in the meane space lost not his right to his owne house So the adopted sonne of God taken with the Leprosie of adultery or murder or any other grievous sinne cannot indeed enter into the Kingdome of Heaven unlesse he first be purged from this contagion by renewed faith and repentance yet all this while his hereditary right is not quite lost Furthermore that universall and most properly called justification which the Apostle so lively sets forth Rom. 3.24 25. is not frustrated by the enterposed guilt of a particular sinne though heynous and grievously wounding the conscience For against this justification is directly opposed not every guilt of every sinne but the universall unremitted guilt of all sinnes nor the guilt of every person whatsoever but the guilt of
will put my feare into their hearts that they shall not depart from me Iohn 4.14 The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up unto eternall life 1 Cor. 10.13 But will with the tentation make a way to escape 2 It is false that it is offered equally to all as appeares out of our Positions set downe before in the first Article Where wee have proved that perseverance in faith doth belong to the Elect alone 3 It is false that perseverance is a grace offered upon condition for it is a gift promised absolutely by God without any respect at all of condition The reason is this Some promises of God are touching the end others touching the meanes which conduce to the end The promises concerning the end that is to say Salvation are conditionall Beleeve and thou shalt be saved Bee faithfull unto the death that is persever and I will give thee the Crowne of life But for as much as no man is able to performe the conditions God also hath made most free and absolute promises to give the very conditions which he workes in us that so by them as by meanes we may attaine the end Deut. 36.6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soule that thou maist live The end here promised is life which the Israelites could never attaine without the performance of the condition namely their love of God But here God promiseth absolutely that hee will give unto them this condition Since therefore the promises of Faith and perseverance in Faith are promises concerning the meanes they are expresly to bee reckoned among those absolute gifts by which God considering mans disability both to attaine the end without the meanes and also to performe the meanes or conditions of himselfe doth promise that he will make them able to performe the conditions God promiseth life to those that constantly feare him the promise of life is conditionall but of constant feare it is absolute I will put my feare in their hearts that they may not depart from me 4 Be it so that this gift were conditionall yet it is not offered upon this condition if men will not be wanting to themselves in the entertainment of this sufficient grace Against this condition those reasons are of force which we brought before against the strength of free wil in mans conversion to which we adde also these 1 First it will follow out of this condition that wee doe in vaine intreat God in the behalfe of any men that he would give unto them the gift of perseverance because of course he offers them universall and sufficient grace to which if they themselves will not be wanting they shall persevere 2 This is an idle condition For it makes perseverance to be the condition of perseverance For to persevere is nothing else but not to be wanting unto this sufficient grace If therefore God offers perseverance upon this condition he offers the same upon condition of it selfe 3 Lastly the second part of this opinion is soundly confuted by Saint Austine de corrept grat cap. 11. 12. of which disputation this is the summe It was given to Adam that hee might if he would persevere in good but it was not granted to him to will to persevere But such grace is given to us who are truly engrafted into Christ that not onely we may if we will but also that wee shall will to persevere in Christ. Againe in his booke de unitate Ecclesiae cap. 9. the same Austine doth contemne this very opinion maintained by the Donatists namely that Men beleeve if they will if they will they persevere in that which they beleeve if they will not they persevere not THE SECOND THat perseverance is a condition required in the new Covenant and foregoing Gods Election SEE the second and fift Erroneous Opinion rejected by us in the first Article THE THIRD THat hee who doth truely beleeve may sinne against the Holy Ghost These reasons confute this Opinion 1 FIrst to sinne against the Holy Ghost is to sinne unto death 1 Iohn 5.16 Those who are truely faithfull cannot sinne unto death Because to sinne unto death is to commit that sinne upon which death shall surely follow to wit that eternall and second death which never hath power over those who are truely faithfull as being those who dye unto sinne and doe rise againe from their sinnes unto newnesse of life Apoc. 20.6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power 2 They who sin against the Holy Ghost shall never come unto glory or unto the Kingdome of Heaven to which all true beleevers do without faile come For it is the same to bee a true beleever as to bee justified and to be the adopted Sonne of God but the justified shall come to glory Rom. 8. Whom he justified them also he glorified and the adopted sonnes of God shall attaine the Kingdome of Heaven Gal. 4.7 If sonnes then also beires of God through Christ. 3 1 Iohn 3.9 Whosoever is borne of God as is every true beleever doth not commit sinne which by the Apostles owne interpretation ver 8. He that commiteth sinne is of the Divell is to be understood of those sinnes which estate a man under the Kingdome and power of the Divell such as principally the sinne against the holy Ghost is Hither tends the speech of the Apostle 2. Tim. 4.18 The Lord shall deliver mee from every evill worke and will preserve mee unto his heavenly Kingdome What From every evill worke without exception Not so But from every such evill worke which might wholy deprive him of all right to the Kingdome of Heaven of which kind no question the sinne against the holy Ghost is not onely for the inward malice but also for the finall impenitency joyned to it THE FOVRTH THat no true beleever or regenerate person can be assured in this life of his perseverance and salvation without speciall revelation OF the first part of this position we handled before in this Article But now that a man may know that his perseverance for the future may be secured without any speciall revelation wee prove by this reason T is confessed that some Saints especially Saint Paul did obtaine this certainty Rom. 8. I am perswaded that neither life nor death c. But Saint Paul did not fetch this perswasion from extraordinary revelation but from those grounds which are common to him with other the faithfull vers 32. He that spared not his owne Sonne but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth vers 33. It is Christ that makes intercession for us What was Christ only given for Paul and not for other beleevers also Was Paul