then my not doing his outward Will, is the perform ance of his fecret Will; and this being his proper Will, wherein confifts his good Pleasure, my compliance therewith muft needs be the more acceptable; efpecially fince to this he affords me his providential concurrence, which he denýs me towards the aca complishment of the other.

.. Mr. Knowlittle. We are taught, that there are degrees of Glory; One Glory of the Sun, another of the Moon, and another of the Stars; and fo there 1.Cor. 15. shall be in Heaven. Now grant that you are secure, as you prefume, as to the eftate of Glory; yet you should be earneft in your endevors to capacitate your felf for the highest degrees of it.

Tilenus Tepidus. There are fome have made a Question of those different Degrees of Glory. In the Parable, every one at the end of the day receiv ed his penny, as much they that wrought but one hour, as they that had born the burthen and heat of the day. And the righteous fhall all fine as the Sun in the Kingdom of the Father; and every one thall enter into the Foy of the Lord, which is fulness of Joy. But befides this, if a Sparrow falleth not to the ground without God's providence; and if, as our Savior faith, the hairs of our Heads be all numbred: fhall we not think as well, that every Degree of Happiness, and every beam of Glory, and fpark of Joy are likewife apportioned and predetermined for all the Elect?

Dr. Abfolute. 'Tis true, the state of eternal blifs, as to all the degrees of Joy and Glory in it, is firmly and irreversibly Decreed to all the Elect; but yet thro' your remifnefs, and efpecially if that betrays you to any wafting Sin, you may damp your hopes, and lofe the fenfe and comfortable apprehenfion of the influences and effects thereof, which you know was David's cafe: O Lord rebuke me not Pfal. 6. ›› in thine anger, neither chaften me in thy hot difpleasure. and 51.12.

Q q

Have

Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak: 0 Lord heal me for my bones are vexed: my Soul is alfo fore vexed: but thon, O Lord, how long? Return O Lord, deliver my Soul: Oh fave me for thy mercies fake, and restore to me the Joy of thy Salvation. For in death there is no remembrance of thee. From hence you fee there is Heb. 6. 11. ground enough for the Apoftles exhortation; we defire that every one of you, do fhow the fame diligence, to the full affurance of hope firm unto the end.

Tilenus Tepidus. I know Mr. Diodati, in his A notations upon the fifth verfe of that fixth Pfalm, faith; bereby is fewn, the fear of God's children, anguifbed and prefled by the feeling of his Wrath, left they Thould dye out of his Grace unreconciled, and by that means be excluded and debarred from their defired aim, to be everlastingly inftruments of his Glory. But 'tis probable David in the feventy feventh Pfalm, if that Pfalm were his, had no intelligence of that comfort. able Doctrin defined by the Synod in this laft age, as appears by his fearful complaint and expoftulation: I remembred God and was troubled; I complained, and my Spirit was overwhelmed; my Soul refused to be comforted; will the Lord caft off for ever? And will he be favorable no more? Is his Mercy clean for ever? Deth his Promife fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be Gracious? Hath he in anger shut ир his tender Mercies? There could not have been this conflict of Diffidence and Anxiety in him, if he had been established in the Principles of the Synod; for annexing the Lord's public declarations 1.Sam. 13. by the mouth of Samuel touching him, to the con fcience of his own integrity, he might have col16.6.7. lected a certainty of his prefent Regeneration when he was anointed King, and from thence have concluded undeniably his Election from all eternity, and confequently the impoffibility of his rejection from God's favor. But there is fome likelihood he thought, that in the defignation of his everlaft

14.

gone

Pfal. 50.

ing Mercy towards them, God confidered Men as Faithful, according to the way of the Arminians, and as Perfevering in their Faithfulness. For he faith; Know that the Lord hath fet apart him that is Godly Pfal. 4. 3 for himself. If that Text will not ferve the turn, yet there is one unavoidable: the Mercy of the Lord Pfal. 103 is from Everlafting to Everlasting, upon them that 17. 18. fear him: to fuch as keep his Covenant: and to thoje that remember his Commandments to do them. And to 23. him that ordereth his Converfation aright, will I fhew the Salvation of God. And governing his perfwafions by thefe Principles, there is no wonder he was fo excedingly tranfported with a fear of God's dif pleasure. And that fuch were his Principles, may be collected alfo from hence, in that when the Paroxyfm of the temptation was fomewhat over, he doth not make his recourfe to the immutable Decree of God's Election, to cure the remanent palpitation of his Spirits; but only to former experience of God's merciful difpenfations towards his people: 1 Pfal. 77. will remember the works of the Lord; thou haft redeem. 11. 15. ed thy people, &c. But fince the clearing up of this foul-fettling Doctrin, by the great Judgment and Piety of the Synod, he that hath once tafted the Gracioufnefs of the Lord in his effectual vocation, and firmly believes that the things concerning his everlafting Happinefs are fo eftablifhed and carried on by the irresistible Power of an irrespective Decree, as is there taught, he may caft away all anxiety and care, and repofe himfelf with confidence under the wings of that fecurity.

Dr. Abfolute. But the Synod declares, that the Faithful must watch and pray, left they fall into temptati ons; and that when they grow remifs and torpid, quit their guard and neglect their duty, as you do, they

Fidelibus perpetuò esse vigilandum &orandum, ne in tentationes inducantur. &c.

24.

are many times furprized of the World and the Flesh, and carried captive into heinous and enormous Sins, whereby they offend God, and grieve the holy Spirit, and incur the Guilt of Death, and the like..

Tilenus Tepidus. 'Twas well you ftopt'there, Mr. Doctor. But I had thought your Worship had been better versed in this point. For my part, such Mormo'es and Bug-bears never trouble me. I am taught by the Synod to believe, that all the Sins in the World fhall never be able to separate an elect Perfon from the love of God: but rather make for his er advantage.

1

great

Mr. Indefectible. But fuppofe by your Sins, you fhould provoke God to anger fo far forth, that he fhould cut you off, as our Savior threatens the Ezek. 18. Jews; ye shall dye in your Sins. And the Prophet; when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked Man doth, shall be live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned, in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his fin that he hath finned, in them shall be dye.

Tilenus Tepidus. I did not expect fuch a fuppo fition, or objection from you of all Men living; for to fpeak properly, God is never angry but with the Reprobates, and I know 'tis your avowed Opinion, that the Elect can neither fall Finally nor Totally, and all the Synodifts are of the fame judgment. They diftinguish therefore of righteoufness into that which is inherent, or the righteoufnefs of works; and that which is imputed, or the righteousness of Faith. And they confefs the Elect may forfake his inherent righteoufnefs, and fall into moft foul and horrid Sins; but yet he doth not fall from his imputed righteoufnefs, the righteousness of Chrift, which he hath by Faith. They do alfo diftinguish between

7

between death Temporal, and death Eternal; affirming that the Sins of the Elect, tho' never fo many or heinous, do not incur the guilt of Eternal death, but only Temporal, which is never inflicted upon them neither, as a Curse, nor before their reftitution. For if you ask them what doom David had lain under, if Death had furprized him in his Murder and Adultery, they will tell you roundly, it was impoffible he fhould dye without repentance.

Dr. Dubius. I fuppole David's cafe was extraor dinary; and a special reafon is given by them of the Synod, why he could not dye before Repentance, viz. because after his Sin he was to beget a Son of whom the Meffias fhould defcend.

Tilenus Tepidus. I conceive, that ground is too loofe to bear the Superftructure, the Men of that Opinion would raise upon it; for they are not all Saints in our Savior's Genealogy, neither did David's Şin bereave him of the faculty of Generation. The Son of Jeffe might have propagated a Stem for the Meias to branch out of, and yet have dyed in his Sin afterwards; the impoffibility therefore of his dying without Repentance is grounded upon a more folid and impregnable foundation, namely, the eternal Decree and love of God, which equally concerns all the Elect. That immutable love wherein God elected them, doth exert it self and prompt him infallibly to confer the Grace of Repentance upon them first or laft, how great and how many Sins foever they run into. And if Men had the Will to improve this most excellent comfortable Doctrin, the advantage of it would be unspeakable. Men do beat their brains and exhauft their treasure in experiments to find out and extract Paracelfus his Elixir to preferve them in Life and Health to perpetuity: But here is the only infallible Medicin, ten thouLand times more Sovereign than the Poets fabulous Ambrofia, or Medea's charms, which are faid to

have