A23636:200
The principles of the Protestant religion maintained, and churches of New-England, in the profession…
The principles of the Protestant religion maintained, and churches of New-England, in the profession and exercise thereof defended against all the calumnies of one George Keith, a Quaker, in a book lately published at Pennsylvania, to undermine them both / by the ministers of the Gospel in Boston.The principles of the Protestant religion maintained, and churches of New-England, in the profession and exercise thereof defended against all the calumnies of one George Keith, a Quaker, in a book lately published at Pensilvania, to undermine them both / by the ministers of the Gospel in Boston.
printed by Richard Pierce, 1690
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
and it is no new thing for the Scripture to express things which men seem to have, as if they had them, because they hold others in hand and often deceive themselves into a belief that they have them, see Luc. 8.18. compare Mat. 13.20. His allegation from Ezek. 18.24. &c. may at first seem to have a face of a plea in it, but it only seems so. Other Scriptures assure us that no true believer shall finally & totally fall away from grace; and Scripture doth not contradict it self. Several things might here be offered; briefly Consider, 1. This is but a conditional expression, and therefore asserts nothing to his purpose. 2. God is pleased sometimes, to curb in His people's Corruptions by such Conditional Threatenings, see Rom. 8.13. Heb. 12, 14. for they have nothing in themselves, but what they might lose if God did not secure it; & God so preserves His People as to stir up fear and care in them. 3. And what if we say, That God speaks to them in respect of the typical part of the typical Covenant, to whom the promises and threatenings concerning the typical blessings of Canaan were made on these conditions, which they might either keep or break, and by breaking fall from them, and ⟨p. 113⟩forfeit their lives and Land.
and it is no new thing for the Scripture to express things which men seem to have, as if they had them, because they hold others in hand and often deceive themselves into a beliefe that they have them, see Luc. 8.18. compare Mat. 13.20. His allegation from Ezek. 18.24. &c. may at first seem to have a face of a plea in it, but it only seems so. Other Scriptures assure us that no true believer shall finally & totally fall away from grace; and Scripture doth not contradict it self. Several things might here be offered; briefly Consider, 1. This is but a conditional expression, and therefore asserts nothing to his purpose. 2. God is pleased sometimes, to curb in His people's Corruptions by such Conditional Threatnings, see