yet surely the word of the Lord hath been and shall be so far fulfilled, that in a great measure and according to the knowledge which the church can have of her members in this life, there is in times of Heresies and Schismes a discovery made who are the approved Ones, who not. 2. We must re∣member tis not the scope of this Text to give us a note of di∣stinction between these who are approved, and all counterfits or unapproved Christians, but between these who are appro∣ved, and these who are the fomenters or followers of Heresies. Thus they who are indeed approved of God continue in the truth of Christ, grounded and setled, and stand fast in the faith and contend for it: and this is one of the characters, found in all such as are approved. And thus far, saith Augustine, are He∣reticks profitable to the Church, for by their meanes, thoseAugust. Tom. 1. lib de vera re∣lig. cap. 8. sunt enim innume∣rabiles in Ecclesia sancta, Deo pro∣bati vii, sed ma nifesti non fiunt inter nos, quam diu imperitiae nostrae te∣nebris de∣lectatidor∣mire ma∣lumus, quam lucē veritatis ntueri. who are approved of God and spiritual men, are stirred up to vindicat, open, and hold foorth the truth, whereby they be∣come more manifest then otherwise they could have been. Upon the other part, who ever turne away from the truth, and from the Doctrine of Christ, and turne aside after Here∣sies, do thereby infalliblely declare themselves to be unap∣proved, whatsoever profession or shew of holine e they have: Whatsoever become of the white mark of these who are ap∣proved (which also holds true as I have explained it) most certainly, this black mark cannot fail upon the other side, and he who supposeth any person who is of a Hereticall belief and faction, to be holy, spirituall, mortified, and approved, or one that walketh in the spirit, and not in the flesh, doth but sup∣pose that which is impossible. And I do not doubt, but God is (by the Heresies and Schismes of these times) making a disco∣very of many unapproved, unmortified Professors, who pre∣tended to Piety. So that I may transferre to our time what Chrysostome observed of his owne, lib. 1 ad eos qui scandali∣ati sunt. cap. 19. How many are there clothed with a shadow and0