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Chap. XVII certainly perfevere therein to the end, and be eternally faved as II. This perfeverance of the faints depends not upon their own free-will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Fatherb; upon the efficacy of the merit and interceffion of Jefus Chriftc; the abiding of the Spirit and of the feed of

Then fhall he answer them, faying, Verily, I fay unto you, In as much as ye did it not to one of the leaft of these, ye did it not to me. Mat. xxiii. 23. Wo unto you fcribes and Pharifees, hypocrites; for ye pay tithe of mint, and anife, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

I. a Phil. i. 6. Being confident of this very thing, that he who hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jefus Chrift, 2 Pet. i. 10. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election fure: for if ye do these things, ye fhall never fall. John x. 28. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perifh, neither fhall any pluck them out of my hand. v. 29. My Father, who gave them me, is greater than all: and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. 1 John iii. 9. Whofoever is born of God, doth not commit fin; for his feed remaineth in him: and he cannot fin, because he is born of God. 1 Pet. i. 5. Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto falvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. v. 9. Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your fouls.

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II. 62 Tim. ii. 18. Who concerning the truth have erred, faying,that

the refurrection is paft already; and overthrow the faith of fome. v. 19. Neverthelefs, the foundation of God ftandeth fure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Chrift, depart from iniquity. Jer. xxxi. 3. The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, faying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee.

c Heb. x. 10. By the which will we are fanctified, through the offering of the body of Jefus Christ once for all. v. 14. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are fanctified. Heb. xiii. 20. Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord jefus, that great fhepherd of the theep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, v. 21. make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleafing in his fight, through Jefus Chrift; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Heb. ix. 12. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. v. 13. For if the blood of bulls, and of goats, and the afhes of an heifer fprinkling the unclean, fanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh; v. 14. how much more fhall the blood of Christ, who, thro' the eternal Spirit, offered himself

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of God within them d; and the nature of the covenant of gracee: From all which ariseth also the certainty and infal libility thereoff.

without fpot to God, purge your confcience from dead works, to ferve the living God? v. 15. And for this cause he is the mediator of the new teftament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the tranfgreffions that were under the first testament, they who are called might receive the promise of eternal, inheritance. Rom. viii. 33. Who fhall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that juftifieth: v. 34. Who is he that condemneth? It is Chrift that died, yea rather that is rifen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh interceffion for us. v. 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? fhall tribulation, or distress, or perfecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or fword? v. 36. (As it is written, for thy fake we are killed all the day long; we are counted as fheep for the flaughter.) v. 37. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. v. 38. For I am perfwaded, that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things prefent, nor things to come, v. 39. nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, fhall be able to feparate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jefus our Lord. John xvïi, 11. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name, those whom thou haft given me, that they may be one, as we are. 1/24. Father, I will, that they al

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fo whom thou haft given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory which thou haft givén me; for thou lovedft mé before the foundation of the world. Luke xxii. 32. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and when thou art converted, ftrengthen thy brethren. Heb. vii. 25. Wherefore he is able alfo to fave them to the uttermoft, that come unto God by him, seeing he éver liveth to make interceffion for them.

d John xiv. 16. And I will pray the Father, and he fhall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; v. 17. Even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and fhall be in you. i John ii. 27. But the anointing which ye have received of him, abideth in you: and ye need not that any man teach you: But, as the fame anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie: and even as it hath taught you, ye fhall abide in him, John iii. 9. Whofoever is born of God, doth not commit fin; for his feed remaineth in him: and he cannot fin, because he is born of God.

• Jer. xxxii. 40. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, That I will not turn away from them to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.

f John 1. 28. And I give unto them eternal life, and they thall ne

III. Nevertheless they may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their prefervation, fall into grievous finsg; and for a time continue thereinh: whereby they incur God's difpleafurei, and grieve his holy Spiritk; come to be deprived of fome measure of their graces and comforts /; have their hearts hardenedm,

ver perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. 2 Theff. iii. 3. But the Lord is faithful, who fhall stablish you, and keep you from evil, 1 John ii. 19. They went out from us, but they were not of us for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

III. g Mat. xxvi. 70. But he denied before them all, faying, I know not what thou fayeft, v. 72. and again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. v. 74. Then began he to curfe and to fwear, faying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.

h Pfal. li. (the title) To the chief mufician, a pfalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone into Bathfheba., v. 14. Deliver me from blood guiltinefs, O God, thou God of my falvation and my tongue fhall fing aloud of thy righteousness.

i Ifa. Ixiv. 5. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth, and worketh righteoufnefs, thofe that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth, for we have finned: in thofe is continuance, and we shall be faved. v. 7. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou haft hid thy face from us, and haft confumed us because of our i

niquities. v. 9. Be not wroth very fore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, fee, we befeech thee, we are all thy people. 2 Sam xi. 27. And when the mourning was paft, David fent, and fet her to his houfe, and she became his wife, and bare him a fon: but the thing that David had done difpleafed the Lord.

Eph. iv. 30. And grieve not the holy fpirit of God, whereby ye are fealed unto the day of redemption.

/ Pfal. li. 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness: that the bones which thou haft broken may rejoice. v. 10. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. v. 12. Reftore unto me the joy of thy falvation; and uphold me with thy free fpirit. Rev. ii. 4. Nevertheless, I have fomewhat against thee, because thou haft left thy first love. Cant. v. 2. I fleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, faying, Open to me, my fifter, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. v. 3. I have put off my coat, how fhall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how fhall I defile them? v. 4. My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. v. 6. I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had

edm, and their confciences wounded n; hurt and fcandalize otherso, and bring temporal judgments upon themselvesp.

CHAP. XVIII. Of the Affurance of Grace and Salvation. LTHOUGH hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with falfe hopes and carnal prefumptions of being in the favour of God and eftate of falvation a; which hope of theirs fhall perifhb: yet fuch as truly believe

withdrawn himself, and was gone; my foul failed when he fpake: I fought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

m Ifa. lxiii. 17. O Lord, why haft thou made us to err from thy ways? and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy fervants fake, the tribes of thine inheritance. Mark vi. 53. For they confidered not the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened. Mark xvi. 14. Afterwards he appeared unto the cleven, as they fat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart because they believed not them who had seen him after he was rifen.

» Pfal. xxxii. 3. When I kept filence, my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long. v. 4. For day and night, thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of fummer. Pfal. li. 8. Make me to hear joy and gladnefs: that the bones which thou haft broken may rejoice.

• 2 Sam. xii. 14. Howbeit, because by this deed thou haft given great occafion to the enemies of the Lord to blafpheme, the child also that is born unto thee, fhall furely die.

Pfal. lxxxix. 31. If they break

my ftatutes and keep not my com mandments. v. 32. Then will I vifit their tranfgreffion with the rod, and their iniquity with ftripes. 1 Cor. xi. 32. But when we are judged, we are chaftened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

I a Job viii. 13. So are the paths of all that forget God, and the hypocrites hope fhall perifi. v. 14. Whofe hope fhall be cut off, and whofe truft fhall be a spiders web. Mic. iii. 11. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money; yet will they lean upon the Lord, and fay, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us. Deut. xxix. 19. And it come to pafs when he heareth the words of this curie, that he bless himself in his heart, faying, I fhall have peace, though I

walk in the imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst. John viii. 41. Ye do the deeds of your father. Then faid they to him, We be not born of fornication, we have one Father even God.

Mat. vii. 22. Many fhall fay to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophefied in thy name? and in thy name have caft out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? v. 23. And then G 2

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believe in the Lord Jefus, and love him in fincerity, endea vouring to walk in all good confcience before him, may in this life be certainly affured that they are in the state of gracec, and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God; which hope fhall never make them afhamed d.

II. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable perfuafion, grounded upon a fallible hope e; but an infallibles affurance of faith, founded upon the divine truth of the promifes of falvationf, the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are madeg, the testimony of the Spirit

will I profefs unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

1 John ii. 3. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 1 John iii. 14. We know that we have paffed from death unto life, because we love the brethren: he that loveth not his brother, abideth in death, v. 18. My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. v. 19. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and fhall affure our hearts before him. v. 21. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God. v. 24. And he that keepeth his commandments, dwelleth in him, and he in him: and hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit that he hath given us. 1 John v. 13. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

d Rom. v. ii. By whom alfo we have access by faith into this grace wherein we ftand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. v. 5. And hope maketh not afhamed,

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because the love of God is fhed a broad in our hearts, by the holy Ghost which is given unto us. II. Heb. vi. Ir. And we defire that every one of you do fhew the fame diligence to the full affurance of hope unto the end. v. 19. Which hope we have as an anchor of the foul, both fure and ftedfast, and which entereth into that within the vail.

ƒ Heb. vi. 17. Wherein God willing more abundantly to fhew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counfel, confirmed it by an oath: v. 18. that by two iminu> table things, in which it was impoffible for God to lie, we might have a ftrong confolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope fet before us.

g 2 Pet. i. 4. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through huft. v. 5. And befides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge. v. 10.Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election fure: for if ye do these

things,

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