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within them d; and the nature of the covenant of gracee: From all which arifeth also the certainty and infallibility thereof f

III. Nevertheless they may, through the temptations of Satan and the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous finsg; and for a time continue therein b: whereby they incur God's displeasure i, and grieve his holy Spirit; come to be deprived of fome measure of their graces and comforts 1; have their hearts hardened m, and their consciences wounded n; hurt and scandalize others. a, and bring ⚫ temporal judgments upon themselves p.

also to save them to the uttermoft, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

d. John xiv. 16. And I will pray the Father, and he shall 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 feeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall 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 shall abide in him. 1 John iii. 9. Whosoever is born of God. doth not commit sin; for his feed remaineth in him, and he cannot fin, because he is born of God.

e 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 x. 28. And I gave unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. 2 Theff. iii. 3. But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil, 1 John ti. 19. They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they

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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 de-. nied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. v. 72. And again he denied with: an oath, I do not know the man. v. 74. Then began he to curse and to swear, faying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.

b Pfal. li. (the title) To the chief musician, a pfalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone into Bathsheba. v. 14. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my falvation; and my tongue shall fing aloud of thy righteoufuefs.

i la. Ixiv. 5. Thou meetest him. that rejoiceth, and worketh righteousness, those 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 rame, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and haft confumed as becaufe of our iniquities. v. 9. Be not wroth very fore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, fee, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. 2 Sam. xi. 27. And when the morning was paft, David fent, and fet her to his house, and the became his wife, and bare

CHAP. XVIII. Of the Affurance of Grace and Salvation.

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LTHOUGH hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal pre

him a fon: but the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.

Eph. iv. 30. And grieve not the holy Spirit 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 repew a right spirit within me. v. 12. Reftore unto me the joy of thy falvation; and uphold me with thy free spirir. Rev. ii. 4. Never theless, I have fomewhat againft thee, becaufe thou haft left thy first love. Cant. v. 2. Isleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, 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 shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how Mall I defile them? v. 4. My be Loved 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 with drawn himself, and was gone; my foul failed when he spake: I fought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no an fwer

fumptions

2 ha. Ixiii. 17. O Lord, why hast 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 eleven, as they fat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them who had feen him after he was rifen.

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n Pfal. xxxii. 3. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old thro my roaring all the day long. 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 gladness: that the bones which thou haft broken may rejoice.

0 2 Sam. xii. 14. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occafion to the enemies of the Lord to blafpheme, the child alfo that is born unto thee shall surely die.

p Pfal, Ixxxix. 31. If they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, v. 32. Then will. I visit their tranfgreffion with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Cor. xi. 32. But when we are judged, we are chaftened of the Lord, that

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fumptions of being in favour of God and estate of salvation a; which hope of theirs shall perish b: yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jefus, and love him in fincerity, endeavouring to walk in all good confcience before him, may in this life be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace c, and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God; which hope shall never make them ashamed d.

II. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable perfuafion, grounded upon a fallible hope; but an infallible afsurance

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 shall perish. v. 14. Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spiders web. Micah 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 pass when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, faying, I shall 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 said they to him, We be not born of fornication, we - have one Father even God.

6 Mat. vii. 22, Many shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? - and in thy name have cast out de. vils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? v. 23. And then will I profefs unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

: at John ii. 3. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. I Johniii. 14.

We know that we have passed 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 shall assure 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,

V. 5.

d Rom. v. 2. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghoft which is given unto us

II. e Heb. vi. 11. And we defire that every one of you do thew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end. v. 19. Which hope we have as an anchor of the foul

afsurance of faith, founded upon the divine truth of the promises of falvation f, the inward evidences of those graces unto which these promises are made g, the teftimony of the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of Godh: which fpirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are fealed to the day of redemption i.

III. This infallible affurance doth not fo belong to the effence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties, before he be partaker of it k: yet being

foul, both fure and stedfaft, and which entereth into that within the

vail.

Heb. vi. 17. Wherein God wil ling more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutabifity of his counfel, confirmed it by on oath: v. 18. That by two immitable things, in which it was impoffible for God to lie, we might have a strong confolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope fet before us.

2 Pet. i. 4. Whereby are given unto as exceeding great and precious promifes, that by these you might he partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through luft. v. 5. And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge. v. 10. Where fore the rather brethren, give dili. *ligence to make your calling and election fure: for if ye do these things, ye thall never fall. V. II. For fo an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly, into the everlafting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Chrift. 1 John ii. 3. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 1 John ii. 14. We know that we have passed from death uato life, because we love the brethren; he that loveth not his brother, abid

eth in death. 2 Cor. i. 12. For our rejoicing is this, The teftimony of our confcience, that in simplicity, and godly fincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-wards.

6 Rom. viii. 15. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. v. 16. The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God,

i Eph. i. 13. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your falvation; in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were fealed with that holy Spirit of promife, v. 14. Which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased poffeffion, unto the praise of his glory. Eph. iv. 30. and grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 2 Cor. i, 21, Now he who ftablisheth us with you, in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God. who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

v. 22.

III. 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,

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being enabled by the Spirit, to know the things which are freely given him of God, he may, without extraordinary revelation, in the right use of ordinary means, attain thereunto 1. And therefore it is the duty of every one, to give all diligence to make his calling and election sure m; that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience; the proper fruits of this assurance n:

life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. Ifa. 1. 10. Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his fervant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him truft in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. Mark ix. 24. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and faid with tears, Lord I believe; help thou mine unbelief, (See Pfal. Ixxxviii. throughout. Pfal. Ixxvin to the 12, verfe.)

/1 Cor, ii. 12. Now we have re. ceived, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. I John iv. 13. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. Heb. vi. 11. And we defire, that every one of you do thew the fame diligence, to the full affurance of hope unto the end; v. 12. That ye be not Nothful, but followers of them, who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Eph. iii. 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love, v. 18. May be able to comprehend with all faints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, v. 19. And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of cod.

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m 2 Pet. i. 10. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure : for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.

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n Rom. v. 1. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Chrift. v. 2. By whom also we have accefs by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroadin our hearts, by the HolyGhoft which is given unto us. Rom. xiv. 171 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghoft. Rom. xv. 13. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Eph. i. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blesfings in heavenly places in Chrift: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love. Pfal. iv. 6. There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. v. 7. Thou hast put glad. ness in my heart, more than in the

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