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gives future legacies to his children. Hence says the Apostle, "The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." There is no occasion of God's saying or doing any thing, at the time of justifying believers, because he has already adopted them into his family and made them heirs, according to the terms specified in his written and revealed Will.

IV. Let us next consider when true believers are justified, pardoned, and accepted. The apostle plainly intimates, that they are justified as soon as they become believers. "Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Our Savior said, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." And again he solemnly declared, "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." The apostle declares, "There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." And he more directly says to believers, "You, being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven all your trespasses, blotting out the hand-writing of ordinances that were against us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross" He furthermore asserts, "All things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified." It

appears from these passages of Scripture, that as soon as any persons arise from spiritual death to spiritual life; or as soon as they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; or, in a word, as soon as they exercise any gracious affection, they become the children of God; and as soon as they become the children of God, they become heirs; and are instantly justified, pardoned, and accepted, whether they know it, or not. Children may be heirs to great estates, while they are entirely ignorant of their heirship. And so the children of God may be heirs to a rich and eternal inheritance, while they have painful fears of being forever disinherited. Justification is instantaneous; and takes place that moment, in which sinners become saints, or have the character of heirs in God's revealed Will.

It now remains,

V. To consider the conditions upon which believers are completely justified, pardoned, and accepted. I use all these expressions, because they are all used in Scripture to signify the same thing. Though believers are justified, pardoned, and accepted, as soon as they believe, or become the children of God; yet if we look into his last Will and Testament, we find that their full and final pardon entitled to their eternal inheritance is conditional. They must perform certain things, which he has specified as terms or conditions of their taking possession of their several legacies. When a man makes a Will, he may bequeath certain legacies to his children upon certain terms or provisos. He may give a legacy to one child upon condition, that he lives to become of age; to another upon condition, that he conducts in a certain manner; to another upon condition, that he follows a certain profession; and to another upon condition, that he performs certain services. The Testator always has a right to

make just such provisos or conditions in his Will as he thinks proper; and those to whom he makes devises must comply with his conditions, in order to become fully and finally entitled to them. God might have justly disinherited all mankind upon their first apostacy; but in mere mercy he has given large legacies to all true believers, who will comply with the conditions, which he has proposed in his new Testament. Let us now examine that sacred and precious Instrument, and see what terms, he has therein specified, in respect to the full and final salvation of believers.

And here we find, in the first place, that God requires believers to persevere in faith and obedience, in order to obtain their promised inheritance. They must continue to love, to repent, to believe, to submit, to obey, and to perform the various duties, which he has enjoined upon them in his revealed Will. Christ repeatedly said to his disciples, "He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved." And he much oftener promised salvation to those only, who shall faithfully fulfil their duty, and finally overcome all enemies and obstacles in the path to heaven. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it. He that overcometh and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name before my Father, and before his angels. To him that overcometh I will grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcome, and am set down

with my Father in his throne." Paul said to the believing Jew, "Behold the goodness and severity of God: on them that fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness; if thou continue in his goodness; otherwise thou shalt be cut off. He said to the Colossians, "You, that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled, in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard." Many other similar passages might be mentioned; but these are sufficient to show, that true believers must overcome the world, endure unto the end, and finally persevere in faith and holiness, in order to take possession of the inheritance of the saints in light.

But, secondly, lest true believers should make ship. wreck of their faith, and finally fall away, God has made a proviso in his revealed Will, which effectually secures their love, their faith, and their obedience to the end of life. He has promised to aid and assist them through their whole christian course. The Apostle Paul speaks with confidence to christians upon this subject. "Now he which establisheth 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." Again he says in the same epistle, "Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also hath given us the earnest of the Spirit. And speaking to those who had embraced the gospel and trusted in Christ, he says, "In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession." The apostle Peter likewise taught christians in general the

absolute certainty both of their finally persevering in holiness, and of their finally possessing their promised inheritance. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation." Thus God has abundantly promised to carry on the good work which he has begun in the hearts of believers, until the day of Jesus Christ. And this promise of the aid and earnest of the Spirit to the heirs of salvation, is a peculiar proviso in God's last Will and Testament. Other testators often propose conditions to their intended heirs, but never engage to make them actually perform the conditions proposed. This however, is essential to the design and form of God's revealed Will. If this article were not inserted, the legatees not only might, but certainly would fail of obtaining their eternal inheritance.

It must be further observed under this head, thirdly, that God has made a proviso in his Will, by which he retains his original right to chastise or punish believers, in case they prove negligent in duty or disobedient to his righteous commands. He expressly declares concerning his children in the eighty-ninth Psalm. “If they forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from them, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail." And agreeably to this the Apostle asserts in the twelfth of Hebrews, that "whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every

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