how does this militate against the saints' final perseverance? Since these converted Jews will appear to have a share in that kindness which shall never depart from them, and to be interested in that covenant which shall never be removed. And it should be observed, that this exception destroys the former; for if the Jews, and their conversion are spoken of, then not the nations in general.

3. It is farther urged*, that "the promise of a covenant of peace that should not fail, was made under a condition, as the words in chap. lv. 3, show." To which I answer, that the phrases of inclining the ear, and hearkening to the Lord, mentioned in the place referred to, were not the conditions of God's making, that is, making known, and confirming his covenant to them; but the promise of making good, and applying the blessings of the covenant, is used as an encouragement to incline the ear to hearken to him. Besides, were this covenant of peace a conditional one, depending on any thing to be performed by man, it would not be better than the old covenant; whereas the covenant of grace and peace, is represented as a new and a better one, established upon better promisest, which are absolute and unconditional. Add to this, that the covenant here spoken of, is represented to be such a one, ver. 9, as was made with Noah. Now the covenant made with Noah was without any condition required on the part of man, as appears from Gen. ix. 11.

SECTION XIII.

As for me, this is my covenant with them saith the Lord, My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, or out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth, and for ever.-ISAIAH lix. 21.

THESE words are to be understood of the church of Christ under the New Testament dispensation, and of all true believers, which are the seed of the church, and her seed's seed in successive ages; being born in her, nursed up at her side, and are her children in a spiritual sense; among whom the Spirit and the Word, two grand blessings of the covenant of grace, shall always remain, and never depart from them; and so contain a very considerable argument, not only of the continuance of the church of Christ in all ages, and of his Spirit and gospel in it, but of the final perseverance of particular saints. For, if the Spirit of the Lord shall not finally and totally depart from such, in whom he is as a spirit of regeneration, sanctification, faith, adoption, &c. though his grace in them is not always in exercise, and he may, for a time, withdraw his sensible presence and gracious influence, then the saints shall finally persevere, and cannot perish; for it is impossible they should ever perish with him in them, who is the well of living water springing up unto eternal life: the abiding seed in them, who is greater than he that is in the world; and will perform the good work of grace begun in them, until the day of Christ. Moreover, if the gospel, though it may depart from a nation, as it did from the Jews, and has done from others, and from visible, particular congregated churches, such as the seven churches of Asia, and out of the mouths of formal professors, who may drop, deny, and blaspheme it; shall never depart out of the mouths of such who have received it in the love of it, and in whose hearts it works effectually, then they shall finally persevere; since this gospel is the power of God unto salvation to them, and the engrafted word able to save them. But, in answer to this, it is urged,

red too : it is

1. That the words are a conditional promise,* being made with such who turn from transgression, ver. 20, and on the account of their so doing; and no longer binding, than that is continued. To which may be replied, that there is not the least appearance of a condition in the words, or in the preceding verse referred too : not said, If they turn away from transgression, then my spirit and my words shall not depart from them. Their turning away from transgression is mentioned not as the cause, or condition of Go God's covenant with them, and of these articles in it; but only as descriptive of the persons interested therein. Besides, as the words are cited by the apostle Paul in Rom. xi. 27, they contain an absolute promise of what the Redeemer would do for them when he came, and not what they should do themselves.

2. It is observed,† "that something external, and peculiar to the Israelites, is here promised." To which I reply; whatever may be said for the words of the Lord being in their mouths, as something external; it is certain that the Spirit of the Lord being upon, or in them )for על, is put for ב as Kimchi explains the words) designs nothing external, nor the gifts of the Spirit, either ordinary, or extraordinary; but the internal operations of his grace, in which sense the phrase is used in Isaiah xliv. 3, 4. Moreover, though the Jews, under the Old Testament dispensation, had many external things peculiar to themselves, in which they had the advantage of the Gentiles; yet, under the New Testament dispensation, there is no difference made between believing Jews, and believing Gentiles; see Gal. iii. 28; Coloss. iii. 11. Besides, these promises were not made to the Israelites or Jews, literally considered; but to the church of Christ, and true believers in him, figuratively signified by Zion and Jacob.

+

3. It is added, + that these promises regard a particular time from which they commenced, from henceforth, and for ever; and particular persons, who are distinctly and emphatically, and by a climax, mentioned; from thy mouth, and the mouth of thy seed, and of thy seed's seed. Whereas the promise of perseverance, according to our notions of it, must belong equally to all the elect in all ages, before, as well as after, these promises were made." To which I answer, that the covenant here spoken of regards the new covenant, or the administration of that covenant of grace, under the gospel dispensation, which was to take place from the coming of the Redeemer, ver. 20, the date intended, nor was there any need to include more; nor could more be included in these promises than the saints under the gospel dispensation. And the reason why the church, her seed, and seed's seed, are so distinctly mentioned, may be to remove all doubts and scruples from the minds of believers, in all the periods of that dispensation, and the more strongly to confirm them in the belief of these things.

4. It is said,* "that the apostle Paul plainly refers these words to the time of the Jews' conversion to the faith; who, when brought home to Christ, should never fall from him." Be it so, that they do more particularly belong to that time, than any other: this sense of them is far from militating against the saints' final perseverance; since it strongly proves that the Jews, when converted, shall not finally and totally fall away; which is not a blessing peculiar to them, but what they will have in common with Gentile believers.

5. It is urged,+† that " if these promises belong to the elect, the seed of the elect, and their seed's seed, must be elected also; whereas it is certain, from experience, that the seed of the elect are often very wicked; and therefore not elect, but reprobates." It must be owned, that there would be a good deal of force in this objection, were the words to be understood of believers, and their natural seed and offspring, as such; and therefore such who understand the words in this sense, would do well to consider how they betray the doctrine of perseverance into the hands of our opponents. But when it is observed, that these words respect not the children of the flesh, or the natural seed of believers, but the children of the promise, who are counted for the seed, there will appear no weight in the objection.

SECTION XIV.

And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in fuithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord. Hos. ii. 19, 20.

THE certain and final perseverance of the elect, appears very evident from this passage of scripture. For, if the Lord Jesus Christ does, by an act of his free grace, betroth his people to himself; and that in righteousness, in the wedding garment of his own righteousness; and also in judgment, which may intend the powerful protection of them from all insults and injuries; and likewise in loving-kindness, and in mercies, which he has shown in dying for them, in nourishing and cherishing of them, and in sympathizing with them, as well as in faithfulness, which he will never suffer to fail; and all this for ever; so that this marriage relation shall never cease; I say, if Christ has thus closely and eternally joined and united his people to himself, it is not possible they should ever be separated from him; or so fall from his grace as to be eternally lost. But to this, the following things are objected.

1. That these words* are spoken " of them, who came out of the land of Egypt, who had burnt incense to Baalam, and whose feast days were new moons and sabbaths, and so cannot concern the elect only, or their final perseverance." To which I reply, that it is very evident, that though these words are spoken of the Israelites, yet not of the same individual persons who came out of Egypt, or who had burnt incense to Baalam; but regard other persons and times, even the times when the ceremonial law was to be abolished, and the new moons, sabbaths, and solemn feasts, made to cease, ver. 11, when the land of Judea with its vines and fig-trees, should be destroyed, ver. 12, and which are distinguished from the days of the youth of this people, as a body politic, when they came out of the land of Egypt, ver. 15, and so concern the elect of God among that people, who being allured into the wilderness of the Gentile world, ver. 14, were met with, and converted under the ministry of the apostles, and so openly betrothed unto the Lord Jesus Christ: and was a pledge of what will be more largely done at the time of their general conversion; when it shall be said, the marriage of the Lamb is come. Besides, these words regard not only the elect of God among the Jews, but among the Gentiles also, as appears from Rom. ix. 23-26.

2. It is objected, † that " if these spiritual promises respect the elect, then the temporal ones must do so likewise; and then they must abound with corn, and wine and oil, ver. 22, which yet were never looked upon as promises made to the elect, much less as things peculiarly belonging to them." But why these should not be looked upon as promises made to the elect, I see not: does not God take care of his own elect in temporal things? which, though not peculiar to them, yet are given to them in a peculiar manner, being blessings indeed to them, whilst they are curses to others. Besides, nothing is more evident than that oftentimes, in the writings of the Old Testament, temporal blessings are spoken of, as figurative of spiritual ones.

3. It is moreover observed, "that the promise here made to Israel, is only made to her returning to her first husband, ver. 7," and is not an absolute, but a conditional one. But whoever reads it with any care, will easily see that it is expressed in the most absolute and unconditional terms; no less than three times, to express the certainty of the thing, does the Lord say, I will betroth thee unto me, and adds, and thou shalt know the Lord; that is, believe in him, own, acknowledge, love, honour, and obey him, as thy lord and husband. He does not say, if thou wilt own and acknowledge me, love, honour and obey me, or return to me, and remain inviolably chaste and faithful to me, then I will betroth thee to myself; nor is there any connection between these words and ver. 7. And was there any between them; yet even they are delivered in very absolute terms thus, she shall say under strong convictions of mind, and impressions made by powerful and efficacious grace, I will go and return to my husband, for then was it better with me

SECTION XV.

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.-JER. Xxxii. 40.

IF the covenant God makes with his people is an everlasting one, interest in it indissoluble, the grace of it always sufficient, its blessings irreversible, its promises sure, and the mediator of it always the same, than which nothing is more certain; if God, the maker of this covenant, will not turn away his love and affections from them, but will do them all the good he has either purposed or promised, and if he puts his fear in their hearts, so as that they shall not depart totally from him; their final perseverance must be abundantly secured. Now, in answer to this, it is said,

1. That "these* promises are made expressly to the whole house of Israel, and to all the children of Israel and Judah ; and therefore cannot concern the elect only, or their final perseverance." I reply, that Israel and Judah were typical of God's elect, under the gospel dispensation; and supposing that they are literally intended, it is enough to secure the faithfulness of God in these promises, that they were made good to his elect among them. The apostle has taught us to answer such an objection in this manner, when he says,† Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect, for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel; God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew; the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Besides, the words all and whole, are neither in the text, nor context; and were they, yet, if these promises regard the time of the Jews' conversion as this author pleads for, when all Israel shall be saved, and so appear to be elected, these must needs concern the elect only, and their final perseverance.

2. It is objected, that "these promises are for the good of their children after them, who therefore must be elected also; whereas it is certain from experience, that the seed of the elect are often very wicked persons." sons." To which may be replied, that God does not here promise to make an everlasting covenant with their children, nor that he will not turn away from their children, to do them good, nor that he will put his fear in the hearts of their children that they shall not depart from him; only that he will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear him for ever, for the good of them and of their children after them; which is true, since the religious conduct of parents towards their children, the religious examples set them, and the religious education given them, may be in many instances for their good, even though many of them may prove wicked, and without supposing them all to be