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come short of what God requires, and do not make any man meet to receive the grace of God."

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CHAPTER XVII.

OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS.

I. THEY Whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace; but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.a

Hag. ii. 14. So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean. Amos v. 21, 22. I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings, and your meat offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Mark vii. 6, 7. He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. See Hos. i. 4.

d Psa. xiv. 4. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD. Psa. xxxvi. 3. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit he hath left off to be wise, and to do good. Matt. xxv. 41-45. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was a hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. Matt. xxiii. 23. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise 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 which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus

II. This perseverance of the saints depends, not upon their own free-will, but upon the immutability of the decrce of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father; upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ; the abiding of the Spirit and of the seed of God within them; and the

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Christ. John x. 28, 29. And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. 1 Pet. i. 5, 9. Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.-Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. See 1 John iii. 9.

II. 2 Tim. ii. 19. Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Jer. xxxi. 3. The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

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John xvii. 11, 24. 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 hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.-Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. Heb. vii. 25. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Luke xxii. 32. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Rom. viii. 33, 34, 38, 39. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

d John xiv. 16, 17. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 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 shall be in you. 1 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 same 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

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nature of the covenant of grace: from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof.

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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 preservation, fall into grievous sins; 9 and for a time continue therein: h whereby they incur God's displeasure, and grieve his Holy Spirit; come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts; have their hearts sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

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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. See Heb. viii. 10-12.

12 Thess. iii. 3. But the Lord is faithful, who shall 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. John x. 28. They shall never perish. See 1 Thess. v. 23, 24.

III. Psa. li. 14. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. Matt. xxvi. 70, 72, 74. But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.—And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man.-Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man.

h2 Sam. xii. 9, 13. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.-And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.

i Isa. lxiv. 7, 9. For thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.-Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. 2 Sam. xi. 27. And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.

* Eph. iv. 30. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

1 Psa. li. 8, 10, 12. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.-Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.-Restore unto me the joy

hardened, m and their consciences wounded;" hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves. P

CHAPTER XVIII.

OF THE ASSURANCE OF GRACE AND SALVATION.

I. ALTHOUGH hypocrites, and other unregenerate men, may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favor of God and estate of salvation; a which hope of theirs shall perish : yet such b

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of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Rev. ii. 4. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

m Isa. Ixiii. 17. O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance. Mark vi. 52. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.

~ Psa. xxxii. 3, 4. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Psa. li. 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

2 Sam. xii. 14. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

? Psa. lxxxix. 31, 32. If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. 1 Cor. xi. 32. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

I. a Deut. xxix. 19. And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst. 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 say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us. 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.

Matt. vii. 22, 23. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord,

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as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him, may in this life be certainly assured that they are in a state of grace, 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 persuasion, grounded upon a fallible hope; but an infallible assurance of faith, founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation, the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made, the tes

have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess 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 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. See 1 John iii. 14, 18, 19, 21, 24.

d Rom. v. 2, 5. 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 Ghost which is given unto us. 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

II. Heb. vi. 11, 19. And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end.Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail.

ƒ Heb. vi. 17, 18. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.

2 Pet. i. 4, 5, 10, 11. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue knowledge.-Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure; for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our

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