Chap. XVII within them d; and the nature of the covenant of gracee: From - all which arifeth alfo 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 fins g; and for a time continue therein h: whereby they incur God's difpleasure i, and grieve his holy Spirit k: alfo to fave them to the uttermoft, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever 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 feeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and fhall 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 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. 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, 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 fhall not depart from me, John x. 28. And I gave unto them eternal life, and they fhall never perih, neither fhall any pluck them out of my hand. 2 Theff. iii. 3. But the Lord is faithful, who fhall ftablish you, and keep you from evil, 1 John . 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 de-. nied before them all, faying, I know not what thou fayelt. 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. b Pfal. li. (the title) To the chief mufician, a pfalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone into Bathsheba.. v. 14. Deliver me from blood guil tiness, O God, thou God of my falvation; and my tongue fhall fing aloud of thy righteoufuefs. 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 fhall be faved. v. 7. And there is none that calleth upon thy rame, that firreth up himself to take hold of thee for thou haft hid thy facefrom 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 houfe, and the became his wife, and bare rit k; come to be deprived of fome measure of their graces and comforts /; have their hearts hardened m, and their confciences wounded n; hurt and fcandalize others 4, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves p. CHAP. XVIII. Of the Affurance of Grace and Salvation. LTHOUGH hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themfelves with falfe hopes and carnal prefumptions him a fon: but the thing that David had done difpleafed 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 gladnefs; that the bones which thou haft broken may rejoice. v. 10. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right fpirit within me. v. 12. Reftore unto me the joy of thy falvation; and uphold me with thy free fpirit. Rev. ii. 4. Never thelefs, I have fomewhat againft thee, because thou haft left thy first love. Cant. v. 2. 1 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 off -put m lfa. 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, 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. Mark n Pfal. xxxii. 3. When I kept filence, my bones waxed old thro' 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 gladness: that the bones which thou haft broken may rejoice. 2 Sam. xii. 14. Howbeit, becaufe by this deed thou haft given great occafion to the eneines of the Lord to blafpheme, the child alfo that is born unto thee shall surely die. 0 ry coat, how fhall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how fall I defile them? y. 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 with beloved had with drawn 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 an p Pfal. lxxxix. 31. If they break my ftatutes and keep not my commandments, V. 32. Then will; [ vifit their tranfgreffion with the rod, and their iniquity with ftripes. Cor. xi. 32. But when we are judg ed, we are chaftened of the Lord, G that * Chap. XVIII. fumptions of being in favour of God and estate of falvation a; which hope of theirs fhall perish b: yet fuch 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 affured that they are in the state of grace c, and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God; which hope fhall never make them ashamed d. II. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable perfuafion, grounded upon a fallible hope e; but an infallible affurance 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 perish. v. 14. Whofe hope fhall be cut off, and whofe truft fhall 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 pafs when he heareth the words of this curfe, that he blefs himfelf in his heart, faying, I fhall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my :heart, to add drunkenness to thirft. 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. ...6 Mat, vii, 22, Many fhall fay to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have caft out devils? 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. 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 shall 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. Thefe 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 alfo we have accefs by faith into this grace wherein we ftand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. and hope maketh not ashamed, becaufe the love of God is thed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. II.. e Heb. vi. 11. And we defire that every one of you do fhew the fame diligence to the full afurance 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 pro mifes of falvation f, the inward evidences of those graces unto which these promifes are made g, the teftimony of the Spirit of adoption witneffing with our fpirits that we are the children of God h: 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 helong 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. eth in death. 2 Cor. i. 12. For our rejoicing is this, The teftimony of our confcience, that in fimplicity, and godly fincerity, not with fleshly wifdom, but by the grace of God we have had our converfation in the world, and more abundantly to fHeb. vi. 17. Wherein God willing more abundantly to fhew unto the heirs of promife the immutability of his counfel, confirmed it by on oath: v. 18. That by two im-you-wards. mutable 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. g2 Pet. i. 4. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promifes, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having efcaped the corruption that is in the world through luft. v. 5. And befides 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 thefe things, ye thall never fall. V. 11. For fo an entrance fhall be miniftred unto you abundantly, into the everafting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jefus Christ. 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 uato life, because we love the brethren; he that loveth not his brother, abid b Rom. viii. 15. For ye have not received the fpirit of bondage again to fear; but have received the ye fpirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. v. 16. The spirit itself beareth witnefs with our fpirit, that we are the children of God, Eph. i. 13. In whom ye alfo trufted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gofpel of your falvation; In whom alfo, after that ye believed, ye were fealed with that holy Spirit of promife, v. 14. Which is the earneft of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased poffeffion, unto the praife of his glory. Eph. iv. 30. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are fealed unto the day of redemption. 2 Cor. i, 21, Now he who ftablifheth us with you, in Christ, hath anointed us, is God, Who hath also fealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. and V. 22. III. 1 John v. 13. These things have f written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal G 2 life, being enabled by the Spirit, to know the things which are freely given him of God, he may, without extraordinary revelation, in the right ufe of ordinary means, attain thereunto. And therefore it is the duty of every one, to give all diligence to make his calling and election fure m; that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Ghoft, in love and thankfulness to God, and in ftrength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience; the proper fruits of this affurance n fo 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 walk eth in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. Mark ix. 24. And ftraightway the father of the child cried out, and faid with tears, Lord I believe; help thou mine unbelief. (See Pfal. Ixxxviii. throughout. Pfal. Ixxvii. to the 12, verfe.) of 1 Cor, ii. 12. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the fpirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 1 John iv. 13. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, becaufe he hath given us of his Spirit. Heb. vi. 11. And we defire, that every one you do fhew the fame diligence, to the full affurance of hope unto the end; v. 12. That ye be not flothful, but followers of them, who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Eph. iii. 17. That Chrift 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 Chrift, which paffeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. m 2 Pet. i. 10. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election fure : for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. Rom. xiv. # Rom. v. 1. Therefore being juftified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jefus Chrift. v. 2. By whom also we have accefs by faith into this grace wherein we ftand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. v. 5. And hope maketh not ashamed, becaufe the love of God is thed abroadin our hearts, by the HolyGhost which is given unto us. 171 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteoufnefs 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 Ghoft. Eph. i. 3. Bleffed be the God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift, who hath bleffed us with all spiritual bleffings in heavenly places in Chrift: According as he hath chofen 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 fay, Who will fhew us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. v. 7. Thou haft put glad. nefs in my heart, more than in the |