feffors, faith; Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous +: But their names which are written in heaven in the Lamb's book of life, fhall never be blotted out:Wherefore he faith to his Difciples; Rejoice not that the fpirits are fubject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven ‡. The tares and the wheat now grow together; that is, the visible Church is made up partly of fincere, and partly of hypocritical profeffors, who fhall be manifefted in due time; and therefore faith Paul, to the Corinthians, there must be herefies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifeft*: But who thefe were the Apoftles themfelves did not know, until they made themselves manifeft, by maintaining fome pernicious error, in principle or practice; and hence they fometimes fpeak conditionally of the believer's falvation: If ye continue in the faith grounded and fettled, and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel :-And again, he faith to the Romans, towards thee goodness, if thou continue in his goodness §:-And to the Hebrews, he faith, Let us fear left a promife being left us of entring into his reft, any of you should seem to come short of it : For we are made partakers of Chrift if we hold faft the beginning of our confidence ftedfaft unto the end.By thefe doubtful expreffions, which feem to intimate the uncertainty of their being faved to whom + Pfal. Ixix. 7. Col. i. 23. ↑ Luke x. 20. whom the Apostles wrote; we are only taught and affured that God hath chofen his people to falvation, thro' faith, in a way of holiness; and that the visible Church is made up of mixt profeffors, fome true and fome falfe; and that of the latter many will apparently fall away; but the former fhall abide in CHRIST, and be faved: For thefe only that endure unto the end, are God's elect; whom he hath appointed not to wrath, but to obtain falvation by JESUS CHRIST, thro' faith and patience, to the praise of his glory; and for these CHRIST died, and ever lives to make interceffion for them. Again: It is by fome fuppofed, that they shall have the benefit of CHRIST's redemption, because they repent, and believe the Gofpel: And hence they truft not in CHRIST, but in their own repentance and faith, as conditions performed, and works done by themselves :-But this is a dangerous error, which inverts the order of the Gospel, and faps its very foundation: for in the Gospel it appears, that GOD gives repentance, and faith to them whom he hath chofen in CHRIST, unto eternal life; because CHRIST hath put away their fins, by the facrifice of himself, and reconciled them unto God. Repentance, faith, and holinefs, are indeed neceffary to falvation; and the way to GOD, thro' CHRIST: But they are not the cause or reason of our our being pardoned, juftified, and glorified thro' CHRIST; but only the means, and way leading to it; or at most, they are but parts of that grace which of GOD is freely given to us in CHRIST.— For CHRIST is made of GOD unto us wifdom, and righteoufnefs, and fanctification, and redemption; for which cause he calls us out of darkness into his marvellous light, gives us repentance and faith, renews us in the fpirits of our minds, and makes us meet for glory. Thus Paul tells the Theffalonians, that he knew they were elected, and beloved of GOD; because their preaching CHRIST among them was not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghoft, and in much affurance*. In like manner he faith, in Ifaiah; I will give thee for a covenant of the people, that thou mayeft open the blind eyes, and fay to the prifoners, go forth. The contrary opinion is founded in an error touching the extent of CHRIST's death, fuppofing it to be univerfal: But, was this the cafe, all men would be faved; for it is written, be fhall fee of the travel of his foul, and shall be fatisfied‡: Which would not be true, if any of them could perish, for whom CHRIST travelled.- -They therefore that hold univerfal redemption, muft either maintain the univerfal falvation of all men, or elfe look to be faved, in part or in whole, by their own acts, works and duties, and not by God's grace towards them, and CHRIST'S obedience only. But the contrary is true; for by grace are ye faved thro' faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, left any man should boaft: And all the faints, who thro' faith and patience inherit the promises, with one mouth and one voice, declare that their falvation is entirely owing to the grace of GoD, and the blood of the LAMB; hence they caft their crowns before the LAMB, faying, thou art worthy, for thou waft flain, and haft redeemed us unto God by thy blood, out of every nation, and kindred, and people, and tongue +: They don't fay thou haft redeemed all men, and we, by our own repentance and faith, have faved ourselves; but, on the contrary, thou haft felected us from amongst the rest of the nations, and bought us with thy blood; therefore have we repented and obeyed the Gospel, which was not of ourselves, but the gift of GOD towards us, and the work of the Holy Spirit within us, because thou haft redeemed us by thy blood. Hence again they fhout aloud, Salvation to our God which fitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb - -And therefore the falvation of God's elect, and the final perfeverance of the faints, who thro' grace have believed in CHRIST + Rev. v. 9. ↑ Rev. vii. 10. unto unto juftification of life, is fure and ftedfaft. Which leads me, FOURTHLY; To fhew that this doctrine glorifies GOD:But, having been large on the former head, I fhall dispatch the present with the utmost brevity. And, 1. GOD's wisdom is hereby glorified, who would not build without firft counting the coft, whether he had fufficient to finish it: For he did not give the Son of his love to die at an uncertainty; but provided against all oppofing events, and secured the end before he began to execute his glorious purpose. God knew what wrath was due to the tranfgreffions of his people, and that CHRIST was able to endure it to the uttermost, before he sent him into the world to be made a curfe for them: he knew alfo the ftate of their fouls by nature, and the enmity of their carnal minds; and how to change the former, and destroy the latter, thro' CHRIST's atonement, by the effectual working of the Spirit of his power: He knew alfo what powerful temptations, and refiftance they would meet with from indwelling fin, the world, and Satan, after that they thro' grace had believed in CHRIST; and how to deliver them out of all. Wherefore of his Church he faith; I the |