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And to this we may farther add, that when such a condition is annexed to a promise (for I will not decline to call it so, in the sense but now laid down) and there is another promise added, in which God engages that he will enable them to perform this condition, that is equivalent to an absolute promise; and of this kind are those conditions that are mentioned in the scriptures before referred to, as has been already observed. When God promises that he will be a God to them, that he will forgive their iniquities, and never reverse the sentence of forgiveness, or remember their sins no more, and that he will never turn away from them to do them good; he, at the same time promises, that he will put his law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and put his fear in their hearts, and so enable them to behave themselves as his people, or to be to him a people; and when God sets forth the stability of his covenant, and intimates that it should not be removed, he adds, that his kindness shall not depart from them, which kindness does not barely respect some temporal blessings which he would bestow upon them, but his extending that grace to them that should keep them faithful to him; and therefore he says, that in righteousness they should be established; which contains a promise to maintain grace in them, without which they could hardly be said to be established in righteousness, as well as that he would perform the other things promised to them in this covenant.

[2.] As to the other branch of the objection, in which the promises are considered as given to the church in general, or to the Jews, as a political body of men; and that this cannot be supposed to respect their everlasting salvation, but only some temporal blessings which they should enjoy, it may be replied, That this is to be determined by the express words contained in the promise: if God tells them that he will do that for them which includes more in it than the blessings which they are supposed to enjoy, that are of a temporal nature, we are not to conclude that there is nothing of salvation contained in them, when the words seem to imply that there is. And though these promises are said to be given to the Jews, as a political body of men, and there are some circumstances therein, which have an immediate and particular relation to them: yet the promi ses of special grace and salvation were to be applied only by those who believed amongst them; and the same promises are to be applied by believers in all ages; or else we must understand those scriptures only as an historical relation of things that do not belong to us; which would tend very much to detract from the spirituality and usefulness of many parts of scripture.

To make this appear, we might consider some promises

which, when first made, had a particular relation to God's dealings with his people in those circumstances in which they were at that time; which, notwithstanding, are applied in a more extensive manner, to New Testament believers in all ages. Thus when God tells his people, in the scripture before referred to, that all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, Isa. liv. 13. whatever respect this may have to the church of the Jews, our Saviour applies it in a more extensive way, as belonging to believers in all ages, when he says, Every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father, cometh unto me, John vi. 45. And when God promises Joshua that he would not fail nor forsake him, and encourages him thereby, not to fear nor be dismayed, Josh. i. 5, 9. when he was to pass over Jordan, into the land of Canaan; and after that, to engage in a work which was attended with many difficulties: this promise is applied, by the apostle, as an inducement to believers, in his day, to be content with such things as they have; accordingly he adds, that what God told Joshua of old, the same was written for their encouragement, viz. that he would never leave them, nor forsake them, Heb. xiii. 5. We cannot therefore but conclude from hence, that this objection is of no force in either of its branches, to overthrow the doctrine of the saints' perseverance, as founded on the stability of the promises of the covenant of grace.

3. The saints' perseverance in grace may be farther proved from their inseparable union with Christ: this union is not only federal, as he is the head of the covenant of grace, and they his members, whose salvation he has engaged to bring about, as was observed under the last head; but he may be considered also as their vital head, from whom they receive spiritual life and influence; so that as long as they abide in him, their spiritual life is maintained as derived from him: if we consider the church, or the whole election of grace as united to him, it is called, His body, Col. i. 24. the fulness of him that filleth all in all, Eph. i. 23. and every believer being a member of this body, or a part, if I may so express it, of this fulness, if it should perish and be separated from him, his body would be defective, and he would sustain a loss of that which is an ingredient in his fulness.

Moreover, as this union includes in it that relation between Christ and his people, which is, by a metaphorical way of speaking, styled conjugal;* and accordingly is mutual, as the result of his becoming theirs by an act of grace, and they his by an act of self-dedication; this is the foundation of mutual love, which is abiding, it is certainly so on his part; because it is unchangeable, as founded on a covenant-engagement, which he cannot *See Page 11, 12, ante.

violate; and though their love to him be in itself subject to change, through the prevalency of corrupt nature, which too much inclines them to be unstedfast in this marriage-covenant; yet he will recover and bring them back to him, and will not deal with them as persons do with strangers, whom they exclude from their presence or favour, if they render themselves unworthy of it; but they who stand in a nearer relation to him, and accordingly are the objects of his special love, shall not be cast off for ever, how much soever he may resent their unworthy behaviour to him. Not to be separate from Christ, is, according to the apostle's expression, not to be separated from his love; and this, he says, he was persuaded that he should not be, or 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 do it, Rom. viii. 35, 38, 39. Accordingly it is said, that having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto the end, John xiii. 1.

Here I cannot but take notice of a very jejune and empty sense which some give of this text, to evade the force of the argument taken from it, to prove the doctrine we are main taining. How plausible soever it may seem to be to those who conclude that this must be the true sense, because it favours their own cause: by his own they mean no other than Christ's disciples, whom he was at that time conversant with; and indeed, they apply whatever Christ says, in some following chap ters, to them, exclusive of all others; as when he says, Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, chap. xv. 19. and because I live, ye shall live also, chap. xiv. 19. This, they suppose, respects them in particular; and so in the text before us, having loved his own which were in the world; that is, his own disciples; as though he had a propriety in none but them; he loved them to the end; that is, not to the end of their lives; for that would prove the doctrine we are maintaining, but to the end of his life, which was now at hand; and his love to them, they suppose to be expressed in this, that he condescended to wash their feet. But if this were the sense of the words, his love to them would not be so extraordinary a privilege as it really is; for it would be only an instance of human and not divine love. And indeed, our happiness consists, not only in Christ's loving us to the end of his life; but in his continuing to express his love in his going into heaven to prepare a place, and there making continual intercession for us; and in the end, in his coming again to receive us to himself, that where he is, we may be also; which leads us to con sider,

4. That the saints' perseverance farther appears from Christ's

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continual intercession for them. This has been particularly explained in a foregoing answer; and the apostle speaking of his ever living to make intercession for his people, infers that he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, Heb. vii. 25. This he could not be said to do, should he leave the work which he has begun in them, imperfect, and suffer them, who come to him by faith, to apostatize from him. We have before considered Christ's intercession, as including in it his appearing in the presence of God, in the behalf of those for whom he offered himself a sacrifice while here on. earth; and also, that what he intercedes for shall certainly be granted him, not only because he is the Son of God, in whom he is well pleased, but because he pleads his own merits; and to deny to grant what he merited, would be, in effect, to deny the sufficiency thereof, as though the purchase had not been fully satisfactory; therefore we must conclude, as he himself said on earth, that the Father heareth him always. It is also evident, that he prays for the perseverance of his people, as he says to Peter, I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, Luke xxii. 32. And there are many things in that affectionate prayer, mentioned in John xvii. which he put up to God, im mediately before his last sufferings, which respect their perseverance in grace; as when he says, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are, John xvii. 11. and, I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil, ver. 15. that is, either the evil that often attends the condition in which they are, in the world, that so the work of grace may not suffer, at least, not miscarry thereby; or else, that he would keep them from the evil one, that so they may not be brought again under his dominion; he also prays, that they may be made perfect in one, ver. 23. that is, not only that they may be perfectly joined together in the same design, but that this unanimity may continue till they are brought to a state of perfection; and that the world may know that God has loved them, even as he has loved Christ. And he declares his will; which shews that his intercession is founded on justice, and accordingly contains in it the nature of a del mand, rather than a supplication for what might be given or denied, namely, That they whom the Father had given him might be with him where he is, that they may behold his glory, Ver. 24. all which expressions are very inconsistent with the supposition, that it is possible that they, whom he thus intercedes for, may apostatize, or fall short of salvation.

Object. It is objected by some, that this prayer respects See Vol. II. page 473-479. Quest. lv.

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none but his disciples, who were his immediate friends and followers, and not believers in all ages and places in the world.

Answ. But to this it may be replied, That the contrary hereunto is evident, from several things which are mentioned in this prayer, as for instance, he says, That the Father had given him power over all flesh; that he should give eternal life to as many as he had given him, ver. 2. the sense of which words will sink too low, if we suppose that he intends thereby, thou hast given me power to dispose of all persons and things in this world, that I may give eternal life to that small number which thou hast given me, namely, my disciples; whereas he speaks of that universal dominion which he has over all per sons and things, which were committed to him with this view, that all those who were put into his hand to redeem and save, should attain eternal life: and again, he says, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word, ver. 6. Did Christ manifest the divine name and glory to none but those who were his disciples; and were there none but them that had kept his word? And when he says, that they whom he prayed for, are the Father's; and adds, that all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them, ver. 9, 10. Is the number of those, whom Christ has a right to, and the Father has set apart for himself, in whom he would shew forth his glory, as the objects of his love, and in whom Christ, as Mediator, was to be glorified, so small, as that it contained only the eleven disciples? Or does it not rather respect all that have, or shall believe, from the beginning to the end of time? and when he speaks of the world's hating them, because they are not of the world, John xvii. 14, 15. and of their being exposed to the evils that are in the world, or the assaults of Satan, who is their avowed enemy; is this only applicable to the disciples? And when he says, Neither pray I for these alone, that is, for those who now believe, but for them also which shall believe, ver. 20. does it not plainly intimate that he had others in view besides his disciples? These, and seve ral other passages in this prayer, are a sufficient evidence that there is no weight in the objection, to overthrow the argument we are maintaining.

5. Believers' perseverance in grace may be proved from the Spirit and seed of God abiding in them. When at first they were regenerated, it was by the power of the Holy Ghost, as condescending to come and take up his abode in them: thus we read of their being acted by, and under the influence of, the Holy Ghost, who is said to dwell where he is pleased to display his divine power and glory; and if these displays hereof be internal, then he dwells in the heart. Our Saviour speaks

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