Lord Iesus Christ God is faithful 1 Cor. 10 13. God is faitful and will not suffer you to be tempted above what ye are able but will give with the temptation that ye may be able to bear it 1 Thes 5.23 24. Now the very God of peace sanctifie you throughout and I pray God that your whole spirit soul and body may be kept blameless unto the coming of our Lord Iesus Christ faithful is he that calleth you who will also do it 2 Thes 3.3 The Lord is faithful which will stablish you and keep you from evil Phil. 1.6 And I am perswaof this thing that he that haeh begun this good work in you will perform it until the day of Iesus Christ 4 The Elect cannot fall 4. Mat. 24.24 For there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders so that if it were possible they should deceive the very Elect. Rom. 8.29,30 For those whom he knew before those also he predestinated moreover whom he predestinated them also he called and whom he called them also he justified and whom he justified them he also glorified Rom. 11.1 God hath not cast away his people whom he knew before vers 7. what then Israel hath not obtained that he sought but the election have obtained it and the rest have been hardned 5 Christ prays and is always heard 5. Luke 21.31 32. And the Lord said Simon Simon behold Satan hath desired to winnow thee as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not John 17.15 20. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou keep them from evil I pray not for these alone but for them which shall believe in me through their word Rom. 8.34 Who shall condemn it is Christ which is dead yea rather which is risen again who is also at the right hand of God and maketh request for us who shall separate us from the love of Christ John 11.41 42. And Iesus lift up his eyes and said Father I thank thee because thou hast heard me I know that thou hearest me always 6 The Saints pray and shall obtaen 6. Mat. 6. 13. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil 1 John 5.14 And this is that assurance that we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us 7 6 Saints are preserved in the faith 7. John 6.37.38 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I cast not away This is the Fathers will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day Chap. 10.27 28. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall not perish neither shall any pluck them out of my hand John 17.12 Those that thou gavest me have I kept and nore of them is lost chap. 13.1 Forasmuch as he loved his own which were in the world unto the end he loved them 8. 2 Cor. 1.21 And it is God which establisheth us with you in Christ and hath annointed us who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts Ephes 1.13 14. In whom also ye have trusted after that ye heard the word of truth even the Gospel of your Salvation wherein also after that ye believed ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance Chap. 4.30 Grieve not the holy spirit of God by whom ye are sealed unto the day of Redemption Psal 9. Comparison of Believers in Scripture 1.3 For he shall be like a Tree planted by the Rivers of waters that will bring forth her fruit in her due season whose leaf shall not fade Mat. 7 24.25 I will liken him to a wise man which hath builded his house on a rock Luke 8.15 But that which fell on good ground are they which with an honest and good heart hear the word and keep it and bring forth fruit with patience 10. Rom. 6.2 8 10 Saints dead to sin 9 11. How shall we that are dead to sin live yet therein wherefore if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall live also with him knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dyeth no more death hath no more dominon over him likewise think ye also that ye are dead to sin but are alive to to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 1 Iohn 3 9. Whosoever is born of God sinneth not for his seed remaineth in him neither can he sin because he is born of God Chap. 5,4 For all that is born of God overcometh this world Rom. 8.35.37 to the end Who shall separate us from the love of Christ in all these things we are more then Conquerours through him that loved us for I am perswaded 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 Iesus our Lord. Quest Our Saviour tels his Disciples hitherto they had asked nothing in his name was it because they prayed God without a Mediator without the name of Christ nay sure but they had asked nothing that is nothing comparatively to what they might have asked and God would give was there at any time even before Christs Incarnation any acceptance with the Father without him was not Christ the Centre of all those types Surely yes the Scripture is full Let it suffice us here to hear one Scripture proving that Christ was to them before his coming in the flesh as to us since though more darkly one Scripture proving that they did then pray the Father through his name even before his incarnation One Scripture that there is but one Mediatour for all men whether them before or us since his manifestation in the flesh let us hear them faithfully recorded Answ 1 Cor. 10.4.3 Moreover Brethren I would not have you ignorant how that all our Fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea and did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ Dan. 9.17 Now therefore oh our God hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplications and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that lieth waste for the Lords sake 1 Tim. 2.5 For there is one God and one Mediatour between God and men the man Christ Jesus CHAP. XX XXI QVest It s of great comfor to the Church indeed that Christ her head hath the Keys of hell and death But hath not the Lord Jesus committed to the Church the power of these keys that the publike regular and due use thereof may according
from their own stedfastness least any man fail of the grace of God lest by any means the Tempter tempts us and the Apostles labour be in vain lest we destroy our weak brother by our knowledge and the Apostle lest when he preach unto others himself should be cast away severall other positive Scriptures speaking such Saints as were enlightned have tasted the heavenly gift made partakers of the holy Ghost tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come if they fall away that some are cursed children having forsaken the right way and have gone astray That some after they have escaped the pollutions of the world are again entangled therein and overcome who after they have known the way of righteousness turn from the holy Commandment delivered to them and to conclude if a man abide not in Christ he is cast forth and withers every branch in him that beareth not fruit he taketh away Do not some of them prove that hypocrites may go far in the business of Religion and have much light much experience yea faith though temporary and yet fall away do not others of them as the last prove that such men may have the profession of Christ and be members of the visible Church of Christ and so said to be in him yet being strange from the work of regeneration and implantation in the end be cast out But notwithstanding all this do any of these Scriptures or all of them prove that a real member of Christs mystical body or a true Believer may fall from that state lofe his faith and finally perish is not this contrary to the whole tenure of the Gospel what do the Scri tures speak do they not tell us that such as thus fall were never true Believers that many did thus believe whom our Lord himself did not account to be true Believers 2. Hath not God in his word plentifully promised that true believers should persevere and be preservd from total and final apostacy and if so doth not the Scripture tell us God cannot lye 3. Doth not the Scripture tell us that God doth keep true believers that they cannot thus finally fall 4. Doth not the Scripture tell us that such as are true believers are elected of God and cannot thus fall but have already attained the inheritance 5. Doth not the Scripture tell us that Christ prayeth the Father for the perseverance of the Saints and doth not Christ himself say the Father hath always heard him 6. Do not the Saints and true Believers daily pray for their perseverance and doth not the Scripture tell them what ever necessary thing they ask in the name of Christ shall be obtained 7. Are not true believers thus kept by Jesus Christ in the faith so as they can never totally and finally lose their faith 8. Are not such sealed by the holy Spirit in their hearts that they shall never fall 9. Are not Believers compared to a Tree that withers not a house that is builded on a Rock and fals not seed sown in good ground which bringeth forth its perfect crop 10. Are not such Believers so dead to sin that it cannot again have dominion over them and are they not so born of God as the seed of God abides in them that they cannot so sin again as do other men yea are not such believers so endued as that they shall overcome all their enemies and cannot be overcome In short if these particulars are the Tenour of Scripture and the truth as it is in Jesus shall not this truth of the Saints everlasting perseverance be worthy of all acceptation to the worlds ends sure it will let us therefore hear what the Scriptures speaks to each of these and first of the first Answ 1. John 8.31 Then said Iesus to those Jews that believed on him If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples indeed 1 John 2.19 They went out from us because they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have no doubt continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest they were not all of us Heb. 3.6.14 Whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firm unto the end Luke 8.18 Whosoever hath not from him shall be taken what he seems to have 2 John 23 24. Now when he was at Jerusalem at the Passover in the feast day many believed in his name when they saw the miracles that he did But Iesus did not commiit himself unto them because he knew all men and needed not that any should testifie of man for he knew what was in man 2 Gods promise 2. Jer. 32,38 40. They shall be my people and I will be their God and I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will never turn a may from them to do them good but I will put my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me Esa 54.10 For the Mountains shall remove and the Hills shall fall down but my mercy shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace fall away saith the Lord that hath compassion on thee Isa 59.10 And I will make this my Covenant with them saith the Lord My spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shal not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of the seed of thy seed saith the Lord from henceforth even for ever Hosea 2.19 In that day I will marry thee unto me for euer al. 125.1 They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Sion which cannot be removed but abideth for ever Iohn 4.14 Whosoever drinketh of this water that I shall give him shall never be more athirst but the water thar I shall give him shall be in him a well of water that springs up to everlasting life Iohn 6 39. And this is the Fathers will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day Iohn 10.27 28 29 My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my hand My Father that gave them me is greater then all and none is able to take them out of my Fathers hand Mat. 16.18 Upon this rock I wil build my Church and the gates hell shall not overcome it Ioh. 14.16 I will ask the father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you for ever Titus 1.1,2 This hope of eternal life God that cannot lye hath promised before the world began 3 God keeps them 3. 1 Cor. 1.7 8. Waiting for the appearing of our Lord Iesus Christ who shall also confirm you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our