1 Pet. i. 5. JVlio are kept by thx power of God through faith unto salcalion.
Use Ut. SEE the excellency of grace, it perseveres: other things are but for a sea- son,—health and riches are sweet, but they are but for a season, — but grace is a blos- som of eternity. The seed of God remains, I John iii. 9. Grace may suffer an eclipse, not a dissolution. It is called substance, for its solidity, Vvov. viii. 21.: and du-
" My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me : and I give unto them eternal life." " My shi cp," there is election ; " hear my voice," there is voca- tion ; " and I know them," there is justi- fication ; " and I give unto them eternal life," there is <rlorilication. How mav this uiake us love (iod, and set \i\) the monu-
rable riches, for its permanency, Prov. viii. , ments and trophies ol" his praise! How
18. It lasts as louf as the soul, — as hea- much have we done to cause God to with-
ven lasts. Grace is not like a lease which draw his Sj)irit, and suffer us to fall linal-
.soon expires, but it runs parallel with e- ly ! y<'t that he should keep us, let his
name be blessed, and his memorial eter- nized, who keepeth the feet of his saints, 1 Sam. ii. 9.
Branch 3. Sec whence it is that saints do persevere in holiness: it is solely to be as- cribed to the power of God. We are kept by his power, — kept as in a garrison. It
ternity.
Branch 2. See here that which may ex- cite in the saints everlasting h>ve and gra- titude to God. What can make us love God m(ne than the fixedness of his love to us ? He is not only the author of grace, but finisher; his love is perpetuated and
>ut fimsher; Ins love is perpeuuucu .mu uy ms |»»»i:i,— .^v j-. .- ^ --
arried on to our salvation, John x. 27., ' is a wonder any Christian perseveres, rl
190
OF PERSEVERANCE.
you consider, — 1. Corruption within. The tares are mingled with the wheat, — there is more sin than grace, — yet gi-ace is habi- tually predominant. Grace is like a spark in the sea, a wonder it is not quenched, — a wonder sin doth not destroy grace ; that it doth not do, as sometimes the nurse to the infant, overlay it, and it dies ; so that this infant of grace is not smothered by corruption. 2. Temptations without. Sa- tan envies us happiness, and he raiseth his militia, stirs up persecution ; he shoots his fiery darts of temptations ; they are called darts for their swiftness, fiery for their ter- ribleness. We are every day beset with devils ; as it was a wonder Daniel was kept alive in the midst of the roaring lions : so, tliat there are many roaring de^als about us, and yet Ave are not torn in pieces. Now, whence is it we stand against these power- ful temptations ? We are kept by the power of God. 3. The world's golden snares, riches and pleasure. Luke xviii. 24., " How hardly shall they that have riches enter in- to the kingdom of God ?" How many have been cast away upon these golden sands, 2 Tim. iv^ 10., as Demas? What a won- der any soul perseveres in religion, that the earth doth not choke the fire of all good affections ? Whence is this but from the power of God? We are kept by his power. Use 2d. Consolation. This doctrine of perseverance is as a Bezoar stone ; it is a sovereign cordial to keep up the spirits of the godly from fainting. There is nothing doth more trouble a child of God than this, he fears he shall never hold out; these weak legs of mine will never carry me to heaven. But perseverance is an insepara- ble fruit of sanctification. Once in Christ, and for ever in Christ. A believer may fall from some degrees of grace, but not from the state of grace ; an Israelite could never wholly sell or alienate his land of in- heritance, Luke XV. 23. A type of our heavenly inheritance, which cannot be wholly alienated from us. How despairing is the Aruiinian doctrine of fallinfr from grace? To-day a saint, — to-morrow a re- probate ; to-day a Peter, — to-morrow a Ju- das. This must needs cut the sinews of a Christian's endeavour, and be as the bor- ing an hole in the vessel, to make all the