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THE
WORKS
JOHN tWEN, D.D.
EDITED
BY THE REV. WILLIAM H. GOOLD,
EDINBURGH.
VOL. XL
NEW YOEK:
ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 285 BROADWAY.
ILDCCCLIII.
CONTENTS OF YOLUME XL
THE DOCTEINE OF THE SAINTS* PERSEVERANCE EXPLAINED AND CONTIRMED.
Prefatory Note by the Editor, ...... Page 2
The Dedication, .......... 5
The Epistle Dedicatory, .......... 7
A Preface to the Reader, . . . . . . . .19
CHAPTER I.
the state of the controversy.
The various thoughts of men concerning the doctrine proposed to consideration— The great concernment of it, however stated, on all hands confessed — Some special causes pressing to the present handling of it — The fearful backsliding of many in these days — The great oifence given and taken thereby, with the provision made for its removal — The nature of that oifence and temptation thence arising considered— Answer to some arguings of Mr G., chap, ix., from thence against the truth proposed — The use of trials and shakings — Grounds of believers' assurance that they are so— The same farther argued and debated — Of the testimony of a man's own conscience concerning his uprightness, and what is required tliereunto— 1 John iii. 7 considered — Of the rule of self-judging, with principles of settlement for true believers, notwithstand- ing the apo.stasies of eminent professors — Corrupt teachings rendering the handling of this doctrine necessary— Its enemies of old and of late — The particular undertak- ing of Mr G. proposed to consideration — An entrance into the stating of the question — The terms of the question explained— Of holiness in its several acceptations — Created holiness, original or adventitious, complete or inchoate — Typical bj' dedica- tion, real by purification — Holiness evangelical, either so indeed or by estimation — Real holiness partial or universal — The partakers of the first, or temporary believers, not true believers, maintained against Mr G. — Ground of judging professors to be true believers— Matt. vii. 20 considered — What is the rule of judging men therein given — What knowledge of the faith of others is to be obtained — What is meant by pei'severance : how in (Scripture it is expressed — The grounds of it pointed at — Wliat is intended by falling away — Whether it be possible the Spii-it of grace may be lost, or the habit of it, and how — Tlie state of the controversy as laid down by Mr G. — The vanity thereof discovered — His judgment about believers' falling away examined — What principles and means of pierseverance he grants to them — The enemies of our perseverance — Indwelling sin in particular considered — No possibility of pre- servation upon Mr G.'s groimds demonstrated — The means and ways of the saints' preservation in faith, as asserted by Mr G., at large examined, weighed, and found light— The doctrine of the saints' perseverance, and way of teaching it, cleared from Isa. iv. — That chapter opened— The 5th verse particularly insisted on and discussed — The whole state and method of the controversy thence educed, , . 77
CHAPTER II.
THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS ARGDED FROM THE IMMCTAriLITY OF TUB DIVINE NATURE.
The thesis proposed for confii-mation — The fivefold foundation of the truth thereof— Of the unchangeableness of the nature of God, and the influence thereof into the con- firmation of the truth in hand— Mai. iii. 6 considered and explained— James i. lt)-18 opened — Rom. xi. 29 explained and vindicated — The conditions on which grace is asserted to be bestowed and continued, discussed — The vanity of them evinced in sundry instances— Of vocation, justification, and sanctification— Isa xl. 27-31 opened and improved to the end aimed at; also Isa. xliv. 1-8— The sum of the first argu-
/
IV CONTENTS.
mcnt— Mai iii. 6. with the whole argument from the immutability of God at large Tindicatfd — Falsely proposed by Mr G. ; set ripht and re-enforccd — Exceptions re- moved—Sopliistical comparisons exploded — Distinct dispensations, accordini? to dis- tinction of a people— Alteration and change propei-ly and directly assifrneil to God by Mr G. — 'J'he tiieme in question bessed by liiiii — LckuI approbation of duties and Conditional acceptation of persons confounded; as also (iod's command and purpose — Tlie unchangcableness of God's decrees (granted to be intended in Mai. iii. C— The decree directly in that place intended — The decree of sending Christ not immutable, upon Mr G.'s principles — The close of the vindication of this first argument, 120
CHAPTER III.
TUB IMMUTABILITY OF THE PURPOSES OF GOD.