John X. 27-29 closeth this discourse: "My sheep hear my voice,
284 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCK [CJIAP.
and I know them, and they follow me : and I give unto them eter- nal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand/'
In the verse foregoing, our Saviour renders a reason why the Pha- risees, notwithstanding all his preaching to them and the miracles he wrought among them, yet believed not, when sundry others, to whom the same dispensation of outward means was afforded, did hear his voice and did yield obedience thereunto; and this he telleth us was because they were not of his sheep, such as were given him of his Father, and for whom, as the good Shepherd, he laid down his life, verses 14, 15. Upon the close of this discourse, he describeth the present condition of his sheep, and their preservation in that condition, from the power of himself and his Father engaged there- unto. He layeth their abiding with him as his sheep upon the omnipotence of God ; which, upon account of the constancy of his love towards them, he will exercise and exert as need shall be in their behalf There are many emphatical expressions both of their con- tinuance in the obedience of faith, and of his undertaking for their preservation therein. The latter I at present only intend. Saith he, 1. "I know them;" 2. "I give them eternal life;" 3. "They shall never perish;" 4. "No man shall pluck them out of my hand;" 5. "My Father is omnipotent, and hath a sovereignty over all, and he taketh care of them, and none shall take them out of his hand." It is not easy to cast these words into any other form of arguing than that wherein they lie, Avithout losing much of that convincing evidence that is in them. This you may take for the sum of their influence into the truth in hand: Those whom Christ so owneth as to take upon him to give them eternal life, and by his power and the power of his Father to preserve them thereunto, — which power sliall not, nor possibly can be, prevailed against, so that the end aimed at to be accomjilished therein should not be brought about, — those shall certainly be kept for ever in the favour and love of God, they shall never be turned from him. Such is the case of all believers; for they are all the sheep of Christ, they all hear his voice and follow hiuL
Some few things, to wrest this gracious assurance given believers of the everlasting good-will of God and Clirist imto them, are at- tempted by Mr Goodwin, chap. x. sect. 37, p. 203.
1. He granteth that there is an engagement of the "mighty power of God for the safeguarding of the saints, as such or remain- ing such, against all adverse powers whatever, but nowhere for the compelling or necessitating of them to persevere and continue such is there any thing in the Scripture."
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Ans. The sum is, "If they will continue saints, God will take care that, notwithstanding all opposition, they shall be saints still.'' Very well, if they will be so, they shall be so; but "that they shall continue to be so, that is not promised." The terms of " compelling or neces- sitating" are cast in merely to throw dirt upon the truth, lest, the beauty shining forth too brightly, there might have been danger that the very exceptor himself could not have borne it We say not that God by his power compelleth men to persevere ; that is, maketh them do it whether they will or no. Perseverance being an habi- tual grace in their wills, it is a gross contradiction once to imagine that men should be compelled thereunto. But this we say, that, by the almighty poAver of his Spirit and grace, he confirmeth his saints in a voluntary abiding with him all their days. Having made them a willing people in the day of the power of Christ towards them, he preserveth them unto the end. Neither are they wrapped up by the power of God into such a necessity of perseverance as should ob- struct the liberty of their obedience, the necessity that regardeth them in that condition respecting only the issue and end of things, and not their manner of support in their abiding with God. And it is not easy to conjecture why our author should so studiously avoid the grant of a promise of final perseverance in these words, who, in his next observation upon them, affirmeth that "they respect the state of the saints in heaven, and not at all those that are on earth ; " I mean, that part of those words which expresseth their preserva- tion and safeguarding by the power of God. So that this is fancied, perhaps, even to be the condition of the saints in heaven, that God will there preserve them whilst they continue saints, but that they shall so do there is not any assurance given or to be had. It is marvellous, if this be so, that in so large and vast a space of time we yet never heard of any of those holy ones that were cast out of his inheritance, or that forfeited his enjoyment. But let us hear what is farther asserted. He addeth, by way of answer, —