S88 DOCTEINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCK [CHAP.
with such like trash as might have befitted popish devotions five hundred years ago. Were not men utterly ignorant what it is to " know the Lord Jesus Christ, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, and to he made conformable to his deatli," they could never feed on such husks themselves, nor make provision of them for those whose good they pretend to seek, Phil, iii. 10; Gal. vi. 14. Unto what hath been spoken add, —
Fourthly, Who are the persons that are to be provoked to holiness and godliness by the doctrine insisted on. Now, they are such as do believe it, and are concerned in it. We say, the truth under con- sideration is of an excellent usefulness to further gospel obedience in the hearts of believers and saints of God, who are taught of God not to turn the doctrine of grace into wantonness. What use, or abuse rather, men of corrupt minds and carnal principles, who stumble at Jesus Christ, and abuse the whole doctrine of the gosi^el by their prejudices and presumptions, will make of it, we know not, nor are solicitous. " If the gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost/' 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. It is sufficient that the food be good and wholesome for them for whom it is provided. If some will come and steal it that have no right to it, and it prove, through their own distempers, gravel in their mouths or poison in their bowels, the}'' must blame themselves and their own wormwood lusts, and not the doctrine which they do re- ceive, 2 Cor. iL 1 6. It is provided for them that fear God, and love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, not for dogs, swine, — unbelievers. We shall not marvel if they trample on this pearl, and rend them that bring it. To such as these, then, I say, the doctrine of the perseve- rance of the saints, or the stability or unchaugeableness of the love of God unto believers, and of their continuation in faith and obe- dience, is full of exceeding effectual motives and provocations unto holiness, in all manner of gospel obedience and holy conversation, exceedingly advantaging the souls of men in a course thereof. Now, the influence it hath into the obedience of the saints floweth from it upon a twofold account: — By removing all discouragements what- soever that are apt either to turn them aside from their obedience, or to render their obedience servile, slavish, or unacceptable to God; it sets them, through Christ, at perfect liberty thereunto. [And] by putting unconquerable and indissoluble obligations upon them to live unto God and to the praise of his glorious grace ; and evidently draws them forth unto the obedience required.
1. It renioveth and taketh out of the way all discouragements whatsoever, all things which are apt to interpose to the weakening of their faith in God or their love to God ; which, as hath been said, are at the bottom of all obedience and holiness that is acceptable to God in Christ. Now, these may all be referred unto two heads: — (1.) Of perplexing, anxious/ea7-5, which are apt to impair and weaken
X.] THE IMPEOyEME^^T OF THE DOCTEINE. S89
the faith of the saints, (2.) Of hard thoughts of God, whicli assault and shake their love.
(1.) That slavish, perplexing, trouLlesome fears are contrary to the free and ingenuous state of children, whereunto the saints are ad- mitted, and (however sometimes, yea, oftentimes, they are at the bottom, and are the occasion of burdensome, servile, and superstitious obedience) impairers of their faith, I suppose I need not labour to prove. That kind of fear whereof we speak (of which more after- Avard) is the greatest traitor that lurks in the soul. To " fear the Lord and his goodness" is the soul's keeper, Hos. iii. 5; but this servile, perplexing fear is the betrayer of it in all its ways, and that which sours all its duties, — a thing which the Lord sets himself against, in rebukes, reproofs, dehortations, as much as any failing and miscarriage in his saints whatever. It is the opposite of faith ; hence the "fearful and unbelieving" are put together in their exclusion from the New Jerusalem, Rev. xx. 8. It is that which is direct con- trary to that which the apostle adviseth the saints unto, Heb. x. 19-22. It is that which mixeth faith witli staggering, Rom. iv. 20, prayer with wavering, making it ineffectual, James i. 6, 7.
Let us now suppose a man to have attained some assurance of the love of God, and, "justified by faith," to have "'peace with him"^ (which, as to his present condition, the adversaries of the doctrine of perseverance acknowledge that he may attain, though how, upon their principles, I understand not) ; consider a little how he can safe- guard his peace for a moment, and deliver himself from perplexing thoughts and fears, renouncing any interest in the engagement of the love and faithfulness of God for his preservation. He may say within himself, " I am for the present in some good state and condi- tion ; but were not the angels so that are now devils in hell ? were not they in a far better and more excellent state than I am? and yet they are now shut up under chains of everlasting darkness to the judgment of the great day. Adam in paradise had no lust within him to tempt and seduce him, no world under the curse to entangle and provoke him, and yet, ' being in that honour, he had no understanding, he abode not,' but ' became like the beasts that perish.' Was it not in their power to persevere in that condition if they would ? Did they want any means that were useful there- unto? And what hope is there left to me, in whom there 'dwelleth no good thing, who am sold under' the power of ' sin,'^ and en- compassed with a world of temptations, that I shall endure unto the end? I see thousands before mine eyes, partakers of the same hea- venly calling with myself, of the same grace in Jesus Christ, every day falling into iiTevocable perdition. There is not any promise of God that I should be preserved, no promise that I shall never depart ' Rom. V. 1. 2 Eom. vii. 14, 18.