very moment that they are brought home to his fold, he bestows it on them: they have instantly a right and title to it; and when they go hence, they go and take possession of it, not as a new gift which shall then be conferred, but as an inheritance, which by the surest of all titles, they have before been enabled to call their own.]
Their ultimate possession of these benefits is in- sured to them in such a manner, as warrants us to affirm and to rejoice in, III. Their security —
Nothing shall be permitted to rob them of their inheritance —
[Sheep may perish either from internal disorders, or from outward enemies : and it should seem that the sheep of Christ also may fail of attaining eternal blessedness either through the corruptions of their own hearts, or through the assaults of their spiritual enemies. But against both these dangers their Shepherd has engaged to protect them: "they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of his hand." It is here taken for granted, that they are exposed to things, which, without the intervention of Omnipotence to prevent it, might terminate in their destruction : and every one of them feels that this is really the case. But Jesus guarantees, if I may so say, their safety : he has himself begun the good work in them, and he undertakes to perfect it : he " has laid the foundation in their hearts, and he will finish it, and bring forth the top- stone:" he has reserved heaven for them; and he will keep them for itc.~\
For this Jesus pledges his own veracity and his
Father's power —
[It is not asserted here, that they shall never be tempted : nor is it asserted that they shall never fall: but it is asserted that they shall never perish, nor be plucked out of their Re- deemers hand. What shall we say then? That they are at liberty to live in sin ? No ; there is no such licence allowed them. The way in which they shall be kept from perishing, is, by giving them " grace sufficient for them," by enabling them to " mortify the deeds of the body," and by sanctifying them throughout " in body, soul, and spirit," and by " bruising Satan under their feet." In this way they shall be made " more than conquerors through Him that loved them." And, be- cause Jesus was about to leave his Disciples, and to commit the keeping of them to his heavenly Father, he pledges him- self, that his Father also, who was infinitely above all created
<= 1 Pet. i. 4, 5.