a Heb. ii. 15. b Satan for once spake truth, Job ii. 4.
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"nothing in the whole creation" shall be able, to separate him from the love of God.]
This confidence of the Apostle being so extraordi- nary, let us consider,
II. The grounds of his persuasion —
These were twofold ; general, as relating to others ; and 'particular, as relating to himself; the former creating in him an assurance of faith ; the latter an assurance of hope. We notice,
1. The general grounds —
[These are such as are revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and are common to all believers.
The stability of the covenant, which God has made with us in Christ Jesus, warrants an assurance, that all who are inte- rested in it shall endure to the end. It secures to us not only a new heart, but a divine agency, " causing us to walk in God's statutes0." It engages that God shall never depart from us, nor we from himd. In short, it promises us "grace and glory e." Now this covenant shall not be broken : if heaven and earth fail, this shall not1": there shall not be one jot or tittle of it ever violated : it is " ordered in all things, and sureg." Consequently the believer shall never be deprived of any of its blessings.
The immutability of God is another ground of assured faith and hope. Wherefore did God originally set his love upon us ? Was it for our own goodness, either seen or foreseen ? Alas ! we had no existence but in God's purpose : and, from the moment we began to exist, we have never had one good thing in us which we did not first receive from Godh. If then God loved us simply because he would love us1, and not for any inherent loveliness in us, will he cast us off again on account of those evil qualities which he well knew to be in us, and which he himself has undertaken to subdue ? This would argue a change in his counsels : whereas we are told that, " with him there is no variableness neither shadow of turning*;" and that " his gifts and calling are without repentance1."
The offices of Christ may also be considered as justifying an assured hope of final perseverance. For our Lord did not assume the priestly, prophetic, and kingly offices merely to put us into a capacity to save ourselves ; but that his work
c Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. d Jer. xxxii. 40. e Ps. Ixxxiv. It. f Isai. liv. 10. s 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. h 1 Cor. iv. 7.
1 Deut. vii. 7, 8. " Jam. i. 17. ] Rom. xi. 29.