But now, in the third place, what shall I say in order to effect my purpose ? What considerations shall I urge upon you in order the more effectually to impress your minds with the truths which I have before stated ? I will adopt the line of argument suggested by the Apostle himself in the preceding context.
An adherence to these things is what you engaged for in your baptismal covenant. Then Christ was received by you as your Lord and Saviour : and you professed to look for remission of sins altogether in his name, and through faith in his blood and right- eousness. At the same time you gave up yourselves to him to be sanctified in body, soul, and spirit by his grace, and to live altogether to his glory. But, if you recede in any respect from these engagements, you abandon all the hopes which were then held out to you by that covenant of being " purged from your sinsk," and you forfeit that remission, which, if you received your baptism aright, or subsequently realized the engagements then entered into, was then con- ceded to you. And are you willing to cast off thus your Christian profession, and to sacrifice your in- terest in those " great and precious promises" which were then tendered to you in the Saviour's name, and " by which you might have been made partakers of the Divine nature1,'' and heirs of the Divine glory? Think, I pray you, of the loss you will sustain, and the tremendous responsibility that will attach to you : and beg of God, that he will never leave you thus, nor suffer you to " receive all this grace in vainm."
Further let me say, These are the things on which your perseverance in the divine life entirely depends™. A simple life of faith on the Lord Jesus Christ is to you what the union of a branch is to its parent stock. If from adopting any notions whatever your communion with him is interrupted, nothing but decay and death can ensue. So likewise, if there be any one grace which you do not cultivate, the neglect of that will open the door to numberless
k ver. 9. > ver. 4. m 2 Cor. vi. 1. » ver. 10.