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I.

With him [the Father of lights] is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, James i, 17. I am the Lord, I change not: [I still bear with sinners during the day of their visitation;] therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed, Mal. iii, 6.

[Observe here, that although God's essence, and the principles of his conduct toward man never change; yet, as "he loves right eousness and hates iniquity," and as he is the rewarder of the right. eous and the punisher of the wicked, he must show himself pleased or displeased, a rewarder or a pun. isher, as moral agents turn from sin to righteousness, or from righteousness to sin. Without this kind of change, ad extra, he could not be holy and just ;-he could not be the Judge of all the earth;-he could not be God.]

II.

The angel of his presence saved them: in his love and pity he remembered them. But they re belled and vexed his Holy Spirit; therefore he was turned to be their enemy, Isa. lxiii, 9, 10. The Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me for ever; but now be it far from me; for, &c, they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed, 1 Sam. ii, 30. And the word of the Lord came to Jonah, saying, Preach unto Nineveh the preaching that I bid thee. And Jonah cried and said, Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, &c. For the king sat in ashes, and caused it to be proclaimed, &c. Cry might. ily to God, yea, let every one turn from his evil way, &c. Who can tell, if God will turn and repent, that we perish not. And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil which he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not, Jonah iii, 1, &c. [From the preceding remarkable passages it is evident that, except in a few cases, the promises and the threatenings of God, so long as the day of grace and trial lasts, are conditional: and that, even when they wear the most absolute aspect, the condition is generally implied.]

I.

The gifts and calling of God are without repentance, Rom, xi, 29. [The apostle evidently speaks these words of God's gifts to, and calling of the Jewish nation. The Lord is so far from repenting (properly speaking) of his having once called the Jews to the Mosaic covenant of peculiarity, that he is ready nationally to re-admit them to his peculiar favour, when they shall nationally repent, embrace the Gospel of Christ, and so make their sincere calling to the Christian covenant sure by believing. But does this prove that God forces repentance upon every Jew, and that

II.

I gave her time to repent and she repented not, Rev. ii, 21. Because I have called and ye refused, &c, I also will mock-when your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, Prov. i, 24, &c. The Lord [to speak figuratively and after the manner of men] repented that he had made Saul king over Israel, 1 Sam. xv, 35, [that is, when Saul proved unfaithful, the Lord rejected him in as positive a manner as a king would reject a minister, or break a general, when he repents of his having raised them to offices, of which they now show themselves absolutely unworthy.]

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when the Jews will nationally repent, God will absolutely and irresistibly work out their salvation for them? If Zelotes thinks so, I desire him to look into the scale of Honestus.

I.

We (who hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering) are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul, Heb. x, 39. We believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, Acts xv, 11.

II.

If that, which ye have heard from the beginning, shall remain in you, 1 John ii, 24. If ye continue in the faith, Col. i, 23. If ye continue in his goodness, Rom. xi, 22. If ye do these things, 2 Peter i, 19. If we hold fast the confidence firm unto the end, Heb. iii, 6. For he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved, Matt. xxiv, 13. [Should Zelotes endeavour to set aside these, and the like scriptures, by saying that each contains a Christian IF and not a Jewish IF, that is, a description, and not a condition; I refer him to the Equal Check, part i, vol. i, p. 496, where that trifling objection is answered.]

I.

If his [David's] children forsake my law, &c, then will I visit their transgression with the rod, &c; nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, [David, by utterly casting off his posterity] nor suffer my truth to fail, [as it would do if I appointed that the Messiah should come of another family,] Psa. lxxxix, 30,

&c.

Thus saith the Lord, &c, O Israel, fear not; for I have redeemed thee: I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. When the passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the vers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, &c, Isa. xiii, 1, 2.

II.

And thou Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever. Take heed now, &c, 1 Chron. xxviii, 9.

And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah, and he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah; the Lord is with you while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you, 2 Chron. xv, 1, 2.

When Isaiah saith, “ I was found of them that sought me not," &c, Rom. x, 23, he does not contradict his own exhortation, to "seek the Lord while he may be found." That noble testimony to the doctrine of grace does not militate against the doctrine of liberty: but it proves, (1.) That free grace is always beforehand with free will: and (2.) That as God freely called the Jews to the Mosaic covenant of peculiarity; so he gratuitously calls the Gentiles to the Christian covenant of peculiarity; neither Jews nor Gentiles having previously sought that inestimable favour. But when God has so far revealed himself either to Jew or Gentile, as to say, "Seek ye my face," wo to him who does not answer in truth and in time, "Thy face, Lord, will I seek."

I.

All the promises of God in him [Christ] are Yea, and in him Amen, 2 Cor. i, 20. [And so are all the menaces, for he is "the faithful Witness," and "the Mediator of the new covenant," which has its threatenings, as well as its promises; as appears from the opposite words spoken by Christ himself.]

God willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise [i. e. to obedient believers] the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things [the word and oath of the Lord] in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us, Heb. vi, 17, 18.

And thou shalt call his name JESUS, for he shall save his people from their sins, Matt. i, 21

I will take you to me for a people, and be to you a God, Exod. vi, 7.

II.

Remember whence thou art fallen, repent, and do thy first works, or else I will remove thy candle. stick. I will fight with the sword of my mouth against them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. I will kill her children with death. I will spue thee out of my mouth. [Awful threatenings these, which had their public and national, as well as private and personal accomplishment,] Rev. ii, 5, 15, 16, 23; iii, 16.

As truly as I live, saith the Lord, &c, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that, &c, have murmured against me, doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb and Joshua, &c. Ye shall bear your ini. quities, &c, and ye shall know my breach of promise, Numbers xiv, 28-34.

My mother and my brethren [that is, my people] are these, who hear the word of God, and keep it, Matt. xii, 50. I will destroy [my backsliding] people, since they return not, Jer. xv, 7.

But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, &c, I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, Deut. xxx, 17, 18. Indeed, the hand of the Lord was against them [when they disobeyed] to destroy them, &c, until they were consumed, Deut. ii, 15. Now all these things, &c, are written

for our admonition, 1 Cor. x, 11.

I.

The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself. He brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness, Deut. xiv, 2; Psa. cv, 43. My [faithful] people shall never be ashamed, Joel ii, 27.

The work of righteousness shall be peace, quietness, and assurance for ever; and my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in

II.

And the Lord spake to Moses, saying, Get you up from among this congregation [this special, chosen people] that I may consume them in a moment, Num. xvi, 45.

Thou [my unfaithful people] hadst a whore's forehead: thou refusedst to be ashamed, Jer. iii, 3.

Every one of the house of Is. rael, that separateth himself from me, saith the Lord, I will cut him off from the midst of my people,

I.

sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places, Isa. xxxii, 17, 18,

The eternal God is thy refuge; and underneath are the everlasting arms, &c. Israel shall dwell in safety alone, &c. Happy art thou, O Israel! Who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help? Deut. xxxiii, 27, &c.

The Lord will pity his people, Joel ii, 18.

Hath God [absolutely] cast away his people [the Jews?] God forbid! God has not cast away his people, whom he foreknew [as believing. The Jews being as welcome to believe in Christ as the Gentiles,] Rom. xi, 1, 2.

Ezek. xiv, 7.

II.

There is no peace

to the wicked, Isa. Ivii, 21.
That the house of Israel may go
no more astray from me, &c, but
that they may be my people, Ezek.
xiv, 11. Obey my voice, and ye
shall be my people, Jer. vii, 23.
Wo unto them [Israel and Ephraim]
for they have fled from me; de-
struction unto them, because they
have transgressed against me. They
return not to the Most High, Hos.
vii, 13, 16.

The Lord shall judge his people, Heb. x, 30. Judgment must begin at the house of God, 1 Pet. iv, 17.

Ye are a chosen [choice] generation, &c, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God; which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy [by believing,] 1 Pet. ii, 9,

10.

Therefore, the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, &c, because they were accursed; neither will I be with you any more [said the Lord] except ye destroy the accursed thing from among you, Josh. vii, 12.

Zion said, The Lord hath for. saken me, and my Lord hath for. gotten me. Can a woman forget ber sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, Isa. xlix, 14,15. Jesus having loved his own [disciples] he loved them unto the end [of his stay in this world, except him that was once "his own famihar friend, in whom he trusted," Judas, whom our Lord himself ex-, ix, 15. cepts. John xvii, 12;] John xiii, 1.

I will call her beloved, who was not beloved. Jesus loved him, [the young ruler, who went away sorrowing.] I will love them no more, Rom. ix, 24; Mark x, 21; Hos.

I have loved thee with an everlasting love, [or with the love with which I loved thee of old, when I brought thee out of Egypt,] therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee, Jer. xxxi, 3. [Compare the word everlasting in the original, with these words, "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt," Hos. xi, 1.] ·

I.

Truly God is good to Israel, Psa. lxxi, 1. This God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even unto death, Psa. xlviii, 24.

II.

Even to such as are of a clean heart. (Ibid.) Depart from evil, do good, and dwell for evermore. Bind mercy and truth about thy neck, &c, so shalt thou find favour, &c, in the sight of God and man, Psa. Xxxviii, 27; Prov. iii, 3, 4.

Can any unprejudiced person read the preceding passages without seeing, (1.) That, according to the Scriptures, and the Gospel axioms, our perseverance is suspended on two grand causes, the first of which is merciful free grace, and the second faithful free will. (2.) That those two causes must finally act in conjunction. And (3.) That when free grace hath enabled free will to concur, and to work out its own salvation, if free will obstinately refuse to do it till the night comes when no man can work, free grace gives up free will to its own perverseness; and then perseverance fails, and final apostasy takes place.

SECTION II.

The important doctrine of perseverance is farther weighed in the Scripture Scales.

THE scriptures produced in the preceding section might convince an impartial reader that Zelotes and Honestus are both in the wrong with respect to the doctrine of perseverance, and that a Bible Christian holds together the doctrines which they keep asunder. But considering that prejudice is not easily convinced; and fearing lest Zelotes and Honestus should both think they have won the day, the one against free will, and the other against free grace, merely because they can quote, behind each other's back, some passages which I have not yet balanced, and which each will think matchless; I shall give them leave to fight it out before Candidus, reminding him that Zelotes produces No. I. against free will; that Honestus produces No. II. against free grace; and that I produce both numbers to show that our free will must concur with God's free grace, in order to our persevering in the faith and in the obedience of faith.

I.

A vineyard of red wine. I the Lord do keep it: I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day, Isa. xxvii, 2, 3.

II.

I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed. How then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? &c. Thou saidst, &c, I have loved strangers, and after them I will go, Jer. ii, 21, 25. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard, &c; I will lay it waste, &c, and command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it, Isa. v, 4, 5, 6.

I.

The Lord God of Israel saith, that he hateth putting away, Mal. , 16. (And yet he allows it for the cause of fornication, Matt. v, 32.)

II.

Backsliding Israel, &c, hath played the harlot. And I said, &c, Turn thou unto me: but she returned not; and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. And I saw, when, for-adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorcement yet her treacherous sister Judala feared not, Jer. iii, 6, 7, 8.

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