1. 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,] Ps. lxxxix. 30, &c.

1. 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 thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, &c. Is. xliii. 1, 2.

1. 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 threatnings, as well as its promises: as appears from the opposite words spoken by Christ himself.]

I. God, willing more abundantly, to show to the heirs of promise, [i. e. to obedient be lievers] 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.

1. And thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people fron, their sins, Matt.

i. 21.

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

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.-Ps. cv. 43.

13. Should Zelotes endeavour to set aside these and the like scriptures, by saying, that each contains a Christian's IF, and not a Jewish IF, i. e. a description, and not a condition; I refer him to Equal Check, Part I. p. 104, where that trifling objection is answered.

2. 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, I Chron. xxviii. 9.

2. 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.

2. Remember whence thou art fallen, repent, and do thy first works, or else I will remove thy candlestick.—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 threatnings, these, which had their public and national, as well as pri. vate and personal accomplishment.] Rev. ii. 5, 15, 16, 23.-iii. 16.

2. 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. shall bear your iniquities, &c. and ye shall know my breach of promise, Numb. xiv.

28-34.

Ye

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

2. 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. xxxi. 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.

2. 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, Numb. xvi. 45.

1. My [faithful] people shall never be ashamed, Joel ii. 27,

1. The work of righteousness shall be peace, quietness, and assurance for ever: And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places, Is. xxxii. 17, 18.

1. 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.

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

1. 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. ix. 1, 2.

1. Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, Is. xlix. 14, 15.

1. 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 familiar friend, in whom he trusted, Judas, whom our Lord himself excepts, John xvii. 12. John xiii. 1.—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.]

1. Truly God is good to Israel, Ps. lxxiii. 1.-This God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even unto death, Psalm xlviii. 14.

1. Who will lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? [them that are in Christ, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit?] It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth them? Rom. viii. 1, 33, 34.

1. All things are yours, [ye Corinthians] and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, 1 Cor. iii. 21. i. 30.

1. To them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called, [to enjoy the blessings of his gospel,]

Jude 1.

1. If we believe not, yet he abideth faith

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

2. Every one of the house of Israel, that separateth himself from me, saith the Lord, I will cut him off from the midst of my people, Ez. xiv. 7. There is no peace to the wicked, Is. lvii. 21.

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

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

2. 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.

2. 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 amongst you, Joshua vii. 12.

2. 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. ix. 15.

2. 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. in the sight of God and man, Ps. xxxviii. 27.-Prov. iii. 3, 4.

2. [No righteous judge will;] For to be spiritually minded is love and peace; but to be carnally-minded is death, Verse 6.—Whosoever hath sinned against me, saith the Lord, him will I blot out of my book, Ex. xxxii.

33.

1. Moreover, whom he did predestinate (1. e. appoint to be conformed to the image of his Son, according to the christian dispensation) them he also called (to believe in Christ:) and whom he thus called (to believe in Christ, when they made their calling sure by actually believing) them he also justified: and whom he justified (as sinners by faith, and as believers by the works of faith) them he also glorified. Rom. viii. 30.-By one offering he hath perfected for ever (in atoning merits) them that are sanctified. Heb. x. 14.-Here we have a brief account of the method, in which God brings obedient, persevering believers to glory. But what has this to do with Zelotes's personal and unconditional predestination to eternal life or to eternal death? To shew therefore, that the sense, which he gives to these passages is erroneous, I need only prove, that all those who are called are not justified; and that all those who are justified, and sanctified, are not glori

[For he abideth faithful to his threatenings, as well as to his promises] ver. 12.

2. I say unto all watch.-Watch thou in all things. He that is begotten of God keepeth himself. Mark xiii. 37.-2 Tim. iv. 5.-1 John v. 18.

2. There was no strange God with him, [Jacob]-But, &c. they forsook God, &c. sacrificed to devils, &c. and when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them; [and said] I will spend mine arrows upon them. Ver. 12, 15, 17, 19, 23.

2. Keep yourselves in the love of God.Little children keep yourselves from idols.Fathers, &c. love not the world, &c. If any [of you] love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. [He is fallen from God in Spirit. Jude 21.-1 John v. 21.—ii. 15.

2. Through faith [on your part] Ibid.— Holding faith and a good conscience, which some having put away, concerning faith have made shipwreck. 1 Tim. i. 19.

2. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God. Is. lxv. 12.-I so run, (for an incorruptible crown) not as uncertainly: so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep my body under, &c. lest that by any means,-I myself should be a castaway, or a reprobate, 1 Cor. ix. 26, 27.

2. There is no respect of persons with God. -Thou partakest of the root of the olive tree, &c. some of the branches are broken off, &c. Boast not thyself against them, &c. By unbelief they are broken off, and thou standest by faith, &c. fear, &c. lest he also spare not thee, Rom. xi. 17,-21. &c. Give all diligence to add to your faith, virtue, &c. for if ye do these things ye shall never fall, 2 Peter i. 5,

10.

2. I have kept the faith;-For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. 2 Tim. iv. 7. Ps. xviii. 21.

2. Many are called (to believe;) but few are chosen (to the rewards of faith) Matt. xxii. 14.-0 thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt (i. e. I justified thee,) because thou desiredst me, &c. shouldst thou not also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee? And the Lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, Matt. xviii. 32, &c.-He that despised Moses' law, died without mercy, &c. of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy, who hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing! Heb. x. 29.-Ye (believers) shall be hated of all men, &c. but he (of you) that endureth to the end, shall be (eternally) saved, Matt. x. 22. (For God) will render eternal life to them, who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory, Rom. ii. 7.

fred; but only those who make their calling, election, justification, sanctification and glorification sure by the obedience of faith unto the end. And I prove it by the opposite scriptures.

Can any unprejudiced person read the preceding passages without seeing, 1. That according to the scriptures, and the gospelaxiom, 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 freewill obstinately refuses 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 apostacy takes place.

SECTION XV.

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 will 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

THE scriptures produced in the preceding

in order to our persevering in the faith, and in the obedience of faith.

2. 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, and, &c. command the clouds, that they rain no rain upon it, Isa. v. 4, 5, 6.

2. 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 Judah feared not, Jer. iii. 6, 7, 8.

2. I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you, Gal. i 6.

2. Unto to the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Ps. 1. 16. O Israel if thou wilt put away thy abominations out of my sight, thou shalt not remove, Jer. iv. 1.-Jerusalem hath grievously sinned: therefore she is removed, Lam. i. 8.-My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him, Hos. ix. 17.

2. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?-He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness, &c. He that does these things