Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/d_400.lzh/D_408.TXT

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4o8                                 OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS.                                                       Book VI.

amen in Christ, and are always fulfilled; not one of
the good things God has promised has ever failed.;
and many are his promises, as has been observed, con-
cerning the perseverance of his people; as that they
shall hold on their way, and be stronger and stronger;
that he will not turn away from them; and they shall
never depart from him; with a multitude of others;
and, in general, he has promised, he will never leave
nor forsake them: and therefore it is impossible they
should perish; for then his promises and his faithful
ness in them would be of none effect; which ought
not to be said.
Fourthly, This truth may be further confirmed from
the gracious acts of God, flowing from his everlasting
and unchangeable love. The love of God to his peo-
ple is an everlasting love, which it would not be should
.they perish; for none can perish and remain the ob-
3eels of his love: but his love always remains, it is
never taken away, nor does it ever depart, nor can
there be any separation from it; and consequently
those interested in it can never be finally and totally
lost: and there are many acts of grace arising from
this love, which show it; not to take notice of the act
of election before observed, which secures their salva-
tion; nor the covenant of grace, from the perpetuity
of which this point has been argued; nor the act of
putting the elect into Christ's hands, from whence they
can never be plucked; there are several others which
ascertain the same thing; two or three of which I shall
mention.         1. The adoption of the children of God
into his family; by which he takes them for his sons
and daughters; which is a wonderful instance of his
love, I John iii. 1. now to this they are predestinated
according to the good pleasure of his will; and this
predestination and appointment of them to adoption
is his will to adopt them; and his will to adopt them
is the adoption of them; this is what is called a putting
them among the children, Jer. iii. 19. and whom God
puts among the children, and accounts as such, it is
not in the power of men or devils to put them out;
nor can they put out themselves, should they even de-
sire it, or express their contentment to be no longer
sons but to be servants; it is impracticable and not to
be admitted, as the case of the prodigal shows, Luke xv.
19, 21. the blessing is bestowed in the covenant of
hgrace, and is irreversible; Christ by his redemption
as made way for the recept. ion of it, which makes his
redemption a plenteous one, this with other blessings
of grace, being included in it; and to them that re-
ceive him, and believe in him, he gives a power to
become the sons of God; his Spirit witnesses to theirs
that they are so, and by faith it becomes manifest.
Now between sonship and heirship there is a close
connection: if a son, no more a servant of sin and
Satan, and the world, but an heir of God through
Christ; if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-
heirs with Christ, Gal. iv. 7. Rom. viii. 17. and can
a child of God become a child of the devil ? shall an
heir of heaven be seen in the flames of hell? or shall
one that is a joint-heir with Christ, come short of the
incorruptible inheritance ? no, that is reserved for them,
and they are kept to that by the power of God'-
2. Justification is another act of God's free grace, and

the fruit of his ancient love, Rom. iii. 24. and v. 17.
the sentence is pronounced in the mind of God by
himself, and none can reverse it; it is God that .jus-
tifies, and who shall condemn ? such as are justified by
him can never come into condemnation and everlast-
ingly perish; otherwise how could he be just, and the
justifier of him that believes in Jesus; if, after all, not-
withstanding his imputation of the righteousness of his
Son to them, and the .justification of them by it, and
their reception of it by faith, they should be con-
demned ? or how would Christ's righteousness be aa
everlasting righteousness and answer for his people in
a time to come, should they be condemned with the
world and excluded from. the kingdom of heaven ? or
how would this righteousness of his be unto justifica-
tion of life ? or what would signify their being made
heirs of eternal life through it ? or of what avail would
their title to it by it be unto them, if after all they pe-
rish eternally ? But the connection between justifi-
cation and glorification is inseparable; whom he jus-.
titled them he also glorified, Rom. viii. 30. and most
certain it is, that the righteous, who are .justified by
Christ's righteousness shall go into everlasting life
when the wicked will go into eternal pumshment, Matt.
xxv. 46.    3. Pardon of sin is another act of the
riches of divine grace, and flows from unmerited and
distinguishing love. Those whom God forgives for
Christ's sake, on account of his blood shed for the re--
mission of their sins, and upon the foot of satisfaction
nlade for them by him, he forgives all their iniquities;
not one sin is left unforgiven; and if so, how can they
be destroyed or perish everlastingly ? Is it possible that
a man should go to hell with a full and free pardon of
all his sins iu his hands ? Was ever any man executed,
having received the king's pardon ? and especially can
it be thought that any whom the King of kings has
pardoned, whose acts can never be made void, should
yet suffer everlasting punishment for sin ? no, when the
iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shag be
none to be laid to their charge, being cleared of all;
and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found, nor
any bill on account of them be found against them,
and that for this reason ;for I will pardon them whom
1 reserve, that is, for himself; and if reserved for him-
self, being fully pardoned by his grace, they shall be
preserved from everlasting destruction.
Fifthly, The saints final perseverance in grace to
glory, and security from ruin and destruction, may be
concluded from the love of Christ to them, his interest
in them, and theirs in him. Christ's love to them was
from everlasting, his delights were with those sons of
men before the world was, and from it nothing can se-
parate them: having loved his own, which were in the
world, he loves them to the end, John xiii. 1. to the end
of their lives, and to all eternity; and therefore they
can never perish. And they are not only the objects
of his love, dear unto him, but they are his care and
charge, who are committed to him to be kept by him;
and he has undertook the care of them, has eternal life
to give them, and does give it to them, and they shall
never perish, but have it; yea, they have it already,
a right unto it and earnest of it; and as they are his
Father's gift to him, to be preserved by him, so they