Thomas Manton · 8 of 67

Verse 1. · Part 5

Use. It serveth to press us to give a distinct glory in believing to God the Father. Get a right apprehension of the divine persons, and the several endearments with which their personal operations are represented. It is said, John v. 23, that God ‘will have all men honour the Son as they honour the Father.’ God is most honoured when your thoughts are most distinct and explicit in this matter. Do not forget the Father; you are his gift, as well as the Son’s purchase, and the Spirit’s charge. If God the Father had not loved you before all worlds, Jesus Christ would not have redeemed you; and if Christ had not redeemed you, the Spirit would never sanctify you: and as the Spirit will not work unless you look upon him as Christ’s Spirit, John xvi. 14, ‘He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine;’ so Christ came to glorify the Father, and to finish his work, John xvii. 4. Bless them and praise them all then. If you receive anything, see the Father’s bounty in it, the freeness and everlastingness of his love stamped upon what you have. So if you want anything, holiness, comfort, grace, pardon, reflect not only upon the fulness of Christ’s merit, but the freeness of the Father’s love. You deal with a God of bowels and bounty; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, all are yours. There is a fond affectation in some to carry all things in the name of Christ, even such acts wherein the Father is most concerned; as the former age carried all dispensations in the name of God Almighty, without any distinct reflection, upon God the Son, in whom the Father will be honoured, and by whom we have an access to the Father. So many in this age, in their popular discourses and prayers, carry all things in the name of God the Son, and with a fond and luscious affectation ingeminate the name, ‘Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ,’ so that the honour and adoration due to the other persons is neglected and forgotten; whereas Christ is to be acknowledged Lord in all tongues, and among all nations, ‘to the glory of God the Father,’ Phil. ii. 11.

But now it is high time to proceed to the second and last manifestation of their effectual calling, preserved in Jesus Christ, τετηρημένοις ἐν Χρίστῳ, kept in or by him; the meaning is, they were not only sanctified for the present out of the store and plenty of God the Father, but should for ever be kept in that estate by Jesus Christ. The point is:—

Obs. That God’s called and sanctified people are preserved and kept in their state of grace and holiness in and by Jesus Christ. The point asserteth two things—that they are kept by Christ and in Christ; that is, not only for his sake, but by virtue of union with him. Jesus Christ is the cabinet wherein God’s jewels are kept; so that if we would stand, we must get out of ourselves, and get into him, in whom alone there is safety. I might handle this latter branch apart, namely, that union with Christ is the ground of our safety and preservation. But because I am sensible that I have staid too long upon this verse already, I shall content myself with handling upon this occasion the general doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. And, first, I shall give you the state of it, how far we may expect to be preserved; Secondly, The grounds of certainty and assurance in this kind.

1. How far we may look for preservation. The doctrine of perseverance is much impugned; but the earth is never the more unsettled because to giddy brains it seemeth to run round. However, let us grant what must be granted, and then the truth will be burdened with less prejudice. Seeming grace may be lost: ‘Take from him that which he hath,’ Mat. xxv. 29, is, Luke viii. 18, ‘Take from him that which he seemed to have.’ Blazing comets and meteors are soon spent, and fall from heaven like lightning, while stars keep their orb and station. A building in the sand will totter, and hypocrites be discovered before the congregation, Prov. xxvi. 26. Again, initial or preparative grace may fail, such as is spoken of in Heb. vi. 4, 5, to wit, illumination, external reformation, temporary faith, devout moods, some good beginnings, &c. Plenty of blossoms do not always foretell store of fruit; some die in the very pangs of the birth, and are still-born. Yet again, true grace may suffer a shrewd decay, but not an utter loss; the leaves may fade when the root liveth. In temptations God’s children are sorely shaken; their heel may be bruised, as Christ’s was, but their head is not crushed. Peter denied Christ, but did not fall from grace; there is a remaining seed, 1 John iii. 9. It is notable what Chrysostom observeth concerning Christ’s prayer for Peter, Luke xxii. 32, ‘I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.’ Mark, saith he, he doth not say, I have prayed for thee that thou shouldst not deny me, but I have prayed that thy faith should not altogether vanish and be abolished. Once more, such grace as serveth to our well-being in Christ may be taken away, joy, peace, cheerfulness, &c. As a man may have a being, though his well-being be lost; he is a man, though a bankrupt, though poor, though sick, though diseased: so a Christian may be living though he be not lively. Yet further, the operations of grace may be obstructed for a great while: a fit of swooning is not a state of death; there may be no acts, and yet their seed remaineth; this may last for a long time. David lay in a spiritual swoon nine months; for he awaked not till Nathan came to him, Ps. li., the title; and when Nathan came to him, the child begotten upon Bathsheba was born; for he saith, 2 Sam. xii. 14, ‘The child which is born to thee shall die.’ Yet further, grace if left to us would soon be lost; we showed that in innocency: but it is our advantage that our security lieth in God’s promises, and not our own; that we are not our own keepers; that grace is a jewel not trusted but in safe hands; that perseverance is God’s gift, not man’s act; and that Christ hath a charge to conduct the saints, and keep them safe to everlasting glory, John vi. 37-40; and x. 28, ‘I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish (neither shall any perish); none shall pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them is greater than all; none is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.’ They neither shall nor can; God and Christ are engaged in the keeping of them; Christ by God’s command as Mediator, and God by Christ’s merit: therefore he that separateth us from God must tug with Jesus Christ himself, and be too hard for him also, or else he can never pluck them out of his hands. If they should question Christ’s power, because of the ignominy of the cross, the Father’s hands are also engaged, for our greater assurance. Can any creature loose his eternal and almighty grasp, and pluck out those whom the Father hath a mind to keep?

We do not plead for any wild assurance and certainty of perseverance; we do not say that they that neglect means, or grieve the Spirit, and do what they list, are sure that they shall not miscarry; that is against the nature of God’s dispensation, and the nature of this assurance, and therefore but a vain cavil, It is against the nature of God’s dispensation; whom he maketh to persevere, he maketh them to persevere in the use of means. Hezekiah had assurance from God of life for fifteen years, yet he taketh a lump of figs, and applieth it as a plaster to the boil, Isa. xxxviii. 5, with 21. More clearly, Acts xxvii. 31, ‘All shall come to land;’ but, ‘Except ye abide in the ship ye cannot be safe.’ We are sure of life as long as God hath any service to do for us, yet we are bound to get food and raiment, and to use all means to preserve life. This was Satan’s cavil against God’s protection over Christ, Thou art sure not to fall, therefore neglect means, cast thyself upon danger, Mat. iv. 9, 10. You learn this doctrine from the devil; thou mayest do what thou list, thou art sure to be safe; it is the devil’s divinity. Again, it is against the nature of this assurance; he that hath tasted God’s love in God’s way cannot reason so. A child that hath a good father that will not see him perish, shall he waste and embezzle his estate he careth not how? A wicked child may presume thus of his father (though it be very disingenuous) because of his natural interest and relation to his father; the kindness which he expecteth is not built upon moral choice, but nature: but a child of God cannot, because he cannot grow up to this certainty but in the exercise of grace; it is begotten and nourished by godly exercises; and the thing itself implieth a contradiction; this were to fall away because we cannot fall away. You may as soon say that the fire should make a man freeze with cold, as that certainty of perseverance in grace should make us do actions contrary to grace.

Again, we do not say that a believer is so sure of his conservation in a state of grace, as that he needeth not to be wary and jealous of himself: 1 Cor. x. 12, ‘Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall.’ There is a fear of caution, as well as a fear of diffidence and distrust; and there is a great deal of difference between weakening the security of the flesh, and our confidence in Christ. None more apt to suspect themselves than they that are most sure in God, lest by improvidence and unwatchfulness they should yield t6 corruption. Christ had prayed that Peter’s faith might not fail, yet together with the other apostles he biddeth him watch, Luke xxii. 40-46. The fear of God is a preserving grace, and taken into the covenant: Jer. xxxii. 40, ‘I will put my fear into their hearts, and they shall not depart from me.’ This is a fear which will stand with faith and certainty; it is a fruit of .the same Spirit, and doth not hinder assurance, but guard it; it is a fear that maketh us watchful against all occasions to sin and spiritual distempers, that we may not give offence to God: as an ingenuous man that hath an inheritance passed over to him by his friend in court is careful not to offend him.

Again, this certainty of our standing in grace doth not exclude prayer: Luke xxii. 46, ‘Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.’ Perseverance is God’s gift, and it must be sought in God’s way; by Christ’s intercession, to preserve the majesty of God, and by our prayers, that we may constantly profess our dependence upon God, and renew our acquaintance with him; besides, by asking blessings in prayer, we are the more warned of our duty; it is a means to keep us gracious and holy. As those that converse often with kings had need be decently clad, and go neat in their apparel, so he that speaketh often to God is bound to be more holy, that he may be the more acceptable to him.

Again, it is not a discontinued, but a constant perseverance that we plead for; not as if an elect person could be quite driven out of the state of grace, though he be saved at length; he cannot fall totus a toto in totum, the whole man with full consent, from all grace and godliness; he may sin foully, but not fall off totally, no more than finally; there is something that remaineth, a seed, an unction, a root in a dry ground, that will bud and scent again. Briefly, true grace shall never utterly be lost, though it be much weakened, but in the use of means it shall constantly be preserved to eternal life.

Once more, and I have done with the state of the question. God doth not only require the condition of standing, or continuing in the exercise of grace, but give it infallibly. The precepts of the covenant of grace are also promises: Heb. viii. 10, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel,’ &c., where all the articles carry the form of promises. God undertaketh to fulfil our part in us when we submit to the covenant. So Jer. xxxii. 40, ‘I will put my fear into their hearts,’ &c. If there be any breach, it must be from our departing from God, or God’s departing from us. Now God never departeth, his love never permitteth him to repent of giving his fear and putting his grace into our hearts; but all the fear is our departing from God. So some say, God will not depart from us, if we be not wanting to ourselves. And Bernard observed that our own flesh is not mentioned, Rom. viii., ‘What shall separate us from God?’ &c. Soli eum deserere possumus propriâ voluntate—our own will may separate us and withdraw us from God. And the Remonstrants: Though God doth not repent doni dati, of what he hath given, yet we may repent doni accepti et retenti, of what we have received, and grow weary of the service of God. But all is answered by God’s undertaking in the covenant: ‘I will put my fear into their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.’ He will give faith, and love, and fear, bestow and continue such graces as dispose the soul to perseverance.

2. The grounds of certainty, by which it may appear that we shall be preserved in that state of grace unto which we are called in Jesus Christ. The grounds are many; put them altogether, and you may easily spell out of them the perseverance of the saints.

[1.] There are some grounds on God the Father’s part; there is his everlasting love and all-sufficient power. His everlasting love. God doth not love for a fit, but for ever, ‘From everlasting to everlasting,’ Ps. ciii. 17, before the world was, and when the world is no more. God’s love is not founded upon any temporal accident, but on his own counsel, in which there can be no change, because the same reasons that moved him to choose at first continue for ever. God never repented in time of what he purposed before all time: Rom. xi. 29, ‘His gifts and calling are without repentance.’ By gifts he meaneth such as are proper to the elect; and by calling, effectual calling; such is κατὰ πρόθεσιν, according to his eternal purpose; of these he never repents. The fruits of repentance in men are shame and sorrow; now God is never ashamed of his choice, nor sorry for his choice, so as to wish it undone. And then the other ground is his all-sufficient power. Almightiness is engaged in the preservation of grace by his eternal love and will, John x. 28, 29. Can they pluck Christ from the throne? are they stronger than Christ’s Father?

[2.] There are grounds on Christ’s part; his everlasting merit, and close union between him and us, and constant intercession. For his merit, see Heb. ix. 12. He is ‘entered into the holy place, having obtained an eternal redemption for us.’ Legal expiations did but last from year to year, but Christ’s merit for ever and ever; his redemption is eternal, not only as it is of use in all ages of the church, but in respect of every particular saint. Those who are once redeemed by Christ, they are not redeemed for a time, so as to fall away again; that, would argue that the virtue of Christ’s blood was spent, and could preserve them no longer; but they are for ever kept to salvation. So Heb. x. 14, ‘By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.’ He hath not only purchased a possibility of salvation, but all that we need to our full perfection; it is not for a certain time, but for ever. Then there is a close union between him and us; this is the notion of the text, ‘preserved in Christ,’ Look, as it is impossible to sever the leaven and the dough, when they are once mingled and kneaded together, so Christ and a believer, when they are united together, there is no parting more. Can Christ’s mystical body be maimed, or lose a joint? Then his constant intercession; that is another ground, a copy of which we have in the 17th of John, where he saith, ‘Keep them through thy name,’ &c., and ‘Keep them from the evil,’ &c. See Heb. vii. 25, ‘He is able to save to the uttermost those that come to God by him, for he liveth for ever to make intercession for them.’ He is interceding with God, that the merit of his death may be applied to us; and what is that? Salvation ‘to the uttermost,’ or ‘to the end,’ εἰς το τέλος. The heirs of salvation need not fear miscarrying. Jesus Christ, who is the testator, who by will and testament made over the heritage to them, he also is the executor, he liveth for ever to see his own will executed; he died once to make the testament, and he liveth for ever to see it made good. Whenever we are in danger, he is entreating his Father for supports and assistances of grace.

[3.] On the Spirit’s part there is a continued influence, so as to maintain the essence and seed of grace. The Father’s love is continued by the merit of Christ, that he may not depart from us; and we are preserved by the Spirit of Christ, that we may not depart from him. He doth not only put into our hearts faith, fear, love, and other graces at first, but he maintaineth and keepeth them, that the fire may never go out. Our hearts are his temple, and he doth not love to leave his dwelling-place. And besides, in the economy of salvation, it is his office to glorify Christ as his vicegerent, and to be our comforter; therefore, with respect to the honour of Christ, and the comfort of believers, he preserveth and maintaineth that grace that is once really wrought in our hearts. To preserve the glory of Christ thus, Christ, you know, hath received a charge from the Father to ‘lose nothing,’ John vi. 39, neither body nor soul—nothing that belongeth to an elect person. Now, that he may be true to his trust, he sendeth the Spirit as his deputy or executor, that his merit may be fully applied. It is for the honour of Christ, that wherever the work is begun, wherever he hath been an author, there he may be a finisher also, Heb. xii. 2. It was said of the foolish builder, that he ‘began, and was not able to make an end.’ This dishonour can never be cast upon Christ, because of the power and faithfulness of the Spirit; he doth κατεργάζεσθαι, Phil. i. 6, ‘go through ‘with the work which he hath begun; the Spirit is to fit vessels for glory. He doth not use to leave them half carved; he is faithful to Christ, as Christ is to his Father. The Father chooseth the vessels, Christ buyeth them, and the Spirit carveth and fitteth them, that they may be vessels of praise and honour. But this is not all. He preserveth and continueth us in the state of grace as our Comforter; by working grace he puts us into an expectation of glory and happiness, and to make it good he carrieth. on the work without failing; therefore grace is called ‘the first-fruits of the Spirit.’ Rom. viii. 24, and ‘the earnest of the Spirit,’ 2 Cor. i. 22, and v. 6, for it hath a double use, to be a taste and a pledge. It is a taste to show us how good eternal life is; and a pledge to show us how sure it is. The first degree of regeneration is of this nature; it is an earnest, or gage, assuring us of a more perfect enjoyment—the livery and seisin of glory to come. As soon as a real change is wrought, the Spirit of God doth give us earnest; and will God lose his earnest? will he give us a pledge, and fail our expectation? Surely no.

Let us now come to application.

Use. 1. It presseth us to persevere with the more care. It is no unreasonable inference: see 1 John ii. 27, 28, ‘Ye shall abide in him; and now little children abide in him;’ Since we have so many advantages of standing, let us not fall away. Oh! how great will your sin be, if you should miscarry and dishonour God! We pity a child that falleth when it is not looked after; but when a froward child wresteth and forceth itself out of the arms of the nurse, we are angry with it. You have more reason to stand than others, being brought into an unchangeable state of grace; being held in the arms of Christ, God will be very angry with your slips and failings. Mercy holdeth you fast, and you seek to wrest yourselves out of mercy’s arms. None can sin as you do, with such frowardness, with such dishonour to God; you disparage the Spirit’s custody, the merit of Christ, and the mercy of the Father. See Heb. iv. 1, ‘Let us therefore fear, a promise being left to us of entering into his rest, lest any should seem to come short of it.’ Look, as some seem to stand that do not, so some seem to fall utterly that do not. A child of God indeed cannot come short, but he should not seem, that is, give any appearance of coming short. When our religious course is interrupted, and we give way to sin and folly, that is a seeming to come short, and so you bring a scandal upon the love of God, as if it were changeable; upon the merit of Christ, as if it were not a perfect merit. Scandalous professors make Arminians; in an age of defection, no wonder if men plead for the apostasy of the saints.

Use 2. If you fall through weakness, be not utterly dismayed. As the spinster leaveth a lock of wool to draw on the next thread, so there is somewhat left. When you are departed from God, you have more holdfast upon him than another sinner; a child, though a prodigal: go to him and say, Father. David pleadeth the relics of grace yet left, Ps. cxix. 176, ‘I have gone astray like a sheep; seek thy servant, for I do not forget my commandments;’ as if he had said, Lord, I have sinned through weakness, but I hope there is some grace left, some bent of heart towards thee. So the church, Isa. lxiv. 8, 9, ‘Now, O Lord, thou art our father,’ &c. Yea, God is angry when we do not plead. So Jer. iii. 4, ‘Wilt thou not cry, Thou art my father?’ &c. You have an interest, though you have been disobedient. Thus do, and your falls will be an advantage; as you have seen men go back to fetch their leaps more commodiously.

Use 3. When you stand, let it excite you to love and thankfulness. Nothing maketh the saints love God more than the unchangeableness of his love. When they see themselves safe in the midst of weaknesses and Satan’s daily assaults, it doth much endear God to their souls. Certainly Daniel was much affected with his preservation in the lions’ den, when he saw the lions ramping and roaring about him, and yet restrained with the chains of providence, that they could do him no harm. So the children of God must needs love their preserver when they consider what dangers are round about them, how little they subsist by their own strength, 1 Sam. ii. 9, and how much they have done a thousand times to cause God to withdraw his Spirit from them; and therefore the great argument why the saints do love and praise him is not only the freedom of his grace, but the unchangeableness and constancy of it: ‘His mercy endureth for ever;’ it is several times repeated, Ps. cxxxvi. So Ps. cvi. 1, ‘Praise ye the Lord; O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever.’ No form is more frequent in the mouths of the saints: and good reason; for alas! if we were left to ourselves, we should damn ourselves every hour. We have a ‘revolting heart,’ Jer. v. 23, xiv. 10. We are like glasses without a bottom; as soon as they are out of hand they are broken; we cannot stand of ourselves: and we have a restless enemy, that desireth to toss us and vex us, as wheat is tossed from sieve to sieve, Luke xxii. 31; and we have often forfeited God’s protection, and grieved him day by day. Were it not for everlasting mercy, what would become of us? Certainly they that do not love God for their preservation, they are not sensible of their condition in the world. What a naughty heart they carry about with them! It is a miracle that ever grace should be preserved there, where there is so much pride, love of pleasures, worldly cares, brutish lusts; that such a heavenly plant can thrive in the midst of so many weeds. And what a busy devil they have to do withal, who watcheth all advantages, as a dog that standeth waving his tail (it is Chrysostom’s comparison) and expecting a bit; and his envy and malice is most bent against them that have most grace. Finally, they do not consider that the world is full of snares and dangerous allurements; for if they did, they could not choose but fall a-blessing of God for Jesus Christ, who yet fasteneth them as a nail in the holy place. I remember one of the fathers bringeth in the flesh saying, Ego deficiam, I will surely fail and miscarry; and the world Ego decipiam, I will deceive them and entice them; and Satan, Ego eripiam, I will snatch them and carry them away; and God saith, Ego custodiam, I will keep them, ‘I will never fail them nor forsake them;’ and there lieth our safety and security.

Use 4. It informeth us that if any fall often, constantly, frequently, easily, they have no interest in grace: 1 John iii. 9, ‘He that is born of God sinneth not,’ οὐ ποιεῖ ἁμαρτίαν, he makes not a trade of sin; that is the force of the phrase. God’s children slip often, but not with such a frequent constant readiness into the same sin. As fair meadows may be everflown, but marsh ground is drowned with the return of every tide, so are wicked men carried away with every return of the temptation; therefore he that liveth in a course of profaneness, worldliness, drunkenness, his ‘spot is not as the spot of God’s children.’ You are tried by your constant course and walk, Rom. viii. 1. What is your road? what do you do constantly, easily, frequently? I except only those sins which are of usual incidence and sudden surreption; as sudden stirrings of passion in a choleric temper, and vanity of thoughts, and distractions in duties, &c. And yet for these a man should be the more humble and watchful; if they be not felt and striven against, and mourned for, it is a bad sign.

Use 5. It provoketh us to get an interest in such a sure condition. Be not contented—(1.) With outward happiness; things are worthy according to their duration. Nature hath such a sense of God’s eternity, that the more lasting things are, it accounteth them the better. An immortal soul must have an eternal good. Now all things in the world are frail and pass away, therefore called ‘uncertain riches,’ 1 Tim. vi. 17. It is uncertain whether we shall get them, and uncertain whether we shall keep them, and uncertain whether we shall live to enjoy them if they stay with us. All of this side grace is uncertain; these things are usually blasted in their flower and beauty, as Herod was stricken in the midst of all his royalty: so that a man may out live his happiness, which is the greatest misery; or at least it must terminate with death; there is no use of wealth in the other world. But now ‘the better part can never be taken from us,’ Luke x. 42; and by seeking that we may have other things with a blessing, Mat. vi. 33. (2.) Rest not in gifts, they are for the body rather than the person that hath them; as many are carnal, and yet come behind in no gift. God useth them like negroes, to dig in the mines of knowledge, that others may have the gold. Judas could cast out devils, and yet afterward was cast out among devils; see 1 Cor. xii. 31. The apostle had discoursed largely of gifts, and then concludeth thus: ‘But yet I show you a more excellent way;’ and what is that? Grace that abideth and endureth for ever, as in the next chapter. Many that have great abilities to pray, preach, discourse, yet fall away. According to the place which they sustain in the body, so they have great gifts of knowledge, utterance, abilities to comfort, direct, and instruct others, to answer doubts, to reason and argue for God, for conference and holy discourse, and yet fall foully; as those Heb. vi. 4, are said to be ‘partakers of the Holy Ghost;’ that is, to have a great share of church gifts. Nay, this is not all; gifts themselves wither and vanish when the bodily vigour is spent: ‘The glory of a man is as the flower of the grass,’ 1 Peter i. 24. By the glory of a man is meant whatever excellency we have by nature, wit, knowledge, strength of natural parts, as well as wealth and riches. Many times we, like the dry stalk, remaineth when the flower is gone; nothing but the gracious work of the Spirit will last for ever. (3.) Seeming and unsound grace, as false faith, such as beginneth in joy, will end in trouble; it easeth you for the present, but you shall lie down in sorrow. General probabilities, loose hopes, uncertain conjectures, vanishing apprehensions of comfort, all these things soon come to nothing. The planting of true faith is troublesome at first, but it leadeth to true comfort; otherwise you may look upon the gospel with some kind of delectation for a while, as thorns may blaze under the pot though they cannot keep in the fire: therefore do not rest in ‘tasting the good word,’ Heb. vi. 5, in some slight and transitory comfort. Again, there is formal profession. Many may ‘begin in the Spirit’ and ‘end in the flesh,’ Gal. iii. 3. A man may seem to himself and to the church of God to have true grace; he may profess the truth, ‘escape the pollutions of the world,’ that is, foul gross sins; yea, and all this not out of a carnal aim, but out of a slight and insufficient touch of the truth upon the conscience, and yet fall away, like the corn in the stony ground, that grew up, but had no root. But much more, Christians, will that form which is taken up out of private aims fail and miscarry. God delighteth to take off the mask and disguise of a hypocrite by letting him fall into some scandalous sin, or by changing the times and posture of affairs, or by sending a storm. Paint is soon washed off: therefore rest not in these outward and superficial changes, till solid and substantial grace be wrought in you.