Let us hold fast the profession of our faith, without wavering: for he is faithful that promised, &c. For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins; but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, &c. Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward: for ye have need of patience, &c. If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. We are not of them who draw back unto perdition. -Heb. x. 23. 26, 27. 35, 36. 38, 39. Let us run with patience the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, &c. lest ye be weary and faint in your minds; lest any man fail of the grace of God.-Heb. xii. 1—3. 15. 28. Jesus Christ the same, &c. Be not carried about with strange doctrines: for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace.Heb. xiii. 8. 9. Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth, &c.— James i. 25. To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not; to him it is sin.James iv. 17. Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end.1 Pet. i. 13. The devil, &c. whom resist, stedfast in the, faith.-1 Pet. v. 8, 9. If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, &c. they are again entangled therein, and overcome; the latter end is worse with them than the beginning: for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they have known it, to turn from the ho commandment delivered unto them.-2 Pet. ii. 20, 21. iii. 17, 18. Matt. xii. 43-45. They went out from us, but they were not of us for if they had been of us, they would, no doubt, &c. Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning: if that shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father, &c. And now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear, &c.-1 John ii. 19. 24. 28. Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought: but that we receive, &c.— 2 John 8, 9. I have no greater joy, than to hear that my children walk in truth.— 3 John 4. 2 John 4. Earnestly contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints, &c. The angels which kept not their first state, &c. he hath reserved in chains, &c. Build up yourselves in your most holy faith, &c. keep yourselves in the love of God, &c.-Jude 3. 6. 20, 21. I know thy works, &c. thou hast laboured, and hast not fainted, &c. Thou hast left thy first love: remember therefore from whence thou art fallen. To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree of life, &c. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He shall not be hurt by the second death, &c. I will give to eat of the hidden manna; and will give him a white stone, &c. Hold fast till I come: and he that overcometh, and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations, &c.Rev. ii. 2-5. 7. 10, 11. 17. 25, 26. He that overcometh, shall be clothed with white raiment, &c. Because thou hast kept the word, &c. I also will keep thee from the hour, &c. I will confess his name, &c. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown, &c. I will make him a pillar, &c. I will grant him to sit on my throne, &c.-Rev. iii. 5. 10-12. He shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.-Rev. xxi. 7. II. That Believers shall have Grace and Power given them to persevere and abide in the Faith, &c. Christ will uphold them. He will keep the feet of his saints.1 Sam. xxix. 35. I will bring the blind by a way that they know not; I will lead them in paths they have not known; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things strait. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.-Isa. xlii. 16. The steps of a good man are or dered (or established) by the Lord, &c. though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.-Ps. xxxvii. 23, 24. Micah vii. 8. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory. Ps. lxxiii. 24. He that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still.-Rev. xxii. 11. When the righteous shall trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, he shall die: his righteousness shall not be remembered, &c. springing up unto everlasting life.— Ezek. xxxiii. 13. John iv. 14. The water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.-Jer. xxxi. 3. I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good: but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. -Jer. xxxii. 40. The Son of man is come to save that which was lost. How think ye? If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray; doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth, &c. and seeketh that which is gone astray? &c. Even so, it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.-Matt. xviii. 11—14. There shall arise false Christs, &c. insomuch, that (if it were possible) they shall deceive the very elect.→→ Matt. xxiv. 24. Satan hath desired to winnow you, &c. but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.-Luke xxii. 31, 32. All that the Father hath given unto me, shall come to me: and him that cometh I will in no wise cast out, &c. This is the Father's will, &c. that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.-John vi. 37-39. My sheep, &c. shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand, &c. No man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.—John x. 27-30. Holy Father, keep, through thy own name, those, &c. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name; those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them are lost, but the son of perdition, that the scripture, &c.-John xvii. 11, 12. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.-Rom. vii. 24, 25. Whom he did predestinate, them he called, &c. them he justified, &c. he glorified, &c. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? &c. I am persuaded that neither death, &c. nor any other creature shall be able to separate us.-Rom. viii. 29-31. 35. 37-39. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Rom. xi. 29. Who art thou who judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up for God is able to make him stand.-Rom xiv. 4. spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. 1 Thess. v. 23, 24. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly and your whole To an inheritance, &c. reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.-1 Pet. i. 4, 5. They went out from us, but they were not of us for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us, &c. The anointing which ye have received, &c. Ye shall abide in him.-1 John ii. 19. 26, 27. He that is born of God doth not commit sin: for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, &c.— 1 John iii. 9. Ye are of God, &c. and have overcome them; because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.-1 John iv. 4. There is a sin not unto death. We know that every one who is born of God sinneth not: but, &c. keepeth himself, &c. Whosoever is born of God, overcometh the world.-1 John v. 4. 17, 18. The truth which dwelleth in us, and shall be in us for ever.-2 John 2. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory, &c. to the only wise God, &c. yourselves, that ye love the Lord -Jude 24, 25. Rom. xvi. 25. your God.-Josh. xxiii. 11. Those whose names are not written in the book of life, they worshipped, and wondered at the beast.-Rev. xiii. 8. xvii. 8. SECT. XVIII. To take care to watch diligently over ourselves with a holy jealousy and fear, lest we should apostatise and depart from God, his Truth and Ways, into any Error or Sin: the Reasons: our Danger. HEZEKIAH was left of God, that he might know all that was in his heart. -2 Chron. xxxii. 31. Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: but ye shall destroy their altars, &c. lest, &c. they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice, &c.-Exod. xxxiv. 12, 13. 15, 16. What nation so great, who hath God so nigh unto them? &c. Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thine heart all the days of thy life, &c. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves, &c. lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, &c.Deut. iv. 7-9. 15. 25. Exod. xxxiv. 12. 15. When the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, &c. When thou shalt have eaten and be full, beware lest thou forget the Lord, &c. -Deut. vi. 10-12. viii. 10-14. I will give rain, &c. that thou mayest eat and be full: take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside and serve other gods.-Deut. xi. 14-16. If thy brother, &c. entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, &c. thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him, &c.-Deut. xiii. 6-8. Solomon, whom God so much honoured, sinned greatly in old age.— 1 Kings xi. There was a day, when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan (or the adversary) came among (or in the midst of) them. Job i. 6, 7. ii. 1, 2. Stand in awe, and sin not; commune with your own heart, &c.— Ps. iv. 4. xvi. 8. I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue, &c.— Ps. xxxix. 1. Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto, according to thy word.Ps. cxix. 9. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheeps' clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.Matt. vii. 15. Jesus said, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of, &c.-Matt. xvi. 6. Luke xii. 1, 2. Jesus said, Take heed that no man Take good heed therefore unto deceive you; for many shall come in |