fully declared. So God confirmed the Promise of the great Salvation of the Meffiah, made to David, by an Oath; Pfal. lxxxix. 3, 4.. I have made a Covenant with my Chofen, I have fworn unto David my Servant; Thy Seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy Throne to all Generations. There is Nothing that is fo abundantly fet forth in Scripture, as fure and irrefragable, as this Promife and Oath to David. See Pfal. lxxxix. 34, 35, 36. 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Ifai. lv. 3. A&t. ii. 29, 30. and xiii. 34. The Scripture exprefly speaks of it as utterly impoffible that this Promife and Oath to David, concerning the everlafting Dominion of the Meffiah of his Seed, fhould fail. Jer. xxxiii. 15, &c. In thofe Days, and at that Time, I will cause the Branch of Righteousness to grow up unto David. For thus faith the Lord, David fhall never want a Man to fit upon the Throne of the House of Ifrael.-ver. 20, 21. If ye can break my Covenant of the Day, and my Covenant of the Night, and that there should not be Day and Night in their Seafon ; then may also my Covenant be broken with David my Servant, that He should not have a Son to reign upon bis Throne. So in ver. 25, 26. Thus abundant is the Scripture in reprefenting how impoffible it was, that the Promifes made of Old concerning the great Salvation and Kingdom of the Meffiah fhould fail: Which implies, that it was impoffible that this Meffiah, the fecond Adam, the promised Seed of Abraham, and of David, fhould fall from his Integrity, as the first Adam did. 5. All the Promises that were made to the Church of God under the Old Testament, of the great Enlargement of the Church, and Advancement of her Glory, in the Days of the Gospel, after the Coming of the Meffiah; the Increase of her Light, Liberty, Holiness, Joy, Triumph over her Enemies, &c. of which so great a Part of the Old Teftament confifts; which are repeated fo often, are so variously exhibited, fo frequently introduced with great Pomp and Solemnity, and are fo abundantly fealed with typical and fymbolical Representations; I fay, all these Promifes imply, that the Meffiah fhould perfect the Work of Redemption; and this implies, that he should perfevere in the Work which the Father had appointed Him, being in all Things conformed to his Will. Thefe Promises were often confirmed by an Oath. See Ifai. liv. 9. with the Context; Chap. lxii. 8. And it is represented as utterly impoffible that thefe Promifes fhould fail. Ifai. xlix. 15. with the Context, Chap. liv. 10. with the Context; Chap. li. 4-8. Chap. xl. 8. with the Context. And therefore it was impoffible, that the Meffiah fhould fail, or commit Sin. 6. It was impoffible, that the Meffiah fhould fail of perfevering in Integrity and Holiness, as the firft Adam did, because this would have been inconfiftent with the Promises which God made to the bleffed Virgin, his Mother, and to her Hufband; implying, that He fhould fave his People from their Sins, that God would give Him the Throne of bis Father David, that He should reign over the House of Jacob for ever; and that of his Kingdom there should be no End. Thefe Promifes were fure, and it was impoffible they fhould fail. And therefore the Virgin Mary, in trufting fully to them, acted reafonably, having an immoveable Foundation of her Faith; as Elifabeth obferves, Luke i. 45. And blessed is fhe that believeth; for there fhall be a Performance of thofe Things which were told her from the Lord. 7. That it should have been poffible that Chrift fhould fin, and fo fail in the Work of our Redemption, demption, does not confift with the eternal Purpofe and Decree of God, reveal'd in the Scriptures, that He would provide Salvation for fallen Man in and by Jefus Chrift, and that Salvation fhould be offered to Sinners through the Preaching of the Gospel. Such an abfolute Decree as this Arminians don't deny. Thus much at least (out of all Controverfy) is implied in fuch Scriptures, as 1 Cor. ii. 7. Eph. i. 4, 5. and Chap. iii. 9, 10, 11. 1 Pet. i. 19, 20. Such an abfolute Decree as this, Arminians allow to be fignified in thefe Texts. And the Arminians Election of Nations and Societies, and general Election of the Chriftian Church, and conditional Election of particular Perfons, imply this. God could not decree before the Foundation of the World, to fave all that fhould believe in, and obey Chrift, unless he had abfolutely decreed that Salvation fhould be provided, and effectually wrought out by Chrift. And fince (as the Arminians themselves ftrenuously maintain) a Decree of God infers Neceffity; hence it became necessary that Chrift fhould perfevere, and actually work out Salvation for us, and that he fhould not fail by the Commiffion of Sin. 8. That it fhould have been poffible for Christ's Holiness to fail, is not confiftent with what God promised to his Son before all Ages. For, that Salvation fhould be offered to Mẹn thro' Christ, and bestowed on all his faithful Followers, is what is at leaft implied in that certain and infallible Promise spoken of by the Apoftle, Tit. i. 2. In bope of eternal Life; which God, that cannot lie, promifed before the World began. This don't feem to be controverted by Arminians *. 9. That *See Dr. Whitby on the five Points, p. 48, 49, 50. f 203 9. That it fhould be poffible for Chrift to fail of doing his Father's Will, is inconfiftent with the Promife made to the Father by the Son, by the Logos that was with the Father from the Beginning, before he took the human Nature: as may be feen in Pfal. xl. 6, 7, 8. (compar'd with the Apoftle's Interpretation, Heb. x. 5-9.) Sacrifice and Offering thou didst not defire: mine Ears haft thou opened, (or bored;) Burnt-Offering and SinOffering Thou haft not required. Then faid I, Lo, I come: In the Volume of the Book it is written of me: I delight to do thy Will, O my God, and thy Law is within my Heart. Where is a manifeft Allufion to the Covenant which the willing Servant, who loved his Master's Service, made with his Mafter, to be his Servant for ever, on the Day wherein he had his Ear bored; which Covenant was probably inserted in the publick Records, called the Volume of the Book, by the Judges, who were called to take Cognizance of the Tranfaction; Exod. xxi. If the Logos, who was with the Father, before the World, and who made the World, thus engaged in Covenant to do the Will of the Father in the human Nature, and the Promife, was as it were recorded, that it might be made fure,' doubtlefs it was impoffible that it should fail; and fo it was impoffible that Chrift fhould fail of doing the Will of the Father in the human Nature. 10. If it was poffible for Chrift to have failed of doing the Will of his Father, and so to have failed of effectually working out Redemption for Sinners, then the Salvation of all the Saints, who were faved from the Beginning of the World, to the Death of Chrift, was not built on a firm Foundation. The Meffiah, and the Redemption which He was to work out by his Obedience unto Death, was the Foundation of the Salva tion tion of all the Pofterity of fallen Man, that ever were faved. Therefore, if when the Old-Teftament Saints had the Pardon of their Sins, and the Favour of God promised them, and Salvation beftowed upon them, it was ftill poffible that the Meffiah, when he came, might commit Sin, then all this was on a Foundation that was not firm and stable, but liable to fail; fomething which it was poffible might never be. God did as it were truft to what his Son had engaged and promised to do in future Time; and depended fo much upon it, that He proceeded actually to fave Men on the Account of it, as tho' it had been already done. But this Truft and Dependance of God, on the Suppofition of Chrift's being liable to fail of doing his Will, was leaning on a Staff that was weak, and might poffibly break. The Saints of old trufted to the Promifes of a future Redemption to be wrought out and completed by the Meffiah, and built their Comfort upon it: Abraham faw Chrift's Day and rejoyced; and he and the other Patriarchs died in the Faith of the Promise of it. Heb. xi. 13. But on this Suppofition, their Faith and their Comfort, and their Salvation, was built on a moveable fallible Foundation; Chrift was not to them a tried Stone, a fure Foundation ; as in Ifai. xxviii. 16. David entirely refted on the Covenant of God with him, concerning the future glorious Dominion and Salvation of the Meffiah, of his Seed; fays, it was all his Salvation, and all his Defire; and comforts himself that this Covenant was an everlafting Covenant, ordered in all Things and fure, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. But if Chrift's Virtue might fail, he was miftaken: his great Comfort was not built fo fure, as he thought it was, being founded entirely on the Determinations of the Free-Will of Chrift's human Soul; which was fubject to no Neceffity, and might be deter |