710 / 772
Iohn
5.24.
and to,s3.
4.
SeU.
5.
.A
odieëtion
te;tding
t®
fro-
prate
the for-
mer
promifes,
anfvvered.
Iohn
R.3
.
and
15.7.
684
Arguments
to
prole
the
certaintie
of
our
perfeuerance.
fballliue
for
euer.
And verf.54.
Who
foeuer
eateth
my
flefh
and
drinketh
my
blood,
bath
eternal! life,
anti
I
will
raite
him
vp
at
the
!aft'
day,
&c.'.'
Now
whofoeuer
beleeue
in
Christ, they
eate
his flefh,
and drinke
his
blood
;
for faith
is
is
the
mouth
of
the
foule
whereby wee feede
on
this heauenlie
.foode;
and therefore
all
the
faithfull fhall haue euerlafting life;
nay,
as
he
faith,
they
haue
it
alreadie, andfhall
not
comein.:
to
condemnation,
but
haue
pafféd
from
death
to
life, as
it
is
Ioh.5.24.
and
Ioh.io.28.
I
will
giue
veto
them eternal!
life,
and
they
/hall
newer
perifh,
neither
(hall any
plucke
them out
of
my
hand.
29. My
father
tvhichg.aue
them
me
is
greater
then
all,and
none is
able
to
take them out
of
my
fathers
hand.
In which
words
he
both
fheweth
his
will in
his
promife, and
his
pow-
er
to
performe
it,and
therefore whofoeuer
are
the
fheepe
of
Chrift,
they cannot be taken from him,neither for
a
time
nor
eternally:for
fo
it
fhould follow
if
Chrifts reafon be
of
any
force,that
they
who
took
them
from
him should be ftronger
than Chrift and
his
father,which
were
a
horrible blafphemie
for any
to
imagine.
But
here
it
is
obieaed,that
thefe promifes
are
made
to
all
the faithfull
fo
long
as
they continue faithfull, and to the
fheepe
ofChrift
fo
long
as
they
are his
fheepe,
who
abide
in
his
word
and
follow him. But
when
they
ceafe
to
beleeue
and
to
bee
his
fheepe, they doe
not
appertaine
vnto him,
for
-they
onely remaine the Difciples
of
Chrift who
abide
in
his
word,
and haue
his
word abiding
in
them, Iohn
8.31.
and 15.7.
To
which
I
anfwere,that
this
is
an
idle
trifling
in
a
circular
difputation,
and
a
vaine
begging
of
the
que-
ftion
in
controuerfie. For the queflion
is,
whether
the
faith-
full may
be
affured
of
their
perfeuerance
in
faith,
whether
a
member
ofChrift
may
be
allured
to continue
a member
of
Chrift, whether
a
fhcepe
of
Chrifl
may
affure
himfelfe
that
hee
is
to
remaine
for
euer
a
fheepe
ofChrift.
Wee hold
the
aH'irmatiue
part,and
proue
it
by diuers
teftimonies;
they
denie
that
th
promifes
are
abfolute,
but
on this condi-
tion,that
we
are affured
none
can
plucke
vs
from Chrift,
fo
long
as
wee continue
and
retaine
the
nature
of
the
members
and
fheepe
ofChrifl.
But
I
would
faine
know what
it
is
to
be