Pecíou,o JFaítD. all fides,they are in garrif n in the power of God, Pet. i. 5. and there (hall be a way to efcape, r Cor. io. a3. In fuch Promifes as thefe every way fecuring the Believers ftate of Grace, the Covenant of Grace lifts up it felf in a tranfcen- dent excellency above that of Works, which had no Promife of Perfeverance annexed to it. Shall we now fay, That all thefe Promifes are Conditional, if we will perfevere, and not otherwife? Is not this to turn the Covenant of Grace into that of Works, and a fure Rate in Chrift into a lubricous Adamical one ? Is it not to evacuate all thofe glorious and magni- ficent Promifes touching Perfeverance, as if God in them fpoke only in fuch cold Lan- guage as this, I will preferveyou from all evils and dangers, only for that greatefl of all, which is in your own hearts and wills,I will not undertake or in fuch contraditory terms as thefe ; if you perfevere, I will make you perfevere; as if Per - feverance could be the condition of it felf ? After thefe Promifes fo interpreted Believers are but where they were before ; before thefe Promifes it would have been true, that if Be- lievers perfevere and continue in Grace, they do fo ; and after them fo interpreted, what have they more ? What do they contribute to Believers, when the main ftrefs of Perfeve- rance is laid on Mans Will, and not on Gods Grace ? But this obiter. The experienced Be- liever knows better how to ufe Promifes, and from them communes with his own Heart " Hath God promifed Perfeverance, and will F f "he 417
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