A47542:618
A golden mine opened, or, The glory of God's rich grace displayed in the mediator to believers, and his direful wrath against impenitent sinners containing the substance of near forty sermons upon several subjects / by Benjamin Keach.
London: printed by the author, 1694
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
1I Closed with the 27th Verse the last Day; and shall now come to the great Subject, which at first I told you I should (God assisting) endeavour to demonstrate and fully prove:
Namely, The final Perseverance of the Saints of God, or Sheep of Jesus Christ.
But that we may the more orderly proceed, we shall first consider again the Parts of our Text.1 1. You have an Account of a Gift given, which is expressed, Life. 2. The Nature of that Life explained, Eternal Life. 3. The Donor, or whose Gift it is, viz. Jesus Christ's. 4. To whom the Gift is given, namely, to his Sheep. 5. The Certainty of their possession of it, They shall never perish, neither shall any Man pluck them out of my Hand.
Some read it, neither shall any; and from the Greek word [Greek or Hebrew], 1it may be better so rendered, viz. [any]; that is, any Enemy, neither Sin nor World, Men nor Devils, Things present nor Things to come; let all Enemies do what they can, I have them in my Hand, in my Power, in my keeping; as if our Blessed Lord should say, And I will hold them fast, and they shall be preserved through Faith by my Power, and the Power of my Father who gave them me, unto Everlasting Life, and perish they shall not.
Some read it, neither shall any; and from the Greek word 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, 1it may be better so rendred, viz. [any]; that is, any Enemy, neither Sin nor World, Men nor Devils, Things present nor Things to come; let all Enemies do what they can, I have them in my Hand, in my Power, in my keeping; as if our Blessed Lord should say, And I will hold them fast, and they shall be preserved through Faith by my Power, and the Power of my Father who gave them me, unto Everlasting Life, and perish they shall not.
1. I give them Eternal Life: I now give it to them in the Seed thereof. Those that Christ gives saving Grace unto, he gives Eternal Life unto. I give them the promise of it, and when they die, they shall have the actual possession thereof.
2. They shall never perish, that is, eternally perish; they shall not die the second Death, or be cast into the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone. They shall not come into Condemnation, or be ⟨p. 142⟩eternally damned, as all Unbelievers shall be.
3. Neither shall any pluck them out of my Hand: No doubt by the Hand of Christ, is meant his Power, his Protection; the Lord's Hand is not shortened that it cannot save; he is able to save, it is in his Power to save.
3. Neither shall any pluck them out of my Hand: No doubt by the Hand of Christ, is meant his Power, his Protection; the Lord's Hand is not shortned that it cannot save; he is able to save, it is in his Power to save.
They were delivered into Christ's Hand by that Holy Covenant or Compact made with the Father before the World began. And when they believe, (or by that Grace which he infuses into them) he then takes actual and fast hold of them; and there he will keep them, and never let his hold go.
They come therefore into Christ's Hand, upon the same Considerations by which they came to be his Sheep; which (as I have already opened) was seven manner of ways, viz. 1. By Election. 2. By that holy Covenant or Compact made between the Father and the Son. 3. By the Father's free Donation they were given into his Hand, delivered to him by the Father. 4. By Purchase he bought them, and so they came into his Hand. 5. By Regeneration or Transformation he hath wrought his Image upon them, and so brought them into his Hand. 6. By Conquest, he fought for them, and conquered their Enemies, and subdued their own filthy and rebellious Hearts, and so they came into his Hand. 7. They by a holy Resignation of themselves, (as being overcome by his Divine Grace) yielded themselves up into his Hands. So that he hath a sevenfold hold of them.
Secondly, Their being in Christ's Hand, denotes
1. His personal possession of them, he being now entered upon the actual Administration of his Pastoral Office.
2. It denotes the present actual Charge he hath taken of them, he having gathered and brought them home to his own Fold, and put them into his own Pasture.
3. It denotes also their great Safety and blessed Security, he being, as Mediator, every way invested, qualified, and endowed with Power and Authority to keep them; having received all Grace, yea, the Fullness of Grace from the Father, as well as an express Command to supply all their Wants and Necessities, to subdue all ⟨p. 143⟩their Enemies, and to preserve them unto Eternal Life. So much shall serve us to the Explanation of the Terms of our Text.
3. It denotes also their great Safety and blessed Security, he being, as Mediator, every way invested, qualified, and endowed with Power and Authority to keep them; having received all Grace, yea, the Fulness of Grace from the Father, as well as an express Command to supply all their Wants and Necessities, to subdue all ⟨p. 143⟩their Enemies, and to preserve them unto Eternal Life. So much shall serve us to the Explanation of the Terms of our Text.
I shall only observe three Propositions from hence. Doct. 1. Everlasting Life is a free Gift, or Salvation is wholly by Grace; it is only of God, and the Gift of Jesus Christ. Doct. 2. The Saints of God are committed into the Hand of Christ, he hath the Care and Charge of them. Doct. 3. All the Saints, all Believers, or Sheep and Lambs of Jesus Christ, have Everlasting Life given to them; and they shall, every Soul of them, be saved, and none of them so fall away as eternally to perish.
I shall speak to the first and last of these Propositions, in which the Second will be comprehended.
