Precious faith considered in its nature, working, and growth

Thus much touching the manner, how this holy fruit grows upon Faith.

Thirdly, The next thing considerable is the continuance of this holy fruit. Justification is a flower of Paradise which never dies; once justified, and ever justified. The righteousness ⟨p. 220⟩of God, which is put upon the Believer, is never taken off again. The pardon, which is sealed in the Court of heaven, is never reversed. The cloud of Guiltiness, once scattered, never gathers together. The sins cast into the depth of Sea, never come up more.¹ When the Jesuit Chreicion, taken at Sea, tore and threw over-board certain papers of dangerous consequence, the torn pieces were by the wind blown back again into the Ship, and afterwards artificially put together, discovered the Popish design then on foot: but when God casts our sins into the depth of the Sea, all the breath of the infernal Spirits can never blow them up again, they shall be remembered no more. All things in Justification concur to make this good. Free-grace, which is the first mover in it, is a fountain ever flowing, and a Sun which knows no going down. The Righteousness of Christ, which is the matter of it, is a robe which can never wear out. The Gospel, which is the Charter of it, is a grant never out of date. Faith, which is the Medium to it, will, under the divine influences stirring up the nest of gracious principles, bud and blossom forth in fresh acts, and when the acts cease, it abides in the root, kept alive by the eternal Spirit breathed from the endless life of Merit in Christ: All which make the righteous man an everlasting foundation; only here is a Quaere to be resolved.

Thirdly, The next thing considerable is the continuance of this holy fruit. Justification is a flower of Paradice which never dies; once justified, and ever justified. The righteousness ⟨p. 220⟩of God, which is put upon the Believer, is never taken off again. The pardon, which is sealed in the Court of heaven, is never reversed. The cloud of Guiltiness, once scattered, never gathers together. The sins cast into the depth of Sea, never come up more.