Riches of mercy to men in misery, or, Certain excellent treatises concerning the dignity…

To this I answer, that he will not suffer us to depart ¹from him, Jer. 32. 4. I will make an everlasting Covenant with them. That is, I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me, we are knit together without separation, he never departs from us nor we from him; The reason why we continue in the state of grace, is not because grace is of an unsatiable nature: for it is a creature, and may vanish as all other creatures do: But it never fails because it is in Christ, and supported by his arm of omnipotency. The light in the air may quickly perish, but if the sun be ever with it, it never perisheth, •o the water of a stream may fail, but if there be a spring to supply it, it never fails: grace may perish as it did in Adam, but men ingrafted into the second Adam can never fall, because Christ is never severed from them; we have his word for it, he keeps us by his power: There is an everlasting Covenant on both sides. The Sacrament see ls this unto us; That God hath made a Covenant, that he will never depart from it, and we set our seal by it, that we will never depart from him, Gal 5. 3. He that is circumcised ²is bound to keep the whole Law. So he that receives ⟨p. 124⟩the Sacrament, is bound, he engages himself to keep the Law of faith: and he receives that oath when he was baptized.

To this I answer, that he will not suffer us to depart ¹from him, Ier. 32. 4. I will make an everlasting Covenant with them. That is, I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me, we are knit together without separation, he never departs from us nor we from him; The reason why we continue in the state of grace, is not because grace is of an unsatiable nature: for it is a creature, and may vanish as all other creatures do: But it never failes because it is in Christ, and supported by his arm of omnipotencie. The light in the air may quickly perish, but if the sun be ever with it, it never perisheth, o the water of a stream may fail, but if there be a spring to supply it, it never fails: grace may perish as it did in Adam, but men ingrafted into the second Adam can never fall, because Christ is never severed from them; we have his word for it, he keeps us by his power: There is an everlasting Covenant on both sides. The Sacrament se ls this unto us; That God hath made a Covenant, that he will never depart from it, and we set our seal by it, that we will never depart from him, Gal 5. 3. He that is circumcised