is he that shall condemn me? Lo, they shall all wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up."

2. The same thing is evident from all the promises which God made to the Messiah, of his future glory, kingdom and success, in his office and character of a Mediator: Which glory could not have been obtained, if his holiness had failed, and he had been guilty of sin. God's absolute promise of any thing, makes the things promised necessary, and their failing to take place absolutely impossible: And, in like manner, it makes those things necessary, on which the things promised depend, and without which they cannot take effect. Therefore it appears, that it was utterly impossible that Christ's holiness should fail, from such absolute promises as those, Psal. cx. 4. "The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedeck." And from every other promise in that psalm, contained in each verse of it. And Psal. ii. 7, 8. "I will declare the decree: The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee: Ask of me, and I will give Thee the Heathen for thine inheritance, &c." Psal. xlv. 3, 4, &c. "Gird thy sword on thy thigh, O most Mighty, with thy Glory and thy Majesty; and in thy Majesty ride prosperously." And so every thing that is said from thence to the end of the Psalm. And those promises, Isa. lii, 13, 14, 15, and liii. 10, 11, 12. And all those promises which God makes to the Messiah, of success, dominion and glory in the character of Redeemer, in Isa. chap. xlix.

3. It was often promised to the Church of God of old, for their comfort, that God would give them a righteous, sinless Saviour. Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise up unto David a righteous Branch ; and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days shall Judah be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is the name whereby He shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness." So, Jer. xxxiii. 15. "I will cause the Branch of Righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land." Isa. ix. 6, 7. "For unto us

"Be

a Child is born; upon the throne of David and upon his king. dom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and justice, from henceforth, even for ever: The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this." Chap. xi. at the beginning, “ There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots; and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him....the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord.... With righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity ....Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins." Chap. lii. 13. "My Servant shall deal prudently." Chap. liii. 9. cause He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth." If it be impossible that these promises should fail, and it be easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one jot or tittle of these promises of God to pass away, then it was impossible that Christ should commit any sin. Christ himself signified, that it was impossible but that the things which were spoken concerning Him, should be fulfilled. Luke xxiv. 44. "That all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning Me." Matth. xxvi. 54. "But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be ??? Mark xiv. 49, "But the Scriptures must be fulfilled." And so the apostle, Acts i. 16. "This Scripture must needs have

been fulfilled."

4. All the promises, which were made to the Church of old, of the Messiah as a future Saviour, from that made to our first parents in paradise, to that which was delivered by the prophet Malachi, shew it to be impossible that Christ should not have persevered in perfect holiness. The ancient predictions given to God's church of the Messiah as a Sav. iour, were of the nature of promises; as is evident by the predictions themselves, and the manner of delivering them. But they are expressly, and very often called promises in the New Testament; as in Luke i. 54, 55, 72, 73. Acts xiii. 32, 33, Rom. i. 1, 2, 3, and chap. xv. 8. Heb. vi. 13, &c. These promises were often made with great solemnity, and confirmed with an cath; as in Gen. xxii. 16, 17, 18. "By myself have

See Psalm

I sworn, saith the Lord, that in blessing, I will bless thee, and in multiplying, I will multiply thy seed, as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore.....And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Compare Luke i. 72, 73, and Gal. iii. 8, 15, 16. The apostle in Heb. vi. 17, 18, speaking of this promise to Abraham, says, "Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two IMMUTABLE things, in which it was IMPOSSIBLE for God to lie, he might have strong consolation."....In which words, the necessity of the accomplishment, or (which is the same thing) the impossibility of the contrary, is fully declared. So God confirmed the promise of the great salvation of the Messiah, made to David, by an oath; Psal. Ixxxix. 3, 4. "I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant; thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations." There is nothing that is so abundantly set forth in Scripture, as sure and irrefragable, as this promise and oath to David. lxxxix. 34, 35, 36. 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Isa. lv. 3. 30, and xiii. 34. The Scripture expressly speaks of it as utterly impossible that this promise and oath to David, concerning the everlasting dominion of the Messiah of his seed, should fail. Jer. xxxiii. 15, &c. "In those days, and at that time, I will cause the Branch of Righteousness to grow up unto David....For thus saith the Lord, David shall never want a Man to sit upon the throne of the House of Israel." Ver. 20, 21. "If you can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne" So in verse 25, 26....Thus abundant is the Scripture in representing how impossible it was, that the promises made of old concerning the great salvation and kingdom of the Messiah should fail; which implies, that it was impossible that this Messiah, the second Adam, the promised seed of Abraham, and of David, should fall from his integrity, as the first Adam did.

Acts ii. 29,

5. All the promises that were made to the church of God under the Old Testament, of the great enlargement of the church, and advancement of her glory, in the days of the gospel, after the coming of the Messiah; the increase of her light, liberty, holiness, joy, triumph over her enemies, &c. of which so great a part of the Old Testament consists; which are repeated so often, are so variously exhibited, so frequently introduced with great pomp and solemnity, and are so a bundantly sealed with typical and symbolical representations: I say, all these promises imply, that the Messiah should perfect the work of redemption; and this implies, that he should persevere in the work, which the Father had appointed him, being in all things conformed to his Will. These promises were often confirmed by an oath. (See Isa. liv. 9, with the context; chap. Ixii. 8.) And it is represented as utterly impossible that these promises should fail. (Isa. xlix. 15, with the context; chap. liv. 10, with the context; chap. li. 4.....8; chap. xl. 8, with the context.) And therefore it was impossi ble that the Messiah should fail, or commit sin.

6. It was impossible that the Messiah should fail of persevering in integrity and holiness, as the first Adam did, because this would have been inconsistent with the promises, which God made to the blessed Virgin, his mother, and to her husband; implying, that He should save his people from their sins, that God would give him the throne of his Father David, that He should reign over the house of Jacob forever; and that of his kingdom there should be no end. These promises were sure, and it was impossible they should fail....And therefore the Virgin Mary, in trusting fully to them, acted reasonably, having an immoveable foundation of her faith; as Elisabeth observes, Luke i. 45. “ And blessed is she that believeth; for there shall be a performance of those things, which were told her from the Lord."

7. That it should have been possible that Christ should sin, and so fail in the work of our redemption, does not consist with the eternal purpose and decree of God, revealed in the scriptures, that He would provide salvation for fallen man in and by Jesus Christ, and that salvation should be offered to

sinners through the preaching of the gospel. Such an absolute decree as this, Arminians do not deny.....Thus much at least (out of all controversy) is implied in such Scriptures, as 1 Cor. ii. 7. Eph. i. 4, 5, and chap. iii. 9, 10, 11. 1 Pet. i. 19, 20. Such an absolute decree as this, Arminians allow to be signified in these texts. And the Arminians, election of nations and societies, and general election of the Christian Church, and conditional election of particular persons, imply this. God could not decree before the foundation of the world, to save all that should believe in, and obey Christ, unless he had absolutely decreed, that salvation should be provided, and effectually wrought out by Christ. And since (as the Arminians themselves strenuously maintain) a decree of God infers necessity; hence it became necessary, that Christ should persevere, and actually work out salvation for us, and that he should not fail by the commission of sin.

8. That it should have been possible for Christ's holiness to fail, is not consistent with what God promised to his Son, before all ages. For, that salvation should be offered to men through Christ, and bestowed on all his faithful followers, is what is at least implied in that certain and infallible promise spoken of by the apostle, Tit. i. 2. « In hope of eternal life; which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." This does not seem to be controverted by Arminians.*

may

9. That it should be possible for Christ to fail of doing his Father's Will, is inconsitent with the promise made to the Father by the Son, by the Logos that was with the Father from the beginning, before he took the human nature: As be seen in Psal. xl. 6, 7, 8, (compared with the Apos tle's interpretation, Heb. x. 5.....9.) "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire: Mine ears hast thou opened, (or bored ;) burnt offering and sin offering Thou hast not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: In the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy Will, O my God, and thy law is within my heart." Where is a manifest allusion to the covenant, which the willing servant, who loved his mas

*See Dr. Whitby on the five Points, P. 48, 49, 50.

J