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The Philadelphia Confession, 1742
Those whom God hath accepted in the
Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by the Spirit, and given the precious faith of
His elect unto can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but shall
certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved, seeing the gifts and
callings of God are without repentance, (whence He still begets and nourisheth in them
faith, repentance, love, joy, hope, and all the graces of the Spirit to immortality)1 and though many storms and floods arise and beat against them,
yet they shall never be able to take them off that foundation and rock which by faith they
are fastened upon: notwithstanding, through unbelief and the temptations of Satan, the
sensible sight of the light and love of God may for a time be clouded, and obscured from
them,2 yet it is still the same, and they shall be sure to be
kept by the power of God unto salvation, where they shall enjoy their purchased
possession, they being engraven upon the palm of His hands, and their names having been
written in the book of Life from all eternity.3
This perseverance of the saints,
depends not upon their own free will but upon the immutability of the decree of election,4 flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father,
upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ and union with Him,5 the oath of God,6 the abiding of His
Spirit, and the seed of God wthin them,7 and the nature of the
covenant of grace;8 from all which ariseth also the certainty
and infallibility thereof.
And though they may, through the temptation of Satan, and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins, and for a time continue therein;9 whereby they incur God's displeasure, and grieve His Holy Spirit,10 come to have their graces and comforts impaired,11 have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded,12 hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves,13 yet shall they renew their repentance, and be preserved through faith in Christ Jesus, to the end.14
Footnotes:
1. Jn 10:28-29; Php 1:6; 2Ti 2:19; 1Jn 2:19.
2. Ps 89:31-32; 1Co 11:32.
3. Mal 3:6.
4. Ro 8:30; 9:11,16.
5. Ro 5:9-10; Jn 14:19.
6. Heb 6:17-18.
7. 1Jn 3:9.
8. Jer 32:40.
9. Mt 26:70,72,74.
10. Isa 64:5,9; Eph 4:30.
11. Ps 51:10,12.
12. Ps 32:3-4.
13. 2Sa 12:14.
14. Lk 22:32,61-62.
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