Wesley Corpus

51.) True; if he continue to eat thereof. And who can doubt of it 2 Again: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life; and 292 SERIOUS THOUGHTS UPoN they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.” (John x. 27--29.) In the preceding text the condition is only implied; in this it is plainly expressed. They are my sheep that hear my voice, that follow me in all holiness. And, “If ye do those things, ye shall never fall.” None shall “pluck you out of my hands.”- Again: “Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” (John xiii. 1.) “Having loved his own,” namely, the Apostles, (as the very next words, “which were in the world,” evidently show,) “he loved them unto the end” of his life, and manifested that love to the last. 19. Once more: “Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are one.” (John xvii. 11.) Great stress has been laid upon this text; and it has been hence inferred, that all those whom the Father had given him (a phrase frequently occurring in this chapter) must infallibly persevere to the end. And yet, in the very next verse, our Lord himself declares that one of those whom the Father had given him did not persevere unto the end, but perished everlastingly. His own words are, “Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition.” (John xvii. 12.) So one even of these was finally lost l--a demonstration that the phrase, “those whom thou hast given me,” signifies here (if not in most other places too) the twelve Apostles, and them only. 20. On this occasion, I cannot but observe another common instance of begging the question,-of taking for granted what ought to be proved. It is usually laid down as an indis putable truth, that whatever our Lord speaks to or of his Apostles is to be applied to all believers. But this cannot be allowed by any who impartially search the Scriptures.