THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE CHRISTIAN

Bishop J. C. Ryle:

Reader, would you know the security for the perseverance of God’s own people? Would you know why it is that Christ’s sheep shall never perish, and none shall ever pluck them out of His hand? It is a miraculous thing. When you look at the believer’s heart, listen to the believer’s prayers, mark the believer’s confessions,–when you see how a just man may fall, sometimes seven times,–when you see, with all this, the believer’s perseverance, it is a marvel indeed. To carry a candle upon a stormy night, when winds and gusty blasts are blowing from every quarter,–to carry it still burning, steadily burning, along the street,–this is a wonderful achievement. To go over a stormy sea in a little boat,–to mount billow after billow, and not see the waves breaking over the boat, and overturning it,–this is well-nigh a miracle. To see a little child tottering along the crowded street, a child some three or four years old –to see it tottering on and making its way in safety, from one end of a long street to the other,–this is a mighty marvel. But, after all, what is this, but the life, and history, and experience of every true Christian? Though he falls, he rises again; though he is cast down, he is not destroyed. He goes on from one position to another, like the moon upon a stormy night, plunging from one cloud into another, yet by-and-by shining out again and walking in brightness. What is the secret of it all? It is the continual intercession of a mighty Friend at the right hand of God: a Friend that never slumbers and never sleeps: a Friend who cares for the believer morning, noon, and night. The intercession of Christ is the secret of the perseverance of the Christian. (“Able to Save”)