Election of certain individuals to salvation is election to bestow upon them such influences of the Spirit as will lead them not only to accept Christ, but to persevere and be saved. Union with Christ is indissoluble; regeneration is the beginning of a work of new creation, which is declared in justification, and completed in sanctification. All these doctrines are parts of a general scheme, which would come to naught if any single Christian were permitted to fall away. (_b_) It accords with analogy,—God’s preserving care being needed by, and being granted to, his spiritual, as well as his natural, creation. As natural life cannot uphold itself, but we “_live, and move, and have our being_” in God (_Acts 17:28_), so spiritual life cannot uphold itself, and God maintains the faith, love, and holy activity which he has originated. If he preserves our natural life, much more may we expect him to preserve the spiritual. _1 Tim. 6:13_—“_I charge thee before God who preserveth all things alive_” (R. V. marg.)—ζωογονοῦντος τὰ πάντα = the great Preserver of all enables us to persist in our Christian course. (_c_) It is implied in all assurance of salvation,—since this assurance is given by the Holy Spirit, and is based not upon the known strength of human resolution, but upon the purpose and operation of God. S. R. Mason: “If Satan and Adam both fell away from perfect holiness, it is a million to one that, in a world full of temptations and with all appetites and habits against me, I shall fall away from imperfect holiness, unless God by his almighty power keep me.” It is in the power and purpose of God, then, that the believer puts his trust. But since this trust is awakened by the Holy Spirit, it must be that there is a divine fact corresponding to it; namely, God’s purpose to exert his power in such a way that the Christian shall persevere. See Wardlaw, Syst. Theol., 2:550‐578; N. W. Taylor, Revealed Theology, 445‐460.