Ancient Christian Witness

Calvinists, who deny that salvation can ever be lost, reason
on the subject in a marvelous way. They tell us that no virgin’s lamp can go
out; no promising harvest be choked with thorns; no branch in Christ can ever be
cut off from unfruitfulness; no pardon can ever be forfeited, and no name
blotted out from God’s book! They insist that no salt can ever lose its savor;
nobody can ever “receive the grace of God in vain”; “bury his talents”; “neglect
so great salvation”; trifle away “a day of grace“; “look back” after putting his
hand to the gospel plow. Nobody can “grieve the Spirit” till He is “quenched,”
and strives no more, nor “deny the Lord that bought them”; nor “bring upon
themselves swift destruction.” Nobody, or body of believers, can ever get so
lukewarm that Jesus will spew them out of His mouth.

They use reams of
paper to argue that if one ever got lost he was never found. John 17:12; that if
one falls, he never stood. Rom. 11:16-22 and Heb. 6:4-6; if one was ever “cast
forth,” he was never in, and “if one ever withered,” he was never green.