hands as a judge, whom they have rejected as a facrifice and a Saviour? And then,

!

3dly, Thofe who are guilty of this fin, provoke God in the higheft manner to withdraw his grace and Holy Spirit from them, by the power and efficacy whereof they fhould be brought to repentance fo that it can hardly otherwife be expected, but that God fhould leave thofe to themselves, who have fo unworthily forfaken him; and wholly withdraw his grace and Spirit from fuch perfons as have fo notoriously offered defpite to the Spirit of grace.

I do not fay that God always does this, he is sometimes better to fuch perfons than they have deferved from him, and faves thofe who have done what they can to undo themselves, and mercifully puts forth his hand to recover them who were drawing back to perdition; efpecially if they were fuddenly furprifed by the violence of temptation, and yielded to it, not deliberately and out of choice, but merely through weakness and infirmity, and fo foon as they reflected upon themselves, did return and repent: This was the cafe of St. Peter, who being furprised with a fudden fear, denied Chrift; but being admonished of his fin by the fignal which our Saviour had given him, he was recovered by a fpeedy and hearty repentance. And fo likewife feveral of the primitive Chriftians, who were at first overcome by fear to renounce their religion, did afterwards recover themfelves, and died refolute martyrs but it is a very dangerous ftate, out of which but few recover, and with great difficulty.

And thus I have done with the five things I propounded to make out, for the clearing of this text from the mistakes and mifapprehenfions which have been about it. I fhall now draw fome ufeful inferences from hence by way of application, that we may fee how far this doth concern ourselves; and they thall be thefe :

ift, From the fuppofition here in the text, that fuch perfons as are there defcribed, (namely, thofe who have been baptized, and by baptifm have received remiffion of fins, and did firmly believe the go

fpel,

fpel, and the promifes of it, and were endued with miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghoft) that these may fall away; this fhould caution us all against confi dence and fecurity; when thofe that have gone thus far may fall, let him that ftandeth take heed.

Some are, of opinion, that thofe whom the Apoftle here defcribes are true and fincere Chriftians, and that when he fays, It is impoffible, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, he means that they cannot fall away totally, fo as to ftand in need of being renewed again to repentance: But this is directly contrary to the Apostle's defign, which was to caution Chriftians against apoftacy, because if they did fall away, their recovery would be fo exceeding difficult; which argument does plainly fuppofe that they might fall away.

On the other hand, there are others who think the perfons, here defcribed by the Apostle, to be hypocritical Chriftians, who for fome bafe ends had entertained Chriftianity, and put on the profeffion of it, but not being fincere and in good earnest, would forfake it when perfecution came. But befides that this is contrary to the defcription which the Apoftle makes of thefe perfons, who are faid to have tafted of the beavenly gift, and to have been made partakers of the Holy Ghoft; by which if we understand justification and remiffion of fins, and the fanctifying virtue of the Holy Ghoft, which in all probability is the meaning of thefe phrafes, these are bleffings which did not belong to hypocrites, and which God does not bestow upon them; I fay, befides this, there is no reason to imagine that the Apoftle intended fuch perfons, when it is likely that there were very few hypocrites in thofe times of perfecution ; for what fhould tempt men to diffemble Christianity, when it was fo dangerous a profeffion? Or what worldly ends could men have in taking that profeffion upon them, which was fo directly contrary to their worldly interefts?

So that upon the whole matter, I doubt not but the Apostle here means thofe who are real in the profeffion of Chriftianity, and that fuch might fall away.

H &

For

For we may eafily imagine, that men might be con vinced of the truth and goodness of the Chriftian do&trine, and in good earneft embrace the profeffion of it, and yet not be fo perfectly weaned from the world, and fo firmly rooted and established in that perfuafion, as when it came to the trial, to be able to quit all for it, and to bear up against all the ter rors and affaults of perfecution; fo that they might be real Chriftians and no hypocrites, though they were not fo perfectly established and confirmed, and fo fincerely refolved as many others. They were not like St. Paul, and thofe tried perfons whom he speaks of, Rom. viii. 35, 37. Who shall feparate us from the love of Chrift fail tribulation, or diftrefs, or perfecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or fword? Nay, in all thefe things we are more than conquerors. (They had been tried by all thefe, and yet had held out.) Upon which he breaks out into thofe triumphant ex, preffions; I am perfuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things prefent, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, fhall be able to fepa rate us from the love of God, which is in Chrift Fe fus our Lord. They might not (I fay) be like thofe and yet for all that be real in their profeffion of Chriffianity, and no hypocrites.

In fhort, I take them to be fuch as our Saviour defcribes him to be, who received the feed into ftony places, namely, he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not root in himfelf, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or perfecution arifeth because of the word, by and by he is offended. This is no defcription of a hypocrite but of one that was real, as far as he went (for he is faid to receive the word with joy) but was not well rooted, and come to fuch a confirmed ftate, as refolutely to withstand the affaults of perfecution.

So that though we have truly embraced Christianity, and are in a good degree fincere in the profeffion of it, yet there is great reafon why we should neither be fecure nor confident in our felves. Not fecure, because there is great danger that our refolutions may be born!

down

down one time or other by the affaults of temptation, if we be not continually vigilant, and upon our guard. Not confident in ourselves, because we ftand by faith, and faith is the gift of God; therefore as the Apoftle infers, we should not be high-minded, but fear. Men may have gone a great way in Chriftianity, and have been fincere in the profeffion of it; and yet afterwards may apoftatize in the fouleft manner, not only fall off to a vicious life, but even defert the profeffion of their religion: I would' to God the experience of the world did not give us too much reafon to believe the poffibility of this: When we fee fo many revolt from the profeffion of the reformed religion, to the corruptions and' fuperftitions of Rome; and others from a religious and fober life, to plunge themselves into all kind of lewdnefs and debauchery, and, it is to be feared, into atheism and infidelity; can we doubt any longer whether it be poffible for Chriftians to fall away? I wish we were as certain of the poffibility of their recovery, as we are of their falling, and that we had as many examples of the one as of the other.

Let us then be very vigilant over ourfelves, and according to the Apoftle's exhortation, 2 Pet. iii. 17. Seeing we know these things before, beware, left we alfo being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from our own ftedfaftnefs.

2dly, This fhews us how great an aggravation it is, for men to fin against the means of knowledge which the gospel affords, and the mercies which it offers unto them. That which aggravated the fin of these perfons was, that after they were once enlightened, that is, at their baptifm were inftructed in the Chriftian doctrine, the clearest and most perfect revelation that ever was made of God's will to mankind, that after they were juftified freely by God's grace, and had received remiffion of fins, and had many other benefits conferred upon them; that after aft this, they fhould fall off from this holy religion." This was that which did fo heighten and inflame their guilt, and made their cafe fo near defperate. The two great aggravations of crimes are wilfulness

H 3

and

and ingratitude; if a crime. be wilfully committed, and committed against one that hath obliged us by the greatest favours and benefits. Now he commits a fault wilfully, who does it against the clear knowledge of his duty. Ignorance excufeth; for fo far as a man is ignorant of the evil he does, fo far the action is involuntary; but knowledge makes it to be a wilful fault. And this is a more peculiar aggravation of the fins of Chriftians, becaufe God hath afforded to them the greatest means and opportunities of knowledge. That revelation which God hath made of his will to the world by our bleffed Saviour, is the cleareft light that ever mankind had, and the mer cies which the gofpel brings are the greatest that ever were offered to the fons of men; the free pardon and remiffion of all our fins, and the affiftance of God's grace and Holy Spirit, to help the weaknefs of our nature, and enable us to do what God requires of us. So that we who fin after baptifm, after the knowledge of Chriftianity, and thofe great bleffings which the gofpel beftows on mankind, are. of all perfons in the world the most inexcufable. The fins of Heathens bear no proportion to ours, because they never enjoyed thofe means of knowledge, never had thofe bleffings conferred upon them, which Chriftians are partakers of; fo that we may apply to ourselves thofe fevere words of the Apoftle in this epiftle, how shall we escape if we neglect fo great faluation? Hear how our Saviour aggravates the faults of men upon this account, of the wilful nefs of them, and their being committed against the exprefs knowledge of God's will: Luke xii. 47, 48. The fervant which knew his Lord's will, and prepa red not himself, neither did according to his will, fhall be beaten with many firipes for unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required s and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. The means and mercies of the gospel are fo many talents committed to our truft, of the neglect whereof a fevere account will be taken at the day of judgment. If we be wilful offenders, there is no excufe for us, and

little.