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LXIV.

SERM. bleffed refurrection; which the more firmly any man believes, the more active and industrious will he be in the work and fervice of GOD.

And that our faith may have a constant and powerful influence upon our lives, we should frequently revolve in our minds the thoughts of another world, and of that vaft eternity which we shall shortly launch into. The great difadvantage of the arguments fetcht from another world, is this, that these things are at a diftance from us, and not sensible to us, and therefore we are not apt to be fo affected with them: prefent and fenfible things weigh down all other confiderations. And therefore to balance this disadvantage; we should often have these thoughts in our minds, and inculcate upon ourselves the certainty of these things, and the infinite concernment of them; we should reason thus with ourselves; if these things be true, and will certainly be, why fhould they not be to me, as if they were actually prefent? Why fhould not I always live, as if heaven were open to my view, and “I faw JESUS ftanding at the right "hand of God," with crowns of glory in his hands, ready to be fet upon the heads of all those who continue faithful and obedient to him? And why should I not be as much afraid to commit any fin, as if "hell "were naked before me," and I faw the aftonishing miseries of the damned?

Thus we should, by frequent meditation, represent these great things to ourfelves, and bring them nearer to our minds, and oppofe to the present temptations of fense the great and endless happiness and mifery of the other world. And if we would but thus exercife ourselves about "the things which are not seen," and make eternity familiar to ourfeives, by a frequent meditation of it, we fhould be very little moved with

prefent

present and sensible things; we should walk and live by faith, as the men of the world do by fenfe, and be more serious and earnest in the pursuit of our great and everlasting interest, than they are in the pursuit of fenfual enjoyments, and should make it the great business of this present and temporal life, to secure a future and eternal happiness.

SERMON LXV.

The Danger of Apoftafy from the true
Religion.

HEB. X. 38.

But if any man draw back, my foul fhall have no pleasure

T

in bim.

HE great defign of this epiftle, (whoever was SER M. the author of it, which I fhall not now en- LXV. quire into) is plainly this, to confirm the Jews, who were but newly converted to chriftianity, in the ftedfaft profeffion of that faith, which they had embraced, and to arm them against that temptation, which Christians were then exposed to, viz. the fierce and cruel perfecutions, which threatened thofe of that profeffion.

And to this purpose, he represents to them the excellency of that religion, above any other former revelation

SER M. velation that God hath made of himself to the world'; LXV. both in refpect of the author and revealer of it, who was the Son of GOD, and in refpect of the revelation itself; which, as it contains better, and more perfect directions for a good life, fo likewife more powerful and effectual motives thereto, better promises, and more terrible threatnings, than were annexed to the obfervation of the Jewish law, or clearly and certainly discoverable by the light of nature. From these confiderations, he earnestly perfuades them, all along throughout this epiftle, to continue conftant in the profeffion of this faith, and not to fuffer themselves to be frighted out of it by the terror of perfecution; chap. ii. ver. 1. “Therefore we ought to give the "more earnest heed to the things which we have "heard, left at any time we should let them flip;" and chap. iv. 1. "Let us therefore fear, left a pro"mife being left us, of entering into his reft, any "of you should come short of it ;" and verse 23. of this chapter, "Let us hold faft the profeffion of our faith, without wavering ;" and to encourage them to conftancy, he fets before them the glorious rewards and recompences of the gofpel, verfe 35. "Caft not away therefore your confidence, anu

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παῤῥησίαν ὑμῶν, your free and open profeffion of christianity, which hath great recompence of re"ward."

And then on the other hand, to deter them from apoftafy from this profeffion, he represents to them the horrible danger of it, here in the text," but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no plea "fure in him."

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I shall briefly explain the words, and then prosecute that which I mainly intended in them. "If any man "draw back," jàv úrossiantai: these words, with

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LXV.

the foregoing, are cited out of the prophet Habak-SER Mkuk, chap. ii. ver. 3, 4. and they are cited by the apostle, according to the tranflation of the LXX. which differs fomewhat from the Hebrew; and the difference arifeth from the various readings of the Hebrew word, which is rendered by the LXX," tơ "draw back; " but by the change of a letter fignifies" to be lifted up, as we render it in the prophet; but however that be, the apoftle follows the tranflation of the LXX, and accommodates it to his purpofe. Ἐὰν ὑπος είληται, if any man draw "back;" the word fignifies to keep back, to withdraw, to fneak and flink away out of fear, to fail, or faint in any enterprize: and thus this word is render'd in the new teftament, Acts xx. 20. dév úπTOEδειλάμην, SEλάuny, "I did not withhold, or "keep back any thing that was profitable for you; " and fo it is faid of St. Peter, Gal. ii. 12. "éseλλED EXUTOV, "he flunk away, or "withdrew himself, fearing "them of the circumcifion;" and the Hebrew word which is here render'd by the LXX. " to draw "back," is render'd elsewhere ixλime, which is "to fail" or "faint; "from all which it appears, (6 " that by drawing back," the apoftle here means, mens quitting their profeffion of chriftianity, and flinking out of it, for fear of fuffering for it.

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My foul fhall have no pleasure in him:" thefe words are plainly a swois, and lefs is faid than is meant; for the meaning is, that God will be extremely displeased with them, and punish them very feverely. The like figure to this, you have Pfal. "Thou art not a GOD that haft pleasure in "wickedness," which in the next verfe is explained, by his hatred and deteftation of those who are guilty of it, "thou hateft all the workers of iniquity." So VOL. V.

v. 4.

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that

LXV.

SER M. that the plain sense of the words is this, that apostasy. from the profeffion of GoD's true religion, is a thing highly provoking to him, and will be most severely punish'd by him.

In fpeaking to this argument, I fhall confider these four things.

I. The nature of this fin of apoftafy from religion.
II. The feveral steps and degrees of it.

III. The heinousness of it.

IV. The great danger of it, and the terrible punishment it expofeth men to. And when I have spoken to thefe, I fhall conclude all with a fhort exhortation, "to hold fast the profeffion of our faith " without wavering."

I. We will confider the nature of this fin of apoftafy from religion; and it confists in forsaking or renouncing the profeffion of religion, whether it be by an open declaration in words, or a virtual declaration of it by our actions; for it comes all to one in the fight of God, and the different manner of doing it, does not alter the nature of the thing. He indeed that renounceth religion, by an open declaration in words, offers the greatest and boldest defiance to it: but he is likewise an apoftate, who filently withdraws himself from the profeffion of it, who quits it for his intereft, or for fear difowns it, and fneaks out of the profeffion of it, and forfakes the communion of those who own it. Thus Demas was an apoftate, in quitting chriftianity for fome worldly intereft. "Demas hath forfaken us, having loved this pre"fent world, "faith St. Paul, 2 Tim. iv, 10. And those whom our SAVIOUR describes, Matt. xiii. 20, "21. Who received the word into ftony ground, "were apoftates out of fear," they heard the word,

and

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