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been, and are ftill fome in the world, who are justly charged with this degree of apoftafy from religion; namely, fuch as, though they retain and profefs the belief of all the articles of the Chriftian faith, and worship the only true God, and him whom he hath fent, Fefus Chrift; yet have greatly perverted the Chriftian religion, by fuperinducing and adding new articles of faith, and grofs corruptions and fuperftitions in worship, and impofing upon men the belief and practice of these as neceffary to falvation. And St. Paul is my warrant for this cenfure, who chargeth those who added to the Christian religion the neceffity of circumcifion, and obferving the law of Mofes, and thereby perverted the gofpel of Christ, as guilty in fome degree of apoftafy from Christianity; for he calls it preaching another gospel, Gal. i. 7. 8. There be fome that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Chrift. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gofpel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accurfed. And those who were feduced by thefe teachers, he chargeth them with having in fome fort quitted the gofpel of Chrift, and embraced another gofpel, 6. Imarvel, that ye are fo foon removed from him that called you into the grace of Chrift, unto another gofpel. So that they who thus pervert and corrupt the Christian doctrine or worship, are plainly guilty of a partial apoftafy from Chriftianity; and they who quit the purity of the Chriftian doctrine and worship, and go over to the communion of thofe who have thus perverted Christianity, are in a moft dangerous ftate, and, in the judgment of St. Paul, are in fome fort removed unto another gofpel. I fhall now proceed, in the

III. Third place, to confider the heinoufnefs of this fin. And it will appear to be very heinous, if we confider what an affront it is to God, and how great a contempt of him. When God hath revealed his will to mankind, and fent no lefs a perfon than his own Son out of his own bofom to do it, and hath given fuch testimonies to him from heaven, by figns and wonders, and divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost; when he hath tranfmitted down to us fo faithful a record of this revelation, and of the miracles wrought to confirm it, in the books of the holy fcriptures; and when we ourselves

have fo often declared our firm belief of this revelation:

yet, after all this, to fall from it, and deny it, or any part of it, or to embrace doctrines and practices plainly contrary to it; this certainly cannot be done without the greatest affront and contempt of the teftimony of God himself; for it is in effect, and by interpretation, to declare, that either we do not believe what God fays, or that we do not fear what he can do. So St. John tells us, I epift. v. 1o. He that believeth not God, hath made him a liar, becaufe he believeth not the record which God hath given of his Son.

And all along in this epiftle to the Hebrews, the Apofle fets himself to aggravate this fin, calling it an evil heart of unbelief, to depart from the living God, chap. iii. 12. And he frequently calls it for, and by way of eminency, as being of all fins the greatest and most heinous, chap. x. 26. If we fin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth. That the Apoftle here fpeaks of the fin of apoftafy, is plain from the whole fcope of his difcourfe: for having exhorted them before, y 23. to hold fast the profeffion of their faith without wavering; not forfaking the aflembling of themselves together; he immediately adds, For if we fin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth; that is, if we fall off from Chriftianity after we have embraced it. And chap. xii. 1. Let us lay afide every weight, and the fin which fo easily befets us; that is, the great fin of apoftafy from religion, to which they were then fo ftrongly tempted by that fierce perfecution which attended it and therefore he adds, Let us run with patience the race which is fet before us; that is, let us arm ourfelves with patience against the fufferings we are like to meet with in our Chriftian courfe. To oppofe the truth, and refift the clear evidence of it, is a great fin, and men are justly condemned for it; John ii. 19. This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light: but to defert the truth after we have been convinced of it, to fall off from the profeffion of it after we have embraced it, is a much greater fin. Oppofition to the truth may proceed in a great measure from ignorance and prejudice, which is a great extenuation; and therefore St. Paul tells us, that

VOL. IV.

after

after all his violent perfecution of Chriftianity, he found mercy, because he did it ignorantly, and in unbelief. To revolt from the truth, after we have made profeffion of it; after we have known the way of righteousness, to turn from the holy commandment; this is the great aggravation. The Apoftle makes wilfulness an usual ingredient in the fin of apoftafy: If we fin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth.

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And as this fin is one of the greatest affronts to God, fo it is the highest and most effectual difparagement of religion for it is not fo much confidered what the enemies of religion speak against it, because they speak evil of the things which they know not, and of which they have had no trial and experience; but he that falls off from religion after he hath made profeffion of it, declares to the world, that he hath tried it, and dislikes it, and pretends to leave it, because he hath not found that truth and goodness in it which he expected, and, upon long experience of it, fees reason to prefer another religion before it. So that nothing can be more defpiteful to religion than this, and more likely to bring it into contempt; and therefore the Apoftle (v 29. of this chapter) calls it a trampling under foot the Son of God, and making the blood of the covenant a profane thing, and offering despite to the Spirit of grace: for we cannot put a greater fcorn upon the Son of God, who revealed this doctrine to the world; nor upon his blood, which was fhed to confirm and feal the truth of it; and upon the Holy Ghost, who came down in miraculous gifts to give testimony to it; than, notwithstanding all this, to renounce this doctrine, and to forfake this religion. But we fhall yet farther see the heinoufness of this fin, in the terrible punishment it expofeth men to; which was the

IV. Fourth and last thing I propofed to confider. And this is reprefented to us in a moft terrible manner, not only in this epiftle, but in other places of fcripture. This fin is placed in the highest rank of pardonable fins, and next to the fin against the Holy Ghoft, which our Saviour declares to be abfolutely unpardonable. And indeed the fcripture fpeaks very doubtfully of the pardonableness of this fin, as being near a-kin to that against the Holy Ghost, being said to be an offering despite

to

to the Spirit of grace. In the 6th chapter of this epiftle,

4. 5. 6. the Apostle fpeaks, in a very fevere manner, concerning the ftate of thofe who had apoftatized from Christianity, after the folemn profeffion of it in baptifm: It is impoffible for those who were once enlightened, (that is, baptized), and have tafted of the heavenly gift, (that is, regeneration), and were made partakers of the Holy Ghoft, and have tafted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, (that is, have been inftructed in the Chriftian religion, and endued with the miraculous powers of the gofpel-age; for the Jews ufed to call the age of the Meffias, feculum futurum, or "the world to come"); it is impoffible for thofe to be renewed again unto repentance: where the leaft we can underftand by impoffible, is, that it is extremely difficult; for. fo the word impoffible is fometimes ufed; as when our Saviour fays, It is impoffible for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And, chap. x. 26. the Apostle, fpeaking of the fame thing, fays, If we fin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more facrifice for fins; that is, they who renounce Chriftianity, fince they reject the only way of expiation, there remains no more facrifice for their fins.

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St. Peter likewife expreffeth himself very feverely concerning this fort of perfons, 2 epift. ii. 20. For if after they have efcaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Fefus Chrift, (that is, after they have been brought from Heathenifm to Chriftianity), they are again intangled therein, and overcome; the latter end is worfe with them than the beginning. He feems loth to fay how fad the condition of fuch perfons is; but this he tells them, that it is much worse than when they were Heathens before; and he gives the reafon, y 21. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. And St. John calls this fin of apoftafy, the fin unto death and tho' he do not forbid Chriftians to pray for them that are guilty of it; yet he will not fay, that they fhould pray for them, I epift. v. 16. If any man fee his brother fin a fin which is not unto death, he shall afk, and be fhall give him life for them that fin not unto death. There

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is a fin unto death; I do not fay, that he shall pray for it. Now, that by this fin unto death the Apostle means apoftafy from the Christian religion to idolatry, is most probable from what follows, y 18. We know that whofcever is born of Gol, finneth not, (that is, this fin unto death); but he that is begotten of God, keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not; (that is, he is preferved from idolatry, unto which the devil had feduced fo great a part of mankind). And we know that we are of God, and the whole world er TW WOVEN NEITA1, is under the dominion of that wicked one, (viz. the devil, whom the fcripture elfewhere calls the god of this world). And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true; (that is, hath brought us from the worfhip of falfe gods to the knowledge and worship of the true God). And then he concludes, Little children, keep yourselves from idols; which caution hath no manner of dependence upon what went before, unless we understand the fin unto death in this fenfe. And it is the more probable, that it is fo to be underflood, becaufe apoftafy is fo often in this epiftle to the Hebrews called the fin, by way of eminency, as it is here, by St. John, Whofoever is born of God." finneth not.

So that, at the very beft, the fcripture fpeaks doubtfully of the pardon of this fin; however, that the punishment of it, unrepented of, fhall be very dreadful. It feems to be mildly expreffed here in the text, If any man draw back, my foul fhall have no pleasure in him but it is the more fevere, for being expreffed fo mildly, according to the intention of the figure here ufed; and therefore, in the next words, this expreflion of God's taking no pleafure in fuch perfons, is explained by their utter ruin and perdition: But we are not of them that draw back unto perdition. And, in feveral parts of this epiltle, there are very fevere paffages to this purpofe : chap. ii. 2. 3. If the word spoken by angels was fedfast, and every tranfgreffion and difobedience received a juft recomfence of reward; how fhall we efcape if we neglect fo great falvation? and chap. x. 26.-31. If we fin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more facrifice for fins, but a

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