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others are intended in the text under our present consideration, who were not true believers, and consequently it does not from hence appear that such may totally, or finally, fall from a state of grace.

The apostates spoken of in this and the foregoing objection, were probably some among the Jews, to whom the gospel was preached, who embraced the Christian faith, being convinced by those miracles which were wrought for that purpose, but afterwards revolted from it, and were more inveterately set against Christ and the gospel than they had been before they made this profession; and accordingly as they had formerly approved of the crimes of those who crucified Christ, in which respect they are said to have crucified him; now they do, in the same sense, crucify him afresh. And as they had been made partakers of the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost; afterwards they openly blasphemed him, and this was done with spite and malice. These texts therefore not only contain a sad instance of the apostasy of some, but prove that they were irrecoverably lost; and this comes as near the account we have in the gospels of the unpardonable sin, as any thing mentioned in scripture: nevertheless, what has been said to prove that they never were true believers, is a sufficient answer to this and the foregoing objection.

Objec. 6. Another objection against the doctrine of the saints' perseverance, is taken from 2 Pet. ii. 20-22. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome; the latter end is worse with them than the beginning; and they are said in the following verse, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them; which is compared to the dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire.

Answ. To this it may be replied, That though every one must conclude, that the persons, whom the apostle here speaks of, plainly appear to be apostates; yet there is nothing in their character which argues that they apostatized, or fell from the truth of grace; and it is only such whom we are at present speaking of. It may be observed, that the apostle is so far from including these apostates in the number of those to whom he writes this, with the foregoing epistle, whom he describes as elect, according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, and as having been begotten again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to an inheritance reserved for them in heaven, and as such, who should be kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation, 1 Pet. i. 2-5. that he plainly distinguishes them from them. For in

verse 1, of this chapter, from whence it is taken, it is said, 'There shall be false teachers among you, and many shall follow their pernicious ways;' he does not say many, who are now of your number, but many who shall be joined to the church, when these false teachers arise. These persons, indeed, are represented as making a great shew of religion, by which they gained reputation among some professors, whom they seduced which otherwise they could not have done; and therefore it is said, 'They had escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," and that they had known the way of righteousness.' Such might indeed be joined to the church afterwards; but they did not now belong to it; and what is said concerning them, amounts to no more than an external visible reformation, together with their having attained the knowledge of Christ and divine things; so that they were enlightened in the doctrines of the gospel; though they made it appear, by the methods they used to deceive others, that they had not experienced the grace of the gospel themselves, and therefore they fell away from their profession, and turned aside from the faith, which once they preached. It is one thing for a formal professor, who makes a great show of religion, to turn aside from his profession, to all excess of riot; and another thing to suppose a true believer can do so, and that to such a degree as to continue therein; this the grace of God will keep him from.

Objec. 7. Another objection against the doctrine of the saints' perseverance, is taken from the parable of the debtor and creditor, in Matt. xviii. 26, &'c. in which it is said, The servant fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that 'servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and 'forgave him the debt;' but afterwards, upon his treating one of his fellow-servants, who owed him a very inconsiderable sum, with great severity, his lord exacted the debt of him, which he had before forgiven him, and so delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due to him: So likewise,' it is said, shall my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye, from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses;' from whence it is inferred, that a person may fall from a justified state, or that God may forgive sin at one time, and yet be provoked to alter his resolution, and inflict the punishment that is due to it, at another; which is altogether inconsistent with the doctrine of the saints' perseverance in grace.

Answ. In answer to this we must observe, that our Saviour's design in his parables, is not that every word or circumstance contained in them, should be applied to signify what it seems

to import, but there is some truth in general intended to be il lustrated thereby, which is principally to be regarded therein: Thus in the parable of the judge, in Luke xviii. 2, &c. which feared not God, neither regarded man,' who was moved, by a widow's importunity, to avenge her of her adversary;' which after a while, he resolved to do, because the widow troubled him. This is applied to God's avenging his elect, who cry day and night unto him;' where we must observe, that it is only in this circumstance that the parable is to be applied to thein without any regard had to the injustice of the judge, or his being uneasy, by reason of the importunity which the widow exprest in pleading her cause with him.

Again, in the parable of the steward, in Luke xvi. 1, &c. who being accused for having wasted his lord's goods; and apprehending that he should be soon turned out of the stewardship, he takes an unjust method to gain the favour of his lord's debtors, by remitting a part of what they owed him, that by this means they might be induced to shew kindness to him when he was turned out of his service. It is said indeed, verse 8. that the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had acted wisely; whereas, our Saviour does not design, in the ac count he gives of his injustice, to give the least countenance to it, as though it were to be imitated by us; nor by his lord's commending him as acting wisely for himself, does he intend that it is lawful or commendable for wicked men to pursue the like measures to promote their future interest. But the only thing in which this parable is applied, is, that we might learn from hence, that the children of this world are, in their generation wiser than the children of light;' and that men ought to endeavour, without the least appearance of injustice, to gain the friendship of others, by using what they have in the world, in such a way, as that they may be induced, out of gratitude for those favours, which they conferred upon them, to shew respect to them; but principally, that in performing what was really their duty, they might have ground to hope that they shall be approved of God, and received into everlasting habi

tations.

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Now to apply this rule to the parable from whence the objection is taken, we must consider, that the design hereof is not to signify that God changes his mind, as men do, by forgiving persons at one time, and afterwards condemning them, as though he did not know, when he extended this kindness to them, how they would behave towards others, or whether they would improve or forfeit this privilege; since to suppose this would be contrary to the divine perfections. Therefore the only design of the parable is to shew, that they who now conclude that God has forgiven them, ought to forgive others, or

else they will find themselves mistaken at last: and though according to the tenor of the divine dispensations, or the revealed will of God, which is our only rule of judging concerning this matter, they think that they are in a justified state, it will appear, that the debt which they owed was not cancelled, but shall be exacted of them to the utmost, in their own persons; so that all that can be proved from hence is, that a man may fall from, or lose those seeming grounds, which we had to conclude that his sins were forgiven: but we are not to suppose that our Saviour intends hereby that God's secret purpose, relating to the forgiveness of sin, can be changed; or that he, who is really freed from condemnation, at one time, may fall under it at another: therefore, what is said in this parable, does not in the least give countenance to this objection, or overthrow the doctrine we are maintaining.

Objec. 8. There is another objection, taken from what the apostle Paul says concerning himself, in 1 Cor. ix. 27. I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away. Now it is certain that the apostle was a true believer; yet he concludes, that if he did not behave himself so as to subdue or keep under his corrupt passions, but should commit those open scandalous crimes, which they would prompt him to, he should, in the end, become a cast-away, that is, apostatize from God, and be rejected by him.

Answ. To this it may be replied, That though the apostle had as good ground to conclude that he had experienced the grace of God in truth, as any man, and was oftentimes favoured with a full assurance hereof; yet he did not attain this assurance by immediate revelation, so as he received those doctrines which he was to impart to the church as a rule of faith; for then it would have been impossible for him to have been mistaken as to this matter: and if this be supposed, then I would understand what he says concerning his being a castaway, as denoting what would be the consequence of his not keeping under his body; but not implying hereby that corrupt nature should so far prevail, as that he should fall from a sane. tified state. Now if he did not attain this assurance by immediate revelation, then he had it in the same way as others have, by making use of those marks and characters which are given of the truth of grace; and accordingly he argues, that though, at present, he thought himself to be in a sanctified state, from the same evidences that others conclude themselves to be so; yet if corrupt nature should prevail over him, which it would do, if he did not keep his body in subjection, or if he were guilty of those vile abominations which unregenerate persons are chargeable with, then it would appear, that this assurance

was ill grounded, his hope of salvation delusive, and he no other than an hypocrite; and so, notwithstanding his having preached to others, he would be found, in the end, among them who were false professors, and accordingly rejected of God: therefore we may observe, that it is one thing for a person to exercise that caution, and use those means to prevent sin, which, if he should commit, would prove him an hypocrite; and another thing for one that is a true believer, to be suffered to commit those sins whereby he would apostatize from God, and so miss of salvation.

And this will serve to answer another objection that is usually brought against the doctrine we are maintaining, as though it were inconsistent with that holy fear which believers ought to have of falling, as an inducement to care and watchfulness in the discharge of their duty; as it is said in Prov. xxviii. 14, Happy is the man that feareth always; inasmuch as we must distinguish between that fear of caution, which is a preservative against sin, and includes a watchfulness over our actions, that we may not dishonour God thereby; and an unbelieving fear, that though we are in a state of grace, and are enabled to exercise that diligence and circumspection that becomes christians, yet we have no foundation whereon to set our foot, or ground to hope for salvation. Or, it is one thing to fear, lest we should, by giving way to sin, dishonour God, grieve his Spirit, and wound our own consciences, and do that which is a disgrace to the gospel, through the prevalency of corrupt nature, whereby we shall have ground to conclude that we thought ourselves something when we were nothing, deceiving our own souls; and another thing to fear that we shall perish and fall, though our hearts are right with God, and we have reason to expect that we shall be kept by his power, through faith, unto salvation.

We shall conclude this answer with some few inferences from what has been said, to prove the doctrine of the saints' perseverance as contained therein. And,

1. Since we do not pretend to assert that all who make a profession of religion are assured that they shall never aposta tize, but only true believers, let unbelievers take no encouragement from hence to conclude, that it shall be well with them in the end. Many are externally called who are not really sanctified; and presume that they shall be saved, though, without ground, inasmuch as they continue in impenitency and unbelief; such have no warrant to take comfort from the doc trine we have been maintaining.

2. We may, from what has been said, observe the difference between the security of a believer's state, as his hope is fixed on the stability of the covenant, and the promises thereof, reVOL. III.

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