place, "Now the graces which the apostle here speaketh of, are not ordinary or common; but special and excellent graces; such as illumination, faith, a relish of God's word, and a taste of heaven. And the persons spoken of are apostates, such as are under a possibility of falling away for ever, and consequently reprobates: whereas if it were impossible that good men should fall from grace, it would be absurd and ridiculous in the apostle to warn them against it; because no solid exhortation can be built on a danger not possible to come to pass." But 2. I deny that here is any supposition at all. For the word if is not in the original. Mr. Wesley has justly observed, that "The words are Αδυνατον τις απαξ φωτοθενίας και παραπεσοντας. That is in plain English, it is impossible to renew again unto repentance, those who were once enlightened and have fallen away." Dr. Whitby renders « *See page 157, 158. of that work. Predestination calmly considered, παραπεσοντας, "and yet fall away."* It is therefore certain, as John Goodwin has well observed, that here is no "Hypothetical sign or conditional particle" and therefore I conclude, that the apostle was not speaking of an imaginary falling away, which in reality, could never happen; but of such as was very possible in itself, and which the Christian Hebrews were in very great danger of. The venerable Archbishop Cranmer quotes this passage in proof of the possibility of the falling away of those who are justified: "It is NO DOUBT," said he, "but although WE BE ONCE JUSTIFIED, YET WE MAY FALL THEREFROM, by our own free will and consenting unto sin, and following the desires thereof. For albeit the house of our conscience be once made clean, and the foul spir it be expelled from us by baptism or penance: yet if we wax idle and take not heed, he will return with seven *Discourse on the Five Points, p. 404, third edit. Redemption Redeemed, p. 283, lect. 18. G 'worse spirits, and possess us again. OF FALL AND DISPLEASE GOD. Wherefore, as St. Paul saith, "He that standeth, let him take heed that he fall not." Dr. Heylin saith, If they fall away, means, "If they apostatize." The Dutch Annotators on the place say," AND FALLING away for falling;] whereby we are not to understand all kinds of sins whereinto true believers sometimes fall, as David, Peter, &c. who afterwards came to repentance; but a TOTAL FALLING, or APOSTASY from the Christian RELIGION." But what kind of falling was it which the apostle apprehended them to be in danger of? I answer, It was TOTAL AND FINAL APOSTASY. The See the chapter on Justification, in the NECESSARY DOCTRINE AND ERUDITION FOR ANY CHRISTIAN MAN. † Heylin on the place. See Dutch Annot. truth of this proposition will fully appear by considering, first, what the apostle apprehended they were in danger of falling from. And, 1. He supposed them in danger of falling from divine, gospel illumination.2. From tasting the heavenly gift-3. From partaking of the Holy Ghost. 4. From tasting the good word of God. And, 5. From tasting the powers of the world to come. Add to this, secondly, the consideration of the effects and consequences of this falling. And, 1. The apostates are said, avaraupãr, to crucify Christ a second time; and παραενειγματίζειν, to infict open punishment on him: and, as Dr. Hammond has observed, "That must need include renouncing aud denying of Christ, the looking on him as such as the Jews pretended him to be when they crucified him, that is, an impostor." Beza saith, They that crucify him again, "make him a mockingstock to all the world, and that to * See Dr. Hammond on the place, Note (a.) their own destruction, as Julian the apostate did."* And in King Edward the Sixth's Bible it is, "They which are apostates, and sin against the Holy Ghost, hate Christ, crucify and mock him, but to their own destruction, and therefore fall into desperation and cannot repent." The 2d effect would be, that the apostates would render it, aduvatov, impossible for them to repent; of consequence their forgiveness would be rendered as impossible; then, of course, their salvation must be rendered equally impossible, and their damnation equally sure. Hence it is that the apostle compares them to the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, yet beareth thorns and briers; on which account it is, first, rejected; secondly, it is nigh unto cursing; and, thirdly, whose end, (that is, the end of the apostate, who is compared to the earth) is to be burned. The end of such unhappy creatures," says * Beza on the place. Note on the passage: |