Juftin Martyr tells us, "that by calling upon God the Father, and the name of our Lord Jefus Chrift, and the name of the Holy Ghoft, ὁ Φωτιζόμενος λέφεται, the enlightened perfon is washed; and again more exprefsly, Καλεῖται δὲ τέτο λυτρὸν Φωτισμὸς, this laver (fpeaking of baptifm) is called illumination. And St. Cyprian gives us the reafon; becaufe by virtue of baptifm in expiatum pectus ac purum defuper fe lumen infundit, Light is infufed from above into the purified foul. And that this expreffion is fo to be understood here in the text, as alfo chap. x. 32. the Syriac and Ethiopic give us good ground to believe; for they render the text thus, It is impoffible for those who have been once baptifed, and have tafted of the heavenly gift. And at the 10th chap. ver. 32. which we tranflate, But call to remembrance the former days, in which after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; that is, call to mind the former days, in which after by baptifm ye had publickly embraced the profeffion of Chriftianity, ye were upon that account expofed to many grievous fufferings and per fecutions. So that I think there can be no great doubt, but, by thofe that were once enlightened, the Apoftle means those that were baptifed.

To proceed then, For it is impoffible for those whe were once enlightened, and have tafted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost; thefe two expreffions feem to denote the fpiritual benefits and graces of the Holy Ghoft conferred upon Chriftians by baptifm; particularly regeneration, which is the proper work of the Holy Ghost, and juftification and remiffion of fins. So we find faith, whereby we are justified, called the gift of God, Eph. ii. 8. Faith is the gift of God, and our juftification is cal led a gift, and a free gift, five feveral times, in one chapter, Rom. v. 15, 16, 17, 18. But not as the of fence, fo alfo is the free gift; for if through the of fence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jefus Chrift, hath abounded unto many; and what this free gift is, he tells us in the next words, viz. juftification, or remiffion of fins, ver 16. And not as it

was

was by one that finned, fo is the gift; for the judgment was by one to condemnation; but the free gift is of many offences unto juftification. For if by one man's offence, death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jefus Chrift. Therefore as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation: even so by the righteoufness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto juftification of life. So that by the heavenly gift, I understand remiffion of fins; and by being made partakers of the Holy Ghoft, the fanctifying power and. efficacy of God's Spirit,

And have tafted the good word of God; that is, entertained the gofpel, which is here called the good word of God, by reafon of the gracious promifes contained in it, particularly the promises of eternal life. and happiness.

And the powers of the world to come, duváμels TE μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, the powers of the golpel age, that is, the miraculous powers of the Holy Gholt which were beftowed upon men, in order to the propagation of the gofpel. And that this is the true meaning of this phrafe, will, I think, be very plain to any one who fhall but confider, that the word Suvdues is generally in fcripture ufed for miraculous powers and operations; and particularly to exprefs the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghoft, which were beftowed upon the Apostles and firft Chriftians; (I need not cite the particular texts for the proof this, they are fo many and fo well known;) and then if we confider farther, that the times of the gofpel, the days of the Meffias, are frequently called by the Jews feculum futurum, the age to come. And indeed this is the very phrafe ufed by the LXX concerning our Saviour, Ifa. ix. 6. where he is called according to our tranflation, The everlasting Father, but according to that of the LXX, warp MÉXλOUT diav☺, The Father of the future age. And this very phrafe is used once more in this epiftle to the Hebrews, chap. ii. 5. For unto the Angels bath he not put in -Subjection the world to come, whereof we now speak.

He had faid before, that the law was given by Angels, ver. 2. if the word spoken by angels was stedfaft; but the difpenfation of the gofpel, which he calls the world to come, or the future age, was not committed to them, this was adminiftred by the Son of God; Unto the Angels bath he not put in fubjection the world to come. And it is obfervable, that this phrafe is only ufed in this epistle to the Hebrews, because the Jews very well understood the meaning of it, being that whereby they commonly expreffed the times of the gofpel, according to that ancient tradition of the houfe of Elias, which diftributed the duration of the world into three dres, or ages; the age before the law, the age under the law, and the age of the Meffias, which they called the feculum futurum, or the age to come; and which is likewife in fcripture called, the last days, or times, and the conclufion of the ages. Concerning which it was particularly prophefied, that the Holy Ghost should be poured forth upon men in miraculous gifts and powers, And to this very purpofe the Prophet Joel is cited by St. Peter, Acts ii. 16, 17. This is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel, And it fhall come to pass in the last days (faith God) I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your fons and your daughters fhall prophefy, &c. From all which it is very evident, that by tafting of the powers of the world to come, is meant being partakers of the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghoft, which were poured forth in the gospel age, by the Jews com-. monly called the world to come.

If they fhall fall away; that is, if after all this, they fhall apoftatize from this profeffion, out of love to this prefent world, or from the fear of perfecutions and fufferings.

It is impoffible to renew them again to repentances that is, it is a thing, very difficult, hardly to be hoped for, that fuch wilful and notorious apoftates fhould be reftored again by repentance. For the word aduva or, which we tranflate impoffible, is not always to be taken in the strictest fenfe, for that which abfolutely cannot be; but many times for that which is fo very difficult that it feems next to an impoffibility.

bility. So our Saviour, that which in one place he calls exceeding hard; viz. for a rich man to enter into the kindom of heaven, he aftewards calls impoffible with men; and fo here I understand the Apoitle, that thofe who apoftatize from Chriftianity, after baptifm and the benefits of it, it is exceeding hard to recover them again to repentance: This phrafe, aλιν ἀνακαινίζειν εἰς μετάνοιαν, to renew them again to repentance, fome understand of reftoring them again to the peace and communion of the church, by a courfe of penance, fuch as was prefcribed in the ancient church to great offenders; and then they underftand by úvatov, not a natural, but a moral impoffibility; that which cannot be done according to the orders and constitutions of the church; that is, the church did refuse to admit apoftates, and fome other great offenders, as murderers and adulterers, to a courfe of penance, in order to their reconciliation with the church: This Tertullian tells us was the ftrictness of the church in his time,Neque idololatria, neque fanguini pax ab ecclefia redditur; they admitted neither idolaters, nor murderers, to the reconciliation of the church. Though they were never fo penitent, and shed never fo many tears, yet he fays they were jejuna pacis lachryma, their tears were in vain, to reconcile them to the peace and communion of the church. He fays indeed they did not abfolutely pronounce their cafe defperate in refpect of God's pardon and forgiveness; fed de venia Deo refervamus, for that they referred them to God: but they were never to be admitted again into the church; fo ftrict were many churches, and that upon the authority of this text; though the church of Rome was more moderate in this matter, and for that reafon called the authority of this book in question.

But I fee no reason why thefe words fhould primarily be understood of restoring men to the communion of the church by penance: but they feem to be meant of reftoring men to the favour of God by repentance; of which indeed their being reftored to the communion of the church was a good fign. This the Apostle fays was very difficult, for those who after baptifm,

baptifm, and the feveral benefits of it, did apoftatize from Chriftianity, to be recovered again to repen

tance.

Seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. This is fpoken by way of aggravation of the crime of Apoftacy, that they who fall off from Chriftianity, in effect, and by interpretation do crucify the Son of God over again, and expofe him to fhame and reproach, as the Jews did; for by denying and renouncing of him, they declare him to be an impoftor, and confequently worthy of that death which he suffered, and that ignominy which he was expofed to; and therefore, in account of God, they are faid to do that, which by their actions they do approve; fo that it is made a crime of the highest nature, as if they should crucify the Son of God, and ufe him in the moft ignominious manner, even tread under foot the Son of God, as the expreffion is to the fame purpose, chap. x. 29.

Thus l'have endeavoured, as briefly and clearly as I could, to explain to you the true meaning and importance of the feveral phrafes and expreffions in the text; the fenfe whereof amounts to this, That if those who are baptized, and by baptifm have received remiffion of fins, and do believe the doctrine of the gofpel, and the promises of it, and are endowed with the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, if fuch perfons as these shall after all this apoftatize from Chriftianity, it is very hard, and next to an impoffibility, to imagine how fuch perfons should recover again by repentance, feeing they are guilty of as great a crime, as if in their own perfons they had put to death and ignominioufly ufed the Son of God, becaufe, by rejecting of him, they declared to the world, that he fuffered defervedly.

Having thus explained the words, in order to the further vindication of them from the mistakes and mifapprehenfions which have been about them, I fhall endeavour to make out these five things:

ift, That the fin here mentioned is not the fin against the Holy Ghoft.

ally,