Paul, (to which the apostle probably alludes in these words) comprises all these three particulars. 6 I send thee to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,' Acts xxvi. 18 here contracted into that one expression, (They were enlightened) that they may receive forgiveness of sins (the heavenly gift and an inheritance among them that are sanctified;' which are made partakers of the Holy Ghost, of all the sanctifying influences of the Spirit.

The expression, They tasted of the heavenly gift, is taken from the Psalmist, † Taste and see that the Lord is good,' Psa. xxxiv. 8. As if he had said, be ye as assured of his love, as of any thing you see with your eyes. And let the assurance thereof be sweet to your soul, as honey is to your tongue.

And yet those who had been thus enlightened had tasted this gift, and been thus partakers of the Holy Ghost, so fell away, that it was impossible to renew them again to repentance.

"But the apostle only makes a supposition, If they shall fall away.

I answer, The apostle makes no supposition at all. There is no if in the original. The words are, in plain English, It is impossible to renew again unto repentance, those who were once enlightened and have fallen away:' therefore they must perish everlastingly.

24. "But if so, then farewell all my comfort." Then your comfört depends on a poor founda

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tion. My comfort stands not on any opinion either that a believer can, or cannot fall away, not on the remembrance of any thing wrought in me yesterday; but on what is to-day. On my present knowledge of God in Christ, reconciling me to himself. On my now beholding the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, walking in the light as he is in the light, and having fellowship with the Father and with the Son. My comfort is, that through grace I now believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that his Spirit doth bear witness with my spirit, that I am a child of God. I take comfort in this and this only, that I see Jesus at the right hand of God; that I personally for myself, and not for another, have an hope full of immortality; that I feel the love of God shed abroad in my heart, being crucified to the world, and the world crucified to me. My rejoicing is this, the testimony of my conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God I have my conversation in the

world.

Go and find, if you can, a more solid joy, a more blissful comfort, on this side heaven. But this comfort is not shaken, be that opinion true or false; whether the saints in general can or cannot fall.

If you take up with any comfort short of this, you lean on the staff of a broken reed, which not only will not hear your weight, but will enter into your hand and pierce you.

VII. 25. Seventhly, Those who live by faith, may yet fall from God and perish everlastingly.

For thus saith the same inspired writer, 'The just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.' Heb. x. 38. The just, the justified person shall live by faith, even now shall he live the life which is hid with Christ in God; and if he endure unto the end, he shall live with God forever. But if any man draw back, saith the Lord, my soul shall have no pleasure in him: that is, I will utterly cast him off: and accordingly the drawing back here spoken of, is termed in the verse immediately following, Drawing back to perdition.

"But the person supposed to draw back, is not the same with him that is said to live by faith." I answer, 1. Who is it then? Can any man draw back from faith who never came to it? But,

2. Had the text been fairly translated, there had been no pretence for this objection. For the original runs thus: The just man that lives by faith (so the expression necessarily implies, there being no other nominative to the verb) draws back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.'

"But the apostle adds, "We are not of them who draw back unto perdition." And what will you infer from thence? This is so far from contradicting what has been observed before, that it manifestly confirms it. It is a further proof, that there are those who draw back unto perdition, although the apostle was not of that number. Therefore those who live by faith, may yet fall from God, and perish everlastingly.

26. "But does not God say to every one that lives by faith, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee?"

The whole sentence runs thus: 'Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have.' Then you may boldly say, 'The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.'

Do you not see, 1. That this promise, as here recited, relates wholly to temporal things? 2. That even thus taken, it is not absolute, but conditional? and, 3. That the condition is expressly mentioned in the very same sentence?

VIII. 27. Eighthly, Those who are sanctified by the blood of the covenant, may so fall from God, as to perish everlastingly.

For thus again saith the apostle, 'If we sin wilfully, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law, died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment shall be be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing? Heb. x. 26, &c.

It is undeniably plain, 1. That the person mentioned here, was once sanctified by the blood of the covenant.

2. That he afterwards by known, wilful sin,

trod under foot the Son of God: and 3. That he hereby incurred a sorer punishment than death, namely, death everlasting.

Therefore, those who are sanctified by the blood of the covenant, may yet so fall as to perish everlastingly.

28. "What! can the blood of Christ burn in hell? Or can the purchase of the blood of Christ go thither ??

I answer, 1. The blood of Christ cannot burn in hell no more than it can be spilt on the earth. The heavens must contain both his flesh and blood, until the restitution of all things. But,

2. If the oracles of God are true, one who was purchased by the blood of Christ may go thither. For he that was sanctified by the blood of Christ, was purchased by the blood of Christ. But one who was sanctified by the blood of Christ, may nevertheless go to hell; may fall under that fiery indignation, which shall forever devour the adversaries.

29. "Can a child of God then go to hell? Or can a man be a child of God to-day, and a child of the devil to-morrow? If God is our Father once, is he not our Father always ?" I answer,

1. A child of God, that is, a true believer (for he that believeth is born of God) while he continues a true believer, cannot go to hell. But, 2. If a believer make shipwreck of the faith, he is no longer a child of God. And then he may go to hell, yea, and certainly will, if he continue in unbelief. 3. If a believer may make shipwreck of the faith, then a man that believes now, may be an unbeliever some time bence ;