The Measures of Christian Obedience, Book 5 · Chapter 1
CHAP. I. Of Repentance which restores us to Gods Favour after Sins of all sorts.
The CONTENTS.
The Rigour of the Mosaick Law is taken away by Christ, who came to preach Pardon upon Repentance where that denounced an unavoidable punishment. Repentance is the great Remedy. God heartily desires mens Repentance, and promises Forgiveness to it. This has been preached in all times. The Remedy for our unknown sins. They are uncapable of a particular Prayer and Repentance, but are forgiven upon a general one. The Remedy of wilful sins is a particular Repentance. That is available for their pardon; for wilful sins after Baptism, as well as before it. Two places, which seem to deny all pardon to wilful sins after Baptism, cleared; the wilful sin, Heb 10.26, is not any wilful transgression of any particular Law of Christ, which have all been pardone…; but a wilful Apostasie from his whole Religion, which is proved from sundry things there spoken of it. The falling away mentioned Heb. 6, is likewise Apostasie from Christianity, which is shewn from those things which they are said to fall from, and those others which are said to be implied in their falling. An account of the desperate state of these men. The state of some habitual Sinners desperate and irreclaimable, by reason their period of Grace is over, but this is no discouragement to any mans Repentance.
HAving hitherto insisted largely upon that Integrity of Obedience which the Gospel indispensably requires of every man to his Salvation; and upon those Defects which either destroy, or consist with it: I proceed now to inquire what Remedies it directs us to for recovering a state of Grace and Favour, when at any time we happen to fall from it.
Among the Jews, according to the strictness of the Law of Moses, the punishment took place upon the first wilful breach; and therefore in those Laws which were established under pain of death, when it appeared by sufficient evidence, that any man was guilty of the wilful transgression of them, the Sentence was unavoidable, and the man dyed without mercy. He that despised Moses's Law, saith the Apostle, if it were in an instance whereto the Law threatned death, dyed without mercy, being convicted under the hands of two or three witnesses, Heb. 10.28. A man that had committed Murder, or Adultery, or any other crime, whereof Death was the established Penalty, was to dye without all remedy; for no Sacrifice would be accepted for him, nor would the Law admit of any favour or dispensation. And therefore David, when he made his Penitential Psalm for murdering Vriah, and adulterating his Wife, expresses the Legal unpardonableness of his offence in these words —thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it; but thou delightest not in burnt-offerings for such sins as I stand guilty of. No, my crimes are of that nature, for which any man less than a King should dye, and such wherefore no Sacrifice will be accepted, Psal. 51.16.
This was the rigour of that Political Law, which God imposed upon the Jews by Moses; those punishments that were threatned by it, which were temporal and of this World, were irreversible, when once they were incurred.
But when Christ came into the World, his business was to give Laws of a much more gracious nature, which would admit of a Salvo for every sin, and offer men a remedy, which if they did but use, although they had transgressed, they should not suffer punishment.
This gracious Covenant, whose Promises and Rewards are future, and to be enjoy'd in the next World, was published more or less ever since Adam. For by the Grace of this, all the holy Patriarchs hoped for pardon; and by it likewise all the Good men among the Jews, when they should be brought to Gods Tribunal in the next World, hoped to be forgiven. But the Promulgation of it under Moses was dark and obscure, and lay hid in great measure, and almost buried under the crowd of the rigid and inexorable Laws of the Mosaick Covenant.
But when Christ came into the World, his Errand was to abrogate all the rigour of Moses's Law, and to preach an universal Pardon upon Repentance. And of this he gave them a clear instance in the case of the Woman, who was taken in the very act of Adultery. Moses, say they, and that very truly, aLev. 20.10.commanded us in his Law that such should be stoned; but what sayest thou? Joh. 8.5. But his Sentence was, Go and sin no more, and then will not I condemn thee, v. 11; which was a fit sentence for that Religion, whereby they should be justified from all those things, from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses, Act. 13.39.
Whatsoever it was therefore under the rigour of the meer Law of Moses, under the Religion and Law of Christ our case is not become quite desperate, and irrecoverable upon the first offence. It is not every wilful sin, and much less our slips of ignorance and inconsideration, which can for ever exclude us from the Favour of God, and incapacitate us for his Mercy. No, the Religion of Christ is not a Religion that seeks advantages of us, and shuts us up close Prisoners of Damnation, as soon as we are guilty of any thing which may deserve it: For Christ need never have come into the World for that end, since the Law had rendred us accursed and miserable enough already. But he came on a quite contrary Errand, to be the Minister of Life and Pardon, and not to seal us up to eternal Death upon the first wilful transgression, but to procure for us remission of all our deadly and damning sins, and to restore us out of a state of Enmity and Death, to a state of Mercy and Reconciliation. He came to find out a remedy for all our evils, and to prescribe us a way of recovering our selves when we had fallen by any sin; so that although none of us all have lived free from it, yet in the event sin shall not be our ruine.
And that remedy which God has provided us for this purpose, is Repentance. He doth not abandon us upon the commission of every sin; but he is heartily desirous that we should repent of it, and when we do so, he has obliged himself by his Truth and Faithfulness to forgive it.
He is heartily desirous, I say, that whensoever we commit any sin we should repent of it. If we dare take his own word, he tells us, as he lives, that he doth not delight in the death of any sinner, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live: turn you, turn you, as he goes on, from your evil ways; for why will you dye, O house of Israel? Ezek. 33.11. And this all the World experience by him, in his long-suffering and forbearance with them. For he doth not exact the punishment so soon as we have incurred it; but expects long to see if we will return and repent, that then he may with honour pardon and remit it; this being, as St Paul assures us, the end of his forbearance and long-suffering, to lead us to repentance, Rom. 2.4. And what St Paul says, that we all experience. For during all that time wherein he bears with us, how restless and unwearied, earnest and affectionate are his endeavours for this purpose? He admonishes us of our faults by his Word, and by his Ministers; he invites us to return by his Love, and by his Promises; he moves us to bethink our selves by his Spirit, and by his Providences; and if we are stubborn, and not to be thus gently won by these methods of mildness, he seeks to reclaim us by a blessed, and a most affectionate force and violence. For he corrects us with his Rod, and visits us in chastisement, and never ceases to try all means of reducing us to a sense of our sin and repentance, till we are become plainly incorrigible, and utterly rebellious, and so fit for nothing but to be swallowed up of ruine. And yet even then his desire of reclaiming us is so strong, and his love so affectionate; that he scarce knows how to give us over. How shall I give thee up, saith he, O Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, O Israel? Hos. 11.8.
And when we do repent, I say, he has obliged himself by his Truth and Faithfulness most graciously to forgive us.
This was the Doctrine of the Prophets. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, says Isaiah, for he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon, Isa. 55.7. If the wicked man, says God by Ezekiel, will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not dye. All his transgressions, which he hath formerly committed, shall not be mentioned unto him, but in his righteousness, that he hath done since, he shall live. For have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should dye, saith the Lord God? and not that he should turn from his ways and live? Ezek. 18 21, 22, 23.
This i… the great Doctrine of the Gospel, which is a Covenant of remission of sins, upon Repentance. Repentance is its great Article and fundamental Truth, and is therefore called by St Paul the Foundation of Repentance, Heb. 6.1. For that which was taught to all the World, in all the degrees of Publication of the Gospel, was that now God called all men to repent, and that he would forgive them all their sins upon their true repentance.
St John the Baptist, who was Christs Herald and Fore-runner, at his entrance upon that work, begins with it. John, says St Luke, in all the Country about Jordan, came preaching the Baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, Luk. 3.3.
Our Lord and Saviour Christ himself, when he comes after to proclaim his own Gospel, goes on with it. Jesus began to preach, says St Matthew, and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, Mat. 4.17.
And when he left the World, the Commission which he gives to his Apostles is to proceed on still in the Promulgation of it to all the World, as he had done to the people of the Jews. For at the last time of his being with them, just before his Ascension into Heaven, when, as St Matthew bMatth. 28.19.tells us, he commissioned them to preach to all mankind; those instructions which he gave to them, St Luke informs us were, that repentance and remission of sins should be preached to all Nations in his Name, beginning at Jerusalem, Luk. 24.47. This was the chief thing which they had in Commission, and the summ and substance of their Embassy. For that Ministry which was committed to them, was a Ministry of reconciling God and men by this means, as St. Paul says, or a Ministry of Reconciliation; so that they were Ambassadours for Christ, as though God did beseech men by them, and they as Christs Deputies, who is the prime Mediator, did pray them in his stead to be reconciled to God, 2 Cor. 5.19.20.
And when the Apostles came to execute their Orders, the publishing of this was all their care and practice. For they all of them went about preaching in all places, and to all persons, repentance for the remission of sins.
St. Peter in his first Sermon thus exhorts the people; Repent and be baptized every one of you for the remission of sins, Act. 2.38: and so again Act. 3. Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, v. 19. And the same he proclaims more generally in his second Epistle, assuring all Christians, that the Lord is not willing that any man should perish, but that all should come to repentance, which is sure to prevent it, 2 Pet. 3.9.
St. Paul preaches to the Athenians, that now God had commanded all men every where to repent, Act. 17.30.
And St. John assures us, that by virtue of that Gospel-Covenant which was confirmed with us in Christs Blood, if with repenting hearts we confess our sins, he is faithful to his word, and just to his promise to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from the guilt and stain of all unrighteousness of one sort or other, 1 Joh. 1.9.
I should recite almost the whole New Testament, if I were to repeat all that the Scriptures affirm in this point. But by what I have already offered, I take it to be clear beyond all doubt and scruple, that the Gospel-Covenant is a cThis is that Grace which Christs bloud procured for us—foreign. Clem. Rom. 1. Ep. ad Cor. c. 7. And that which ensued upon his exaltation —exalted to give repentance and remission of sins, Acts 5.31.Covenant of remission of sins upon repentance. God most earnestly desires that we should repent, and he is most truly and faithfully willing to forgive us all our former sins upon our true repentance. Nay I might add, he is not only willing, but extremely joyful and glad of the occasion. For it is his highest pleasure to go out and meet a returning Soul; and the joy of his heart to embrace a reclaimed Penitent, as our Saviour has most clearly intimated to us in the most welcome reception of the returning Prodigal, Luk. 15.11, 12, &c. There is a general joy in the Heavenly Court, says our Saviour again, and in the presence of all the Angels of God, even over any one sinner that repenteth, Luk. 15.10: nay there is more joy over one penitent, than there is over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance, v. 7.
Thus had God provided us of a means which will most certainly restore us to his favour. He has not left us in our forlorn state, but has prescribed us this method of repentance to recover us out of it, and to be the great Instrument of our Pardon and Reconciliation.
And this remedy is adequate to all our needs, and able to regain all that which our sins at any time have made us lose. For it will repair the breach upon all sorts of offences, whether they be our known or unknown, our voluntary or involuntary sins. Of all which I shall now proceed to speak particularly.
This remedy of repentance, I say, God has fitted for all sorts of transgressions; whether they be,
1. Our known, or
2. Our unknown and secret sins.
1. Our unknown and secret sins have the benefit of this remedy, and that whereupon God will pardon them is a general repentance, and a general prayer for forgiveness.
As for several both of our voluntary and involuntary sins, they are secret and concealed from us, and quite without our knowledge and remembrance. We are wholly ignorant and in the dark about them, and our Consciences have no more sense of them, than they have of those which we were never guilty of. For as for our involuntary sins, in some of them we are wholly ignorant, and never think them sinful; and in others we are inconsiderate, and do not many times observe that we sin in them. And as for our voluntary and wilful sins, though we know full well, and observe when we at first commit them; yet doth our knowledge of them, as of other things, slip out of our minds by degrees, and through length of time, and throng of other thoughts, at last we quite forget them.
And these sins being thus quite out of our thoughts, and wholly secret and unknown to us; we cannot particularly either beg pardon for them, or repent of them.
We cannot, I say, particularly beg pardon for them. For no man can become a suiter in behalf of he knows not whom, nor recommend any thing to Gods mercy before he has discovered it himself. And since these particular sins are secret and unknown, they cannot be the matter of a particular prayer and recommendation.
Nor can we particularly repent of them. As for our wilful sins indeed, whether we remember them or have forgot them, the case is the same as to one prime part of a particular repentance, viz. our forsaking of them, and beginning to obey that particular known Law which we had wilfully sinned against. We must retract every voluntary sin by a voluntary obedience, and without this we can have no just hopes of pardon. For there is no hopes of salvation to any man but upon a particular obedience to all known Laws; so that when once he sees and understands a Duty, he must obey it particularly before he can expect to live by it. But now as for those Laws which are transgressed by our wilful sins, they are all known, since we could not will and chuse to disobey them, unless we saw and knew our selves to be bound by them. So that whether we had sinned against them formerly, or no; whether we remember it, or have forgot it; obedience to them is our present Duty, and a Duty too so necessary, that without it we cannot be saved. If therefore we have sinned against any such known Law we must amend it, and leave off wilfully to repeat it; for our obedience to all them is necessary to our pardon, and whether we remember or have forgot that we transgressed formerly, as to the present it is all one, for we must chuse to obey now.
As for our wilful sins then, which being long since acted, are now quite forgotten and unknown, one great act of a particular repentance is necessary to their pardon, viz. conversion or new obedience and reformation. For all wilful sins are transgressions of known Laws, and whether a man has broken or kept it formerly, a present obedience in all chosen actions to every such particular Law is necessary to put him into a state of mercy and salvation.
But as for other acts of a particular repentance, viz. confession, sorrow, detestation, and the like; there is no place for them about any of our Secret, whether they be voluntary, or involuntary sins. For no man can confess he knows not what, nor grieve he understands not why, nor hate and detest he knows not whom; so that he must particularly know his sins before he can be thus particular in his repentance of them.
A particular prayer and repentance then have no place about our unknown sins; they are not capable to be exercised about them, and therefore they cannot be exacted for the pardon of them.
But that prayer and repentance whereof they are capable, and whereupon God will graciously forgive them, is indefinite and general. These may very well be used about them. For we may all understand thus much by our selves that we are all Sinners, and are guilty of much more than we know and can remember. Several sins slipt from us at first without our knowledge and observation; and several others, which were at first observed, were afterwards forgotten. And when we know this general number, although we are not able to recover any particular instance, we may very well be sorry for it, and beg God to forgive it; and so expiate them as much as may be by a general prayer and repentance.
And this remedy God has assigned for our unknown sins, and when we make use of it he will forgive them. Holy David was very sensible that he laboured under many such secret faults, and by this means of a general penitential prayer, he endeavours to procure their pardon. Who, says he, can understand his errours? Cleanse thou me from my secret faults, Psal. 19.12. And because such sins are daily slipping from us, that our remedy might be as near as our disease, our Lord has put into our daily prayers this general petition for our expiation, Forgive us our trespasses, Matth. 6.12.
As for this first sort then, our unknown and secret sins, a general prayer and repentance is their remedy. If we obey all known Laws, and particularly repent of all our known transgressions; our secret and unknown sins need not lye heavy on us. For if we are honestly igrant of them, and use due pains and ingenuity about them; if we neither overlook them through sloth and negligence, nor mistake them through partiality and wilfulness; a general and penitential prayer shall serve their turn, and restore us unto mercy and reconciliation.
And then,
2. As for all our known sins, God has not been wanting to us in them neither, but has most graciously provided us of a remedy, and means of reconciliation for them, of what nature or degree soever they be. Whether,
1. Our voluntary and wilful; or,
2. Our involuntary sins.
1. In the Gospel God has provided us of a remedy to restore us again to his favour, when once we have lost it through our voluntary, and wilful sins; and that remedy is a particular repentance of them.
To the pardon of these it is altogether necessary that we particularly amend and forsake them. For they interrupt a state of love and good agreement, and set God and us at enmity and defiance. So long as they are continued in, they keep God and men at a distance, they interpose betwixt us and his mercy, and hinder all the signs of his approbation, and all the expressions of his pardoning Grace from issuing out upon us. To restore us therefore to Gods Grace and acceptance, these voluntary sins must be taken out of the way; and by a voluntary amendment and reformation, we must undo all that was done amiss in our wilful transgression. And of these sins all those places are meant, that make repentance, which, as we saw above, includes in it amendment, the indispensable condition of life and pardon. As when repentance and remission of sins is commanded to be preached to all Nations, Luke 24.47: and men are bid to repent, that their sins may be blotted out, Acts 3.19; or, as it is in the peremptory and severe words of our Saviour, to repent, or else they shall all perish, Luke 13.3.
And as this particular repentance and reformation is altogether necessary to the pardon of our wilful sins; so is it most certainly available and sufficient for them. Although they are of a most heinous guilt, and provoking Nature; yet is not their offence unpardonable, or their case desperate. For after a man has put himself out of a state of Grace and God's favour by them, he is not quite cast off, nor need to despair of getting in again. He is not presently upon every such offence banished this Kings Court and Presence for ever; but upon his particular repentance and reformation he will be allowed to recover his former station. For the preaching of the Prophets, of the Baptist, of Christ, and of his Apostles, was to call the wilful and all lost Sinners, both of the Jewish and Gentile World to this reconciliation; Christ, as himself informs us, coming to dMatth. 18.11.save that which was lost, and to eMatth. 9.13.call all Sinners of one sort or another to repentance. Mens very Baptism or entrance into Christianity, is a cleansing of them from the guilt of all former sins without exception. Repent, and be baptized every one, says St Peter, for the remission of sins, Acts 2.38; and be baptized, says Ananias unto Saul, and wash away all thy sins, Acts 22.16.
Nay after men are once baptized, and have all their former wilful sins washt off in that water of regeneration; yet is not every wilful sin, which they are guilty of, thenceforward irrecoverably damnable, but they are still called to accept of mercy and forgiveness upon repentance, as before. When men come under the Covenant of Grace, and list themselves under the Discipline of Christ; they do not subject themselves to a Covenant of Terror and Desperation, which takes hold of the first offence, and denounces an irrevocable enmity ever after. No, a baptized offender is under the Grace of repentance as well as others. For that repentance whereto we are called by Christs Gospel, is not so much an act as a state: which St Paul intimates when he talks of renewing men unto repentance, that is, unto the condition and standing terms of it, Heb. 6.4, 6. It is of Gods Grace that there is any forgiveness, and, in order thereunto, any place for repentance at all; and of the same Grace we have received a promise of forgiveness upon repentance for all sins, and at all times whatsoever. If any man among us baptized Christians sin, says St John, his case is in no wise desperate, for we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins, as well as for the sins of the whole unchristned world, 1 Joh. 2.1, 2. The Gospel doth not bid every wilfully offending Christian to despair, and conclude himself to be irrevocably lost, and fallen beyond remedy into a damned condition. But its design is quite another thing, to recover them again from that state of death, and to call them by repentance to mercy and forgiveness. For the Spirit of God himself writes to the fRev. 2.16, 21.back-sliding Church of Ephesus, to remember from whence they were fallen, and to repent and do their first works, Rev. 2.5. And St Paul finds fault with the Christians at Corinth for not repenting of their uncleanness, and fornication, and lasciviousness which they had wilfully committed; threatning to bewail them, or to excommunicate them in sorrow and lamentation, according to the custom of those times, if they did it not, 2 Cor. 12.21. Nay in the case of the incestuous Criminal, who had committed such a fault as was not so much as named, and much less done among the unbaptized Heathens themselves; he doth not consign him up to eternal Torments, but endeavours, by the rod of Discipline and Church-censures, to reduce him to repentance, that his spirit might be saved in the judgment day of the Lord Jesus, 1 Cor. 5.1, 5. And as for the other Members of the Church of Corinth, who were unconcerned and puffed up at such an enormous accident; he reproves them smartly, that by bringing them to a sense of their sin, he may work them into a reformation, v. 1, 2. Which good effect when he understood that his reproof had wrought upon them, he rejoyces mightily, and glories in it in his next Letter. I rejoyce, says he, that by my former letter you were made sorry, seeing it was after a godly manner, and you sorrowed to repentance: For such godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, which is not to be repented of, 2 Cor. 7.8, 9, 10. And as he practised thus with baptized wilful offenders himself, so doth he instruct Timothy that he should do likewise. For he tells him, that the way whereby the man of God ought to deal with sinners, even those of the worst sort, who are not only subject, but enslaved to it, is not peremptorily to damn, and seal them up fast unto destruction: but in great meekness to endeavour to reclaim them, that by recovering them to repentance, he may restore them again to life and pardon. The man of God, says he, must in meekness instruct even the refractory and contumacious, or those that oppose themselves against him, if God peradventure will give them repentance, to the acknowledgment of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil, who are taken captive by him at his will, 2 Tim. 2.25, 26. And to name no more instances of this nature, but to summ up all in one, even those great and enormous wilful sinners, whose offences are so hainous, as to make them fit to be expelled the society of Christians; are not yet in their very Excommunication shut up irrecoverably under the pains of Hell, but quite contrary are endeavoured by this very means to be reduced to repentance, and thereby to pardon and acceptance; Excommunication it self being, as St. Paul says, for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus, 1 Cor. 5.5. And the Power of the Keys in remitting or retaining sins, that is, in the excommunicating or absolving of offenders, is intrusted with the Ministers of Christs Church for the edification of the excommunicated sinners themselves, and not for their destruction, 2 Cor. 10.8. and chap. 13.10.
And by all this we see that the Grace of Christs Gospel is a grace of repentance and remission of sins all the way, both before Baptism, and also after it. In all periods, from the beginning to the end, it is an instrument of pardon and a means of peace; or a word and ministry, as St. Paul says, of reconciliation, 2 Cor. 5.19. If we break our Baptismal vows, which are the condition of the Covenant, once, and thereby forfeit all our Right to Happiness; it gives us liberty to repeat them. For we have the freedom both in our private and our publick prayers to renew all our good resolutions, and to make God new promises, and to undertake for the performance of that wherein we have wilfully failed by new engagements. Nay it doth not only allow that we may thus renew the Covenant; but it requires that we should: it has appointed an Ordinance, the Eucharist or Lords Supper I mean, for this very purpose. For the Bread and Wine which we eat and drink there, our Saviour tells us is a Federal form, the New Covenant, or, according to the manner of the Eastern Nations, who ratified their Covenants by eating and drinking together, the re-entring or confirming of that Covenant, which was at first sealed and confirmed in his Blood. This, says he, is the New Testament or *foreign.Covenant in my blood, drink ye all of it, and so, according to the known Rite, confirm this Covenant with God by it, Luk. 22.20. Mat. 22.27. And this he has not only allowed, but injoyned to all his Disciples— Do this, says he, in remembrance of me. And that not only at one time, as it is with Baptism, but at all times during your whole lives; for in this manner of a Federal eating and drinking of this Bread and Wine, you must shew forth the Lords death always, even till he come again the second time, i. e. unto the worlds end, 1 Cor. 11.24, 25, 26.
Forgiveness of sins then upon repentance is a Grace which is begun in Baptism, and ever after continued, being repeated in every Prayer, and sealed in every Sacrament to the end of our lives. So that no wilful sin can damn us, if we repent of it; but the damned accursed sinner is only he who lives and dyes impenitent. Insomuch as that very sin, for which St. Paul says there is no benefit from Christs Death, nor any help of Sacrifice under the Gospel; is therefore excluded from all Grace of pardon, because it is from all possibility of repentance. For therein it is that the irrecoverableness of those lost sinners consists— It is impossible, says he, to renew them to repentance, Heb. 6.6.
Thus then, we see, that Christs Gospel has afforded us a remedy even for our wilful sins, whether they be committed before Baptism, or after it, at one time or at another, at all without exception; so that although sometimes we do fall under them, yet we shall not be eternally condemned for them. Let us but repent particularly therefore and amend it, and whatever sin we have wilfully been guilty of, our work is done. For our repentance shall set us straight, and our reformation will make us innocent; and if we are careful to do so no more, our offence will be looked upon as if it never had been done at all.
But against this pardonableness of our wilful sins after our belief of the Gospel, and Baptism into the Christian Faith; some perhaps may be ready to object two places from St. Pauls Epistle to the Hebrews, wherein he may seem to teach us a more rigorous and severe Lesson.
In the 10th Chapter, he lays down this as a great Truth: If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge, or open belief and gforeign.acknowledgment of the truth of Christs Gospel, there remains no more benefit to us from Christs sacrifice for sins; but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation which shall consume the adversaries, v. 26, 27.
And in the 6th Chapter, to the eternal Terror of all willing and wilful Back-sliders, he speaks thus to the same purpose: It is impossible for those who were once enlightned, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God; if after all this they shall fall away, to be again recovered, or for any of us to renew them to repentance; seeing they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame, v. 4, 5, 6.
But now if our wilful sins after Baptism and belief of the Gospel be thus desperate, and utterly excluded from all hopes of cure and benefit of Expiation by Christs Sacrifice, as the Apostle in these places seems to intimate: how can the Gospel be truly called a Ministration of Reconciliation, Grace, and Pardon, towards all sorts of wilful sins?
To take off all this difficulty I will answer to the places severally, that all those good minds, which are wont to be perplexed by them, may be more perfectly relieved by a particular and distinct understanding of them.
First then, to begin with that, the words of St. Paul in the 10th Chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews are these.Verse 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; 25.Not forsaking the assembling of our selves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another to the open owning and frequenting of them; and this we ought to do so much the more, forasmuch as ye see the day of Gods righteous Judgment approaching. 26.For if we sin wilfully in this backsliding from the publick Assemblies, and from the profession of the Christian Faith, after that we have once received the knowledge, or professed belief and hforeign.acknowledgment of the truth of it; there remains no more benefit to us from Christs sacrifice for sins; 27.but a certain fearful looking for of that judgment, I say, which shall devour the adversaries. And this all you Hebrews have reason to expect from Christ, from what you very well know of the manner of proceeding in such cases under Moses. For he that despised or rejected the whole,28. yea or even any one particular instance of Moses's Law, whereto death was threatned, dyed without mercy, if the thing was proved against him under the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29.And then of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall this wilful sinner be thought worthy, who hath, by such wilful rejecting of all Christs Laws and Religion, trodden under foot the Son of God, as if he were not raised up again from the dead, but were yet in his grave; and hath accounted that blood of his, which confirmed the New Covenant, and wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, making it to have been justly shed, as the blood of a Malefactor; and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace and all its evidence, by rejecting it as insufficient? I have set down the place at large, that the very Text it self may afford us an accumulated proof of the ensuing Explication.
But now as for this sin, which, being wilfully committed after the belief and acknowledgment of Christs Gospel, is here said to have no help from Christs Sacrifice, nor any benefit of his Propitiation: it is not the sinful transgression of every Law of Christ, no nor of any one; but a total Apostasie and abrenunciation of them all.
The sin, I say, which being wilfully committed after the belief of Christs Gospel is here said to exclude us from all benefit of Christs Sacrifice, is not the transgression of any of Christs Laws whatsoever, nay nor of any one. For the Corinthians were guilty of the wilful transgression of several Laws, and that too after they had embraced the Faith of Christ. They were guilty of an indulged Lasciviousness, Vncleanness, and Fornication, 2 Cor. 12.21. Nay one of them was guilty of it in such an instance, as was not so much as named, and much less practised among the Gentiles themselves; viz. in a most incestuous marrying of his Step-mother, or his Fathers wife, 1 Cor. 5.1. And St. Peter, a great Apostle, after three years converse with his Lord and Master, denies him three times, and that not suddenly e're he could bethink himself, but after a due space of time between one denial and another, Luk. 22.57, 58, 59. All which he did in the most aggravated manner, by accumulating perjuries and prophaneness upon the sin of disowning his Master; for when his bare word would not be believed, he began to curse and to swear that he knew him not, Mar. 14.71. All these were sins wilful in their commission, and some of them most highly criminal in their nature; but yet none of them was excluded from the benefit of Christs Sacrifice, for they all enjoyed it. So that it is not any one transgression of a particular Law after men have embraced the Faith of Christ, which is the un-atoned sin here mentioned.
But it is an utter rejecting of all the Laws of Christ, and a total Apostasie from his whole Religion. It is the renouncing of Christs Authority, the disowning of his Gospel, and falling quite off from him to Judaism, or Paganism, or something directly Antichristian, which is the sin here intended. And whosoever doth this wilfully, after he has once acknowledged it, and been convinced by it, (as most men, if not every man, must do who is guilty of it at all) for him there remains no more sacrifice for sin, but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour him, and all other Antichristian adversaries.
That the word which is here translated iforeign.sin, signifies sometimes not all sin in general, but particularly this superlative height and aggregation of all sin, an utter revolt from Gods service, and Apostasie from his whole Religion, appears plainly from 2 Pet. 2; where the Apostate Angels are called the Angels that kforeign.sinned, v. 4.
And that this particular way of sinning, by an universal Apostasie, and falling quite off from the profession of the Christian Faith, is that very sin which is here intended, will appear from all those things which are spoken of it in this place.
'Tis plain from the Apostles exhortation against it— Let us hold fast, says he, the profession of our faith, and not revolt from it, v. 23.
From his further disswasion from it in the verse next but one,— not forsaking the Christian Assemblies, which is a great step towards the disowning of Christ himself, as the manner of some is, v. 25.
From his Character of it in the verses that follow, it being a sin that includes in it all these instances of aggravation.
By it we become utterly Antichristian, and Adversaries to Christ and his Religion; —the fiery indignation that is kindled by this sin, shall devour all them, who by reason of it are become Adversaries, ver. 27.
By it we deny Christ to be risen, and look upon the Son of God as yet in the Grave and under our feet; we count his blood, which was spilt for the confirmation of the New Covenant, to have been the impure and unholy blood of a Malefactor justly executed; we despise all the clear proof and convictive evidence of the Spirit of Grace, which we once thought a sufficient Argument for his Religion, and whereby we were moved to the acknowledgment of that truth of his, which now we contumeliously reject. Whosoever hath committed this sin, saith the Apostle, I will show him what he hath done; he hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an holy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace, ver. 29.
As for the sin then which is here spoken of, it is plainly this; viz. a sin that is contrary to the holding fast of our Christian profession, that implies a forsaking of the Christian Assemblies, that makes us open enemies and adversaries to Christ and his cause, seeing thereby we deny Christ to be risen, and affirm him to have been an Impostor, and his blood to have been, like that of the Thieves which were crucified with him, unholy and impure as the blood of a Malefactor, and set at nought all the miraculous proofs, and despise all the convictive evidence of the Holy Ghost that Spirit of Grace, which hath proved to us abundantly that that Religion of his, which we now renounce, is a most certain truth of God. All these marks are evidently attributed to that sin which the Apostle here speaks of; and then what can any man think it to be less, than an absolute Apostasie from the whole Religion, and an utter abrenunciation of all the Laws of Christ?
Now whosoever wilfully falls under this, I confess he is in a very deplorable and most desperate case. Because for him, as saith the Apostle, there remains no more benefit from Christs Propitiation or Sacrifice for sin: He has affronted that so enormously, that God will never suffer him to be the better by it. And this to a Jew ought to be no uncouth or surprizing Doctrine, seeing he who thus renounced Moses could have no Sacrifice to atone for him. For no propitiation was allowed for him who wilfully rejected any one particular Command of Moses, but least of all if he had apostatized from the whole Law. He that despised even any one particular threatning death in Moses's Law, died without mercy under two or three Witnesses. But now this Covenant and Law of Moses was sealed only in the blood of Bulls and Goats; whereas this Covenant and Law of Christ, which these men renounce that I am speaking of, was confirmed in his own blood: Moses, the Authour of that Law, was but a Servant; whereas Christ, the Authour of this, was a Son. If then the revolting from Moses was so unpardonable, that it inevitably incurred death, and put a man out of all hopes of propitiation and benefit of Sacrifice; of how much sorer punishment, as he most rationally argues, must all Apostates from Christ be accounted worthy, who by their falling away from his Religion, tread under foot the Son of God himself, a Person infinitely above Moses; and count the blood, not of Bulls and Goats, but of the Christ of God, wherewith this Covenant was sealed, to be an unholy thing? They are indeed irrevocably plunged in death, and their apostatizing or drawing back from that Religion, which upon so good evidence they had before acknowledged, is to their own ruine and destruction, ver. 38.
But although this total apostasie and abrenunciation of Christianity it self, when 'tis wilfully committed, be thus remediless and desperate a sin; yet is that nothing to the breach of any particular Law, or to the wilful transgressions of any baptized man, so long as he still continues Christian. For all his sins of one sort or other have the salvo of repentance provided for them: and if he doth but once reform and amend them, he shall not be condemned for them.
And thus having shewed that this place in the tenth Chapter to the Hebrews makes nothing against the pardonableness of any Christian mans sin upon repentance, but only against the forgiveness of those who have apostatized from Christ, and become unchristian; I proceed now,
2. To consider that other place in the sixth Chapter of the same Epistle, where the Apostles words are these: Therefore leaving the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ, Verse. 1.wherein we are wont to catechize even Children and Novices; let us go on unto perfection, and to treat of such things as are fit for grown men: not laying again, for such as are apostatized from it, the first Foundations of the Christian Doctrine, as are the Doctrine of repentance from dead works, and of faith towards God; of the Doctrine of Baptisms, and of laying on of hands, 2.and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal Judgment. And this will we do if God permit, without returning,3. as I say, to prove again the foundations of the Faith to them who are fallen from it; which indeed were a very vain and fruitless undertaking.4. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened or lforeign.baptized, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made Partakers of the Holy Ghost; 5.and have tasted of the good word of God, and of the powers of Christs Kingdom, or the World to come; 6.if after all this they shall wilfully fall away from this Faith, it is impossible for them, I say, to be recovered, or for us by any endeavours of ours to renew them again unto the Grace and Covenant of repentance; because God is irreconcileably provoked by this revolt, seeing thereby they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him once again to an open shame.
Here indeed the Case is as desperate as it was before; and 'tis no wonder why it should, because the sin is the very same. For it is nothing less than an universal backsliding, an apostasie both in faith and manners, a renouncing of all the Religion and Laws of Christ whereof all these severe things are spoken.
As for the word mforeign.which is here put to note this falling away, it signifies for the most part a fall which admits of a rise again, and is recoverable; but sometimes it denotes a fall that is desperate, and beyond all hopes of remedy. Thus the Apostle, speaking of the incredulous Jews, to whom the Religion of Christ was a stumbling block and a rock of offence, distinguishes betwixt these two, nforeign and foreign.stumbling, and falling; making the latter to be much more dangerous than the former, and denying it, when he affirms the other. Have they stumbled, says he, that they should oforeign.fall mortally and irrecoverably? God forbid, Rom. 11.11.
And thus it signifies in this place. For the falling away here spoken of is nothing less than a revolting from all Christ's Laws and Doctrines, and an apostatizing from his whole Religion. Which appears from several things that are here said of it, some whereof they are said to fall from, and others are said to be implied in their falling.
It appears, I say, from some things, which they are said to apostatize or fall from.
They fall away from their Baptism which is expressed by the word pforeign. See Heb. 14.32.enlightened, the common name in the antient Church to signifie the baptized; from the remission of sins, the preaching of the Word, and the administration of the Sacraments, which are such priviledges and gifts of God, as are afforded to persons baptized; from the hopes of Heaven, and all the promises and good word of God; from the gift of tongues, and other effects of the Holy Ghost, whereof, upon the imposition of the Apostles hands, they had been made Partakers; and from the power of working miracles, that were so conspicuous under the appearance of Christ, those times of Messiah, which the Jews were wont to call the Age or world to come. If those, says the Apostle, who were once baptized or enlightned, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the holy Ghost, and have tasted of the good word or promise of God, and the powers of the world to come; if they shall fall away or apostatize from all these, it is impossible to renew them, v. 4, 5, 6. This, as is evident, is the Apostasie which is here specified, which is nothing less than a renouncing of the Baptismal Covenant, of the preaching of the Word, of the administration of the Sacraments, of all the Gospel-promises, nay of all those miraculous gifts and powers of the Holy Ghost, whereof in the first times they were ordinarily made partakers; and what can any man take this to be, but an utter renouncing of the whole Gospel and Religion of Christ?
And that it is so, is still further manifest from those things which are said to be implied in their falling.
For hereby they are said to condemn Christ as an Impostor; to justifie his murderers; to say he was crucified justly, and that were he now alive, they should be ready to crucifie him over again, which is a publishing again to all the world his reproach, and a putting him anew to an open shame. By this falling away, saith the Apostle, they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame, v. 6.
But now thus to renounce our Baptism, and all our Christian Priviledges, to condemn Christ as a cheat and Impostor, to justifie his Murderers, and to defame his Religion; what is it less than a renouncing of his Gospel, and a falling off to persecute the Christian Faith and Profession?
And as for this indeed, the Apostle says expresly that it is desperate, and that it is impossible for him, by any endeavours or arguings which he can use, to renew-again those who are guilty of it, to that Gospel-Covenant which they thus abjure, and which is the only gracious means of repentance and reconciliation. And since it is to no purpose, says he, I will not attempt it, but go on in speaking to those who still retain the Faith, without concerning my self to prove again the foundation to those who have apostatized from it, v. 1, 3.
These wilful Apostates therefore are in a most deplorable case, for they have sinned themselves out of all capacity of mercy, and transgressed beyond all recovery. For there is no pardon to any wilful sinner whatsoever without he repent; but as for Apostates, it is impossible for any man to renew them again unto repentance.
Their renewal I say is impossible. For as for all humane means which any men, even the Apostles of our Lord themselves, could use for their recovery; they have defeated them already. They know all the evidence of Miracles, and the demonstrations of the Spirit; nay they have not only seen them, but they themselves have been partakers of them, and impower'd to work them: but yet after all they have renounced that belief which all these perswade to, they are Armour of proof against all these demonstrations of the Holy Ghost, and Infidels to Christ notwithstanding them. So that let an Apostle himself urge any thing to them in behalf of Christs Religion, his Argument has been overcome before he offers it. He tells them nothing new, nor shews them any thing but what they have seen, nay what they themselves were formerly impower'd to shew to others; but all that was not strong enough to keep them in the Faith, for when they saw it all, they turned Infidels and Apostates still.
As for any humane means then, they are of no force with them, they cannot reclaim them, or bring them anew to the acknowledgment of the Gospel, which is the only gracious Ministry of Repentance and Reconciliation. So that if ever they be restored again, it must be by a Divine Power; for nothing now can possibly prevail with them but a special Providence and a special Grace.
But now here is the desperateness of their state, these will never be afforded them. For when men have wilfully sinned up to this height, and fallen off against so great means, and so clear conviction; God in the ordinary methods of his Grace is resolved to concern himself no further with them, nor to trouble himself any more for their recovery. They have had all the care and cultivation of his Grace which they are like to have, and now, like barren ground, (which after all that has been laid out upon it, brings forth nothing but thorns and bryers, that are not only useless, but prickling and offensive) they are nigh unto cursing. And this is the very instance which the Apostle himself uses, and the reason which he gives of that impossibility which he had affirmed to be in that undertaking. It is impossible, says he, for any man to renew them, because God will no longer help on his endeavours with his Grace, nor look any further after them. For with those men who are Infidels after all his care, he will deal just as he doth with ground whose fruit is evil and offensive after all his labour; and as for his dealing with that, 'tis plainly this. That earth indeed which drinketh up the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it was dressed; receiveth more blessing still from God. But that which, after it has been thus water'd, bears thorns and bryars, is rejected, and nigh unto cursing, whose end is, not to be water'd any more, but burnt up, v. 7, 8.
As for these two places of the Apostle therefore in his Epistle to the Hebrews, we see indeed that they speak of wilful sins beyond pardon, and of transgressions which are irremissible; but these sins are not the wilful transgressions of any Christian man, but a wilful Apostasie from Christianity it self. So that after all it is true still, that every man, who owns the Religion, and professes the Faith of Christ, is provided of a remedy for all his wilful sins, whensoever they are committed; for let him but particularly repent of them and amend them, and he never shall be condemned for them.
Nay so fast is the tye, and so inseparable is the connexion under the Gospel of Christ betwixt Repentance and Remission; that, as I observed, this irremissible sin of wilful Apostasie it self, is therefore alone declared impossible to be forgiven, because it is impossible to bring men to repent of it, Heb. 6.6.
If a man doth but repent then, let his sin be wilfully committed, whether before or after Baptism, it matters not; for his repentance shall set him straight in both, and his offence shall be quite forgotten, as if it had never been.
Indeed if a man goes on in a constant trade of sin, silencing continually his own conscience, and grieving Gods holy Spirit, and despising all the means and offers of his Grace; he may sin himself beyond his time of mercy, and so his sins will prove irremissible, because he is gone too far ever to repent of them, which is their only remedy and means of pardon. For there is a set period of Grace, and a certain season and space of time wherein God will still make the offers of his help, and of the guidance of his Spirit to reclaim and reform men. But if after all, they slight all his offers, and reject his aid, and prove utterly incorrigible; he grows weary at last, and will trouble himself no more about them, but leave them wholly to themselves. And this God plainly intimates concerning incorrigible Ephraim, who was just then about to be abandoned, and to be given up to the unmasterable wickedness of his own heart— How shall I give thee up, says he, O Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, O Israel? Hos. 11.8. And our Saviour says the same over intractable Jerusalem. O! if thou hadst but known, at least in this thy day, the things that belong unto thy peace with God; but now it is too late, for they are hid from thine eyes, Luk. 19.42.
This, I confess, is a state of sin which is desperate and irrecoverable; not for that repentance is no sure means of remission; but because when once men are come thus far, God deserts them, so that they never can repent of them.
But as for the time when any man is come up to this unpardonable pitch, that only God in Heaven knows. No man can say, I am beyond my time of repentance, because without a special Revelation no man can understand it. And therefore let a man have sinned never so long, yet cannot that discourage him from repenting, because if he set himself seriously about it, for ought he knows, God will pity him, and afford him his Grace and Spirit, which is never wanting to such as heartily desire it, to aid and strengthen him in his repentance. Nay indeed, if a man be come so far as to bethink himself, and to be apprehensive of his danger, and to be convinced of the destructiveness of his sinful courses; there is no question to be made but that he will. For the tide is turned, and the change is begun already; and that is a thing which needed God's Grace as much as any thing that is yet remaining. For a cariere in wickedness is like running down hill; the great difficulty is to make the first stop, but when once that is done, to return again is much more easie. And therefore if a man has received so much Grace, as makes him break off his evil courses for the present, and stand and deliberate with himself, whether or no he shall proceed in it; he need not doubt, if he will go on to endeavour as he has begun, but that he shall have more, till at last he is fully enabled to perfect and compleat it. He has an experimental evidence that his time of Grace is not past, he may be sure it is still with him, because it helps and works in him. For it is Grace that brings him on to what he is, and if he be but as willing to be aided by it, as it is ready to assist him, it will not fail to carry him on further. Gods Grace will still grow upon him, as his own endeavours do; so that if he make good use of this, he shall have more. For this is laid down by our Lord as a certain Rule of Divine dispensations; To him that hath, that is, maketh a right use of that Grace which he hath, shall more be given even in abundance, Mat. 25.29.
Whatsoever irreconcileableness therefore there may be, and truly is in some states of sin, when men have gone on beyond their time of Grace; yet he who has so much Grace as to doubt and question, to fear and scruple, has great reason to think that, as for his part, he is not past Grace, but under it. For an irrecoverable sinner is commonly one that is hardned; he transgresses without sense, and goes on without fear; he is infatuated with his lusts, and lull'd asleep in his sin, and scarce ever comes to himself till he awakes in Damnation. But if once he begins, especially in the time of health, either through a severe reproof, or a severe providence, to interrupt his sin for the present, and to apprehend the evil of it; and if from thence he goes on to good desires, and holy purposes of well-doing: then he feels that Grace which he is afraid he wants, and that good Spirit works in him, which he suspects to have deserted him. He is not in this irrecoverable state, but is going on towards a good recovery.
Indeed if his Conscience is awakned in the height of horror, and extremity of despair, so that he is obstinate against all good advice, and dead to all endeavour, and continues to be so; this is not an effect of Grace, and a step towards repentance; but a terror of Judgment and a fore-taste of Hell. If it deads all industry by excluding all hope; if he complain of his estate without seeking to get out of it, and despair without all amendment; this fear of heart and terror of soul, 'tis true, doth not bring him nearer unto life and pardon, but by secuing him faster in his sin, it shuts him up a closer Prisoner of Condemnation.
But if he be so apprehensive of his danger as to run from it; if he has so much hope as will put him upon trying all means, and using his best endeavours; if upon his apprehensions of his present evil state, he fears, and desires, and resolves, and strives to get quit of it; he is not deprived of a good Providence or of a gracious Spirit, but enjoys the benefit of them, and is conducted by them. He is in the way to Life, and under the recovering methods of Grace; Gods holy Spirit has not for ever abandoned him, but has begun again to work in him.
And thus at last it appears, that as for all the wilful sins of any Christian man, they are in no wise desperate and helpless; but the Gospel has reached out a remedy for them to all who are willing to make use of it. For let them but particularly repent of them, and amend them, and then they are safe from them. So long as they continue in the profession of the Christian Faith, and do not apostatize from it, there is no sin whatsoever which they wilfully commit, but is pardonable upon their repentance. If once they honestly undo the fault, and conscientiously forsake it, their work is done; for their penitent reformation shall make them innocent, and whatever punishment the Law may threaten to any sins, when God comes to Judgment, he will not exact it of any man who has been thus reclaimed from them.
Do we find our selves guilty then of any unretracted wilful sins, and thereby subject to a dreadful sentence according to those measures that have in great largeness been hitherto discoursed of? Let us particularly repent of them, and begin to amend them, and then we are safe from it, and shall most certainly prevent it. Have any voluntary faults put us out of a state of favour, and made us obnoxious to the severities of Judgment? let us reform them, and do so no more, and repair the breach which ensued upon them, and we are surely pardoned. For the Gospel of Christ doth not in any wise intend to amaze and astonish us, or to affright us from amendment, by putting us into a despair of mercy. No, we must lay this down as a most unerring Rule, That that can never come from God which tends to detain us in our sins, and to discourage our reformation. For the summ of all his designs and endeavours, both in the sending of his Son, and in the preaching of his Gospel, is to free and cleanse us from all sin, and to carry us on to reformation and repentance by the sure and stedfast hopes of pardon and acceptance.
Whensoever we have wittingly done evil therefore, let us take care to do so no more; and if it were offensive or injurious to our brethren, to repair the hurt our sin has done, and all is well. And if any Law of the Gospel threaten us, let us begin thus to fulfil it, and then we are safe from it. Let us fulfil it, I say, for that only is a saving repentance, which, as we saw above, implies obedience, and ends in reformation. And if we repent in that manner of any sin, whatsoever it be, or whensoever it be committed, whether before Baptism, or after it, it matters not, we shall surely go unpunished, and shall not be eternally damned for it.