“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.”—Heb. vi. 4, 5, 6.
We have been speaking unto this truth, that mere professors may have great attainments. We shall now handle these—that professors of high attainments may fall away most sadly; and that there is a fall that is irretrievable; and what that is, shall be described further from the word.
Professors of the highest attainments in common grace, may fall away dreadfully: the apostle’s supposition proves its possibility. The scripture gives us some instances. In the case of Saul, we find him, according to the times, gifted with a spirit of government, walking for a while in God’s way, and then he suddenly falls. Judas, an apostle, Christ’s hearer and domestic servant, of whom, though we read nothing particularly to his advantage, yet, doubtless, many good things were with him and his fellow-disciples never suspect him; and yet, at length he falls away. Herod may be reckoned amongst them, and Demas, and several apostates named in the word. Our own experience testifieth this, in that we have seen many who when religion was in fashion and favour, did profess highly, pray often, reform many things, and walk blamelessly; who could talk of convictions and awakenings and joys, on some experience; and of the force of the word and benefit of ordinances; yet many have turned profane, many corrupted in their principles — of whom, though it is like, the Lord hath his own whom he may still reclaim, yet doubtless, many have justified this truth from their experience.
For further confirmation of this, take and use in a good sense the world’s wicked observation, “A young saint an old devil.” Though it is likely the devil did teach men this to frighten them from religion in their young days, which are the fittest season of setting about it, yet experience shows that none are more wicked when of age than such as have been under convictions unprofitable when young. The world’s censure of professors, that they are worse in many things to deal with than other folks though there has been much of prejudice and partiality in it, yet some truth it has as to many. Observe also, that men when awakened by sickness or danger and who sleep again, go on more seriously and boldly in sin than ever they did; and are further out of the reach of conviction than any or than themselves formerly were.
We shall adduce further evidence from scripture to confirm this truth.
1. The truly godly themselves who have saving grace, may fall back in a great measure — and much more they.
The instances of such are various; some by a sudden fit of temptation being drawn on unto great sin and quickly recovering, as Peter; some lying longer under its power, as David, whose decay seems to have been very great and for many days. And the force of the reason is strong; for common operations are nowise so powerful to restrain corruption and prevent apostacy as the truth of God’s grace in the heart.
2. Men under the highest of common operations may fall utterly away, because what they have are not sufficient preservatives and antidotes against defection.
Thus, mere illumination cannot preserve; because of man, as long as he is unrenewed, may walk contrary to his light and even then too much. His tasting of faith cannot preserve because though somewhat of Christ’s sweetness be tasted by him, yet there is in Christ what he distastes, and thus he prepares his way to apostacy. His partaking of the Holy Ghost, ordinary or extraordinary, is no bar to hold out defection, for it is no sanctifying participation and so is no more than a certain qualification for some works naturally good. His tasting of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come are not sufficient neither, for they are but tastings, and not a feeding thereupon, which alone yields strength unto a man to keep him from falling.
In general, all these are such things as he hath, or such things as he tastes. Two things he hath—illumination and gifts of the Holy Ghost; such may be taken from him; and even when they are present with him, they cannot preserve him from apostacy. The things that he hath a taste of are excellent—faith, the word and works—but this is the want; that he hath a taste and no more. And so this bewrayeth either the unsoundness of his aim and intention, that he meddles only with Christ and the word and heaven, to get a taste and trial of them, and no more; or the unsoundness of his temper, that he can endure no more but a taste of these things, and certainly it tells their unprofitableness to him.
Christ is ordained to be lived on and by faith (Gal. ii. 20) and only so far tasted in the beginning as to encourage to follow on to know him and to be built up on him (1 Pet. ii. 3, 4), to be dwelt in (John xv), to have him dwelling in the heart (Ephes. iii. 17). The word is to be fed upon by beginners as milk (Heb. v. 12, 13; 1 Pet. ii. 1, 2). Children must live by tasting of the milk, as grown men live on it as food proper for them. Man liveth not by bread, but by the word; heaven is not to be tasted, but dwelt in (Philip. iii. 20). It is to be the mark a Christian shoots at. And therefore as to all these things that he tastes of, he wants the due virtue and influence and power. Yea, there is also the inconstancy of these things: he may lose the relish of them, yea, the very tastings may be taken away and so any little effect that tasting might have is also removed. And this may come to pass, partly by the corrupt temper of his heart; partly by the Lord’s judgment taking away the opportunities of tasting from him, that hath no mind to feed on this fare. Again this may betray his weakness, that it prevails not against the sinful savour of other things. This tasting then bewraying, as is said, the unsoundness of the heart and the shortlivedness of these things, saith that the benefit of them cannot be reaped by him while he is such; and what benefit is reaped is not enough to preserve him from decaying.
3. The third reason of this truth is that such want the necessary and only sufficient preservatives against defection.
As 1. He wants the new nature: all he has amounts not to innovation and a new creature and it is evident at the very reading of these words, unto any acquainted with the style and phrase of the Holy Ghost, that it is his design here to speak only the common attainments.
Now, that the new nature is an excellent preservative against defection, is evident. This new nature, in a native way and principle which is the strongest and most lasting, produceth love to God from whom it had its being to his truth and word, the instrument of its being, and means of its nourishment and growth; and also, it hath as native, a loathing of any departure from God and his way, though darkness and delusion in a particular may prevail.
2. They want true faith, a special mean of preventing apostacy (see Heb. iii. 12; and x. 38, 39) and that it is not with them, we showed already.
That it is useful to prevent apostacy is many ways demonstrable: 1. Because it is the mean on our part of our union with Jesus Christ, the fountain of our strength; and so the way to get communications of grace needful from him, is to exercise this grace on him. 2. It is the main shield we have to oppose to the temptations of Satan (Ephes. vi. 16) and of the world (1 John v. 4). So Moses found it, (Heb. xi. 26-29).
3. They want an interest in God’s favour and friendship and so, want that care and kindness and watching over them for good, that his people meet with.
The waterings and refreshings, preventing mercies, surprisals of mercy and wise turning-about of begun falling, to the advancing of future steadfastness, which the Lord gives to his people and whereby he prevents utter apostacy, they are strangers to.
4. The Holy Ghost’s sanctifying abode in their hearts they want, which is the great preservative of the people of God. (See 1 John ii. 27).
They have a sort of qualifying abode for the material part of duty, but no more.
These may serve for the clearing and confirming of the truth of this, that common grace is no preservative against defection. In farther prosecution of this purpose concerning the possibility of the fall of men of highest attainments in common things, I shall, 1. Distinguish the sorts of falling away and apostacy; 2. Show how they are carried on and advanced; 3. Show what is their danger.
1. What sorts of falling away professors are in danger of.
The General distinction is—an apostacy may either be in principles or profession, or else in practice; and that both of them may be damnable, we shall hear anon. An apostacy from the profession of Christian religion is threefold—through ignorance, when many that have not come to any sound understanding of their profession, forsake it; such were the carnal Jews (John vi. 66)—an apostacy from the profession through infirmity and carnal fear, as Peter’s was; although it is dreadful, when their profession is cloaked and covered for a while for some base ends—and an apostacy from the profession through resolute wickedness; and this may be sometimes with a check and sometimes without it.
The first of these belongs not to us. An apostacy in practice, is that decay and falling from the practice of those duties that the profession retained obligeth unto; and this is total or partial: partial, as in the case of the godly who often fall into it: total, as in that of hypocrites only, who may return just to the same state from which their common workings brought them, (2 Pet. ii. 19, 20). Only I would have you to regard these things about this distinction of apostacies; to wit, that where there is a great measure of any one, there is no want of a measure of the other — that if they were separable, apostacy from the profession is the worst, because most to God’s dishonour, though the other also be dishonourable and destructive — that a great degree of either is damning — and they are so linked together, that in the full handling of one, we must speak of the other, for principles of profession have an influence on practice and bad practice has an influence to darken the judgment.
2. The next thing promised to be handled is, how such apostacies are carried on.
And this question is useful for convicting those who are under them; for preparing us all against them, and Satan’s devices and our own heart’s treachery in the matter — and for instructing us both in repentance and reformation — for the method of sin’s advancing, instructs in the method of reformation and repentance.
As to the apostacy of ignorance it concerns not us, for we speak of that illuminated professors. As to the other, though we have distinguished them, yet now, shall we offer to give a thread of the scope downward again, promising only these things. 1. That the depth of the sovereignty of Satan’s cunning and the heart’s treachery, renders it impossible to search out this mystery of iniquity unto the bottom. 2. As it is the design of the Spirit of God in his common operations, to draw men unto that pitch of attainment and happiness from which there is no falling, so is it Satan’s, in tempting, to pull men into irrecoverable misery. 3. As men’s wickedness often mars the success attainable by the improvement of the Holy Ghost’s workings, so the Lord’s goodness, sometimes special, sometimes common, stops the career into inevitable apostacies; and therefore, often where saving grace is not, yet the depth of apostacy is prevented, sometimes by restraint on temptations and sometimes by a restraint on the corruptions in men.
Now, to offer some light upon these black stairs to the pit, we are to remember how far the man is gone upward as is said. 1. His first preparative to backsliding is standing still. He thinks he is so well advanced that he is now shot-free: now he hath got what will save him; and he looks down upon those below him with a sort of loftiness and disdain. 2. Then come heart-quarrels against further advancement.
As the pride of his heart appears in the former case, so does its unrenewedness and want of sanctification in this. Wanting the new nature that kindly inclines unto progress, he thinks that further progress is needless, or may be troublesome and prejudicial unto his carnal interests, the love whereof is not rooted out. 3. Satan and his heart do now propose unto him his idol, some one corruption or other, that in the former advancing was, it may be, for a while put to the door: now is it presented and entertained, it is likely, more secretly, but as warmly as ever. It hath the throne, although it gives not forth such open laws as formerly. 4. Then may his light and this reinstatement struggle awhile together and with an issue of this sort — that either his light is displeasing, for its crossing him in his enjoyment, or that idol may now and then be a little discountenanced, though never hated, according to the clearness of his light and convictions, as they ebb or flow. 5. While it is thus with him in this carnal warfare, possibly a trial may come, wherein resolvedly he must take part with his light or his sin; for the former may be his ordinary practice, the latter in his way wherein he must walk and that with choice and deliberation. And here a hotter and sorer combat must be, and we suppose, without a powerful restraint, he now makes a bad choice and resolvedly crosseth his light, for satisfying of his carnal aim and scope. 6. When he is arrived at this, that he walks in a way that is not good, with a deliberate purpose and hath left the way of God in profession or practice, then is it possible that he may arrive at a positive and avowed resolute dislike of that way and truth that formerly he walked in and which was so prejudicial to his lusts. And the more there remains in him of the light of that truth, then more hotly doth the fire of enmity in his heart break forth.
This is a considerable step and for downward and near the pit. But this is not all. 7. He comes now to a hatred and dislike of Jesus Christ himself, whose truth he once knew and professed. He thinks him a hard master now when he hath left him; that his laws are more intolerable and grievous and his promises unworthy and insufficient to balance his designs of seeking happiness. 8. And then he comes to hate those pains and workings on his heart, whereby any savour on his heart at any time was wrought of this way and his offered and once pretended guide. 9. And lastly, his enmity against the worker, the Holy Ghost, may break out and that the more, that in all this backsliding of his, he hath met with the more warnings, stops and terrors, in his course.
(To be continued.)