Part 29

And elsewhere, he seems to be sensible of his sin, in heaping up vast treasures, which he calls _loving silver_; and adds, that such an one, which seems very applicable to his own case, _shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance, with increase; this is also vanity_, chap. v. 10. that is, this had been an instance of his former vanity: and he adds, _The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep_, ver. 12. If by this we understand that the increase of riches sometimes gives disturbance to, and stirs up the corruptions of those that possess them, and this be applied to himself, it is an acknowledgment of his sin. Or, if we understand by it that the abundance of a rich man will not give him rest at night, when his mind is made uneasy with a sense of the guilt of sin, and this be applied to his own case, when fallen by it; then it intimates that his repentance gave him not only uneasiness by day, but took away his rest by night; and it seems not improbable, that what gave him farther occasion to see the vanity of his past life, was the sense of mortality impressed on him; for he says, _It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting; for that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart_, chap. vii. 3. that is, he will, or ought to improve the sense of his own frailty, which we may conclude he had done; and therefore adds, _Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the countenance, the heart is made better_, ver. 3.

But if it be objected, that all these expressions are not applicable to himself, and many others of the like nature, which might have been referred to, which are expressive of his great repentance; though I cannot but think that the contrary to this seems very probable; yet there is something farther added, that he expressly applies to himself, which refers to his unlawful love of women: _I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares, and nets, and her hands as bands. Whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be taken by her: behold, this have I found, saith the preacher_, ver. 26, 27. If these things be not expressive of repentance, it is hard to say what are.

And to this we may add, that as he expresses a grief of heart for past sins; so he warns others that they may not be guilty of that which he himself found more bitter than death; and accordingly, having described the arts used by the wicked woman, to betray the unthinking passenger, he cautions every one to take heed of declining to her ways; inasmuch as the consequence thereof will be, that a _dart_ will _strike through his liver_, and he is _as a bird that hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life_, Prov. vii. 23. compared with the foregoing verses. He also adds, That _she hath cast down many wounded; yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death_, ver. 26, 27. So that we find in Solomon, two of the greatest evidences that we can have of sincere repentance; namely, a great degree of sorrow for sin, and an earnest desire that others would avoid it, by giving those cautions that are necessary to prevent their falling into the snare in which he had been entangled.

(3.) There is something spoken in Solomon’s commendation, after his death, which may be gathered from what is said, that during the three first years of Rehoboam’s reign, which God approved of he _walked in the way of David and Solomon_, 2 Chron. xi. 17. where we may observe, that Solomon is joined with his father David: so that as there were abatements to be made for the blemishes in David’s reign; the reign of Solomon had in it great blemishes: but as one repented, so did the other, and therefore ought not to be reckoned an apostate.

And to all this we may add, that he was a penman of scripture; and it does not appear that God conferred this honour upon any that apostatized from him; but on the other hand, they have this general character given of them by the apostle Peter, that they were all _holy men of God_, 2 Pet. i. 21. which we must conclude Solomon to have been, till we have greater evidence to the contrary than they can produce who deny it.

3. There are others mentioned in the objection, to wit, Hymeneus and Alexander, whose apostacy we have no ground to doubt of; but we cannot allow that they fell from, or lost the saving grace of faith. It is one thing to fall from the profession of faith, and another thing to lose the grace of faith; therefore, the only thing to be proved in answer to this branch of the objection, is, that these persons, who are described as apostates, never had the truth of grace; or that they only fell from that visible profession which they made thereof; whereby they were reckoned to be, what in reality they were not, namely, true believers. Now that this may appear, let it be considered,

That the apostle speaks of them as having _departed from the faith_, viz. the doctrines of the gospel; and that was attended with blasphemy, for which they were _delivered unto Satan_, which is a phrase used by the apostle here and elsewhere, for persons being cut off from the communion of the church; upon which occasion he advises Timothy _to hold faith and a good conscience, which some having put away, concerning faith, have made shipwreck_, as these have done.

Now the main force of the objection seems to lie in this, that they who have made shipwreck of faith, were once true believers; therefore, such may apostatize, and so fall short of salvation.

To which it may be replied, that by _faith_ here, is meant the doctrines of the gospel, which are often styled _faith_: thus it is said, that the apostle _preached the faith which once he destroyed_, Gal. i. 23. and elsewhere, _before faith came_; that is, before the gospel-dispensation began, and those doctrines were preached that were to be published therein to the world, _we were kept under the law_, chap. iii. 23. And again, _Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith_, ver. 2. that is, by hearing those doctrines that are contained in the gospel. Therefore, that which he chargeth these apostates with, is making shipwreck of faith, considered objectively: they once, indeed, held the truth, but it was in unrighteousness; they had right notions of the gospel, which they afterwards lost: now the apostle advises Timothy not only to _hold faith_, that is, to retain the doctrines of the gospel, as one who had right sentiments of divine truths, but to hold it _with a good conscience_; for I take that expression, _hold faith and a good conscience_, to contain an _hendyadis_; and so it is the same as though he should say, Be not content with an assent to the truths of the gospel, but labour after a conscience void of offence towards God, that thou mayst have the testimony thereof, that thy knowledge of divine truth is practical and experimental, and then thou art out of danger of making shipwreck of faith, as these have done, who held it without a good conscience. It is not said they made shipwreck of a good conscience; for that they never have had; but _concerning faith_, which they once professed, _they made shipwreck_.

The same thing may be said concerning Judas; he apostatized from the faith, which he once made a very great profession of, being not only one of Christ’s disciples, but sent forth with the rest of them, to preach the gospel, and work miracles; yet it is evident, that he had not the saving grace of faith. For our Saviour, who knew the hearts of all men, was not deceived in him (though others were) inasmuch as it is said, _He knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him_, John vi. 64. However, the principal force of the objection lies in this, that Judas must needs have been a believer, because he was given to Christ; and our Saviour says, that _those who were given him were kept by him, and none of them was lost but the son of perdition_, chap. xvii. 12. His being styled _the son of perdition_, argues him an apostate; and his being _given to Christ_ denotes that he was once a true believer; therefore he fell totally and finally. In answer to which,

(1.) Some conclude, that they who are said to _be given to Christ_, are such as were appointed, by the providence of God, to be his servants in the work of the ministry. Now it is said concerning them, that they were given to Christ, to be employed by him in this service; and that all of them were kept faithful, except the son of perdition. If this be the sense of their being given to him, it does not necessarily infer their being made partakers of special grace: it is one thing to be given to Christ, to be employed in some peculiar acts of service, in which his glory is concerned; and another thing to be given to him, as being chosen and called by him, to partake of special communion with him: if Judas had been given to him in this latter sense, he would not have been a son of perdition, but would have been kept by him, as the other disciples were; but inasmuch as he was only given to Christ, that he might serve the design of his providence, in the work of the ministry, he might be lost, or appear to be a son of perdition, and yet not fall from the truth of grace.

(2.) If, by being _given to Christ_, we understand a being given to him, as objects of his special love, we must suppose, that all who were thus given to him, were kept by him; in which sense Judas, who is called _the son of perdition_, and was not kept by him, was not given to him: accordingly the particle _but_ is not exceptive, but adversative; and it is as though he should say, _All that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost; but the son of perdition is lost_, I have not preserved him; for he was not the object of my special care and love; he was not given me to save, therefore he is lost. Now it is certain, that the particle _but_ is used in this sense in many other scriptures, particularly that wherein it is said, _There shall in no wise enter into it_, that is, the heavenly Jerusalem, _any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life_, Rev. xxi. 27. _q. d._ ungodly men shall not enter in; but they that are written in the lamb’s book of life shall[93]. Thus much concerning this objection, taken from particular persons, who are supposed to have fallen from grace.

_Obj._ 2. The next objection is taken from what the apostle Paul says concerning the church of the Jews, whom he describes as apostatized from God; and it is evident, that they are, to this day, given up to judicial blindness, and not in the least disposed to repent of that crime for which they were cast off by him; concerning these he says, that they once were holy; _If the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root be holy, so are the branches_, Rom. xi. 16. and afterwards he speaks of _their casting away_, and _some of the branches being broken off, because of unbelief_, ver. 15, 17, 19, 20. Now if the whole church apostatized, we must conclude at least, that some of them were true believers, and therefore true believers may fall from the grace of God.

_Answ._ That the church of the Jews apostatized, and were cut off for their unbelief, is sufficiently evident: but we must distinguish between the apostacy of a professing people, such as the church of the Jews were, who first rejected God, and then were cast off by him, and the apostacy of those who were truly religious among them; the apostle himself gives us ground for this distinction, when he says, _they are not all Israel which are of Israel; neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children_, chap. ix. 6, 7. And elsewhere he distinguishes between one who is _a Jew_, as being partaker of the external privileges of the covenant, which that church was under, and a person’s being _a Jew_, as partaking of the saving blessings thereof; as he says, _He is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God_, Rom. ii. 28, 29. A church may lose its external privileges, and cease to have the honourable character given it; the greatest part of them may be blinded, when, at the same time _the election_, that is, all among them who were chosen to eternal life, _obtained it_, as the apostle observes, chap. xi. 7. and thereby intimates, that some who were members of that church were faithful; those were preserved from the common apostacy, being converted to the Christian faith. Their privileges, as members of a church, were lost, but they still retained their spiritual and inseparable union with Christ, which they had as believers, and not as the result of their being the natural seed of Abraham, they were made partakers of the blessings that accompany salvation; and therefore were not separated from the love of God in Christ, whilst formal professors and hypocrites, who were Abraham’s natural seed, but not his spiritual, were cast off by Christ.

_Obj._ 3. It is farther objected, that there are some who have the character of righteous persons, concerning whom it is supposed, that they may fall away or perish; particularly those mentioned in Ezek. xviii. 24. _When the righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned, in the trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die_: And in Heb. x. 38. it is said, _The just shall live by faith; but if any man_, or, as the word should be rendered, if _he draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him_. Therefore, since the righteous man may turn from his righteousness, and draw back to perdition, the doctrine of the saints’ perseverance cannot be defended.

_Answ._ 1. As to the former of these scriptures, we must consider the sense thereof agreeably to the context, and the scope and design of the prophet therein; he had often reproved them for those vile abominations which they were guilty of, and had denounced the threatnings of God, which should have their accomplishment in their utter ruin; particularly, he fortels the judgments that should sweep away many of them before, and others that should befal them in the captivity: this is the subject principally insisted on by the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel; whereupon sometimes they were represented as disliking the doctrine, desiring that _smooth things_ might be prophesied unto them, and _the holy one of Israel might cease from before them_. At other times they are represented as complaining of the hardship of this dispensation, intimating that it was unjust and severe, and, at the same time, justifying themselves, as though they had done nothing that deserved it; but all this was to befal them for the sins of their fathers, and accordingly there was a proverbial expression often made use of by them, mentioned verse 2d of this chapter, _The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge_; by which they did not understand that we expect to perish eternally for our fathers’ sins, in which sense it must be taken, if this objection has any force in it: now God, by the prophet, tells them that they had no reason to use this proverb, and so puts them upon looking into their past conduct, and enquiring, whether they had not been guilty of the same sins that their fathers were charged with? which, if they could exculpate themselves from, they should be delivered, and not die, that is, not fall by those judgments which either should go before, or follow the captivity; for that seems to be the sense of _dying_, according to the prophetic way of speaking, as we have observed elsewhere.[94] For the understanding of this scripture we must consider, that the prophet addresses himself to _the house of Israel_, who are represented, ver. 25. as complaining, that _the way of the Lord was not equal_; or, that God’s threatnings or judgments, which were the forerunners of the captivity, were such as they had not deserved; and therefore he tells them that he would deal with them according to their deserts, ver. 24. _When the righteous_, that is, one whose conversation before this seemed to be unblemished, and he not guilty of those enormous crimes which were committed by others (which may be supposed, and yet the person not be in a state of grace) I say, when such an one _turneth away from his righteousness, and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth_, that is, becomes openly vile and profligate; _shall he live?_ can he expect any thing else but that God should follow him with exemplary judgments, or that he should be involved in the common destruction? _In his sin that he hath sinned shall he die._ And on the other hand, ver. 27. _When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness_; that is, they who have been guilty of these abominations shall reform their lives, or turn from their idolatry, murders, adulteries, oppressions, and other vile crimes, that the people in general were charged with, by the prophet, which are assigned as the reason of God’s sending this dreadful judgment of the captivity; I say, if there be such an instance of reformation, _he shall save his soul alive_; that is, either he shall be delivered from the captivity, or shall be preserved from those temporal judgments that either went before or followed after it. This reformation, and deliverance from these judgments, includes in it something less than saving grace, and a right to eternal life, which is inseparably connected with it, so that if nothing else be intended by the _righteous_ and _wicked man_; and if the judgments threatened, or their deliverance from them, in case of reformation, includes no more than this, it is evident, that it does not in the least suppose, that any true believer shall apostatize or fall from a state of grace. As we may distinguish between eternal death and temporal judgments; so we must distinguish between a person’s abstaining from the vilest abominations, as a means to escape these judgments; and his exercising those graces that accompany salvation. There may be an external reformation in those who have no special grace, if nothing farther be regarded than a person’s moral character, or inoffensive behaviour in the eye of the world. If we only consider him as abstaining from those sins which are universally reckoned disreputable among those who make any pretensions to religion, and in this respect he be denominated a righteous man, such an one may turn away from his righteousness and become immoral and profligate, and so be reckoned among the number of apostates: nevertheless he cannot be said to apostatize or fall from the grace of God, since moral virtue or the exercise of righteousness in our dealings with men is as much inferior to saving grace, as a form of godliness is to the power thereof.

2. As to the other scripture, mentioned in the objection, it is generally urged against us as an unanswerable argument, taken from the express words thereof, to prove the possibility of the saints’ apostacy; and our translation is charged with a wilful mistake, to serve a turn, and make the text speak what it never intended, since all who understand the original must allow that it ought to be rendered, _If he draw back_, which supposes that the just man may apostatize, or draw back unto perdition. To which it may be replied,

(1.) That though the words, according to the form in which they are laid down, contain a supposition, it does not infer the being or reality of the thing supposed[95]; but only this, that if such a thing should happen, it would be attended with what is laid down as a consequence thereof. This is very agreeable to our common mode of speaking, as when we say; if a virtuous person should commit a capital crime, he will fall under the lash of the law as much as though he had made no pretensions to virtue; nevertheless, it does not follow from hence, that such an one shall do it, or expose himself to this punishment; or, on the other hand, if a king should say to a criminal, as Solomon did to Adonijah, ‘If he will shew himself a worthy man, there shall not an hair of him fall to the earth,’ it cannot be concluded from hence, that he will behave himself so as that his life shall be secured to him. The proposition is true, as there is a just connexion between the supposition and the consequence; yet this does not argue that the thing supposed shall come to pass. Now to apply this to the scripture, under our present consideration; the proposition is doubtless true, that if the just man should draw back, so as to become a wicked man, if he should lose the principle of grace which was implanted in regeneration, and abandon himself to the greatest impieties, he would as certainly perish as though he had never experienced the grace of God; but it must not be inferred from hence, that God will suffer such an one, who is the object both of his love and care, thus to fall and perish, so that his soul should have no pleasure in him.

(2.) If we suppose the person here spoken of, whom we consider as a true believer, to draw back, we may distinguish between backsliding or turning aside from God, by the commission of very great sins; and apostacy. Or between drawing back, by being guilty of great crimes, so as to expose himself to sore judgments; and his drawing back to perdition. The just man in this text, is said, indeed, to draw back, but he is distinguished from one that draws back to perdition; as it is said in the following verse, ‘We are not of them who draw back to perdition, but of them that believe, to the saving of the soul.’ Such a drawing back as this, though it shall not end in perdition, inasmuch as the person shall be recovered and brought to repentance; yet it shall be attended with very great marks of God’s displeasure against believers, for those sins which they have committed, as well as others; accordingly, _his soul having no pleasure_ in them, denotes that he would, in various instances, reveal his wrath against relapsing believers, as a display of his holiness, who shall nevertheless be recovered and saved at last. If these things be duly considered, the objection seems to have no weight in it, though it should be allowed, that the words upon which it is principally founded, are not rightly translated.