to come, (all which Expreffions are but a larger Defcription of a Chriftian, or a regenerate Perfon, or, as our Text phrafeth it, of one that hath received the Knowledge of the Truth.) If fuch as thefe (faith he) fhall fall away, it is impoffible to renew them to Repentance; Seeing they crucifie tothemfelves the Son of God afresh, and put him to open Shame. The falling away here is certainly the fame Thing, with finning wilfully in my Text, that is to fay, a wilful departure from Christianity. Now of thofe, that do thus Apoftatize, St. Paul affirms, that it is impoffible to renew them to Repentance. He certainly doth not mean an abfolute Impofibility, but a moral one in the fame Senfe, that our Saviour faith, That it is impoffible for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, that is, as another Evanglift explains it, it is hard for a rich Man, &c. In the fame Senfe, that it is affirm'd to be impoffible for them to do good, that havé accustomed themselves to do Evil, that is to fay it is extreamly difficult; it is not a Thing, that either ordinarily happens, or can be eafily effected. It is true God may, by an extraordinary Providence, pluck fuch an Apoftate out of the Fire, refcue him by a strong Hand from that defperate Vaffalage to the Devil, in which he is held. But, he hath no where promifed, that he will. Nay, he hath threatned that he will not. However, of all Men living, it is the least to be hoped

of

of fuch a Perfon, that God will fhew fuch extraordinary Mercy to him, fince he hath wilfully put himself out of that State of Salvation, which God by Chrift had brought him into, and not only fo, but hath abandoned and renounced all the Means, by which only he can be recovered.

Thus have I given you a large, and I hope a plain Account of this difficult Text: And, you fee, there is nothing in it, that needs to create any Trouble or Affrightment, to any well difpofed People among us, however they may have been guilty of many wilful Sins, fince their Baptifm, or since their coming to the Knowledge of the Truth. Nay, you fee, there is nothing in it that should make the greatest Sinner among us to despair of God's Mercy, if they have but the Heart to repent. For there is nothing, in this Text, from whence it can be concluded, that any Sin is unpardonable, or that any Courfe of wilful Sin is above the Mercies of the Covenant of Grace, provided the Sinner do truly repent. Nay neither is there any Thing in this Text, to difcourage the Hopes of any Man's Repentance, how great a Sinner foever he hath been, fo long as he continue in the Profeffion of Chriftianity. All this I think is very plain, from what I have dif courfed upon this Text.

But then I muft add farther, and which I defire all among us would feriously confider; appears by this Text that the Cafe is very

it

different as to those Persons that have once profeffed Christianity, and afterwards depart from it. Tho' there may be Hopes of a Man's Repentance, let him have been never fo bad a Liver, fo long as he continues in the Communion of the Chriftian Church, and adheres to the Religion of Chrift: Yet, there is very little Hope of a Man, that hath once given up his Name to Jefus, and afterwards proves a Defertor: Departs from the Faith, and turns Atheist or Deift, or, in any other Sort, renounceth that Christianity he was baptized into; I fay, there is very little Hope of fuch a Man, because he doth properly, and in the Apostles Senfe, trample under Foot the Son of God, and count the Blood of the Covenant, wherewith he was fanctified, an unholy Thing. It infinitely therefore concerns every one among us, to hold the Profeffion of their Faith without Wavering, and, tho' they do not live fo holy and fo pure Lives as they fhould, and as they must do, if ever they go to Heaven: Yet, at leaft, to continue in the profeffion of the Chriftian Religion, and to frequent the Ordinances of Jefus Chrift; because, so long as they fo do, they have the Advantage of the Means of Salvation, and those Means may at laft prove effectual to their Converfion. Whereas, if they defert the Christian Inftitution, and go over to Heathenifm (as Deism is but another Name for that,) there remains no inore Sacrifice for their Sins, but

a

a certain fearful expectation of Judgment and fiery Indignation, to confume them, and all fuch contumacious Sinners as they are:

From which God Almighty of his Mercy deliver us all, for the fake, &c.

SER

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SERMON X.

1 Epift. of St. JOHN V. 16. If any Man fee his Brother fin a Sin, which is not unto Death, he shall ask, and be fhall give him Life for them that fin not unto Death. There is a Sin unto Death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

HERE are three Texts (as I told you the laft Time) in the New Teftament, relating to the fame Argument; which, as, they have given much Trouble to Interpreters in the expounding of them, fo have they often occafioned many Fears and Perplexities in the Confciences of timerous melancholy Perfons, by the Application they make of them.

The First is that, in the 10th of the Hebrews; where the Apoftle afferts, That to thofe that fin wilfully, after they have received the Knowledge of the Truth, there remains no more Sacrifice for Sin, but a fearful expectation of Judgment and fiery Indignation, to devour them; and of this I difcourfed the laft Time.

The