But though to fall out of fear be not so heinous a sin, yet a great and heinous sin it is ; for grace should govern fear as well as hope ; and though the coercion and bridling of it be more difficult, yet it doth not excuse d toio, from all sin, but d tanto, only from part of the sin ; and it is very hard to set a christian in joint again. Witness those terrors that haunt men when they are once gotten into the snare ; as Peter went out and wept bitterly ; it cost him much sorrow of heart. Christ is fain to direct a comfortable message to him by name : Mark xvi. 7, ' But go your way, tell his disciples, and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee ; there shall you see him, as he said unto you.' So that it doth not exclude all hopes of repentance and pardon. Some checks of conscience may revive his love to religion again. But when it is joined with obstinate malice, persecutions, contempt, and hatred of the known truth, because it is troublesome to his thoughts to consider how much he hath forsaken for so little, this is a great aggravation of the sin.
Use 2. Is caution to take heed of the great transgression, and the steps that lead thereunto.
1, Take heed of a contempt of the word of God, and the offers of his grace against the evidence and light that shineth in our consciences. This sin lieth in a malicious and scornful contempt ; it is so represented in Esau, the type of the reprobates : Heb. xii. 15-17, ' Looking dili- gently lest any man fail of the grace of God ; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled ; lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, wlio for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected ; for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.' The root of it lieth in neglecting and slighting Christ for light causes, and preferring base lusts and pleasures before him. Esau despised his birthright when he 'sold it, Gen. xxv. 34 ; he apprehended the birthright would be of no use to him till after the death of his father, which might be for a long time, therefore, to satisfy his present pleasure, sold it. So many are apt to think our happiness is to come, and Christ is unseen ; therefore our neglect of him is desciibed by a contempt ' Heb. x. 28, 29, ' He that despised Moses' law died without mercy, under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sancti- fied, an unholy thing, and done despite to the Spirit of grace?' What is treading under feet but contempt ? Oh, let the despisers of Christ and his grace lay this to heart, Avho make light of heavenly things, as negroes trample upon pearls : Mat. vii. G, ' Neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet.'
2. Take heed of apostasy and falling from the truth after conviction. Some receive and profess Christianity by tradition and implicit faith, yet never have any distinct knowledge of the truth so believed ; and gome believe and understand more explicitly the doctrine of Christianity, are convinced of the truth of it, ycL never affected with the matter so
404 SERMONS UPON PSALM XIX. 13. [SeR. VL
as to forsake their sins. Some know and believe, and in some sort are affected with the matter, so as they begin by the power of the Spirit to forsake the pleasures of the world, find some spiritual joy and comfort; this estate is hopeful, yet must not be rested in. Some lust may be left unmortified, which in time of trial doth break out and discover the hidden malignity of the heart, not yet fully regenerated: 2 Peter ii. 20, ' For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the latter end with them is worse than the beginning.' Now for these to fall away, to deny the truth in profession and practice, is very dangerous. Take heed of the great transgression.
3. Take heed of the hatred of God, and Christ, and his ways. There are haters of God of a lower rank ; every unregenerate man is so by prepossession : James iv. 4, ' Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God ? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.' Carnal liberty: Eom. viii. 7, ' The carnal mind is enmity to God; for it is not subject to the law, neither indeed can be.' Legal bondage : Gen. iii. 7, ' And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked ; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons.' Men hate what they fear. It crosses us in our way, and cuts off our desired pleasures, and punishes us for our sins. Somewhat of this remaineth in the godly. An higher sort there is that hate instruction : Ps. 1. 17, ' Thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.' That hate the light : John iii. 20, ' Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.' Cannot endure to be minded of duty or warned of danger : 1 Kings xxii. 8, * And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man (Micaiah, the son of Imlah) by whom we may inquire of the Lord ; but I hate him, for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.' Cain hated his brother, 1 John iii. 12. A higher degree is persecution. But this is not the sin against the Holy Ghost, because it is some particular truth they hate, not the main of the christian faith , in spleen to the person that holdeth it, or is divided from them by contrary interests ; not the truth itself is hated : yet this is dangerous. So hatred of the power of godliness ; when men hate others that are godly, as godly, it is a great degree of sin. They cannot endure the lustre of grace shining in them, and therefore load them with all manner of injuries and contempt.