364 THE DEATH OF DEATH. [liOOK IV.
from the world divers that were saints in show, — really wolves and hypocrites, of old ordained to condemnation : therefore, Jesus Christ shed his hlood for the redemption and salvation of all reprobates and damned persons in the whole world/' Who would not admire our adversaries' chemistry?
Thirdly, Neither is it more certain that the apostle speaketh of the purchase of the wolves and hypocrites, in respect of the reality of the purchase, and not rather in respect of that estimation which others had of them, — and, by reason of their outward seeming profession, ought to have had, — and of the profession that themselves made to be pur- chased by him whom they pretended to preach to others ; as the Scrip- ture saith [of Ahaz], " The gods of Damascus smote him," because he himself so imagined and professed, 2 Chron. xxviii. 23. The latter hath this also to render it probable, — namely, that it is the perpetual course of the Scripture, to ascribe all those things to eveiy one that is in the fellowship of the church which are proper to them only who are true spiritual members of the same ; as to be saints, elect, redeemed, etc. Now, the truth is, from this their profession, that they were bought by Christ, might the apostle justly, and that according to the opinion of our adversaries, press these false teachers, by the way of aggravating their sin. For the thing itself, their being bought, it could be no more urged to them than to heathens and infidels that never heard of the name of the Lord Jesus.
Now, after all this, if our adversaries can prove univei^sal redemp- tion from this text, let them never desjDair of svxccess in any thing they undertake, be it never so absurd, fond, or foolish. But when they have wi'ought up the work already cut out for them, and proved, — first, That by the Lord is meant Christ as mediator; secondly. That by huying is meant spiritual redemption by the blood of the Lamb ; thirdly, Tiiat these false teachers ivere really and effectu- ally so redeemed, and not only so accounted because of the church; fourthly, That those who are so redeemed may perish, contrary to the express Scripture, Rev. xiv. 4; fifthly. Manifest the strength of this inference, " Some in the church who have acknowledged Christ to be their purchaser, fall away to blaspheme him, and perish for ever; therefore, Christ bought and redeemed all that ever did or shall perish;" sixthly, That that which is common to all is a peculiar aggravation to the sin of any one more than others; — I will assure them they shall have more work provided for them, which them- selves know for a good part already where to find.
4. The last place produced for the confirmation of the argument iu hand is Ileb. x. 29, " Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of
OBJECTIONS AND TEXTS OF SCRirTURE CONSIDERED. 865
grace?" " Nothing," say our adversaries, " could be affirmed of all this concerning apostates, — namely, ' That they have trodden under foot,' etc., unless the blood of Christ was in some sense shed for them."
Ans. The intention of the apostle in this place is the same with the general aim and scope of the whole epistle, — to persuade and urge' the Jews, who had embraced the doctrine of the gospel, to persever- ance and continuance therein. This, as he doth perform in other places, with divers and various arguments, — the most of them taken from a comparison at large instituted between the gospel in its ad- ministration, and those legal shadows which, before their profession, they lived under and were in bondage unto, — so here he urgeth a strong argument to the same purpose " ab incommodo, seu effectu pernicioso," from the miserable, dangerous effects and consequences of the sin of backsliding, and wilful renunciation of the truth known and professed, upon any motives and inducements whatsoever ; which he assureth [them] to be no less than a total casting off and depriving themselves of all hopes and means of recovery, with dreadful horror of conscience in expectation of judgment to come, verses 26, 27. Now, this he confirms, as his manner is in this epistle, from some thing, way, and practice Avhich was known to them, and wherewith they were all acquainted by that administration of the covenant under which they had before lived, in their Judaism ; and so makes up his inference from a comparison of the less; taking his example from the punishment due, by God's own appointment, to all them who transgressed Moses' law in such a manner as apostates sin against the gospel, — that is, "with an high hand," or "presumptuously:" for such a one was to die without mercy. Num. xv. 80, 31. Whereupon, having abundantly proved that the gospel, and the manifestation of gi-ace therein, is exceedingly preferred to and exalted above the old ceremonies of the law, he concludes that certainly a much sorer punish- ment (which he leaves to their judgment to determine) awaits for them who wilfully violate the holy gospel, and despise the declara- tion of grace therein contained and by it revealed; which farther also to manifest, he sets forth the nature and quality of this sin in all such as, professing redemption and deliverance by the blood of Christ, shall wilfully cast themselves thereinto. " It is," saith he, "no less than to tread under foot or contemn the Son of God; to esteem the blood of the covenant, by which he was set apart and sanctified in the profession of the gospel, to be as the blood of a vile man ; and thereby to do despite to the Spirit of grace." This being (as is confessed) the plain meaning and aim of the apostle, we may observe sundry things, for the vindication of this place from tlie abuse of our adversaries ; as, —