VER. 12, 13.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 379
tion,” which are required to the maintaining of a just and due pro- fession. And against the effect of such impressions we are frequently warned in the Beraptoré.
[4.] Again; these corrupt and Se tiecet us Teasonings do cover and conceal the entrances of apostasy, by proposing false rules of walking before God in profession, wherein men are apt to satisfy and deceive themselves, So in particular they make great use of the examples of other men, of other professors; which on very many accounts is apt to deceive them, and draw them into a snare, But this head of the deceit of sin I have spoken to at large in another discourse.’
2. The beginnings of declensions from Christ and the gospel are deep and hidden, because ofttimes they are carried on by very secret and imperceptible degrees). Some men are plunged into apostasy by some notorious crimes and wickednesses, or by the power of some great temptations. In these it is easy to discover the beginning of their fall; as it was with Judas when the devil entered into him, and prevailed with him for money to betray his Master. And many such there are in the world, who for money, or the things that end in money, part with their professed interest in Christ and the gospel. And if they get more than Judas did, it is because they meet with better chapmen in the world than were the priests and Pharisees. ‘The fall of such men from their profes- sion is like the dying of a man by afever. The first incursion of the disease, with its whole progress, is manifest. It is with others in their spiritual sickness and decays as with those who are in a hectical distemper; which at first is hardly known, and in its pro- gress hardly cured. Small negligences and omissions are admitted, and the soul is habituated unto them, and so a progress is made to greater evils; of which also, as I remember, I have treated elsewhere.
3. Revolters and backsliders do their utmost endeavour to hide the beginnings of their falls from themselves and others. This makes the discovery and opening of them to be difficult. By the false and corrupt reasonings before mentioned they labour to blind their own eyes, and to hide their own evils from themselves: for in this case men are not deceived, unless they contribute to their own beguiling. Their own hearts seduce them before they feed on ashes. And herewith they willingly attend unto the delusions of Satan and the world; which they do in not watching against them as they ought. So are they deceived themselves. And when they have made such a progress in their declensions as that they begin them- selves, it may be, to be sensible of it, then do they endeavour by all means to hide them from others; by which means, at length, they hide them from themselves, and rest satisfied in what they have pleaded and pretended, as if it were really so. They will use pleas, excuses,
Treatise on Indwelling Sin, vol. vi. of the author’s works,—Eb.
380 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. Iv.
and pretences, until they believe them. Was it not so with the church of Sardis? Even when she was almost dead, yet she had out- wardly so demeaned herself as to have a “name to live;” that is, a great reputation to be in a good thriving state and condition. And Laodicea, in the height of her apostasy, yet persuaded herself that she was “rich,” and increased, and wanted nothing; and knew not, as is expressly testified, that she was “poor,” and fallen under the power of manifold decays.
From these and the like causes it is that the beginnings of men’s backslidings from the gospel are so secret and hidden, as that they are open only to the all-seeing eye of Jesus Christ; which our apostle here minds these Hebrews of, to beget in them a watchful jealousy over themselves.
And this effect it should have upon all. This the nature of the thing itself, and frequent Scripture admonitions, do direct us unto, —namely, that we should continually be watchful over our own hearts, lest any beginnings of backslidings or declensions from the gospel should have taken place or prevailed in us. Cautions to this purpose the Scripture abounds withal: “Let him that standeth,” that is, in the profession of the gospel, “take heed lest he fall;” or, beware that he decay not in his faith, and love, and zeal, and so fall into sin and apostasy. And again, “Take heed that we lose not those things which we have wrought,” 2 John 8. That profession which is not working is ever false, and to be despised. “ Faith worketh by love.” Hath it been so with us, that profession hath been effectual in working? Let us look to it carefully, lest we dis- continue that course, or by apostasy forfeit all the benefit and advantage of it. And our apostle in this epistle in an especial manner abounds with admonitions to the same purpose; because the Hebrews, on many accounts, were much exposed to the danger of this sin. And it is the duty of the dispensers of the gospel to apply themselves particularly to the state, condition, and tempta- tions of them with whom in an especial manner they have to do. And let not any man think that the earnest pressing of this duty of constant watchfulness against the first entrances of spiritual de- clensions is not of so much use and necessity as is pretended. We see what the neglect of it hath produced. Many who once made a zealous profession of the truth, having strong convictions upon their souls, and were thereby in a way of receiving more grace and mercy from the Lord, have, through a neglect of this duty, fallen from the ways of God, and perished eternally, 2 Pet. ii. 20-22. And many more have exceedingly dishonoured God, and provoked his indignation against the whole generation of professors in the world; which hath caused him to fill all his dispensations with tokens of his displea- sure, This hath laid all the virgins, even wise and foolish, asleep,