Much less was Demas discoverable from others : indeed, so eminent was his profession, that he was twice joined with St. Luke, by the Apostle Paul, in his salutations to the Churches'1 : but we can have no doubt but that the world was really uppermost in his heart during the whole time of his pro- fession, though, perhaps, unperceived even by himself: and at last he betrayed to all his lurking preference, and " forsook the Apostle Paul, having loved this present world'." But, as " amongst the heathen, who did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave up many to a reprobate mindk;" so he gave up these also to the evils of their own hearts, that on them might come the shame and condemnation which they so richly merited : " They received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved ; and God gave them up to their own delusions, that they might apostatize and perish1."]
2. That they may be a warning to others —
[Lot's wife is particularly presented to us in this view. She came out of Sodom with her husband ; but her heart was there ; and she looked back, and was made a pillar of salt ; that is, an everlasting monument of God's righteous indigna- tion, and a warning to all future generations. Hence our Lord says, " Remember Lot's wifem." In like manner, the abandonment of the Israelites in the wilderness to their own lusts, and to the punishment consequent upon them, was or- dained of God to be a warning " to us, upon whom the ends of the world are come, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they didn." In truth, every instance of apostasy speaks loudly to us, " not to look back, after we have once put our hand to the plough ° ;" since, if we do " turn back, it will be unto perdition V and " our last end will be worse than our beginning'1."
But the remarkable assertion of the Apostle, relative to the stability of the upright, leads me of necessity to shew,
II. What security the upright have, that they shall never be left so to dishonour their holy profes- sion—
It is of great importance that this subject be understood aright. The doctrine of the perseverance
h Col. iv. 14. Philem. ver. 24. » 2 Tim. iv. 10.
k Rom. i. 28.. ' John xiii. 26, 27. with 2 Thess. ii. 10—12. m Luke xvii. 32. with Gen. xix. 26.
n 1 Cor. x. 6, 11. with 2 Pet. ii. 1—9. ° Luke ix. 62.
p Heb. x. 38, 39. 9 2 Pet. ii. 20, 21.
2439. j TRUE GROUNDS OF A CHRISTIAN'S STABILITY. 407
of the saints, as it is called, is by many accounted extremely dangerous and delusive ; but if it be duly explained, and placed on its proper grounds, it will commend itself as perfectly unexceptionable, and as indisputably true.
It is affirmed by some, that there is in true believers an indefectible principle of grace, which renders it impossible for them to fall —
[I confess, I think this a very erroneous view of the sub- ject; and I think that the passages of Scripture adduced in proof of this doctrine do not warrant the conclusions drawn from them. Our Lord, we are told, asserts, that " the Holy Spirit shall he, in his people, a well of water springing up unto eternal lifer." But this only marks its constant tendency, with- out determining its absolute and certain issue. St. Peter also says of Christians, that " they are born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible :" but he tells us, in the very next words, what that seed is ; it is not an inward indefectible prin- ciple of grace, but " the ivord of God, which liveth and abideth for evers." And this throws the true light upon another pas- sage which is cited in confirmation of this point, even on that assertion of St. John, " Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him : and he cannot sin, because he is born of God1." A man really born of God doth not, and will not, commit sin, as once he did : for the tendency and operation of divine grace will be, to keep him from it. But the absolute indef edibility of the grace received by him is not here asserted : nor is it asserted in our text, when it is said, that, if those apostates had been really and vitally united to the Church, " they would have remained with the Church." The doctrine itself is true ; but the ground, on which some en- deavour to establish it, is, in my apprehension, unsound and erroneous : for I do not conceive that there is, or ever was, upon the face of the whole earth, a man who could say, " I have within me an indefectible principle of grace, so that I cannot fall, or cannot perish" Even Adam in Paradise could not say that : and sure I am that St. Paul did not entertain that senti- ment, when he said, " I keep my body under, and bring it into subjection, lest that, by any means, after having preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away11."]