flefh, and drinking his blood; which per to true believers, who feed upon m. internally receive him, and are nourished by him; while hypocrites, and formal profet fors, only taste of him, have a fuperficial knowledge of him, and guft for him: In the same sense are they faid to have tasted the good word of God, the gofpel, in the bare form and notion of it, and the powers of the world to come; meaning either the state of the church, and the glorious things relating to it, after the first refurrection, which they might have some notional apprehenfions of; or the joys and glories of heaven, on which they might be able to make fome natural and pleafing reflections, or rather, the

vues, miracles and mighty works in the former part of the gofpel difpenfation, or times of the Meffiah, the Jews any, world to come; which many, as Indas and others, were able to perform, who were not fincere Chriftians, nor true believers, and yet might be faid to be partakers of the Holy Ghoft; not of his perfon nor his grace, but of his extraordinary gifts; in which fenfe not only Dr. Hammond, but Dr. Whitby * himself, understands the phrafe. Now in may be obferved, that here is nothing fed of these perfons but what may be applied to hypoc_ites, hypoc ites, nor any thing that a peculiar to

true believers; these are not faid to be regenerated, or fanctified, or juftified, or adopted, or fealed by the Holy Spirit of God; all which are true of real faints. Befides, true believers are, in the context, manifeftly diftinguished from them, and are compared to the fruitful earth, when others are only likened to the barren land, ver. 8, 9. their cafe is mention'd with a view to ftir up the faints to induftry and diligence, ver. II, 12. and fo be the means of their final perfeverance; which they had reason to expect and believe, from the immutability of God's counfel, the fafe refuge in Chrift, the nature of hope, the anchor fure and ftedfaft, and the entrance of Chrift their forerunner for them into heaven, ver. 17, 18, 19, 20.

.

III. The phrafe, it is impoffible to renew them again to repentance, does not imply that they had once truly repented, and their lofs of true repentance; that cannot be loft, 'tis infeparably connected with life and falvation, and therefore is call'd repentance unto life, and unto falvation. The repentance of these perfons, like that of Cain, Pharaoh and Judas, was only a fhew of one, a counterfeit one; and confequently the renewing them again to repentance defigns a renovation of them to that which they only seemed to have, and to make pretenfions to.

IV. It will be granted,' that these persons might, and fuch as thefe, may fall finally and totally; but inafmuch as it does not appear that they were true penitents and believers, they are not to be mentioned as, nor allowed to be, inftances of the final departure of fuch from the faith.

NUMB. LI. Heb. x. 26, 27, 28, 29. For if we fin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more facrifice for fins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation, which fhall devour the adverfaries. He that defpifed Mofes law, died without mercy, under two or three witnesses: Of how much forer punishment, Suppofe ye, fhall be be thought worthy, who bath trodden under foot the Son of God, and bath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was fanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace.

TH

HIS paffage is used on a double account, both to prove that Chrift die for fome that perish; otherwise, 'tis af

y Remonftr. in Coll. Hag. Art. ii. p. 176, 178. & p. 18. Act. Synod. circa Art. ii. p. 346. Art. v. Limborch. p. 322, 709. Curcellacus, p. 360. Whitt 406, 407.

"In what tolerable fenfe can it be faid, that no farther facrifice for fin remains to them, for whom no facrifice was ever offered or intended? and who were by God's own decree, excluded from any intereft in Christ's death before they came into the world; how were they sanctified by the blood of the covenant, from which they were inevitably excluded from the beginning of the world"? and alfo to prove that true believers, fuch as thefe are faid to be, from their being fanctified by the blood of the covenant, may finally and totally fall away, fince they fo finned that there remained no more facrifice for their fin, and did delpight to the Spirit of grace. But,

I. It is not evident from what is faid of thefe perfons, that they were true believers; not from the apoftle's fpeaking in the first perfon plural, we, which may feem to include himself, who was a true believer, and a chofen veffel of falvation; fince the apostle frequently makes ufe of this way of fpeaking, not fo much with regard to himself as others that fo what he deliver'd might come with greater weight upon them, and e more readily received by them, when they obferved he entertained thoughts or jealoufies of them; which would greatly diftrefs the minds of those that were truly gracious; fee Heb. ii. 1. and

be

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fometimes, was de comis felves in s mer.

themieve rum coeen. der the fame le rodenton

and belonged to the ame ommen lievers is mey i

Eph. ii. 3 compared v

ne

xxvi. 5. Phni, lii. 1. Barang and de apottle, and other true seilevers, be 10.2ded in there words, they are 8 A accorte cal but hypothetical procetition. may be true, when one or both parts of t are impoffible; the truth or Len re tion confifting in the connection cedent and confequent, as when our Lord faid to the Jews, If I bound if I crea bim not, I fhould be a liar like into a the propofition is true, when both the parts it were impoffible; it was impoffible that Christ should say, he knew not the Father; and it was equally impoffible that he thould be a liar like unto them: So the propo tion in the text is true, though it is impot fible that true believers thould fo fin as to perish eternally; when I fay impollible, I do not mean that it is impoffible, confidering their own weaknefs, and the power of Sa tan, and should they be left to their own corruptions, and the temptations of the cat

* Jcha viii. 55.