The following reading is taken from John Brown's commentary on the epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 6, starting in verse 3, but let me read the context. Therefore, leaving the doctrine of the first principles of Christ, let us press on to perfection, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works in a faith toward God. of the teaching of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. In this we will do, if God permit, for as touching those who were once enlightened, and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, It is impossible to renew them again to repentance, seeing they crucified in themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame, for the land which is drunk the rain that comes oft upon it. and brings forth herbs of meat for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receives blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is rejected and near unto a curse, whose end is to be burned. Hebrews chapter 6, verse 3. John Brown's Commentary. And this will we do. If God permit, these words admit of a twofold interpretation, this will be due. In other words, we will not insist on these fundamental principles but proceed to something more recondite, if God permit, depending on the assistance of God, that is. or, though we are to leave the principles and so on, just now, yet on another occasion I will readily enter on these subjects, on which many of you need as much instruction as if you had never received any. I will do this, if God permit. In other words, if God spare my life, and give me opportunity, and if your apostasy, of which I am fearful, does not unhappily make it necessary, I shall be glad to give you such explanations, but I am afraid in reference to some of you, it may come too late. In either way, we have a good sense agreeable both to the use of the language and the context. I am upon the whole disposed to prefer the former mode of interpretation, There is a plain reference in the paragraph that follows to some of the peculiarities of the state of things, which characterize the primitive age of Christianity, which forbids us to conclude that the statement it contains is all in its parts, applicable to those who live after that state of things has passed away. while at the same time, that statement, like all similar ones in the New Testament, goes upon general principles which have a universal and perpetual application. The legitimate way of ascertaining these principles and thus discovering what these things are to us, is by, in the first instance, endeavoring distinctly to apprehend the meaning of the statement in reference to those to whom it was primarily applicable in all of its particular details. This passage is one which it is impossible to read without feeling that it has strong claims on our attentive consideration. And this conviction will be strengthened in no ordinary degree if we advert to the history of its interpretation, as it is certainly one of those passages in Paul's writings which are somewhat hard to be understood. So perhaps none of this class of passages has been more rested by the unlearned and unstable. In a very early period of the Church, a misapprehension of the meaning of this, in a parallel passage in the 10th chapter of this epistle, gave origin to the formation of a sect, the leading peculiarity of which was the peremptory and final exclusion from Church communion of all who after baptism had fallen into open sin, especially the sin of outward compliance with idolatrous worship in time of persecution. whatever signs of penitence they might discover. On the other hand, a similar misapprehension on the part of the Roman Church as to the meaning of these passages led them for a considerable period to refuse to this epistle, a place among the canonical books, is teaching doctrine inconsistent with that taught in the indisputably inspired writings of the apostles. In later ages, It has been considered by those who denied the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints as one of the strongholds of their system, and I am afraid that the defenders of that important doctrine and their extreme eagerness to wrest a weapon out of the hands of their adversaries haven't this. as in many similar cases, been more intent on confuting them than on giving a fair and satisfactory view of the meaning of the inspired writer. Misapprehension of this passage has also, I believe, in many cases occasioned extreme distress of mind in two classes of persons. to nominal professors who, after falling into gross sin, have been awakened to serious reflection, and to real Christians on their falling under the power of mental disease, sinking into a state of spiritual anger, or being betrayed into such open transgressions of the divine laws David and Peter were guilty of. And this has thrown all but insurmountable obstacles in the way of both. fleeing for refuge, to lay hold on the hopes that before them in the gospel. All this makes it the more necessary that we should carefully inquire into the meaning of the passage. When rightly understood, it will be found to give no countenance to any of the false conclusions which have been drawn from it, but to be, like every other part of inspired scripture, profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. well fitted to produce caution, no way calculated to induce despair. Let us then proceed to examine this interesting passage somewhat more particularly. Verses four to six. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance, and they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put them to an open shame. The connection of this passage, animated by the particle for, was illustrated when pointing out the force of the word therefore in the beginning of the first verse. We consider that particle as equivalent to, for the reason I'm just about to assign, and the words before us contain that reason thus, instead of again laying the foundation, instead of again teaching those who have already been taught, but have forgotten what they learned. what be the first principles of the oracles of God, I will proceed to some of the higher branches of Christian instruction. For there is little or no probability of any good result from such an attempt to re-teach those who have willingly unlearned all that has been taught them. They seem in a direct road to open apostasy, and that is a state from which I have no hope that anything I could say would reclaim them. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heaven a gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, and so on. A slight transposition, which the English idiom seems to demand, will make the sentence run more smoothly, and will even make it more easily understood by a mere English reader. For it is impossible to renew again to repentance those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heaven a gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come as they shall fall away. There are three topics brought before us for consideration. First, a description of a particular class of persons. Second, a statement with regard to them. And third, a reason assigned for that statement. The first thing to be done here is to inquire into the meaning of the Apostle's description of the persons of whom he is here speaking. They are persons who have been enlightened, who have tasted of the heavenly gift, who have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost. who have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come. They are persons who have enjoyed great privileges and made considerable attainments in religion, and they are persons who, notwithstanding this, have apostatized, have fallen away. They have been enlightened. It is common with some of the Fathers to call baptism illumination. and have baptized the illuminated. But there is no reason to think these modes of expression so ancient as the apostolic age. To be enlightened according to the ordinary meaning of this figurative expression in the New Testament is to be instructed. A person is enlightened on any subject on which he possesses information. An unenlightened man is an ignorant man, an enlightened man is a well-informed man. The phrase here plainly refers to Christianity, and to be enlightened as to Christianity is to be acquainted with its principles. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 6. In a parallel passage, chapter 10 verse 26, they who are here said to be enlightened are described there as having received the knowledge of the truth. And the Apostle Peter, when describing the same class of person, speaks of them as having the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and as having known the way of righteousness. A phrase, by the way, well-fitted to illustrate the phrase, Word of Righteousness, and to support the view we gave of it. The persons here described, then, or persons who had been from an acquaintance with the principles of Christianity induced to prefer it to heathenism or to Judaism. The second statement made in reference to them is that, did tasted of the heavenly gift. By the heavenly gift some interpreters understand Jesus Christ, others the Holy Spirit, others the forgiveness of sins by faith, others the Lord's Supper. I apprehend the heavenly gift is equivalent to this heavenly gift, and that this clause according to the Hebrew usage repeats, placing in a new aspect, however, the idea expressed in the preceding one. The gift of God is I apprehend the gospel. or the revelation of mercy through Jesus Christ. To make in this revelation is a striking manifestation of the divine sovereign benignity. This gift well deserves the appellation heavenly. The gospel revelation is not a cunningly devised fable. It is not a curiously constructed theory. It is not a humanly composed history. It is a divine revelation. It is as the apostle expresses it, the gospel of God. Romans 1 verse 1. To taste this heavenly gift is to have experience of it. This is plainly the general idea as appears from the following passages where the figurative term is employed. She perceives that her merchandise is good. Her candle goes not out by night, O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusts in Him. If so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To taste the gospel revelation is to know not merely from report but from personal experience what the gospel is. to understand in some measure its meaning, and in some measure, too, to enjoy those pleasurable sensations of mind which the Gospel, when understood, naturally produces. I think it likely that it was a figurative description of instruction in the preceding context, under the emblem of Hood, that led the inspired writer to employ the word taste here. And in a subsequent clause, the following remark of John Owen is ingenious, and the sentiment it conveys is just and important. Whether the words of the apostle were intended to suggest the idea conveyed in it may admit of a doubt. Quote, tasting does not include eating, much less digesting and turning into nourishment. What is so tasted, for its nature being only thereby discerned, it may be refused. Yea, though we like its relish and savor on some other consideration, the persons here described then are persons who have, to a certain degree, understood and relished a revelation of mercy, like the stony ground hears, they have received a word with a transient joy." The third statement made in reference to these persons is that they had been made partakers of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost has a proper name with that divine person who along with the Father and the Son exists in the unity of the Godhead. By an easy figure of speech, the term is often employed to signify His gifts, influences, or operation. This is its meaning in such phrases as to be baptized with the Holy Ghost, To be full of the Holy Ghost, to partake of the Holy Ghost, is to be a sharer of His gifts or influences. It is highly probable that the inspired writer refers principally to the miraculous gifts and operations of the Holy Spirit, by which a primitive dispensation of Christianity was characterized. These gifts were by no means confined to those who were transformed by the renewal of their minds. Under the former economy, we find Balaam and Saul endowed with miraculous, prophetic gifts. We have no reason to doubt that Judas Iscariot, as well as the other apostles, had the power of working miracles. The words of our Lord, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. And of the apostle, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as a sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I can remove mountains, and have not charity, I Am Nothing seems to animate that the possession of these by unrenewed men was not very uncommon in that age. While I apprehend the references chiefly to miraculous gifts and operations, I dare not limit the meaning of the word so far as to exclude all reference to influences and gifts not of an extraordinary miraculous kind. I am strongly disposed from a number of passages of scripture to believe that men who are never converted are yet the subjects of a divine influence, and that it is their resisting this influence which constitutes one of the greatest of their sins. The persons here described then were persons who not only enjoyed what had been termed the common influences of the Holy Spirit, but his miraculous gifts, who not only witnessed the effects of these gifts and others, but were partakers of them themselves. The fourth statement made in reference to these persons is that they had tasted the good word of God. By the good word of God, many interpreters understand the gospel. There can be no doubt that the gospel well deserves that name. But if we can explain it this way, the two clauses, who have tasted the heavenly gift and who have tasted the good word of God, would be precisely synonymous, which is not at all likely. I would understand by the good word of God, the promise of God respecting the Messiah, the sum and substance of all. It deserves notice that this promise is by way of eminence termed by Jeremiah, that good word. Jeremiah 33 verse 14. To taste, then, this good word of God is to experience that God has been faithful to his promise, to enjoy so far as an unconverted man can enjoy the blessings and advantages which flow from that promise being fulfilled. To taste a good word of God seems just to enjoy the advantages of the new dispensation. This interpretation is greatly supported by the clause which follows, and which is very closely connected with that which we have just been explaining. and the powers of the world to come. The world to come, sometimes in the New Testament refers to the future state, Ephesians 1 verse 21, Luke 18 verse 30. In this epistle, however, I apprehend it is used according to the Jewish idiom as a description of the age of the Messiah. The new economy, the name everlasting father given to the Messiah by the prophet Isaiah is translated by the Septuagint, the father of the coming age or of the world to come. And it was common among them to speak of the present age or the present world. In other words, the state of things under the law and a future age or the world to come, the state of things under the Messiah. We endeavor to show that this is the meaning of the parallel phrase in chapter 2 verse 5. But what are we to understand by the powers of the world to come? Many very excellent interpreters understand by the powers of the world to come the external miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit which belong to that economy. The word is no doubt used with this signification. According to this mode of interpretation, to taste the powers of the world to come is equivalent to possess the power of working miracles. Now though the words by themselves will admit of this interpretation, though perhaps viewed by themselves, it is their most natural meaning. Yet there are two things which induce me to prefer another mode of interpretation. In this way it is just a repetition of the statement, and we're made partakers of the Holy Ghost. and from the way in which this clause is connected with that which immediately precedes it. We are led to expect that the phrase, tasting the powers of the world to come, should be an amplification and an explication of the phrase, tasting the good word of God. By the powers of the New Dispensation I would understand all those circumstances peculiar to the New Dispensation which are calculated to have power over the mind and heart of man. Everything that is striking and convincing in its evidence, everything in its statements is to the character of God. the person and work of Christ, the solemnities of the judgment seat, the joys and miseries of eternity, which is calculated to persuade or alarm everything in a word, which in that economy is fitted to exercise influence over men. All this is included in the phrase of powers of the world to come. The ancient economy was comparatively weak, as well as unprofitable, but the new economy is powerful. It has everything that can enlighten and convince and persuade, and alarm and delight. It has a means of touching every spring of action, restoring the human mind in its deepest recesses. To taste these powers is just to be subjected to their influence, to be placed in circumstances in which a wondrous spectacle of God not sparing the sun, but delivering them up for sinners, the only begotten in human flesh, bleeding, groaning, dying, the world dissolving, the judgment set, the ineffable glories of heaven, the smoke of the torment of the finally condemned, ascending up forever and ever, are brought before our minds. Those persons who have thus been enlightened and so underrepresented as having fallen away, they fall away. This is scarcely a fair translation, and there is some reason to fear that it was preferred to adjust their one for the purpose of affording the means of repelling the objection to the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, which has been founded on this passage. At any rate, it has been used in this way. It has been said that the apostle does not assert that such persons did or could fall away, but that, if they did, A supposition which, however, could never become realized, then the consequence would be they could not be renewed again unto repentance. The words rendered literally are, and have fallen away, or yet have fallen away. The apostle obviously animates that such persons might. and that such persons did fall away. By falling away we are plainly to understand what is commonly called apostasy. This does not consist in an occasional falling into actual sin, however gross and aggravated, nor in the renunciation of some of the principles of Christianity. even though they should be of considerable importance, but in an open, total, determined renunciation of all the constituent principles of Christianity, and a return to a false religion, such as that of unbelieving Jews or heathens, or to determine infidelity and open ungodliness, this is, I apprehend, too far away, to send willfully after men have received a knowledge of the truth. The apostle's statement, then, is this. that in the primitive age there were men who at one time were possessed of a knowledge of gospel truth, and had a certain kind and degree of enjoyment from that knowledge, who were partakers of the common influences and miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, who enjoyed the advantages of fulfilled promises as to the Messiah, and to hand their minds subjected to the influences of the new dispensation. But yet, after all, made shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience, and openly and totally abandoned the profession of Christianity, this was a primitive apostate. This miserable class of men is not extinct, though they have lost some of the peculiar characters of their predecessors of the primitive age. The Age of Miracles has passed away, and along with it everything that grew out of that peculiarity of the primitive times. But still it is a truth, substantiated by but two abundant evidence, that men who have made very considerable attainments in the knowledge of Christianity, who seem to have, who really had considerable enjoyment in their religion, who were striven with by the Holy Spirit, who enjoyed in high perfection the advantages of the new economy, and who had its powers brought to bear on them with considerable energy, have from a variety of causes renounced Christianity altogether, neglected its ordinances, openly denying its divine origin, and living in habitual ungodliness. Such is the class of men described by the apostle, and such the corresponding class in our own times to whom what the apostle here says is equally applicable. The persons here referred to are not mere nominal professors. They have nothing to fall away from but an empty name. Neither are they backsliding Christians. They are men who have really had their minds and affections to a very considerable degree exercised about and interested in Christianity but who, never having been renewed in the spirit of their mind, when exposed to temptation of a peculiar kind, make complete shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience. Respecting these most criminal and miserable men, the apostle declares, that it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame. There are here two questions which must successively engage our attention. What is meant by renewing these men again to repentance? And what, by its being impossible to renew these men again to repentance? Some interpreters have connected the word again with fall away. If they again fall away, others have supposed it redundant, but without assigning any reason. But we have no doubt that it is intended to qualify the phrase to renew them to repentance, it is supposed to once. In verse four, it naturally intimates that the persons had been once renewed to repentance. The word translated repentance means just a change of mind. To be renewed to repentance is for a man to be so far renewed as to have changed his mind, to have a new mind on some subject. To be renewed is a figurative expression, to denote a change, a great change, and a change for the better. To be renewed so as to change a person's mind. is expressive of an important and advantageous alteration of opinion and character and circumstances, and such an alteration the persons referred to had undergone at a former period. They were once in a state of ignorance, respecting the doctrines and evidences of Christianity, and they had been enlightened. They had once known nothing of the excellence and beauty of Christian truth, and they had been made to taste that heavenly gift. They once had not known so much as that there was a Holy Ghost, and they had not only felt His common influence, but been the subjects of His miraculous operation. They once misunderstood the promise of respecting the Messiah, and were unaware of its fulfillment. and of course were strangers to that energetic influence which the New Testament revelation puts forth. And they had been made to see that good word was fulfilled, had been made partakers of the external privileges, and been subjected to the peculiar energies of the new order of things. Their views and feelings and circumstances were materially changed. A great difference between an ignorant, bigoted Jew and a person described in the preceding passage. He had become, as it were, a different man. A great change of mind had taken place. He had not indeed become, in the sense of the apostle, a new creature, His mind had not been so changed as unfaintly to believe the truth as it is in Jesus, but still a great. And so far as it went, a favorable change had taken place. Now, to renew to repentance such a person who had fallen away, or apostatize, is not, I apprehend, to bring him into what, in the technical language of theology, is called a regenerate state. For in this state there is no reason to believe he ever was, but it is just to bring him back to the state in which he once was. His store says, quote, to produce another amendment, end quote, to give him those views of Christian doctrine and their evidence which he once possessed. To renew such a man akin to repentance is so to change his mind is that he shall again, instead of counting Jesus Christ an imposter, acknowledge him as a messiah, and instead of considering Christianity as a cunningly devised fable. or rather a hellish delusion, again regarded as a revelation of the will of God. Now let us proceed to inquire what the inspired writer means when he says, It is impossible to renew such persons to repentance. Many good interpreters consider the word impossible as used here not in a strict, but in a popular sense. It's equivalent to very difficult or very improbable. I'm not aware, however, that the word ever occurs in this sense in Scripture. Certainly the passage usually brought to prove it is not at all in point. With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible, and the word impossible obviously there having its ordinary strict meaning. When anything is said to be impossible, the natural question is, impossible to whom? For it is plain that what may be possible to one being may be impossible to another being. If I were called to attempt to lift a stone of a ton weight, I would naturally say, no, I will not attempt it, for it is impossible. Meaning that, not that it is impossible that the stone could be lifted, but that it is impossible that I should lift it. The impossibility in the case before us may either be considered as existing in reference to God, or in reference to man. If the restoration of these apostates to the state in which they once were be an impossibility in reference to God, it must be so either because it is inconsistent with his nature and perfections, or with his decree and purpose. In the first sense, it is impossible for God to lie. or declared the guilty without satisfaction. In a second sense, it was impossible that Saul and his posterity should continue on the throne of Israel, that the restoration of apostate to his former state is an impossibility in either of these points of view is more than we are warranted to assert. If we carefully examine the passage, I apprehend we will come to the conclusion that the impossibility is considered as existing not in reference to God, but in reference to man, that the Apostle's assertion is that it is impossible by any renewed course of elementary instruction to bring back such apostates to the acknowledgement of the truth. He has stated that many of the Hebrews had unlearned all that they had learned, and had need of someone to teach them again the first principles of the oracles of God. Yet he declares his determination not to enter anew on a course of elementary instruction, but to go on to some of the higher branches of Christian knowledge. For this cause, there was no reason to expect that such restatements would be of any use in reclaiming those who, after being instructed in the doctrines and evidences of Christianity, had apostatized. Well, on the other hand, there was every reason to hope that illustrations of the higher branches of Christian truth would be of the greatest use to those who held fast to first principles in establishing them in the faith and profession and the comforts and obedience of the gospel. just as a farmer after making a fair trial of a piece of ground, and finding that, though everything has been done for it in the most favorable circumstances, it still continues barren, desists, sane. It is impossible to make anything of that field. and turns his attention to rendering still more fertile those fields which have already given evidence of their capability of improvement. It is not possible by a renewed statement of Christian principles and their evidences to bring back these apostates. Nothing can be stated, but what has already been stated, which they seem to understand, which they profess to believe, but which they now openly and contemptuously reject. No evidence stronger than that which has been brought before their minds, and which they once seemed to feel the force of, can be presented to them. Domenion and evidence of Christian truth have been before their minds in as favorable circumstances as can be conceived. The Apostle's assertion then appears to me to be just this. Statement and argument would be entirely lost on such persons, and therefore we do not enter on them. We must now attend for a little to the reason assigned by the inspired writer for the impossibility by anything he could do of bringing back these apostates. It is impossible, seeing they have crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame. Footnote, it is remarkable that this clause is passed over without exposition in all the editions of John Owen's commentary. It is explained in his work on apostasy, which was published before the part of the commentary which treats of the sixth chapter. Depatchis seems to have been omitted by a printer's mistake. It should be inserted in future editions. And a footnote. These words have generally been considered as intended to place in a strong point of light the heinousness and aggravation of the crime of these apostates, and thus to account for what the words have been thought to teach. Its unpardonableness, they no doubt do express strongly the heinous and aggravated nature of their sin. But the object of the Apostle and state in them seems plainly to be to illustrate the hopelessness of attempting to reclaim them. They openly proclaimed Jesus Christ to be an imposter. They thus identified themselves with his crucifiers. The language of their conduct, and in many cases of their lips, probably was. Our Fathers did right in bringing him to the cross. as an impious deceiver. It is doubtful if the idea of re-crucifixion be necessarily implied in the word. They crucified him to themselves, i.e. they involved themselves in the guilt of his crucifixion. They entertain and avow sentiments which, were he on earth and in their power, would induce him to crucify him. And they put him to an open shame. They exposed him to infamy, made a public example of him. They did more to dishonor Jesus Christ than his murderers did. They never professed to acknowledge his divine mission, but these apostates had made such a profession. They had made a kind of trial of Christianity, and after the trial, they rejected it. To refer to the parallel passage in the 10th chapter, they trampled underfoot the Son of God, and he accounted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, declaring Jesus Christ an imposter. and his blood, but that of a criminal who richly merited the ignominious death of which he was doomed. Now what purpose would it serve if you addressed statements and arguments to such men? This certainly would have been directly contravening our Lord's command to not cast your furrows before swine. Over such persons the apostle might well lament and weep. but he must have clearly seen and strongly felt that to attempt by statement or argument to bring such persons back to their former profession was utterly hopeless, and indeed to waste that time which might be better devoted to calling those who remain yet in ignorance, and in building up those who held fast to faith of Christ. If we have succeeded in bringing out the true meaning of this somewhat difficult passage, It must be evident that it says nothing which could warn a Christian church to refuse to admit into its communion a person who, though he has been guilty even of open apostasy from the faith of Christ, makes a credible profession of his repentance. The person here described is the open, determined apostate, and the statement is it is impossible by mere statement of the truth and its evidence to reclaim him, and it is needless even to try. nor does it throw any obstacles in the way of apostate, supposing him to be convinced of his error and guilt, applying to God through Jesus Christ for pardon. This is just what he should do, and if he does it, he is sure of salvation. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin, and he is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him, and him that comes to him he will in no wise cast out. If no apostate ever was saved, though he dares not say so, the reason is he continued in his apostasy, and therefore perished. Not he perished, though he sought, but sought in vain salvation through Christ. Till less is the passage calculated, when rightly understood, to produce those fears, which ill understood, it often has occasion in the minds of sincere but weak Christians who not only have misapprehended the meaning of this text, but the true state of their own minds. They are afraid that they have sinned willfully after they have received the knowledge of the truth, and therefore think there can be no mercy for them. If they would but reflect the sin described here in an intense chapter as a total involuntary renunciation of Christ and His cause, and adjoining with His enemies, their apprehension would be effectually relieved. The passage is also utterly unfit for a purpose to which it has often been applied to invalidate the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. Nothing is said of the persons here described. But what is said of the stony ground here is on Luke 8 verse 13. Of those who may be destitute of Christian love, 1 Corinthians 13, 1 to 3, as such as Christ will at last disown us workers of iniquity, Matthew 7, 22 and 23. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is a doctrine clearly taught in Scripture. Instead of drawing back to perdition, they believe straight onward to the salvation of the soul. They endure to the end if they were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, if they were given by the Father to the Savior to be redeemed and brought to glory, if he had promised to give unto them eternal life and that they shall never perish, nor any plucked him out of his or his father's hand. If they are kept by the mighty power of God unto salvation, surely it is as certain as anything of the kind can be, that they shall never finally fall away. But though the perseverance of the saints is certain, let us never forget that it is the perseverance of saints that is thus certain. Many who seem to others to be saints, who seem to themselves to be saints, do fall away. And let us recollect that the perseverance of the saints referred to is their perseverance not only in a safe state, but in a holy course of disposition and conduct. And no saint, behaving like a sinner, can legitimately enjoy the comfort which the doctrine of perseverance has fitted and intended to communicate to every saint. Acting like a saint in a patient continuance and well-doing, seeking for glory, honor, and immortality, Let us take the Apostle Paul's caution. Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. And the Apostle Peter's advice, give all diligence to add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. For if the things be in you and abound, They make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacks these things is blind and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore, the rather brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you shall never fall, for so an entrant shall be ministered to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1 5-11 John Brown An Exposition of Hebrews