Chapter 9.

CHAPTER 9.

A farther refutation of the same objection.

(1.) WHEN we see a number of persons in perilous circumstances, charity constrains us to make our first efforts in favour of those who appear to be in the most imminent danger. Such are unholy Christians. Sinful heathens are doubtless in danger; obstinate Jews in still greater peril; but impenitent Christians are in a situation abundantly more lamentable than either; since they offend against clearer light and knowledge, equally inattentive to the most gracious promises on the one hand, and the most terrible menaces on the other. To sin with the New Testament in our hand, and with the sound of the Gospel in our ears: to sin with the seal of baptism on our forehead, and the name of Christ in our lips: to sin and receive the holy communion: to ratify and break the most solemn engagements; what is this, but earnestly labouring out our own damnation, and plunging ourselves into those abysses of wretchedness which Pagans and Jews are unable to fathom? How eagerly then should every believer attempt to rescue his falling brethren; and especially how anxious should they be to arrest those leaders of the blind who are drawing their followers to the brink of perdition! As this is one of those arguments upon which the truth here pleaded for must principally rest, we shall consider it in the several points of view under which it is presented to us in the Gospel.

(2.) The commission of St. Paul was particularly directed to the Gentiles; yet, before he visited their benighted nations, he judged it his duty to make a full and a free offer of the everlasting Gospel to the people of the Jews. For the conduct of the apostle in this respect, the following reasons are to be assigned. First, The promises pertained to the Jews in a peculiar manner, Romans 9:4. Secondly, The children of Abraham, according to the flesh, had a more threatening prospect before them, in case of final impenitence, than any other people upon earth. “Tribulation and anguish shall be upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile,” Romans 2:9.

(3.) The same reasons, though chiefly the latter, are still to be urged, why the ministers of Christ should principally labour among Christians. For if sinners of the circumcision shall be more severely punished than the ignorant heathen, so the apostle declares that sinners, who are baptized into the name of Christ, shall be treated with still greater rigour than impenitent Jews. “He that despised Moses’ law,” saith he, “died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment, then, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” Hebrews 10:28, 29. If this consideration were accompanied with its due effect, it would fire us with the most unconquerable zeal for the salvation of the negligent Christians.

(4.) In one of the last discourses our Lord addressed to the cities of Galilee, we find him reading over to them this dreadful sentence of condemnation: “Wo unto thee, Chorazin, wo unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which [by thy religious privileges,] art exalted unto heaven, shalt, [for the non-improvement of them,] be brought down to hell.” Yea, “it shall be more tolerable, in the day of judgment, for the land of Sodom, [which has been already consumed with fire from above,] than for thee,” Matthew 11:21-24.

(5.) To draw the just consequences from this affecting menace, we must recollect that, when it was pronounced, the inhabitants of the above mentioned cities had been favoured, but for a very short interval, with the ministry of Christ and his messengers. And if the death and resurrection of Jesus were afterward published among them, it is more probable that these important facts were published only in a desultory and transient way. Nevertheless, the sinners of Capernaum were thought worthy of greater punishment than the sinners of Sodom. Hence, we conclude, that if the sinners of London, Paris, Rome, and Geneva, have hardened themselves against the truths of the Gospel for a much longer continuance than the citizens of Capernaum were permitted to do, there as every reason to apprehend that their sentence will not only be more dreadful than the sentence of Sodom, but abundantly less tolerable than that which was pronounced upon the inhabitants of Galilee.

(6.) While we consider the various proportions in which future punishment shall be administered to the wicked of different classes, we may turn to those remarkable expressions of St. Peter and St. Paul: “If after having escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome; the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them,” 2 Peter 2:20, 21. “If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries,” Hebrews 10:26, 27. These declarations assist us to discover the true ground of that apostolic exhortation, with which we shall close this chapter: “Of some have compassion, making a difference: and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire,” Jude 1:22, 23. From this last view of the subject, we may perceive into how dangerous an error those persons are fallen, who presume to object against imitating the zeal of St. Paul.