41o                                  OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS.

BOOK VI.

set in the front of those that are brought against the
saints final perseverance, is Ezek. xviii. 24. Bul when
the righteous turneth away front h.;s righteousness, &c.
from whence it is concluded, that a man may be truly
just and good, and yet become a very wicked man,
and die in his sins, and perish everlastingly.------
(1.) The scope of the chapter should be artended to;
which is to vindicate the .justice of God in the dispen-
sations of his providence towards the people of Israel:
they had a proverb much in use among them, The fa-
thers have eaten sour grapes, and the childrens teeth are
set on edge: the meaning of which was, their fathers
had sinned, and they their children were punished for
their sins; upon which they charged the ways of God
with inequality and injustice. In answer to which, the
Lord says, that whereas all souls were his, as the soul
of the father, so the soul of the son, it was the soul that
sinned that should die, or be punished with one tem-
poral calamity or another; that if a man was a just
man, and behaved well, he should live comfortably and
happily in the land; if not, he should die, as to civil
enjoyment in it, and be removed from it; for""'-
(2.) This chapter, and the context of it, only relate to
the land of Israel, and to the house of Israel, the inha-
bitants of it; who, when first put into the possession of
it, had a law given them; and according to their obe-
dience, or disobedience to it, they were to live in the
land, or be driven out of it; for they held their tenure
by their obedience; if they were willing to serve the
Lord, and keep his statutes, and be obedient to them,
then they should eat the good of the land and enjoy
the benefits of it, Isa. i. 19. but if they were disobe-
dient, they were to be exiled from it, and be captives
in another land; which was now their case, and of
which they complained. Andf--(3.) By the righ-
teous man in the text is not meant one truly righteous;
no man is truly righteous by the works of the law in the
sight of God, these being imperfect; but he that is
made righteous, by the perfect obedience and righte-
ousness of Christ imputed to him, anti received by
faith. But there is not a word in the text, nor context,
of the obedience and righteousness of Christ, which is
an everlasting righteousness; from which no man that
has it can turn, so as to die and perish eternally; for
then it would not be everlasting: nor can a man that
has true faith in this righteousness, or that lives by
faith upon it, commit iniquiity; that is, live a sinful
course of life, make a trade of sinning, addict himself
wholly to it; for such a man is a servant of sin, a slave
to it, and of the devil; which can never be said of a
truly just and good man; for though there is not a
just man that doth good and sinneth not, yet he doth
not sin at such a rate as this; the seed of grace remains
in him, and he cannot sin, as to do all the abominations
the wicked man does. Nor can he die spiritually and
eternally; the .just man lives by faith upon that righte-
ousness by which he becomes just; he lives by the
faith of the Son of God; and he that lives and believes
in Christ shall never die spiritually; and the righte-
ousness of Christ is upon him, unto justification of life,
and entitles him to eternal. life; and therefore he shall
never be hurt by the second death; he shall never
come into condemnation; but being righteous, shall

be righteous still, and evermore so. But this is to be
understood of one that only seemed to be a righteous
man, was so in the sight of others, and in his own ac-
count, but not really so; one that reckoned himself
righteous by his own righteousness, and trusted in that;
see chap. xxxiii. 13. a righteousness that consisted of
a few external, moral performances; as appears from
v 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. and from such a righteousness, or course
of living, a man may turn, and give up himself to all
manner of wickedness; and become like the dog and
the swine in the proverb; when it would have been
better if such a man had not known the way of righte-
ousness, than after to have turned from the holy com-
mandment delivered to him..    (4.) The death here
spoken of, and in other passages in this chapter; as in
v 23, 31, 32, is not an eternal death, or the death of
the soul and body in hell; for this was now upon
them, of which they were complaining, imagining it
was for their fathers sins; but of some severe judg-
ment, or sore calamity, or some great affliction, which
is called a death; as in Exod. x. 17. 2 Cot. i. 10. and
xi. 23. so here the exile of the Jews fi'om their native
country, and captivity in a foreign land, which was a
civil death, is here so called; wherefore no argument
cast be formed from hence to prove the saints perishing
eternally. And,.. (5.) After all the words are only a
supposiuon; When, or if, a righteous man, turn from
his righteousness; and a supposition puts nothing iu
being, proves nothing, is no instance of matter of fact;
and all that can be concluded from the whole is, that
a .just man may sin, and be afflicted for sin, which he
may, and yet be everlastingly saved.
2. Another passage of scripture brought against the
saints final perseverance, and to prove their falling
from grace, is the case of the stonyground-hearer;
who is said to hear the word, and anon with joy receiveth
it;yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a
while;for when tribulation or persecution ariseth be-
cause of the word, by and by he is offended, Matt. xiii.
20, 21. Or as in Luke viii. 13. Which for a while be-
lieve, and in tinze of temptation fall away. But it should
be observed,--(l.) That those persons thus de-
scribed, were not truly good and gracious persons;
for though the seed, or word, fell upon them, they
were a rock, stony-ground still; they were yet in a
state of nature, no change or alteration in them; their
hearts were as hard as an adamant-stone; the stony-
heart was not taken away from them, nor an heart of
flesh given them; otherwise the word would have had
a place in them, took root in them, would have sprung
up, and brought forth fruit.           (2.) And though they
received the word with joy., this is what a wicked man,
a very wicked man, may do; and Herod did, who
heard John gladly, though he afterwards took off his
head; such a man may receive the word with a flash
of natural affection, and be pleased with it; being so
far enlightened, as to see the truth, the harmony of it,
and some interesting things in it; he may flatter him-
self he shall share in; so that this joy arises only from
a principle of self-love: such do not receive it as the
Thessalonians did, in much affliction, with joy of the
Holy Ghost; having been either in great distress of
soul, on account of sin, when the gospel of peace ant!

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