Section 9

The ninth subject of meditation is, meditate upon final Apostasy. Think what a sad thing it is to begin in Religion to build, and not be able to finish; Joash was good while his uncle Jehoiada lived, but after he died, Joash grew wicked, and all his Religion was buried in his uncle's grave. We live in the fall of the leaf, how many are fallen to damnable heresies, 2 Peter 2:1. Meditate seriously on that Scripture, Hebrews 6:4, 5, 6. 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 unto repentance. A man may be enlightened, and that from a double lamp, the Word and Spirit, but these beams, though they are irradiating, yet not penetrating. 'Tis possible he may have [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], a taste of the heavenly gift; he may taste, but not concoct; as one says, a Cook may taste the meat he dresses, but not be nourished by it. This taste may not only illuminare, but reficere; it may carry some sweetness in it, there may be a kind of delight in spiritual things: Thus far a man may go, and yet penitus recidere, fall away finally. Now this will be very sad (it being such a God-affronting, and Christ-reproaching sin); Know therefore it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken the Lord, Jeremiah 2:19. Meditate upon final relapses.

The meditation of this would make us earnest in prayer to God. 1. For soundness of heart, make my heart sound in thy statutes, Psalm 119:80. Lord, let me not be an Alchemy Christian, work a thorough work of grace upon me; Though I am not washed perfectly, let me be washed thoroughly, Psalm 51:2. That which begins in hypocrisy, ends in apostasy. 2. The meditation of hypocrites' final falling away would make us earnest in prayer for perseverance. Hold up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not, Psalm 17:5. Lord, hold me up, that I may hold out. Thou hast set the crown at the end of the race, let me run the race, that I may wear the crown; it was Beza's prayer, and let it be ours. Lord perfect what thou hast begun in me, that I may not suffer shipwreck when I am almost at Haven.