CHAPTER XV.

THE CROSS THE PRESERVATION FROM FINAL APOSTACY.

SUCH is the attraction of the Cross, that what it once secures it holds fast forever. Those who are once interested in it never lose that interest. Once attracted to it by a true and heaven-imparted faith, they never so break the bond as to be ultimately severed from Christ, and finally perish. There is no falling away from the Cross.

This is a truth which is liable to perversion and abuse, and ought therefore to be stated with some clearness and caution. There is no doubt that not a few who profess to have received Jesus Christ, and are for a time outwardly conformed to the requisitions of the Gospel, do ultimately apostatize and perish. To deny this forms no part of the truth we propose to establish. Though, in a well-instructed community, there are comparatively few who, when they make a profession. of religion, either intend or expect to renounce their profession, there are, notwithstanding, very many who profess religion without possessing it, and who, on that account, apostatize from their profession and perish. The Word of God, as well as melancholy facts which have taken place under our own observation, show us that the professed disciples of the Cross have become apostates, and have renounced both the principles and the duties of Christianity, beyond recovery. But it is no impeachment of the efficacy of

the Cross, that men whom it never held at all it does not continue to hold. Persons of this description were never at heart believers in its truths and power. It is perfectly natural for such persons to fall away, even from all their false appearances of godliness. It has only

"happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." The exalted. Redeemer will say to all such deceivers, when he comes in the clouds of heaven to judge the world, "I never knew you." The true account of all persons of this description is given by the apostle in a single sentence: 66 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that it might be made manifest that they were not all of us."

Nor is it any part of the truth we propose to substantiate, that true believers in Christ may not and do not fall into great sins. Not only are all of them imperfect in holiness, but frequently lose so much of the spirit and power of godliness, as to bring deep reproach upon the sacred name by which they are called. Inward declension almost always leads to outward negligence; while an uncircumspect and untender walk and conversation, are very apt to degenerate into some of the forms of open wickedness. The Spirit of God is often thus grieved away from the bosoms of his own people; and where that fountain of living water within them is at its ebb, or for a time diverted into other channels, not only do the plants of righteousness wither, but noxious weeds spring up in their stead. Where spiritual activity and diligence are superseded by indifference and sloth, where vain desires and inordinate affections after this world shut out the love of God, the fellowship of the soul with Him is

interrupted, and the believer for a time exhibits little evidence that he has ever passed from death unto life. Such defections form no part of the Christian character; and while from all such defections every believer is ultimately recovered, from none of them is he infallibly sure of being uniformly and always preserved. The Scriptures nowhere represent his condition as such, that in consequence of his union to Christ, he is in no danger of sinning. Their admonitions imply directly the reverse of this. "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God." "Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." "Let us labor to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." "Thou standest by faith: be not highminded, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he spare not thee." Admonitions like these would be out of place, if there were no danger. If there ever was a man who was warranted, from the strength and ardor of his piety, and from the assurance of his faith, to live above this cautious and watchful spirit, that man was the Apostle Paul. But, so far from bordering on presumption, his language is, and in perfect consistency with his conscious glorying in the Cross, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away." There is nothing in the nature of holiness to keep good men from falling; for if there were, neither the fallen angels, nor our first parents, would ever have lost their primeval integrity. It would be the highest arrogance for those, who have perfectly conclusive evidence that they are accepted of God,

to yield to the temptation that they are in no danger of falling into grievous apostacies. Everything is leagued against them, from within and from without: a heart desperately wicked and deceitful above all things—an alluring and a threatening world—and a powerful, malignant and subtile adversary, watching every avenue through which he may enter and lead them captive at his will. If they do not fall, it is not because there is no danger of falling; for they often stand on slippery places, and where it wants but little to precipitate them into the gulf below. It is with extreme caution that they do not turn aside from the way, and with great difficulty that they are rescued from the pit. "The righteous are scarcely saved."

But while all this is true, and important truth, it is also true that "the righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger." What the Cross of Christ has done for all true believers, it has done effectually and forever. While many who profess the religion of Christ, and appear outwardly conformed to it, will apostatize and perish; and while true believers may, for a time, be left to themselves and fall into sin, and are always in a condition which calls for unsleeping vigilance; yet will they persevere in holiness to the end, and be infallibly preserved from final apostacy and perdition. This is what I mean, when I say there is not falling away from the Cross.

Before I call your attention to the evidence by which this truth is substantiated, it is important to a just view of this truth itself, to show by what power, or influence, believers are thus preserved, and enabled to persevere. On this part of the subject, I desire to do honor to the Cross, and ascribe all glory to its atoning blood, its sanctifying power, and its unchanging faithfulness. No creature, were he ever so holy, can persevere in holiness, inde

pendently of divine power. It belongs to the nature of creatures, to "live, and move, and have their being in God." Gabriel does not possess a holy thought independently of his Maker. The unremitting and powerful energy of the great Supreme is the immediate cause of all the holiness, perfected and continued as it is without intermission and forever, of cherubim and seraphim in the upper Sanctuary. Divine power is as necessary for the preservation of right principles and right affections in the heart, as for their original existence. Firm in principle and vigorous in action as the faith of Christians may be-nay, though it were a thousand fold more deeply seated than it is, and though it uniformly pervaded and consecrated all their powers and conduct— it is not so incorruptible and unchanging that, if forsaken of God, they will not fall and perish. Their dependence on all-powerful grace is one of the sweetest and most cheering truths in all the Bible, and is most deeply and at the same time most gratefully felt, when they themselves have most of the spirit of that blessed Book. Take from them their dependence on God, and they sink in despair. They are "kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation." Who, that is acquainted with his own heart, has not felt how much more in accordance with his own depraved desires to give way than to resist, and to yield the conflict with his spiritual enemies, rather than maintain it! The best of saints would be the worst of sinners, without preventing and sanctifying grace. Of all the disasters a good man deplores, this is the greatest, that God should depart from him! Were their perseverance in holiness dependent on the saints themselves, there is not one among them all that would persevere.. Moses would have turned away in disgust from the bright visions of Pisgah, but for this; David would have perse