Give joy or grief, give ease or pain But let me find them all again In that eternal day. They feel the truth of Christ's words, John viii. 12,"He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." But when and they let down their watch, their strength departs like Sampson's, when shorn, and their enemies get the better. A hill of trouble appears as a mountain, and they feel like one forsaken; and on reflection, conscience lays the blame not on God, like the doctrine of decrees, but on them they have no peace until they repent, and do their first work, viz. to go to God as a criminal, and yet as a beggar, broken hearted, willing to part with the accursed thing-then they find the Lord to lift upon them the light of his countenance, and their peaceful hours return. They take their harps from the willows, and cry like the ancients, "our soul is escaped, as a bird from the snare of the fowler; the snare is broken, and we are escaped." Query--Who ever fell from grace? Answer, We are informed 1 Sam. xv. 17. that when Saul was little in his own eyes, God exalted him to be king over Israel, and x. 6. when Samuel anointed him, he said, "The Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy, and shall be turned into another man, &c." ver. 9, we read moreover, that God gave him another heart, &c. and what sort of a heart God gives, I leave you to judge. And God seemed to prosper Saul while he was humble, xiii. 12. It appeareth after two years, that his heart got lifted up with pride, and the Lord sent him to utterly destroy the Amalekites, and all things belonging thereto, according to the commandment by Moses: but Saul rebelled and committed a sin thereby, which was as the sin of witchcraft and idolatry, xv. 23: after this the Spirit of the Lord departed from him; and afterwards Saul murdered himself in the field of battle. And we read no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him; and that murderers hereafter shall be shut out of the Holy City, xvi. 1*. and xxxi. 4. 1 John iii. 15. Rev. xxii. 15. But saith one, was not David a man after God's own heart, when committing adultery and murder ?— Ans. No, for God hath not the heart of an adulterer, nor a murderer. And again, no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him, 1 John iii. 15.And supposing David was a man after God's owa heart when feeding his father's sheep, that is no sign he was when committing adultery and murder, any more than if I were honest seven years ago, and then turned thief-am honest still because I was once; this is the truth, and you cannot deny it. But observe, the Lord was displeased with David, being angry with the wicked every day; and there is no account that the Lord put away David's sin until he confessed it, &c.2 Sam. xi. 27. xii. 13. and all backsliders who sincerely repent may receive pardon, as David did, &c. But yet there is no scripture that saith, they shall be brought to repentance irresistably, whether they will or not; for God will have volunteers for heaven, or none at all, Rev. xxii. 14, 17. We cannot with reason suppose that a king would choose an enemy as an ambassador, with an embassage to rebels, but a friend: neither can we suppose with propriety, that God or Christ would call an enemy, a child of the devil, to go and preach and do miracles, but a friend. Yet we find in Matt. x. that Judas with the others, was positively called, and commanded to preach, and had power to raise the dead, heal the sick, and cast out devils, &c. And the twelve went out, and returned, &e. It speaks of them collectively, but not individually, doing miracles till after Christ's resurrection. Chap. xix. Peter saith, we have forsaken all, (not I) and followed thee, what shall we have therefore? Christ answereth, verse 28. Verily (or certainly) I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the tribes of Israel. Now I ask, how they could follow Christ in the regeneration, except they were regenerated, i. e. born again? Doth it not mean Judas for one, seeing there were twelve apostles, twelve thrones, and twelve tribes? a throne for each; but it appeareth that the thrones were promised on conditions of overcoming, Rev. iii. 21. and that Judas forfeited his title by disobedience, &c. But saith one, "I thought Judas was raised up for the very purpose to betray Christ, and was always a wicked man." Answer. Many people think so, through the prejudice of education, and set up their opinion for the standard, and attempt to bend the scriptures to it, but that will not do; for truth will stand when error falls, and of course our tenets should correspond with the Bible, doth not say, that Judas was always evil; bat Christ conveys an idea to the reverse, when referring John xiii. 18. to Psalm xli. 9. where David is speaking of Judas, as in the person of Christ, and saith, "Mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." Here Judas is not only styled Christ's friend, but his familiar one, in whom he trusted. Now, can we suppose with propriety, shat Christ would be familiar with the deceitful, and put confidence in them? No! methinks he would have set a better example. Objec. Christ says, John vi. 70, have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil." Ans. Sometimes Christ spoke as man, and sometimes as God, and God frequently speaks of things that are not as though they were; for instance, Rev. xiii. 8. we read that Christ was a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and yet he was not actually slain till four thousand years after. Again, God said to Abraham, I have made thee a father of many nations; when he was not the father of but one child (Ishmael.) So Christ foreseeing as God, that Satan would enter into Judas, spoke it, as if it was in the present tense, though it were not really so for some time after; there was more trust put in Judas than in the other apostles, he being made treasurer. We have re peated accounts of Peter, James, and John sinning; but no account that Judas did until six days before the Passover, John xii. Mark xiv. 3. When our Lord was in the house of Simon the leper, which appears to be Judas's father's house, in came a woman to anoint Christ, &c. and it appears that Judas felt a thievish, covetous disposition to arise; and from that no doubt he was called a thief, and had the bag, for he never was called a thief before; and Christ gave him a gentle rebuke, and it appears that Judas got affronted, by his complying with a suggestion of Satan.(Satan was not really in him yet, only tempted him.) And going out the same day, he made a bargain, John xiii. 2. and Mark xiv. 10. (like some ministers) saying, what will ye give me, and I will deliver bim unto you, &c. Some people make scripture, and say, whom Christ loves, he loves to the end, (to the end of what?) There are no such words in the bible. John xiii. 1. we read thus: "When Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end;" namely, the night in which the sacrament was institu ted, Judas being present, &c. received the sop, after which Satan entered him, ver. 27. And now it may be said in the full sense of the word, that he was a devil, and not before, unless you allow of his being one before, and another entering him now, and so making a double devil of himand what sort of being that may be, I cannot tell. Object, I think if Judas had regeneration, or was ever a friend to Christ, as you talk from Mat. xix. 28, 29. and Psa. xli. 9. that he is gone to glory. Ans. No, he has not, for Christ affirmed, woe to that man, it had been good for him that he had never been born." Mark xiv. 21. Luke xxii. 21, 22. Again, we read Judas murdered. himself; and no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.-Objec. I do not think one that is given to Christ can be lost. Answer-Then you do not believe the Bible, for we read John xvii. 12. that Judas was given to Christ, and yet he is lost, and styled a son of perdition, which means, a son of destruction-and Acts. i. 24, 25. where the eleven surviving apostles chose Matthias to fill up Judas's sphere, no more, nor less than what Judas did; they prayed thus, "Thou, Lord, which knoweth the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, that he may take part of this ministry, and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, &c." Now, if Judas were always a devil, (which could not be, for there must have been a time when he begun to be one,) why would they choose a good man to fill up a devil's place; Observe, there were twelve parts of the ministry, and the apostles being accountable persons to God. Judas fell by transgression, (for where there is no law, there is no transgression.) Now, what did he fall from? An old profession? To fall from an old profession, is no transgression at all: for transgression is sin, which implies the violation of a known law; of |