Serm.4 two firt+ kind of falls incident to mof+, let him, as Con tantine faid to Acefiais the Novatian Bifhop, Get himfelf a ladder, andclime up to he's- Socr.l.ic 7 yen by himfelf, he thould have but a few come thereelfe. 3. The'thtrd fall is much worfe, a fall from the third loft, whence like Eutichus they are taken up dead for the prefent; but they come to thenifelves again. Thefe are falls intogro(fer and more fcand4loss fins which do rafare confcientiam, fet the tiacks or Corn fields of Confcience on fire, whereas the other two forenamed ( efpecially the former ) are fuch as Tertullian calls Q.Ltotidiana Incurfiords, thefe are very dangerous, and befall not all Profeffors ( theyhad not need ) but now and then one falls into fore fcandalous fin, but they nót ufually again into the fame fin after fenfe and repentance of it. Thus fell Da- vid and Peter into foul flagitieufnefs, but not deliberately, nor totally, nor finally, nor reiteratedly. Sin raged indeed, and feemed to reign for the prefent, Mofes hands grew weak, and the hand of Amaleck,prevai- led for the prefent : But a feed of Ged was in them, and they could not Joh.3.9. fin unto death, but were renewed to repentance, and their fins are blot- ted out. This fall is like the fall of the Leafe in Autumn; life remains fafe ; a Spring in due time follows ,though many a cold blati firf+. 4. There is yet one worfe fall than the former incident to a child of God too, to be of the decaying hand, and to remit and lofe his former fervour and livelinefs. And it maybehe never comes (as the fecond Temple) up to the Ezra.3.rz. former pitch and glory. Thus Solomons zeale and lovewas abated in I King.i 14, his old age, as his father D.ivids natural heat was in his age, that he 9,r 0. needed an Abifhag to lye in his baforne, fo was Solomon, fpiritual heat I ceDit mctir<s cooled by the many Abifhags that lay in his bofome : and though he vaindefnir, was beloved of his Got, his Sun fet in a cloud, his l 4(} was not like ulti»na jai; t;is his fir(+. Thus Sawpfon, after many triumphs over thePhili(iims, was cedi nt,d,fjíni- at length circumvented and betrayed into their hands,who bound him, iue i:( e.re, put out his eyes,made fport with him,who though his hair and tirengch grew again, and he dyed in the Q2arrel, and dyed a V.aor, yet never did he regain his tight or liberty ì'o his dying day. Thefe kind of' de- cays are dangerous, and make the people of God go mourning to their dying day, and they are faved as by fire. But arenot inconCiRent with grace. This is like the fall of thehair in aged perfons, life yet remains, but firength, native hear, and radical mayt+nefs decay, and the hair never grows alike thick again. Thefe inconfifient with Grice ? 77
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