Chapter 53. Concerning the Execution of the Decree of Reprobation.
WILLIAM PERKINS
Chapter 53. Concerning the Execution of the Decree of Reprobation.
In the executing of this decree, there is to be considered the foundation or beginning of it, and the degrees or proceeding of it.
The foundation of executing the decree of Reprobation, is the fall of Adam, by which he was subject both to sin and damnation. Rom 11.32, For God has shut up all in unbelief, that He might have mercy on all. 1Pet 2.8.
Here we must note that God has so decreed to condemn some, that notwithstanding this, all the fault and guilt of condemnation remains in the men alone.
Further, those whom God rejects unto condemnation, He hates. This hatred of God is where
He detests and abhors the reprobate when he has fallen into sin, for that same sin. And this hatred which God has toward man, comes by the fall of Adam. It is neither an antecedent nor a cause of God's decree, but only a consequent, and follows the decree.
Reprobates are either infants or men of riper age.
In reprobate infants, the execution of God's decree is this: as soon as they are born, for the guilt of original and natural sin, being left to themselves in God's secret judgment, in dying they are rejected by God forever.
Rom 5.14, But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those also who did not sin in the same manner of the transgression of Adam, who was the figure of Him that was to come. Rom 9.11, For before the children were born, and when they had neither done good nor evil, that the purpose of God might remain according to election not by works, but by Him who calls.
A GOLDEN CHAIN
Reprobates of riper age are of two sorts: those who are called (namely, by an ineffectual calling), and those who are not called.
In the Reprobates who are called, the execution of the decree of Reprobation has three degrees:
An acknowledgement of God's calling
A falling away again
Condemnation [or damnation] The first degree, an acknowledgement of God's calling, is where the Reprobates, for a time, subject themselves to the calling of God; this calling is wrought by the preaching of the word. Mat 22.14, For many are called, but few are chosen.
And there are five other degrees of this calling.
The first is an enlightening of their minds, by which they are instructed by the Holy Ghost as to the understanding and knowledge of the word. Heb 6.4,
For it is impossible that those who were once enlightened, etc. 2Pet 2.20, For if, after they have escaped from the filthiness of the world through the knowledge of the Lord, and of the Saviour Jesus Christ, they are yet again entangled in it, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
The second is a certain penitence by which the Reprobate, 1. Acknowledges his sin. 2. Is pricked with the feeling of God's wrath for sin. 3. Is grieved for the punishment of sin.
Confesses his sin.
Acknowledges that God is just in punishing sin. 6.
Desires to be saved. 7. Promises repentance in his misery or affliction, in these words: I will sin no more.
Mat 27.3, Then when Judas who betrayed him, saw that he was condemned, he repented, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief Priest and Elders.
Heb 12.17, For you know how afterward, when [Esau] would also have inherited the blessing, he was rejected.
For he found no place for repentance, though he sought the blessing with tears. 1Kng 21.27, Now when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes, and put
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sackcloth on himself, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went about softly. Num 23.10, Let me [i.e., Balaam] die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his. Psa 78.32-35, For all this, they still sinned, and did not believe His wondrous works. Therefore He consumed their days in vanity, and their years hastily.
And when He slew them, they sought them, and they returned, and sought God early. They remembered that God was their strength, and the most high God their redeemer.
The third degree is a temporary faith, by which the reprobate confusedly believes the promises of God, made in Christ. I say confusedly, because he believes that some shall be saved, but he does not believe that he himself, in particular, shall be saved. This is because, being content with a general faith, he never applies the promises of God to himself. Nor does he so much as conceive any purpose, desire, or endeavour to apply them, or any wrestling or striving against [false] security, or carelessness and distrust.
Jas 2.19, You believe that there is one God; you do well. The devils also believe it, and tremble. Mat
13.20-21, And he that received seed on the stony ground, is the one who hears the word, and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, and endures but a season. Joh 2.23-24, Now when he was at Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast, many believed in His Name when they saw his miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself to them, because he knew them all.
The fourth is a tasting of heavenly gifts, such as Justification and Sanctification, and of the virtues of the world to come. This tasting is in fact a sense of the hearts of the Reprobates, by which they perceive and feel the excellence of God's benefits; notwithstanding, they do not enjoy them. For it is one thing to taste the delicacies at a banquet, and another thing to feed on and be nourished by them. Heb 6.4, For it is impossible that those who were once enlightened, and have tasted
A GOLDEN CHAIN
of the heavenly gifts, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost… The fifth degree is the outward holiness of life for a time. Under this is comprehended a zeal in the profession of religion, a reverence and fear towards
God's ministers, and an amendment of life in many things. Mar 6.20, For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man, and holy, and he reverenced him.
And when he heard him, he did many things and heard him gladly. Act 8.13, Then Simon himself [the Magician] believed also, and was baptized, and continued with Philip, and wondered when he saw the signs and great miracles were done. Hos 6.4, O
Ephraim, what shall I do for you? O Judah, how shall I entreat you? For your goodness is like a morning cloud, and like the morning dew it goes away.
The second degree of the execution of God's counsel of reprobation — in men of ripe age who are called — is falling away again. For the most part, this is effected and wrought in this manner: 1st, the reprobate is deceived by some sin; 2nd, his heart is hardened by that sin; 3rd, his heart being hardened, it becomes wicked and perverse. 4th, his incredulity and unbelief follow, by which he does not consent to God's word when he has heard and known it; 5th, an apostasy, or falling away from faith in Christ, immediately follows this unbelief. Heb 3.12, Take heed, brethren, lest at any time there is in any of you an evil heart, and unfaithful, to depart from the living God. 1Tim 1.19.
Sometimes this apostasy is sin against the Holy Ghost. In the sin against the Holy Ghost, we have these several points to be considered:
I. The Name; it is called a sin against the Holy Ghost, not because it is done against the person or deity of the Holy Ghost (for in this respect, someone who sins against the Holy Ghost sins likewise against both the Father and the Son). But it is so-called because it is done contrary to the immediate action; namely, the illumination of the Holy Ghost. For even
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though this is an action common to the whole Trinity, yet the Father and the Son effect that illumination by the Holy Ghost.
II. The efficient cause of it; which is a set and obstinate malice against God, and against His Christ.
Therefore, when a man denies Christ during persecution, either for fear, or rashly, he does not commit this sin against the Holy Ghost. This may appear by the example of Peter, who denied Christ, Mat
26.73-75. Neither does someone fall into this sin, who persecutes Christ and His church out of ignorance. Paul persecuted the Church of Christ, and yet God had mercy on him because he did it ignorantly, 1Tim 1.13.
Many of the Jews crucified our Saviour Christ, who afterward — because they committed that grievous fact out of ignorance — repenting at Peter's sermon, obtained remission of their sins, Act 3.17; 2.37-41.
III. The Object; namely, God Himself, and the Mediator Christ Jesus. For the malice of this sin is directed against the very majesty of God Himself, and against Christ. Heb 10.29, How much sorer punishment do you suppose he is worthy of, who treads underfoot the Son of God, and considers the blood of the Testament as an unholy thing, with which he was sanctified, and despises the Spirit of grace? Therefore, this sin directly respects the first tablet of the Moral
Law. It is not some particular slipping aside from the observation of those commandments which are contained in this first tablet – such as some doubts concerning God, or the truth of the Scriptures, or of Christ, etc. Rather, it is a general defection and apostasy from God, and that is totally.
IV. The Subject in whom it is found. This sin is found in none but those who have been enlightened by the Holy Ghost, and have tasted of the good gift of God,
Heb 6.5-6. Nor is it a bare cogitation in him, but an external action — or rather, such a blasphemy against God as proceeds from a malicious and obstinate heart,
Mat 12.31.
A GOLDEN CHAIN
V. The Elect cannot commit this sin. Therefore, those who feel in themselves a sure testimony of their election, need never despair. Nor is this sin in every reprobate, for many of them die before they have this illumination by God's Spirit.
VI. This sin cannot be forgiven — not because it is greater than Christ's merit can satisfy for it, but because once a man has committed this sin, it is impossible for him to repent of it. For the gift of repentance proceeds from the Holy Ghost; and the Holy
Ghost remains in us through Christ apprehended by faith. Now, no man apprehends Christ, who maliciously despises and contemns him.
VII. It is very hard to know when a man commits this sin, because the root of it — namely, set malice — lurks inwardly in the heart, and is not so easily discerned.
Out of all this which has been spoken, we may thus define this sin. The sin against the Holy Ghost is a voluntary and obstinate denial of, and blasphemy against the Son of God, or that truth which was previously acknowledged concerning Him; and so, consequently, it is a universal defection from God and His true church. We have an example of this sin partly in the devil, who though he knew well enough that Jesus was the Christ, yet he never ceased both wittingly and willingly, with all his power, to oppugn
the sacred majesty of God, together with the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, and as far as he could, to utterly supplant these in part of the Pharisees, Mat 12.32; Joh 3.2.
After apostasy follows pollution, which is the very fulness of all iniquity, altogether contrary to sanctification. Gen 15.16, And in the fourth generation they shall come back here, for the wickedness of the Amorites is not yet full.
The third degree is damnation, by which Reprobates are delivered up to eternal punishment. The execution of damnation begins at death, and is finished at the Last Judgment. Luk 16.22-23, And it was so, that the beggar died, and was carried by the Angel into
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Abraham's bosom; the rich man also died and was buried. And being in hell's torments, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
The execution of the decree of reprobation in infidels, who are not called, is this. First, they have by nature, ignorance and vanity of mind. After that, follows hardness of heart, by which they become void of all sorrow for their sins. Then comes a reprobate sense, which is when the natural light of reason, and of the judgment of good and evil, is extinguished. Afterward, when the heart ceases to sorrow, then arises a committing of sin with greediness. Then comes pollution, which is the fulness of sin. Lastly, a just reward is given to all these; namely, fearful condemnation.
Eph 4.18. Having their cogitations darkened, and being strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their hearts... Rom 1.28, For as they did not regard to know God, even so, God delivered them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not suitable.