(32) But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; (33) Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. (34) For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. (35) Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. (36) For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. (37) For yet, a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. (38) Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. (39) But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
I beg the Reader with all possible attention to observe, in confirmation of all that I have been saying, that the Holy Ghost is all along in this Epistle comforting the Church, when drawing the line of distinction between the real regenerated believers in Christ, and mere nominal professors. An high flaming profession men may make, as is stated Chapter the Sixth, where there is not an atom of grace. But God the Spirit graciously teacheth his people how to estimate their different characters, by the testimonies the Lord hath given them. And I pray the Reader to observe how sweetly he comforts them, by bidding them to mark the ground, which by grace they had trodden.
But call to remembrance (saith the kind Remembrancer of Jesus) the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great sight of afflictions. As if the Lord had said, do ye not see, and know, the certainty of your high calling in Christ Jesus? Have ye not got the richest testimonies of your new birth character? When ye were once illuminated, did ye not desire, as babes in Christ, to be fed with the sincere milk of the word, that ye might grow thereby And though things are low with you in the present leanness of soul, so that when ye ought to be teachers, ye have need to go over again the first principles of the Oracles of God; yet, call to remembrance the former days. There was a time, when your zeal provoked very many. Ye were made a gazing stock yourselves; and ye were companions of them that were so used. Yea, ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods; from the well-grounded confidence that ye then had, that if the Lord permitted the enemy to turn ye out of house and home, he would the sooner take you to himself in heaven. Cast not away therefore your confidence which hath great recompense of reward. Look forward! Jesus will soon come! And in the mean time the just shall live by faith. As to those who draw back from a mere profession, this is, as was before known. They draw back from lip-confession only, for they never had more, head-knowledge is no heart-renewing. Not falling from grace, for they never were in grace, but falling from natural attainments, for they never rose higher. In such, the Lord Jesus hath no pleasure. But his children, his redeemed, the gift of his Father, the purchase of his blood, and the conquests of his Spirit; though they fall, yet not fall away, for the Lord upholds them with his hand: Psalms 37:24. Though they faint and draw back in the day of adversity, yet draw not back unto perdition, for they are still of them that believe to the saving of the soul! Reader! what saith your personal experience to these things?. Hath the Lord the Holy Ghost regenerated you from the Adam - fall of a nature once dead in trespasses and sins? Can you look back to the wormwood and the gall of that fallen state? Can you call to remembrance, as the Lord here bids his people, the former days, after ye were illuminated? No man that hath passed from death to life can be at a loss to know the saving change. True! you have cause to lament great leanness of soul. There is indeed in the best of men, but too much reason to be humbled to the dust before God, for the small attainments and little progress made in divine life. But the salvation of the Church doth not spring from any holiness wrought in us, but from the work of Christ wrought for us. Not in our brokenness of heart, but in Christ's bruised and broken body on the tree. It is indeed blessed, yea, very blessed, to feel and enjoy all the gracious effects of the precious finished salvation of Christ; but all we feel in the lively actings of faith, are but effects, and not the cause. He is the sole Author and Finisher of salvation. It is a sad consideration, that so many of God's dear children, in the present day, live below their privileges, by living upon what passeth from the work of God the Spirit within them, instead of living wholly upon what Christ is to them; and that their sanctification is in Him, Joh 17:19; 1 Corinthians 1:30.