And to this we may add, that as he expresses a grief of heart for past sins; so he warns others that they may not be guilty of that which he himself found more bitter than death; and accordingly, having described the arts used by the wicked woman, to betray the unthinking passenger, he cautions every one to take heed of declining to her ways; inasmuch as the consequence thereof will be, that a _dart_ will _strike through his liver_, and he is _as a bird that hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life_, Prov. vii. 23. compared with the foregoing verses. He also adds, That _she hath cast down many wounded; yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death_, ver. 26, 27. So that we find in Solomon, two of the greatest evidences that we can have of sincere repentance; namely, a great degree of sorrow for sin, and an earnest desire that others would avoid it, by giving those cautions that are necessary to prevent their falling into the snare in which he had been entangled. (3.) There is something spoken in Solomon’s commendation, after his death, which may be gathered from what is said, that during the three first years of Rehoboam’s reign, which God approved of he _walked in the way of David and Solomon_, 2 Chron. xi. 17. where we may observe, that Solomon is joined with his father David: so that as there were abatements to be made for the blemishes in David’s reign; the reign of Solomon had in it great blemishes: but as one repented, so did the other, and therefore ought not to be reckoned an apostate. And to all this we may add, that he was a penman of scripture; and it does not appear that God conferred this honour upon any that apostatized from him; but on the other hand, they have this general character given of them by the apostle Peter, that they were all _holy men of God_, 2 Pet. i. 21. which we must conclude Solomon to have been, till we have greater evidence to the contrary than they can produce who deny it. 3. There are others mentioned in the objection, to wit, Hymeneus and Alexander, whose apostacy we have no ground to doubt of; but we cannot allow that they fell from, or lost the saving grace of faith. It is one thing to fall from the profession of faith, and another thing to lose the grace of faith; therefore, the only thing to be proved in answer to this branch of the objection, is, that these persons, who are described as apostates, never had the truth of grace; or that they only fell from that visible profession which they made thereof; whereby they were reckoned to be, what in reality they were not, namely, true believers. Now that this may appear, let it be considered,