_Objec._ 7. Another objection against the doctrine of the saints’ perseverance, is taken from the parable of the debtor and creditor, in Matt, xviii. 26, _&c._ in which it is said, ‘The servant fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt;’ but afterwards, upon his treating one of his fellow-servants, who owed him a very inconsiderable sum, with great severity, his lord exacted the debt of him, which he had before forgiven him, and so _delivered_ him _to the tormentors_, till he should pay all that was due to him: ‘So likewise,’ it is said, ‘shall my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye, from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses;’ from whence it is inferred, that a person may fall from a justified state, or that God may forgive sin at one time, and yet be provoked to alter his resolution, and inflict the punishment that is due to it, at another; which is altogether inconsistent with the doctrine of the saints’ perseverance in grace. _Answ._ In answer to this we must observe, that our Saviour’s design in his parables, is not that every word or circumstance contained in them, should be applied to signify what it seems to import, but there is some truth in general intended to be illustrated thereby, which is principally to be regarded therein. Thus in the parable of the _judge_, in Luke xviii. 2, &c. ‘which feared not God, neither regarded man,’ who was moved, by a widow’s importunity, to ‘avenge her of her adversary;’ which after a while, he resolved to do, because the widow _troubled him_. This is applied to ‘God’s avenging his elect, who cry day and night unto him;’ where we must observe, that it is only in this circumstance that the parable is to be applied to them without any regard had to the injustice of the judge, or his being uneasy, by reason of the importunity which the widow exprest in pleading her cause with him.