(4.) Because if any such be pretended, it must be tried by the word : Isa. viii. 20, ' To the law and to the testimony ; if they speak not according to this word, it is because they have no light in them ; ' so 1 John iv. 1, 'Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone abroad into the world.'
(5.) Because they that despise ordinary means, and pretend to vision, revelation, or inspiration, are usually such as are given up by God to a vertiginous spirit, and cast into the dungeon of error, for the punishment of other sins : Micah ii. 11, ' If a man walking in the spirit of falsehood do lie, he shall be the prophet of this people ; ' God will permit those that are both deceivers and deceived themselves to come amongst them for a plague to them. Sleidan giveth sad instances of some given up to this fantastical frenzy, that killed their own rela- tions on pretence of inspiration, and of others that murdered fifty thousand in one day.
[2.] By word or unwritten tradition. This also should not shake the mind of a settled Christian, for this hath no constat — no evidence of its certainty, and would lay us open to the deceits of men, blinded by their own interest and passions ; and if such tradition could be pro- duced as hath unquestionable authority, it must be tried by the scrip- ture, which is everywhere commended as the public standard, and true measure and rule, both of faith and manners.
[3] Not by epistle as from us.
(1.) Supposititious writings, which the church in all ages hath ex- ploded, having received only those which are unquestionably theirs whose names they bear.
(2.) False ex})Ositions. These are confuted by inspection of the context, scope of the writer, comparing of obscure places with plain and clear. Thus you see what certainty God hath provided for us to guide us in the way to eternal life.
26 THE TIIIIID SEKMON. [2 ThES. II. 3.
SERMON III.
Let no man deceive you hij any means ; for that day shall not come except there come a falling aioay frst, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. — 2 TiiEs. II. 3.
In these words we have these two things : —
1. A caution against the error set afoot at that time concerning Christ's sudden coming to judgment.
2. The confutation of it. It is disproved by two antecedents and forerunners of his coming : — (1.) A general apostasy, or a defection of the visible church from the true state of Christianity; (2.) The revelation of Antichrist, described here by his names and proper titles — 1st, That man of sin ; and 2dly, Son of perdition.
I. Let us speak of the general apostasy that must be before Christ's coming to judgment ; except there come a falling away first. Now concerning it take these propositions: —
1. That apostasy is any defection from him to whom we owe and have i)erformed subjection, or a falling from that lord to whom we owe fealty. I am sure, in religious matters, it importeth a defection from our right and proper Lord. Thus the devil is an apostate, be- cause he abode not in his first estate : Jude G, ' And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains,' &c. ; * abode not in the truth ; ' Jolin viii. 44, ' Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of j^our father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth ;' that is, forsook his obedience to God, and so became the ringleader of all rebellious creatures. So it is true of our first parents. They were apostates, they did revolt from God and their obedience to him. Tlierefore it is said, Rom. v. 19, ' By one man's disobedience many were made sinners.' So of their posterity ; their apostasy is de- scribed by * turning back from following tbe Lord,' Zeph. i. G, and 'de- parting from God,' that is, his worship and service ; Isa. lix. 13, 'In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God.' Let us then be agreed of this notion of apostasy, which is evident, that it is a falling off from the obedience which we owe to our rightful Lord.
2. The apostasy mentioned in the text was not civil, the falling away of many kingdoms from tlie Roman empire ; but an a])Ostasy of the visible church from him who is Lord of the church. 1 prove it partly from the persons to whom the apostle wrote, who did not inter- mingle themselves with state affairs, or were not concerned in the interests of the Roman empire further tlian that they lived within the bounds of it ; and this apostasy must be understood as they would con- ceive of apo.stasy with respect to the main cause wherein they were concerned and engaged, which was the profession of Christianity. Partly from the use of the word in the Christian doctrine; falling away there is certainly falling away from the faith and purity of the gospel : Luke viii. 13, ' Which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.' And partly because to them it was expressly