Here two things must be explained : —
1. What is the mystery of iniquity.
2. How it began to work in the ai)ostle s days.
1. What is the mystery of iniquity ? I answer — The design of usurp- ing Christ's kingdom, and his dignities and prerogatives over the church, to countenance the kingdom of sin and darkness, under the ma.sk of piety and religion. Surely it is something quite contrary to the gospel, which is the ' mystery of godliness,' 1 Tim. iii. 16. So that this mystery is such a course and state design as doth frustrate tlie true end and purpose of the gospel, and yet carried on under a pretence of advancing and i)romoting it. So that to state it "vve must consider : —
^1.] The mystery of godliness. 2.J The mystery of ungodliness or iniquity,
1.] The mystery of godliness is known by the ends of God in the gospel, and the way he look to promote those ends.
(1.) The end of the gospel js to recover man out of a carnal, ungodly state, into a state of holiness and reconciliation with God. (1.) The tcr- mimis a quo : — men are carnal, ungodly, (1st.) Cdvnal. When man fell from God, he fell to him.sclf ; self interpo.sed as the next heir, and that self was not the soul, but the flesh. ]\Iany wrong their souls, but no man ever yet hated his own llesh ; and therefore men would rule themselves, and please themselves nccording to tlieir ileshly appetite and fancy : John iii. (j, ' Th;it which is born of the flesh is flesh,' and therefore love the pleasures, honours, uud ]irofits of the Avorld, as the necessary provision to satisfy the desires of the llesh ; and whosoever live thus they live in a carnal state, as all do, till grace n^ncw them, \xo\\\. viii. 5. But this carnal estate doth break forth r.nd bewray itself in various ways of sin- ning: Titus iii, 3, 'For we ourselves also weie sometimes foolish, dis- obe(hent, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating (jnc another.' All are not fornicators,
2 TllES. II. 5-7.] THE FIFTH SERMON. 51
drunkards, persecutors, nor live in the same way of sinnini^ ; but all are turned from God to the Avorld, and liave a ' carnal mind, whicli is enmity to God,' Rom. viii. 7. ('idly.) The next Avord is ungodl// Men thus constituted live either in a denial of God : Ps. xiv, 1, ' Tlie fool hath said in his heart, There is no God' — or a neglect of God : Eph. ii. 12, ' Without God in the world ;' without any acknowledgment or Avorship of him : Fs. ix. 17, ' The Avicked shall be turned into hell, and tdl the nations that forget God ;' — or if not deprived of all sense of a deity, they Avorship false gods, as those, Acts xiv. 12, 13, the men of Lycaonia, that called Barnabas, Jupiter, and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker, and Avould have sacrificed to them ; and the apostle saith to the Galatians, Gal. iv, 8, ' When ye knew not God, ye did service to them Avhicli by nature are no gods ;' they Avorshipped plurality of false gods ; and though the Avise men of the Gentiles had some confused knowledge of the true God, Rom. i. 19-21, yet they glorified him not as God, but committed idolatry by setting up a false medium of Avorshiii, an idol, Avhich begot a brutish conception of God in their mind ; so that a false religion is so far from shoAving a remedy of corrupt nature that it is a great part of the disease itself. (2.) The terminus ad quern, into a state of holiness and reconciliation Avith God, in whom man alone can be happy. (1st.) For holiness and obedience to God. The great design of the Christian religion is to bring us back to God again. First, As Ave are carnal, by the denial of fleshly and Avorldly lusts : Titus ii, 12, ' The grace of God thatbringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and Avorldly lusts,' &c. ; 1 Peter ii. 11, ' Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshy lusts that Avar against the soul ;' and Gal. v. 24, ' They that are Christ's haA'e crucified the flesh, Avith the affections and lusts.' Secondly, As we are ungodly, to bring us to the knoAvledge, love, Avorship, and obedience of the true God : Acts xiv. 15, ' We pray ye that you should turn from these vanities to the living God, that hath made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things therein ;' and to seek after the Lord, from whom we have life, breath, and all things. Acts xvii. 25-28 ; 1 Thes. i. 9, ' How ye turned from idols to serve the living and true God.' (2dly.) Reconciliation Avith God, that Ave might have commerce Avith him for the present, and live for- ever Avith him hereafter : 2 Cor. v. 19, ' God was in Christ, recon- ciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the Avord of reconciliation ;' 1 Peter i. 18, ' Ye are not redeemed Avith corruptible things, as sih^er and gold, from your vain conversation,' &c. ; Heb. vii. 25, ' He is able to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God through him ;' that whereas be- fore they Avere alienated from the life of God, they might live in his love, and in the expectation of being admitted into his blessed presence, that they may see him as he is, and be like him, 1 John iii. 2.