We must, therefore, inquire after the causes and reasons of these things among ourselves; for there only they will be found.
And these causes are of two sorts: 1. That which is general, and 1 Horat. Od. lib. i. 3, 25.
176 CAUSES, WAYS, AND MEANS, ETC. [BOOK VI., PART II.
the spring of all others; 2. Those which are particular, that arise and branch themselves from thence: —
1. The first and general cause of all ignorance, error, and misun- derstanding of the mind and will of God, as revealed in the Scrip- ture, among all sorts of men, whatever their particular circumstances are, is the natural vanity and darkness with which the minds of all men are depraved. The nature of this depravation of our minds by the fall, and the effects of it, I have fully elsewhere declared. Where- fore I now take it for granted that the minds of all men are natu- rally prepossessed with this darkness and vanity, from whence they are not, from whence they cannot be, delivered but by the saving illumination of the Spirit and grace of God. But because I have so largely treated of it both in the " Discourses of the Dispensation of the Spirit/' book iii. chap, hi.,1 as also in those concerning the Apos- tasy of these latter times,2 I shall not again insist upon it.
Two things I shall only observe unto our present purpose, namely, — (1.) That hereby the mind is kept off from discerning the glory and beauty of spiritual, heavenly truth, and from being sensible of its power and efficacy, John i. 5. (2.) That it is by the same means inclined unto all things that are vain, curious, superstitious, carnal, suited unto the interest of pride, lust, and all manner of corrupt af- fections. Hence, whatever other occasions of error and superstition may be given or taken, the ground of their reception and of all ad- herence unto them is the uncured vanity and darkness of the minds of men by nature. This is the mire wherein this rush doth grow.
And the consideration hereof will rectify our thoughts concerning those whom we see daily to wander from the truth, or to live in those misapprehensions of the mind of God which they have im- bibed, notwithstanding the clear revelation of it unto the contrary. Some think it strange that it should be so, and marvel at them; some are angry with them ; and some would persecute and destroy them. We may make a better use of this consideration ; for we may learn from it the sad corruption and depravation of our minds in our estate of apostasy from God. Here lies the seed and spring of all the sin, evil, and disorder, which we behold and suffer under in re- ligious concerns in this world. And if we consider it aright, it will serve, —
[1.] To impress a due sense of our own condition upon our minds, that we may be humbled; and in humility alone there is safety. " His soul which is lifted up is not upright in him," Hab. ii. 4 ; for he draws back from God, and God hath no pleasure in him, as the apostle expounds those words, Heb. x. 38. It was in the principles of our nature to adhere sacredly unto the first truth, to discern and 1 See vol. iii. of the author's works. 2 See vol. vii. of his works.
CHAP. V.] CAUSES OF SPIRITUAL IGNORANCE. 1 77
abhor every false way. We were created with that light of truth in our minds as was every way able to guide us in all that we had to believe or do with respect unto God or our own blessedness for ever. But in the room thereof, through our wretched apostasy from God, our mind is become the seat and habitation of all vanity, disorder, and confusion. And no way doth this more discover itself than in the readiness and proneness of multitudes to embrace whatever is crooked, perverse, and false in religion, notwithstanding the clear revelation that God hath made of the whole truth concerning it in the Scripture. A due reflection hereon may teach us humility and self-abasement; for we are "by nature children of wrath, even as others," neither have we any good thing that we have not received. It is better, therefore, to be conversant with such thoughts on this occasion than to be filled with contempt of, or wrath against those whom we see yet suffering under those woful effects of the general apostasy from God, wherein we were equally involved with them. Yea, —
[2.] It will teach us pity and compassion towards those whose minds do run out into the spiritual excesses mentioned. The merci- ful High priest of the whole church hath "compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way/' Heb. v. 2 ; and it is conformity unto him in all things which ought to be our principal design, if we desire to be like unto him in glory. Want hereof is the ruin of reli- gion, and the true cause of all the troubles that its profession is en- cumbered withal at this day.
It is true, for the most part, there is an interposition of corrupt affections seducing the minds of men from the truth; with these are they tossed up and down, and so driven with the winds of temp- tations that befall them ; — but is it humanity to stand on the shore, and seeing men in a storm at sea, wherein they are ready every mo- ment to be cast away and perish, to storm at them ourselves, or to shoot them to death, or to cast lire into their vessel, because they are in danger of being drowned? Yet no otherwise do we deal with them whom we persecute because they miss the knowledge of the truth ; and, it may be, raise a worse storm in ourselves as to our own morals than they suffer under in their intellectuals. Concerning such persons the advice of the apostle is, " Of some have compassion, making a difference : and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire," Jude 22, 23. Some are so given up in their apostasy as that they " sin unto death;" with such we are not to concern ourselves, 1 John v. 16. But it is very rare that we can safely make that judg- ment concerning any in this world. Sometimes, no doubt, Ave may, or this rule concerning them had never been given. As unto all others, the worst of them, those that are in the fire, the frame of our VOL. IV. 12