It is in substance an expansion of his commentary on Heb. vi. 4-6 ; and his Exposition on this passage is accordingly brief and meagre, having been forestalled by the publication of this treatise. Doddridge seems to regard it as most replete with the characteristic excellencies of Owen. “‘ Owen’sstyle,’’ he remarks, “ resembles St Paul’s. There is great zeal and much knowledge of human life discovered in all his works, especially in his book on Apostasy. ‘The ‘Means of Understanding the Mind of God’ is one of his best.”
ANALYSIS,
The basis of the discourse is Heb. vi. 4-6; and inquiry is made,—1. Into the connec- tion of the words; 2. The persons spoken of ; 3. The supposition implied respecting them; and, 4. The truth afirmed on that supposition, chap. 1. A charge of partial, as distin- guished from final and complete apostasy, is adduced against all the churches and na- tions of Christendom; the claim of the Church of Rome to be indefectible is refuted, 1. I. Apostasy from the doctrines of the gospel is illustrated by facts in the history of the ancient church, and by the predictions of the apostles, who foretold,—1. That the teachers of the gospel would soon corrupt its simplicity, by an admixture of vain philosophy ; 2. That heresies would arise, consisting oft unintelligible vagaries, as Gnosticism, and af- fecting the person of Christ, as Arianism, or the grace of Christ, as Pelagianism; 3. That men would be impatient of sound doctrine; and, 4. That the mystery of iniquity would continue to be developed till it reached its consummation in the Papacy. Apostasy is traced in the decline of the zealous orthodoxy of the Reformation, the rise of Arminianism and Socinianism, and kindred errors, 11. ‘The causes of this declension from orthodoxy in Britain are enumerated :—1. Rooted enmity to spiritual things; 2. Spiritual ignorance on the part of men who possess some knowledge, and make a profession of the truth ; 3. Pride of heart ; 4. Careless security; 5. Love of the world; 6. The influence of Satan : and lastly, Judicial blindness, tv.-vi. Particular reasons are assigned for such defec- tion from the truth :—ignorance of the necessity for the mediation of Christ, want of spi- ritual views of the excellency of Christ in his person and offices, inexperience of the efficacy of the Spirit, ignorance of the righteousness of God, reluctance to admit the sove- reignty of God, and an incapacity to discern the self-evidencing power of the Word, vir. II. Apostasy from the holiness of the gospel is next considered theoretically, in refer- ence,—1. To the morals of Romanism, defective because inconsistent with spiritual free- dom, founded on human rules and systems, capable of being observed without faith in Christ, and pervaded by the vitiating principle of merit and supererogation ; 2. To those who confine the whole of obedience to morality ; and 3. 'l'o those who pretend to perfec- tion in this life. The causes of this kind of apostasy are pb vur. Practical apostasy into open profanity and vice is traced to defects in the public teachers of reli. gion ; the false appropriation of names and titles, as when men living in sin claim to be
The Church ;” evil example in high places; the influence of persecution; want of due watchfulness against national vices; ignorance of the spiritual beauty of religion; the operations of Satan ; and the scandal created by the strictest professors of religion through their divisions and inactivity in good works and offices, x., x. IIL Apostasy from pu- rity of worship is exhibited, in the neglect of what God has appointed, and by additions which he has not appointed, in the ordinances of the gospel, xt. The danger arising from the prevailing apostasy is declared, and directions are given in order to escape being in- volved in it, X11, x11L.— Hp,
TO THE READER.
Some brief account of the occasion and design of the ensuing discourse I judge - due unto the reader, that, upon a prospect of them, he may either proceed in its perusal or desist, as he shall see cause.
That the state of religion is at this day deplorable in most parts of the Christian world is acknowledged by all who concern themselves in any thing that is so called; yea, the enormities of some are come to that excess that others publicly complain of them, who, without the countenance of their more bold provocations, would themselves be judged no small part or cause of the evils to be complained of. However, this, on all hands, will, as I suppose, be agreed unto, that among the generality of professed Christians, the glory and power of Christianity are faded and almost utterly lost, though the reasons and causes thereof are not agreed upon; for however some few may please themselves in supposing nothing to be wanting unto a good state of things in religion, but only security in what they are and enjoy, yet the whole world is so evidently filled with the dreadful effects of the lusts of men, and sad tokens of divine displeasure, that all things from above and here below proclaim the degeneracy of our religion, in its profession, from its pristine beauty and glory. Religion is the same that ever it was, only it suffers by them that make profession of it. Whatever disadvantage it falls under in the world, they must at length answer for in whose misbelief and practice it is cor- rupted. And no man can express a greater enmity unto or malice against the gospel, than he that should assert or maintain that the faith, profession, lives, ways, and walkings of the generality of Christians are a just representation of its truth and holiness. The description which the apostle gives of men in their principles, ' dispositions, and actings, before there hath been any effectual influence on their minds and lives from the light, power, and grace of the gospel, is much more applicable unto them than any thing that is spoken of the disciples of Christ in the whole book of God: “ Foolish are they, and disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.” The way, paths, and footsteps of gospel faith, love, meekness, temperanice, self-de- nial, benignity, humility, zeal, and contempt of the world, in the honours, profits, and pleasures of it, with readiness for the cross, are all [so] overgrown, and almost worn out amongst men, that they can hardly be discerned-where they have been. But in their stead the “ works of the flesh” have made a broad and open road, that the multitude travel in, which, though it may be right for a season in their own . eyes, yet is the way to hell, and goeth down to the chambers of death; for these _ © works of the flesh are manifest” in the world, not only in their nature, what they _ are, but in their open perpetration and dismal effects: such are “ adultery, fornica- tion, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance; emulations, _ wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and