_ Jesus Christ), “they would no doubt have continued with us: but
they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not
all of us,” 1 John i 19.
106 THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF APOSTASY.
Thus when the apostle had described the woful apostasy of some among the Hebrews, he adds concerning them whose preservation he believed, “ But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation,” Heb. vi. 9. Whatever know- ledge men may have of the doctrines of the gospel, and whatever profession they may make, unless they have withal those things which are inseparable from salvation, such as is the saving illumina- tion of the Holy Ghost, whereby the darkness of our minds is removed, there can be no assurance that they will always “quit themselves like men,” and “ stand fast in the faith.” And this con- sideration doth not a little evidence the danger of a defection from the truth which attends the days wherein we live.
For, first, it is from hence that we have such a numerous gene- ration of sceptics in religion among us,—a sort of men who pretend not to renounce or forsake the truth, only they will talk and dispute about it with the greatest indifferency as to what is true or false. The Scripture, the holy Trinity, the person of Christ, his offices, the nature of justification and grace, whether it be or be not, this or that church, all or any im the world, as to their profession and worship, are weighed in the defiled, tottering scales of bold, irreverent dis- courses. Hor some reasons known to themselves, this sort of persons will own the public profession of religion, perhaps be teachers in it. But on all occasions they fully manifest that they are utterly igno- rant of the fundamental difference between truth and error, and so give no firm assent unto what they do profess; for this difference lieth in their glory and beauty in themselves, and in their power and efficacy towards us. Spiritual, heavenly truth, by its relation unto the being, infinite wisdom, goodness, love, and grace of God, by the characters of all these things impressed on it and represented by it, is glorious, amiable, and desirable ;—all error, as an effect of dark- ness, and by its relation unto Satan as the head of the apostasy which drew off our minds from the original essential Truth, is dis- torted, deformed, and brings the mind into confusion. Truth is powerful and effectual to conform the soul unto God, and to principle it with a love of and power unto obedience ;—error turns the mind aside into crooked and by paths of folly or superstition, or pride and self-advancement. Were men practically acquainted with this differ- ence between truth and error, it would take away that indifferency in their minds unto them which this sceptical humour doth discover. Truth so known in its nature and efficacy will beget that reverence, that love, that sacred esteem of itself, in the souls of men, as they shall not dare to prostitute it to be bandied up and down with every | foolish imagination. And from this sort of men, who are commonly the most bold and forward in undertaking the conduct of others, by
a eS ee
IGNORANCE A CAUSE OF APOSTASY. 107
a pretended generous contempt of their narrow principles, groundless
_ scruples, and pusillanimous fears, nothing is to be expected but a
wise and safe compliance with any ways or means of apostasy from the truth which shall be advantageously presented unto them.
And by the means of this darkness, it is easy to conceive how un- certain and unstable the minds of the generality of men, who per- haps also are somewhat ignorant (whereof we shall treat afterward), must needs be in their assent unto the truth and the profession of it. They are no way able to discover it in such a way or manner as to give them an assurance which will be infallibly victorious against temptations and oppositions; nor can they have that holy love unto it which will secure their minds and affections from being enticed and ravished from it. But, all the difference between truth and error which they can discern lying in bare different notions and ap- prehensions, wherein also they are dark and unskilled, it is no won- der if at any time they make an easy transcursion from the one to the other. So did the body of the people lose the truth gradually under the papal defection without any great complaint, yea, with much complacency and satisfaction; and it is to be feared that multitudes are ready at once to steer the same course if occasion be offered unto them.
From this consideration we may rectify the seeming solecism that is in the profession of religion, or the professors of it. Truth in every kind is the only guide of the mind in all its actings; wherein it pro- ceeds not according unto it, it is always out of the way. Divine truth is the sole conduct of the mind in all its actings towards God; it is the only fountain, immediate cause, and rule of all our obedi- ence. But yet, whereas in other things men generally walk in the light of those sparks of truth which they have received, we see that many by whom divine truth is owned and professed in its greatest purity and highest discovery are ofttimes no less wicked and vicious in their lives, no less enemies unto holiness, no less barren and un- fruitful in those good and useful works it guides and directs unto, than those who, having the greatest aversation from it, are, under the conduct of other principles, erroneous and superstitious. Thus the lives of the common sort of Protestants are no better than those of the