God may be forsaken by men in one way, and he may righteously forsake them in another. For instance, under the profession of the _ truth, men may give up themselves unto all ungodliness and unright- eousness, unto a flagitious course of life in all abominations, so hold- ing the truth captive in unrighteousness. In this case God ofttimes, in a way of punishment, gives men up unto an apostasy from the truth which they have professed, to show that he will not always have it prostituted unto the lusts of men. So the apostle speaks expressly, 2 Thess. ii. 10-12. Although they received the truth in the profes- sion of it, yet they loved it not; they yielded not obedience unto it, but took pleasure in sin: therefore God ordered things so that they should reject the truth itself also, and believe lies, unto their own de- struction. Herein at this day lies the danger of a total and ruinous
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142 THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF APOSTASY.
apostasy. Multitudes, the generality of all sorts, the body of the people, do yet assent unto and profess the truth; but, alas! what are the lives and conversations of many under that profession? Howdo all manner of sins abound among us! The profession of the truth by not a few is the greatest dishonour and disparagement that can be cast upon it. The best service many can do it is by forsaking it, and declaring that the belief of it is inconsistent with their cursed wicked lives. And may we not justly fear lest such persons should speedily be given up, by one means or other, to “strong delusion, to believe a lie,” unto their just damnation? And on the other hand, also, God sometimes gives men up to sins and wickednesses in prac- tice, because of the rejection of the truth which they have received. So he dealt with them who liked not those notions of truth which they had concerning him, his being and his providence, from the light of nature, Rom. i. 28. And so he usually deals with all apos- tates. IPfthey will forsake the truth, they shall forsake righteous-- ness and holiness, which are the proper fruits of it, and be given up unto all abominable lusts and practices.
We may therefore inquire by what ways and means God doth so punish and revenge the beginnings of wilful apostasy from the gos- pel, so that men shall complete them and prove obstinate in them unto their eternal destruction. And this he doth,—
First, By removing his candlestick from among them. This the Lord Jesus threatens his backsliding church withal, Rev. ii. 5. God will, by one means or another, deprive them of the light and means of the knowledge of the truth, so that ignorance and darkness shall cover them and irresistibly increase upon them. Some of the in- struments of light, it may be, shall be taken away by death, and some shall lie under prejudices; the gifts of the Spirit shall be re- strained or withheld from others, that they shall have darkness for vision, and “ the sword of the LorD shall be upon their right eye, that it shall be quite dried up.” In this condition of things, the _ minds of apostates, already bent upon backsliding, are, by their ignor- ance and darkness, more and more filled with prejudices against the truth, and alienated from it; for as they lose the knowledge and faith of any part of truth, their minds are possessed with what is opposite thereunto.
Secondly, In this condition God “sends them strong delusion, that they may believe a lie,” 2 Thess. ii. 11. God is, as it were, now resolved on the end of these persons,—what they have righteously deserved; and therefore he makes use of any means, as it is merely penal, to bring them thereunto. And as by the former act of his displeasure he took from them the knowledge of his truth, so by this he gives them up irrecoverably to adhere unto a lie. They shall not
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only profess it, but believe it; which is the cruellest slavery the mind of man is capable of. Now, God’s sending on men “strong delusion, | that they may believe a lie,” consists in these things: —
1. Delivering them up to the power of Satan. He is the grand seducer, the deluder of the souls of men, the first author of lying, whose principal design it is to win over the faith and assent of men thereunto. This work he stands continually ready for, but that God is pleased to limit, bound, and restrain him, with respect unto those who are yet under his especial care. But as to these apostates, God breaks down all his fences about them, and by his efficacious per- mission suffers Satan to act his part to the utmost for their delusion. This was the state of things under the papal apostasy, wherein Satan had deluded men, as it should seem, to the satisfaction of his utmost malice; and to show how absolute he was in his success, he did, as it were, make sport with the deluded souls of men. There was no- thing so foolish and sottish that he did not impose on their credu- lity. Many volumes will not contain the stories of those ridiculous follies which he so imposed on the minds of poor deluded mortals, wherein he seemed to sport himself in the misery of blinded man- kind. God grant that he never receive a commission to act the same part among us, whose sins seem to cry aloud for it, and men live as if they longed to be again given up to the power of the devil!