ever of the same nature befalleth others, it is sufficiently represented therein.
“oe
APOSTASY INTO PROFANENESS, ETC. 183
The immediate internal causes (which are, as the rise and original
of all sins, so of those wherein this apostasy doth consist, because
they are not peculiar hereunto, but equally respect all sins at all times) belong not unto our present inquiry. By these causes I in- tend, in general, the depravation of nature; the power and deceitful-
ness of sin; love of the world, the profits, honours, and pleasures of
it; the rage of the flesh after the satisfaction of its sensual lusts; with the aversation of the minds of men from things spiritual and hea- venly, as being “alienated from the life of God” through the dark- ness and ignorance that is in them: for these and the like depraved affections, being excited and acted by the erafty influences of Satan, and inflamed with temptations, do incline, induce, and carry men into all manner of wickedness with delight and greediness, James i 14, 15. But whereas all these things in general respect equally all times, occasions, and sins; and whereas it is the constant work of the ministers of the gospel (those, I mean, who understand their employment, with the account they must give of the souls committed unto their charge) to discover the nature, detect the deceit, and warn men of the danger, of these principles and occasions of sin within them and without them,—TI shall not need particularly here to insist upon them. It is the more public external means and causes which have produced, furthered, and promoted the apostasy complained of, that we shall take under consideration.
I. The first occasion hereof, in all ages, hath been given by or taken from the public teachers, guides, or leaders of the people in the matter of religion. I intend them of all sorts, however called, styled, or distinguished, into what forms or orders soever they are cast by themselves or others; and I name them so at large, because it is known how variously they are multiplied, especially in the church of Rome, where, as to these parts of the world, this apostasy began, and by which it is principally promoted, and that by all sorts of them. ‘These at all times have, and must have, an especial influ- ence into the holiness or unholiness of the people; yea, the purity or apostasy of the church, as to outward means, doth principally depend upon them, with the discharge of their office and duty. In many things they succeed into the room of the priests of old, and frequently fall under the command and rebuke given unto them, Mal. ii. 1-9, “© ye priests, this commandment is for you. If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lorp of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it. And ye shall know that I have sent this
184 THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF APOSTASY.
commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lorp of hosts. My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lorp of hosts. But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LorD of hosts. Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.”
That holy, humble, laborious ministry, which Christ first instituted in the church, was the great means of converting men unto evangeli- cal obedience and the preserving of them therein. This their doc- trine, their spirit, their example, their manner and course of life, their prayers, preaching, and entire endeavours, tended unto, and were blessed and prospered of God unto that purpose. Then were the lives of Christians a transcript of the truth of the gospel. But through the degeneracy of the following ages, those who succeeded them be- came troubled fountains, polluting and corrupting all the streams of Christian religion. Itis no uneasy thing to observe, in the course of ecclesiastical records and stories, how, by various degrees, the leaders of the church became corrupt, and did corrupt the people, giving them in themselves an example of strifes, divisions, ambition, worldly- mindedness; and, by their negligence in discharge of their duty, de- priving them of the means of being made better by the power of the doctrine and commands of the gospel. Under the old testament, the priests and prophets led the people into a double apostasy :— First, Into that of superstition and idolatry, Jer. xxiii. 9-15; and this continued prevailing among them until their sin issued in a desolat- ing calamity. This was the Babylonish captivity, wherein all their idols were buried in the land of Shinar, Zech. v.11. Secondly, After the return. of the people from thence, when they would no more be inveigled into idolatry, whereof God designed that captivity for an effectual cure, the same sort of persons, by negligence, ignorance, and their evil example in profaneness, turned them off from God and his law. This was begun in the days of Malachi, the last of the pro- phets, and ended in the total apostasy and destruction of that church and people. And when the whole came unto its last issue in the re- jection of the Lord Christ, the Son of God, the same sort of persons, even the guides and teachers, led, and even forced, the body of the people into that great rebellion and impenitency therein, as is evi-