It is known how brutishly ignorant the generality of their priests are in the Papacy; neither, for the most part, do the rulers of that church require any more of them than that they have skill enough to read and manage their public offices of devotion. Neither is it much otherwise in the Greek church, in any of the branches of it, whereby whole nations, under a public profession of Christianity, are through stupid ignorance degenerated into a profane course of life, no less vile than that of the heathens. It is well if it be not so in some measure in other places also. But the truth is, the ignorance of many who take upon them the office of the ministry, and their unconscion- able idleness when they have so done, is the great occasion of the con- tinuance of profaneness and ungodliness among the people. And if
ee
* APOSTASY INTO PROFANENESS, ETC. 193
_ the preaching of the gospel be the only sovereign, effectual means ap-
pointed by God for the change of men’s natures and the reformation
_ of their lives (a denial whereof includes a renunciation of Christi- _ anity), it is a vain expectation that either of them will be wrought ‘mm such a way as to restore the beauty and glory of religion in the
world, unless provision be made for an able ministry to instruct the body of the people, through all their distributions, in knowledge and understanding.
2. Tt is the duty of this sort of persons, unto the same end, to
preserve the truth pure and uncorrupted. Unless this be done care-
fully and effectually, holiness will not be maintained or preserved in the world. And it is evident how many of them have acquitted them- selves herein, as hath been in part declared in the foregoing account of apostasy from the doctrine and truth of the gospel. By them prin-
_cipally it hath been debased, corrupted, perverted, and continueth
yet so to be; neither is there at this day scarce any one doctrine that should really promote evangelical obedience which is free from being
_ despised or depraved by some of them. But this is not that which
——
we now speak unto; it hath been done already. Our present inquiry is after that love and care of, that zeal for the truth, which are emi-
_ nently required of them. Do they pray, and labour, and plead with
God and man for its preservation, as that wherein their principal interest doth lie? or do many esteem of it any farther but as their
_ outward advantages are secured by it? A fault there is in this matter,
and it is not without the especial guilt of some that the world is come
to such an indifferency about the principal truths of the gospel that from thence men slip into atheism every day.
3. Neither are these defects supplied by diligence in their work; yea, the want thereof is of all other evils in this kind most evident. No words are sufficient to express the sloth and negligence, the cold- ness and carelessness, that are found amongst many in the discharge of their duty, as to the instruction of others, and the application of
the word of God to the hearts and consciences of men. I shall not
mention particular instances, that none may be offended. The matter itself is evident, and the effects of it manifest. It may seem to some desirable that such things should be concealed, but whilst by reason hereof the souls of multitudes are in danger of eternal ruin every day, those who are sensible of their misery may be allowed to com- plain. How few, therefore, do diligently and industriously lay out themselves and their strength in the ministry, with zeal for the glory of God and compassion unto the souls of men! How few do take heed to themselves and to the flocks, do watch and pray, and press
_ their message on the consciences of their hearers! Alas! it is but
little of saving truth that many know in the notions of it, less they VOL. VIL 13
194 THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF APOSTASY:
care to communicate unto others, because they know it not in its power. Will the souls of men be brought into the obedience of faith, will the power and interest of sin and the world in them be cast down and destroyed, will gospel obedience be preserved in the lives of men, by such weak and languid endeavours as many satisfy themselves withal? If it be so, conversion unto God and the fruits of holiness must be looked on as most easy things, and the ministry itself to be of little use in the world. Certainly, there is another representation of these things in the Scripture; and notwithstanding the growth of some opinions that would render the whole work of | Christianity so easy and facile as to be accommodated unto a negli- gent ministry, yet the event thereof is openly pernicious. Where- fore we need not fear to say, that coldness, lukewarmness, sloth, and negligence, especially when accompanied with ignorance and spiritual darkness about the principal mysteries of the gospel, with an uncon- cernment of mind and affections in the importance, end, and design of their work, among them who are looked on as the public teachers of the church, at any time or in any place, keeps open a wide door for the lusts of men to pour forth themselves into that deluge of apostasy from the power of godliness which the world is even over- whelmed withal.