which will tend to its destruction. Every day that a man lives to himself and to this present world, he departs farther and farther from God, and renders himself more and more inca- pable of heavenly pursuits and heavenly enjoyments. He is " a sinner against his own souln;" and is fitly represented as " wronging his own soul, and loving death0."]
But to what shall we look as,
II. The source of their errors —
It is not from any radical defect in their under- standing that this idolatry proceeds : it comes from their heart: " a deceived heart hath turned them aside." This is a point which is by no means duly considered. If the subject of idolatry be brought fairly before a heathen, he sees at once that his god cannot help itself, and consequently can much less afford any help to him. And in like manner the spi- ritual idolater, if only he will candidly examine the matter, must see, and be convinced, that a vain world can never satisfy an immortal soul. But,
1. His heart is deceived by Satan —
[Satan is the great deceiver of mankind. He puts a gloss on every thing ; representing as desirable that which is in itself evil ; and hiding the deformity of it ; and assuring us, that no painful consequences will follow a compliance with his suggestions. Thus he beguiled Eve in Paradise : and thus he still deceives the children of men, over the face of the whole earth. " He was a lying spirit in all the prophets of Ahabp:" and he has his agents in every place, who are ready by every possible means to forward his delusions. He can, and often does, " assume the form of an angel of light0*:" and not unfre- cpiently ui'ges his temptations in so specious a way, as " to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect r." In a word, so subtle are his devices, that to know them, and be aware of them, is a science which scarcely any human being is able to attain s; so innumerable are his wiles, and so unsearchable his deceits.]
2. His deceived heart turns aside his whole man —
[The heart, beguiled thus, and vitiated with evil propen- sities, blinds his understanding, biasses his will, and carries him forward in ways, which a more dispassionate viewT of things would lead him to condemn. This distinction clearly appears in the two verses preceding our text : " They have not known
" Numb. xvi. 38. ° Prov. viii. 35, 36. p 1 Kings xxii. 22.
<i 2 Cor.xi. 13— 15. r Matt. xxiv. 24. s 2 Cor. ii. 11.
936. j THE FOLLY OF SPIRITUAL IDOLATRY. 187
nor understood : for God hath shut their eyes, that they can- not see, and their hearts, that they cannot understand. And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire, &c. and shall I make the remains thereof an abomination ? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?" Then it is added, " He feedeth on ashes ; a deceived heart hath turned him aside." The blindness in his understanding arises from a want of due and unbiassed consideration in the heart. And, in fact, all evil will be found to originate here. " The heart of the sons of men is full of evil1;" and it is " deceitful above all things, as well as desperately wicked11:" and, like a bias in a bowl, even when under any strong impulse a man has been going for a season in a right direction, it draws him gradually aside, and causes him to rest in a situation far distant from that at which he aimed. Who amongst us has not had abundant experience of this in his own soul ? Who amongst us has not been drawn from complying with the dictates of a better principle, by the more powerful influence of an evil principle within him ; and thus followed the less proper course, at the very time that he beheld and approved the better x? Thus it is with all the votaries of this world : they have an internal consciousness that their ways and their doings are not good : they therefore will not bring them to the test of God's revealed will : " they are afraid of coming to the light, lest their deeds should be reprovedy:" yet, through the deceits of Satan and their own hearts, they say, " We shall have peace, notwithstanding we walk in the imagination of our own heartsz." Thus, I say, it is with them : they are " carried away by a spirit of whoredom*" " they are drawn away of their own lust, and enticed. Then, when their lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin ; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death V]