Two things he mentions, as necessary for us to be purged from ;
1. Error in principle —
[Even in that early age of the Church, there were many, who, instead of upholdhig the faith, sought, by all imaginable subtilties, to turn men from their adherence to it. False teachers there were in great numbers, who " strove about words which were of no real profit, but tended only to the subverting of the hearers^" Against these St. Paul strongly guarded his son Timothy: " Shun profane and vain babblings; for they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat as doth a canker : of whom is Hymenasus and Phi- letus ; who concerning the truth have erred ; saying, that the resurrection is passed already ; and overthrow the faith of some**." Now such persons there have been in the Church, from that day even to the present hour. Some will magnify beyond due bounds the importance of some favourite doctrine, to the utter exclusion of other doctrines which have a different aspect. Others will dwell upon the circumstantials of religion, to the neglect of the points that are most essential. Others, again, will attack the fundamentals themselves ; " bringing in damnable heresies, and denying the Lord who bought them." Some, like the Pharisees of old, will make all religion to consist in the observance of rites and ceremonies : others will cast off every kind of ritual, and divest religion of every out- ward form. Some will discard from religion every thing that is mysterious or spiritual ; whilst others will spiritualize every thing, and involve tiie most common truths of Scripture in mystery and allegory, like those who reduced the doctrine of the resurrection to the mere introduction of another dis- pensation, or the moral change that is wrought on the hearts of Christian converts. In fact, there is no end of the absur- dities which men will introduce into religion, according to their respective fancies : and their zeal for their respective peculiarities will be considered by them as the best proofs of their zeal for religion. But it will be our wisdom " to purge ourselves from all such persons and sentiments ; and to hold fast, with childlike simplicity, the truth as it is in Jesus." For, in fact, these dispositions and habits are the fruits of vain conceit ; and they gender nothing but strife and contention. In a word, they all " eat like a gangrene;" which, if not healed, will gradually destroy the whole body.]
2. Corruption in practice — [This is invariably connected with the former: for the very alienation of heart, both from God and man, which
a ver. 14. " ver. 16—18.