Chapter III.
Apostasy from the mystery, truth, or doctrine of the gospel — Proneness of persons and churches thereunto — Proved by all sorts of instances.
There are three things in the gospel which are as the essentially constitutive parts of it:— 1. The mystery of its doctrine, which is the object of faith; 2. The holiness of its precepts, which are the matter of our obedience; and, 3. The purity of its institutions of worship, which is the trial of our faith and obedience as to their profession. With respect unto these we are to make our inquiry, both as unto matter of fact, and as unto the reasons, causes, and occasions of it, in the apostasy from them that is in the world. Instances hereof, in every one of the particulars mentioned, we shall find in our own days, and those both deplorable and of ill abode.1 But I shall not confine myself unto the present age, nor unto what is done or come to pass among ourselves, but consider things with respect unto the whole course and progress of religion since the first preaching and declaration of the gospel.
First, The mystery of the truth or doctrine of the gospel, which is the object of our faith, is the foundation of its precepts and institutions, of the holiness it requireth and of the worship that it appointeth. Where this is forsaken, the others cannot be retained. Men may profess the truth, and yet not yield obedience unto it, Tit. i. 16, 2 Tim. iii. 5; but without the real belief of it, no man can be obedient as he ought. The obedience which the gospel requireth is the “obedience of faith,” Rom. i. 5, or being “obedient to the faith,” Acts vi. 7. It is this “grace of God” alone which “teacheth men to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world,” so as to find acceptance with God therein, Tit. ii. 11, 12. Wherever, therefore, this is rejected, renounced, forsaken, declined from by any, so far as it is so, so far there is and will be an apostasy from all other concernments of the gospel. This, therefore, we are to inquire into. And we shall find in our inquiry that all sorts of persons, all churches, are, and always have been, exceedingly prone to turn aside from the mystery and truth of the doctrine of the gospel, that they have done so accordingly, and that those which are now in the world continue to be of the same temper and inclination. And as it will appear that no evil practices are indulged unto on this supposition, so it is desirable that those who are secure in this matter, on such principles as wherewith they are satisfied, would not with too much severity reflect on them who cannot but be jealous over themselves and others. The great apostle himself makes this the principal ornament in the preparation of his triumph upon the success of his ministry, that he had “kept the faith:” 2 Tim. iv. 6–8, “I am,” saith he, “now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day.” Of all that made way for that triumphant glory which he now had a prospect of, he insists on this only in particular, that he had “kept the faith;” which he did not do without a severe warfare and conflict: so great a matter was that in his esteem, which most suppose so common, so easy, that little diligence or watchfulness is required thereunto. And the frequent solemn charges, with pathetical exhortations, which he gives unto his son Timothy to be careful herein, manifest both the weight he laid upon it, the difficulty that was in it, and the danger of miscarriage wherewith it was attended: 1 Tim. vi. 20, 21, “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: which some professing have erred concerning the faith.” 2 Tim. i. 13, 14, “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.” And the same apostle expressly mentions the proneness of some to relinquish the truth of the gospel; whom, therefore, he would have rebuked sharply, “that they might be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men, turning from the truth,” Tit. i. 13, 14. Neither would there be any need that some should “earnestly contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints,” Jude 8, but that others are very ready to corrupt it and turn away from it.