CAUSES OF HERESY POINTED OUT. 185 cross of Christ; to lead such a one to say, with the apostle Paul, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Christ Jesus my Lord;" and to "count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of him," &c. Among the numerous professors of the Gospel, how few are brought to see that there is nothing between them and the pit of destruction but the sacrifice of Christ! and therefore they are only, as it were, half-sick: they do not see enough in the saving truth to excite their ardent love to it; in fact, their hearts remain disaffected to it-they hope to do very well without it, and hence their coldness and indifference about the form of sound words, the faith once delivered to the saints; they "receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved, wherefore God sends them strong delusions that they should believe a lie," 2 Thess. ii. 10. This is evidently stated as the source of the great apostacy. pa The pride of reasoning, also, leads many into heresy. The power or capacity of reasoning is the workmanship of God in the human mind; but, alas! which of the gifts of his beneficent hand has been more abused than this? What led our first rents into sin but the pride of reasoning-reasoning on the divine prohibition? And the same unhallowed use of it leads numbers of professors into heresies which subvert the Gospel of God and destroy the souls of men. Persons under the influence of this Satanic principle cannot be satisfied with the common faith of God's elect-the faith of the vulgar; they cannot content themselves with the simple testimony of revelation; they must try it by their own natural conceptions and reasonings, and adopt or reject it, according as it agrees with or differs from these and thus, professing themselves to be wise, they manifest the most egregious folly. Christianity is a very plain and simple thing in itself; it consists in believing as we are taught by Jesus and his apostles, and practising as we are bidden or commanded, and our highest wisdom lies in bringing all our reasonings into snbjection to divine revelation; but this is too humbling a task for many, and hence they depart from the faith and give heed to lying vanities; to which I may further add,— : The pride of wisdom, or a fondness for singularity, is another fruitful source of heresies; and it is remarkable that this temper of mind often manifests itself in connexion with conceited ignorance. Hence we find the apostle Paul connecting these opposites, pride and ignorance : "If any man consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud-knowing nothing, but doting about questions, and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth-from such withdraw thyself," 1 Tim. vi. 4. Individuals of this stamp want to make new discoveries for the display of their wisdom and skill; and instead of searching the Scriptures in the fear of God, with fervent prayer for divine illumination and a humble dependence on the teachings of the Holy Spirit, that they may be made wise unto salvation, they peruse them with all the self-sufficiency of the philosopher, in order to strike out some new hypothesis. Thus intruding into those things which they have not seen, and vainly puffed up by their carnal mind, they speedily make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience. The considerations now offered, and which, indeed, may be said to lie upon the surface of the subject, will enable us to account for both the rise and the prevalence of error and heresy in the Christian church; they are applicable to all the heresies which sprang up during the period we have had under review; let us, before quitting the subject, turn our attention for a moment to the remedy which divine wisdom prescribes as an antidote to them. The only safe and effectual preservative from heresy, or from being led away by the error of the wicked, is, to be found giving diligent heed to the writings of the holy apostles and prophets. These are the infallible standards of truth and error, to which we must bring all the doctrines and commandments of men, and receive or reject them accordingly, 1 John iv. 1–4. When Paul was about to leave the world, he gave a solemn charge to his son Timothy, to "preach the word in season and out of season," assigning this as a reason," that the time would come when men would not endure sound doctrine, but, after their own lusts, heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they should turn away their ears from the truth, and be turned unto fables, 2 Tim. iv. 2, &c. He enjoins it upon him to "hold SCRIPTURAL ANTIDOTE AGAINST HERESY. 187 fast the form of sound words, 2 Tim. i. 13; to speak the things which become sound doctrine," Tit. ii. 1. Now it is evident that what the apostle calls sound doctrine is the genuine doctrine of the gospel of Christ, that which relates to his person, character, grace, and salvation; and this he constantly exhibits as being healthful, pure, and unsophisticated, divinely adapted to heal all the maladies of the soul, and nourish the believer up into everlasting life. This genuine, unadulterated doctrine, he is at great pains to distinguish from the precarious opinions, the subtle explications and definitions, the ingenious speculations and refinements of uninspired men. He characterizes the primitive apostolic Gospel by its simplicity, in opposition to all human refinements and determinations—it is THE WORD-THE TRUTH, unmixt with any fables; with any of the precarious or false opinions-the doubtful speculations, or disputable niceties, which he foresaw would arise in the Christian church. He characterizes it, too, by its moral tendency; it is a doctrine according to godliness," Titus i. 1; and ii. 12; and in this respect the very reverse of the Jewish fables and commandments of men, propagated by the corrupt teachers of his day, which not only turned off the attention of men from the saving truth, but also gendered strifes, contentions, and envyings, which "increased unto more ungodliness," 2 Tim. ii. 16. Happy had it been for the world, if professing Christians had rested satisfied with the form of sound words-the faith once delivered unto the saints-the pure and genuine doctrine of the gospel; holding this firm and entire, without the omission of any part of it-unperverted, without being strained or wrested -sincere, unmixt with any thing else, either in the matter or manner of expression. But, alas! what the apostles, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, foretold, we know actually came to pass. Controversies sprang up in abundance--heresies multiplied-and, as we shall presently see, the church was distracted, bewildered, and inflamed! Forgetting that the gospel was not given to exercise ingenuity, or gratify curiosity, and with the view of recommending it to the philosophers of the age, some Christians began very early to new-model the articles of their faith according to the Platonic system of philosophyto define them with scientific precision, and in the phraseology of the schools; and to adopt similitudes for illustrating them, and hypotheses by which to account for them, not only arbitrary, but generally improper. The consequence was a charge of error; but their accusers, not being wise enough to satisfy themselves with proving that the Scriptures did not imply or admit the sense to which they determined it, but infected with the same spirit of philosophising, ran into opposite definitions, comparisons, hypotheses, and terms of science, often equally improper and equally involving error. Controversies were agitated concerning these contrary definitions-multitudes ranged themselves on each side--the parties broke out into contention, animosities, unjust suspicions, and insinuations, mutual reproaches and invectives. In the progress of disputations new terms, new distinctions, new comparisons were invented on each side, for marking with precision the peculiarity of its own opinion; and new hypotheses were contrived for reconciling it to Scripture, or to itself, and for evading the objections urged against it. Every such attempt produced new questionsand every new question became more frivolous, speculative, or abstruse than the former. In discussing it, new refinements of distinction and new intricacies of argumentation were introduced; and each new disputant added something, according to his own manner of apprehension. All this was the effect of not holding fast the form of sound words-of philosophising on the simple doctrine of the Gospel, and mingling the inventions of men with the truth as it is in Jesus. These observations may possibly appear to some persons in the light of a digression from the main subject, the history of the Christian church; but as it is a leading object of these Lectures to distinguish between truth and error, and to separate genuine Christianity from its corruptions, it will be necessary to interpose occasional reflections for the sake of illustration, and especially to fix the reader's attention on the rise of errors and abuses, which must often obtrude themselves upon us as we descend the stream of time. LECTURE IX. Introductory Remarks-State of the Roman Empire at the beginning of the second century-Gibbon---Celsus-Christianity an uncompromising system---Pliny's Letter to Trajan--The Emperor's reply---Reflections on the state of the Christians--Letterof Tiberianus to Trajan---Visit of the latter to Antioch --Some account of Ignatius and his martyrdom--Writings of Ignatius--Martyrdom of Simon Cleophas---Application of the subject. A. D. 101---120. Before we enter upon the history which is to form the subject of the present Lecture, there is one important topic the consideration of which it is necessary to press home upon you, if we would lead you to study ecclesiastical history with any real advantage. What I refer to is the aspect which Christianity bore, at the beginning, to the established religion of the Roman empire; or, if you choose, you may reverse the matter, and say the aspect which Paganism bore to the Christian religion. Unless this point be well and clearly understood, and always kept in view, it will be impossible for us to turn these lectures to any really useful purpose. Our Lord, in the days of his public ministry, dwelt much upon the reception which his Gospel was to meet with from the professors of every other religion then extant in the world; and he taught his disciples to lay their account with opposition, persecution, reproach, and scorn-the loss of character, property, and, in many cases, even life itself. He told them that he was come ❝ to send fire on the earth"-that they should be "hated of all men for his name's sake"-but he left them his promise that, in standing firm under the fiery trial, |