THE Spiritual Magazine ; OR, SAINTS' TREASURY. There are Three that bear record in heaven, the FATHER, the WORD, and the HOLY GHOST: and these Three are One." "Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." 1 John v. 7. Jude 3. NOVEMBER, 1828. A CIRCULAR LETTER, Of the Norfolk and Suffolk Association of Baptist Churches, on the Sin of Apostacy. ness. (Concluded from page 136). HOW far the agency of Satan may be employed in drawing men into religious hypocrisy, is difficult to determine; but certainly he exerts a considerable influence in bringing forth this deed of darkNot that he is strictly the cause; but knowing what we are as apostates, who are principled and defiled by the seeds of all sin, he uses his artifice and power, by temptations, errors, and illusions to provoke and draw out our depravities, so as most effectually to accomplish his destructive designs. Hypocrites in religion are his most perfect workmanship, and most securely his victims. There is something hopeful in the state of the debauched, the profligate, and profane; but to the hypocrite there seems scarcely a probability of escape from everlasting ruin. Let the five foolish virgins witness. Christ himself addressed the hypocrites of his time by the most opprobrious terms, and consigned them to perdition by a severe and cutting denunciation, "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers! how can ye escape the damnation of hell" In some instances the illusions of hypocrisy may have been dispelled by sovereign grace; in others they have remained till the hypocrite has passed to his own place, in everlasting burnings and devouring fire; while in others, hypocrisy has been manifested by their total apostacy." "Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after." 1 Tim. v. 24. VOL. V.-No. 55. Χ To obtain a distinct view of an apostate, and to ascertain from thence the nature of the sin of apostacy, it will be best to consult those parts of the word of God in which the subject is directly stated or adverted to our object be it remembered, being not to theorize upon the sin, but to illustrate it. The instances of apostacy, detailed or alluded to in the scriptures, are such as have followed a sensible enjoyment of truth; the attainment of personal purity; or a combination of experience, and great gifts of the Spirit. 66 Of the first kind are those hearers of the gospel, who are compared to stony ground, on which seed is sown, and quickly springs up, but soon withers, because there is no depth of earth for the seed to root in, and sustain the blade. The parable and exposition as given by Christ are, Behold, a sower went forth to sow, and when he sowed, some seeds fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth; and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away." "He that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for awhile, for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended." Matt. xiii. 5, 6, 20, 21. The hearts of these hearers were never broken up by the plough of the law, in the hand of the Spirit; but retained the carnal hardness and legal barrenness of nature: yet they receive the word with joy, but their delight is transient, and anon their promising profession is withered by the heat of persecution and trouble. Thus when Christ preached, the common people heard him gladly; and when he made his final entry into Jerusalem, in the lowly state of Zion's King, they were elated, and cried, saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest." But when the rulers took counsel together against the Lord, and against his Anointed, their minds and feelings were changed, and they cried vehemently, "crucify him! crucify him!" Others became his disciples, and followed him with so much earnestness, that they forgot to provide themselves with food, and pressed him with inquiries that seemed to indicate that nothing was so dear to them as to know the mysteries of his kingdom: but when he struck at the root of human sufficiency, and free-will ability, by preaching the doctrine of electing, efficacious and unfailing grace, asserting, "No man can come unto me, except the Father who hath sent me draw him ;" from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." John vi. 65, 66. Their sensible delight was suddenly damped, and they "set at nought his counsel, and would have none of his reproof." Similar facts have occurred in different periods, and people in whom the word of salvation hath been sent. among all Some have received it with pleasure, have told what they felt, and have seemed to glorify God by ascribing it to his grace. They have gone with eagerness to hear the word; they have hailed the feet of Zion's messengers, as beautiful on the top of the mountains; and lo! their ministry has been to them," as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument." Such an excitement of pleasurable sensation, so nearly resembles the spiritual experience of those who "gladly received the word, and were baptized," Acts ii. 41, that it is seldom suspected to be illusive until the event proves that "the root of the matter is not in them." Indeed nothing is more deceitful than the passions; and probably no device of the devil is more frequent or effectual than that by which he persuades us, that we must be subjects of divine influence and renewing grace, because we have received the word with delight, and have carried the feeling into ordinances and duties. A little observation of our own hearts will convince us of the fallacy of our feelings, and that our experience may be happy or joyous, when it is not scriptural and sound. Our religious pleasures may arise from various causes other than the indwelling and influence of the Holy Ghost the Comforter. Spirit and body are so exquisitely united as to act reciprocally on each other, and exhiliration of mind may originate in the mere sensibilities of our animal nature. Many constitutional peculiarities and local circumstances may occasion emotion in the affections, may fire us into the angry, melt us into the tender, or transport us into the pleasurable. And Satan is never wanting in cunning, or vigilance to deceive us, through the medium of the feelings. You may have remarked that you have sometimes passed from a state of gloom and bondage into cheerful and sensible enlargement: depression and disquietude have been succeeded by ease and joy, and you have seemed to gain what you desired; it has appeared as if the year of the Lord's redeemed was come, and you have thought to keep it as a jubilee: but afterwards, you have had reason to suspect that what was delightful was illusive, and has proved more hurtful than the trouble and darkness which you wished to escape. You have discovered that the cheering liberty you attained did not arise out of a spiritual believing apprehension of Christ, as your life, righteousness, and salvation-nor from any revelation of his transcendant beauty and glory to the inner man-nor from any scriptural assurance of his love to you-nor of your interest in the covenant and grace of the glorious Trinity-nor were the sensations which gratified you attended with deeper and intenser views of the absolute freeness, adorable sovereignty, distinguishing peculiarities, and unsearchable riches of grace-nor did they affect you with a greater abhorrence of sin and self, constraining you to glory only in the Lord: but, like intoxicating liquors, they filled you with a gust of self-satisfaction till the exhiliration passed off, and left you more languid, lukewarm, and lifeless than you were before. So dangerous is it to trust in mere feelings of delight. By whatever causes stony ground hearers are made to receive the word with joy, it is evident that their affection is merely natural, not spiritual. The principle of spiritual joy is a divine life in the soul which endures for ever, but of this they are destitute, having no root in themselves; their joy lasts for a season, and their profession is glowing; they may be ardent and active, and give a fair promise of being the most spiritual, lively, and useful members of the church: but, alas, and anon! offences arise, and these joyous professors, like a rocket that has spent its fire in the air, return to the earth from whence also they came. In some instances, temporary believers are chiefly distinguished by their personal purity. They put off the works of darkness in their general habits and conduct, cultivate the practice of piety, and then fall away. Their attainments and apostacy are very strikingly described, 2 Peter ii. 20-22. "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning: for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them; but it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." The description is so clear and discriminate, that it is surprising it should be referred to in support of the heresy of the final apostacy of the saints. What is there in it that warrants such an application? It is not said, that these apostates had been "created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained;" but the contrary is plainly and strongly implied. They had indeed acquired a personal purity, having escaped the general corruptions of the world through the light and influence of the truth, which made known to them the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: but in turning away from the holy commandment, they are compared to "the dog that returns to his vomit," and to "the sow that is waahed to her wallowing in the mire." The simile illustrates the fact, and leads us to the most definite conception of it; for as the dog throws off his vomit, and the sow is washed from her filthiness, without undergoing any change of nature, instinct, or taste, so these persons of holy attainments, as "natural brute beasts," return by depraved propensity and liking to their lusts and corruptions, and become more odiously unclean than they were before. To assert that they were regenerate believers in the face of the text is as bold an absurdity as to maintain that a dog who has disgorged himself becomes of another species until he returns and eats up his vomit, or that a sow by washing is made a lamb, and when she returns to the mire the lamb becomes a sow again. Such a preposterous transformation would never have been thought of if men were not at their wit's ends to defend a heresy which is a detestable blasphemy against divine grace, and a contradiction to the record of God. But some men will sacrifice their reason rather than their prejudices, and wrest the most obvious declarations of divine truth rather than admit that the grace of God is absolute, sovereign, invincible, and immutable. The ministry of the word may in many instances effect a moral reformation of character, when it is not attended with the renewing energy of the Holy Spirit. Proof of this would be superfluous. But no fancied attainments of personal purity will ensure us from apostacy. A religious profession may be assumed and maintained by the mortification of sin in the members, by a scrupulous and conscientious abstinence from the appearance of evil, and by a general observance of religious duties and practical holiness without spiritual life. And when this is done, those who have seemed to be the holiest saints may become the most shameful and abandoned servants of sin. The distance between external religious purity, and turning aside to the grossest corruptions, is not always so great as may be imagined; and there is nothing in the principles of an unregenerate professor that will prevent his fall into the foulest offences after the fairest appearance of a spiritual and holy walk. Those who are sanctified by God the Father are preserved in Christ Jesus; but those who sanctify themselves by their own acts may also defile themselves by their own doings, and become seven-fold more the children of hell in their latter end than they were in the beginning. Our Lord Christ has illustrated the fact, and distinctly shewn the conduct of the devil in this affair, Matt. xii. 43-45. "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return unto my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished: then goeth he, and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first." This was addressed to the pharisees, who had a high reputation for personal holiness and extraordinary devotion, but who on seeing the wonderful works of Jesus imputed them to the agency and influence of the prince of the devils. It was intended to be applied to others, and gives us a very clear insight into the real characters of some professors who fall away. The policy of the devil in the management of them is worthy of particular notice. He is represented as an unclean spirit, dwelling in a man, as he doth in the children of disobedience, working in them and leading them captive at his will. He then resolves upon an experiment, and goes out of him: but like a vagrant from home, walking about in dry places, seeking rest and finding none, he returns and takes possession again. On looking over the state of this man he finds his artifice had succeeded, and that his temporary cleansing had fitted him for an excess of diabolical influence. "Empty, swept, and garnished;"-" empty," void of grace, of Christ, of the Holy Spirit, of the power of godliness, though professedly holy, spiritual, and godly;-swept," having escaped the |