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| Weak People Fall an Easy Prey to Heresy, Which Derives Strength from the General Frailty of Mankind. Eminent Men Have Fallen from Faith; Saul, David, Solomon. The Constancy of Christ.
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Chapter
III.—Weak People Fall an Easy Prey to Heresy, Which Derives
Strength from the General Frailty of Mankind. Eminent Men Have Fallen
from Faith; Saul, David, Solomon. The Constancy of Christ.
It is usual, indeed, with persons of a weaker
character, to be so built up (in confidence) by certain individuals who
are caught by heresy, as to topple over into ruin themselves. How comes
it to pass, (they ask), that this woman or that man, who were the most
faithful, the most prudent, and the most approved1858
| 1858 Usitatissimi,
“most experienced.” | in the church, have gone over to the other
side? Who that asks such a question does not in fact reply to it
himself, to the effect that men whom heresies have been able to
pervert1859
ought never to have
been esteemed prudent, or faithful, or approved? This again is, I
suppose, an extraordinary thing, that one who has been approved should
afterwards fall back? Saul, who was good beyond all others, is
afterwards subverted by envy.1860
David, a good man
“after the Lord’s own heart,”1861
is
guilty afterwards of murder and adultery.1862
Solomon, endowed by the Lord with all grace and wisdom, is led into
idolatry, by women.1863
For to the Son of
God alone was it reserved to persevere to the last without
sin.1864
But what if a bishop, if a deacon, if a
widow, if a virgin, if a doctor, if even a martyr,1865
| 1865 [Here the word
martyr means no more than a witness or confessor, and may
account for what are called exaggerated statements as to the
number of primitive martyrs. See Kaye p. 128.] | have fallen from the rule (of faith), will
heresies on that account appear to possess1866
the truth? Do we prove the faith1867
by the
persons, or the persons by the faith? No one is wise, no one is
faithful, no one excels in dignity,1868
but the
Christian; and no one is a Christian but he who perseveres even to the
end.1869
You, as a man, know any other man from the
outside appearance. You think as you see. And you see as far only as
you have eyes. But says (the Scripture), “the eyes of the Lord
are lofty.”1870
“Man looketh
at the outward appearance, but God looketh at the
heart.”1871
“The Lord
(beholdeth and) knoweth them that are His;”1872
and “the plant which (my heavenly
Father) hath not planted, He rooteth up;”1873
and “the first shall,” as He shows, “be
last;”1874
and He carries
“His fan in His hand to purge His
threshing-floor.”1875
Let the chaff of a
fickle faith fly off as much as it will at every blast of temptation,
all the purer will be that heap of corn which shall be laid up in the
garner of the Lord. Did not certain of the disciples turn back from the
Lord Himself,1876
when they were
offended? Yet the rest did not therefore think that they must turn away
from following Him,1877
but because they
knew that He was the Word of Life, and was come from God,1878
| 1878 John
i. 1; vi. 68, and xvi. 30. | they continued in His company to the very
last, after He had gently inquired of them whether they also would go
away.1879
It is a comparatively small thing,1880
that certain men, like Phygellus, and
Hermogenes, and Philetus, and Hymenæus, deserted His
apostle:1881
| 1881 2 Tim. i. 15; ii. 17; 1 Tim. i.
20. | the betrayer of
Christ was himself one of the apostles. We are surprised at seeing His
churches forsaken by some men, although the things which we suffer
after the example of Christ Himself, show us to be Christians.
“They went out from us,” says (St. John,) “but they
were not of us. If they had been of us, they would no doubt have
continued with us.”1882
| 1882 1 John ii. 19. [i.e., with the Apostolic
Churches. See Cap. xx, infra.] | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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