Chapter 8. How Satan Labors to Corrupt the Christian's Mind with Error

THe second sort of spiritual sins are such as are not only acted in the spirit, but are conversant about spiritual objects proper to the souls nature that is a spirit, and not laid out in carnal passions of fleshly lusts, in which the soul acts but as a Pander for the body, and partakes of their delights only by way of sympathy; for as the soul feels the bodies pains no other way then by sympathy, so neither does it share in the pleasures of the flesh by any proper taste it has of them, but only from its neer neighbourhood with the body does sympathize with its joy; but in spiritual wickednesses that corrupt the minde, here the soul moves in its own sphere, with a delight proper to it selfe; and there are no lesse of these then the other. There is hardly a fleshly lust, but has some spiritual sin analogical to it, as they say there is no species of creatures on the land but may be pattern'd in the sea: Thus the heart of man can produce spiritual sins answering carnal lusts; for whoredom and uncleannesse of the flesh, there is idolatry call'd in Scripture spiritual adultery, from which the seat of Antichrist is call'd spiritual Sodom; for sensual drunkennesse, there is a drunkennesse of the minde intoxicating the judgement with errour, a drunkennesse of the heart in cares and feares; for carnal pride in beauty, riches, honor, there is a spiritual pride of gifts graces, &c. Now Satan in an especial manner assaults the Christian with such as these; it would require a larger discourse then I can allow to runne over the several kindes of them; I shall of many pick out two or three. As first, Satan labors to corrupt the mind with erroneous principles, he was at work at the very first plantation of the Gospel, sowing his darnel, assoon almost as Christ his wheate, which sprung up in pernicious errours, even in the Apostles times, which made them take the weeding-hook into their hands, and in all their Epistles labor to countermine Satan in this design. Now Satan has a double design in this his endeavour to corrupt the mindes of men, especially Professours, with errour.

SECT. I.

First, he does this in despite to God, against whom he cannot vent his malice at a higher rate then by corrupting his truth, which God has so highly honoured, Psalms 138:2. You have magnified your Word above all your Name. Every creature bears the Name of God, but in his Word and truth therein contained 'tis writ at length, and therefore he is more choice of this, then of all his other works; he cares not much what becomes of the world and all in it, so he keeps his Word, and saves his truth. Ere long we shall see the world on a light flame, the heavens and earth shall passe away, but the Word of the Lord endures for ever. When God will, he can make more such worlds as this is, but he cannot make another truth, and therefore he will not lose one iota thereof. Satan knowing this, sets all his wits on work to deface this truth, and disfigure it by unsound doctrine. The Word is the glasse in which we see God, and seeing him are changed into his likenesse by his Spirit. If this glasse be crackt, then our conceptions we have of God will mis-repesent him unto us, whereas the Word in its native clearnesse sets him out in all his glory unto our eye.

Secondly, he endeavours to draw into this spiritual sin of errour, as the most subtil and effectual means to weaken, if not destroy the power of godliness in them. The Apostle joynes the Spirit of power and a sound minde together, 2 Tim 1:7. Indeed the power of holiness in practice depends much on the foundnesse of judgement. Godliness is the child of truth, and it must be nurst, if we will have it thrive with no other milk then of its own mother. Therefore we are exhorted to desire the sincere milk of the Word, that we may grow, 1 Peter 2:2. [illegible], if this milk be but a little dash't with errour, it is not so nutritive All errour, how innocent soever any may seem, (like the Ivy) draws away the strength of the souls love from holiness. Hosea tells us, Whoredom and wine take away the heart; now errour is spiritual adultery. Paul speaks of his espousing them to Christ; when a person receives an errour, he takes a stranger into Christs bed, and it is the nature of adulterous love to take away the wises heart from her true husband, that she delights not in his company so much as of her adulterous lover: and do we not see it at this day fulfill'd? do not many show more zeal in contending for one errour, then for many truths? how strangely are the hearts of many taken off from the ways of God, their love cool'd to the Ordinances and Messengers of Christ? and all this occasioned by some corrupt principle got into their bosomes, which controuls Christ and his truth, as Hagar and her son did Sarah and her child. Indeed Christ will never enjoy true conjugal love from the soul, till like Abraham he turns these out of doors. Errour is not so innocent a thing as many think it; it is as unwholesome food to the body, that poisons the spirits and surfeits the whole body, which seldom passs away and not break out into sores. As the knowledge of Christ carries a soul above the pollutions of the world, so errour entangles and betrayes it to those lusts, whose hands it had escaped.

Thirdly, Satan in drawing a soul into this spiritual sin has a designe to disturb the peace of the Church, which is rent and shattered when this fire-ship comes among them. I hear (says Paul) there are divisions among you, and I partly believe it, for there must be heresies, 1 Corinthians 11:18, 19. implying that divisions are the natural issue of heresie. Errour cannot well agree with errour, except it be against the truth, then indeed (like Pilate and Herod) they are easily made friends, but when truth seems to be overcome, and the battel is over with that, then they fall out among themselves, and therefore it is no wonder if it be so troublesom a neighbor to truth. O Sirs, what a sweet silence and peace was there among Christians a dozen years ago; me thinks the looking back to those blessed days in this respect, (though they had also another way their troubles, yet not so uncomfortable, because that storme united, this scatters the Saints spirits) is joyous to remember in what unity and love Christians walk't, that the Persecutors of those times might have said, as their Predecessours did of the Saints in primitive times, See how they love one another; but now alas they may jeere and say, See how they that loved so dearly are ready to pluck one anothers throats out.

SECT. II.

The application of this shall be only in a word of exhortation to all, especially you who bear the Name of Christ by a more eminent Profession of him. O beware of this soul-infection, this leprosie of the head. I hope you do not think it needlesse, for 'tis the disease of the times. This plague is begun, yea, spreads apace; not a flock, a Congregation hardly that has not this scab among them. Paul was a Preacher the best of us all may write after, and he presses this home upon the Saints, yea, in the constant course of his preaching it made a piece of his Sermon, Acts 20:30, 31. he sets us Preachers also on this work: Take heed to your selves, and to all the flock; for I know this, that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter; also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things; therefore watch. And then he presents his own example, that he hardly made a Sermon for several years, but this was part of it to warn every one night and day with teares. We need not prophesie what Impostors may come upon the stage, when we go off: There are too many at present above board of this gang, drawing disciples after them. And if it be our duty to warn you of them, surely 'tis yours to watch, lest you by any of them be led into temptation in this hour thereof, wherein Satan is let loose in so great a measure to deceive the Nation. May you not as easily be sowered with this leaven, as the disciples whom Christ bids beware? Are you priviledged above those famous Churches of Galatia and Corinth, many of which were bewitched with false teachers, and in a manner turned to another Gospel? Is Satan grown Orthodox, or have his instruments lost their cunning, who hunt for souls? In a word, is there not a sympathy between your corrupt heart and errour? Have you not a disposition, which like the fomes of the earth, makes it natural for these weeds to grow in your soile. Seest you not many prostrated by this enemy, who sate upon the mountain of their faith, and thought it should never have been removed, surely they would have tooke it ill to have been told you are the men and women that will decry Sabbaths, which now ye count holy; you will turn Pelagians, who now defie the name; you will despise Prophecie it self, who now seem so much to honor the Prophets; you will throw family-duties out of doors, who dare not now go out of doors, till you have prayed there. Yet these, and more than these are come to passe, and does it hot behove you (Christian) to take heed lest you fallest also? and that you may not,

First, make it your chief care to get a through change of your heart. If once the root of the matter be in you, and you beest bottom'd by a lively faith on Christ, you are then safe, I do not say wholly free from all errour, but this I am sure, free from ingulphing your soul in damning errour. They went out from us, (says Saint John) but they were not of us, for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us, 1 John 2:19 As if he had said, they had some outward Profession, and common work of the Spirit with us, which they have either lost or carried over to the devils quarters, but they never had the unction of the sanctifying Spirit. By this, verse 20. he distinguishs them, and comforts the sincere ones, who possibly might feare their own fall by their departure: But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. 'Tis one thing to know a truth, and another thing to know it by unction. An hypocrite may do the former, the Saint only the latrer It is this unction which gives the soul the savor of the knowledge of Christ; those are the fit prey for Impostors, who are enlightened, but not enlivened. O it's good to have the heart establish't with grace, this as an anchor will keep us from being set a drift, and carried about with divers and strange doctrines, as the Apostle teaches us, Hebrews 13:9.

Secondly, ply the work of mortification. Crucifie the flesh daily. Heresie though a spiritual sin, yet by the Apostle reckon'd among the deeds of the flesh, Galatians 5:20. because it is occasioned by fleshly motives, and nourisht by carnal food and fuel. Never any turn'd Heretick, but flesh was at the bottome, either they serv'd their belly, or a lust of pride; 'twas the way to Court, or secur'd their estates, and saved their lives, as sometimes the reward of truth is fire and fagot; some pad or other is in the straw when least seen, and therefore it's no wonder that heresies should end in the flesh, which in a manner sprang from it. The rheume in the head ascends in fumes from the stomach, and returnes there, or unto the lungs which at last fret and ulcerate: Carnal affections first send up their fumes to the understanding, clouding that, yea, bribing it to receive such and such principles for truths, which imbraced, fall down into the life corrupting that with the ulcer of profanenesse. So that, Christian, if once you can take off your engagements to the flesh, and become a free-man, so as not to give your vote to gratifie your carnal fears or hopes, you will then be a sure friend to truth.

Thirdly, waite conscionably on the Ministery of the Word. Satan commonly stops the eare from hearing sound Doctrine, before he opens it to embrace corrupt. This is the method of souls apostatizing from truth, 2 Timothy 4:3, 4. They shall turn their eares from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. Satan like a cunning thief drawes the soul out of the road into some lane or corner, and there robs him of the truth. By rejecting of one Ordinance we deprive our selves of the blessing of all other: say not that you prayest to be led into truth, he will not hear your prayer if you turnest yours eare from hearing the law. He that loves his child, when he sees him play the truant, will whip him to school: If God loves a soul, he will bring him back to the Word with shame and sorrow.

Fourthly, When you hearest any unusual Doctrine, though never so pleasing, make not up the match hastily with it: have some better testimony of it before you open your heart to it. The Apostle indeed bids us entertain strangers, for some have entertain'd Angels unawares, Hebrews 13:3. but he would not have us carried about with strange Doctrine, vers. 9. by this I am sure some have entertained devils. I confesse. 'tis not enough to reject a doctrine, because strange to us, but ground we have to wait and enquire. Paul marvelled that the Galatians were so soon removed from him, who had called them unto the grace of Christ, unto another Gospel; they might sure have stayed till they had acquainted Paul with it, and asked his judgement; what, no sooner an Impostour come into the countrey and open his pack, but buy all his ware at first sight? O friends, were it not more wisdom to pray such new notions over and over again, to search the Word and our hearts by it, yea, not to trust our own hearts, but call in counsel from others. If your Minister have not such credit with you, yet the most holy, humble and establish't Christians you can finde. Errour is like fish, which must be eaten new, or it will stink, When those dangerous errours sprung up first in New England, O how unsettled were many of the Churches? what an outis was made, as if some mine of gold had been discovered; but in a while, when those errours came to their complexion, and it was perceived where they were bound, to destroy Churches, Ordinances, and Power of Godliness: then such as feared God, who had stept aside, returned back with shame and sorrow.

The second kind of spiritual sins are those that are not only carried out in the spirit, but are also directed toward spiritual objects that belong to the soul's own nature as a spirit — not the carnal passions of fleshly lusts, in which the soul only acts as a servant to the body and shares in those pleasures indirectly through its closeness to the body. Just as the soul feels the body's pain through that connection, so it shares in fleshly pleasures the same way — by proximity, not by any proper taste of its own. But in spiritual wickednesses that corrupt the mind, the soul moves in its own sphere, with delights proper to itself. These are no fewer in number than the other kind. There is hardly a fleshly lust that does not have a corresponding spiritual sin — just as naturalists say there is no species on land that does not have a counterpart in the sea. The human heart can produce spiritual sins that answer to every carnal lust: for physical immorality and impurity, there is idolatry — called spiritual adultery in Scripture, which is why the seat of Antichrist is called spiritual Sodom. For sensual drunkenness, there is a drunkenness of the mind, intoxicated by error, and a drunkenness of the heart in cares and anxieties. For carnal pride in beauty, wealth, or honor, there is spiritual pride in gifts and graces, and so on. Satan assaults the Christian with these in a particular way. A full treatment of every kind would require more space than I can give here — I will select two or three from the many. First, Satan works to corrupt the mind with false doctrine. He was at work at the very beginning of the church's planting, sowing his weeds almost as soon as Christ sowed His wheat. Dangerous errors sprang up even in the apostles' time, which is why they took up the weeding tool in all their letters, working to undermine Satan's campaign. Satan has a double purpose in his effort to corrupt people's minds — especially those who profess faith — with error.

Section 1.

First, he does this out of spite toward God, against whom he cannot vent his malice more effectively than by corrupting God's truth — which God has honored above everything else (Psalm 138:2): 'You have exalted Your word above all Your name.' Every creature bears some reflection of God's name, but in His Word and the truth it contains, that name is written out in full. He guards this more carefully than all His other works. He is not overly concerned what becomes of the world and everything in it, so long as He keeps His Word and preserves His truth. Before long we will see this world consumed in flame — the heavens and earth will pass away — but the Word of the Lord endures forever. God can make countless worlds like this one, but He cannot make another truth, and therefore He will not surrender a single word of it. Satan knows this, and sets all his cunning to work to deface this truth and distort it through false teaching. The Word is the mirror in which we see God — and seeing Him, we are changed into His likeness by His Spirit. If that mirror is cracked, our understanding of God will distort Him, whereas the Word in its native clarity shows Him to our eyes in all His glory.

Second, Satan pursues this spiritual sin of error as the most subtle and effective way to weaken — if not destroy — the power of godliness in people's lives. The apostle connects the spirit of power and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). The power of holiness in practice depends greatly on soundness of judgment. Godliness is the child of truth, and if we want it to thrive, it must be nourished on no other milk than its own mother's. This is why we are urged to crave the pure milk of the Word so that we may grow (1 Peter 2:2). If that milk is even slightly mixed with error, it loses its nourishment. Every error, however innocent it may appear — like ivy on a wall — draws away the soul's strength and love from holiness. Hosea tells us that harlotry and wine take away the heart (Hosea 4:11), and error is spiritual adultery. Paul describes his work as presenting believers as a pure bride to Christ. When a person receives an error, they take a stranger into Christ's bed — and the nature of an adulterous relationship is to turn the wife's heart away from her true husband, so she no longer delights in his company as she does in her lover's. Do we not see this happening today? Many show more passion in defending one error than in holding many truths. The hearts of countless people have been pulled away from God's ways, their love for the Word and ministers of Christ grown cold — and it all comes from some corrupt principle lodged in their hearts, ruling over Christ and His truth as Hagar and her son did over Sarah and her child. Christ will never receive true wholehearted love from the soul until, like Abraham, He drives those out. Error is not as harmless a thing as many think. It is like unwholesome food to the body — it poisons the system and overloads the whole constitution, and it rarely passes through without breaking out into sores. Just as the knowledge of Christ lifts a soul above the corruptions of the world, so error entangles it and delivers it back to the very lusts it had once escaped.

Third, Satan's design in drawing souls into this spiritual sin has another purpose: to disturb the peace of the church, which is torn apart when this fire-ship sails into it. 'I hear there are divisions among you,' Paul says, 'and I partly believe it, for there must be factions' (1 Corinthians 11:18-19) — implying that divisions are the natural product of heresy. Error cannot well agree with error, except when both are united against truth. In that case — like Pilate and Herod — they become easy allies. But once truth appears to have been overcome and the battle against it is won, they fall out among themselves. No wonder, then, that error is such a troublesome neighbor to truth. O friends, what a quiet and sweet peace there was among Christians a dozen years ago. Looking back to those blessed days — even though they had their own troubles, which were far less disheartening, since that storm united the saints while this one scatters their spirits — it is a joy to remember the unity and love in which Christians walked together. Their persecutors in those days could have said, as their predecessors said of the saints in the early church: 'See how they love one another.' But now, alas, those same persecutors might mockingly say: 'See how those who once loved so dearly are ready to tear each other's throats out.'

Section 2.

The application of this will be a brief word of exhortation to all, especially those who bear Christ's name in a more visible and serious profession. Beware of this soul-infection, this leprosy of the mind. I trust you do not think this warning unnecessary — for this is the disease of our times. This plague has begun, and indeed spreads rapidly. There is hardly a congregation that does not have this sore among its members. Paul is the preacher all of us may well aspire to follow, and he pressed this home on the saints — indeed, it was a regular part of his preaching: 'I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert' (Acts 20:29-31). He then points to his own example: that for many years, he hardly preached a sermon without warning everyone, night and day, with tears. We do not need to prophesy what false teachers may appear after we are gone — there are already too many openly at work, drawing disciples after them. If it is our duty to warn you of them, surely it is your duty to watch, so that none of them may lead you into temptation in this hour — when Satan has been let loose to deceive on a large scale. Are you somehow more immune than those famous churches of Galatia and Corinth, many of whose members were bewitched by false teachers and almost turned to a different gospel? Has Satan become orthodox? Have his instruments lost their skill in hunting for souls? In a word — is there not a natural sympathy between your corrupt heart and error? Do you not have a disposition, like fertile soil, that makes these weeds grow naturally in you? Do you not see many who have been thrown down by this enemy — people who once stood on the mountain of their faith, sure it could never be moved? They would have been deeply offended if told beforehand: 'You are the very people who will come to despise the Sabbath, which you now consider holy; who will drift into the belief that human will saves itself, though you now reject that notion; who will despise preaching itself, though you now seem to honor preachers so highly; who will abandon family prayer, though you dare not leave the house without it now.' Yet all of this and more has come to pass. Ought you not, therefore, to take heed lest you also fall? And so that you may not:

First, make it your chief concern to have a genuine change of heart. If the root of the matter is truly in you, and you are grounded by a living faith in Christ, then you are safe — I do not say completely free from all error, but certainly free from being swallowed up in error that damns the soul. 'They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us' (1 John 2:19). As if John had said: they had some outward profession and common work of the Spirit alongside us, which they have either lost or carried over to the devil's side — but they never had the anointing of the sanctifying Spirit. By this (verse 20) he distinguishes them from true believers and comforts those who were sincere, who were perhaps afraid they too might fall after seeing others depart: 'But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.' It is one thing to know a truth and another to know it by that anointing. A hypocrite may do the former; the saint alone does the latter. It is this anointing that gives the soul a genuine taste of the knowledge of Christ. Those who are easiest prey for false teachers are people who have been enlightened but not enlivened. It is good to have the heart established by grace — this acts as an anchor, keeping us from being set adrift and carried around by every novel and strange teaching, as the apostle tells us (Hebrews 13:9).

Second, press on in the work of mortification. Put the flesh to death daily. Heresy, though a spiritual sin, is counted by the apostle among the deeds of the flesh (Galatians 5:20) — because it is motivated by fleshly interests and fed by carnal fuel. No one has ever turned heretic without flesh at the root of it — whether they served their appetites, fed their pride, sought advancement at court, protected their estates, or saved their lives when holding to truth might cost them fire and execution. There is always something hidden in the straw, even when it is least visible. No wonder, then, that heresies tend to end in the flesh, when they largely spring from it. Mucus in the head rises as vapors from the stomach and returns there, or to the lungs, which eventually become inflamed and ulcerated. In the same way, carnal desires send their fumes up to the understanding, clouding it — indeed, bribing it to accept certain false principles as truths. Once accepted, these principles descend into the life and corrupt it with the ulcer of ungodliness. So, Christian, if you can once free yourself from your entanglement with the flesh — becoming truly free, no longer casting your vote to satisfy your carnal fears or hopes — you will be a trustworthy friend of truth.

Third, attend faithfully on the preaching of the Word. Satan commonly stops a person's ear to sound doctrine before he opens it to false teaching. This is the typical pattern of souls falling away from truth (2 Timothy 4:3-4): 'They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.' Satan, like a clever thief, draws the soul off the main road into some side lane or corner, and robs it of the truth there. By neglecting one ordinance, we cut ourselves off from the blessing of all the others. Do not say you are praying to be led into truth while you are turning your ear from the preaching of God's Word — God will not hear that prayer. A father who loves his child and sees him playing truant will bring him back to school. If God loves a soul, He will bring it back to the Word, even if it takes shame and sorrow to get it there.

Fourth, when you hear unusual doctrine — however appealing it sounds — do not rush into a relationship with it. Seek better testimony of it before you open your heart to it. The apostle tells us to welcome strangers, for some have entertained angels without knowing it (Hebrews 13:2). But he also warns us not to be carried away by strange teachings (verse 9). By the latter, I am certain some have entertained devils. I acknowledge it is not enough to reject a teaching simply because it is unfamiliar — there is good reason to wait and inquire carefully. Paul was astonished that the Galatians were so quickly pulled away from the one who had called them to the grace of Christ, turning to a different gospel. Surely they could have waited, gone to Paul, and asked his judgment. Is that how we should act — no sooner does a traveling teacher arrive and open his pack than we buy all his goods at first sight? O friends, would it not be wiser to pray over such new ideas again and again, to search the Word and examine your hearts by it, and indeed, not to trust your own judgment alone but to call in the counsel of others? If your own minister does not have that credibility with you, then at least seek out the most holy, humble, and grounded Christians you can find. Error is like fish — it must be eaten fresh or it will rot. When those dangerous errors first arose in New England, the churches were thrown into great confusion. There was a clamor as if a gold mine had been found. But in time, when those errors showed their true face and it became clear where they were heading — toward the destruction of churches, ordinances, and the power of godliness — those who feared God who had wandered aside came back with shame and sorrow.