(10) And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; (11) And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
Some have thought, that the false prophet is here meant; but if we attend to the features of character given, we shall not be inclined to this opinion. His name of wormwood, meaning the bitter accompaniments, during this time of the third trumpet, seems to point out some more special and peculiar exercise, and of longer bitterness than a quick death: such as Mahomet used. And moreover, it, as some have thought, that the period of this trumpet, opened very early in the fifth century, and ran on to near the close of it; it could not be, in point of time, the false Prophet; for certainly he did not commence his imposture until the year 600, at the earliest. But, might it not be (I ask the question, but do not decide), that heretic, who first shone like a meteor, in the firmament of the professing Church, possessing great human learning, but soon fell into the awful error, of denying original sin; thereby lessening, or rather doing away, the necessity of redemption. The person I mean, is Pelagius; who lived about this time and whose horrible doctrines have spawned to this hour. Surely he might well be called wormwood; for bitter indeed must be that error which strikes at the very root of the Gospel, and, where received, becomes like a deadly poison, causing men to rot, and swell, and at length die, inflated with a fancied purity of nature born with them, and man's free will sufficient to keep himself pure.
Reader! I pray you, pause over the consideration of this awful heresy. And think, what a mercy it is, that the Lord hath made such a provision, by the sovereignty of his grace, for preserving his called and regenerated children, from the dreadful delusion. Wormwood indeed, it may well be called, when the very waters of the sanctuary, which should run in healing streams, are thus poisoned by those who dispense them, (unsent as they are, uncalled of God), and which kill the souls of the unawakened, with their bitterness! Now a child of God, through the mercy of divine teaching, hath in himself an effectual remedy, to resist the contagion. Should all the devils in hell, or all the men upon earth, attempt to persuade a child of God, whom God hath convinced of sin, and brought acquainted with the plague of his own heart, that there is no such thing as original sin; his very feelings must everlastingly contradict him. A man taught of God, knows better. He is conscious of indwelling, inbred corruption, and inherent unholiness. He feels his corrupt nature forever disturbing him, even sometimes in moments of solemn worship. He feels what Paul felt, and groan's under it as the Apostle groaned, that when he would do good, evil is present with him. Think then, what a mercy it is, to have the blessedness of divine teaching, as an antidote against the impudent assertions of man. The Lord knows how distressing it is to a child of God, to feel these inward workings. But better is it, to groan under a sense of inward workings of evil, so as to make Christ dear, and to compel the soul to go to him continually for deliverance; than in a fancied holiness within, which, whoever talks of, no man of the fallen sons of Adam ever knew; to make men proud, and to keep from Christ, instead of leading to Christ.
Reader! pause a moment longer. And, if the Lord hath been, and is your Teacher, say, how truly blessed it is, both to have learnt from him original sin, and also the remedy of Christ's righteousness and blood-shedding, to do the whole evil of it away. Oh who shall speak, or describe the preciousness of that grace, whereby the child of God both feels and knows the bitterness of original sin, which he had before conversion, together with the remains of corruption after conversion; and the blessedness of Christ's daily cleansing the soul from both, and from all sin? Oh! the sweet consolations of the Lord's strength, daily made perfect in creature weakness, to carry the child of God on in the life of grace! The child of God knows all these things. They are inlaid truths, in his heart, They are brought forward all the day, and every day, in renewed personal, practical knowledge, to dispute, or contend against them, is to be arguing against our very being. Sure I am of all these things, as much as I am of my very existence. And, blessed Lord; while thou shall bring the whole home to my heart, day by day, as thou art graciously doing, neither men nor devils, can be able to make me relinquish thy truth, in compliment to their false reasoning. Oh for grace in this Christ-despising day and generation, and contend earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the saints. Jude 1:3.