be puffed up for one against another for who maketh thee to differ from another 1 Cor. 4. 6 7. What respectful language did Holy Mr. Brewen give to his own godly servants Remember Christians that there is neither rich nor poor bond nor free but all are one in Christ Jesus This indeed destroys not the civil differences God hath made between one and another Grace will teach the godly servant to give double honour to a Religious Master or Mistress the private Christian to a godly Magistrate or Minister It will teach the People to know them which labour among them and are over them in the Lord and admonish them and to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake and to be at peace among themselves 1 Thes. 5. 12 13. and it will also teach Superiors to condescend to men of low degree and not to think of themselves above what they ought but with all lowliness meekness and long suffering to forbear one another in love keeping this way the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace Eph. 4. 2 3. Direction V. This gentle language and respectful deportment would naturally and constantly flow from the Uniting Grace of Wisdom Humility and Love were they more exalted in the hearts of Christians Wisdom would allay those unchristian heats Prov. 17. 27. a man of understanding is of an excellent Spirit so we render it but the Hebrew signifies a cool Spirit the wisdom that is from above is gentle and easie to be intreated Iames 3. 17. Humility takes away the fewel from the fire of Contention only from Pride cometh Contention Prov. 13. 10. How dearly hath Pride especially Spiritual Pride cost the Churches of Christ Love is the very Cement of Societies the fountain of Peace and Unity it thinketh no evil 1 Cor. 13. puts the fairest sence upon doubtful words and actions it beareth all things Love me saith Anstin and reprove me as thou pleasest 'T is a radical grace bearing the fruits of Peace and Unity upon it Direction VI. Be of a Christ-like forgiving Spirit one towards another Eph. 4. 31 32. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Hath thy Brother offended thee how apt art thou also to offend thy Brother and which is infinitely more how often dost thou every day grieve and offend Jesus Christ who yet freely forgives all thy offences Remember Friend that an unforgiving is a sad sign of an unforgiven person They that have found mercy pity and forgiveness should of all men in the World be most ready to shew it Direction VII Be deeply affected with the mischievous effects and consequents of Schisms and Divisions in the Societies of the Saints and let nothing beneath a plain necessity divide you from Communion one with another hold it fast till you can hold it no longer without Sin At the fire of your contentions your enemies warm their hands and say aha so would we have it Your Prayers are obstructed Mat. 5. 24. First be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift Edification is hindred Feaverish bodies thrive not Eph. 4. 15. God is provoked to remove his Gracious presence from among you Be of one mind saith the Apostle live in peace and the God of peace shall be with you 1 Cor. 13. 11. implying that their contentions would deprive them of his blessed company with them The glory of your society is clouded if ye have bitter envyings and strife in you hearts glory not Iames 3. 14. Glory not in your Church Privileges personal gifts and attainments whatever you think of your selves you are not such Christians as you vogue your selves for living in a Sin so directly contrary to Christianity The name of Christ is dishonoured You are taken out of the world to be a people for his name that is for his honour but there 's little credit to the name of Christ from a dividing wrangling people The alluring beauty of Christianity by which the Church gains upon the world Acts 2. 46 47. is sullied and defaced and thereby as I noted before conversion hindred and a new stone as it were rolled over the graves of poor sinners to keep them down in their impenitency Tremble therefore at the thoughts of Divisions and Separations St. Augustine notes three sins severely punished in Scripture The Golden Calf with the Sword Iehojakims cutting the Sacred Roll with a dreadful Captivity but the Schism of Korah and his Accomplices with the Earth's opening her mouth and swallowing them up quick Direction VIII Let all Church-Members see that they have Union with Christ evidencing it self in daily sweet Communion with him Lines drawn from a Circumference come nearest to one another in the Centre When God intends to make the hearts of men one he first makes them new Ezek. 11. 19. I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within you And the more any renewed heart tasts the sweetness of Communion with God by so much it is disposed for Unity and Peace with his People Our frowardness and peevishness plainly discovers all is not well betwixt God and us Nothing so opposite to or abhorred by a soul that enjoys sweet Peace and Communion with Christ than to live in sinful jars and contentions with his people Return therefore to the Primitive Spirit of Love and Unity forbear one another forgive one another mortifie your dividing Lusts cherish your Uniting Graces mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine ye have learned and avoid them Rom. 16. 17. In a Word and that the Word of the Apostle in the Text I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment FINIS * Utinam tam consertis manibus compertam comprehensamque veritatem semel retiâ—ere possâ—mus quâ—m protinùs agnitam festivis oculis hilares exosculamur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chatta a Scopo aberravit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shaga 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tagna in Hiph * I am persuaded saith Mr. Gurnal some men take more pains to furnish themselves with Arguments to defend some Error they have taken up than they do for the most saving Truths in the Bible Austin said when he was a Manichean Non Tu eras sed Error meus erat Deus meus Thou O Lord wert not but my Error was my God Gurnal's Christian Armour part 2. page 36. †Cum unaquaeque Haeresis sui commenti parentem habeat Diabolum ac pudore tà m exosi nominis teneatur pulcherrimum quod super omnia est nomen Salvatoris profitetur Scripturarumque dictionibus amicitur Athanas. contra Arian * Take
that are his mystically considered and is properly made with all Believers in Christ and therefore it is called their Covenant Zech. 9. 11. As for thee also by the blood of thy Covenant I have sent forth thy Prisoners out of the Pit wherein is no water So when God entred into the Covenant of Grace with Abraham Gen. 17. 7. I will establish my Covenant saith he between me and thee thy Seed after thee So when he took the People of Israel into this Covenant Ezek. 16. 8. I sware unto thee saith he and entred into a Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine This Covenant of Grace made with Believers in Christ is not the same nor must it be confounded with the Covenant of Redemption made with Christ before the World began They are two distinct Covenants for in the Covenant of Grace into which Believers are taken there is a Mediator and this Mediator is Christ himself but in the other Covenant of Redemption there neither was nor could be any Mediator which manifestly distinguishes them Besides In the Covenant of Grace Christ bequeaths manifold and rich Legacies as he is the Testator but no man gives a Legacy to himself This Covenant is really and properly made with every Believer as he is a Member of Jesus Christ the Head and they are truly and properly federates with God the Covenant binds them to their Duties and encourages them therein by promises of strength to be deriv'd from Christ to enable them thereunto 2. We thankfully acknowledge That the glory of the New Covenant is chiefly discovered in the Promises thereof upon the best Promises it is established And all the Promises are reducible to the Covenant They meet and center in it as the Rivers in the Sea or Beams in the Sun But yet we cannot say that nothing but Promises is contain'd in this Covenant for there are Duties required by it as well as Mercies promised in it Nor may we say That those Duties required by it are required only to be performed by Christ and not by us but they are required to be performed by us in his strength Nor is it Christ that repents and believes for us but we our selves are to believe and repent in the strength of his Grace And till we do so actually in our own persons we have no part or portion in the Blessings and Mercies of this Covenant If Christ by believing for us give us an actual Right and Title to the Promises and Blessings of the New Covenant then it will unavoidably follow 1. That men who never repented for one sin in all their lives may be nay certainly are pardoned as much as the greatest Penitents in the World because though they never repented themselves yet Christ repented for them expresly contrary to his own words Luke 13. 3. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish And contrary to his own established Order Luke 29. 47. Acts 3. 19. 2. It will also follow That Unbelievers who never had union with Christ by one vital act of Faith in all their lives may be nay certainly shall be saved as well as those that are actual Believers because though they be Unbelievers in themselves yet Christ believed for them expresly contrary to Mark 16. 16. He that believeth not shall be damned John 3. 36. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him And Luke 12. 46. He will cut him in sunder and will appoint him his portion with unbelievers 3. It will also follow from hence That men may continue in a state of disobedience all their days and yet may be sav'd as well as the most obedient Souls in the World expresly contrary to Eph. 5. 6. Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience And Rom. 2. 8. But unto them that are contentioâ—s and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath And 1 Pet. 4. 17. What shall the end of them be that obey not the Gospel of God! This Language sounds strange and harsh to the Ears of Christians a repenting Christ saving the impenitent Sinner A believing Christ saving Unbelievers An obeying Christ saving obstinate and disobedient Wretches Whither doth such Doctrine tend but to encourage and fix men in their impenitence unbelief and disobedience But the Lord grant no poor Sinner in the World may trust to this or build his hopes of Eternal Life upon such a loose sandy foundation as this is Reader All that Christ hath done without thee will not cannot be effectual to thy Salvation unless Repentance Faith and Obedience be wrought by the Spirit in thy Soul 'T is Christ in thee that is the hope of glory Col. 1. 27. Beware therefore on what ground thou buildest for Eternity Error X. They deny Sanctification to be the evidence of Iustification and deridingly tell us This is to light a Candle to the Sun and the darker our Sanctification is the brighter our Iustification is Refutation I am not at all surprized at this strange and absonous Language 'T is a false and dangerous Conclusion yet such as naturally results from and by a kind of necessity follows out of their other Errors For if the Elect be all justified from Eternity and that neither Repentance Faith or Obedience be required of us in the Covenant of Grace but were all required of and performed by Christ who repented believed and obeyed for us then indeed I cannot understand what relation our Sanctification hath to our Justification or how it should be an evidence mark or sign thereof or what regard is due from Christians to any Grace or Work of the Spirit wrought in them to clear up their Interest in Christ to them For we being in Christ and in state of Justification before we were naturally born we must necessarily be so before we be regenerated or new-born and consequently no work of Grace wrought in us or holy Duties performed by us can be evidential of that which from Eternity was done before them and without them 1. I grant indeed That many vain Professors do cheat and deceive themselves by false unscriptural signs and evidences as well as by true ones misapplied 2. I grant also That by reason of the deceitfulness of the Heart instability of the Thoughts similar works of common Grace in Hypocrites Distractions of the World Wiles of Satan weakness of Grace and prevalency of Corruptions the clearing up of our Justification by our Sanctification is a work that meets with great and manifold Difficulties which are the things that most Christians complain of 3. I also grant That the evidence of our Sanctification in this or any other method is not essential and absolutely necessary to the being of a Christian. A man may live in Christ and yet not know his interest in him or relation to him Isa. 50. 10. Some Christians like Children in the Cradle
comfort and the propagation of Christianity in the World Tongue-unity flows from Heart-unity Heart-unity in a great measure from Head-unity and all three from Union with the Lord â—esus Christ. The divisions of our Tongues come mostly from the divisions of our Hearts were Hearts agreed Tongues would quickly be agreed And then what bleâ—â—ed times might be expected And so much briefly for the nature of Unity Next 2. Let us evince both the necessity and desirableness of this Unity among Believers and this will appear in a threefold respect viz. 1. With respect to the Glory of God 2. The Comfort and Benefit of our own Souls 3. The Conversion and Salvation of the World 1. With respect to the Glory of God The manifestative Glory of God which is all the Glory we are capable of giving him is the very end of our Being and should be dearer to us than our Lives is exceedingly advanced by the Unity of his people Hence is the Apostle's Prayer Rom. 15. 5 6. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one towards another according to Christ Iesus that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God 'T is highly remarkable That the Apostle in this Petition for the Unity of the Saints doth not only describe that Unity he prays for one Mouth and one Mind and shews how much God would be glorified by such an Union but he also addresses himself to God for it under these two remarkable Titles the God of patience and consolation thereby intimating two things 1. How great need and exercise there is of patience in maintaining Unity among the Saints They must bear one another's burthens they must give allowance for mutual infirmities For the Church here is not an Assembly of Spirits of just Men made perfect The Unity of the Saints therefore greatly depends upon the exercise of Patience one towards another and this he begs the God of Patience to give them And to endear this Grace of Patience to them He 2. joyns with it another Title of God viz. the God of Consolation wherein he points them to that abundant comfort which would result unto themselves from such a blessed Unity continued and maintained by the mutual exercises of patience and forbearance one towards another And to set home all he lays before them the pattern and example of Christ The God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded according to Christ. How many Thousand infirmities and failures in Duty doth Christ find in all his people Notwithstanding which he maintaineth Union and Communion with them and if they after his example shall do so likewise with one another God will be eminently glorified therein This will evidence both the Truth and Excellency of the Christian Religion which so firmly knits the hearts of its Professors together 2. Secondly The necessity and desirableness of this Unity farther appears by the deep interest that the comfort and benefit of our Souls have in it A great example hereof we have in Acts 2. 46 47. Oh! what cheeriness strength and pleasure did the Primitive Christians reap from the Unity of their Hearts in the ways and worship of God Next unto the pleasure and delight of immediate Communion with God himself and the shedding abroad of his Love into our Hearts by the Holy-Ghost none like that which ariseth from the harmonious exercises of the graces of the Saints in their mutual Duties and Communions one with another How are their Spirits dilated and refreshed by it What a lively emblem is here of Heaven the Courts of Princes afford no such delights Whereas on the other side when Schisms have rent Churches a-sunder they go away from each other exasperated grieved and wounded crying out Oh that I had a Cottage in the Wilderness or oh that I had the Wings of a Dove that I might flee away and be at rest 3. Lastly The necessity and desireableness of this Union further appears with respect unto the World who are allured to Christ by it and scared off from Religion by the feuds and divisions of Professors To this the Prayer of Christ hath respect Ioh. 17. 23. That they may be made perfect in one that the world may know that thou hast sent me q. d. This O Father will be a convincing evidence to the World of the Divinity both of my Person and Doctrine and a great ordinance for their conversion to me when they shall see my people cleaving inseparably unto me by Faith and to one another by Love And on the other side it will be a fatal stumbling-block in the way of their conversion to observe my followers biting and devouring rending and tearing one another A Learned and Judicious Divine Commenting upon those words Cant. 2. 7. I charge you O ye daughters of Ierusalem by the Roes and by the Hinds of the field that ye stir not up nor awake my love till â—e please gives the sense thus By Roes and Hinds of the Field saith he understand weak comers on towards Christ persons under some preparatory works towards Conversion who are as shy and as timorous as Roes and Hinds of the Field and as they will be scared by the yelp of a Dog or sound of a Gun so will these at any offensive miscarriages in the Churches of Christ. Alexander Severus finding two Christians contending with one another commanded them that they should not presume to take the name of Christ upon them any longer for saith he you greatly dishonour your Master whose Disciples you profess your selves to be And thus briefly of the nature of Church-unity and the necessity and desirableness thereof among all that stand in that Relation VSE The only improvement I shall make of this point shall be for 1. Exhortation to Unity 2. Directions for the maintaining of it The first Vse for Exhortation And first having briefly discoursed the nature necessity and desireableness of Unity among all Christians and especially of those in particular Church-relation I do in the Bowels of Christ and in the words of his Apostle Phil. 2. 1 2. earnestly and humbly intreat all my Brethren That if there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the spirit if any bowels of mercies fulfil ye my joy that ye be like-minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind He speaketh not as one doubting but as one disputing when he saith If there be any consolation in Christ And 't is as if he had said I passionately and earnestly intreat you by all that comfort and joy you have found in your mutual Communion from Christ and his Ordinances wherein you have comfortably walked together by all that comfort resulting from the mutual exercises and fruits of Christian Love by the unspeakable joys and delights the Spirit of God hath shed down upon you whilst you walked in Unity in the ways of your Duty by all the bowels of
none in the Towns or Neighbourhoods where you live Are you sure there are none that have hopeful inclinations towards Religion desires and purposes to attend on the same means of Grace you sit under who will charge the occasion of their Damnation upon you at the Bar of Christ and say Lord we had some weak convictions upon our Consciences that we needed a rouzing and searching Minister we were convinced that the profane and carnal World among whom we had our conversation were not in the right path that leadeth to Salvation We felt in our selves inclinations to cast off our old Companions and associate with those that professed more strictness and holiness and place our selves under the most fruitful and advantagious Ministry and accordingly improved opportunities to get acquaintance with them but when we came nearer to them we found such wrath and envy such wranglings and divisions such undermining and supplanting each others reputation such whisperings and tale-bearings such malicious aggravations and improvements of common failings and infirmities such covetousness and worldliness such pride and vanity as gave us such a disgust and offence at the ways of Reformation that we could never more be reconciled to them Beware I say how you incur the guilt of such a dreadful charge as this by giving liberty to such Lusts and Passions under a profession of Religion and pretence to Reformation Motive IV. Consider the contrariety of such Practices to that solemn and fervent Prayer of Jesus Christ recorded in Iohn 17. 'T is highly remarkable how in that Prayer which he poured out a little before his death with such a mighty Pathos and fervency of Spirit he insists upon nothing more than Unity among his People He returns upon his Father again and again for the obtaining of this one thing Four times doth he beg for Unity among them and every time he seems to rise higher and higher beseeching his Father 1. That they may be one 2. That they may be one in us 3. That they may be one as thou and I are one and lastly That they may be made perfect in one By all this shewing how intent his Spirit was upon this one thing Brethren If you would study how to frustrate the design and grieve the Heart of your Lord Jesus Christ to whom you profess love and obedience you cannot take a readier way to do it than by breaking the bonds of Unity among your selves I beseech you therefore in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath so earnestly prayed for the unity of his People That ye be perfectly joined together in one heart and in one mind as the Text speaks Motive V. Consider how directly your Divisions cross and frustrate the Design and End of Church-fellowship which is instituted for the improvement of each other's Graces and helping on the mortification of each other's Corruptions God hath distributed variety of gifts and graces in different degrees amongst his People the improvement of these gifts and graces to the glory of God and our mutual edification is the very scope and end of particular Church-fellowship and Communion every man hath his proper gift of God and as a late Worthy notes the gifts and graces of all are this way made useful and beneficial Iob was exemplary for plainness and patience Moses for faithfulness and meekness Iosieh for tenderness and a melting Spirit Athanasius was prudent and active Basil heavenly and of a sweet Spirit Chrysostom laborious and without affectation Ambrose resolved and grave One hath quickness of parts but not so solid a Judgment Another is solid but not ready and presential One hath a good Wit another a better Memory a third excells them both in utterance One is zealous but ungrounded another well principled but timorous One is wary and prudent another open and plain-hearted One is trembling and melting another chearful and full of comfort Now the end and use of Church-fellowship is to make a rich improvement unto all by a regular use and exercise of the gifts and graces found in every one One must impart his light and another his warmth The Eye viz. the knowing man cannot say to the hand viz. the active man I have no need of thee Unspeakable are the benefits resulting from spiritual and orderly Communion but whatever the benefits be they are all cut off by Schisms and Dissentions for as Faith is the grace by which we receive all from God so Love is the grace by which we share and divide the comfort of all among our selves The excellent things of the Spirit are lodg'd in earthen Vessels which death will shortly break and then we can have no more benefit by them but these Jars and Divisions render Saints as it were dead one to another whilst they are alive Ah how lovely how sweet and desirable it is to live in the communion of such Saints as are described Mal. 3. 16. To hear them freely and humbly to open their hearts and experiences to one another After this manner some say the art of Medicine was found out As any one met with an Herb and discovered the virtue of it by any Accident he was to post it up and so the Physicians skill was perfected by a collection of those posted Experiments But wo to us we are ready to post up each other 's Failings and Infirmities to the shame and reproach of Religion and to furnish our common Enemies with matter of contempt and scorn against us all Motive VI. In a word These Schisms and Dissentions in the Churches of Christ are ominous presages and foreboding signs of some sweeping Judgment and common Calamity near approaching us 'T is a common observation with Shepherds That when the Sheep push one another a storm speedily ensues I am sure 't is so here if God turn not our hearts one towards another he will come and smite the Earth with a Curse Mal. 4. 6. I believe it Sirs you will have other work to do shortly There be those coming if God prevent not that will part the fray VSE II for Direction In the last place therefore give me leave to lay before you some necessary and proper Directions and Counsels for the prevention and healing of Schisms and Divisions amongst the Churches of Christ for it is not Complaints and Lamentations but proper Counsels and Directions and those not only prescribed but obeyed that must do the work When Ioshua lay upon his face before the Lord Ioshua 7. 8 9 10. bewailing the sins and miseries of Israel Vp saith God sanctify the people wherefore liest thou upon thy face As if he should say Thy moans and lamentations are good and necessary in their place but speedy action and vigorous endeavours must be also used or Israel will perish So say I up up fall speedily to your duties as men in earnest and for your guidance in the paths of duty I will lay before you the following plain and necessary Directions Direction I.
Psal. 119. 105. the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament do jointly make the Solid Foundation of a Christian's Faith Hence Eph. 2. 20. we are said to be built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets We are bound therefore to honour Old Testament Scriptures as well as New they being part of the Divine Canon and must not scruple to admit them as sufficient and authentick proofs for the confirmation of Truths and refutation of Errors Christ referr'd the people to them Ioh. 5. 39. and Paul Preached and Disputed from them Acts 26. 22. Third Observation Vnto the Attainment of Divine Knowledg out of the Scriptures some things are naturally yet less principally requisite in the Subject and something absolutely and principally necessary The natural qualifications desirable in the Subject are clearness of Apprehension solidity of Judgment and fidelity of Retention These are desirable requisites to make the Understanding susceptible of knowledg but the irradiation of the mind by the Spirit of God is principally necessary Joh. 16. 13. He shall guide you into all truth The clearest and most comfortable light he giveth to men is in the way of Sanctification called the teachings of the Anointing 1 Iohn 2. 27. When this spiritual sanctifying light shines upon a mind naturally enriched and qualified with the three forementioned requisites that Mind excels others in the riches of knowledg And yet the teachings of the Spirit in the way of Sanctification do very much supply and recompence the defects and weaknesses of the forementioned qualifications Whence two things are highly remarkable 1. That men of great abilities of natute clear apprehensions in natural things strong Judgments and tenacious memories do not only frequently fall into gross Errors and damnable Heresies themselves but become Heresiarchs or Heads of erroneous Factions drawing multitudes into the same sin and misery with themselves as Arrius Socinus Pelagius Bellarmin and multitudes of others have done And secondly It is no less remarkable that men of weaker parts but Babes in comparison through the Sanctification and direction of the Spirit for which they have humbly waited at his feet in Prayer have not only been directed and guided by him into the Truth but so confirm'd and fixed therein that they have been kept sound in their Judgments in times of abounding Errors and firm in their adherence to it in days of fiercest Persecution How men of excellent natural parts have been blinded and men of weak natural parts illuminated see 1 Cor. 1. 26 27. Matth. 11. 25. Fourth Observation Among the manifold impediments to the obtaining of true Knowledg and setling the mind in the truth and faith of the Gospel these Three are of special remark and consideration viz. Ignorance Curiosity and Error Ignorance slights it or despairs of attaining it Truth falls into contempt among the ignorant from sluggishness and apprehension of the difficulties that lye in the way to it Prov. 24. 7. Wisdom is too high for a fool Curiosity runs beside or beyond it This Pride and Wantonness of the mind puffs it up with a vain conceit that it is not only able to penetrate the deepest Mysteries revealed in the Scripture but even unrevealed secrets also Col. 2. 18. intruding into those things which he hath not seen vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind But Error militates directly against it contradicts and opposeth Truth especially when an Error is maintained by pride against inward convictions or means of better information 'T is bad to maintain an Error for want of light but abundantly worse to maintain it against light This is such an affront to the Spirit of God as he usually punishes with Penal Ignorance and gives them up to a spirit of Error Fifth Observation Error is binding upon the Conscience as well as Truth and altogether as much and sometimes more influential upon the Affections and Passions as Truth is For it presents not it self to the Soul in its own name and nature as Error but in the name and dress of Truth and under that notion binds the Conscience and vigorously influences the passions and affections and then being more indulgent to lust than Truth is it is for that so much the more embraced and hugg'd by the deceived soul Acts 22. 4 5. The heat that Error puts the soul into differs from Religious Zeal as a Feverish doth from a Natural heat which is not indeed so benign and agreeable but much more fervent and scorching A mind under the power of Error is restless and impatient to propagate its Errors to others and these heats prey upon and eat up the vital Spirits and Powers of Religion Sixth Observation 'T is exceeding difficult to get out Error when once it is imbib'd and hath rooted it self by an open profession Errors like some sorts of Weeds having once seeded in a Field or Garden 't is scarce possible to subdue and destroy them especially if they be hereditary Errors or have grown up with us from our youth à teneris assuescere multum est faith Seneca 't is a great advantage to Truth or Error to have an early and long possession of the mind The Pharisees held many erroneous opinions about the Law as appears by their corruptive Commentaries upon it refuted by Christ Matth. 5. but did he root them out of their heads and hearts thereby No no they sooner rid him out of the world The Sadduces held a most dangerous Error about the Resurrection Christ disputed with them to the admiration of others and proved it clearly against them and yet we find the Error remaining long after Christ's Death 2 Tim. 2. 18. The Apostles themselves had their minds tinctured with this Error That Christ should be outwardly great and magnificent in the world and raise his Followers to great Honours and Preferments amongst men Christ plainly told them it was their Mistake and Error for the Son of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister yet this did not rid their minds of the Error it stuck fast in them even till his Ascension to Heaven Oh how hard is it to clear the heart of a good man once leaven'd with Error and much more hard to separate it from a wicked man Some have chose rather to die than to part with their darling Errors and Soul-damning Heresies I have read saith Mr. Bridges of a great Atheist that was burnt at Paris for blaspheming Christ held fast his Atheistical Opinions till he came to the very stake boasted to the Priests and Fryars that followed him how much more confidently he went to sacrifice his life in the strength of reason under which he suffered than Christ himself did but when he began to feel Torments indeed then he roared and raged to the purpose Vidi ego hominem saith the Author in hs Life he was Loose in his Imprisonments Sullen and at his Death Mad with the Horrors of Conscience Some inded have recovered the soundness of their Judgments after
as this how earnestly doth the Ear of a distressed Conscience listen how greedily doth it suck in such pleasing words Are all Sins that are pardoned pardoned before they are committed and does the Covenant of Grace require neither Repentance nor Faith antecedently to the application of the Promises how groundless then are all my Fears and Troubles This like a Dose of Opium quiets or rather stupifies the raging Conscience for even an Error in Judgment till it be detected and discovered to be so quiets and comforts the heart as well as principles of Truth but whenever the fallacy shall be detected whether here or hereafter the anguish of Conscience must be increased or which is worse left desperate The Remedies To prevent and cure this mistake and error in the Soul by which it is fitted and prepared to catch any Erroneous Principle which is but plausible for its present relief and ease I shall desire my Reader seriously to ponder and consider the following Queries upon this Case Query I. Whether by the vote of the whole Rational World a good Trouble be not better than a false Peace Present ease is desirable but eternal safety is much more so and if these two cannot consist under the present Circumstances of the Soul Whether it be not better to endure for a time these painful pangs than feel more acute and eternal ones by quieting Conscience with false Remedies before the time 'T is bad to lie tossing a few days under a laborious Fever but far worse to have that Fever turned into a Lethargy or fatal Apoplexy Erroneous Principles may rid the Soul of its present pain and eternal hopes and safety together Acute pains are better than a senseless stupidity Though the present rage of Conscience be not a right and kindly conviction yet it may lead to it and terminate in faith and union with Christ at last if Satan do not this way practice upon it and quench it before its time Query II. Bethink your selves seriously Whether Troubles so quieted and laid asleep will not revive and turn again upon thee with a double force as soon as the vertue of the Drug I mean the Erroneous Principle hath spent it self The efficacy of Truth is eternal and will maintain the peace it gives for ever but all delusions must vanish and the Troubles which they damm'd up for a time break out with a greater force Satan employs two sorts of Witches Some to torment the Bodies of Men with grievous pain and anguish but then he hath his White-Witches at hand to relieve and ease them And have these poor Wretches any great cause think you to boast of the cure who are eased of their pains at the price of their Souls Much like unto this are the cures of inward Troubles by Erroneous Principles I lament the Case of blinded Papists who by Pilgrimages and Offerings to the Shrines of Titular Saints attempt the cure of a lesser Sin by committing a greater Is it because there is not a God in Israel who is able in due season to pacify Conscience with proper and durable Gospel-Remedies that we suffer our Troubles thus to precipitate us into the Snares of Satan for the sake of present ease Query III. Read the Scriptures and inquire whether God's People who have lain long under sharp inward Terrors have not at last found settlement and inward peace by those very Methods which the Principles that quiet you do utterly exclude If you will fetch your Peace from a groundless Notion that your Sins were pardoned and your Persons justified from all eternity and therefore you may apply boldly and confidently to your selves the choicest Promises and Privileges in the Gospel without any regard to Faith or Repentance wrought by the Spirit in your Souls I am sure holy David took another Course for the settlement of his Conscience Psal. 51. 6 7 8 9 10. And it hath been the constant practise of the Saints in all Ages to clear their Title to the Righteousness of Christ wrought without them by the Works of his Spirit wrought within them Sixth Cause The next Evil Temper in the Subject preparing and disposing it for Error is an easie CREDVLITY or sequacious humour in men rendring them apt to receive things upon trust from others without due and thorough examination of the grounds and Reasons of them themselves This is a disposition fitted to receive any impression Seducers please to make upon them they are said to deceive the hearts of the simple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. credulous but well-meaning People that suspect no harm 'T is said Prov. 14. 15. the simple believeth every word Through this Sluce or Floodgate what a multitude of Errors in Popery have overflowed the People They are told they are not able to judge for themselves but must take the matters of their Salvation upon trust from their Spiritual Guides and so the silly People are easily seduced and made easily receptive of the grossest Absurdities their ignorant Leaders please to impose upon them And it were to be wished That those two Points viz. Ministrorum mut a officia populi caeca oâ—sequia the dumb Services of their Ministers and the blind Obedience of the People had stay'd within the Popish Confines But alas alas how many simple Protestants be there who may be said to carry their Brains in other mens Heads and like silly Sheep follow the next in the tract before them especially if their Leaders have but wit and art enough to hide their Errors under specious and plausible Pretences How many poisonous Drugs hath Satan put off under the gilded Titles of Antiquity Zeal for God higher attainments in godliness new Lights c. How natural is it for men to follow in the Tract and be tenacious of the Principles and Practises of their Progenitors Multitudes seem to hold their Opinions Iure Haereditario by an Hereditary Right as if their Faith descended to them the same way their Estates do The Emperour of Morocco told King Iohn's Ambassadour That he had lately read St. Paul's Epistles And truly said he were I now to chuse my Religion I would embrace Christianity before any Religion in the World but every man ought to dye in that Religion he received from his Ancestors Many honest well-meaning but weak Christians are also easily beguiled by specious pretences of new Light and higher attainments in Reformation This makes the weaker sorts of Christians pliable to many dangerous Errors cunningly insinuated under such taking Titles What are most of the Erroneous Opinions now vogued in the World but old Errors under new Names and Titles The Remedies The Remedies and Preventions in this Case are such as follow Remedy I. 'T is beneath a man to profess any Opinion to be his own whilst the grounds and reasons of it are in other mens keeping and wholly unknown to himself If a man may tell Gold after his Father then sure he may and ought to try and examine
and easie to be understood Remedy III. Vain Curiosity is a dangerous Snare of Satan By such trifles as these he devours our time eats up our strength and diverts our minds from the necessary and most important business of Religion Whilst we immerse our thoughts in these pleasing but barren Contemplations Heart-work Closet-work Family-work lie by neglected Whilst we are employed in garnishing the Dish with Flowers and curious Figures the cunning Cheat takes away the meat our Souls should subsist by Eighth Cause Pride and Arrogancy of HVMANE REASON is another Evil Disposition molding and preparing the mind for Errors When men are once conceited of the strength and perspicacity of their own carnal Reasons and Apprehensions nothing is more usual than for such men to run mad with Reason into a thousand Mistakes and Errors To this cause Ecclesiastical Historians ascribe the Errors that infest the Church Reason indeed is the highest natural excellency of man it exalts him above all Earthly Creatures and in its primitive perfection almost equalized him with Angels Heb. 2. 7. The Pleasures which result from its exercises and experiments transcend all the delights and pleasures of sense How common is it for men to dote upon their own intellectual beauty and glory in their victories over weaker Understandings And tho the reason of fallen Man is greatly wounded and weakened by Sin yet it conceits it self to be as strong and clear as ever and with Sampson when his Locks were shorn goes forth as before time being neither sensible of its own weakness or of the mysterious and unsearchable depths of Scripture Reason is our Arbiter and Guide by the institution and Law of Nature in civil and natural Affairs 't is the beam and standard at which we weigh them It is an home-born Judge and King in the Soul Faith comes in as a stranger to Nature and so it is dealt with even as an Intruder into Reason's Province just as the Sodomites dealt with Lot It refuseth to be an Underling to Faith Out of this Arrogancy of carnal Reason as from Pandorâ—â—'s Box swarms of Errors are flown abroad into the World By this means Socinianism first started and hath since propagated it self They look upon it as a ridiculous and unaccountable thing to reason that the Son should be co-equal and co-eternal with the Father that God should forgive sins freely and yet forgive none but upon full satisfaction That Christ should make that satisfaction by his Sufferings and yet be pars laesa the Party offended and so make satisfaction to himself with many more of the like stamp Yea Atheism as well as Socinianism are births from this Womb. 'T is proud and carnal Reason which quarrels at the Creation of the World and seems to triumph in its uncontrolable Mâ—xim Ex nihilo nihil fit out of nothing comes nothing It looks upon the Doctrine of the Resurrection with a deriding smile as a thing incredible It thinks it hard and harsh that God should command men to turn themselves to him and threaten them with damnation in case of refusal and yet at the same time man should not have in himself a sufficient power and a free will to do this without the supernatural and preventing Grace of God It thinks it a ridiculous thing for such a great and solemn Ordinance of God as Baptism is to pass upon such a Subject as an Infant of a week old which is not capable to understand the Ends and Uses of it Hence it is some over-heated Zealots lots have not stuck to say That we have as good warrant and reason to baptize Cats Dogs and Horses as we have to babtize Infants Oh the madness of Carnal Reason The Remedies To take down the Arrogance and prevent the mischief of Carnal Reasonings let us be convinced Remedy I. That it is the will of God that Reason in all Believers should resign to Faith and all Ratiocination submit to Revelation Reason is no better than an Usurper when it presumes to arbitrate matters belonging to Faith and Revelation Reason's proper place is to sit at the feet of Faith and instead of searching the secret grounds and reasons to adore and admire the great and unsearchable Mysteries of the Gospel None of God's works are unreasonable but many of them are above Reason It was as truly as ingenuously said by one Never doth Reason shew it self more reasonable than when it ceaseth to reason about things that are above Reason Where is the Wise where is the Scribe where is the Disputer of this World hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this World For after that in the wisdom of God the World by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1. 20 21. 'T is not Reason but Faith that must save us The Wisdom of God in the Gospel is wisdom in a Mystery even hidden wisdom which God ordained before the World unto our glory 1 Cor. 2. 7. Such wisdom as the most Eagle-eyed Rationalists and famed Philosophers of the World understood not Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him But God hath revealed them to us by his spirit ibid. vers 9 10. Remedy II. Be convinced of the weakness and deep corruption of natural Reason and this will restrain its Arrogance and make it modest and wary A convinced and renewed Soul is conscious to it self of its own weakness and blindness and therefore dares not pry audaciously into the Arcana Coeli nor summon the great God to its bar It finds it self posed by the Mysteries of Nature and therefore concludes it self an incompetent Judge of the Mysteries of Faith The Arrogancy of Reason is the reigning Sin of the Unregenerate though it be a Disease with which the Regenerate themselves are infected When Conviction shall do its work upon the Soul the Plumes of spiritual pride quickly fall and it saith with Iob Once have I spoken but I will speak no more yea twice but I will proceed no further q. d. I have done Father I have done I have uttered things that I understood not Job 42. 3. Spiritual Illumination cures this Ambition Remedy III. Consider the manifold Mischiefs and Evils flowing from the pride of Reason It doth not only fill the World with Errors and Distractions but it also invades the Rights of Heaven and casts a vile reflection upon the Wisdom Sovereignty and Veracity of God It lifts up it self against his Wisdom not considering that the foolishness of God is wiser than men 1 Cor. 1. 25. It spurns at his glorious Sovereignty not considering that he giveth no account of his matters Job 33. 13. It questions his Veracity in saying with Nicodemus How can these things be Joh. 3. 9. Cause IX The last Evil Disposition I shall here take notice of in the Subject is rash
Conduct of the Spirit and in all your addresses to God pray that he would keep them chast and pure and not suffer Satan to commit a rape upon them Plead with God that part of Christ's Prayer Iohn 17. 17. Sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth Rule IV. Live in the conscientious and constant practice of all those Truths and Duties God hath already manifested to you This will bring you under that blessed Promise of Christ Iohn 7. 17. If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God Satan's greatest successes are amongst idle notional and vain Professors not humble serious and practical Christians Caus◠XI Having considered and dispatched the several internal Causes of Error found in the evil dispositions of the seduced as also the Impulsive Cause viz. Satan who fits suitable baits to all these sinful humours and evil tempers of the heart we come next to consider the Instrumental Cause employed by Satan in this work viz. the FALSE TEACHER whom Satan makes use of as his Seeds-man to disseminate and scatter erroneous Doctrines and Principles into the minds of Men Ploughed up and prepared by those evil tempers forementioned as a fit Soil to receive them The choice of Instruments is a principal part of Satan's policy Every one is not fit to be employed in such a Service as this All are not fit to be of the Council of War who yet take their places of Service in the Field A Rustick carried out of the Field on Board a Ship at Sea though he never learned his Compass nor saw a Ship before can by another's direction tug lustily at a Rope but he had need be an expert Artist that sits at the Helm and steers the course The worst Causes need the smoothest Orators and bad Ware a cunning Merchant to put it off Deep-parted Men are coveted by Satan to manage this design None like an eloquent Tertullus to confront a Paul Acts 24. 1. A subtil Eccius to enter the List in defence of the Popish Cause against the Learned and Zealous Reformers When the Duke of Buckingham undertook to Plead the bad Cause of Richard the third the Londoners said They never thought it had been possible for any Man to deliver so much bad Matter in such good Words and quaint Phrases The first Instrument chosen by Satan to deceive Man was the Serpent because that Creature was more subtil than any Beast of the Field There is not a Man of eminent parts but Satan courts and sollicites him for this service St. Austin told an ingenious but unsanctified Scholar Cupit abs te ornari Diabolus The Devil covets thy Parts to adorn his Cause He surveys the World and where-ever he finds more than ordinary strength of Reason pregnancy of Wit depth of Learning and elegancy of Language that is the Man he looks for These are the Men that can almost indiscernably sprinkle their Errors among many precious Truths and wrap up their poisonous Drugs in Leaf-gold or Sugar Maresius notes of Crellius and his Accomplices That by the power of their Eloquence and sophistry of their Arguments they were able artificially to cloath horrible Blasphemies to allure the simple And like the Hyaena they can counterfeit the voices of the Shepherds to deceive and destroy the Sheep There is saith a late Worthy an erudita nequitia a Learned kind of wickedness a subtil art of deceiving the minds of others Upon which account the Spirit of God sometimes compares them 2 Pet. 2. 3. to cunning and cheating Tradesmen who have the very art to set a gloss upon their bad Wares with fine words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they buy and sell the people with their ensnaring and feigned words And sometimes he compares them to cunning Gamesters that have the art and sleight of hand to Cog the Die to deceive the unskilful and win their Game Eph. 4. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And sometimes the Spirit of God compares them to Witches themselves Gal. 3. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you How many strange feats have been done upon the bodies of Men and Women by Witchcraft But far more and stranger upon the Souls of Men by the Magick of Error Iannes and Iambres performed wonderful things in the sight of Pharoah by which they deceived and hardened him and unto these false Teachers are compared Such a Man was Elymas the Sorcerer who laboured to seduce the Deputy Sergius Paulus though a prudent Man Acts 13. 7 8 9 10. Oh full of all subtilty and all mischief thou Child of the Devil saith Paul unto him The Art of seduduction from the ways of truth and holiness discovers a Man to be both the Child and Scholar of the Devil But as the wise and painful Ministers of Christ who turn many to Righteousness shall have double Glory in Heaven so these subtil and most active Agents for the Devil who turn many from the ways of Righteousness will have a double portion of misery in Hell The Remedies The proper Remedies in this Case are principally two Remedy I. Pray fervently and labour diligently in the use of all God's appointed means to get more solidity of Judgment and strength of Grace to establish you in the Truth and secure your Souls against the cunning craftiness of Men that lye in to deceive 'T is the ignorance and weakness of the people which makes the Factors for Error so successful as they are Consult the Scriptures and you shall find these cunning Merchants drive the quickest and gainfullest trade among the weak and injudicious So speaks the Apostle With good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 harmless weak easie Souls who have a desire to do well but want wisdom to discern the subtilties of them that mean ill who are void both of fraud in themselves and suspition of others Oh! what success have the Deceivers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their fair words and sugared speeches sweet and taking expressions among such innocent ones And who are they among whom Satan's cunning Gamesters commonly win the Game and sweep the Stakes but weak Christians credulous Souls whom for that reason the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Children The word properly signifies an an Infant when 't is referred to the Age but unskilful and unlearned when referred as it is here to the Mind So again 2 Pet. 2. 14. They that is the False Teachers there spoken of beguile 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unstable Souls Souls that are not confirmed and grounded in the Principles of Religion Whence by the way take notice of the unspeakable advantage and necessity of being well Catechized in our youth the more judicious the more secure Remedy II. Labour to acquaint your selves with the sleights and artifices Satan's Factors and Instruments generally make use of to seduce and draw Men from the Truth
The knowledg of them is a good defensative against them Now there are two common Artifices of Seducers which it is not safe for Christians to be ignorant of First They usually seek to disgrace and blast the reputations of those Truths and Ministers set for their defence which they design afterwards to overthrow and ruin and to beget credit and reputation to those Errors which they have a mind to introduce How many precious truths of God are this day and with this design defamed as legal and carnal Doctrines and those that defend them as Men of an Old Testament spirit Humiliation for Sin Contrition of Spirit c fall under disgrace with many and indeed all qualifications and pre-requisites unto coming to Christ as things not only needless but pernicious unto the Souls of Men although they have not the least dependance upon them Yea Faith it self as a pre-requisite unto Justification as no better than a Condition pertaining to Adam's Covenant And so for the persons of Orthodox Ministers you see into what contempt the false Teachers would have brought both the Person and Preaching of Paul himself 2 Cor. 10. 10. His bodily presence say they is weak and his speech contemptible Secondly Their other common Artifice is to insinuate their false Doctrines among many acknowledged and precious Truths which only serve for a convenient vehicle to them and besides that to make their Errors as palatable and gustful as they can to the vitiated Appetite of corrupt Nature The forementioned Worthy hath judiciously observed how artificially Satan hath blended his baneful Doses to please the Palate of Carnal Reason Spiritual Pride and the desire of Fleshly Liberty Carnal Reason is that great Idol which the more intelligent part of the carnal World worships And are not the Socinian Heresies as pleasant to it as a well-mixt Iulep to a feverish Stomach Spiritual Pride is another Diana which obtains greatly in the World and no Doctrine like the Pelagian and Semipelagian Errors gratify it A Doctrine that sets fallen Nature upon its Legs again and persuades it it can go alone to Christ at least with a little external help of Moral suasion without any preventing or creating work in the Soul This goes down glib and grateful And then for Fleshly Liberty How do those that are fond of it rejoice in that Doctrine or Opinion which looses Nature from the yoke of restraint How does the poor deluded Papist hug himself to think he hath liberty by his Religion to let loose the reins of his Lust to all sensualities and quit himself from all that guilt by Auricular Confession to the Priest once a year How doth the Familist smile upon that Principle of his which tells him the Gospel allows more Liberty than severe Legal Teachers think fit to tell them of They press Repentance and Faith but Christ hath done all this to thy hands Cause XII Having considered the several Causes of Errors found in the evil dispositions of the seduced as also the impulsive and instrumental Causes namely Satan and false Teachers employed by him I shall next proceed to discover some special and most successful Methods frequently used by them to draw the minds of Men from the Truth Amongst which that which comes first to consideration is the great skill they have in representing the ABVSES of the Ordinances of God and Duties of Religion by wicked Men to scare tender and weak Consciences from the due use of them and all further attendance upon them The abuse of Christ's holy Appointments are so cunningly improved to serve this design that the minds of many well-meaning persons receive such deep disgust at them that they are scarce ever to be reconciled to them again A strong prejudice is apt to drive Men from one extream upon another as thinking they can never get far enough off from that which hath been so scaringly represented to them Thus making good the old Observation Dum vitant stulti vitia in contraria currunt they run from the troublesome smoak of Superstition into the Fire of an irreligious contempt of God's Ordinances split themselves upon Charybdis to avoid Scylla Ex. gra The Papists having deeply abused the Ordinance of Baptism by their corruptive mixtures and additions of the superstitious Cross Chrism c. part whereof is not sufficiently purged to this day by the Reformation and finding also multitudes of carnal Protestants dangerously resting upon their supposed baptismal Regeneration to the great hazard of their Salvation which mistake is but too much countenanced by some of its Administrators They take from hence such deep offence at the administration of it to any Infants at all though the Seed of God's Covenanted People that they think they can never be sharp enough in their invectives against it nor have they patience to hear the most rational defences of that Practise So for that Scriptural Heavenly Duty of Singing What more commonly alledged against it than the abuse and ill effects of that precious Ordinance How often is the Nonsense and Error of the common Translation the rudeness and dulness of the Metre of some Psalms as Psal. 7. 13. as also the cold formality with which that Ordinance is performed by many who do but Parrotize I say How often are these things buz'd into the ears of the people to alienate their hearts from so sweet and beneficial a Duty And very often we find it urged to the same end how unwarrantable and dangerous a thing it is for carnal and unregenerated persons to appropriate to themselves in Singing those Praises and Experiences which are peculiar to the Saints not understanding or considering that the singing of Psalms is an Ordinance of Christ appointed for teaching and admonition as well as praising Col. 3. 16. Teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns c. Thus Antinomianism took if not its rise yet its encouragement from the too rigorous pressing of the Law upon convinced sinners If Satan can prevail first with wicked Men to corrupt and abuse God's Ordinances by the superstitious mixtures and additions and then with good Men to renounce and slight them for the sake of those abuses he fully obtains his design and gives Christ a double wound at once one by the hand of his avowed Enemies the other by the hands of his Friends no less grievous than the first First wicked Men corrupt Christ's Ordinances and then good Men nauseate them The Remedies The proper Remedies against Errors insinuated by the abuses of Duties and Ordinances are such as follow Remedy I. Let Men consider that there is nothing in Religion so great so sacred and excellent but some or other have greatly corrupted or vilely abused them What is there in the whole World more precious and excellent than the Free-grace of God and yet you read Iude 4. of some that turned the Grace of our Lord into Lasciviousness What more desirable to Christians than the glorious Liberty Christ
means the Sacred Scriptures are most injuriously wrested the Peace and Order of the Church disturbed and a great many Mistakes and Errors introduced The Remedies The prevention and cure of Errors this way introduced or likely to be introduced into the Church is by pondering and applying the following Considerations Consideration I. Let all that encourage others or undertake by others encouragement such a Work as this for which they are not competently qualified and unto which they are not regularly called consider seriously with themselves what danger they cast their own and other mens Souls upon The Apostle tells us 2 Pet. 3. 16. That the unlearned and unstable do wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction Danger enough one would think to scare them from it did not the same sin of Ignorace which makes them wrest the Scriptures cause them also to slight and overlook the danger of so doing Certainly my Friends it is a great deal safer and more excusable to put an ignorant Rustick into an Apothecary's Shop to compound a Medicine of Drugs and Spirits which he understands not and considently administer the same to the Bodies of men than for such Persons as are led by ignorance and confidence to intermeddle with the Ministerial Employment the one perhaps by mistake may poison mens Bodies but the other their Souls An ignorant Master or Pilot that never learned the Compass are rather to be trusted among Rocks and Quick-sands than a proud ignorant Person with the conduct of Souls Consideration II. What daring Presumption is it to intrude our selves into so great and weighty an Employment without any Call or Warrant of Christ Rom. 10. 14. How shall they call upon him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a Preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent These Mysteries must be committed to faithful Men who shall be able to teach others Those Abilities must be examined 1 Tim. 3. 10. and the Exercise of them warranted by a due and orderly appointment thereunto 1 Tim. 4. 14. else as one well observes In tà m praeposterâ disciplinae ruinâ tot essent sensus quot capita tot dissensus quot sensus We shall have as many senses of Scripture as we have Preachers c. If every Phaeton that thinks himself able shall undertake to drive the Chariot of the Sun no wonder if the World be set on fire Gifts and Abilities of Mind are not of themselves sufficient to make a Preacher Some Lawyers at the Bar may be as skilful as the Iudge upon the Bench but without a Commission they dare not sit there Consideration III. The honour you affect to vent your unsound Notions with liberty is in Scripture-account your greatest dishonour The Scripture reckons false Teachers among the basest of the People The Prophet that teacheth lyes he is the Tayl i. e. the basest part of the whole body of the People Isa. 9. 15. And so far is due Gospel-Liberty from countenancing such dangerous Irregularities that we find in a clear Prophecy of Gospel-times what shame God will pour upon them Zech. 13. 4 5. They shall be brought with shame enough to confess I am no Prophet I am an Husband-man for man taught me to keep Cattel from my youth Consideration IV. How much more safe regular and advantageous were it for such as you to fill your own proper Places under able and faithful Gospel-Ministers and to suck the Breasts of fruitful Ordinances than to consume and pine away by sucking your own Breasts I mean living upon your own weak and insufficient Gifts in the sinful neglect of Christ's Appointments Cause XIV False Teachers also propagate their Errors by a Spirit of ENTHVSIASM the usual concomitant of Erroneous Doctrine and draw away multitudes after them by pretending to extraordinary Revelations Visions and Voices from Heaven which seem to give great credit to their Way and Party This was an old trick and practice of Deceivers Deut. 13. 1. to give Signs and Wonders in confirmation of their Way which Signs the Lord may permit to fall out to prove his People vers 2. 3. tho for the most part they are confuted by their unanswerable Events In the beginning of our Reformation by Luther Calvin c. there sprung up a Generation of Men called Swenkfeldians great Pretenders to Revelations and Visions who were always speaking of Deifications and an higher strain of Language they commonly used among themselves than other serious Christians understood and therefore scornfully entitled Orthodox and humble Christians who stuck to the Scripture-phrase and wholsome form of sound words Grammatists Vocabulists Literalists c. These Men as Scultetus in his Annals ad annum 1525. Observes of them were so entangled in certain Enthusiastick Snares that they thought it the highest impiety to renounce them and they had befooled multitudes with their magnificent words of Illumination Revelation Deification Much of the same Spirit was Thomas Muntzer Iohn of Leyden David George Iacob Behmen c. whose cloudy Nonsense aenigmatical Expressions and wilful Obscurity drew many into a strange admiration of them They all pretend to an higher knowledge of Mysteries than what the Gospel is acquainted with and and yet give us as Mr. Baxter well observes neither Reasons with Aristotle nor Miracles with Christ and his Apostles to cause us to believe any of their new Revelations Vid. Baxter of the Sin against the Holy Ghost p. 148. Of the same Bran were our late Familists in England of whom Henry Nichols was the chief Leader who decried the written Word as a dead Letter and set up their own fond Conceits and Fancies under the notion of the Spirit against whom that heavenly and Learned Man Mr. Samuel Rutherford seasonably and succesfully appeared Hacket Coppinger and Arthington were of the same Tribe who lived a-while wrapt up in Antinomian Fancies which at last brake forth into the highest and most horrid Blasphemies Another Art they make use of to seduce the Credulous is a pretence unto the Spirit of Prophecy and great sucsess they promise themselves this way among the weak but curious Vulgar And to this end Satan hath inspired and employed some Cunninger Heads to invent very pleasing Predictions and Prophecies in favour of that Party whom he designs to deceive And how catching and bewitching these things are gaining more respect among these vain Spirits than the divine unquestionable Prophecies of Scripture this Age hath had full and sad experience Now the Design of Satan in these things is to gain credit to those Sects as People peculiarly favoured and beloved of God above others as if they were the particular Favourites of Heaven as Daniel was and so to draw the Multitude to admire their Persons and espouse their Errors The Remedies Now the Remedies in this Case are such as follow Remedy I. Whatever Doctrine or Practice seeks credit to it self this way falls justly thereby under suspicion that it wants a
the whole Law for Righteousness You may ponder this Argument at your leisure and not think to refute it at so cheap a rate as by calling it a corrupt gloss of my own And thus I hope I have sufficiently fortified and confirmed my Third Argument to prove Abraham's Covenant to be a Covenant of Grace My Fourth was this Argument IV. That which in its direct and primary end teacheth Man the corruption of his Nature by sin and the mortification of sin by the Spirit of Christ cannot be a condition of the Covenant of Works But so did Circumcision in the very direct and primary end of it Therefore c. Your Reply to this is That when I have substantially proved that the Sinai Covenant as it contained the Passeover Sacrifices Types and Appendages under which were vailed many spiritual Mysteries relating to Christ and mortification of sin by his Grace and Spirit to be no Covenant of Works but a Gospel-covenant you will then grant with me that the present Argument is convincing p. 96 97. of your Reply Sir I take you for an honest man and every honest man will be as good as his word Either I have fully proved against you that the Sinai Law taken in that latitude you here express it is not an Adam's Covenant of Works or I have not If I have not doubtless you have reserved your more pertinent and strong Replies in your own breast and trust not to those weak and silly ones which you see here baffled and have only served to involve you in greater Absurdities than before But if you have brought forth all your strength as in such a desperate strait no man can imagine but you would then I have fully proved the point against you And if I have I expect you to be ingenuous and candid in making good your word That you will then grant with me that this Argument is convincing to the end for which it was designed And so I hope we have fully issued the Controversy between us relating to God's Covenant with Abraham You have indeed four Arguments p. 59 60 61 62. of your Reply to prove Abraham's Covenant a Covenant of Works of the same nature with Adam's Covenant 1. Because as life was implicitly promised to Adam upon his obedience and death explicitly threatned in case of his disobedience which made that properly a Covenant of Works so it was in the Covenant of Circumcision Gen. 17. 7 8. compared with vers 10 14. This Argument or Reason can never conclude because as God never required of Abraham and his Children personal perfect and perpetual obedience to the whole Law for life as he did of Adam so the death or cutting off spoken of here seems to be another thing from that threatned to Adam Circumcision as I told you before was appointed to be the discriminating Sign betwixt Abraham's Seed and the Heathen World and the wilful neglect thereof is here threatned with cutting off by Civil or Ecclesiastical Excommunication from the Commonwealth and Church of Israel as Luther Calvin Paraeus Musculus c. expounds not by death of Body and Soul as was threatned to Adam without place for repentance or hope of mercy 2. You say Abraham's Covenant could not be a Covenant of Faith because Faith was not reckoned to Abraham for Righteousness in Circumcision but in Uncircumcision Rom. 4. 9 10. This is weak reasoning Circumcision could not belong to a Gospel-covenant because Abraham was a Believer before he was circumcised You may as well deny the Lord's Supper to be the Seal of a Gospel-Covenant because the Partakers of it are Believers before they partake of it Beside you cannot deny but it sealed the Righteousness of â—aith to Abraham and I desired you before to prove that a Seal of the Covenant of Works iâ— capable of being applied to such an use and service which you have not done nor ever will be able to do but politickly slided by it 3. You say it cannot be a Covenant of Grace because it is contra-distinguished to the Righteousness of Faith Rom. 4. 13. The Law in that place is put strictly for the pure Law of Nature and Metaleptically signifies the Works of the Law which is a far different thing from the Law taken in that latitude wherein you take it And is not this a pretty Argument that because the promise to Abraham and his Seed was not through the Law but through the Righteousness of Faith therefore the Covenant of God made with Abraham and his Seed Gen. 17. cannot be a gracious but a legal Covenant This Promise mentioned Rom. 4. 13. was made to Abraham long before the Law was given by Moses and Free-grace not Abraham's legal Righteousness was the impulsive cause moving God to make that Promise to Abraham and to his Seed and their enjoyment of the Mercies promised was not to be through the Law but through the Righteousness of Faith By what rule of art this Scripture is alledged to prove God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17. to be a Covenant of Works I am utterly to seek If it be only because Circumcision was added to it that 's answered over and over before and you neither have nor can reply to it 4. Lastly It cannot say you be a Covenant of Grace because it 's represented to us in Scripture as a Bondage-covenant Acts 15. 10 c. Gal. 5. 1. 'T is time I see to make an end Your discourse runs low and dreggy Do you think it is one and the same thing to say That the Ceremonial Law was a yoke of bondage to them that were under it and to say it was an Adam's Covenant Are these two parallel distinctions in your Logick Alas Sir there is a wide difference The difficulty variety and chargeableness of those Ceremonies made them indeed burthensome and tiresome to that People but they did not make the Covenant to which they were annexed to become an Adam's Covenant of Works for in the very next breath vers 11. the Apostle will tell you they were saved yea and tells us that we shall be saved even as they So that either they that were under this yoke were saved by Faith in the way of Free-grace as we now are or we must be saved in the way of legal Obedience as they were Take which you please for one of them you must take We shall be saved even as they Acts 15. 10 11. If you can make no stronger opposition to my Arguments than such as you have here made your Cause is lost though your confidence and obstinancy remain It were easy for me to fill more Paper than I have written on this Subject with Names of principal note in the Church of God who with one voice decry your groundless Position and constantly affirm that the Law in the complex sense you take it as it comprehends the Ceremonial Rites and Ordinances whereunto Circumcision pertains is and can be no other than the
dwelleth in our hearts by Faith Eph. 3. 17. Upon which Scriptural Grounds and Reasons it is that we affirm Faith to be an Antecedent Condition or Causa sine quâ non to the saving benefits of the new Covenant and that it must go before them at least in order of nature which is that we mean when we say Faith is the antecedent Condition of the New Covenant And those that deny it to be so as the Antinomians do who talk of actual and personal Justification from Eternity or at least from the death of Christ must consequently assert the actual Justification of Infidels and not only disturb but destroy the whole order of the Gospel and open the Sluces and Flood-gates to all manner of licentiousness And thus our Pious and Learned Divines generally affirm Faith to be the condition of the Covenant So Mr. Ieremiah Burroughs Faith saith he hath the great honour above all other Graces to be the Condition of the second Covenant therefore certainly it is some great matter that Faith enables us to do Whatsoever keeps Covenant with God brings strength though it self be never so weak as Sampson â—s Hair What is weaker than a little Hair Yet because the keeping that was keeping Covenant with God therefore even a little Hair was so great strength to Sampson Faith then that is the Condition of the Covenant in which all Grace and Mercy is contained if it be kept it will cause strength indeed to do great things And as this excellent Man Mr. Burroughs is in this sense for the Conditionality of the New Covenant so are the most Learned and Eminent of our own Divines Dr. Edward Reynold's assigning the differences betwixt the two Covenants gives this for one They differ in the Condition saith he there Legal Obedience here only Faith and the certain consequent thereof Repentance There is difference likewise in he manner of performing these Conditions For now God himself begins first to work upon us and in us before we move or stir towards him He doth not only command us and leave us to our created strength to obey the Command but he furnisheth us with his own Grace and Spirit to obey the Command Of the same judgment is Dr. Owen Are we able saith he of our selves to fulfil the Condition of the New Covenant Is it not as easie for a Man by his own strength to fulfil the whole Law as to repent and believe the Promise of the Gospel This then is one main difference of these two Covenants That the Lord did in the Old only require the Condition now in the New he also effects it in all the foederates to whom the Covenant is extended This is the Man you pretend to be against Conditions Mr. William Pemble opening the nature of the two Covenants saith The Law offers Life unto Man upon condition of perfect Obedience the Gospel offers Life unto Man upon another condition to wit of Repentance and Faith in Christ. And after his proofs for it saith From whence we conclude firmly That the difference between the Law and the Gospel assigned by our Divines is most certain and agreeable to the Scriptures viz. That the Law gives Life unto the just upon condition of perfect obedience in all things the Gospel gives Life unto sinners upon condition they repent and believe in Christ Jesus Learned and judicious Mr. William Perkins thus The Covenant of Grace is that whereby God freely promising Christ and his Benefits exacts again of Man that he would by Faith receive Christ. And again in the Covenant of Grace two things must be considered the Substance thereof and the Condition The Substance of the Covenant is That Righteousness and Life Everlasting is given to God's Church and People by Christ. The Condition is That we for our parts are by Faith to receive the foresaid Benefits and this Condition is by Grace as well as the Substance That Learned Humble and Painful Minister of Christ Mr. Iohn Ball stating the difference betwixt the two Covenants shews that in the Covenant at Sinai in the Covenant with Abraham and that with David that in all these Covenant expressures there are for substance the same Evangelical conditions of Faith and Sincerity Dr. Davenant thus In the Covenant of the Gospel it is otherwise for in this Covenant to the obtainment of Reconciliation Justification and Liâ—e Eternal there is no other condition required than of true and lively Faith Iohn 3. 16. Therefore Justification and the right to Eternal Life doth depend on the Condition of Faith alone Dr. Downame harmonizeth with the rest in these words That which is the only Condition of the Covenant of Grace by that alone we are justified But Faith is the Condition of the Covenant of Grace which is therefore called Lex Fidei Our Writers saith he distinguishing the two Covenants of God that is the Law and the Gospel whereof one is the Covenant of Works the other the Covenant of Grace do teach That the Law of Works is that which to Justification requireth works as the Condition thereof The Law of Faith that which to Justification requireth Faith as the Condition thereof The former saith Do this and thou shalt live the latter Believe in Christ and thou shalt be saved But what stand I upon particular though renowned names You may see a whole Constellation of our sound and famous Divines in the Assembly thus expressing themselves about this Point The Grace of God say they is manifested in the second Covenant in that he freely provideth and offereth to sinners a Mediator and Life and Salvation by him and requiring Faith as the Condition to interest them in him promiseth and giveth his Holy Spirit to all his Elect to work in them that Faith with all other saving Graces and to enable them to all holy Obedience as the evidence of the truth of their Faith c. I could even tire the Reader with the Testimonies of eminent foreign Divines as Cameron de triplici foedere Thes. 82. Vrsinus Paraeus explicatio Catech. Quest 18. de foedere Wendeline Christian Theology Lib. 1. cap. 19. Thes. 9. Poliander Rivet Wallaeus and Thysius the four learned Professors at Leyden Synops Disp. 23. Sect. 27 c. And as for those Ancient and Modern Divines whom the Antinomians have corrupted and misrepresented the Reader may see them all vindicated and their concurrence with those I have named evidenced by that Learned and Pious Mr. Iohn Graile in his Modest Vindication of the Doctrine of Conditions in the Covenant of Grace from p. 58. onward a Man whose name and memory is precious with me not only upon the account of that excellent Sermon he Preached and those fervent Prayers he poured out many years since at my Ordination but for that Learned and Judicious Treatise of his against Mr. Eyre wherein he hath cast great light upon this Controversy as excellent Mr. Baxter and
Mr. Woodbridge have also done But alas what evidence is sufficient to satisfy ignorant and obstinate Men Sir it pities me to see the lamentable confusion you are in You are forced by the evidence of truth to yield and own the substance of what I contend for You have yielded the Covenant to be consequently Conditional in p. 84. of your Reply You have also as plainly yielded that the Application of Pardoning Mercy unto our Souls is in order of nature consequent unto believing p. 31. of your Reply From both which concessions in your own words recited this Conclusion is evident and unavoidable viz. That no adult person notwithstanding God's Eternal Election and Christ's meritorious death and satisfaction according to the Constitution and Order of the New Covenant can either be justified in this World or saved in the World to come unless he first believe For if the Application of Pardoning Mercy unto our Souls is in order of Nature consequent unto believing as you truly affirm it to be then according to the Constitution and Order of the New Covenant no application of pardoning Mercy can be made to our Souls before we believe And if it be evident as you say it is p. 84. that unto a full and compleat enjoyment of all the Promises of the Covenant Faith on our part is required then as no Man can be actually justified in this World so neither can he be saved before or without Faith in the World to come And if you did but see the true suspending nature of Faith which you plainly yield in these two concessions you would quickly grant the conditional nature of it For what is the proper nature and true notion of a Condition but to suspend the benefits and grants of that Covenant in which it is so inserted And thus the Controversy betwixt us is fairly issued But I doubt you understand not what you have here written or are troubled with a very bad memory Because I find you in a far different note from this in p. 103. of your Reply where you say That if Iesus Christ fulfilled the Law and purchased Heaven and Happiness for Men as all true Protestants hitherto have taught then nothing can remain but to declare this to them to incline them to believe and accept it and to prescribe in what way and by what means they shall finally come to inherit Eternal Life To affirm therefore that Faith and Repentance are the Conditions of the New Covenant required of us in point of Duty antecedent to the benefit of the Promise doth necessarily suppose that Christ hath not done all for us nor purchased a right to Life for any but only made way that they may have it upon certain terms or as some say he hath merited that we might merit But the Conditions of the Covenant are not to be performed by the Head and Members both Gal. 4. 4. Christ therefore having in our stead performed the Conditions of Life there remains nothing but a Promise and the Obedience of Children as the fruit and effect thereof to them that believe in him together with means of obtaining the full possession which here we want Either these passages I have here cited and compared were fetched at a great distance of time out of Authors differing as much in judgment as you and I do and so the dissonancy of them is the meer effect of oblivion and incogitancy Or else your Intellectuals are more confused and weak than I am willing to suspect them to be For if the application of Pardoning Mercy to our Souls is in order of Nature consequent to Believing as you truly say it was then certainly notwithstanding Christ's fulfilling the Law and purchasing Heaven and Happiness for Men something else must remain to be done besides declaring this to them to incline them to believe and accept it or prescribing to them in what way they shall finally come to inherit Eternal Life For besides those declarations and prescriptions you talk of Faith it self must be wrought in the Souls of Men or else Pardoning Mercy is not in order of Nature consequent unto believing as you said it was For all the external Declarations and Prescriptions in the World are not Faith it self but only the means to beget it which may or may not become effectual to that end Secondly Whereas you say that this senseless notion is consequent upon the Doctrine of all true Protestants you therein grosly abuse them and make all the true Protestants in the World guilty of worse than Arminian or Antinomian dotage The Antinomian indeed makes our actual justification to be nothing else but the manifestation or declaration of our Justification from Eternity or the time of Christ's death And the Arminian tells us That the Declaration of the Gospel to Men is sufficient to bring them to Faith by the assisting Grace of the Spirit But your notion is worse than the very dregs of both and yet you tack it as a just consequent to the Doctrine of all true Protestants Thirdly You say That to affirm Faith and Repentance to be the Conditions of the New Covenant required of us in point of Duty antecedent to the benefit of the Promise doth necessarily suppose that Christ hath not done all for us nor purchased a right to Life for any but only made way that they may have it upon certain terms or merited that we might merit Here Sir you vilely abuse all those worthy Divines before mentioned who have made Faith the Condition of the New Covenant pinning upon them both Popery and Iudaism Popery yea the dregs of Popery in supposing their Doctrine necessarily implies that Christ hath merited that we might merit And Iudaism to the height in saying their Doctrine necessarily supposes that Christ hath not purchased a right of Life to any What can a Iew say more Ah Mr. C. can you read the words I have recited out of blessed Burroughs Owen Pemble Perkins Davenant Downame yea the whole Assembly of Reverend and Holy Divines with multitudes more who have all with one mouth asserted Faith to be the Condition of the New Covenant required on Man's part in point of Duty and that Men must believe before they can be justified which is the very same thing with what I say That it is antecedent to the benefit of the Promise and not tremble to think of the direful charges you here draw against them The Lord forgive your rash presumption Fourthly Whereas you say Christ hath in our stead performed the Conditions of life and that there remains nothing but a Promise c. you therein speak at the highest dialect of Antinomianism Hath not Christ by his Life and Death performed the Conditions of Life in our stead yet you your self confess that pardoning Mercy is in order of nature consequent to our believing certainly then there is something more to be done beside the mere making or being of a Promise there must be the effect
of receiving Doctriâ—es so destructive to the great Truths of the Gospel as these are And I do solemnly profess I have not designedly strained them to cast reproach upon him that publish'd them But the matters are so plain that if Mr. Cary will maintain his Positions not only my self but every intelligent Reader will be easily able to fasten all those odious Consequents upon him after all his Apologies Sir in a word I dare not say but you are a good Man but since I read your two Books you have made me Think more than once of what one said of Ionah after he had read his History that he was a strange Man of a good Man yet as strange a good Man as you are I hope to meet you with a sounder Head and better Spirit in Heaven The Second APPENDIX Giving a brief Account of the Rise and Growth of ANTINOMIANISM the deduction of the principal Errors of that Sect With modest and seasonable Reflections upon them THE Design of the following Sheets cast in as a Mantissa to the foregoing Discourse of Errors is principally to discharge and free the Free-grace of God from those dangerour Errors which fight against it under its own Colours partly to prevent the seduction of some that stagger and lastly though least of all to vindicate my own Doctrine the scope and current whereof hath always been and shall ever be to exalt the Free-grace of God in Christ to draw the vilest of Sinnersâ— to him and relieve the distressed Consciences of Sin-burthened Christians But notwithstanding my utmost care and caution some have been apt to censure it as if in some things it had a tang of Antinomianism But if my publick or private Discourses be the faithful Messengers of my Judgment and Heart as I hope they are nothing can be found in any of them casting a friendly aspect upon any of their Principles which I here justly censure as erroneous Three things I principally aim at in this short Appendix 1. To give the Reader the most probable Rise of Antinomianism 2. An Account of the principal Errors of that Sect. 3. To confirm and establish Christians against them by sound Reasons back'd with Scripture-authority And I. Of the Rise of Antinomianism The Scriptures foreseeing there would arise such a sort of Men in the Church as would wax wanton against Christ and turn his Grace into lasciviousness hath not only precautioned us in general to beware of such Opinions as corrupt the Doctrine of Free-grace Rom. 6. 1 2. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid but hath particularly indigitated and marked those very Opinions by which it would be abused and made abundant provision against them as namely 1. All slighting and vilifying Opinions or Expressions of the Holy Law of God Rom. 7. 7 12. 2. All Opinions and Principles inclining men to a careless disregard and neglect of the Duties of Obedience under pretence of Free-grace and Liberty by Christ Iam. 2. Matth. 25. 3. All Opinions neglecting or slighting Sanctification as the evidence of our Justification and rendring it needless or sinful to try the state of our Souls by the Graces of the Spirit wrought in us which is the principal scope of the First Epistle of Iohn Notwithstanding such is the wickedness of some and weakness of others that in all Ages especially the last past and present men have audaciously broken in upon the Doctrine of Free-grace and notoriously violated and corrupted it to the great reproach of Christ scandal of the World and hardning of the Enemies of Reformation Behold saith Contzen the Iesuit on Matth. 24. the fruit of Protestantism and their Gospel-preaching Nothing is more opposite to looseness than the Free-grace of God which teacheth us That denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Nor can it without manifest violence be made pliable to such wicked purposes And therefore the Apostle tells us Iude 4. That this is done by turning the Grace of our Lord into lasciviousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transferring it scil foedâ interpretatione by a corrupt abusive interpretation to such uses and purposes as it abhors No such wanton licentious Conclusions can be inferr'd from the Gospel-doctrines of Grace and Liberty but by wresting them against their true scope and intent by the wicked Arts and Practices of Deceivers upon them The Gospel makes Sin more odious than ever the Law did and discovers the punishment of it in a more severe and dreadful manner than ever it was discovered before Heb. 2. 2 3. For if the word spoken by Angels were stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation It shews our obligations to duty to be stronger than ever and our encouragements to holiness greater than ever 2 Cor. 7. 1. and yet corrupt Nature will be still tempting men to corrupt and abuse it The more luscious the Food is the more men are apt to surfeit upon it This perversion and abuse of Free-grace and Christian-liberty is justly chargeable though upon different accounts both upon wicked and good Men. Wicked Men corrupt it designedly that by entitling God to their Sins they might sin the more quietly and securely So the Devil instigated the Heathens to sin against the Light and Law of Nature by representing their gods to them as drunken and lascivious Deities So the Nicolaitans and School of Simon and after them the Gnosticks and other Hereticks in the very dawning of Gospel Light and Liberty began presently to loose the bond of restraint from their Lusts under pretence of Grace and Liberty The Aetiani blushed not to teach That Sin and perseverance in Sin could hurt the Salvation of none so that they would embrace their Principles How vile and abominable Inferences the Manichaeans Valentinians and Cerdonites drew from the Grace and Liberty of the Gospel in the following Ages I had rather mourn over than recite And if we come down to the 15 th Century we shall find the Libertines of those days as deeply drenched in this Sin as most that went before them Calvin mournfully observes That under pretence of Christian-liberty they trampled all Godliness under foot The vile Courses their loose Opinions soon carried them into plainly discovered for what intents and purposes they were projected and calculated and he that reads the Preface to that Grave and Learned Mr. Thomas Gataker's Book entituled God's Eye upon Israel will find That some Antinomians of our days are not much behind the worst and vilest of them One of them cries out Away with the Law away with the Law it cuts off a man's Legs and thâ—n bids him walk Another saith T is as possible for Christ himself to sin as for a Child of God to sin That if a man by the Spirit know himself to be in the state of grace though he be drunk
or commit murther God sees no sin in him with much more of the same Bran which I will not transcribe But others there be whose Judgments are unhappily tainted and leavened with these loose Doctrines yet being in the main godly persons they dare not take liberty to sin or live in the neglect of known duties though their Principles too much incline that way But though they dare not others will who imbibe corrupt notions from them and the renowned Piety of the Authors will be no antidote against the danger but make the Poison operate the more powerfully by receiving it in such a vehicle Now it is highly probable such men as these might be charmed into such dangerous Opinions upon such accounts as these 1. 'T is like some of them might have felt in themselves the anguish of a perplexed Conscience under sin and not being able to live with these terrors of the Law and dismal fears of Conscience might too hastily snatch at those Doctrines which promise them relief and ease as I noted before in the 5th Cause of my Treatise of Errors And that this is not a guess at random will appear from the very Title-page of Mr. Saltmarsh's marsh's Book of Free-grace where as an inducement to the Reader to swallow his Antinomian Doctrine he shews him this curious Bait. It is saith he an experiment of Iesus Christ upon one who hath been in the bondage of a troubled Conscience at times for the space of about twelve years till now upon a clearer discovery of Iesus Christ in the Gospel c. 2. Others have been induced to espouse these Opinions from the excess of their Zeal against the Errors of the Papists who have notoriously corrupted the Doctrine of Iustification by Free-grace decried imputed and exalted inberent Righteousness above it The Papists have designedly and industriously sealed up the Scriptures from the People lest they should there discover those sovereign and effectual Remedies which God hath provided for their distressed Consciences in the riches of his own Grace and the meritorious Death of Christ and so all their Masses Pilgrimages Auricular Confessions with all their dear Indulgences should lie upon their hands as stale and cheap Commodities Oh said Stephen Gardiner let not this gap of Free-grce be opâ—ned to the People But as soon as the Light of Reformation had discovered the Free-grace of God to Sinners which is indeed the only effectual remedy of distressed Consciences and by the same Light the horrid Cheats of the Man of Sin were discovered all good men who were enlightened by the Reformation justly and deeply abhorred Popery as the Enemy of the Grace of God and true Peace of Conscience and fixed themselves upon the sound and comfortable Doctrines of Justification by Faith through the alone Righteousness of Christ. Mean while thankfully acknowledging that they which believe ought also to maintain good Works But others there were transported by an indiscreet Zeal who have almost bended the Grace of God as far too much the other way and have both spoken and written many things very unbecoming the Grace of God and tending to looseness and neglect of Duty 3. 'T is manifest that others of them have been ingulphed and suckt into those dangerous Quick-sands of Antinomian Errors by separating the Spirit from the written Word If once a man pretend the Spirit without the Scriptures to be his Rule whither will not his own deluding Fancies carry him under a vain and sinful pretence of the Spirit In the Year 1528. when Helsar Traier and Seekler were confuted by Hallerus and their Errors about Oaths Magistrates and Paedo-baptism were detected by him and by Colvius at Bern that which they had to say for themselves was That the Spirit taught them otherwise than the letter of the Scriptures speaks So dangerous it is to separate what God hath conjoined and father our own Fancies upon the Holy Spirit 4. And it is not unlike but a comparative weakness and injudiciousness of mind meeting with a fervent zeal for Christ and his Glory may induce others to espouse such taking and plausible tho pernicious Doctrines They are not aware of the dangerous Consequences of the Opinions they embrace and what looseness may be occasioned by them I speak not of Occasions taken but given by such Opinions and Expressions A good Man will draw excellent Inferences of duty from the very same Doctrine Instance that of the shortness of time from whence the Apostle infers abstinence strictness and diligence 1 Cor. 7. 29. but the Epicure infers all manner of dissolute and licentious practices Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die 1 Cor. 15 22. The best Doctrines are this way liable to abuse But let all good men beware of such Opinions and Expressions as give an handle to wicked men to abuse the Grace of God which haply the Author himself dare not do and may strongly hope others may not do but if the Principle will yield it 't is in vain to think corrupt Nature will not catch at it and make a vile use and dangerous improvement of it For example If such a Principle as this be asserted for a truth before the World That men need not fear that any or all the Sins they commit shall do them any hurt let the Author or any man in the World warn and caution Readers as the Antinomian Author of that Expression hath done not to abuse this Doctrine 't is to no purpose The Doctrine it self is full of dangerous Consequents and wicked men have the best skill to infer and draw them forth to cherish and countenance their Lusts that which the Author might design for the relief of the distressed quickly turns it self into poison in the bowels of the wicked nor can we excuse it by saying any Gospel-truth may be thus abused for this is none of that number but a Principle that gives offence to the godly and encouragement to the ungodly And so much as to the rise and occasion of Antinomian Errors II. In the next place let us view some of the chief Doctrines commonly called Antinomian amongst which there will be found a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the radical and most prolifique Error from which most of the rest are spawned and procreated Error I. I shall begin with the dangerous mistake of the Antinomians in the Doctrine of Iustification The Article of Justification is deservedly stiled by our Divines Articulus stantis vel cadentis Religionis the very Pillar of the Christian Religion In two things however I must do the Antinomians right 1. In acknowledging that though their Errors about Justification be great and dangerous yet they are not so much about the substance as about the mode of a Sinner's Justification An Error far inferior to the Error of the Papists who depress the Righteousness of Christ and exalt their own inherent Righteousness in the business of Justification â— I am bound in charity to believe that some
live but understand not that they live are born to a great Inheritance but have no knowledge of it or present comfort in it 4. I will further grant That the Eye of a Christian may be too intently fixed upon his own gracious qualification and being wholly taken up in the reflex Acts of Faith may too much neglect the direct Acts of Faith upon Christ to the great detriment of his Soul But all this notwithstanding The examination of our Justification by our Sanctification is not only a lawful and possible but a very excellent and necessary work and duty 'T is the course that Christians have taken in all Ages And that which God hath abundantly blessed to the joy and encouragement of their Souls He hath furnished our Souls to this end with noble self-reflecting Powers and Abilities He hath answerably furnished his Word with variety of marks and signs for the same end and use Some of these marks are exclusive to detect and bar bold presumptuous Pretenders 1 Cor. 6. 9. Rev. 21. 8 27. Some are inclusive marks to measure the strength and growth of Grace by Rom. 4. 20. And others are positive signs flowing out of the very essence of Grace or the New-Creature 1 Iohn 4. 13. Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit He hath also expresly commanded us to examine and prove our selves upbraided the neglectors of that duty and enforced their duty upon them by a thundring Argument 2 Cor. 13. 5. Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith prove your own selves know ye not your own selves how that Iesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates In a word For this end and purpose amongst others were the Scriptures written 1 Iohn 5. 13. These things have I written to you that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life And therefore to neglect this duty is exceeding dangerous but to deny and deride it intolerable It may justly be feared such men will be drown'd in perdition who fall into the waters by making a bridge over them with their own shadows For my own part I verily believe that the sweetest hours Christians enjoy in this World is when they retire into their Closets and sit there concealed from all eyes but him that made them looking now into the Bible then into their own Hearts and then up to God closely following the grand Debate about their Interest in Christ till they have brought it to the happy desired issue And now Reader for a close of all I call the Searcher of Hearts to witness That I have not intermedled with these Controversies of Antipaedobaptism and Antinomianism our of any delight I take in Polemical Studies or an unpeaceable contradicting Humour but out of pure zeal for the Glory and Truths of God for the vindication and defence whereof I have been necessarily ingaged therein And having discharged my duty thus far I now resolve to return if God will permit me to my much sweeter and more agreeable Studies Still maintaining my Christian Charity for those whom I oppose not doubting but I shall meet those in Heaven from whom I am forced in lesser things to dissent and differ upon Earth FINIS GOSPEL-UNITY Recommended to the CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN A SERMON Preached by I. F. Author of the Foregoing DISCOURSE FROM I COR. I. 10. Now I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ That ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment WHEN I consider this Healing and Uniting Text and the scandalous Divisions of the Congregations to which I recommend it I could chuse rather to comment thereon with Tears than Words 'T is just matter of lamentation to think what feeble influences such Divine and Pathetical Exhortations have upon the minds and hearts of professed Christians But it is not Lamentations but proper Counsels and convictions obey'd must do the work The Primitive and Purest Churches of Christ consisted of imperfect Members who notwithstanding they were knit together by the same internal bond of the Spirit and the same external bonds of common Profession and common Danger and enjoyed extraordinary helps for uniting in the Presence and Doctrine of the Apostles among them yet quickly discovered a Schismatical Spirit dividing both in Judgment and Affection to the great Injury of Religion and Grief of the Apostle's Spirits To check and heal this growing-Evil in the Church at Corinth the Apostle addresses his Pathetical Exhortation to them and to all future Churches of Christ whom it equally concerns in the words of my Text. Now I beseech you brethren c. Where note 1. The Duty exhorted to 2. The Arguments enforcing the Duty 1. The Duty exhorted to namely Unity the Beauty Strength and Glory as well as the Duty of a Church This Unity he describes two ways 1. As it is Exclusive of its opposite Schism or Division All Rents and rash Separations are contrary to it and destructive of it I beseech you brethren that there be no Divisions or Schisms among you 2. As it is inclusive of all that belongs to it namely the Harmony and Agreement of their Judgments Hearts and Language 1. That ye all speak the same thing 2. That ye be perfectly joined together in one Mind And 3. In the same Judgment This threefold Union in Judgment Affection and Language includes all that belongs to Christian Concord makes the Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men of one Heart and Soul the loveliest sight this World affords Acts 2. 46 47. 2. The Arguments enforcing this Duty upon them comes next under consideration And these are Three 1. I beseech you 2. I beesech you Brethren 3. I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ. These Arguments are not of equal Force and Efficacy The first is great The second greater The last the most efficacious and irresistible of all the rest But all together should come with such Power and irresistible Efficacy upon the Judgments Consciences and Hearts of Christians as should perfectly knit them together and defeat all the Designs of Satan and his Agents without them or of their own Corruptions within them to rend asunder their Affections or Communion And first he enforces the Duty of Unity by a solemn Apostolical Obsecration and Adjuration I beseech you saith he he had Power to command them to this Duty and threaten them for the neglect of it He had in readiness to revenge all Disobedience and might have shaken that Rod over them but he chuseth rather to intreat and beseech them Now I beseech you Brethren Here you have as it were the great Apostle upon his knees before them Meekly and Pathetically entreating them to be at perfect Unity among themselves 'T is the intreaty of their Spiritual