is put for the doctrine so also for the Habit of Grace So we find it frequently in Scripture And so both Calvin and Beza here look upon it in the Text By Grace here understanding the spiritual Worship and Service of God with the inward work of Regeneration for which they both give this Reason in as much as it is here opposed to Meates And truly to this Grace may we in a warie sense fitly apply this property of Establishing the heart This is a thing which is not done by Meates by any bodily external exercises such as were prescribed under the Law not by a Ceremonial but by a true Gospel-Worship which is as our Saviour describeth it Ioh. 4. 23. In Spirit and in Truth And by the work of Regeneration true Sanctification the inward work of the Spirit in and upon the Heart That which ballasteth the Ship must not be any thing on the outside of it but it must be within in the hold And thus that which establisheth the Heart must not be any externall observance performed by the Outward man but that Grace that is within the Inward man the Soul the Grace of Regeneration with the fruits of it as Faith Hope and Love with Humility Meeknesse of spirit and other the like gracious Habits which are freely bestowed gratiae gratis datae as fruits of Grace and wrought in the Heart by the preaching of the Doctrine of Grace And thence called by that name Grace In which sense Estius also yieldeth that the word may be here taken Q. But taking it thus how doth this Grace establish the Heart A. This it doth divers wayes All which may be reduced to two Generals Per modum Evidentiae Efficientiae By way of Evidence and by way of Efficiency 1. By way of Evidence This is that which the Apostle saith of Faith Chap. 11. of this Epistle verse 1. It is the Evidence of things not seen And the like may we say of other Graces of the Spirit in the Soul they are Evidences of that which to the Eye of sense is invisible viz. of that Grace of God in Christ assuring unto a Christian his interest in that Grace Thus is Grace within an Evidence of Grace without Sanctification an evidence a sure evidence of Iustification Which being evidenced and ascertained unto the soul now it cometh to have peace towards God as the Apostle hath it Rom. 5. 1. and so to be established But this is not all 2. In the second place Grace doth this also by way of Efficiency And that it doth two wayes Indirectly Directly 1. Indirectly and by Consequence by freeing the heart from those things which would disquiet and unsettle it Such is fear servile slavish fear Of which St. Iohn tells us that it hath torment 1 Joh. 4. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such is fear of Gods wrath and Judgment it is as a Hell in the Soul a Rack a continual Torment to it disquieting unsettling it But now Grace ejecteth this troublesome Inmate So the former part of that verse there hath it There is no fear in Love but perfect Love casteth out fear Perfect Love sincere cordial Affection towards God and towards man it casteth out fear freeth the heart from that slavish tormenting fear Which it doth by assuring the soul of the Love of God to it So the same pen there sets it forth ver 16. And we have known and believed the Love which God hath to us God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him Mans Love to God being a fruit it is also an evidence of Gods love to him We love him because he loved us first so it there followeth verse 19. And by this means true Grace freeth the heart from fear And so it doth from other inordinate Lusts Affections Passions whereby it is subject to be distempered to be carried about As from Self-love Pride Ambition Vain-glory Covetousnesse Envy Malice c. All which being like so many Eddie winds in the Corners of the Heart do disquiet and unsettle it Now Grace layeth all these subdueth them and by that meanes procureth the settlement and establishment of the Heart Even as a Kingdome is settled and established by the subduing of Rebels which before disturbed the peace of it Thus doth Grace promote this work Indirectly and by Consequence 2. And this it doth in the second place directly and properly And that by setting the soul upon a sure foundation This is as in part you have already heard the proper work of the Grace of Faith which taking the soul off from all false and rotten foundations sets it upon the true foundation upon Iesus Christ and the free Grace of God in him Into which Grace by this meanes a Christian cometh to have accesse So the Apostle layeth it down Rom. 5. 2. By whom also we have accesse through faith into this grace wherein we stand Here is a Christians standing viz. in the Grace of God And into this Grace he cometh to have accesse to have the actual enjoyment and comfort of it by Christ through faith By Christ as the meritorious cause procuring it through faith as the Instrumental cause applying that merit and so apprehending that Grace And by this meanes doth this grace of faith come to establish the heart by thus setting and settling it upon this sure foundation fixing it upon Christ. Even as it is with the Stock and the Graft though fleâ—â—er and weak in it self yet being put into the Stock ingraffed into it and incorporated with it now it standeth firm So is it with a Christian how weak how infirm how unstable soever in himself yet being by faith ingraffed into Christ now he cometh to receive establishment from him viz. by his adhesion unto him and union with him Or as the vine though in it self infirm not able to stand alone yet by clasping about the elme or such other supporter now it standeth sure so doth the Christian by clasping of Iesus Christ imbracing him in the Armes of his faith by this meanes he cometh to be established And thus may this blessed work not amisse be attributed and ascribed to this Habit of Grace in the Soul specially to faith which hath as you see a peculiar efficiency this way Whence it is that Faith is compared by our Apostle to an Anchor Heb. 6. 19. Which Hope or Faith we have as an Anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast An Anchor you well know what the use of it is To stay the Ship from being carried about And of like use is Faith unto the soul a meanes to stay settle establish it Which it doth not by any worth which it hath in it self above other Graces but onely as an Instrument apprehending and uniting the soul unto that whereby it is established Thus doth the Anchor stay the Ship not by its own weight No were it in
forth their followers whom he calleth Clouds without water carried about of winds ver 11. and in the next verse Waves of the Sea and wandring stars thereby denoting Christians who were inconstant in their profession not like fixed stars which are regular in their Motion but like Planets or Comets wandring from one opinion or way to another being constant onely in inconstancy Thus were there some and not a few in those times those proto-primitive times who were thus carried about with divers and strange doctrines This is that which our Apostle saith of Hymeneus and Philetus in the place forecited 2 Tim. 2. 17 18. that by their pestilent doctrine in denying of the Resurrection they overthrew the faith of some So as there was then a just cause why he should here give out such an Admonition as this Be not carried about c. A useful and a needful Caveat then And no lesse in all the ages of the Church since In every of which still there have been some such doctrines held forth So it hath been so it is at this day that I shall not need to tell you and so it will be This Calvin looketh upon as a truth not obscurely hinted by the Apostle here in the Text that The Church in all ages must account to conflict and combate with divers and strange doctrines And if there be teachers of them it is not to be imagined but that there will be some Disciples some followers Q. But how cometh it so to be How cometh this to passe first that there should be such doctrines held forth and then that so many should be carried about with them To these two queries I shall return Answer severally A. 1. For the former Know we in the first place that this cometh to passe not without a providence and a special providence Herein as in all other things God hath a hand concurring therewith not barely by his Permission but as Melancton calleth it by his Effectual Permission most justly decreeing that they should be whence it is that the Apostle saith There must be Heresies 1 Cor. 11. 19. Must as by reason of Satans malice and Mans corruption so of Gods decree who having determined that they should be most wisely ordereth and disposeth of them when they are Which he doth for divers ends As 1. For the manifestation of his own power in maintaining his Truth and that against all opposition 2. For the honour of truth it self which by these conflicts with Errour is rendred more illustrious That house which standeth out all storms and tempests of wind and weather shewoth it self to have a good foundation 3. For the Probation and tryal of such as are sound in the faith There must also be Heresies saith the Apostle in the Text last named 1 Cor. 11. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There must be also Not onely Schismes of which he had spoken in the verse foregoing divisions about matters of Order and Discipline but also Heresies Errours in doctrine and that fundamental Errours And wherefore must these be why that they which are approved may be made manifest Thus is Wheat differenced and distinguished from the Chasse Inanes paleae tempestate jactantur saith Cyprian Light empty Chaffe is whirled to and fro with the wind while the Wheat lyeth still in the floor Thus whilest empty and formal Professours who have taken up the profession of the truth either pro formâ for fashion sake or else for some by and sinister ends wanting the kernel and truth of grace are carried away those which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 approved unto God sincere and sound-hearted Christians they are hereby made manifest as to themselves so to others Thus doth God by this means as Cyprian in the same place noteth make a kind of a previous separation separating the Chaffe from the Wheat before the day of Judgment 4. This God permits for the just condemnation of others and that both of Masters and Scholars of such as broach and preach such doctrines and such as believe them For the former of these expresse is that of St. Iude in the Text forecited Iude v. 4. There are certain men crept in unawares saith he who were before of old ordained to this condemnation This he speaketh of seducers false teachers whom God in his most just and righteous decree did from eternity preordain so far to leave them to their own natural corruption and malice as that they should dare to corrupt and falsifie his truth and thereby justly incur the sentence of condemnation and bring upon themselves swift destruction as the Apostle St. Peter saith of them 2 Pet. 2. 1. And for the latter that of St. Paul is no lesse expresse 2 Thess. 2. 1. where speaking of Antichristian errours that should come into the Church and should be prevalent with many he assigneth this as one end of Gods dispensation in permitting and sending them God shall send them strong delusion saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Efficaciam deceptionis the Efficacy of Errour or deceit that is such errours as should be effectuall for the deceiving of them so as they should believe a lye receive and imbrace those forged and false doctrines And wherefore this Why That they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse ver 12. Thus hath God not onely an eye to but also a hand in these divers and strange doctrines which come abroad not onely with his prescience and permission but also by his most wife and just Ordination 2. This is Satans doing He it is that is the father of lyes When he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own saith our Saviour pro ingenio suo according to his natural disposition so it is if ever Satan speak truth as sometimes he doth he borroweth it to make some advantage of it that he may the more easily deceive by it Lyes are his proper and natural off-spring For as that Text goeth on He is a lyar and the father of it So he is of all Lyes Among which false doctrines are none of the least And therefore deservedly called by that name 2 Thess. 2. 11. 1 Tim. 4. 2. He it is that was the first Preacher of divers and strange doctrines This he did in Paradise Where when God had preached to our first Parents this Doctrine that The day that they ate of the forbidden fruit they should certainly dye the death Gen. 2. 17. he soon after preacheth to them the clean contrary The Serpent said unto the woman Ye shall not surely dye Gen. 3. 3 4. And still this is his work He that was a lying spirit in the mouthes of Ahabs Prophets 2 King 22. 22. he is still the same in the hearts and mouthes of all false Prophets He is the seedsman that soweth these tares So the Parable in the Gospel sets it forth Mat. 13. 24. The
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE Spirituall Vertigo OR TURNING SICKNESSE OF Soul-Unsettlednesse IN Matters of Religious Concernment The Nature of it opened the Causes assigned the Danger discovered and Remedy prescribed As it was lately delivered to the Church of God at Great YARMOUTH By JOHN BRINSLEY Minister of the Gospel there And now presented unto a Publick View as a needful Antidote against the Infection of those divers and strange Doctrines wherewith in these unsettled Times many possibly well-meaning but unwary and unstable soules are carried about to the great disquietment of the Church the dishonour and prejudice of Gods true Religion the hazarding of others and eminent indangering of their own Soules Jam. 1. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 4. 14. That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro c. Rom. 16. 17. Now I beseech you Brethren mark them which cause Divisions and Offences c. London Printed for Tho. Newberry and are to be sold at his Shop in Corn-hill near the Royal Exchange 1655. TO All the Fixed STARS in Englands Horizon Whether Ministers or others who in these loose and unsettled times do yet through Grace remain stable as to matters of Religious concerncernment Specially those in the Town of Great YARMOUTH Highly and deservedly honoured in the Lord YOu see what Matters they are I have here to deal with Not Civill but Religious The former of these I leave to the wise Providence of that Most High who ruleth in the Kingdome of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will Dan. 4. 17. The latter I look upon as properly within the Sphere of my sacred function And being so I have taken occasion to deal therewith according to the exigence of the present Times which being themselves unstable are apt to render those that live in them like unto themselves as the Ship doth the Passengers that are imbarked in it Hence is it that vertiginous distempers as to a secondary cause of them are grown so Epidemical in this our Climate at this day that in this our Heaven so the Church is frequently stiled in the Book of Revelations there should be so many Planets wandring Stars it is St. Jude's word Jude 13. to be seen in every quarter of it so many every where carried about with divers and strange doctrines to the no small disquietment of the Church the high dishonour and great prejudice of Gods true Religion with the eminent indangering of their own soules That you are not in this number this you owe to that Grace by which the Heart of man is established And that you may not be so is my design in this Treatise wherein I have according to my weak skill done or at least endeavoured to do what becometh a spiritual Physician Opened the Nature assigned the Causes discovered the Danger of and prescribed a Remedy proper and Soveraign for this Malady And these my good Intentions I do here present to a publick view desiring what I do not wholly despair of that they may be in some degree useful and successfull if not for the reclaiming of those who are already turned aside from the way of truth yet for the preventing of the like deviations in others Which that they may be let them not want the additional Ingredient of your Prayers For which I shall rest Yours obliged to serve you in the Gospel of Jesus Christ Ioh. Brinsley Yarmouth March 19. 1654. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE Spirituall VERTIGO OR TURNING SICKNESSE OF SOUL-UNSETTLEDNESSE IN Matters of Religious concernment Heb. 13. 9. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace c. IT is not for nothing that the Prophets the Ministers of God in the Language of the Old Testament are sometimes called by the name of Watchmen Son of Man I have made thee a Watchman saith the Lord to his Prophet Ezekiel Ezek. 3. 17. What the Watchmans Office is it is not unknown viz. to stand upon the Watch-Tower to look out for and give warning of approaching dangers or Enemies And such is the office of the Ministers of God Thus to watch for the soules of men which is their proper work as the 17. verse of this Chapter sets it forth Obey them that have the oversight over you c. for they watch for your soules to look out and descry what spiritual dangers do threaten them and to give timely warning of them Son of man saith the Lord to that Prophet in the place forecited Ezek. 3. 17. I have made thee a Watchman unto the house of Israel therefore hear the Word at my mouth and give them warning This did that Apostle who is commonly reputed the Penman of this Epistle the Apostle St. Paul He made this his work to warn others So he tells the Elders of Ephesus at Miletum propounding himself unto them as to all other Ministers of the Gospel as a pattern for their imitation Act. 20. 31. Remember saith he that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with teares And writing to his Colossians he inculcates the same telling them how this was one thing which he ever had an eye at in his preaching of Christ Whom we preach saith he warning every man Col. 1. 28. And this is the design which my self have upon you at the present God having by his Providence and Ordinance set me as a Watchman in this place my desire is to approve my self faithful in discharging that trust committed unto me by giving a seasonable warning unto you of that which may indanger your soules I presume there are few or none of you but take notice of a flood of dangerous and soul-destroying errors which in these unsettled times have broke in upon the Church of God in this Nation Some of which have already entred in at these gates and others in all likelihood are treading upon their heeles ready every day to follow them Now upon this account it is that I have singled forth this portion of Scripture wherein the Apostle giveth the like Caveat to his Hebrewes that I intend to you forewarning them of the like danger willing them to beware of it Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines Then seconding and backing that Caution that Admonition with a Reason of it wherein also he comprehends an Antidote or Remedy against it For it is a good thing that the heart be established with Grace These are the Parts of the Text which by Gods assistance I shall handle distinctly beginning with the first the Precaution or Admonition Be not carried about with divers and strange Doctrines Wherein for the better handling of the words we may take notice of two things The Affect or Malady and the Ground or Cause of it The Affect or Malady a spiritual Vertigo or Giddinesse Be not carried about The Ground or Cause of it Divers and
allude in the Text whilest he giveth this Caveat to his Hebrews that they should not be thus carried about Be not carried about as Wheeles as Chaffe as Waves as Clouds And thus I have shewen you the Affect or Malady it self Spiritual Unsettlednesse Come we in the next place to take notice of the Ground or Cause of it which we have in the words following With divers and strange Doctrines Here is the wind which carrieth about these Waves these clouds A wind of Doctrine So the Apostle calleth it in that place to which I have had and shall have frequent recourse Eph. 4. 14. Be not carried about with every wind of Doctrine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every wind An elegant Metaphor saith Calvin upon it fitly expressing the nature of all those doctrines of men as the Apostle calleth all false doctrines Col. 2. 22. which draw men aside from the simplicity of the Gospel whatever they may seem to be what noise soever they may make in the eares of those that hearken to them and how prevalent soever they may be with them yet they are but wind vain and empty speculations And concerning this wind it is that our Apostle here as elsewhere warneth Christians that they should take heed of being carried about with it Hence is that natural disease in the Head which we call a Vertigo the Turning Sicknesse or Giddinesse it is caused by wind by flatulent vapours affecting the Brain And from a like cause many times is this spiritual Vertigo the unsetlednesse of Christians in the matters of God They are turned and carried about with this wind of Doctrine But what Doctrine That we have here set forth by a twofold Epithet Divers and strange Doctrines Two words as Lapidee noteth upon them fitly agreeing to False and Hereticall doctrines Which are 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Various divers So they may be said to be in as much as they differ alwayes from the truth and often from themselves 1. Alwaies from the Truth Being no other but Lyes So Paul calleth Heretical doctrine 2 Thess. 2. 11. a Lye And speaking of Heretical Teachers he calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 teachers of lyes 2 Tim. 4. 2. And so Divers Truth as Aquinas notes upon the Text is but one being like the Center Errors are many like the several points of the Circumference which as they all differ from the Center so one from another And so do Errors all differing from the truth which is but one they differ betwixt themselves 2. Yea and often differ from themselves Such is the guize of Hereticks having no sure ground to stand upon they are often flitting running from one Error to another they do not sibi constare but are often inconsistent with themselves self-contradicting saying and unsaying with the same breath denying and destroying that by Consequence which positively they assert and maintain Thus false doctrines are said to be Divers And 2. Strange 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So tearmed again in a like double respect Being strange to the Scriptures and strange to the Church 1. To the Scriptures not to be found in the Canon of the Old or New Testament Not known to Christ or his Apostles Were they alive again they would be strange to them They preached no such doctrine They are no other but humane Inventions Commandments and Doctrines of men as the Apostle calleth them in the place forecited Col. 2. 22. not delivered by God in his Word but invented by men And being so they may upon that account well be called strange having no acquaintance with the Scriptures And secondly strange to the Church Such Doctrines as the true Church either never heard of or at least never owned never acknowledged New Doctrines Such was Paul's doctrine to those Athenian Philosophers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they call it A new doctrine Act. 17. 19. whereupon they charge him to be a setter up of strange gods vers 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strange deities and a bringer of strange things to their eares vers 20. Strange because new And such are Heresies unto the true Catholick Church of God either not known to it or not known by it And upon that account may well be called strange Now concerning such doctrine it is that the Apostle here giveth this Caveat to his Hebrewes that they should take heed of being seduced of being carried about with them Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines A useful a needful Admonition So it was to the Church at that time when the Apostle gave it And that in a twofold regard 1. In regard that some such doctrines were then abroad 2. Some Christians were then carried about with those doctrines Both which are insinuated in the Text. And so it was 1. Some such Doctrines were then abroad in the world Divers and strange doctrines Such was that doctrine which was then preached by the false Apostles whose design was to make a mixture of the Law and Gospel to joyn them both together pressing the Observation of the Mosaical Law not onely the Moral but Ceremonial Law as necessary to Justification and salvation This did some and many in Paul's time who placed a great part of Religion in Ceremonial Observances Such were those Ordinances which he speaketh of Col. 2. 21. where he blameth his Colossians for dogmatizing for complying with the false Apostles in subjecting themselves to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why are ye subject How is it that ye suffer your selves to be so inthralled unto such doctrinal Errors and superstitious Rites and Observances viz. Touch not taste not handle not These were the prescriptions and injunctions of those false Teachers who by crying up these Ceremonial Rites corrupted the minds of those that would hearken to them from the simplicity that was in Christ as he speaketh 2 Cor. 11. 3. drawing off the hearts of Christians from looking onely unto Christ and the free grace of God in him for Justification and Salvation And this was one of those doctrines those divers and strange Doctrines which our Apostle here in the Text hath an eye at So much we may collect from the latter Clause of the verse where he saith It is good that the heart be established with grace not with meats i. e. Not with the choice of meats and drinks using of some as clean abstaining from others as unclean under which by a Synecdoche he comprehendeth all other Ceremonial observances as I shall shew you hereafter This did some of the Teachers of those Times presse upon Christians therein teaching them a Doctrine diverse from and contrary to that which Paul had before taught which was that the Kingdome of God is not meat and drink Rom. 14. 17. The Kingdome of Christ under the Gospel did not consist in such outward observations And besides this there were at that time sundry other Doctrines abroad
he was a man as Paul there setteth him forth full of subtilty and mischief And such in their measure ordinarily are seducers false teachers They are as Solomon describeth the Harlot Prov. 7. 10. Subtile of heart Cunning and crafty and wily And by this means they come to seduce and deceive those that will hearken to them viz. by their Subtilty This is that which the Apostle taketh notice of as a principal Engine whereby these wheeles come to be turned about as we may collect from that intimation of his to his Ephesians in that Text to which I have had so frequent recourse Eph. 4. 14. where he giveth them this Caveat that they should not be carried about with every wind of Doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftinesse whereby they lye in wait to deceive Two words expressing for substance one and the same thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The former of which is a Metaphor taken from Cheaters who by Cogging of dice and by sleight of hand cheat and cousin those whom they play with Even so do false Teachers by their sleight and cunning craftinesse deceive those which have to deal with them Which they do divers wayes Instance in some few of them First By their Sophismes fallacious Arguments These are the false Dice which these Cheaters play with Subtile and intrapping Arguments which they take out of divers boxes fetch from several Heads As 1. From Scripture which they make use of this way by wresting it Even as Davids Enemies made use of his words as he complaines Psal. 56. 5. Every day saith he they wrest my words perverting them and turning them to another sense then ever he meant when he uttered them so do false teachers being Gods Enemies make use of his Word This is that which St. Peter saith of some unlearned and unstable soules in his time they wrested some things in Paul's Epistles as they did also divers other Scriptures to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3. 16. This did they by mis-interpreting of them and drawing them violently from their true and genuine sense to a false one which they did to that end that they might thereby uphold their errours And truly such is the ordinary practice of Hereticks and false teachers they wrest the Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 detorquent depravant writhe and wring them about turning them this way or that way as may best serve for their purpose Dealing by them as Chimists sometimes do with natural bodies which they as it were torture to extract that out of them which God and nature never put into them Or as cruel Tyrants sometimes deal by innocent persons whom they set and stretch upon the Rack and so make them speak that which they never thought After the like manner do false teachers use to deal by the Scriptures wresting them to draw a sense out of them which the Spirit of God never intended A practice common to all Hereticks save onely those Antiscripturians who will not acknowledge the Divine Authority of Sacred Writ 2. And as herein they make use of Scripture so also of Reason which it may be sometimes they oppose against Scripture or else make use of to vouch that sense which they put upon it So dealt those false teachers in the Primitive times Such use they made of their Philosophy Thereupon it was that Paul gave that Caveat to his Colossians Chap. 2. v. 8. Beware faith he lest any man spoyl you through Philosophy and vain deceit that is by such subtile and plausible Arguments as are drawn from the principles of Naturall Reason which however in it self it is useful yet when it is made the measure of spiritual mysteries this is a dangerous abuse of it Now it cometh to be no other but as he there calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a vain deceit And this deceit did those false teachers in those first times make great use of by such Arguments both opposing the doctrine of the Gospel and supporting their own errours And the like use do not a few make of it at this day In speciall the Socinians who make this the measure of their faith and the Touchstone to try all Evangelical truths by viz. humane Reason not allowing any thing to be believed how clearly soever in Scripture held forth but what that may apprehend and comprehend Upon which account it is that they desperately disclaim divers Articles of the Christian faith for which Scripture is expresse and which the Church of God in all ages of it hath looked upon as truths the belief whereof was necessary to salvation And by this means it is that they pervert the faith of some who have not learned to submit their carnal Reason to divine Revelation And in the third place sometimes they plead Custome Tradition So did the Scribes and Pharisees in maintenance of their superstitions That is the Argument which they use to our Saviour blaming his Disciples and him in them for not complying with them in some of their Ceremonial observances Mat. 15. 2. Why do thy disciples transgresse the traditions of the Elders Not observing such Customes and usages as they had received from their Ancestors and so had been of long continuance And this Argument the false Apostles in Paul's time made great use of Thereupon it is that he giveth the like Caveat to his Colossians concerning that as he doth concerning Philosophy putting them together in that forecited Caveat Col. 2. 8. Beware lest any man spoyl you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the Traditions of men This was one thing which they pleaded for their doctrines against the doctrine of the Apostles Tradition Custome Wherein they are followed by the Doctors of the Church of Rome who take up the like plea for many of their Errours pretending though most falsly as it hath been made out by divers Champions of the truth who have undertaken that cause against them Antiquity for them casting the odious imputation of Novelty upon all contrary Opinions and Practices Which is a taking Argument with many So was it with the Iewes who brought it in as an Article against Stephen that he should say that Iesus should change the Customes which Moses had delivered them Act. 6. 14. And the Disciples when Paul came to Ierusalem give him to take notice what a stumbling-blockit was in the way of the believing Jewes that he should teach those of that Nation to forsake Moses saying that they ought not to circumcise their children neither to walk after the Customes Act. 21. 21. So tenacious are many at this day of some Customes that they will prefer them even before either Scripture or Reason And these are some of those Arrowes wherewith false Teachers do oft-times pierce the hearts of men Sophistical Arguments fetched from Scripture Reason Custome To which for the further Confirmation of their Doctrines and gaining belief from the credulous multitude they sometimes adde
verity or falsity of them properly have to deal yet so in as much as they have also an influence upon the Affective part the Will and the Affections as that I shall not wholly exclude any of them But rather take the word Heart here in the Comprehensive sense of it as commonly it is to be taken where it goeth alone as pointing at the whole inward man both the Intellective and Affective part of the Soul Understanding Iudgment Conscience Will Affections Q. Now so taking it What is it for the heart to be Established A. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To be firmly and surely settled as an house that is built upon a sure foundation or a Pillar that standeth upon a firm and solid Pedestal so as it can neither be removed nor moved And thus is the Heart of man said to be established when it is fixed as David saith his was My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed Psal. 57. 7. settled upon a sure basis a sure foundation or well ballasted so as it is free from such fluctuations such vertiginous distempers as the former part of the Text speaketh of When it is neither Actually carried about nor yet Subject so to be When Christians are not soon shaken in mind nor troubled whether by Spirit Word or Letter as the Apostle speaketh 2 Thess. 2. 2. But are stablished strengthened settled as St. Peter hath it 2 Pet. 5. 10. This it is to have the Heart established Which the Heart of man naturally is not So much is not obscurely insinuated by the Apostle here in the Text where he saith It is a good thing that the heart should be established and that with grace Intimating that of it self it is not so This is a flower that groweth not in natures Garden A truth The heart of man by nature is nothing lesse then stable Even as it is with a Ship when it first cometh out of the Dock or off from the Stocks as here you phrase it before any ballast be put into it being light and empty it is also waltery and unsteady apt to turn this way and that way And truly such is Man as he cometh out of the womb Natures Dock a light and empty thing So David who had well weighed him found him to be Surely men of low degree are vanity and men of high degree are a lye To be layed in the balance they are altogether lighter then vanity that is his verdict Psal. 62. 9. Altogether Iacad Suppose it that all the men upon earth were put together in one balance and vanity it self any light thing as a Bubble or a feather put in the other to be weighed against them they would Ascend mount up as the Original hath it as the lighter scale useth to do they will be found the lighter of the two Such was Davids apprehension of all the sonnes of men Be they what they will whether Beni Adam or Beni Ish filii Hominis or filii viri whether men of low degree or men of high degree all was one to him He sets his Tekel upon them all Even the very same that the hand-writing upon the wall did upon Belshazzer the Persian Monarch the greatest man of his time Dan. 5. 27. Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting wanting weight many graines too light And such are all the sons of men naturally And that as in regard of their outward state and condition being not to be confided trusted in so also in respect of their inward disposition the frame and temper of their hearts and spirits Before the grace of God meet with them they are all light as vanity Being by nature empty things This it is that maketh the Bubble so light because it is empty And such is the heart of man naturally The Evil spirit returning into the heart of a man from whence he seemed to have been ejected findeth it empty Matth. 12. 44. Empty of Grace which being the best and onely ballast for the soul as I shall shew you anon without it it must needs be light and consequently unsettled subject to fluctuations and turnings specially in matters of Religious concernment Thus it is But It is not good that it should be so That is a second thing we have here hinted unto us It is good that the heart should be established So then the contrary is not good That the heart should be unsettled specially in the matters of God this is an Evill a great Evil. So it is first when a man is actually turned When he is under this sad distemper carried about as the Apostle saith with divers and strange doctrines This is an Evil and that both a Sinful and a Penal one 1. Sinful So it was in our first Parents when they hearkened to the voice of the Serpent bringing to them a doctrine diverse from and contrary to that which God himself had preached to them And so is it in their posterity when they shall in like manner hearken to the Instruments of Satan subtle seducers suffering themselves to be turned aside from the way of Truth to the imbracing of Errours This is a sinful Evil. And so it may be called and looked upon upon a double account As it is a forsaking of Truth and as it is a cleaving to Errour Thus the Lord complaineth of his people Ier. 2. 13. My people have committed two Evils two grand and notorious Evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed them out Cisternes broken Cisternes that can hold no water They forsook the true God and turned to false gods Idols This he chargeth upon them as a double Evil. And so is it when any one shall forsake and relinquish the truth once received and acknowledged and shall follow after Errours this is a double Evil. Even as it was in the Israelites when being weary of their Manna they lusted for flesh of which you have the story Numb 11. 4 6. this was in them a double Evill Their loathing one their lusting another their loathing of that heavenly Manna and their lusting after Egyptian flesh-pots Even so is it with Christians when they shall come to loathe divine and heavenly truths which their soules have formerly fed upon and found relish in satisfaction and contentment and shall lust after divers and strange doctrines this is a double Evill So St. Peter looked upon it in those Seducers of whom he complaineth 2 Pet. 2. 15. that they had forsaken the right way and were gone astray following the way of Balaam And so may we look upon it in the Seducers of these times as also in many of those that are seduced by them Their turning from the Truth received and imbracing of Errour is in them a double Evil. A sinfull evil 2. And as sinful so Penal As a sin so a punishment of sin and that a dreadful one So the Apostle looked upon it who writing to his Thessalonians
concerning the Apostasie of the latter times he saith that For this cause viz. because men received not the love of the truth God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lye 2 Thess. 2. 11. Thus doth God justly punish those disrespects which men shew unto his truth when it is held forth unto them their not receiving and imbracing it with intire and cordial Affection and living up to it by giving them over to Satanical delusions to be captived and blinded by them that they should believe a Lye be carried about with dīvers and strange forged and false Doctrines Thus is this Actual turning an Evil thing And such in the second place is Habitual Instability When men have unsettled heads and hearts and so are subject to be turned and to be carried about in this manner This also is an evil a great Evil. So it will appear if we do but consider these two things First how it indisposeth a man to service and secondly how it exposeth him to danger Both which may fitly be illustrated from a Ship a Similitude which I have the more frequent recourse unto in regard that as it suiteth very well with the Subject in hand so it is familiar and well known to you A Ship being tender-sided and waltery is neither serviceable nor safe Not serviceable to the Owner not safe to the Passenger And truly such is the condition of an unstable soul. 1. It is unserviceable Unserviceable to God the Owner of it Being hereby indisposed unto his service whether to do or to suffer for him Both which require a stable head and a stable heart Where these are wanting it cannot be expected or hoped that a man should walk uprightly with God in a constant course of Obedience We see how it is with a man in drink so we speak sometimes and yet not improperly when the Body being surcharged with any inebriating liquor the soul which is the man the most noble part of him is drowned in it his head turning round what Indentures doth he make with his feet He cannot now walk right on but reeleth to and fro this way and that way as the Psalmist speaketh Psal. 107. 27. And truly so is it with an unsettled Christian having an unstable head and heart he hath also an unstable foot so as he cannot walk steadily with God He cannot do what our Apostle requires all Christians to do Heb. 12. 13. Make streight pathes or steps unto his feet This is that which St. Iames telleth us in that Text forecited Iam. 1. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A double-minded man is unstable in all his wayes A man unsettled in his Principles Opinions Resolutions Purposes having as it were his soul divided in him which the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifieth Bianimis when the mind is divided betwixt two Objects that it knoweth not which to choose but is like a man standing in bivio that hath two wayes before him and knoweth not which to take he is unstable in all his wayes all his practices courses undertakings whether of Civill or Religious concernment And being so it cannot be expected than either God or Man should ever have any great service from such a one It was Iacobs prophetical prediction concerning his first-born son Reuben Gen. 49. 4. Unstable as water thou shalt not excel c. viz. in valour or any excellent atchievements And the like may be said of unstable Christians Being unstable as water which too many are subject to be moved and carried about with every wind of doctrine as the water is with every gale that bloweth upon it Let it never be expected that they should excell in doing any speciall service whether for God or for his Church Thus doth this Habituall instability indispose a man for service 2. It exposeth him to danger Even as it is with a Ship still I have recourse to the same similitude being tender-sided and waltery as it will not bear much sail so it is subject to be overset by every gust Even so is it with an unsettled Christian. As he is not capable of doing much service so he is in danger of being over-set by every Tentation to be carried about by fear or hope of gain and outward advantage or by the sleight and cunning craftinesse of subtile seducers which is a thing of very dangerous consequence making the condition of a man most hazardous and unsafe continually exposing him to the danger of no lesse then the sinking of his soul in eternal perdition But I promised brevity Thus is it as you see an evil thing to have the heart the soul of man unsettled especially as to matters of Religious concernment But on the other hand To have the heart established is a good thing That we have here expressed It is a good thing that the heart be established 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a good thing a singular good eminently good So it is being both Honestum Utile and Iucundum which are the three kinds of good an Honest good a Profitable good a Pleasurable good 1. An Honest good This is the good of the heart when it is like the good ground spoken of Luk. 8. which our Saviour verse 15. expounds to be the honest and good heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now this it is which maketh it so to be when it is established and that with grace This is as good manure to a light soil which being layed on it and mingled with it maketh it good ground And so doth this a good Heart an honest Heart 2. It is a profitable good So is good ground to the Owner And so is a good heart that is thus established Now it bringeth forth fruits unto God fruits of New Obedience fruits of Holinesse and Righteousnesse and that both Plentifully and Constantly Which a heart not so established will not do Possibly by fits and starts an unsettled unstable Christian may do some good services in themselves acceptable unto God and profitable to others But he is not constant herein This is the fruit of this heart-establishment to make the Christian like Davids tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season and whose leaf also doth not wither Psal. 1. 3. Constant both in profession and practice of Gods true Religion 3. It is a pleasurable a delightfull good So it is to the Christian himself The heart being in a good and constant temper it maketh both an equable pulse and a chearful countenance And so is it with the Christian when his heart his soul is settled and established in the matters of God this maketh him as Constant in his way so chearfull David having his heart fixed then he will sing and give praise Psal. 57. 7. An unsettled heart must needs be an uncomfortable heart Even as it is with a Traveller falling with divers wayes and being anxious and uncertain which to take now he