Law of the divine nature and repugnant to the modesty of a Saint like profession True born children will rather endeavour to wipe off the stains that are upon their mothers face and lay a garment upon their shoulders and go backward and cover her nakedness The Lord Jesus Christ would not cast off the church of the Jews though there was abundance of corruption therein but held her as a true church and so did the Apostles likewise God doth and will bear much more with us before he will cast us off he never giveth a bill of divorce to any church till she first leave him And we should be like unto our heavenly Father Those persons who take this course to unchurch the church of Christ do proclaim openly to the world that they are bastards and not sons That is the fifth branch of unholy Separation VI. Lastly They also are guilty of this fault that separate to humane devices in the worship and service of God though yet they hold communion with the true church There are many that live in the church of whom also we have cause to hope that they are true members and dear to God and yet they fail herein are apt to make mixtures of their own in Gods worship Hence it is that the Lord giveth such a strict charge to the people of Israel Deut. 12. 32. and else where What thing soever I command thee thou shalt observe to do thou shalt neither ad to it nor diminish from it Such were the Pharisees of whom I spake even now they set up their own washings and purisyings together with rhose that were appointed in the Law of the Lord and put more sanctity and holiness in them then in the Lords own institutions Of this the Evangelist speaketh Mar. 7 3 4. The Pharisees and all the Jews except they wash their hands oft eat not holding the traditions of the Elders And when they come from the market except they wash they eat not And many other things there be which they have received to hold as the washing of cups and pots brasen vessels and of tables But our Saviour chargeth them with separation for it Verse 7. 8. In vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men for laying aside the commandment of God ye hold the traditions of men And Verse 10. Ye reject the commandment of God that ye may keep your own traditions When the ceremonies and devices of men in any kind are imposed or received into the worship of God so far God is slighted his worship defiled and a rent made in the Church of God Thus have we seen that there is an unholy and unlawful Separation and what it is And from these qualifications of the Doctrine it now appeareth more fully and evidently That there is a separation that hath been an old errour in some men that have pretended to be knowing and religious even teachers in Israel There needs not to be much time spent in further proof of this point you may be pleased to observe these few particulars briefly 1 Out own experience doth sufficiently inform us of the truth of this point there is at this day a grievous Separation made from the church the bitterness of this cup we have tasted in the three nations we find it to have infected many Cities Towns and Families 2 We have also sufficient testimony of the antiquity of this abomination it is not a brat of yesterdayes breeding but it is an old errour wherewith many professours have been defiled Let us look backward a little and take notice of its Pedegree So soon as the children of Israel were settled in a church state by Moses in the wilderness we find that Korah Dathan and Abiram began this Separation of whom we read in the sixteenth Chapter of the book of Numbers They were men famous in the Congregation and Korah was a Levite also you may likewise observe there what a wonderful fair pretence of holiness they put on for the carrying on of their schisme and rebellion to the intent that they might draw the people after them Gideon was an holy and good man yet he also made a rent in the church of God insomuch as all Israel in a manner went a whoring after the Ephod which he had made and put in his city Ophrah Judg. 8. 27. What a schisme rene and separation did Jeroboam the son of Nebat make from the church of God when he drew the ten tribes to idolatry and yet he covereth it with a fair pretence of reason and piety also as is to be seen at large 1 King Chap. 12. The Apostle Paul informeth us that the Corinthians were guilty of Separation and divisions 1 Cor. 3. 3 one would be of Pauls church another of Apolloes another of Cephas his church so that they were broken into diverse parties and factions and yet they were very wise men and pretended to very much holiness also Jude that out lived him is not silent concerning the separation made in his days by those that pretended to be teachers in the church of God as you have heard already cleared out of the Text. The Pelagians Donatists Familists and all the old hereticks in the church for diverse hundred years after Christ were many of them learned men and laid claim to much sanctity and holiness yet you know what sad rents and separations they made in the church of Christ The Antichrist of Rome hath made as great a pretence to holiness as any other and yet you cannot be ignorant that the schisme and separation he hath made in the church of God hath been to great that for diverse hundreds of years scarce so much as the face of a church appeared in these Westernly parts of the world save in some few holes and corners When God was pleased to dispell the darkness of popery in the dayes of Luiher and that the church of God began to flourish in Germany behold on a sudden there ariseth a deadly Separation made by the Anabaptists and their Associates in those parts and all was under the disguise of inspirations and revelations from God And Lastly When the work of reformation began to be set on foot among us in these nations about the year one thousand six hundred and forty and the minds of the good people of the Lands were much comforted in hope of unity and uniformity in the worship of God in these Lands be hold what a Separation and Schisme hath been made to the retarding of that glorious work insomuch as the building of the temple of God hath ceased for diverse years elapsed and yet this hath been done under the pretence of holiness and the advancement of the interest of our Lord Jesus Christ I need say no more for proof Let us now proceed to the uses of the Doctrine which are three 1 Of Inquisition 2 Of Humiliation 3 Of Exhortation Use 1. Of inquisition or enquiry Whether there be any of these sinfull
Separatists among us in this Common wealth or no But this is so obvious that it is written with a Sun beam Have not we multitudes among us that have departed from our solemn Assemblies and cast off the publique Ordinances of the Lord Jesus Christ especially the sealing Ordinances upon a meer pretence of non-communion with the ungodly Nay have we not very many both Ministers and others that have cast off our Churches and en bodied themselves into other societies None can deny this he is blind that seeth it not Now let us yet enquire further What is the reason why they have so done They must either acknowledg our Congregations to be true Churches of Jesus Christ or else they must say that we are false Churches Non datur tertium If they acknowledg us to be true Churches as some of them do then why do they separate from us They cannot be excused from the guilt of Schism at the least And do they not put themselves out of Christs protection by their separation Yea verily and they will feel it to be so at the last If they endeavour to excuse the matter thus That though we be true Churches yet we are not pure Churches and they desire to gather into a more pure Church way and therefore are not to be accused for unlawfull Separation I must answer in four words 1 That they have no precept or example in the whole Book of God for going out of a true Church upon pretence of greater purity to be found in another and whatsoever is not of faith is sin Rom. 14. 23. 2 That we have the example of Christ to the contrary who would not separate from the Church of the Jews though corrupted and gather another from among them of a more pure constitution whilst they were to remain a Church and they ought to be followers of God aâ— dear children Eph. 5. 1. 3 That this separation though under the pretence of greater purity to be found else where is a dangerous sign that they were never true members of the church I would not judge them but let us hear what the Holy Ghost saith by the Apostle 1 Joh. 2. 19. They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us 4 This departure of theirs is an occasion of very grievous discommodity and disadvantage to the church of God in general which they ought warily to have declined insomuch as the blessed work of reformation is retarded by their means and our Saviour saith Mat. 18. 7. We to that man by whom the offence cometh If on the other side they shall say we are not true churches of Christ and that therefore they leave us then behold we have blessed be God all the marks and signes of a true church We acknowledge the true and incorruptible doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles and receive it as the onely rule for faith and manners We have a continuation of the right and lawful use of the Word and Sacraments among us and which is the thing that themselves make the most essential note of a church truely instituted We have the sound and sincere profession of the true faith among us So as they can have no cause to judg otherwise then that we are the true church of God What then is the cause that should make them to separate from us Surely the fault lieth not in us because we are not the church of God but there is something in themselves that is amiss it will fall under one of these three causes I will not determine which of them 1 Either They are proud and high minded men that set more price and esteem upon their own abilities parts and graces then upon their brethrens This is indeed the seed of Separation when a man is puffed up with pride of spirit This was the fault of those that â—omâ—nted division in the church of Corinth they had an high conceit of themselves and commended themselves and then own abilities as the Apostle intimateth 2 Cor. 10. 18. but they had â—ase thoughts and uttered unsit speeches against Paul Verse 10. His bodily presence say they is weak and his speech contemptible he had no good elocution But this is far off from that which Christ requireth to be in his disciples the first lesson to be learned in his school is self deniall Mat. 16. 24. If any man will come after me let him deny himself A low esteem of self would keep a man safe from being a Separatist but when pride thus pricketh a man forward and that he valueth his own wisdom and learning at a higher rate then the wisdom prudence and holiness of a whole national Assembly of Orthodox Divines it is no wonder though he run upon this dangerous rock of separation 2 Or else Self ends and base carnal respects draw men into this gulf they aim at their own advantage and self interest to make themselves great and rich in the world The Apostle speaketh fully to this 2 Pet. 2. 1-3 where he informeth us that false teachers through covetousness do with fained words make merchandise of professors Such kind of trading as is there spoken of is base among men and abominable in the sight of God Hope of great gifts and large rewards maketh many a man to turn Separatist Or if they aim not at an outward estate yet at least a great name fame and honor among men doth entice them to this vanity This was it that tickled the new fangled preachers at Ephesus Acts 20. 30. They shall speak perverse things to draw away disciples after them they thought they should have a great company of followers if they set up new fashions in doctrine and discipline And have not some of the Separatists enlarged their precincts beyond the bounds of a Lord Bishops diocess they are likely to watch well one over another living at such a distance These are they saith our Saviour that seek honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh of God onely Joh. 5. 44. 3 Or else they warp to separation through their own injudiciousness being unsetled in the knowledg of the truth It is for want of sound catechising in the fundamentals of religion that so many have of late been troubled with this vertigo â—â— they have got more use of their tongues than Christians had formerly but they have less in their hearts than the old Christians had If men were well instructed in religion they would not be so easily seduced to separation The cause why men are deceived by such delusions is because they have not received the love of the truth into their souls 2 Thes 2. 10 11. They cannot by found judgment discern between truth and error when a false teacher cometh in appearance as if he were an angel of light this want of judgment perverteth
Priests Office and make it common because all the people had the gifts of the spirit The congregation saith he verse 3. are holy every one of them and the Lord is among them The same thing that they did hath been acting over again upon the theatre of these lands The Apostle Jude verse 11 tells you that the sin of Korah may be committed in the days of the Gospel If this have not been the time of killing the two Witnesses spoken of Revel 11. 7. I am sure it is very like to it a very few years will inform us more fully Now Gods appearance for us in such a time doth make the mercy so much the greater 3 Consider the way whereby the Lord began to work up our hopes for deliverance and restitution to our pristine condition He sets the adversaries themselves at odds they that had ingrossed all the power riches and great Offices into their hands quarrel who should be the greatest The military Anabaptists reach further than their sleeve would stretch in regard of power and command they resolve to win all or to lose all But in the thing wherein they dealt proudly God was above them Exod. 18. 11. Their divisions were the signal omen of our deliverance and their own ruine So that we may well take up that of David Psal 7. 14-16 Behold he travelleth with iniquity and hath conceived mischief and brought forth falsehood he made a pit and digged it and is fallen into the ditch which he made His mischief shall return upon his own head and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate 4 Lastly Observe what eminent instruments God hath raised up to carry on this great work after the enemies themselves had begun it even by persons unthought of hath God wrought both in England and Ireland and Scotland raising up the hearts even of multitudes of the common people to stand for the Parliament All these things conferred together do make Gods mercies in these deliverances to shine most gloriously The third and last Use of this Doctrine is for Exhortation which also will divide it self into two parts For in handling this Use I would direct my speech 1 To all here present in general 2 To you our honorable and grave Counsellors in particular Exhort 1. And first this Doctrine speaketh generally to all here present and to all others in this land who have had an hand or voice in the election of these honorable Persons to be your Representatives in this great Convention or that do expect to receive any benefit by them as instruments in Gods hand for your good You must carry it so toward them as you would do toward such from whom you expect safety and to be kept from falling This duty of yours toward them whom God hath set up to be the conservators of your peace I shall lay down and illustrate in Four particulars 1 You must honor love and respect them as those that are to be your Saviours prize them as Gods ordinance for the procuring of your safety and deliverance from destruction When the Apostle had spoken of Magistracy and the protection we recieve from it Rom. 13. 1-4 he maketh this Use of that he had taught in the 7. Verse Render therefore to all their dues Honour to whom honour is due As if he should have said the Magistrate deserveth honour for the safety you recieve by his means The Heathens used to Deify their Heroes for those noble acts they had done for them herein they exceeded their due bounds and limits But we that are called Christians usually fall too short in our esteem of Magistrates we give them not the honour due to them This is foul ingratitude to deny honour to those that are the means under God of our safety 2 You must not pass rash censures upon what they shall act in your name and for your good It is a great fault in many both Ministers and others that they pry too far into the Ark of State and when their eyes dazzle then they speak evil of the things they understand not it were better for such to keep themselves within the compass of their own callings It is too disingenuous to censure those Persons that have been chosen by us and do act according to their abilities for our good Thou shalt not revile the Gods saith the Lord Exod. 22. 28. nor curse the ruler of thy people Whisperers backbiters murmurers complainers upon every supposed occasion are the refuse of the people A Moses cannot scape the lash of such mens tongues 3 You must yeild subjection to such things as they shall agree upon for your good to such Ordinances as they shall make on your behalf They are the persons who are intrusted in this Land for ordering your publique affairs Wherefore Let every soul be subject to the higher powers Rom. 13. 1. You must submit to them even in those necessary Taxes and Impositions that must by their advice be leavyed for your defence For this cause that is because of the protection you receive from Magistracy Rom. 13. 6. Pay you tribute also Souldiers must be paid their wages and the charge of other publique businesses must be defrayed or else you will fall into unavoidable misery 4 Lastly and especially You must pray for them The Nation is heart sick these are your Physicians you can do no less then pray for a blessing from God upon those means they shall make use of for your cure and healing Mark well the advice the Apostle giveth 1. Tim. 2. 1. 2. I exhort therefore that first of all Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men For Kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty You must pray for them with all kind of prayer and if you do your duty in this particular the Apostle assureth you of three benefits you shall obtain by it 1 The Church shall enjoy more peace by this means 2 Honesty that is justice and fidelity in the civil conversation of men will be the better preserved 3. Godliness true piety and Religion will prosper by this means And the rather must you pay this debt at this time upon a threefold account viz. 1 Because Our counsels have not been successful for many years by past they have not accomplished the things we hoped for either in Church or State but things have grown worse and worse And we have cause to impute this great obstruction to this That we have not prayed for a blessing upon our counsellors and their counsells or at least That we have not prayed in that manner as we ought Ye fight and war saith the Apostle Jam. 4. 2. and so may we say yet ye have not Why Because ye ask not That is our fault And though ye ask yet ye recieve not saith he Verse 3. Why because ye ask amiss It never sped well with our counsels
plagues Those that will needs sin together must also suffer together this is a just and righteous thing with God Both these reasons should mightily prevail with us to hate idolatry and to avoid and separate from them that are idolaters in that worship and service they pretend to do to God And this is the second branch of lawfull Separation III The godly must separate from all conjugal society with idolaters they may not contract marriage with them at all This is that separation spoken of Ezra Chap. 10. 11. Separate your selves from the people of the land and from the strange wives and also Deut. 7. 3. Thou shalt not make marriages with them thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son Of this kind of Separation it is that the Apostle speaketh in the 2. Cor. 6. 17. if you compare it with the verses precedent Be ye not unequally yoaked with unbeleevers Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing It is utterly unlawful for the true worshippers of God to soder in affinity with such as are idolaters for them that profess the true Protestant religion to marry with heathens or with Papists Yet this that I say in this matter is to be understood with those Cautions that the Apostle giveth in this case 1 Cor. 7. 10-15 For if it be so that any one that is a beleever hath contracted marriage with one that is an unbeleever or heathen this difference of religion is not a sufficient cause of divorce or separation in the dayes of the Gospel Though it be a sin to marry with them of a false religion and so a just cause of humiliation yet after marriage this is not a just ground for a divorce IIII It is a duty appertaining to the servants of God to separate themselves from the unnecessary civil society of all wicked men even of all such as walk and act in an ungodly manner This was Jacobs care Gen. 49. 6. O my soul come not thou into their secret unto their assembly mine honour be not thou united He resolveth to have nothing to do unnecessarily with cruel and merciless men though they were his near relations If godly men come into ungodly company without good occasion so to do they may ruine themselves thereby For Solomon informeth us Prov. 13. 20. that a companion of fools shall be destroyed This is a most certain truth that the godly may come into the company of such as are most wicked and prophane and converse with them upon just occasions viz. 1 If necessary civil affairs whether publique or private do call for it The Apostle forbiddeth not to forbear company altogether with fornicators or covetous or extortioners or idolaters for then we must needs go out of the world 1 Cor. 5. 10. Doubtless it is lawful for any good Christian whether Minister or other to converse with the worst of men upon a necessary civil account and none ought to pass a rash judgment against his neighbour for so doing 2 If a beleever have any cause to hope that he may win another to God or to the love of religion by companying with him he may also company with him lawfully upon that account Of this the Apostle speaketh 1 Pet. 2. 12. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evil doers they may by your good works which they shall behold glorify God in the day of their visitation You see then that it is lawful and convenient for the godly upon some occasions to converse with the worst of men But if such like special occasions do not intervene then the company of the ungodly must be quite forborn and a separation made from their society which is the fourth branch of an holy and lawful Separation V When the children of God have a just cause to be in the company of ungodly men they must always be sure of this that they do Separate from their wicked courses they must hold no eommunion with them in their sins though they do converse with them that is a thing utterly unlawful It is a thing absolutely required of all beleevers 1 Tim. 5. 12. that they be not partakers with other mens sins A man truely gracious will let such a watch over himself when he is necessitated to be among ungodly men that he will not give the least approbation or countenance to any of their lewd and ungracious courses and it is a great sin to keep them company when they are acting their wicked prancks This the godly are oft advised to beware Prov. 23. 20. Be not among wine-bibbers among riotous eaters of flesh Come not among them when they are committing their sins meddle not with them in their drunkenness and gluttony We must ever be such Separatists VI. The godly may and must separate from the pollutions of any Church they live in It is one thing to separate from the Church of God and another to separate from the defilements that are in the Church If that a Church be corrupted so as any of Gods Institutions be broken and his standing rules transgressed and swerved from it concerneth all godly men to take heed to themselves that they be not also defiled A notable pattern and example of this we have in our Lord Jesus Christ himself It was one of Gods statute Laws concerning the Passeover that it should be kept every year on the fourteenth day of the first month at even as you may see in its first institution Exod. 12. 6. Ye shall keep up the paschal Lamb until the fourteenth day of the same that is to say of the first Verse 2. month and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening And so the Lord speaketh expresly Levit. 23. 5. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lords passeover But the Church of the Jews did transgress this in regard of the circumstance of time For they had made it a tradition among them that when the Passeover fell upon the evening before their ordinary Sabbath they did put off the keeping of the Passeover unto the Sabbath day and so kept the Passeover upon their ordinary Sabbath performing both duties under one Thus it fell out in that year wherein our Lord was crucified as appeareth by comparing Mat. 26. 20. with Mar. 15. 42. and John 18. 28. where you may note that the Jews kept the Passeover that evening the Lord Jesus was crucified at which time began their ordinary sabbath Yet the Lord Jesus who held close communion with the Church of the Jews declineth their practise in that very circumstance of time in which they failed and observeth the Passeover in its proper season appointed by the Lord and this is carefully observed by the Evangelists Mat. 26. 20. Now when the evening was come he sate down with the
thousands Use 2. Hence there ariseth just ground of humiliation before the Lord this day in that this error of separation from the Church of Christ is so overspred these dominions and over this island particularly I told you in the begining of my discourse that this is the Achan the Pest of our lands and that I would clear that unto you which I shall now do but with much brevity that so our hearts may be the more deeply humbled in the presence of God The abomination of this sin of separating from the Church and Ordinances of Christ will appear in these four particulars 1 Separation is the most fruitfull sin of many others it is a very comprehensive evil the womb out of which issues many prodigious monsters If I should begin to shew its rise and growth it may be it would prove offensive to some here present and it would be beside my purpose Observe therefore onely its of spring hence arise many of the heresies and abominations that are how among us we are pestered with Anabaptists Seekers Quakers and the like sorts of vipers but they all began in Separation Men first run out of the Church and then they may be of any religion they please Our late experience doth abundantly confirm this And how indeed should it be otherwise when men forsake the true Church what hindreth but they may erect any Church that they shall devise The fruitfulness of it maketh it the fouler sin 2 Separation is a sin that many of Gods own people as we do conceive in the judgment of charity are smutted and tainted with And the sins of Gods children are aggravated by many more circumstances than the sins of other men are Israel hath sinned was that which God affirmeth to Joshua as a great ground of humiliation Chap. 7. 11. The children of God sin against greater outward light and means of grace than others do they sin against the inward light of the spirit of God they sin against greater mercies than others do they sin against covenants vows and strong resolutions This makes their sin of separation much the greater and more to be lamented in the presence of God it is the sin his own people 3 Separation is a greater sin by far than otherwise it would be in this respect because it is maintained countenanced and preached up as if it were no sin at all but a duty This kind withdrawing from Church and Ordinances is held forth as a great gospel truth by many Satans temptation was the more dangerous and the womans transgression the greater when the forbidden fruit was eaten of under the shew and appearance of good Gen. 3. 5 6. It is a great sin to call that good that is evil in it self God cannot abide it when men are so stupid as to call darkness light This also calleth for mourning 4 Separation is that leaven which leaveneth the whole lump it is that canker or gangren that will if God prevent it not eat out the heart of all goodness as the Apostle speaketh of the doctrine of Hymeneus and Philetus 2 Tim. 2. 17. It is indeed a dangerous sign of a carnal man though he may be cloathed in a religious habit The Apostle propoundeth this question to those that studied to make a rent at Corinth and to those that were led by them 1 Cor. 3. 3 4. Are ye not carnal As if he had said I much suspect your grace and doubt that you are persons carnal sensual having not the spirit because ye run thus into separations and divisions in the Church We have now done with the second use Use 3. If separation be such an old dangerous spreading and contaminating evil then here is exhortation in two branches I. If this be so great an evil then I beg that you flie separation and also those that would entice you to it take heed of being drawn from that Church in which you have been born and brought up for God Meddle you not with them that are given to change their Church It becometh us all to be of Davids mind who professeth Psal 119. 113. I hate vain thoughts It is in the original more emphatical ramos or summitates arborum I hate to be like the upper branches of a tree that are bowed and shaken with every wind to be a weather-cock in religion without ballast changing and turning with every turn of the times O this is an hateful thing indeed Now if you would be preserved from this evil that you may not be seduced into separation I shal prescribe unto you five helps which are all laid down by the Apostle Jude in the two verses that do succeed our Text viz. Verse 20. 21. But ye beloved building up your selves on your most holy faith praying in the holy Ghost keep your selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life 1 He that would be kept from separation must lay a good foundation of faith in his heart This is cleerly hinted in these words Building up your selves in your most holy faith there must first be a foundation laid before we can rear a building Faith is this foundation to build upon building on your faith Faith in Christ Jesus will keep a man from seduction Vpon this rock saith our Savour Mat. 16 18. viz. upon my self whom thou hast now confessed I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it neither Satan nor seducers shall be able to lead him from the church who hath true faith fixed upon Christ faith will conquer 2 When you have digged deep and are come to the foundation you must build upon it unto perfection Building up your selves on your most holy faith He that would stand against wind and weather and not be shaken and rent from the church must be sure to build upon the foundation and upon that onely If a man build partly upon the foundation and partly beside it his building will settle and fall or if a man leave earth and rubish between the foundation and the building the fabrick will come to naught The cause why the house stood when the rain descended and the flouds came and the windes blew and beat upon it was because it was founded upon a rock Mat. 7. 24. 25. On the otherside The cause why the other house stood not but fell when the rain descended and the flouds came and the winds blew and beat upon it was because it was built upon the sand and not upon the foundation Verse 26. 27. The more that a man laboureth for perfection of faith to be made compleat in Christ the more shall he be kept from being a Separatist 3 You must pray fervently for your perfeverance in church-state and fellowship Praying in the holy Ghost that is in the strength of the spirit of God by his motion and inspiration and not with the mouth onely as hypocrites use to do it is not lip labour that