wooden vessels of which sort were Hymineus and Philetus To end this therefore It is a consideration which indeed may bee matter of sorrow that there should bee such chaff among the Wheat such Canaanites among the people of Israel such vipers in the bowels of the Church but yet it is no more than what hath been in all ages God in wisdom permits it the Devil in malice contriveth it that Antichristian teachers should grow up among the Christians non mirandum quod exurgant sed vigilandum ne noceant is St. Austins excellent advice wonder not that they do arise beware that they do not hurt and though they are mingled with us let us take heed wee bee not partakers with and so infected by them 2 But that which is here expressed and would chiefly bee considered is that these Antichristian teachers went out from the Apostles for the unfolding whereof I shall discuss these two things What this going out imports Whence it comes to pass 1 The first Question to be resolved is what this going out imports to which end observe 1 It is one thing to go out by vertue of a Commission and another to go out in a way of desertion Wee read of the King that hee sent his servants and bid them go out into the high waies to wit to invite guests to the wedding thus did the Apostles go forth from Christ as being sent by him to Preach the Gospel but in this sense it cannot bee here understood as if these Antichrists went forth Commissioned from the Apostles because that to these words they went out from us are opposed those They would have continued with us Now continuing with the Apostles if taken in opposition to going out from them with Commission had been a crime and would have deserved that check why stand you idle whereas nothing clearer than that this continuing with them is here intended as that which was their duty to have done and consequently the going out can bear no other sense than their forsaking the Apostles 2 It is one thing to bee cast out and another to go out the former is a punishment or censure of the Church consisting of various degrees according to the quality of offences some being â—ast out è coetu participantium of the number of the communicants others not only so but è coetu procumbentium from prayers as well as Sacraments others è coetu audiâ—ntium nay fidelium not suffered so much as to hear the Word or to converse with the faithful These Censures though none more deserve them than those my text speaks of may for some gross mis-demeanours be inflicted on those who yet are true members oâ— the Church indeed this judicial casting out is that which is done by the governours of the Church not onely as an act of Justice but mercy with charitable and compassionate intentions that the casting out may prove the casting down of the delinquent and that casting down may tend to the raising up and receiving in again of the penitent But this going out is the act of wicked Apostates a sin of a very deep dye and hainous nature nor can they who thus cast themselves out ever call themselves in yea they are seldome if ever called in again 3 This sin of Apostacy in going out from the Church is committed two waies viz. by Heresy and Schism a going out from the faith and from the fellowship of the Church Indeed Heresy and Schism like abortive twins in many particulars are coincident and like Jacob and Esau one holds fast by the others heels Haeresies in point of faith do easily produce a separation in the use of Ordinances and formes of worship So the Arrian Heresy brought in a different doxology and schism in point of communion frequently induceth into Heretical Doctrins ut rectè ab ecclesiâ discessisse videantur as St. Hierom excellently that the Schismatick may thereby the better maintain his unlawful separation and by both these waies did the Antichrist go out 1 They went out that is they Apostatized from the faith which was once delivered and had been by them professed That expression of the Apostle The door of Faith intimateth that faith is the door of the Church so that by embracing we enter in by deserting the faith we go out of the Church Thus St. Paul saith of Hymeneus and Philetus that concerning the faith they made shipwrack that is as Marriners in a storm cast their wares over board so did they cast away the Orthodox Doctrine of Christianity such were those whom the Apostle Peter chargeth for bringing in damnable Heresies destructive to the foundamentals of Religion and the salvation of the people against whom therefore the Apostle Jude exhorteth sincere Christians to contend earnestly 2 They went out that is they departed from the fellowship of the Apostles with whom they had held communion before Having endeavoured to deprave the Churches Truth by Heresy they disturb the peace by schism rending themselves from that body of which they professed themselves members such were those some whose manner St. Paul tells us was to forsake the assembly and this is one of those brands which St. Jude marketh the false teachers with that they did separate themselves not willing to bee confined within the limits and bounds of the Churches Communion 4 Once more this phrase they went out from us is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more being intended than is expressed not only that they went out from but that being gone out they did set themselves against the Church and therefore hee calls them in the former verse Antichrists which is far more than Apostates their separation was not onely negatively a nen-communion but positively a direct opposition gathering to themselves parties erecting as it were a Church against a Church an Altar against an Altar they did not onely forsake their colours but did fight under the enemies banner and charge desperately in their forlorn in one word not onely a falling from the doctrine and communion but a rising against both through an internal malicious dâ—testation is that which is the extent of the accusation which our Apostle intends by these words They went out from us 2 The next question which would bee resolved is how this came to pass that these schismatical Hereticks went out from the Church nor need we goe further for an answer than the fore-going verses where the Apostle first dehorts in general from the love of the world and particularly from the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life all of which wee shall find to have a great influence upon Antichristian Apostates 1 They went out from the Church because they loved the world it was St. Pauls charge against Demas hee hath forsaken us having loved this present world That heart which is tenacious of the world will easily let goe its hold of truth Our Apostle saith a little
I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me They that have been baptized in her Font educated by her Pastors and sucked what knowledge and grace they have if yet they may be said to have any from her breasts have now forsaken her yea are risen up against her Viper-like eating out her bowels Oh what sad breaches have been made in the Doctrine and Disciplins of the Church by those wilde beasts Socinians Familists Anabaptists Quakers and such like who being made to goe out of the field have trampled down the hedge endeavouring to lay all waste And now I would to God that all Sectaries would at length sadly consider these two things how causelesse yea how cursed this their departure from the Church of England is 1 How causelesse their going out is were easie to make appear by an induction of the several particulars which are alledged as pretences such as are Infants Baptisme Episcopal Ordination and Jurisdiction Administration of the Lords Supper to all baptized persons of age not convicted of any scandalous offences which they call mixt Communion as also those harmlesse yea useful because significant Ceremonies which our Church retained all which though by them declaimed against as Popish will be found upon due inqniry some of them Apostolical all of them ancient institutions and practices of the Catholick Christian Church though yet should wee grant some of them to bee pollutions and spots in our Church it would only inferre a lawful desire and endeavour of reformation not warrant a Schismatical separation since no corruptions in any Church can give allowance of going out of it unlesle they be such as strike at the very foundation of Christian Doctrine and Worship It may perhaps bee here pleaded that as wee forsook the communion of the Roman Church because we apprehended it guilty of such erroneous Doctrines and practices with which wee could not communicate without sin so doe the Sectaries upon the same apprehension of the like in our Church forsake ours and therefore if their separation from us bee causelesse ours from the Papists may seeme to be as unjust But to this we return that neither have we given them the like cause as the Church of Rome gave us not have they the like rational conviction as wee had Wee impose nothing to be beleeved in Doctrine as necessary to Salvation which wee doe not demonstrate to have been the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles and the Catholick Church and so ought to bee beleeved wee require nothing to be done in matter of practice which is not of ancient usage in the Christian Church and in its owne nature is at least indifferent and so may bee done without sin and therefore it is not a just conviction but at best a deceiving perswasion at worst a wilfulresolution which causeth their separation and so it is in truth causelesse 2. Adde to this that other consideration namely how cursed it is which is evident in several respects 1 Of Christ and his Spirit who is hereby grieved It is very observable that they who are said in this verse to goe out from the Apostles are called in the verse before Antichrists whilst wee goe from Christs Church wee goe against Christ and by rending from his Body wee grieve his Spirit and therefore St. Ambrose calls Schism a sin against the Holy Ghost 2 Of the Church which is hereby weakned the taking of any stones out of the building lesseneth the strength of the whole fabrick if one Souldier break his rank the whole company is disordered by it thus doe they who goe out of the Church ruire the Church it self interrupting her unity which is at once her strength and beauty upon this account it is well observed that whereas other sins are contra sngulos against particular persons this of Schisme is contra universos against a generality so that as much as community is above a person so much is Schisme above other sins yea as much as a sacred is better than a civil command so much this sin is worse than that of Sedition 3 Of others in as much as by this means 1 Those that are malicious enemies against the Church have their mouthes opened to calumniate her and all that are strangers without the Church are hindred from coming in to her Clemens Alexandrinus repeateth the saying of one to this purpose who cryed out You Christians have so many Sects let my soul bee with the Philosophers 2 Those who are within the Church in as much as some to wit the weak are stagger'd and ready to question which is the true Church nay whether there be any Church at all and others to wit the strong are sadded whilst for these divisions of Ruben are great searchings of heart 4. Lastly of themselves who by their back-sliding separation hasten upon themselves perdition a branch plucked from the root must needs wither a member â—â—â— off from the body dyes and those that leave the Church perish Nos tentat Dâ—abolus ut lupus ovem a grege saith St. Cyprian As the Wolf tempts the sheep from the Fold so doth the Devil men from the Church and why this but that he may worry and devour them Discedentes â—â— Ecclesiâ— saith Ireneus de fonte Spiritus sancti non pâ—tant They that leave the garden of the Church cannot drink of the fountain of the Spirit What became of those who were out of the Ark when the â—loud came they must needs perish in the waters no lesse miserable is their condition who goe out of the Church Yea which renders their condition so much the more desperate is that they who once goe out of the Church doe seldome return to it That of the Poet Quis peccandi sibi finem possuit is as true â—rrandi both sin and errours are boundlesse in this respect among others the wandring as of Sinners so Hereticks is like that of a lost sheep which strayeth from pasture to pasture but never of it self goeth back to the fold the path of errour is a going down hill in which men goe nay run from errour to errour till at last they fall into the pit of destruction And now my Brethren think I beseech you that the Church of England bespeaketh you this day in those words of our Saviour upon a like occasion Will you also goe away nor can we return a better answer than that which St. Peter in behalf of himself and the rest gave to Christ Whither shall wee goe thou hast the words of eternal life in this Church is the Orthodox dispensation of the Gospel the faithful administration of the Sacraments and the Primitive Apostolical Discipline established and therefore whither shall we goe Here it is that Christ feedeth his Flock in green pastures by still waters why should we be as they that turn aside Oh let us pitty the seduced multitude who have left Churches for Conventicles judicious preaching for ignorant
THE First general EPISTLE OF St. JOHN THE APOSTLE Unfolded Applied The Second PART In Thirty and seven Lectures on the Second Chapter from the third to the last Verse Delivered in St. Dionys back-BACK-CHURCH By NATH HARDY Minister of the Gospel and Preacher to that Parish LONDON Printed for Joseph Cranford and are to bee sold at his shop at the Castle and Lion in St. Pauls Church-yard 1659. To the Right Honourable Lady Christian Countesse Dowager of Devonshire Madam I Finde this Holy Apostle directing his Second Epistle to an Elect Lady whereby hee conferr'd no small Honour upon her I am bold to dedicate this Second Part of my weak Labours on his first Epistle to your Ladyship as esteeming it and that justly a great Honour to mee St. John dignifieth the Person to whom hee wrote with the Title of a Lady it seemeth hee was of another spirit than our Levelling Quakers who denying a Civil difference of Superiour and Inferiour refuse to give those Respects both in Gestures and Titles which are due to some above others And as he calleth her a Lady in reference to her external Quality so an Elect Lady in regard of her choice internal qualifications as being to use St. Hieromes Language concerning a prime Lady in Rome Non minus sanctitate quam genere Nobilis no lesse good than great An Amiable sight it is when these two entwine each other Piety in a mean one is like a Mine of Gold in the earth Nobility in a bad one is like a blazing Comet in the Aire But Piety in a Noble person is like a bright star in the Heavens Honour without Vertue is as a Cloud without water Vertue without Honour is as a Room without Hangings But Vertue and Honour is as a Golden Apple in a Silver Picture or rather as a Pretious Diamond in a Golden Ring Both these were conspicuous in St. Johns Elect Lady and I may no less truely say are met together in you Should I give the World a true account of those Intellectual Moral and Spiritual endowments which God hath conferred upon your Honour I easily beleeve what St. Hierome saith in reference to a Noble Lady Si quacunque virtutibus ejus congrua dixero adulari putabor I shall bee censured as a Flatterer Besides to speak St. Ambrose his phrase in an Epistle to the same Lady I am justly fearful Nâ— verecundiae tuae onerosa foret etiam vera laudatio lest I should offend your Ladyships Modesty by expressing a Character of your worth though never so consonant to truth I foresee also how needlesse any Enconium will bee of your Merit The Lives of great persons being as Cities built upon an Hill generally obvious I am withall sufficiently sensible what an arrogance it is ut tuis praedicationibus ingenium meum par esse praesumam as the same Father in the same Epistle elegantly that I should think my rude pensil fit to draw the Lineaments of your better part upon all which considerations I have resolved against that common custome of a Panaegyrick Onely after St. Johns pattern I beseech you Madam that you would abound yet more in all vertue so as the light of your good works may shine more and more to the perfect day To this end Let those excellent counsels which are given by him in this Chapter and though I cannot say fully yet I dare say faithfully expounded by mee in this Book bee firmly engraven upon your Noble Breast Account it your Highest Honour with Mary to sit as it wete at Christs feet not onely that you may hear but keep his Commandements and to make good your Christian profession by treading in his footsteps and walking as he walked By imploying as you do this Worlds goods for Pious Hospitable and charitable uses let it appear that you have learned to Love your Brother and not to love this world Go not forth to those Antichristian Lying Teachers who by Heresy and Schisme are gone out of the Church of England that according to the Motto of your Honours Armes Cavendo tutus your pretious soul may bee still safe from errour by bewaring them and their poysonous doctrins Finally As you know so abide in him whom you have beleeved and let those truths which you have heard from the beginning and hitherto embraced abide in you to the end of your life I must not Right Honourable conclude this Epistle without fulfilling the chief End of its Dedication namely to confesse my Obligation and professe my gratitude to your Ladyship for those kinde aspects and benigne influences which in these black and cloudy daies the bright beams of your goodness have vouchsafed as to many of my Reverend Brethren so in particular to my self the unworthiest of them all I have nothing more to adde but my Devotions That the great God would accumulate upon your own person with all that are descended from and related to you the blessings of Life Health and Wealth of Love Grace and Peace of Joy blisse and Glory is and shall bee the uncessant Prayer of Madam Your Honours greatly Obliged and Humbly devoted Servant NATHANAEL HARDY To the Reader THis Epistle which I have undertaken by divine assistance to unfold is as it were a goodly Fabrick consisting of five Rooms being divided into so many Chapters Among those this Second is the most spatious and specious by reason of which this Volume is swelled far bigger than the former I need not tell thee how well worthy this Room is of thy most serious view Thus much I dare assure thee the more often thou lookest into it the better thou wilt like it At the entrance into it is as it were the Effigies of Christ as an Advocate for thy Consolation and a pattern for thy Imitation Towards the further end is the portraiture of Antichrist with all his cursed crew spitting fire out of their mouths against the Holy Jesus denying him to bee the Christ against whom the Apostle giveth a seasonable Caveat On the right hand hang the lovely Pictures of those Virgin graces Knowledge Obedience Love of God and of our Neighbour and perseverance in the faith On the left hand are represented those mis-shapen Monsters of Malice and Envy in hating our brother of worldly love with all her Brats the lust of the flesh the lust of the eies and the Pride of Life Finally there are in it several partitions one for Fathers another for young men and a third for Children for Men for Christians of all ages and sorts These following discourses are as so many windows to let in light to this Room whereby thou mayest the better view it and whatever is contained in it I have not made use of painted glass which though it may adorn obscureth but rather that which is plain and clear as affecting not the ostentation of my own wit in high language but thy edification by significant expressions I have
not cannnot be troubled at any evils who knowing that he is in Christ knoweth all things shall work for his good nor can the separation which death maketh be terrible to him who is assured of that Union with Christ which admits of no separation no not by death it self yea which death is so far from hindering that it hasteneth to a fuller perfection To end this therefore Let our first care be to knâ—w Christ and by knowing to get into him and then let our next endeavour be to know that we do know him and are in him The former will give us a right to but it is the latter will give us the comfort of all those glorious priviledges and benefits which Christ hath purchased and if we would know how to attain this reflexive knowledg pass we on to the 2. Next and last Proposition which discovereth the means of attaining it Namely hereby by keeping the Commandments we know that we know him and by walking as Christ walked we know that we are in him Look as if the question be put how we shall know the true Church the answer is by its essentiall marks so if you ask how shall we know that we are true Christians our Apostle answereth hereby by the Characteristicall properties To elucidate this Assertion observe these following Particulars 1. That knowledg which we have of our being in Christ and knowing him by these Characters is not à priori but à posteriori not by the causes but by the effects our Obedience is not the root but the fruit of Faith and we are not in Christ because we walk in him but we walk in him because we are in him To this purpose is that note of Beza upon the Text. Bona opera nos non inserunt Christo sed insitos consequuntur good works do not ingraft us into Christ but our being ingrafted into Christ enableth us to performe good works As therefore the Tree is known by its fruit and life is known by breathing and motion which are the effects of it So we know our Faith in and Union with Christ by our Obedience to and imitation of him 2. That knowledg we have by these Characters is safe and sure yea such as cannot deceive us For 1. Inasmuch as the commands which Christ requireth us to keep and the waies wherein he walked which we must follow are clearly set down in the Word if we faithfully compare our actions with the rule we may know whither we keep the Commandments and walk as Christ walked or not True it is many are cheated with Alchymie instead of Gold think themselves to have those graces which Christ did shew forth whenas they are counterfeit but this is not for want of an exact rule discovering but because of a deceitfull heart misapplying so that were men but faithfull to themselves they might be able to pass a right censure in this Particular Hence it is that whilst the Hypocrite deludeth himself with a partiall Obedience and a counterfeit imitation the regenerate Christian being in some measure enlightned discovereth what is sincere and what is fained and so judgeth righteous judgment To this purpose is that of St Austin Qui diligit fratrem magis novit dilectionem quâ diligit quam fratrem quem diligit He who loveth his Brother more surely knoweth the love whereby he loveth him then his Brother whom he loveth and hence it is that the same Father saith Est modus gloriandi in conscientia ut noveris fidem tuam esse sinceram ut noveris spem tuam esse certam ut noveris charitatem tuam esse sine simulatione this is the rejoycing yea glorying of a Christian whilst his conscience regulated by the word and illuminated by grace giveth in evidence that his Faith is sincere his hope firme and his love unfained 2. Inasmuch as this Obedience to and imitation of Christ are the necessary and particular effects of our Knowledg of and being in Christ he who findeth the one may undoubtedly inferre the other To unfold this briefly know That the effects of a lively Faith are of three sorts Some which so flow from a true Faith that they are likewise the effects of other causes such are all acts of morall Virtue and extenall duties of Religion Hence it is that Heathen who have no Faith at all have performed the former Hypocrites who have no true faith the latter So that though from hence we may conclude Negatively he that doth not these things hath no Faith yet we cannot Affirmatively because we do such things therefore we are in Christ and believe in him Others which are only the effects of a right faith but yet such as faith produceth not but when in strength of this sort are the sence of Gods Love peace of Conscience joy in the holy Ghost magnanimity in afflictions and desires of dissolution From these we may conclude Affirmatively but not Negatively he that can act these duties doth know Christ but every one that knoweth Christ cannot act these duties Finally Other effects there are which flow from Faith only and alwaies which it is as naturall for Faith to produce as for the Sun to shine or the Fire to burn such are these my Text speaketh of a sincere Obedience and a consciencious imitation of Christ from whence we may infer both waies and so the proposition will be recipocrally true Every one who keepeth the Commandments knoweth Christ who walketh as Christ walked is in him and every one who knoweth Christ keepeth the Commandments is in Christ and walketh as he walked Put then both these Considerations together we may know that we keep the Commandments and if we keep the Commandments we may assure our selves that we know Christ no wonder if our Apostle say Hereby we know we know him We may perceive whether we walk as Christ walked or no and if we walk as Christ walked we may be confident we are in him no marvell if our Apostle say Hereby we know that we are in him The strength of this Argumentation will the better appear if we reduce it to a Syllogism which may be thus framed Whosoever keepeth the Commandments knoweth Christ Who so walketh as Christ walked is in him But I keep the Commandments and walk as Christ walked Therefore I know Christ and am in him The first of these which is the Major we know by a certainty of faith as being expresly asserted in this and other Scriptures The second which is the Minor we know by a certainty of experience finding these qualifications wrought in us and thus knowing the premises we inferre the Conclusion and so by a certainty of Faith joyned with experience we are able to assert our interest in Christ 3. This Knowledg which we have hereby doth not exclude the Testimony of the Spirit It is St Pauls assertion That the Spirit beareth witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God Yea St John in
assured he keepeth them may know and be assured that he knoweth Christ I shut up all with one Caution In your indeavours after the reflex forget not the direct acts of Faith Look upon Christ as he who is your righteousness to justifie you and then look upon your Obedience as that which may testifie to you that you are justified by him even then when you cannot clearly discover inherent qualifications cast not away wholly your confidence in Christs Merits and when you do discover them rest not in them but only in Christs Merits ever remembring that it is the being in Christ by Faith which intitleth you to justification and salvation and your keeping the Commandments and walking as Christ walked is that which manifesteth the truth of your Faith by which you are in Christ by whom you are justified and shall at last be saved THE FIRST EPISTLE OF St JOHN CHAP. 2. VERS 7 8 9 10 11. 7. Brethren I write no new Commandment unto you but an old Commandment which you had from the beginning the old Commandment is the Word which ye have heard from the beginning 8. Again a new Commandment I write unto you which thing is true in him and in you because the darkness is past and the true light now shineth 9. He that saith he is in the light and hateth his Brother is in darkness even untill now 10. He that loveth his Brother abideth in the light and there is none occasion of stumbling in him 11. But he that hateth his Brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth because that darkness hath blinded his eyes IT was St Pauls sage and sacred advice to Timothy Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus Where these words Faith and Love are by some and not unfitly referred to the manner of holding these being the two hands by which we hold fast the truth but by others and no less probably they are refered to the forme of sound words which he heard of him the matter of the form the substance of those words being reducible to those two heads suitable hereunto is that Paraphrase of Theophilact in Faith and Love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is My words and discourses are conversant about Faith and Love what he saith concerning St Pauls we may concerning St Johns words in this Epistle all of which tend either to the enlightning of our Faith or inflaming of our Love the latter of which our Apostle beginneth with at these Verses Brethren I write no new Commandment c. Which words consist of two generall Parts A Preamble inviting in the 7 and 8 Verses A Doctrine instructing in the 9 10 and 11 Verses Our Apostle intending to spend a great part of this Epistle in a discourse of Love doth not unfitly begin it with a Preface especially considering that the end of an Exordium is captare benevolentiam to gain love both to the Orator and his matter In this Preamble there are two things considerable The kind Appellation our Apostle giveth those to whom he wrote in the first word Brethren The large Commendation he giveth of the Doctrine about which he was to write in the rest of the words That which first occureth to be handled is the kind Appellation Brethren The vulgar Latine following the Syriack read it Charissimi dearly Beloved and Grotius finds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in one Greek Manuscript Indeed either is very suitable To shew that he himself was not a stranger to that love he would teach them he might fitly call them dearly Beloved and being to treat of Brotherly Love he no less aptly useth the stile of Brethren so that it is not much materiall which way we read it but because the other phrase of dearly Beloved is used afterward and the most Greek Copies here read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall handle that reading which our Translation following renders Brethren It is a title that is very considerable upon severall accounts especially these foure Inasmuch as it is a word of Verity of Humility of Charity of Dignity There was really such a relation between St John and those to whom he wrote The mentioning it by the Apostle argueth in him a Spirit of love and lowliness and much advanceth the honour of those to whom he wrote 1. It is a word of verity indeed it is somewhat strange how this should be true If you cast your eyes on the first verse of this Chapter you find him calling them children and how is it possible they should at once be his brethren and his children If they were his brethren he and they must be children of one Father if they were his children he must be their Father and these two cannot consist together The truth is these relations in a natural way and a proper notion are altogether incompatible between the same persons and yet this hinders not but that in a spiritual and Scripture-sence both these are verified of S t John in reference to those to whom he wrote Know then that the sacred penman of this Epistle may be considered under a three-fold latitude as an Apostle as a Christian as a Man 1. Consider him as an Apostle invested by Christ with authority to publish the Gospell whereby they were converted to the Faith so he was their Father and might therefore call them his Children But 2. Consider him as a Christian embracing the same Faith with them which he Preached to them so he and they were Bretheren They who have the same Father and Mother are undoubtedly Brethren now the Apostles as Christians had God to their Father and the Catholick Church to their Mother and therefore Brethren to all even ordinary Christians In this respect it is that St Peter giving thanks to God for this mercy of Regeneration useth a Pronoune of the first person Plurall Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath begotten not me or you or me and you but us again to a lively Hope thereby intimating that he and they were all the Children of God and that by the same meanes of the new Birth and St Paul writing to the Corinthians maketh himself one of the number when he saith We being many are one body and again By one Spirit we are all Baptized into one Body thereby implying that he and they stand in the same relation to the Church This Relation is that which is not between every Minister and his People On the one hand sometimes the Minister himself is not a Brother because a prophane wicked Person yea in this respect he may be able to say my Children and yet not my Brethren for since the Spirituall Birth dependeth upon the energie of the Seed which is the Word accompanied with the Spirit not at all upon the goodness of him that dispenseth it it is not impossible for
of God only but also our own souls because ye were dear unto us Thus did St Ambrose love his charge when he declareth how much he was troubled at his absence from them though upon just occasion It were easie to multiply instances of this nature Oh let all Pastors take fire at these flames and learn by these examples indeed there is no relation in which Ministers stand to their people but it cals for this duty if they look on them as their Sheep their Schollars their Children their Brethren all ingage them to Love And surely Magnes amoris amor Love is the Loadstone of Love if we love you you must love us as Brethren so did those converts who bespake the Apostles with this very title Men and Brethren Tell me I beseech you why should we be accounted as your enemies who watch for your souls If you think scorne to honour us as Fathers yet however own us as Brethren In a word Since we are Brethren let us sweetly live and love as Brethren Oh how pleasant a thing it is for Ministers and People like Brethren to dwell together in Vnity Oh that both Priest and People when any contentions arise between them or when their love to each other begins to faile in them would remember this relation so should the meditation hereof be both as water and fire as water to coole the heat of contention as fire to kindle and cherish the heat of affection 4. It is a word of dignity That he who was in the highest office belonging to the Christian Church should call the despised Christians to whom he wrote his Brethren as it is a dignation in him so it must needs be an exaltation to them The greater the Persons to whom we are related and the nearer the relation is the greater is the honour To be a Servant a Kinsman but much more to be a Brother of a Lord or Earl but much more of a King is a very great Dignity such honour have Christians they may claim Brotherhood to the goodly fellowship of the Prophets the Noble army of Martyrs the sacred Hierarchy of the Apostles yea the head of the Church Christ himself for so saith the Author to the Hebrews concerning him He is not ashamed to call us Brethren Oh let us walk worthy of these high relations which Christianity confereth upon us and so much the rather because by our unanswerable behaviour to these relations we shall not only dishonour our selves but them to whom we are related If one that is Brother to a King should make himself a companion of Thieves doth it not redown to the dishonour of the King to whom he is so nearly allyed And if we who by our Christian profession pretend at least alliance to the Apostles yea Christ himself shall live no better nay worse then Turks Pagans Infidels how must they suffer to whom we pretend so near a relation And therefore to imitate the Apostles exhortation Let our Conversation be such as becometh the Brethren of those holy Apostles who were the first Publishers of the Gospell of Christ And so much be spoken of the Compellation given to the Persons Pass we on to the commendation which our Apostle here giveth the matter whereabout he was now to write which is drawn from three heads The Authority of it as being a Precept both old and new in those words I write no new but an old Commandment c. and Again a new Commandment I write to you The Conformity of it to the Pattern which Christ hath set in those words A thing which is true in him The Congruity of it to the state of the Gospell the truth of Christianity in those words And in you because the darkness is past and the true light now shineth The Authority of that which our Apostle here commendeth is that which we are to begin with And that inasmuch as it is 1. An old Commandment This is that which is both propounded and proved the former in those words I write not a new but an old Commandment to you the latter in those Which you heard from the beginning the old Commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning 1. The proposition is set down with a great deale of Emphasis not only Positively but Oppositively Affirmatively but Negatively The Apostle doth not content himself to say I write to you an old Commandment but knowing as Calvin well noteth how suspected novelty is and deservedly hatefull and because as Didymus observeth the brand of novelty both by Jews and Pagans was cast on Christianity and withall because many things are old which yet in truth are but old Innovations as I shall hereafter discover he doth expresly vindicate his Doctrine from any such aspersion by this addition not a new but an old Commandment It is somewhat debated by Interpreters what our Apostle intends by this old Commandment whilst Some understand it generally of the whole Evangelicall Doctrine Others referre it to the preceding Verse where is a speciall command of walking as Christ walked Others to that particular command of Love which immediately followeth This last I incline to and so much the rather because I find St John himself so expounding it in the Eleventh Verse of the next Chapter wherein he cals loving one another the message from the beginning and at the Fifth Verse of the next Epistle where he saith Not as though I wrote a new Commandment and this concerning the precept of loving one another That I may the better dispatch this clause be pleased to proceed with me by these steps â— The Doctrine which our Apostle was now about to propose is called a Commandment whence observe 1. Generally That as the Law had Gospell so the Gospell hath Law in it and as it publisheth promises so it obligeth by Precepts It is the difference between promises and commands that the one importeth some good to be done for us and the other some good to be done by us the one informeth us what God will do and the other what we should do Now though the principall end of the Gospell be to declare the one yet so as that it teacheth the other For this reason it is no doubt that the Gospell is sometimes called by the name of Law as where we read of the Law of Faith and the Law of Christ and the Law of Liberty and the Law of the Spirit of Life and upon the same account the Apostle Paul cals it a Canon or a rule to which our lives must be conformed and by which our waies are to be directed and St Peter stileth it the holy Commandment from which Apostates turn and the grace of God which many interpret by a Metonymy of the Object to be the Gospell is said to teach being as well a Schoolmaster as a Comforter Finally In this respect it is that we read not only of believing the Gospell which layeth hold
by him are very imperfect in comparison of the Gospell Revelations 3. If you like to retain the common signification of true as opposite to false you must take in the Verb shineth and so the sense will be clear the true light shineth only in the Gospell and therefore the Law is called darkness True there was a light a true light in the Law but it did not shine forth it was as it were hid under a Bushell and so a state of darkness in comparison of the shining light in the Gospell It is very observable to this purpose that all things were covered and wrapt up to the Jews when they carryed the Brasen Altar in the wilderness they covered it with a Purple Cloth when they carryed the Ark it was covered with three coverings a Vail a Badgers skin and a Cloth of blew the Table of the Shew Bread had three coverings and except the laver every thing was covered in the Temple Yea the Temple it self had a Vaile When Moses came from the Mount his Face was vailed the Priests bare the things which they might not see and all this to signifie what a concealment there was of divine knowledg under the Law To this purpose St Gregory allegorizeth these words of the Psalmist Tenebrosa aqua in nubibus Dark water in the Clouds that is Occulta scientia in Prophetis the darkness of knowledg in the Law and Prophets It is true Eternall life Salvation by Christ and those other sublime truths are to be found in the Law but as a Face under a Mask as a Sun in a Cloud Heavenly wrapt up in Earthly promises Christ involved in Types and Figures There were but few that knew any thing of these truths in comparison of the multitudes now and that they did know was but obscurely in comparison of the clearness now Divine knowledg was then as an Oyntmennt kept close in an Alablaster Box now the savour thereof perfumeth the whole house Then it was at best but as the dawning of the Day now it is full Noon and those Doctrines which were velata inveteri folded up in the Old are revelata in novo unfolded in the New Testament To this tends that expression used by St Paul concerning Christians We all with open face behold the glory of the Lord. The Jews faces were vailed ours are open they according to the Apostles phrase elsewhere saw afar of and so darkly we as it were near hand and so clearly To summe it up Look as the true shining light of the Gospell in comparison of that beatificall Vasion so the typicall instruction of the Law in comparison of Evangelicall teaching is but darkness or at best a shadow Indeed the Triumphant Church is in intimis the holy of holies The Christian Church Militant in atrijs the holy place But the Jewish in extimis the outward Court When God gave the Law the second time he commanded the people to stand at the foot of the Mount Aaron Nadab Abihu and the Seaventy Elders of Israel to worship afar off in the middle of the Mount and Moses ascends to the top of the Mount even within the Cloud by which three one hath represented the three states of the Church By those who stood at the bottome the Jewish By them who worshipped in the middle the Christians And by Moses the glorified Church In one word to use St Ambrose his phrase Umbra in lege imago in Evangelio veritas in Cael◠the Truth is in Heaven the Image in the Gospell but in the Law only the shadow 2. The just fitness of those Metaphors darkness and light in reference to the Law and Gospell being manifested that which next is more briefly to be considered is that which is predicated concerning both Namely That the one is past and the other now shineth Indeed the word for passing is in the Present Tence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it doth pass away for when St John wrote this Epistle it was only in fieri passing not past those Legall Ceremonies began to dye at Christs Passio◠then in signification thereof was the Vail of the Temple not only perforatum or attritum or laceratum worn or torn a little but rent in twain from the top to the bottome but they were not dead and buried till the destruction of the Temple it self so that during the space between Christs Passion and Jerusalems desolation they were passing away and the Evangelicall Administration did more and more display it self Thus as when the house is built the Scaffold is pulled down when the Sun ariseth the Starrs disappear when the Prophet himself came the staffe was taken off and when Christ increased John the Baptist decereased so when the Gospell was published the Legall Administrations vanished away And surely the Consideration hereof should teach us on the one hand to bewaile the hardned Jews who though the darkness be past and the true light now shineth shut their eyes against the light and love to abide in darkness St Hierome very aptly compareth the Jews before Christ to those that eat the flesh Christians under the Gospell to those who eat the Marrow but the Jews now to the dogs that gnaw the bone Indeed those Legall observances at the best were only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a shadow but now they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 darkness exitiall to those who still embrace them Oh let us pitty and pray for the blinded Jews that the vaile may be taken from their faces and they may behold the light which shineth so brightly nor is there less cause of gratulation in respect of our selves then lamentation in regard of the Jews It was a great benefit to learning when the obscure hyeroglyphicks of the Aegyptians were changed into letters and Platoes dark writings were brought down to more easie conceptions by Aristotle but surely farre greater is the benefit which the Church hath now the Evangelical Administration suceeding in the room of the legall Oh how fitly may that expression of the Psalmist be taken up by us Christians God is the Lord which hath shewed us light a clear full glorious light let us be glad and rejoyce in it To winde up this first Interpretation by considering the words in this sense as an argument why this command of love ought to be true in us Namely Because we live under the Christian dispensation Indeed hatred and malice were not tollerable in the Jews but they are abominable in us Christians who should live in love if not we to whom the love of God and Christ is so clearly revealed Oh my brethren how sad is it to think though the shadow as some read it the darkness as others be past and the true light now shineth yet we may too truly complain that the shadow remaineth nothing but shadows of grace fancies of godliness found among us nay the darkness of envy and hatred and all uncharitable walking prevaileth among us Oh be we exhorted since we
ye have overcome the wicked one I write unto you little Children because ye have known the Father I have written unto you Fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning I have written unto you young Men because ye are strong and the Word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked one AMong the many fimilitudes by which the office of a Minister is represented in Scripture those two of a watchman and a Shepheard are very observable Indeed both of them are metaphors by which God himself is pleased to describe his Prophets the one when he saith to Ezekiel Son of Man I have set thee a watchman to the house of Israel the other in that gracious promise to his people I will set up shepheards over them which shall feed them The duty of a watchman is first to take and then give notice of the enemies approach and it is no small part of our ministeriall imployment to warne the people of those dangers with which their spirituall enemies endeavour to surprize them The work of a Shepheard is to provide green pastures still waters for the flock and to take care not only for the grown sheep but the tender Lambes and it is the chief task of a spirituall Pastor to feed his people with knowledge and understanding having regard to all persons conditions and ages How fitly both these agree to this holy Apostle St John is easiy to observe in this Epistle like a vigilant Watchman he warneth them in the latter part of this and the beginning of the fourth Chapter of those imps of Satan Antichristian Hereticks which did infest and infect the Church like a carefull Shepheard he giveth them wholesome instructions for the stablishing of their Faith regulateing their life in the greater part of the Epistle and here in these Verses which I have read he manifesteth the care he had not only of the elder but younger Christians I write to you little Children c. In these three Verses we have an answer to three Questions Quid Quibus Quare What S John did To which the answer is returned in the word write To whom he wrote The answer to which is given in the severall titles Why he wrote to all and each of these The answer whereunto is in those various clauses which have a because prefixed So that if you please here are three generall parts in this portion of holy writ to be discussed The Persons characterized little Children Fathers young Men little Children The act performed I write I have written The reasons annexed Because your sins are forgiven you for his name sake because you have known him that is from the beginning c. According to this proposed Method I am to begin at the middle of the Verses with the severall compellations by which our Apostle bespeaketh those to whom he wrote These I finde in the usuall Greeke copies to be foure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but in ouâ— translation three little Children Fathers young Men. St Austin upon this place seemeth to insinuate that these titles are given by St John generally to all Christians to whom he wrote Filij sunt Patres sunt Juvenes sunt in Filijs nativitas inpatribus antiquitas in juvenibus fortitudo all Believers are Children in respect of their new birth Fathers in regard of their knowledge of the ancient of daies and young Men in respect of their spirituall strength To this agreeth that of Justinian who saith that therefore ouâ— Apostle describeth all Christians by these names because he requireth the qualities of little Children Fathers and young Men in all Christians but this interpretation though pious seemeth not so congruous it being improbable he should severally inculcate his writing together with the severall reasons of his writing to them had he intended only Christians in generall by all these compellations The generality of Interpreters most probably conceive these titles to have severall references but yet with some difference which ariseth from a double consideration of the first title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 little Children in the twelfth Verse 1. Some conceive it to be of a particular concernment and so to note a distinct sort of persons from Fathers and young Men. That which favours this interpretation is 1. That hereby every one of the Members of that division which our Apostle maketh will be repeated 2. That one Greek Manuscript reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the twelfth Verse and so it is the same with the word in the thirteenth 3. That in the Syriack and some Greek Copies the variation of the Verb from the Present Tense to the first Aorist begins at the iteration of little Children in the end of the thirteenth and is in these the beginning of the fourteenth Verse And to justifie the order of enumeration which seemeth to be irregular in beginning with little Children Grotius saith That the Apostle first sets down the extreams of little Children and Fathers and then the middle young Men. 2. Others conceive the first little Children in the twelfth Verse to be a title by which the Apostle bespeaketh all Christians and then in the thirteenth Verse he severally addresseth himself to Fathers young Men little Children and in the fourteenth Verse not without speciall reason as shall appear in its due place he repeateth his address to Fathers and young Men this last interpretation however Soeinus is pleased to call it monstrous seemeth to me especially according to our received Greek Copies from which I see no cause to recede the most genuine reasons briefly are these 1. The originall word for little Children in the twelfth is different from that in the thirteenth whereas had the Apostle intended the same thing he would probably have used the same word in both places 2. The originall word in the twelfth Verse is the same with that in the first Verse where it is plainly spoken of all sorts of Christians 3. Whereas the reasons specified in the thirteenth Verse are commendations and those sutable to the severall ages mentioned as is obvious at the first view to any Reader the reason in the twelfth Verse is a consolation and such as equally belongs to all Christians 4. Lastly According to this interpretation the order of setting down the severall ages is regular begining with Fathers and proceeding with young men and descending to little Children For these reasons I shall adhere to the latter interpretation and accordingly here are two things observable A generall Denomination Little Children A particular Enumeration Fathers young Men little Children 1. The generall Denomination is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which as Danaeus well observeth Omnes aetates complâ—ctitur the Christians of all ages are intended It is a term which I have already had occasion to handle and therefore shall now pass over with the more brevity Though it is true in a reall notion yet it is more probable
men they had overcome the wicked one 4. Young men have their blood boyling in their veins their naturall heat is sprightly in them so is it with proficients in grace the supernaturall and spirituall heat of zeal is lively in their hearts whereby it is that they boyle as it were in love to God and rage against sin 5. Finally Young men are healthfull and lusty and though they fall into a disease their bodies are able to wrestle with it and nature gets the better so have spirituall proficients an healthfull frame of soul whereby it is that they seldome fall into great diseases I mean gross sins and if at any time they do fall grace struggleth with and prevaileth against corruption â— Perfecti They who are comparatively not only in respect of bad but good perfect Christians having attained large measures of grace are resembled to Fathers 1. Aged Fathers know much by their own experience so do perfect Christians they are experienced in the subtilties of Satan and dâ—ceits of their own hearts the workings of grace and stirrings of corruptions the assistances of Gods Spirit and manifestations of his Love 2. Aged Fathers know things that are done many years ago and perfect Christians according to our Apostles phrase have known him that is from the beginning converse with the Father of eternity and so far as God hath unbosomed himself in his word are acquainted with the thoughts he had from everlasting 3. Lastly Aged Fathers are usually Fathers of many Children so are perfect Christians they make it a great part of their buiâ—â—ness to admonish the negligent support the feeble reclaime the wandring comfort the drooping and by all meanes to convert and confirme their Brethren To summe it up Habent omnes virtutes suas conceptiones nativitates incunabvla aetatis incrementa saith an Ancient The virtues have their Conception Birth and Growth and that from one degree to another the seed of grace which fals upon good ground bringeth forth in some an hundred in some sixty and in some but thirty fold all the Israelites did not gather the like quantity of Manna some an Omer and some an Epha some much some little it is no less true of the spirituall Israelites in gathering grace Among the ungodly on Jacobs ladder some were above at the top and others below at the foot yet all upon the ladder the like difference there is among Christians in their spirituall ascents as in the Heavens there are stars of severall magnitudes in Schooles there are Schollars of severall so mes in Houses there are vessels of severall bigness so in the Church there are Christians of severall degrees for there are Fathers and young Men and little Children Let not then those who are Fathers grown up in Christianity disdaine the young Men who are growing nor either Fathers or young Men contemn the little Children The time was when thou who art a Father wast a young Man nay a little Childe and the time may be when they that are now little Children may come to be young Men nay Fathers he that hath mâ—st grace began with a little and those weâ—k striplings may prove strong Gyants in grace if thou hast much and others but little thankfully acknowledg thy Fathers mercy but do not proudly scorne thy Brothers infirmity Again Let not those who are as yet but little Children be discouraged at nor yet content with those small measures of grace they have attained Let them not on the one hand be too much dejected he that bids Peter feed his sheep bids him withall to feed his Lambes yea he who is himself the great Shepheard taketh care of the little Lambes as well as the grown sheep when Nicodemus came to Christ with some few sparks of desire after him our compassionate Redeemer non delebat sed alebat did not extinguish but cherish them Besides the covenant of grace is made with and the promises of mercy are made to faith not only in strength but truth A little Childe is as truly a man as a young man as an old man and a weake Christian is as truly a Christian as the most perfect Saint conclude not too harshly against thy self from the praemises of weak gracè Qui non potest volare ut aquila voleâ— ut passer if we cannot mount with the Eagle soare with the Larke let us flye with the Sparrow though we cannot with St Paul set our feet in the third Heaven yet let us lift up our hands and eyes thither In a word let us neither measure our goodness by anothers want of it nor our want of goodness by anothers abundance as if we had no grace because but little and not so great a measure as others Nor yet on the other hand let little Children or young Men be contented with what they have attained The stature which a Christian is to strive after is the stature of the fulness of Christ and therefore we must never come to our maximum quod sâ—c our full pitch There is an holy and amiable ambition in Christianity oh how good would a good heart be it looketh not only upon its sins but graces with grief and mourning as that it hath been so bad so that it is yet no better Peto ut acâ—ipiam cum acceperâ— rursus peto I aske to receive grace and when I have received I aske again Nec ille deficit in dando nec ego satior in accipiendo he is not weary of giving nor am I satisfied with receiving So St Jerome Is then the foundation of piety layed reare up the building every day higher then other till it reacheth to Heaven Is the light of grace risen in in thy soul Let it shine more and more to the perfect day Finally art thou a little Childe grow up to be a young Man yea never cease till thou comst to be a Father in Christ And so much for the Allegoricall Interpretation It is a received rule in interpreting Scripture that the litterall sence is to be adhered to as most genuine unless necessity inforce to recede from it For this cause I conceive it most congruous to embrace the plaine and proper meaning of the words as they note the ages of mens life though withall the other notion is here collaterally to be taken in those of these severall ages to whom St John writeth were converted to Christianity and proportionably no doubt as the little Children were but weak so as they grew up to be young Men and Fathers they grâ—w in grace For the better clearing of this construction you must know that Childhood Youth and old Age are the usuall distinctions of mans age I know some make as it were seaven stages of the life of man Infancy Childhood Youth Manhood midâ—le Age old Age decrepit Age others reduce the seaven to foure Childhood Youth Manhood old Age the â—â—rst whereof is reckoned to â—â—fteen the second to twenty five the thir 〈…〉
Law saith Damianus made choice of Bullocks and Lambs to be offered in sacrifice to him thereby intimating the diversity of those whom he brings home to himself Alij grandaevâ senectute maturi alij juvenilis incrementi vigore robusti some being of ripe and others of green years Look as in an Orchard there are tender plants midlings and old trees so are there in Gods Church persons of all ages It is otherwise in this respect as well as others in the spiritual then in the temporal warfare in other warres as Priests are exempted by their calling women by their sex sick and impotent persons by their indisposition of body so old men and children by their years but not so in this to which children so soon as they begin to understand are engaged and old men so long as they live The Hebrew Proverb saith of Golgotha that there are in it skuls of all sizes and as in the Church-yard there are dead bodies so in the Church there are living Christians of all years as the Devil hath his slaves among old men young men little children for the Prophet saith of the idolatrous Heathen that the Fathers kindled the fire and the women kneaded the dough and the children gathered sticks to make cakes for the Queen of heaven so God hath his servants and Christ his members for St Paul speaketh of faith dwelling in the Grandmother Lois the Mother Eunice and Timothy the Child Among old men and women we read of Abraham and Sarah Zachary and Elizabeth Paul the aged and Mnason the old Disciple Among young men we read of Josiah the young King and Phineas the young Priest and Daniel the young Prophet Among little children of Samuel ministring before the Lord from a child and Timothy instructed in the Scriptures from a child and the children crying Hosanna to Christ when he came riding to Jerusalem Sometimes God is pleased to instill grace into the hearts of little ones sometimes he giveth a stop to young men in their evil course sometimes he maketh old men the monuments not only of his patience in sparing them so long but of his goodness in bringing them to repentance at last or else conferres upon towardly little children and vertuous young men the reward of length of dayes in this life whereby they come to be old To draw to an end I trust Beloved it may be said of some of many of all these Ages in this City Parish Congregation that they are among the number of those who are at the 12th Verse called little children begotten again and renewed by the Holy Ghost sure I am it concerneth us all of all ages to be of that number It is high time for you that are Fathers if you have not already now to bring forth fruit to God nor let the old man say in the Eunuchs language I am a dry tree there is no hopes of my fruitfulness young Devils may prove old Saints he that maketh dry bones to live can make the dry trees to flourish rather double your prayers and endeavours to bring forth much fruit in a little time and if you have been already planted in the house of the Lord be carefull still to bring forth fruit in old age It is full time for you that are young men to study the divine art of Christianity though whilest you were Children you did and spake and understood as Children yet now you are become men put away Childish things minde what concerneth Gods glory and your own salvation Nor let little Children say with those Jews it is not time to rear the building of Religion The work is long and the time at longest but short you had need begin betimes the journey is great and the time but a day to goe it in there is reason you should set forth early In one word let Fathers be exemplary in piety let young Men be forward in grace let little Children make haste to be good so shall there be still in the Church of Christ Militant Fathers young Men little Children till the last day come when there shall be neither old Men nor little Children but all shall be young Men of full stature and perfect age to all eternity in the Church Triumphant THE FIRST EPISTLE OF St JOHN CHAP. 2. 12 13 14. VERS I write unto you little Children because your sins are forgiven you for his name sake I write unto you Fathers because ye have known him that is from the beginning I write unto you young Men because ye have overcome the wicked one I write unto you little Children because ye have known the Father I have written unto you Fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning I have written unto you young Men because ye are strong and the Word of God abideth in you and ye have ever come the wicked one THere are three things which commend the excellency and worth of any writing or Doctrine purity of matter antiquity of originall and generality of use Indeed those Doctrines which patronize any sin are to be wholly rejected which broach any novelty are justly to be suspected and those which are only of some particular concernment are not generally to be regarded But when the things delivered are pure the authority of them unquestionable and their utility universall they cannot but challenge our attention and reception Such is the Evangelicall Doctrine such are the Apostlicall writings such in particular is this Epistle To this purpose it is that in this very Chapter St John asserts all these concerning his Doctrines Their unspotted purity Verse first where he saith These things I write to you that you sin not Their unquestionable antiquity Verse seaventh where he saith I write not a new Commandment to you but an old the old Commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning Finally their generall extent in these Verses as reaching to all of all ages I write to you little Children c. 2. Having handled the first part of this Scripture namely the persons specified pass we on to the second which is the act performed by St John towards these persons and that is writing as it is often expressed in the severall Verses That I may give you a full account of this part I shall consider the Act here mentioned 1. Absolutely and therein take notice both of the Act it self and the Iteration of it 2. Relatively In reference to the agent who the Subject to whom and the Object about which he writes 1. In the absolute consideration we are to 1. Begin with the Act exprest in the word write St John had spoken before yea no doubt by Preaching the Gospell to them had been the means of their Conversion whom therefore he cals in the first Verse my little Children and now to his former speaking he addeth writing Thus Calvin conceiveth that the Prophets did write a summary or abridgment of those messages they delivered
sufficiently but abundantly and Sâ— Chrysostomes exhortation upon those words is very generall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hear all you that are employed in the things of this life get Bibles at least the New Testament nor are we to think that the Fathers zeal transported him so far as to press that as a duty which yet was not consonant to reason or to put the people upon doing what the Church forbad them Both these to wit the reading of the Scriptures to and by all sorts and ages of Christians being clear it will be needless to insist upon the necessity of translating them into the languages of several Countries since otherwise the reading of them to the unlearned would be in vain and by them impossible Indeed when the Church was confined to the nation of the Jewes in whose language the Old Testament was written there was no need of translating it but since the Christian Church spread over all the world there have been various translations of particular parcels yea the whole Bible into several languages that those writings which belong to may be in some measure understood by all Indeed when we seriously weigh those several metaphors to which the Word is compared especially those of a light and food and a sword we may easily discern of how necessary use it is for all Christians David cals it a lanthorn to his feet and a light to his paths and surely then there is no traveller to that celestial Canaan but hath need of this light to direct him in his journey and discover to him his way What food is to the body that is the Word to the soul yea it is such as affoards both meat for men and milk for babes according to Sâ— Pauls distinction Est in illis saith Saint Austin of these writings quod perfectus câ—medat est etiam quod parvulus sugat there is in them what the perfect Christian may eat and what the weakling may suck No wonder if that diviâ—e Poet saith of the Holy Scripture Nullis animis nullis non congruit annis it befits all minds and years Finally Sâ— Paul reckoning up the pieces of our spiritual armour calleth the Word of God the sword of the Spirit and of all weapons none more common then the sword no warriour from the Generall to the meanest Officer nay common Souldier goeth without his sword and since all of all ages are engaged to the Christian warfare there is great reason why this spiritual sword should be affoarded to them By what hath been said the practice of the Church of Rome in withholding the free use of the Scriptures from the common people appeareth very unjust and impious Look as it is Tyranny in the Commonwealth to use Chamier's comparison which causeth jealous Rulers to deprive the people of their Armor so is it superstition in the Church which denyeth ordinary Christians the reading of the Word which is their best piece of Armour Indeed what do they by this meanes but render the Bible useless whilest it is a fountain sealed or a Treasury locked up whence no benefâ—t can be expected The only plausible argument which the Papists urge in defence of this practice is that abuse which ignorant and prophane persons are apt to make of the Scriptures for the patronizing both of errours and vices whereby it is that they wrest them to their own perdition That thus it too often falls out is not to be denyed but that therefore the free use of the Scriptures is to be interdicted cannot be granted When Sâ— Peter tels us that unlearned and unstable souls did wrest many things in St Pauls Epistles and other Scriptures to their own perdition he plainly intimateth that there was then given a liberty to the unlearned of reading the Scriptures else how could they have wrested them nor doth he from the wresting infer a prohibition of reading but only an advice to those to whom he writes that they were not led away with the errour of the wicked To clear this further you may please to know that 1. This perverting is only an accidentall consequent not a necessary or naturall effect of reading the Scriptures St Paul saith expresly The whole Scripture is profitable for Doctrine for Reproofe for Correction and for instruction in righteousness for these ends it is intended by God to these it tends in its own nature and if any contrary use be made of these Books it is an eveut but not an effect and they only a occasion but no cause 2. That the accidentall evill of what is in it self good and by its proper efficacy produceth a good greater or as great as the evill is no just ground for the denegation of the good True it is evill must not be done that good may come of it but it is as true that good must not be left undone though evill come of it The practice of that King was no way commendable who cut down all the Vines in his country because some men were drunk with the wine It would be a mad edict which should forbid men their meat and drink because many surfeit through excess Hezechiahs destroying the brasen Serpent because some men idolized it had not been justified if there had been the like benefit by and use of it in his as in Moses his time It is an excellent rule of Tertullian Multum differt inter causam culpam statum excessum non institutio bonae rei sed exorbitatio reprobanda est to give you the sence of it in short English The evill abuse of a good thing is no sufficient cause for the totall dis-use especially where the use counter vaileth the abuse That so it is in this present case is evident the good which men generally reap by reading the Scriptures being far greater then the evill which some men occasionally draw from it If then this sword which is put into the hand of any Christiah for his defence against his spirituall adversaries be by some mad men turned upon their own and others breasts the guilt must lye upon the wicked abuser of this sacred weapon nor must the rest of Christs Souldiers be debarred of it Indeed This liberty which I have now pleaded for must be both given and taken with a restriction by putting a difference between the reading and interpreting of Scriptures every one may read the Bible and every one must labour to understand what they read but every one may not ought not to undertake the expounding of it none may be wise above what is written nor must weak novices think themselves so wise as to interpret what is written little Children and young Men must ask the Fathers private Christians must enquire of the Pastours and Doctors of the Church whom God hath appointed in a peculiar manner for that end Just therefore is that complaint which St Hierome made of his times and I would to God it did not fit this present
latter daies fo abundanly discovered by many learned pens as that I shall not need to inlarge onely give mee leave in a few words to let you see how vast a difference there is between our going out from them and the going out of these Hereticks from the Apostles 1 These Antichrists in going out from the Apostles and their followers went out from the whole Christian Church that had been planted by them in several parts whereas wee in going out from the Roman go out onely from a particular Church I well know the Papists proudly arrogate to themselves the title of Catholike but without the least show of reason nay it is with as great absurdity as if a man should say a part nay a less part is the whole The number of Christians being far greater which renounceth than that which imbraceth the Popish Doctrin 2 These Antichrists in going out from the Apostles went out from those Ecclesiastical governours to whom they owed subjection but wee owe no obedience to the Bishop of Rome and therefore have justly cast off his yoak Indeed hee most presumptuously assumeth to himself the title of Universal Bishop and maketh himself the Vicar of Christ upon the account that hee is the successor of St. Peter But as it is no way to bee evinced from Scripture that S. Peter had any more power communicated to him than what the other Apostles had so neither can any reason bee given why this power if granted to S. Peter should bee derived to his successor at Rome rather than at Antioch nay why it should not have devolved from him to the Apostle S. John who out-lived him and so to his successors that this universal power therefore belongs not to him of right is manifest and it is no less clear that defacto it was never exercised by any Roman Bishop for more than six hundred years after Christ Boniface the third being the first who obtained of that wicked Emperor Phocas the title of Universal Bishop And whereas the Pope claimeth a peculiar right to our obedience upon the score of having planted Christianity amongst us and having had a concession of it from some Kings To the former it is answered that this Island was converted to the faith of Christ long before Augustines preaching to the Saxons either by Joseph of Arimathea or Simon Zelotes as our Annals tell us and secondly that though Augustine whom the Pope sent over had been the means of our conversion yet that is no argument for our subjection to the Pope for by the same reason all the Nations converted by S. Paul and his ministry are in all ages obliged to bee subject to that chair where S. Paul sate at the time of his sending out or going himself to convert them which as it hath no truth in it self so would it bee very prejudicial to S. Peters Pastor-ship To the latter it is returned that either this power of that concession was so originally vested in our Kings that they might lawfully grant it to whom they pleased and then as one King conceded it another may recall it or else if it were not then was the grant invalid being but a robbery in the giver can devolve no right to the receiver By all which it appeareth that we have made no schism in with-holding obedience from the Pope 3 Chiefly these Antichrists in going out from the Apostolical went out from a pure Church in which there neither wanted sound doctrin nor good discipline but wee in going out from the Papists go out from a Church degenerated and polluted with damnable heresies To clear this know 1 That when any Church or number of Christians are grown so corrupt a body and so far infected that wee canno communicate with it without manifest sin wee not onely may but ought to go out from them Indeed it is necessaâ—y both by vertue of that precept which calls upon Gods people to â—ome out from Babylon and likewise as a means of preservation from that contagion wee otherwise must needs receive so that it is as needful to separate from such a Church in order to the souls safety as it is for a man to go out of an infected house or abstaiâ— from a Lepers company in order to his bodily health 2 That the Church of Rome at that time when we went out from her was and still continueth a very corrupt Church Many of her Doctrines directly contrary to the Scriptures not heard of in the primitive Church yet imposed as articles of faith Her Woâ—ship superstitious Ridiculous Incongruous to right Reason Apostolical Practice yea Dâ—vine precept and yet pressed as necessary to bee performed by which means it is that they put upon us the sad dilemma of going from their communion or going against the clear light of Divine Truth shining from Gods Word upon our consciences in which respect wee justly say they not wee have made the separation and so the schism lyeth at their door To shut it up what S. Austin said to the Donatists wee say to the Romanists Tollatur paries erroris simul sumus let the partition wall of imposing unreasonable opinions and practices upon us bee taken away and wee are ready to unite with them wee divide not from them as they are a part of but so fâ—r as they are divided from the Catholike Church wee have done our part in reforming our selves and it is their fault that upon this followeth a breach of communion with them who will not reform They not wee are gone out from the Ancient Primitive and Apostolical Church in which respect they are justly termed Antichristian nor do we any further go out from them than in those things wherein they are gone forth from the Apostles When Jeroboam with others of the children of Israel revolted from their Lawful King and Gods instituted worship some of the Pâ—iests Lâ—vits and others left their habitation and went to Judah that they might serve God and their King surely not those who went but those who stayed were the Rebels and the Schismaticks thus are the Romanists guilty for leaving the footsteps of the Apostles not wee for leaving theirs to follow the Apostles Finally wee still hold communion with them in votis earnestly desiring that those just causes they have given of our Non-communion with them by their Popes usurpation of Supremacy and infallibility by their superstitious innovations both in matters of Doctrine and practice may bee removed and to this end that a general Council might bee lawfully called and freely act to whose determination wee are willing to submit and therefore can acquit our selves from Schism in the sight of God and man But whilst the Papists unjustly revile the Church of England I am sure shee hath had cause of weeping over the multitudes of those who in this Apostatizing age have gone out from her how justly may shee take up a complaint in Gods owne language Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth
little after Tune verò sunt quod appellantur si manserint in eo propter quod â—ic appellantur then and then only are they that which they are called Christs Disciples if they abide in that for which they are so called 2 Let all true members of the Church rejoyce in this comfortable Doctrin that phrase of St. Paul The grace of God wherein wee stand is taken notice of by S. Chrysostome as very emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very aptly it is said wee stand for the grace of God knoweth no limits hath no end and whereas earthly dignities are quickly lost because the favour of Princes is changeable yea however though none else death will put a man out of the highest Office by the Grace and Favour of God wee stand so fast that nothing can wholly divest us of this glorious priviledge to bee a member of the Church Herein it is that our estate by conversion is far better than Adams by creation hee indeed was in a state of perfect purity but with all in a state of mutability and though placed in Paradise yet so as that hee might nay did forfeit it to the utter ejection of himself and his Posterity wee being through regeneration grafted into Christ attain by his grace though not exact innocency yet a kinde of immutability and are so planted in the garden of the Church that wee cannot be plucked up This consideration is that which should inlarge our spiritual joy but yet not diminish our prudential fear and therefore wee should do well according to the Psalmists advice to rejoyce with trembling It is not to bee denyed but that this Doctrin being abused may become to some an occasion of security but withall it is onely so to them whom it concerneth not the false not the true members of the Church and it is onely so because mis-understood not in its own nature Indeed were this the Doctrin that they who are of the Church shall continue in it though they live never so loosely and go on in their sin impenitently it would bee not onely an occasion but a cause of presumptuous security but the intent of this Doctrin is onely to assure those who are of the Church that through the spirit of Christ by the use of those means God affordeth and exercise of those duties hee requireth they shall bee so far preserved as that either they shall not at all go out of or if through the Enemies subtilty and their own infirmitie and inanimadvertency they are seduced they shall at length return by weeping-cross into the bosome of the Church and what place is here left for sloth and negligence for presumption and security 1 The truth is it is no easy matter on good ground to assure our selves that we are of the Church many not only in others but their own opinion are of the Church and yet are not in reality and if wee bee not indeed of the Church wee cannot continue In this respect that counsel of St. Paul is very needful examine prove your selves whether you bee in the faith use all diligence and faithfulnesse in searching out your spiritual estate 2 If wee bee of the Church wee are not so secured but that wee may fall scandalously and for a time go out from her communion sad experience maketh it good at this day in many who have wretchedly forsaken the truth and the Church for whose return wee pray and of which wee are not altogether without hope since wee trust some of them are gone astray not through wilfulnesse and contempt but ignorance and weaknesse and therefore not onely hee that thinketh hee standeth but hee that doth stand had need to take heed lest hee fall 3 Finally There is no assurance of continuance to the true members of the Church but in the use of means wee are kept by Gods power to salvation but it is through faith and so likewise through fear and watchfulnesse and humility and obedience and prayer and attending on the word and Sacraments and therefore they who are real Christians will not dare to neglect their duty in a fond presumption of Gods upholding mercy The summe of all is our first work must bee to make it sure on good grounds that wee are indeed members of the Church being in some measure assured of that our next care must bee to apply our selves to a conscientious use of all the waies and helps which may preserve us in it and then though still wee must bee diffident in regard of our selves as being conscious of our own impotency yet in regard of God wee may wee ought to bee confident that hee who hath begun his good work in us will perfect it to the day of Jesus and having effectually called us into his Church militant that he will mercifully conduct us to his Church triumphant 2 Having dispatched the Negative it now remaineth that wee proceed to the other way of removing the scandal taken at the Apostacy of these Antichrists to wit the affirmative which assigneth the end for which God permitted it But they went out from us that it might be manifested that they were not all of us These words They went out from us are not expressed in the Original but are necessarily implyed and therefore fitly supplyed by the Translator These words They were not all of us seeme to intimate that some of these Antichrists who went out were of us but the true sense of that clause will bee easily understood if either according to the Hebrew manner of speaking wee read non omnis nullus they were not all that is none of us suitable to which is that of St. Paul to the Romans fetched from Davids Psalms All flesh shall not bee justified that is no flesh or if after they wee adde who were among us for so it amounts to this that all who are joyned to the society are not of the number of the faithful and that they who were not so might bee discovered was the reason why God suffered them to go out Congruous to this is St. Austins gloss upon this text intus cum sint non ex nobis sunt non tamen manifesti sed exeundo manifestantur whilst they were among us they were not of us but they were not manifested till they went out so that by their going out they did not so much fall away from what they were as make known what they were not and that they were far otherwise than what they seemed to be Indeed there is a double manifestation which God aimeth at in permitting the Apostacy of Hypocrites 1 The one of the sincere-hearted that their integrity and constancy may the better appear this S. Paul asserts where hee saith There must bee Heresies that they which are approved may bee made manifest That Question of our Saviour to Peter and the rest Will you also go away seemeth to intimate that then when so many went from him was a
our own eies taking nothing to our selves but ignorance and fâ—lly and wickednesse 3 Of dignity Glorious things are spoken of beleevers by the Apostle Peter where he saith They are a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar people and these priviledges they partake of by vertue of this unction Greater honour there cannot bee than those of Royalty and Priesthood Kings are honourable and Priests are venerable Kings are the greatest of men Priests are men of God such honour have all they to whom this sacred Unction is given Wicked men have low thoughts of beleevers it is because they perceive not this Unction but it matters not to bee despicable in the worlds whilest wee are honourable in Gods eies 4 Of Hilarity Indeed this Oile is called by the Psalmist The Oile of gladnesse in as much as it fills the heart with spiritual joy There is as Bellarmine well observeth an Oile of Sadnesse which is used at Funerals and there is an Oile of gladnesse which is used at Festivals and to this is the Spirit compared none are more chearful in all conditions than the annointed ones this oile so mitigateth the asperity of affliction that those who have it are exceeding joyful in all their tribulations in which respect St. Jerom saith excellently Multi vident crucem nostram sed non vident unctionem nostram Many see our affliction but not our unction our troubles but not our comforts our tribulation but not our consolation which far exceeds them 5 Of Felicity Indeed as the annoynting of David by Samuel assured him of the possession of the Crown and Kingdom in due time so doth this Unction ascertain all beleevers of the Kingdom which was prepared for them from the beginning of the world to this purpose it is that the Spirit which here is called the Unction is elsewhere by St. Paul stiled the earnest of our inheritance and as receiving the earnest entituleth to the inheritance so doth the receiving of the Spirit Thus by what we have wee conclude what wee shall have and the participation of the Unction giveth a firme expectance of the Coronation 6 Of Duty which lyeth in two things 1 Making use of this Unction for those choyse and excellent ends to which it is designed It is not the oyntment in the bon but applied to the part which becometh effectual what will the most precious unguent avail him that hath it but doth not use it oh therefore Christians be wise to improve this Unction to the best advantage When then at any time we feel our Consciences wounded our spirits dejected have recourse to this unction for benefit and comfort if as oh how oft thou perceivest in thy self an bardnesse and dulnesse rendring thee unprofitable under the means of grace and unfit for holy services make use of this Unction to soften and quicken thee 2 Walking worthy of and answerably to this Unction It is an undoubted truth where much is received much is expected the greater helps are afforded the greater performances are required God looketh for more from them to whom he hath given his written word than from those who have only the light of Nature and he looketh for yet farre more from them to whom he giveth an internal Vnction than those who have only an external Revelation and therefore as St. Paul exhorts the Thessalonians to walk worthy of their high and heavenly calling so let me exhort Christians to walk worthy of this high and heavenly Unction and so much for the matter of the gift passe we on to 2 The Recipients of this gift in the pronoun You not only we Apostles but you Christians and so this appeareth to be a priviledge belonging to all that are effectually called to Christianity It is St. Pauls universal negative If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his in which is included that universal Affirmative All that are Christs have his spirit To open this briefly you must distinguish 1 Between the miraculous and the gracious Unction some Expositors conceive our Apostle here referres to that Unction of the Apostles in the day of Pentecost with extraordinary gifts whereby the truth of Evangelical Doctrin was confirmed but had this been his meaning hee should rather have said wee have an Unction for though the sent and perfume of that Unction filled the whole Church and so it was for the benefit of all Christians establishing them in the faith yet the oyl it self was poured upon the Apostles and therefore that sense of that phrase seemeth much strained You have an Unction that is we have an unction for your good It is true that in the Primitive times the miraculous Unction was not only conferr'd upon the Apostles but upon many Christians but yet since our Apostle affirmeth it indefinitely of those to whom he wrote I rather conceive that here he intends that Unction of illuminating and sanctifiing grace which every Christian is partaker of and by which he is enabled to know and beleeve to salvation for though every beleever is not annoynted with the Holy Ghost and power yet hee is annoynted with the Holy Ghost and grace 2 Between the possession and the manifestation of this Unction it is one thing to have it and another to know we have it there may be a presence of the Spirit and yet not a sense of that presence a man may have a treasure in his field and not know it all Christians have this Unction from their first conversion though perhaps they are not presently apprehensive of its vertue and operation 3 Between the droppings and the pourings out of this unction it is one thing to have the Spirit and another to be filled with the Spirit This Unction is variously distributed to some in a greater to others in a lesser but to all Christians in some measure it is not for every Christian like St. Stephen to bee filled with the Holy Ghost and yet there is no Christian of whom it can bee said as St. Jude of those false teachers not having the Spirit To wind it up if we pretend to Christianity where is our Vnction where are the vertues and efficacies of our Unction The Holy Ghost who is here called an Unction is elsewhere compared to a seal and as men use to set their seals on their own wares so doth God his Spirit upon them that are his Oh let this bee the chief of our desires and endeavours that God would make us his sealed his annoynted ones and whilst others count it their happinesse when they can say we have Lands and Houses and riches wee have Swords and Scepters and Robes we have Dainties and Musick and all sort of delights let us esteem it our blisse and make it the height of our ambition to say we have an unction and so much for that 3 The last particular remaining to be discussed in this General is the Donor of this
argument lesse valid Hee by whose name you are called is holy be you holy in all manner of conversation because it is written Be you holy for I am holy How unsuitable are unholy members to an holy head and therefore how abominable must prophane Christians be to this Holy Jesus certainly the Holy one is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity to wit without fury in any and much lesse in his own followers and as Moses saith God will bee sanctified in those who draw nigh to him so let me tell you Christ will bee sanctified by those who professe his name and therefore either disclaim Christianity or embrace sanctity that you may be in some measure like him who is here stiled The Holy one 2 Having given you this view of the title by which Christ is called be pleased now to look upon this person so called as he is affirmed to bee the donor of the Vnction for so the text runs You have an unction from the holy one that is from Christ It is that which is true of Christ in a double causality 1 Meritorious in as much as hee was at the cost to purchase this unction and that at no lesse a rate than his own bloud the Apostle Paul speaking of Christ saith not only that in him wee have redemption through his bloud but a little after in whom you were sâ—aled with that holy Spirit of promise the donation of the Spirit being one of those precious benefits which Christs death hath procured for us 2 Efficient in as much as having on the Crosse purchased this Unction for us he rose from the grave and went up into Heaven for this cause among others that he might actually conferre it on us It is said there was in Rome at the day of Christs birth a Fountain of Oyl which sprang forth sure I am this Unction of the Spirit is given to Christ not only for himself but his Church and as the Oyntment trickled down from Aarons head to the very skirts of his garment so the oyl of the Spirit is diffused from Christ to all his members Those two Olive branches mentioned by the Prophet Zachary are by some expounded of Christ his two Natures and of them it is said they empty the golden oyl out of themselves to note that communicative influence from Christ to the Christian whereby he partaketh of this unction It pleased the Father saith the Apostle that in him should all fulnesse dwell not only plenitudo abundantiae but redundantiae vasis but fontis an abundant fulnesse as in a vessel filled up to the brim but a redundant fulnesse as in a fountain whose streams make glad the City of God Thus as it is said in the Psalms he received gifts so in the Epistle hee gave gifts intimating that he received gifts not only for himself but his Church that as he received from his Father the Spirit without measure so we might receive from him the Spirit by measure no wonder if the Spirit be called in Scripture the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of Christ Jesus and the Spirit of the Lord. If any shall ask why the Apostle did not say you have an unction from him or from Christ but from the Holy one the answer may probably bee returned that it is to intimate the nature of this unction which is an holy oyntment and for that end it is chiefly given by Christ namely for the renewing and sanctifying of our natures that as the oyntment which God appointed to be made by Moses did sanctifie the things and persons which were annoynted with it so doth this unction confer holiness on those to whom it is given upon which account it is called the Spirit of holinesse and thus it is universally given to all beleevers for the preserving them both from sin and errour To end this point and so this discourse You who are Christians only in name and want this Unction you who are Christians indeed and would have this Unction more abundantly learn whither to repair for it It is our Saviours advice to the Laodicean Church and in her to all Christians I counsel thee to buy of mee this choyse commodity is no where else to be had and though it cost him dear yet he sells it us cheap our buying is only begging our paying praying and therefore acknowledging as all our comfort to be in him so grace to be from him let us continually depend on him earnestly seek to him that as he hath shed his bloud for us so he would shed his Spirit on us Amen THE FIRST EPISTLE OF St. JOHN CHAP. 2. VERS 20. But yee have an unction from the holy One and yee know all things THE Christian Religion as it imposeth difficult precepts so it proposeth pretious prâ—mises and though it put the Professors of it upon frequent dangers yet it withall assureth them of glorious priviledges Among those many Promises and Priviledges none of more special concernment than this of the Holy Unction the Spirits Donation by which wee are enabled to all duty and confirmed against all perils There are two things especially by which the Christian Church and her members are endangered namely violent Persecutions and virulent Heresies these corrupt our mindes those perplex our hearts these cheat us of those affright us out of truth but this spiritual Unction is both our consolation and illumination the latter of which it is that our Apostle acquaints us with in the Text But you have c. The second part of this verse is that which I am now to handle namely Beneficii illatio the Benefit conferr'd on all true Christians by vertue of this Unction as it is set down in those words And you know all things For the fuller discussion whereof bee pleased to consider it both absolutely and relatively inclusively and exclusively by the one wee shall see the Nature of the benefit wherein it consists how far it reacheth and by the other its Original whence it floweth and on what it dependeth namely the Holy unction 1 Begin wee with the absolute consideration of the benefit and inquire what is involved in this You know all things There is some little difference in the reading of one word in this clause which would not bee omitted The Syriack reads it as if it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you know all men and so the benefit here intended is that which is called by S. Paul discerning of spirits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Theophilact 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to know who is spiritual and who is not who is a Prophet and who is a deceiver nor is this reading here unsuitable because the Apostle just before speaketh of Antichrists between whom and the Orthodox S. John might look upon the Christians to whom hee wrote as able to judge Now this gift in the primitive times was double The one more special onely conferred by the Spirits
bee negligent to put you alwaies in remembrance of these things though yee know them and bee established in the present truth So St. Peter And I my self also am perswaded of you my brethren that yee also are full of goodnesse filled with all knowledge able also to admonish one another neverthelesse brethren I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort as putting you in minde because of the grace that is given to mee of God so St. Paul The truth is wee are very apt to forget what wee know yee have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto Children saith the Apostle our memories are like sives that let go the flower and retain the branne wee remember what is to bee forgotten and forget what is to bee remembred need there is wee should bee minded 2 Scientiam aâ—gere to increase our knowledge the truth is the greatest part of the things wee know is the least part of what wee do not know No Truths are so well but they may bee better known Every command is exceeding broad and every Article very deep noâ— can any say There is nothing contained in either which I do not fully know disce docendus adhuc was good counsell bee still willing to learn Luther confest himself Catechismi Discipulum a Scholar to the Catechisme The most knowing Christian hath need to bee instructed even in the things he knoweth 3 In veritate confirmare to confirm us in the truth we know notitiam vobis concedo sed de constantiâ vestr â sollicitus sum so Aretius glosseth I grant you are knowing Christians but I am sollicitous for your constancy in the faith wee are but too prone to waver in our profession and too weak hold-fasts in spiritual truths Etiam currentibus addenda sunt calearia though wee run well wee need spâ—rring to make us â—old out or else wee should grow dull and weary so that in all these respects there appears sufficient reason why our Apostle wrote even to them that knew the truth I end all Take heed how any of you vilify the Ministry of the word either Preached or Written They are words too often in many mens mouths I know as much as the Preacher can tell mee doest thou so I rejoyce in it but still the Preacher may remember thee of and confirm thee in what thou knowest and perhaps thou mayest learn from him to know it better beleeve it there is use of Evangelical Preaching and Apostolical Writing not only to inform the simple and instruct the Ignorant but to minde the forgetful strengthen the Weak and supply defects either of knowledge or affection or both in the most knowing Christian which made our Apostle thus be-speak the Christians in his time I have not written unto you because you know not the truth but because you know it THE FIRST EPISTLE OF St. JOHN CHAP. 2. 22 23 VERS Who is a Lyer but hee that denieth that Jesus is the Christ hee is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son Whosoever denyeth the Son the same hath not the Father but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also THe Knowledge of the disease is the better part of the cure and therefore the Physicians skill is more seen in discovering the malady than in prescribing the Remedy The greatest danger of a ship at Sea is by reason of unseen shelfs unknown rocks and therefore the Pilots chiefest care is by his own and others experience to learn upon what coast they lye Finally An enemy discovered is half vanquished and therefore it is the saying of Chabrias in Plutarch hee is the best General who is most acquainted with the designs and motions of his enemy Upon this consideration no doubt it is that our Apostle having before in general admonished those to whom hee writeth of these Antichristian enemies doth here more particularly discover their heresies to us whereby they might at once bee more easily discerned and avoided who is a Lyar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ In these two verses wee have two generals A Description of the Hereticks in St. John daies in the two and twentieth verse Who is a Lyar c. An Amplification of that description as to the latter part of it in the three and twentieth verse Whosoever denieth the Son c. 1 In the description wee shall consider a 1 Double Appellation with which he brandeth them in those words Who is a Lyar and he is Antichrist 2 Double Accusation which hee chargeth upon them of denying that Jesus is the Christ and denying the Father and the Son Begin we with the Appellations which are two Lyar and Antichrist 1 The latter of these is that which hath been discussed alrâ—â—dy from the eighteenth verse and therefore shall now bee only touched That the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not here design that person or party to which this title is by Divines particularly attributed will sufficiently appear by what is already said in the forementioned verse and accordingly Calvin is express The Apostle speaketh not here of that man of sin who shall sit in the Temple of God So that it is most rationally conceived as a Title given to those many Heretical Teachers which were Apostatized from the Church even in the Apostles daies There are Christiani sine Christo Christians without Christ such are all they who professing his name have no real interest in him but here are Christiani contrae Christum Christians against Christ so far degenerated from their christian profession as to set themselves in direct opposition to Christ That the Jews and Heathens should bee Antichrists is no wonder but that such who had been Baptized into Christ yea had Preached Christ should Apostatize to a renouncing of him â—enders them so much the more Antichristian and perhaps for this reason the Apostle prefixeth the Emphatical Article for whereas the Jews and Heathen were Antichrists because not knowing they never owned but opposed him these were such as knowing had professed him but either through fear of men or love of the World or which is worst of all desperate malice not onely deserted but rejected him 2 The former of the titles is not onely asserted but as Gualter well observeth by way of Interrogation amplified it is not hee is a Lyar who denyeth but who is a Lyar but hee that denyeth which is as much as to say If hee bee not a Lyar none is according to that expression which wee sometimes use as Estius well observeth by way of Aggravation what is wickednesse if this bee not so that our Apostle hereby affirmeth of these Antichristian Teachers that they were Egrâ—giâ—â—â— notâ—rious Lyars for so Beda glosseth In hujus comparatione mendacii câ—tera aut parva videntur aut nulla in comparison of this Lye others are small or none at all There are two things which denominate a man an odious Lyar the one
shall assault us as once they did Peter to deny him let us remember what he is in himself and what hee hath done for us let us consider his greatnesse and bee afraid his goodnesse and bee ashamed for fear or shame or any cause whatsoever to deny him 2 That I may drive the nayl to the head let us often set before our eyes that dismal commination so often denounced in the Gospel by the Son of God himself against those who shall deny him Whosoever shall deny mee before men him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven and again inculcated by St. Paul if we deny him he will deny us a threat then which none more just and yet withall none more terrible just it is in that it is the retaliation of like for like what more rational than that despisers should bee despised forsakers should bee forsaken and denyers should bee denyed and how terrible it is will soon appear if you consider that the Son of God will then deny us when he shall appear in his glory that he will deny us not only before men but Angels nay his Father that if he pronounce upon us an I know you not which is to deny us wee are the cursed of the Father he will not acknowledge them for his adopted children who durst not here own his begotten Son and whom his Son will not then own for brethren yea which consummateth the misery of such Apostates they must have their portion with Hypocrites having denied Christ and being denyed by him they must depart from him into that fire which is prepared for the Devil and his Angels there being no reason that they should bee neer to Christ hereafter who follow him a far off nay run away from him here With these meditations let us arm our selves against this heinous sin that we may be the better strengthened 1 Labour wee to be throughly established upon good grounds in this fundamental doctrin that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God He that imbraceth Christian Religion upon the account onely of the Publike Law or private education will in time of tryal renege it Let therefore our assent to this Doctrin rest upon these sure Pillars primarily the authority of Scriptures and secondarily the Catholike Church and then we shall not easily deny it nor let us content our selves with a Conjectural opinion but strive for a firm and settled perswasion a stake in the ground may bee quickly plucked up but a tree rooted in the ground abideth unmoveable he that doubteth may soon be brought to deny but a well grounded perswasion will not quickly bee moved much lesse removed 2 Learn we according to our Saviours precept to deny our selves since oft times self and Christ come in competition so that one must be denyed and if we have not in some measure taken out this excellent lesson of self denial we shall soon deny him No wonder if an Ancient saith ingenuously Christiani praludium sui repudium the first step in the ladder of Christianity is self-denial 3 Nor must we forget that advice of St. Paul to deny Worldly Lusts for if wee take not our hearts off from the World the World will take them off from Christ it is very observable that our Saviour had no sooner threatned this sin of denying him but hee presently forbids Loving Father or Mother Son or daughter more than him intimating how prone the inordinate love of worldly things is to alienate us from him 4 Finally strive for a real union to Christ by a lively faith hee who is but a visible Christian may cease to be so much as visible but the spiritual union will not endure a dissolution much lesse an abnegation maintain and increase familiar communion with him that thou maiest more and more taste the sweetnesse that is in him and then no allurement or affrightment shall cause thee to deny him I end all as we desire not to be found deniers of the Father Son and Holy Ghost as wee desire to have the Father propitious towards us and Christ to own us before the Father at the last day let us dread to deny let us be ready to acknowledge with our hearts lipes lives Jesus the Christ the Son of God to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be ascribed Honour and Glory now and for ever Amen THE FIRST EPISTLE OF St. JOHN CHAP. 2. VERS 24. 25. Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning if that which yee have heard from the beginning shall remain in you yee shall continue in the Son and in the Father And this is the Promise that hee hath promised to us even eternal life ZEal Sincerity and Perseverance are not so much particular graces as each of them necessary ingredients to every grace Zeal being the fervor sincerity the truth and perseverance the duration of all graces of these three the last is not the least needful since constancy is the best evidence of sincerity nor will fervour avail without permanency no wonder if it be called by Bonaventure conditio annexa cuilibet virtuti an inseparable condition of every vertue and by Aquinas donum que caetera servantur dâ—nae that gift which preserveth all the rest without perseverance our Love will prove not a Star but a Comet our Devotion not a flame but a flash our Repentance not a River but a Pond our Hope not a Staff but a Reed and our Faith not a sub stance but a shadow And since this grace of Faith last mentioned is indeed the First the Root the Mother Grace constancy is not more needful in any than this The truth is there is no Grace more oppugned by the Devil than our faith hee well knoweth that if hee can undermine the foundation hee shall soon overthrow the building for which reason having obtained leave to sift S. Peter our Saviour prayeth for him that his faith may not fail Upon this account it is that more or lesse in all ages the Devil hath raised up false Teachers in the Church whose indeavour it is to with-draw the people from the Ancient Catholick and Apostolick Faith and for this cause no doubt it is that one of the chief designs of the holy Apostles in all their Epistles is to stablish Christians in the faith A pregnant instance whereof wee have in this Epistle particularly in these verses whose scope is by most obliging arguments to perswade a stedfast adherence to the truth which they had embraced Let that therefore which you have heard from the beginning c. Which words do plainly part themselves into two generals a mandate and a motive a command and a comfort an exhortation and an incitation The Exhortation enjoyneth a needful duty Let that therefore abide in you which ye heard from the beginning The Incitation adjoyneth a powerful motive drawn from the present comfort and future blisse of persevering Saints If that
must wee Christians bee withdrawn from our assent to and love of those truths wee have heard This is that which is expressed by those phrases of standing fast in the Faith like a Souldier which keepeth his ground of keeping the faith as a Commander keepeth a Castle and of holding fast by which three Greek words are translated and all of them very emphatieal hold fast that which thou hast saith Christ to the Angel of the Church of Philadelphia where the Greek Verbe is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifieth strength and intimateth holding fast with a strong hand by force or might as wee do one that would get away from us Hold fast that which is good is St. Pauls advice to the Thessalonians where the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which noteth a firm holding with both hands and is used of them that are violently held in Prison Holding fast the faithful word is St. Pauls word to Titus where the Greek Verbe is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which the Seventy render the Hebrew Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and which according to its derivation signifieth to hold fast against opposers thus must wee by divine streugth so hold that which wee have heard as resolving not to let it go whatever befall us Nor is it without cause that our Apostle adviseth to this stedfast retaining of the Evangelical Doctrin if wee consider what danger they were and more or lessc Christians in all ages are of being deprived of it That which wee have in possession may bee taken from us three waies rapto furto dolo by manifest Theft by subtle fraud and by violent force by all these means do our spiritual enemies endeavour to bereave us of that which wee have heard 1 Very often the lusts of the flesh and the delights of the World steal away that which we have heard out of our hearts as the fowles of the Air plucked up the seed which fell by the High-way side Oh how many are so bewitched with carnal pleasures that they let go spiritual truths like the Dog who lost the flesh in his mouth by catching at the shadow of it in the water 2 Not seldome false Teachers by their fair pretences of divine Revelations sublime notions Gospel light endeavour to cheat us of that wee have heard from the beginning S. Pauls phrase is very apposite to this purpose where hee speaketh of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sleight of men tacitly comparing them to false gamesters who have devices by cogging a dye to deceive the unskilful nothing more usual than for Hereticks by subtle insinuations to be guile the unlearned and unstable of those pretious truths which they had before received 3 Sometimes the Devil stirreth up wicked Persecutors who set upon us with open violence to make us let go our hold of the Gospel and as Lactantius well Haec vera est constantâ—a â—t nullus terror à Deo possit avertere then doth that wee have heard abide in us when no terrors can divert us from it that is a truely Heroical spirit which will not bee dared out of his Religion which determineth to let go estate liberty nay life it self rather than that which it hath heard and embraced it was a brave resolve of the Spartan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either to bring back his buckler or to be brought back upon it such should bee a Christians resolution in point of Religion either to defend it or dye for it we know not what storms and Tempests may arise needful it is wee should be unmoved like the rocks in the midst of opposition But oh what cause is there of bemoaning the unsettledness of many in matters of Religion Pliny reports of a swimming Island which never appeareth in the same place one whole day together and Carystius of a flower that changeth colour three times in one day how fit emblemes are these of the Professors of this age who are ever and anon changing their Religion like the ship without an Anchor that is tossed to and fro in the Sea or like the chaff that is carried up and down with every blast let any one start up and broach some new doctrin under the mask of a glorious truth and how do the giddy multitude run after him forsaking those Orthodox Doctrines in which they were heretofore instructed What went you out for to see a Reed shaken with the wind too many such reeds may be seen every where in these Apostatizing days men as of barren lives so of fickle mindes unprofitable in their conversations and unstable in their judgements And especially if any thing of self-interest as to Profit or Honour or Pleasure come in competition Oh how easily are they removed from their former Profession no wonder if when danger approacheth and looketh them in the face their trembling hands let go their hold and they forgoe the truth In few words some are so foolish as to bee cheated more are so careless as to bee robbed the most are so cowardly as to bee frighted out of the truth which they have heard and professed Receive then a word of admonition to retain and maintain the ancient Catholick and Apostolick faith Indeed it is that which by way of Analogy may be pressed upon the Ministers of the Gospel Let that abide in them which they have taught from the beginning In the Law the shoulder of the Beast that was Sacrificed was the Priests and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an embleme of strength The first Priests name Aaron signifieth a mountain of strength and the Altar was called Ariel The Lyon of the Lord by all which is intimated how valiant they should bee for the Truth who serve at the Altar and are the Priests of the most High God It is set down by the Apostle as one of the Characters of a Bishop holding fast the faithful Word for this the Angel of the Church of Philadelphia is highly commended and comforted Because thou hast kept the Word of my Patience and it is the Apostles charge to Timothy that good thing which is committed to thee keep Indeed the Evangelical Doctrine is a sacred depositum which Christ hath left with the Bishops and Pastours of the Church To us saith the Apostle is committed the Word of Reconciliation Oh let us not bee so unfaithful as to betray our trust But yet it is not onely the Ministers but all Christians who are concerned in this duty as that must abide with the Preachers which they have taught so that must abide with the People they which have heard from the beginning This was that which St. Paul and Barnabas perswaded the Jews and Religious Professors which followed them namely to continue in the grace of God for this end they returned to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch to confirm the soules of the Disciples exhorting them to continue in the faith It is sage Counsel of
and St. Jude observed in these Antichrists of whom the one saith they did promise to the people liberty and the other that they did turn the Grace of God into Lasciviousnesse 3 The Plea of Tradition is much used by Hereticks all Nations and Persons both Jews and Gentiles being very tenacious of those things which they have received from their Ancestors By traditions it was that the Pharisees in Christs time indeavoured to make the Law of God of none effect and with traditions it was that the Hereticks in the Apostles time did spoil the people of the Truth for so much St. Paul intimateth when hee giveth that Caveat Beware lest any man spoil you through vain deceit after the traditions of men Not that all sorts of Traditions are to bee sleighted yea the Traditions which have been delivered and received in the Universal Church from age to age are to bee regarded by us next to the written word but not in opposition against or in competition with it such vain superstitious traditions were those which the Apostle condemned and which the Hereticks made use of 4 A show of Miracles is that which is sometimes made by these Deceivers Look as of Old when Moses and Aaron wrought Miracles Jannes and Jambres the Aegyptian Sorcerers imitated them So in the beginning of Christianity as God confirmed it by real Miracles so the Devil opposed it with Lying wonders This was our Saviours prediction concerning these Antichristian Seducers wherof my Text speaketh There shall come false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew signes and wonders so St. Mark Great signes and wonders so St. Matthew to seduce and deceive if it were possible the very Elect and thus the comming of the man of sin is said by St. Paul to bee after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders where that Epithite of Lying would not bee passed by those wonders which the Devil worketh by Hereticks being lying not onely because they accompany doctrins of Lies but likewise because they are for the most part delusions not realities nor are the greatest of those wonders above the power of nature and therefore though they are matter of wonder to us who oft times cannot understand how they are wrought yet they are not so in themselves But surely there is no device more subtle and prevailing than this men being very apt to beleeve that their words are Oracles whose works are Miracles and indeed were they so really it were a sufficient ground of beleef but as they are to wit onely so in appearance they have too great an influence upon the vulgar 5 A veil of Religion is many times put on by these Cheaters their garb their look their Language speak nothing but holinesse whilest their doctrins breath nothing but Heresy As too many of the Orthodox dishonour their teaching well by living ill so do many Hereticks credit their ill-teaching by well-living It is one of St. Pauls characters of Seducers Having a shew of godlinesse and Gregory Nazianzen saith of the Macedonians that their life was admirable whilest their Doctrin was abominable Thus as Harlots paint their faces and perfume their beds to allure Hereticks feign godliness and profess Religion to seduce 6 A vernish of Reason is drawn over false opinions by these Seducers because that is very taking with a rational creature This St. Paul intimateth in that fore-mentioned Caution Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit Accordingly Tertullian observeth that the Ancient Heresies concerning the Aeâ—nes were fetched from Plato's Ideaes the equality of the first matter with God from Zeno the death of the Soul from Epicurus and the denial of the Resurrection of the Body de unâ omnium Philosophorum Scholâ from the Schools of all the Philosophers Upon this account it is that the Father elsewhere asserts Philosophers to bee the Patriarks of Hereticks and that all Heresies are founded upon and supported by the rules and dictates of Philosophy not that Philosophy and natural Reason is to bee rejected by the Orthodox as of no use nay indeed it is an help to Divinity when in its right place but our Divinity must not bee regulated by Philosophy and our Religion bounded by reason The Orthodox use her as an handmaid to wait but the Heterodox make her a Mistress to seduce 7 The colour of a Revelation is oft times used to set off lying Doctrin When St. Paul saith If an Angel from Heaven Preach any other Gospel let him bee accursed hee intimateth that some might pretend to bring another Gospel from heaven and indeed such there were who broached fictitious Gospels as if they had been divinely inspired Simon Magus pretended himself to bee the Holy Ghost so did Montanus and vented the Dreams of his Whores Priscilla Maximilla and Quintilla for prephecies Indeed Divine Revelation is the proper ground of Faith No wonder if Hereticks that they may gain credit and so seduce the people lay claim to it 8 The Glosse of Scripture is very oft times put upon false opinions by the assertours of them to delude the people In this as St. Hierome well observeth they trace the Devils footsteps who quoted Scripture thereby fondly imagining hee might delude Christ himself Thus the Judaizing false Teachers in the Apostles time made use of the Old Testament Scripture quoting Moses and the Prophets and Irenaeus observeth of the Hereticks of those times that they dealt by the Sacred Writings as a Graver doth by the goodly image of a King which by altering the form hee turneth into the likenesse of a dog or wolf and then affirmeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be the lovely image of the King they take the words of Scripture and put upon them their own sense and then say it is Scripture it is so indeed materially but not formally as the metal is the Kings but the stamp is a Wolf so the words are Scripture but the sense the Hereticks 9 To all these I may add the name of a Church is no small bait whereby Hereticks allure and catch the simple in their snares our Saviour tells us what their sayings should bee Lee here is Christ and there is Christ in this conventicle and that meeting by which they withdraw many from the Apostolical assemblies In this respect St. Judes Character of them is that they did separate themselves to wit from the Apostles and which must needs follow they no doubt assumed to themselves the title to the true Church of Christ and thus did the Novatians in St. Cyprians time and the Donatists in St. Augustines time fighting against the Church under the name of the Church By all this wee see how Antichristian hereticks abuse the best things to the worst designs Truth Liberty Tradition Miracles Holinesse Reason Revelation Scripture the Church are all of them of singular concernment and advantage to the Orthodox Christian
Catholick Religion but yet even these are falsely pretended by hereticks and by the feigned semblance of these it is that they indeavour and oft times with too much success to seduce their auditors from the faith These Seducers have been more or lesse in all ages but I think I may safely say never more than in this and if you mark it you shall finde the Old cheats still practised The Papists on the one hand pretend to the Church Traditions Miracles and a formal sanctity The Socinians boast much of Reason The Antinomians of Liberty The Anabaptists Quakers and such like of Enthusiasms a light within breathings impulses and discoveries of the Spirit All Sects have some mixtures of truth and would father their Errours upon the Scriptures And now being encompassed as it were with such subtle Sophisters crafty Seducers what need is there of a prudent vigilancy lest wee bee insnared by them according to that excellent advice of St. Peter Beware lest ye also being led away with the errour of the wicked fall from your own stedfastnesse Behold saith our blessed Saviour to his Disciples I send you forth as sheep among wolves bee yee wise as Serpents and innocent as Doves wise as Serpents to defend themselves innocent as Doves in not offending others or as Prosper to our present purpose innocent as Doves in not circumventing any and wise as Serpents in not suffering themselves to bee circumvented and surely this Serpentine wisdome is that which concerneth all Christians in some measure to attain so much the rather because these wolves as our Saviour elsewhere speaketh come in sheeps cloathing for this reason saith Optatus Ut prius ovis mordentem lupum sentiat quam praesentiat venientem that they may seize upon the sheep before it can perceive them comming Hee that walketh among snares had need bee cautelous and no less reason have we to bee circumspect who are in the same danger which those Christians were in of them that would seduce then and so much shall suffice to have been spoken of the first General namely the mischievous design of the false Teachers I go on to a more brief dispatch of the other which is The Pious care of true Apostles These things have I written to you concerning them For the full discussion whereof I shall look upon the writing here mentioned in a double reference namely as it was a result of the Spirits dictate and as it was an argument of St. Johns care 1 As a result of the Spirits dictates for St. John and the other holy men of God spake and wrote as moved by the Holy Ghost and so wee are here to take notice that the Divinely inspired writings are of excellent use against Seducers Indeed as a straight line discovers what is crooked and the clear light dispells darknesse so the word of God serveth to discover who are Seducers and to dissipate their clondy errours you erre saith our blessed Saviour to the Sadduces not knowing the Scriptures tacitly teaching us that the Scriptures well known and rightly understood are a guard against errour The whole Scripture saith St. Paul is of divine inspiration and is profitable as for reproof of sin so for the correction of errour Let it therefore bee our business especially in such erroneous times as these to study the Scriptures and not onely to bee well versed in the letter but acquainted with the meaning of them that as our Saviour refelled the tempter so wee may bee able to refute seducers with a scriptum est No darts pierce so deep as those which are taken out of the Lords armory no arrows hit the mark like those which are drawn out of Gods quiver nor is any sword so sharp as that of the Spirit and therfore as David hid Gods word in his heart that hee might not fall into sin so let us that we may not run into errour 2 But that which would bee chiefly taken notice of is that his writing these things concerning Seducers was an argument of his care that the people might not bee deceived by them It is that which wee finde to have been not only the care of this but the other holy Apostles the greatest part of St. Judes Epistle and of St. Peters second Epistle is concerning these Seducers frequent caveats wee meet with in St. Pauls Epistles to the same purpose witnesse his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Colâ—ssians Beware lest any man spoil you nay his threefold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Philippians beware of Dogs beware of evil workers beware of the concision and to name no more his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Romans beseeching that they would mark and avoid such It were easy to let you see how the Fathers of the Church have in this particular traced the footst eps of the Apostles Ignatius bespeaketh the Christians of Antioch in words much like those of St. Paul to the Philippians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Beware of Dogs Serpents Dragons Aspes Bazilisks Scorpions St. Cyprian in his Epistle to all the people is very urgent with his â—râ— vos fratres and again with his admoneâ— pariter et consulo advising admonishing intreating that they would not beleeve the smooth words of false Teachers lest they did mistake darknesse for light night for day and poyson for a remedy Irenaeus in his Preface to his first book against Heresys saith this was the reason of his writing those books that the wolves might not devour the sheep of Christ through his default for the same cause were those things written by Epiphanius Athanasius St. Augustin and many others which are extant concerning heresies Nor was it without a great deal of Reason that those holy men were and in particular here St. John was so careful to write concerning Seducers and that both respectu populi in regard of the people for the preservation of their safety and respectu sui in regard of himself for the discharging of his own duty 1 In respect of the people St. John well knew 1 That all men are naturally prone to errour their understanding as well as will being corrupted yea that the best being but men may through want of judgement and partiality of affection bee led aside The bad through wickedness and the good through weaknesse sometimes like sheep have gone astray 2 That the errours to which these Antichrists did indeavour to seduce them were in things fundamental for so it appeareth by the charge hee laietâ— against them which is that they denyed the Father and the Son that they denyed Jesus to bee the Christ a doctrine upon which the whole Christian Religion is founded St. Hierom upon that oâ— our Saviour Bee wise as Serpents observeth Serpentis astutia ponitur in exemplum quia toto corpore occulâ—at capuâ— ut illud in quo vita est protegat the Serpent is therefore mentioned as an Example of Wisdome
because it is careful to hide the Head wherein its Life lyeth with the whole body Christ is the Head of the Church and the Errours of these Seducers did strike at the Head no wonder if the Apostle wrote concerning them 3 That to bee seduced especially in such errours is dangerous and destructive It was the Prophet Isaiahs sad complaint The Leaders of this people cause them to erre and they that are lead of them are destroyed and St. Peters Epithite which hee giveth to these Hâ—resies is noâ—lesse than damnable or according to the Greek phrase heresies of perdition To this purpose tends that phrase of St. Paul when hee calleth Seducerâ— Spoilers where the Greek word alludeth to Theeves and Robbers or to Souldiers and Plunderers who take the Cattel of their enemy and carry it away as a Prey for such are false Teachers the Devils Agents to lead Captive poor souls that they may bee the Devils prey It is not unworthy our observation that the Apostle having in the verse before mentioned the Promise of eternal life hee presently addeth this caveat concerning these Seducers intimating that the flatteries of these Seducers if hearkened to would deprive them of the Promise of Eternal Life so that it was no lesse than their everlasting welfare which was endangered Good reason had the Apostle upon all these considerations to write concerning these Seducers to the Christians in respect of their safety 2 Besides this there was an Obligation in regard of himself that hee might perform his duty So Lorinus glosseth upon the Text Videtur fidem suam liberare ac suo se functum munere protestari by this writing hee dischargeth that Office to which hee was called and that trust which was reposed in him by his Lord and Master Indeed if the Minister of Christ warn the people of Seducers though they miscarry yet he shall be acquitted but à pastore exigitur quicquid per inertiam non custoditur saith St. Cyprian truely if the sheep wander through the negligence of the Shepheard it will bee exacted of him according to that of God himselfe I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel and therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from mee when I say unto the wicked thou shalt surely dye and thou givest him not warning nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wickednesse to save his life the same wicked man shall dye in his iniquity but his blood will I require at thine hand yet if thou warn the wicked and if hee turn not from his wickednesse nor from his wicked way he shall dye in his iniquity but thou hast delivered thy soul To close up this with a threefold inference 1 See hence what is the reason why Diotrephes prated against this Apostle as himself tells us with malicious words and why it is that Seducers with their followers rail at the Ministers of the Gospel namely because they Preach and Write concerning them For this cause it is that in all Ages they have been and still are so solicitous to stop the mouths and pens to take away the livings and lives of the Orthodox as well knowing that else they cannot have the opportunity of sowing their tares at leastwise not with so good successe It was no sleight Policy of Philip to offer the Athenians peace upon condition of delivering up their Orators to him whom Demosthenes answered with an Apologue very suitable to this present matter The Wolves were willing to make an agreement with the sheep provided they would deliver up their Dogs The truth is Seducing Wolves are most afraid of and angry at the Ministers of the Gospel whom that great Shepheard of our souls hath appointed to watch his flock 2 Learn hence how unlike those Ministers are to this Apostle who are dumb dogs in the midst of ravening Wolves and thereby suffer the sheep of Christ to bee worried what a shame is it that the Heterodox should bee bold and the Orthodox cold the Seducers clamorous in conventicles and the Catholicks silent in Churches Oh let all the Ministers of the Gospel learn their duty especially in such times as these which is not only oves aggregare to gather together the sheep but Lupos abigere to drive away the Wolves wee must not onely bee as Mercuriuses to the Traveller which point out the right way but as Sea-Marks to the Mariner which warn him of Shelves Sands and Rocks we are called in scripture both guides and watchmen to teach us that as we ought to lead the people in the truth so to give them notice of Hereticks nor can wee bee faâ—thful and wise servants unlesse wee as well admonish the people of their danger as instruct them in their duty 3 Finally Let not the care of those Ministers who after St. Johns pattern Preach and Write concerning Seducers bee dis-regarded by but let their Caveats bee acceptable to the people Hee will easily open his ears to Seducers who shuts them against true Teachers Obey them therefore that have the rule over you and watch for your souls bee guided by their advice so shall you not be led aside of Hereticks by their devices But above all seek after and pray for that Unction which will arm you against errour whereof our Apostle treats in the next verse and shall God willing bee discussed the next time THE FIRST EPISTLE OF St. JOHN CHAP. 2. VERS 27. But the annointing which you have received of him abideth in you and yee need not that any man teach you but as the same annointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lye and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him THe virulency of persecution and the subtilty of seduction are the Devils two great Engines by which hee hath still endeavoured to batter down the Church of Christ sometimes hee is a raging spirit in the hands of cruel Tyrants to destroy and sometimes a lying spirit in the mouths of false Teachers to deceive the Orthodox Professors of the Christian Religion By the latter of these it is that hee hath done more mischief than the former for whereas in the one hee acteth openly as an enemy in the other hee worketh closely as a seeming friend and whereas the blood of Martyrs though against the will of their persecutours hath been a means to propagate and increase the poyson of Hereticks hath too often prevailed to the infection and damage of the Church no wonder then if one of the designs of this Holy Apostle in this Epistle bee to write to the Christians concerning Seducers and to minde them of the great goodness of God in providing an Antidote against this poyson in those words But the Annointing which you have received of him abideth in you c. Having in the former discourse handled the Caution that which next occurreth to our discussion is the Comfort which is not onely
old the Law was literally written by Gods Finger in two Tables of Stone so it is spiritually written by Gods Spirit in two Tables of flesh the mind and the heart This annoynting then teacheth 1 Illuminando intellectum by enlightning the understanding to see and discover those things which are revealed in the Word the first work of the Spirit in conversion answereth that first word and work of God in the Creation Let there be light by this light it is that the darknesse of ignorance is expelled and the eyes of the minde are opened to apprehend Divine Writings in their own lustre and beauty It is observed of Paper that being oyled it is thereby made bright and so fitter to receive the beams of the Sun and conveigh the light into the room so is it with our minds which being annoynted with this oyl are thereby fitted to receive that heavenly light of Evangelical Doctrin and whereas the oyl which is put to the Lamp feeds it when it is kindled but cannot give light to it such is the excellency of this Unction that it giveth the light of saving knowledge to them who are altogether destitute of it Nor is this all but further 2 Inclinand◠voluntatem by inclining the will to embrace the goodnesse and taste the sweetnesse of those truths which are understood this oyl doth not only cherish the light of the Lamp but softens the hardnesse of the tumor remove the darknesse of the understanding but mollifie the perversnesse of the will As for the manner of the Spirits operation upon the will it is not to bee disputed many Controversies which trouble the Church would easily be reconciled were the Modus layed aside I suppose none will deny but he who made the will knoweth how to perswade it without coaction and incline it without compulsion and therefore we need not fear to affirm that the annoynting teacheth by inclining the will the truth is were it not that this teaching had an influence upon the will as well as the understanding it could not guard against Error and preserve from Apostacy nothing being more usual than for those who are taught outwardly and not inwardly to reject those truthes whereof they have been fully convinced for want of a kindly influence upon the will by which they should constantly adhere To summe up this point and there-with this Discourse See the excellency of the Spirits teaching beyond all others other School-masters set only truths before us but cannot put them into us they present them to our eyes or ears but cannot write them upon our hearts only this School-master can and doth not only by his Word speak to our ears but by his Grace to our souls oh therefore let us implore this sacred Unction that he would vouchsafe to become our Teacher let us begge of him that he would first give us flexible spirits and decible mindes whereby wee may bee willing to bee taught which is to take away the heart of stone and give an heart of flesh and then that he would make us to know and embrace Divine Truths which is to write his Law in our hearts And withall take we heed how we grieve this School-master by a carelesse neglect of his instructions If at any time hee bee pleased to put any good motions into our mindes let us cherish them and let us beseech him that to those motions hee would adde his powerful impressions and if wee be thus taught of him we are well taught so well that we need no other teacher which leads me to the other branch of the sufficiency of his instruction in the negative expression You need not that any man teach you But the time being expired denyeth any further progresse at present and therefore the discussion of that with the other parts of the verse must be referred to the next opportunity THE FIRST EPISTLE OF St. JOHN CHAP. 2. VERS 27. But the annointing which you have received of him abideth in you and yee need not that any man teach you but as the same annointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lye and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him THis whole World may not unfitly bee resembled to a Book whereof the cover is the Heavens whose Gilded imbossements are the glittering stars letters are the elements words are the several creatures compounded of those elements sentences are the motions and actions of those creatures and periods are its various ages This is the Book which Almighty God hath given all mankind to read and there is in every man a natural reason which serveth as a Candle whereby wee may discern the characters engraven on it and as a Schoolmaster whereby wee are instructed in the lessons to bee learned from it But besides this School of the World in which the Creator hath appointed to train up all men there is another School of the Church which our Redeemer hath designed for the education of Christians in which respect one of the names by which they are frequently called is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Disciples or Scholars of Christ The Book wherein they are to learn is no other than the Holy Scriptures of the Old and more espeoially of the New Testament The Ushers or Inferiour Teachers are the Ministers whose lips are therefore said to preserve knowledge and at whose mouth wee must seek the Law And if you would know who is the Head-master in this School let St. John give you the answer in the words of the text it is no other than the Holy Spirit of God here called the Annointing But the Annointing which you have received of him c. The sufficiency of this unction in teaching Christians is that part of the Text I am now in handling and having discussed the Affirmative assertion in that it is said to teach all things I am now in order to proceed to the Negative amplification which is expressed in those words And you need not that any man teach you The Apostle Peter speaking of the unlearned and unstable telleth us that they did wrest as many things in St. Pauls Epistles so likewise in other Scriptures to their own perdition where the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Gerard well observes is a metaphor borrowed from those who put men upon the Rack whereby they oft times force them to speak things against their knowledge and conscience for so do Hereticks impose upon the Scripture a sense contrary to what the Spirit of God intended An instance hereof wee have in this Text particularly in this clause which together with those parallel words of the Prophet Jeremy quoted by the Apostle Paul They shall not teach every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother saying Know the Lord is wrested by the Quakers and such like Sectavies among us as it was by the Enthusiasts heretofore to the undervaluing of the Ministry as needlesse in the Church yea of the
the Word and the Apostles taught not but by the co-working of the blessed Spirit 2 On the other hand it cannot bee denied but that as mans teaching is nothing without this unction so this unction can nay hath taught without the help of man There is no question but that hee who at first created man after his own Image could have repaired the decaies of that Image in man without the ministry of man Humane teaching is not a necessary but arbitrary Instrument of the Spirit not without which hee cannot but ordinarily hee will not teach us This unction needs not the teaching of any man to joyn with it Those first planters of the Gospel were immediately taught by this unction and had it sâ— pleasâ—d God all Christians might still have been taught by an inward inspiration without any outward instruction look as in governing the World God vouchsafed to make use of second causes but not out of any necessity as if hee could not govern without them so in teaching the Church the Spirit of God maketh use of men as his ministers but not as if hee could not teach without them 2 These things being premised that which I shall by way of confutation assert and prove is that this unction doth not will not ordinarily teach Christians so as that whilest they are in this world they shall not need the help of mans teaching Though mans teaching is ineffectual without the presence of the unction yet the unction doth not exclude the presence of mans teaching For the clearing whereof in few words you must know 1 In General 1 That our Lord Christ hath instituted a certain order of men in the Church whose office it is to teach and instruct men in the faith This is plainly implyed in that Commission given by Christ to his Apostles of discipling all Nations by baptizing and teaching them to which is annexed a Promise of being with them alway even to the end of the World both which considered together inform us that that Commission was not to expire with the Apostles but that they should have successors in those sacred offices to the end of the World with whom Christ would bee present by his Spirit Congruous hereunto it is that St. Paul expressely saith faith commeth by hearing of the Word of God and that from a Preacher who is sent for that end But most apposite and clear is that of the same Apostle to the Ephesians where hee saith Christ gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers which surely hee would not have given had there been no need of them Very observable to this purpose it is that at the conversion of Cornelius in the vision which hee had hee was directed to send for Peter that hee might tell him what hee â—ought to do and whereas the Spirit might himself have opened Isaiahs prophecy to the Eunuch hee giveth Philip command to go and interpret it and preach Jesus to him yea though Christ himself converted Saul by an immediate appearing yet hee sent Ananias to the finishing of the work and surely if to extraordinary much more to ordinary conversion the teaching of man of those men whom Christ hath for that end appointed in his Church is necessary 2 That the Pastors and Doctors of the Church are not only designed for initiating but the perfecting of the Saints they are St. Pauls own words in the forementioned place For this cause it is that they are resembled not onely to Fathers who beget and Mothers who bring forth but Nurses who bring up the Children not only to Planters but to Waterers till the Tree come to its full growth And they are as so many builders not only to lay the foundation but to rear up the fabrick of grace and knowledge in the hearts of Christians surely then till we come to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ which shall not be till we come to heaven we have need that man should teach us 2 In particular As to this Scripture it cannot bee St. Johns intention by these words how express soever they may seem to exclude mans teaching Excellently St. Austin to this purpose If this be true you need not that any man teach you why do we teach you if that Annointing teach you all things wee labour as it were without cause why do wee not leave you to that unction that it may teach you But now I put the Question to my self Et illi ipsi Apostolo facio I may put it to the Apostle himself Let the Holy Apostle vouchsafe to hear a little one inquiring of him They to whom thou writest had this unction thou hast said it The unction which you have received teacheth you of all things ut quid talem Epistolam fecisti quid illos tu docebas quid instruebas quid aedificabas why hast thou written this Epistle to them why doest thou instruct and edify them Indeed it cannot be imagined that St. John should teach them by writing to them if hee did intend by these words to assert all mans teaching uselesse And therefore Caveamus tales tentationes superbissimas take wee heed of spiritual pride in fancying to our selves such a measure of the Spirits unction that wee need not the Ministers instruction Our blessed Lord himself who had the Spirit above measure was very lowly and bids us to learn this vertue of him surely then the greater measure wee have of this unction wee should bee so much the lesse conceited of our selves The good Spirit doth affâ—are breathe grace into us but it is the evil spirit which doth inflare puff men up with the winde of pride it is the poyson of the Serpent swells us not the Oil of the Spirit of God and truely there cannot bee an higher degree of pride than to undervalue the means of instruction Hee who is thus arrogant argueth himself greatly ignorant of the delusions of Satan and the deceitfulnesse of his own heart It is very observable how St. Paul joyneth those two caveats together Quench not the Spirit despise not prophecying the latter being the ready way to the former If thou hast received this unction it is as that Apostle tells the Galatians by the hearing of Faith and by the same means it abideth with and is increased in that it was first conveyed to us The plain truth is hee that is above ordinances is below grace nor can there bee a worse fool than hee who thinketh himself so wise as not to need the Ministers teaching Nor would it be passed by that those very Sectaries who deny the Ministry and scriptures do yet teach one another all the rest attending whilst any one of them who pretends to a Revelation speaketh and therefore I shall not need to spend time in confuting them who by their own practice confute themselves 2 Having in some measure cleared the Quid non what is
not cannot bee the meaning of this clause it now remaineth that I indeavour to unfold the Quid est what is the genuine sense of it and since by what hath been already said it appeareth that it must bee interpreted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with limitation that which is to bee inquired and resolved is in what respects this is true that hee who is taught by the unction need not be taught by any man For the unfolding whereof there is a double way proposed both of which are very rational and satisfactory 1 The Particle of denying Not is not to bee taken absolutely but comparatively not that they did not need any man to teach them at all but they did not need it so much as others For the further clearing of this it would bee observed that in several Scriptures this particle not is a note not of irrespective but comparative negation When God saith by his Prophet I will have mercy and not sacrifice hee cannot mean that hee would not have Sacrifice at all for then it was a part of his Worship but yet then hee would not have it in comparison of mercy When St. Paul saith I am sent not to baptize but to Preach hee cannot mean a denial for hee was sent to baptize his Commission was the same with the rest of the Apostles which was to Baptize all Nations but hee was rather sent to Preach than Baptize That of our blessed Saviour Labour not for the meat that perisheth if taken Negatively will contradict St. Paul where he saith He that will not work let him not eat and therefore no doubt onely meaneth that wee should chiefly labour for the meat that indureth to eternal life and yet once more that saying of his in another place my doctrin is not mine but his that sent me should we take it as a direct denial would be contradictory to it self my Doctrin and yet not mine and therefore is to bee construed it is not mine so much as his whose I am and whose my Doctrin is his that sent mee Agreeable hereunto it is that wee expound this of S. John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you have no need that is not so much need that any man teach you According to this Interpretation it would further bee inquired in comparison of whom this negation is to bee understood to which a double Answer may bee returned 1 In comparison of the Jews before the comming of Christ it is true of all Christians they need not so much as those Jews did That any man should teach them This is that which I look upon as the most genuine construction of Jeremiahs Prophecy concerning the Church of the New Testament for though the Precepts are expresse in several Epistles of Teaching and admonishing one another of Exhorting one another and of provoking one another to love and to good works yet the Christians need not Teach one another as the Jews of Old needed for whereas the Worship of God under the law was so Ceremonial obscure that Children needed to ask their Parents and every man his Neighbour what was the meaning of this or that Rite that so hee might know the Lord the Precepts of the Gospel are so plain and rational that every one may understand them and whereas this unction was then but sparingly given both in regard of latitude as to the subject and fulnesse as to the degree some few extraordinary persons excepted it is now so universally poured out and that in so far a greater measure that in respect of them the Christians now need not that any man teach them A Consideration which should lay upon us Christians so much the greater obligation of gratitude Time was when the Jews could say Hee hath not dealt so with any Nation as hee hath done with us neither have the Heathen the knowledge of his Law but now wee may say he did not deal so with the Jews as hee hath with us neither had they either such clear Prescripts for Gods Worship or such a plentiful effusion of his Spirit and oh that wee would so thankfully consider this as withall to remember that to whom much is given of them much shall bee required 2 More Congruously to this present Scripture These Christians to whom St. John wrote did not need that any man should teach them in comparison of these who either were but newly initiated into or had been seduced from the Doctrin of Christianity To this purpose is that Glosse of Beza's Haâ— res non tanquam ignot as proponit sed tanquam cognitas inculcat The Ignorant must be taught what they knew not before and the seduced must be taught to return from whence they have Apostatized but these Christians being neither Ignorant nor seduced had no need so bee so taught though still as to their confirmation and growth in Grace and the knowledge of Christ they needed instruction Wee may very well construe this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in opposition to that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of St. Paul As hee chiding the Hebrews saith When for the time you ought to bee Teachers you have need that one teach you again which be the first Principles of the Oracles of God So our Apostle commending these Christians saith You need not that any man teach you So that as Cameron well glosseth it is Hyperbolica locâ—tio an Hyperbolical Expression in way of Commendation and so the design of it the same with that Complement hee useth a little before I have not written to you because you know not the Truth but because you know it Very Observable to this purpose is that of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians where hee saith Touching Brotherly Love You have no need that I write unto you for you your selves are taught of God to love one another yet in the very next verse there followeth Wee beseech you Brethren to increase more and more By which it plainly appeareth hee did not intend that there was no need at all to write to them but that they did not need it so much as others having in a good measure learned that lesson already Suitable to this is that of the same Apostle to the Corinthians where hee saith as touching the Ministring to the Saints it is superfluous for mee to write to you when as in that very Chapter hee useth many Arguments to incourage them to that very duty and therefore cannot bee supposed to mean that it was altogether superfluous And surely as the design of St. Paul in bespeaking the Thessalonians and the Corinthians after this manner was to stir them up to a ready performance of those duties by taking notice of and commending them for what they had done in that kinde already so no doubt the scope of our Apostle was to animate them against Antichristian Seducers by praising them for their proficiency in the Orthodox Faith That which wee may learn from hence is that
as if we cannot miscarry and once being in Christ we shall abide though we be never so carelesse and secure and therefore to prevent this supine lazinesse here is a precept annexed to the promise which minds us that something is to bee performed on our part as well as Gods This unction enableth to abide in Christ but withall wee are required to make use of the grace which this unction giveth for that end and as the Promise assureth us of the one so the Precept puts us on the other It is a known saying of St. Austin Hee that made us without our selves will not save us without our selves wee can doe nothing without him hee will not doe it without us The Unction teacheth and that so as to give strength to fulfill yet still our part is to put forth that strength for that end for which it was given us and though it is the grace of this unction which doth not only prevent us by giving ability but excite us to and assist us in actuating that ability yet it is incumbent on us by the help of preventing exciting and assisting grace to exert those acts of faith and courage and constancy whereby we abide in him This being premised come wee now to consider the Duty to which wee are exhorted and here wee finde something substantial and something circumstantial that in the verb abide this in the adverb now 1 The substance of the duty is in the word abide a word which as Lapide well observeth our Apostle very much delighted to use no lesse than seven times wee meet with it in this Chapter nor is it any wonder since it was his Masters word and that in his last dying farewell Sermon if you cast your eyes on the fifteenth Chapter of St. Johns Gospel you shall finde this phrase of abiding in him used by our Saviour five several times in four verses and as hath been already observed this holy Apostle loved to tread in his Masters steps yea to speak in his Masters language He that exhorts to walk as he walked will not only doe so but talk also as he talked No doubt as hee was his Lords darling so hee had a dear affection to him and those whom wee love wee would resemble not only in greater but lesser matters in garb and gesture in discourse and language And as for this reason he maketh so frequent use of the phrase so likewise he so often inculcateth the duty because it was his Masters counsel to him and the rest of the Disciples Hee well knew he could not give better counsel to the people than Christ had given to him hee followed it himself and found it good advice no wonder if hee commanded it to others Abide in him For the unfolding of this duty know 1 There is a three-fold abiding which is required of every Christian in the Church of Christ in the Doctrine of Christ and in Christ himself all of these we meet with in this Chapter the first in the nineteenth verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they had continued with us to wit the Apostles of Christ who were then the Rulers and Representatives of the Church The second in the four and twentieth verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let that which you have heard from the beginning abide in you to wit the Evangelical Doctrine and the last in this verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abide in him By all of these no doubt one and the same grace of perseverance is meant yet not without some difference one rising higher than the other the lowest stâ—p is abiding in the Church which is opposed to a Schismatical separation higher than that is abiding in the Doctrine which is opposed to Heretical defection the highest is abiding in Christ himself which is opposed to an Hypocritical profession A man may abide in the Church and â—et fall from truth to error he may abide both in the Church and in the Doctrin of Christ so farre as to outward profession and yet not be really united to and abide in Christ himself But on the other hand Hee who spiritually abideth in Christ cannot but abide in his Doctrine and Church If you abide in me and my words abide in you saith our blessed Saviour where the latter is joyned with the former Christs words cannot but abide in them who abide in him nor will he who hath a real union with Christ make a wilful separation from his Church since the members which adhere to the head cannot forsake the body no wonder if our Apostle adde this to the two former as that which will both engage and enable us to them and accordingly that wee may continue with the Orthodox Christians and that which we have heard from the beginning may remain in us let us abide in him 2 In regard of this union and communion which wee have with Christ there is a three-fold phrase which wee meet with very frequently in the New Testament comming to him being in him and abiding in him coming to him is St. Peters phrase to whom coming as to a living stone Being in him St. Pauls If any man bee in Christ Abiding in him St. Johns both here and before in this Chapter And here we may observe a gradation coming to him is the beginning being in him the progresse and abiding in him the perfection of Christianity we must come to him or we cannot be in him wee must be in him else we cannot abide in him it is not enough to come to but we must be in nor to bee in but wee must abide in him To come to Christ is renouncing our selves to embrace Christ as our Lord and Saviour to be in him is to trust in him whom wee embrace for salvation and to Abide in him is to persevere in this adhaesion to the end 3 If yet you desire a more plain account of the true meaning and full latitude of this phrase of abiding in Christ I answer it is when as having received Christ Jesus our Lord and that both as our Lord and Jesus we doe not will not suffer our selves either by the allurements or affrightments of the world solicitations of the flesh and temptations of the Devil to be with-drawn from the profession of his name observance of his precepts recumbency on his merits imitation of his graces and communion with his person 2 Having given you this account of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abide in him it will not bee amisse to cast an eye upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and now though it may be looked upon only as formula concludendâ— a winding up of the Discourse as if he had said in Salomons language this is the conclusion of the whole matter yet since the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is properly an adverb of time we shall so consider it and finde a great deal of emphasis in it in as much as this now seemeth to have a double aspect
not of our selves 700 abideth in the Church and every true member 707 Union with Christ intimate and indissoluble 41 to 44. expressed by three phrases 739 Unregeneracy a state of darkness 130. of walking in darkness 187 W. WEak Christians in what respects compared to little Children 209 210 Will both in good and evil is looked upon though there bee no deed 287 465 677. of Gods decree done by wicked men against their will 460. of his command ought to be done by us willingly 464 466 Wisdom divine teacheth the vanity of the world 452 World taken two wayes 320. a Book 713. it passeth away 441. an Impostor 443. it seemeth permanent in our eye 451. a dangerous enemy 481 Worldly things the haveing them dangerous 413. occasions of lust 438. to be used not loved 324. they passe away in themselves from their owners and that suddainly 444 to 447 they leave us when most need 455. how of God how not 431 Worldly love wherein it consists 323. how discovered 329 to 332. an epidemical disease 328. unsuitable to a Christian 439. cannot consist with the love of God 416. hardly subdued 411. hindereth the efficacy of the Word 420. a cause of Apostacy prophaneness 421 Word of God consists of three parts 295. it must abide in us and how wee may know whether it doe 296. overcometh the Devil 298 Writings what commendeth them 214 215. why God would have his Word written 216 Y. YEars there are members of the Church of all years 212 Young-men the Devil a great enemy to them 301. prone to many lusts 302. put off the serving of God 304. perswaded to resist the Devil 305 306 FINIS Books printed for and sold by Joseph Cranford at the Sign of the Kings Head and Bible in St. Pauls Church-yard Books in Fol. THe Works of Joseph Hall Bishop of as's Divine Weeks and Works Lexicon Anglo-Graeco-Latinum Nov. Test or a compleat Alphabetical Concordance of all the words contained in the New Testament both English Greek and Latine in three distinct Tables viz. The 1 English whereby any Greek and Latine 2 Greek word may be English Latine 3 Latine rendred into Greek and English Together with the several significations etymons derivations force and emphaâ—is and divers acceptations in Scripture of each word as also the diverse readings in English Greek and Latine each annexed to their proper tables By Andrew Sympson 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Divine Characters in two parts accutely distinguishing the more secret and undiscerned differences between 1 The Hypocrite in his best dress of seeming Vertues and formal Duties and the true Christian in his real grace and sincere Obedience as also between 2 The blackest weeds of daily infirmities of the truly godly eclipsing saving grace and the reigning sins of the unregenerate that pretend to that godliness they never had By Samuel Crook B. D. late Pastor of Wringeton in Somersetshire the author of The Guide to true Blessedness Remains of the Reverend Mr. William Fenner Minister of Rochford in Essex being 1 A continuation of his Alarm to drowsie Saints 2 A Treatise of effectual calling 3 The killing power of the Law 4 The Spiritual Watch. 5 The New Birth 6 A Christians ingrafting into Christ 7 A Treatise of the Sabbath In Quarto Jus Divinum Ministerii Evangelici or the Divine Right of the Gospel Ministry by the Provincial Assembly of London Bethshemesh clouded or Animadversions on the Rabinical Talmud of Rabbi John Rogers wherein you have his Spirit Anatomized Principles examined and reasons in some measure refuted By Zachariah Crofton Minister of the Word at Buttolphs Algate London â—efreshing streams flowing from the fulness of Jesus Christ in several Sermons By William Colvit Minister of Gods Word in Edenburge The Husbands Authority unveiled wherein is moderately discussed whether or no it bee lawful for a good man to beat his bad Wife Crucifying of the World by the Cross of Christ By Richard Baxter A Treatise of Self-denial By Tho. Wilson The Crown of Righteousness a Sermon at the Funeral of Tho. Hedges Esq By Thâ— Watson A late great Shipwrack of faith a Sermon preached by Daniel Cawdry of Great Billing in Northamtonshire A sad Prognostick of approaching judgement a Sermon preached at St. Gregories By Nathanael Hardy Minister of St. Dionys Back-Church Self-denial a Sermon preached to the Assembly of Divines By Edward Reynolds D. D. Peace of Church a Visitation Sermon By Edward Reynolds D. D. Animalis Homo sive concio lat habita ad Academicos Oxonienses Edwardo Reynolds The Quakers Jesus or the unswadling of that Babe James Naylor which a wicked Tolleration hath Midwiv'd into the world discovering the Principles of the Quakers in general a Narrative of the substance of his Examinations and his Disciples as it was taken from his own mouth in their answer before the Magistrates of Bristol also the management of it in Parliament By William Griggâ— Citizen of Bristol An Exposition with practical Observations on the eighteenth nineteenth twentieth and one and twentieth Chapters of the Book of Job being forty two Lectures delivered in Magnus Church near the Bridge By Jos Caryl preacher of the Word and Pastor of the Congregation there A Dispute between Walter Roswel and Richard Coppin Large Octavo Enchyridion Medicum containing the causes signs and cures of all those Diseases which doe daily afflict the body of man together with a Treatise De facultatibus medicamentorum dosibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the summe of Practical Divinity preached in the Wilderness and delivered by our Saviour in his Sermon on the Mount being observations on the fourth fifth sixth and seventh Chapters of St. Matthew to which is prefixed Prolegomenâ— or a Preface by way of Dialogue wherein the perfection and perspicuity of the Scriptures is vindicated from the calumnies of Anabaptists and Papists By Tho. White Preacher of Gods Word Pisâ—atâ—r iâ— omnes Pauli Epistolas Gods Fearers are Gods Favourites several Sermons By Antho. Tucker A practical Discourse of Prayer By Tho. â—obbâ—â— Records Arithmetick Small Octav. A Treatise of the power of godliness consisting of three parts 1 Wherein it consists 2 Cautions against and discovery of several mistakes and hinderances most common to the people of God 3 Several means and helps for the attaining of it By Tho. White Directions and perswasions to a sound conversion for prevention of that deceit and dâ—mnation of Souls and of those Scandals Heresies and desperate Apostacies which are the consequents of a counterfeit and superficial change being the first of those Books mentioned in the Call to the unconverted By Richard Baxter Confirmation and Restauration the necessary means of Reformation and Reconciliation for healing of the corruptions and divisions of the Churches subâ—issively but earnestly tendered to the consideration of the Soveraign Powers Magistrates Ministers and People that they may awake and bee up and doing in the execution of so much as appears to bee necessary as they are true to