general is also true of this Scripture in particular Namely that tho' there be many Floods yet there are many Fords tho' there be many Depths where the greatest Elephants may swim yet there are also some Shallows where the least Lambs will be able to wade In some places the Holy Spirit soars aloft above the reach of the Highest and in other places he stoops so low as to condescend even to the Capacity of the Meanest And so he doth here in the Text where there are no difficulties to puzzle us but plain things to instruct and direct us The Text is a part of that Epistle which was sent by Christ to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus Ephesus was a large City upon which depended several lesser places as the Learned Hammond and others observe And according to that Government Christ had set up in his Church there was an Angel or Bishop constituted to oversee the Flock of Christ in these places Hence St. Austin speaking of the seven Angels which are mentioned in this Book of Revelations stiles them the Bishops or Governours of these seven Churches Such a Bishop or Angel was set over the Church of Ephesus and Antiquity tells us Onesimus was their Bishop to this Bishop or Angel doth Christ send an Epistle as may be learn'd from ver 1 of this Chapter Vnto the Angel of the Church of Ephesus write The whole Epistle besides the Prologue and the Epilogue consists of four Principal Parts First A commendation of them for their Labour and Patience and unwillingness to suffer them that are Evil ver 2 3. Secondly A Reprehension wherein they are blamed for leaving their First Love and abating something of the Zeal and Fervour for the Gospel of Christ vers 4. And Thirdly An Exhortation to things of great Importance here in the beginning of the Text Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first works And Fourthly A Commination in the last words of the Verse Else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy Candlestick out of his place For the fuller understanding of which words First We will first inquire why the Church of Christ is compared unto a Candlestick Secondly Shew you that this Candlestick may be removed out of his place Thirdly That it is an heavy Judgment to have this Candlestick removed out of his place Fourthly The Causes of this heavy Judgment And Fifthly The Means to prevent it I begin First With the first of these Namely to enquire why the Church of Christ is compared unto a Candlestick That the Church of Christ is compared to a Candlestick is plain from Chap. 1. 20. where we are told that The seven Stars are the Angels of the seven Churches and the seven Candlesticks are the seven Churches And well may the Church of Christ be compared unto a Candlestick since it holds forth the Word of God which is so often compared unto a Light We have a more sure word of prophesie saith St. Peter whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light shining in a dark place 2 Pet. 1. 19. To the same purpose is that of David Psal. 119. 105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path The World indeed of it self is a very dark place and stands in need of Light It is a dark and dismal place in respect of those manifold troubles and miseries which infest this Life Now the Word of God is a Light which helps to scatter and disperse these Mists of Trouble So King David found it Psal. 119. 50. This is my comfort in my affliction thy word has quickned me The whole world saith St. Iohn lieth in wickedness and it were impossible for us to find our way to Heaven without the light of God's Word But God is so gracious as to give us his Word to be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths How ought we then to prize and value the Church of God which is no less than the Light of the World without the direction whereof we must have wandred up and down the Wilderness and never have found out the way to Canaan There is no Salvation out of the Church Nec erit illi Deus Pater cui non est Ecclesia Mater God saith St. Cyprian will not be his Father who doth not own the Church for his Mother Had we been born without the Pale of the Church we had been Aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel Strangers to the Covenant of Promise without God without Christ and without Hope in this World Sure then we who are born within the Pale of God's Church and enjoy the glorious Light of the Gospel should rejoyce in this Light and learn to Prize and Value it otherwise we may be deprived of it and lose all the advantages thereof as will appear by considering the Second General Secondly Which is to shew that this Candlestick may be removed out of his place This is plain from the words of the Text where we have our Saviour speaking thus to the Church of Ephesus Except thou repent I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy Candlestick out of his place Christ's Church therefore may fail and be extinguish'd But for the more distinct decision of this point we must carefully distinguish of Christ's Catholick and Universal Church and of some particular Church of Christ seated in some particular Kingdom or Nation as the Church of England the Church of Scotland the Church of Denmark and the like Now 1st It is certain in the first place that the Catholick or Universal Church can never fail and be totally extinguished this larger Candlestick shall never be removed We have several promises in Scripture which assure us of the perpetuity of Christ's Church and that it shall continue even unto the end of the World So our Saviour promises his Apostles Mat. 28. ult Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world And again Mat. 16. 18. it is said that Christ has built his Church upon a Rock and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Thus firm and stable is the Catholick Church as St. Chrysostom speakes elegantly it may be assaulted but not defeated it may be distressed but not destroyed it may be wounded but it shall not fall it may be tossed but not wreck'd it may and shall be militant but yet never be overcome But 2ly Tho' the Catholick and Universal Church be thus stable and perpetual yet no particular Church can claim this priviledge The Church of any particular Place or Nation may utterly fail and have its Candlestick removed from it This is threatned in the Text to the Church of Ephesus and has been the sad fate of several other particular Churches For where are those many Famous Churches in Africa which were so glorious and flourishing in the days of St. Austin Where are those seven Golden Candlesticks those seven Famous Churches of Asia
this Book of Psalms If after such wonderful deliverances as you have heard this day we still indulge our selves in sin our most costly Sacrifices will prove an abomination the Lord will even spread the very Dung of them on our Faces See therefore with what passion Ezra exhorts the Iews to this Duty after their Deliverance from the Babylonish Captivity Ezra 9. 13. VVhen we have received such deliverance as this should we again break thy Commandments wouldst thou not be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us We must therefore keep holiness in our Lives otherwise we shall not be fit to keep an Holy-Day to the Lord. It becometh well the just to be thankful let the high praises of God be in their Mouths and it will please him better than a Bullock that has Horns and Hoofs Let us therefore reform our Lives and being thus wonderfully delivered from the Hands of our Enemies let us serve without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our Life which God of his Infinite Mercy grant c. SERMON V. 1 Cor. xi 19. For there must be also Heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest among you COrinth being seated on the Peloponnesian Isthmus had the advantage both of the Ionian and Aegean Sea to bring into its Bosom all the Treasures of the World And indeed these Temporal Blessings flowed there in such great abundance that Corinth is styled by Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by Pindar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in plain English the Rich and Happy City of Corinth And as Corinth was thus happy in respect of its Trade and Commerce so it was much more happy in having the Gospel planted there by the great Apostle S. Paul It was accounted the honour of these Primitive Churches to have some Apostle or other to be their Founder and the more eminent the Apostle was the greater was the honour of the Church he planted Now in this respect Corinth was inferiour unto none as being founded by St. Paul the great Apostle of the Gentiles one who is sometimes styled by the Antients Prince of the Apostles and who in that modest Character which he has left of himself in 2 Cor. 11. 5. tells us expresly That he was not a-whit behind the very chiefest Apostles The honour therefore of the Church of Corinth could not but be great since it was planted by this great Apostle St. Paul And the honour of it will appear yet greater if we add the observation of a Learned Author Super hac Ecclesia maxime triumphat Paulas St. Paul saith he tho' he converted several other Nations and planted several other Churches yet he seems to glory most yea even triumph in the Conversion of the Corinthians These he calls his special work in the Lord and the very Seal of his Apostleship Chap. 9. of this Epistle ver 1 2. And as the Church of Corinth had the honour to be planted by the Labours of St. Paul so it had also the happiness to be watered by the Eloquence of Apollo and the powerful Preachings of St. Peter Now one would have thought a Church thus happily Planted and Watred might if any in the World have promis'd it self an immunity from Schisms and Divisions at least so long as these Infallible Apostles and Unerring Guides were still alive But alas even Infallibility it self is so far from proving an Antidote against Schisms that it was a great means of raising and promoting them here at Corinth for in the first Chapter of this Epistle we find them crying out I am of Paul I am of Apollo and I am of Cephas And besides these Schisms which took their rise from the eminency of their Teachers we find in this 11th Chapter several other Divisions about the Sacrament Unity is indeed a signal Blessing yet such as the best of Churches may not always enjoy Corinth as Glorious and Eminent a Church as it was was rent in pieces by Factions and Divisions nay which is stranger yet St. Paul in the Text stamps an Oportet upon them there must saith he be Heresies or as he calls them in the foregoing Verse Divisions among you Satan and his Instruments will always watch their opportunity to sow these Tares And God it seems is willing to permit them that the rottenness of some and the integrity of others may be discovered So much St. Paul tells us in the Text for there must be also Heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest among you From which words I shall endeavour to shew you First That the best of Churches are subject to the Misfortune of Schisms and Divisions Secondly VVhat those Causes are which make Schisms and Divisions in some sort necessary Thirdly That God's design in suffering these Schisms and Divisions is to discover the Rottenness of some and Integrity of others Fourthly That those are truly Noble and Honourable Persons who continue stedfast in the Communion of God's Church amidst these Schisms and Divisions which arise in it These are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the approved ones in the Text. There must saith St. Paul be Heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest I begin with the first of these First Namely to shew you that the best of Churches are subject to the misfortune of Schisms and Divisions He must be a very great Stranger both to Scripture and Ecclesiastical History who does not know that the misfortune of Corinth in the Text is the usual fate and misfortune of other Churches There is not any Church mentioned in the New Testament but what was sadly distracted with Schisms and Divisions We find at Galata such as preacht up Iudaism and bewitched the Galatians with a Dangerous Opinion of the necessity of Legal Rites St. Paul warns the Colossians of such as were ready to spoil them through vain Philosophy and bids them take care that no man beguiled them in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels When he wrote his Hierarchial Epistle to Titus the first Bishop of Crete It seems Hereticks were so numerous in that Church that he was obliged to give him this Apostolical Canon among the rest An Heretick after the first and second Admonition reject If we take a view of the Seven Churches of Asia recorded in the Book of Revelations St. Iohn will shew us a Synagogue of Satan in the Church of Smyrna Nicolaitans and Balaamites in the Church of Sardis Hereticks stigmatized with the name of Iezabel in the Church of Thyatira and in Ephesus the Mother Church Counterfeit Apostles who said they were Apostles and were not but upon trial were found Liars Tho' the Faith of the Romans was at this time so famous that it was spoken of saith S. Paul throughout the whole World yet they were not so happy as to be free from Divisions for our Apostle gives them this Advise Rom. 16. 17. I beseech you
St. Iohn mentions in the three first Chapters of this Book of Revelations Are they not utterly ruin'd and destroyed And dwells there any thing in these places but Ignorance Barbarity and Mahumetanism Thus ye see it is most plain that tho' the Catholick shall never fail yet the Church of any particular Place and Nation may Tho' he will not remove his Candlestick quite out of the World but will always have a Church in some place or other yet it is not certain it shall be in this or that Nation He may remove his Candlestick from England or Holland or any other particular Nation which has filled up the measure of their Iniquity In such a case he deals with them as our Saviour threatens to deal with the Iews Mat. 21. 43. Therefore I say unto you the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof Thus Christ threatned and because the Iews did not repent he dealt with them accordingly for they are now become Lo-ammi no more a People but wrath is come upon them to the uttermost I cannot dismiss this point without an Inference or two And 1st If every particular Church may fail then the Church of Rome is vain in boasting so much of her Perpetuity and Indefectibility We know she is but a part of the Catholick Church and a very corrupt part of it too and therefore in vain do they fancy that the gates of Hell shall never prevail against them St. Paul gives them better advice Rom 11. 21 22. Be not high minded but fear for of God spared not the natural branches take heed lest he also spare not thee This Epistle ye know is written to the Church of Rome and if this Church of Rome had been Infallible and Perpetual St. Paul had mightily fail'd in his Logick for he makes them subject to the same fate which befell the Iews and that they might fail as well as they had done 2ly Since particular Churches may fail then this should make them study their preservation and use such means as may be effectual to that purpose If the Professors of Christianity in any Nation shall become vain in their imaginations exchanging plain and wholesome Truth for fond Speculations and Opinions if they shall turn Factious and Schismatical neglecting their Spiritual Guides and Pastors if they be Dissolute in their Manners and confute their Religion by their Lives they will provoke God to remove his Candlestick and bring confusion upon them Christ is so far from promising safety and protection to any particular Church and People who neglect their own safety that he threatens ruin and destruction to them except thou repentest I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy Candlestick out of his place How careful then should we of this Nation be to preserve the Gospel among us left God carry it away from us unto a People that will better bring forth the fruits thereof And to excite us all to this study and carefulness I proceed in the third place to Thirdly Shew you that it is an heavy Judgment to have this Candlestick removed out of his place It is in the Text threatned as an heavy Judgment to the Church of Ephesus Except thou repent saith Christ I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy Candlestick out of his place So our Saviour threatens it as an heavy Judgment unto the Iews Mat. 21. 43. Therefore I say unto you the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof And the greatness of the Judgment will appear at large from these following particulars 1st It deprives a Nation of its chiefest Honour As it is the highest Honour in this World to be related to an Earthly King so it is a much higher Honour to be related to the King of Kings Hence is that of the Prophet Isay Chap. 43. 4. Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable Now all this Honour is lost when once a Nation loseth its Relation to God Thus God dealt with the Iews Hosea 1. 9. Then said God call his name Lo-ammi for ye are not my People and I will not be your God When God removes his Candlestick and rejects a Nation from being his People they become then as contemptible as Heathens and Infidels as vile and despicable as the Iews have been in the World ever since God disowned them for his People 2ly This heavy Judgment does also deprive a Nation of God's special care and providence We know God's Church and People are as dear to him as the Apple of his Eye and he is as he has promised a Wall of Fire round about them Now a Wall of Fire is both Defensive and Offensive and denotes that God by his special Providence does not only defend his chosen People but also offends and destroys their Enemies Behold saith the Psalmist Psal. 33. 18. Behold take notice of this saith he namely that the Eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him Of these he takes a special Care and exercises a most tender and watchful Providence over them to deliver their Soul from Death and to keep them alive in the time of Famine thus happy are the People whose God is the Lord. But if by our Sins we provoke God to remove our Candlestick out of his place and reject us from being his People then shall we lose our right and title to this his special Care and Providence we shall soon then become a prey unto our Enemies a reproach and by word to all that are round about us When the Jewish Nation had filled up the Measure of their Iniquity a Dreadful Voice was heard in their Temple saying Migremus hinc migremus hinc let us go hence let us go hence intimating that God and his Holy Angels were then departing from them and withdrawing their Care and Providence over them And presently after this the Abomination of Desolation was brought upon them so that they have ceased ever since not only to be the Church and People of God but also to be a Nation being scattered and dispersed up and down the World and hated in all places But this will appear yet farther 3ly To be an heavy Judgment if we consider that the Holy Ghost in Scripture esteems it an heavier Judgment than others are Adversity and Oppression are heavy Judgments and yet but light in comparison of this So much may be gathered from Isaiah 30. 20. Tho' the Lord give you the Bread of Adversity and the Water of Affliction yet shall not thy Teachers be removed into a corner any more but thine Eyes shall see thy Teachers and thine Ears shall hear a Voice behind thee saying this is the way walk in it Tho' oppression and Adversity be heavy burthens yet are they nothing to the loss of Teachers and the deprivation of God's Ordinances So long as God's Candlestick shines amongst us and we enjoy
be taken in this Figurative sense this Cup represents my blood For it follows presently after I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine saith Christ until that day when I drink it new with you in my fathers kingdom The fruit is called sometimes the blood of the Grape but sure without a figure it cannot be called the blood of Christ. Thus you see that our Church is Apostolical also in denying Transubstantiation 6. The Adoration of the Host is accounted by the Church of England a most dangerous crime for since as you have heard there is no Transubstantiation but it remains bread we dare not pay our Adoration to it which we believe a Creature for it is the plain Doctrine of our Saviour Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve 7. The Church of England in condemning the Worship of Images condemns only what the Apostles and Prophets had condemned before for this charge is given in the Second Commandment Thou shalt not make unto thy self any graven Image nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the waters under the earth thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them Here we are forbid and that in most comprehensive terms the making of any Image whatsoever to Worship it It is not said Thou shalt not make Images of Idols or false Gods but it is said Thou shalt not make any graven Image nor the likeness of any thing To make an Image of the true God is a violation of this Commandment for the Golden Calves are condemned in Scripture notwithstanding the Children of Israel worshiped the true God under those representations Our Church therefore doth not allow her Members to picture God the Father in the likeness of an Old Man or the Holy Ghost in the similitude of a Bird or Dove For God is a Spirit yea an infinitely glorious Spirit and consequently cannot be pictured without an injury but to worship such Pictures or Images is as S. Paul speaks Rom. 1. to change the glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like unto corruptible Man and to Birds 8. The Church of England does also justly condemn the Invocation of Saints by mental and vocal Prayers as the Trent Council enjoyns This Doctrine of the Church of Rome by the confession of Learned Papists hath neither Precept nor Example in Scripture to warrant it and consequently it cannot be built upon the foundation of the Text i. e. the foundation of Apostles and Prophets The Temple of old was called the house of Prayer to denote that Religious Prayer is a principal part of the Worship of God and does not our Saviour say expresly Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve To hear mental Prayers belongs only to God who alone trieth the reins and searcheth the heart and therefore to make such Prayers unto Creatures is to make them more than Creatures The Saints must be Omnipresent if they can hear all their Votaries who pray to them in all quarters of the Earth Now Omnipresence is an Attribute which belongs to the Divine Essence Thou art a God that heareth Prayers saith the Psalmist and therefore unto thee shall all flesh come We are told in Scripture that there is but one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Iesus and since he is most willing and able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by him we do not use the Intercessions of the Saints for fear we should injure the merits of that All-sufficient Mediatour who ever liveth to make intercession for us By these few Instances which I have given and I might have given you many more it cannot but be evident to all serious unprejudiced persons that the Church of England keeps close to the Rule of the Scripture and like the Church of Ephesus in the Text is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets And because the Testimony of an Adversary has always been thought considerable I shall conclude this head with the Testimony of Pope Paul IV. who as Bishop Andrews Reports made this offer to Q. Elizabeth that if she would but own his Supremacy he would confirm our way of serving God in all things appertaining to his Worship in the very same manner as we now do Sure this Holy Father would never have confirmed the Religion of the Church of England had he not thought it consonant to the Doctrine of the Apostles But since he was pleased to offer his Confirmation we will requite his kindness by valuing our Church the more upon his Approbation Thus I have dispatcht the Three Generals I proposed I have shewn you That the Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets is the only Foundation upon which the True Church is built That this Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets is sufficiently delivered to us in the Holy Scripture and that the Church of England like that of Ephesus in the Text is built upon this and no other foundation I shall now in the close leave a word or two of Exhortation with you and beseech you to continue stedfast in the Communion of the Church of England It is the chief design of St. Paul in this Epistle to keep the Ephesians stedfast in the Faith of Christ He desires them Chap. 3. not to faint and bows his knees to the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ that he would strengthen them by his Spirit in the inner Man He bids them Chap. 4. have a care they were no more Children tossed to and fro with every wind of Doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive As he would not have them scared out of their Religion by fear of Persecution so neither would he have them gull'd of it by the sleights and subtleties of false Teachers It is therefore our duty when we have found the True Church to continue stedfast in the Communion of it We must resemble those best of Christians of whom it is said Acts 2. 42. That they continued stedfast in the Apostles Doctrine and fellowship But alas how apt are men to barter away Religion for some worldly emolument How many are there who carry their Religion in their Pockets and stick not with Iudas to betray their Master for Thirty pieces of Silver unless perhaps their Covetousness be greater and a larger sum be requisite to patch up their broken Fortunes If Naamans Preferment be inconsistent with his Religion you must allow him a dispensation and permit him to bow in the House of Rimmon and to name no more rather than Pilate will hazard the loss of Caesars favour he will pronounce our Saviour innocent one hour and condemn him the next Thus Christ is made to truckle under the World and Gain will be Godliness in spight of the Bible But those that are sober and serious in the World they will
the great advantages of Prayers Sermons and Sacraments other Judgments may the better be dispensed with Famine is another very sore Judgment when this rages God is said to march through the Land in indignation Hab. 3 12. and we will not stick to believe it when we consider the direful effects and consequences of Famine We read in our Chronicles that there was formerly such a dreadful Famine in this Island that when Malefactors were lead out of Prison towards the place of Exeeution the poor hungry People would presently fall upon them and tearing them in peices eat them up And we will not wonder at it when we read Ezek. 5 10. Of Fathers eating up their Sons and Sons their Fathers And which is stanger and more unnatural yet we find Lamen 4 10. Tender compassionate Women forced by the extremity of hunger to seeth their own Children These are horrid instances of a dreadful Judgment and yet we have a sadder instance of it and Famine is said to be such a devourer as causes a man to devour himself as you may read Isai. 9. 20. where every man is brought in eating the Flesh of his own Arm. Thus great and heavy a Judgment is Famine yea by some it is thought to be one of the sorest Heaven can inflict and yet it is inferiour to this of the Text when God in wrath removes our Candlestick out of his place when he takes his Gospel away from us and deprives us of all the priviledges and advantages of his Holy Ordinances No less than this is asserted Amos 8. 11 12. Behold the days come saith the Lord God that I will send a Famine in the Land not a Famine of Bread not a thirst of Water but of hearing the Word of the Lord And they shall wander from Sea to Sea and from the North even to the East shall they run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord and shall not find it Thus a Famine of the Word is a sorer Judgment than the Famine of Bread and well indeed it may since the one destroys only the Body the other destroys the Soul If the Light of the Gospel be taken away worse than Egyptian darkness will ensue such as will cause us to fall and that into the bottomless Pit from whence there is no Redemption Thus I have dispatched the three Generals and shewn you that 't is an heavy Judgment to have our Candlestick removed out of his place For this heavy Judgment deprives a Nation of its Chiefest Honour and makes them become Lo-ammi or no people It deprives them also of God's special Care and Providence and renders them an easie prey unto their Enemies And lastly it surpasses the sorest of God's Judgments and a Famine of Bread is far more tolerable than a Famine of the Word These Considerations if any will teach us to value God's Ordinances at an higher rate than formerly we have and excite our greatest care and diligence to prevent such an heavy Judgment as this and to help us to perform this Duty the better I come in the fourth place Fourthly Briefly to consider some of those Causes which bring such an heavy Judgment upon a Nation And 1st Sin is the General Cause of this heavy Judgment we need no other proof of this than the Text it self where Christ bids the Church of Ephesus remember from whence she had fallen and repent and do the first works Nothing but our Iniquities can separate betwixt our God and us if we do not repent of them they will be our ruin For God will not continue his Gospel to a backsliding and disobedient People but will take it away and give it to a Nation that will better bring forth the Fruits thereof 2ly The contempt of God's Word and his Messengers is another Cause of this heavy Judgment This may easily be gathered from 2 Chron. 36. 15 16. Where we are told that the Lord God sent to the Iews by his Messengers rising up betimes and sending because he had compassion on his People and on his dwelling Place But they mocked the Messengers of God and despised his Words and misused his Prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his People till there was no remedy So Amos 8. where the Prophet threatens them with a Famine of the Word he assigns this among other reasons ver 5. namely because they prophaned his Sabbaths and despised his Ordinances And indeed when a Nation undervalues the Light of the Gospel and judg themselves unworthy of it it is but just with God to remove their Candlestick and carry his Gospel to a People more worthy of it 3ly Schisms and Divisions are another grand Cause of this heavy Judgment Historians tell us that this was it which opened the way to the Turks and Saracens to overflow the Eastern Churches and let Mahumetanism into the World It was this which brought that deluge of Goths and Vandals and other barbarous Nations upon the West And indeed we need not wonder at it since S. Iames tells us Chap. 3. 16. That where envying and strife is there will be confusion and every evil work Thus I have dispatched the fourth General and shewn you some of those Causes which provoke God to remove his Candlestick from a People and Nation Sin in the General is the Cause of it In particular the contempt of God's Messengers and his Ordinances and those Schisms and Divisions which rage in a Nation And if we should now reflect upon our selves I fear we should find so much wickedness and debauchery raging in the Land such gross prophanation of God's Sabbaths contempt of his Messengers and his Ordinances and withal so many dangerous Schisms and Factions amongst us as may justly cause us to dread the heavy Judgment of the Text. But I will not foretel your danger but exhort you to prevent it and that by Repentance as the Text directs Which Fifthly brings me to the fifth and last General proposed which is to shew you the Means to prevent this heavy Judgment Now this cannot better be learned than from that advice Christ gives the Church of Ephesus in this place remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works Repentance therefore is the best means we can take to appease God's Wrath and prevent his Judgments If we repent of the evil of our ways God also will repent of the evil we have reason enough to fear he is bringing upon us Hear what is said to this purpose in the Prophet Jer. 3. 12. Return O back sliding Israel saith the Lord and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful What a gracious motive is here urged What will perswade us to repent if the hopes of Mercy will not In what a sad condition should we be if God should remove our Candlestick out of his place if he should take away his glorious Gospel from us and deprive us of all the
enjoys the bright beams of Heavenly light whilst all the World besides groans under worse than Aegyptian darkness This is the true Gideons fleece which is watred with the dew of Celestial Grace whilst the other parts of the Earth lyes dry and parch'd not unlike some barren and cursed wilderness This in St. Austine's comparison is the true Ark in which alone we can be secure from the deluge of God's wrath Thus great is their happiness who are in the Church of Christ But some difficulty there is to find out the true Church as Tertullian observed of Old faciunt favos vespae faciunt Ecclesias Marcionitae the most dangerous Wasps have their Cells saith he even so the worst of Hereticks are ready to cry out the Temple of the Lord are we That therefore we may not mistake Leah for Rachel or embrace a Cloud instead of a Iuno we must carefully observe that description St. Paul gives us of the true Church he tells us it is founded on the Doctrine of Heaven or if you had rather take it in the words of the Text it is saith he that houshold of God which is built upon the foundations of the Apostles and Prophets From the words thus far explained I shall crave leave to prove these four things First That the Doctrine of the Apostle and Prophets is the foundation on which the true Church is built Secondly That this Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets is sufficiently delivered to us in the Holy Scriptures Thirdly That the Church of England is built upon this foundation of the Apostles and Prophets And Fourthly That such as continue in the communion of this Church are as happy as were those Ephesians of whom St. Paul says they were no more strangers and forreigners but fellow-Citizens with the Saints of this houshold of God I begin with the first of these to shew you that the Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets is the only foundation upon which the true Church is built The Church of Ephesus if we 'l believe St. Paul was the houshold of God or a true Church of Christ and it seems it was so because built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets we are sure these inspired Ministers of the Holy Iesus preached and planted none but the true Religion and we may be sure it can be no bad Church which owns and professes the same Religion I know there are several marks given of the true Church such as Unity Universality Antiquity Succession Sanctity and the like but tho' these where they are found are Great Ornaments to a Church yet the best and most infallible mark to know it by is its conformity to the Doctrines delivered by the Apostles For the true Church as the Apostle speaks elsewhere is the ground and Pillar of Truth but it will not deserve this honourable Character if its Doctrines be repugnant to the Doctrines delivered by the Apostles It 's said of the best and most Catholick Christians Acts 2. 42. That they continued stedfast in the Apostles Doctrine And therefore such as follow the Primitive example will be far from deserving the brand of Hereticks Does not our Saviour himself tell us that his Sheep will hear his Voice and not the Voice of Strangers And where is this voice of Christ to be heard but sounding in the writings of these Apostles and Prophets This therefore is the sure word of Prophecy whereunto saith St. Peter ye do well if you take heed nor is this any other mark of the Church of God then what is generally own'd by the antient Fathers Tertullian brings in the Church speaking such words as these Sum Apostolorum sic teneo sicut illi testamento caverunt I am Heir saith she to the holy Apostles whatever Truth they left me in their Writings whatever Doctrines they bequeath'd me in their Testament these I firmly believe these I will constantly hold Ireneus calls the Gospel columnam firmamentum Ecclesiae the Ground and Pillar of the Church St. Chrysostome treating at large upon this Question How the true Church may be known returns this answer more than once The true Church is best known by the holy Scriptures saith he that is the Christian Church which agrees with these sacred Oracles and that is the Heretical which is repugnant to them None speaks more largely or more excellently to this point than the great St. Austine who in his admirable Book against the Donatists writes thus The question between us and the Donatists is where we shall find the Church What therefore shall we do shall we seek it in our own words or in the words of our Lord Iesus Christ I think we had rather seek it in his words who is the truth and best knoweth his own Church Let not therefore these Speeches be heard amongst us This I say and this thou sayest but let us hear Thus saith the Lord There are certain Books of God to whose Authority we both stand we both consent we both believe there let us seek the Church there let us try our cause I will not have the Church demonstrated by Man's teaching but by the holy Oracles of God Setting therefore aside all such matters let them shew forth the Church if they can not by the speech and rumours of the Africans not in the Councils of the Bishops not in the Writing of any Disputer not in Visions and Revelations not in Signs and false Miracles because God's word has abundantly prepared us and made us ready against these things But let them declare it out of the Prescript of the Law the predictions of the Prophets the Songs of the Psalms the testimonies of the Apostles the words of the Pastor himself whether they have a Church or no let them declare only by the Canonical Books of the holy Scripture these be the instructions these be the foundations these be the supporters of our cause Thus far St. Austine and because he is so clear and so full to this case I shall not need to trouble you with any further Authorities especially since the Church of Rome doth acknowledge in her Trent Catechism that no Church is Catholick that does not profess that faith which is built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles She must not hold any new faith say they but that which was delivered of old by the holy Apostles And it follows in the same Catechism the Nicene Fathers did well to add the word Apostolick to their Creed saying I believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church namely that all might know that is the only true Catholick Church which is Apostolick That therefore must needs be the truest mark of the Church which both Romanists and Protestants own to be so and indeed without this all those other marks which are pretended will signifie nothing Unity without Apostolical Doctrine is so far from being a mark of the Church that it may not only be found in the Societies of the worst of Men