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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	bishop_n	hand_n	imposition_n	2,841	5	10.3567	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95973	The impostures of seducing teachers discovered; in a sermon before the Right Honorable the Lord Major and court of Aldermen of the city of London, at their anniversary meeting on Tuesday in Easter weeke, April 23, 1644. at Christ-Church. By Richard Vines, minister of Gods word at Weddington in the county of Warwick, and a member of the Assembly of Divines. Imprimatur, Charles Herle.	Vines, Richard, 1600?-1656.	1644 (1644)	Wing V557; Thomason E48_2; ESTC R11333	24,964	44

sense of Scripture because it makes most against the Calvinists and there are who falling upon some novell opinion doe honestate it with the name of a new light and conceive themselves the greatest illuminates as having two eyes and all the world besides but one I deny it not but that every man in his Regeneration hath a new light which is a part of the new creature for the new creation begins in a fiat lux Nor doe I deny but that in the Church there may be a clearer and further demonstration of and insight into many things in the Scriptures which have lien in the bottome of the pit and may be brought neerer day than aforetime for the neerer to the end the more glory and light as it s said Dan. 12. 4. Shut up the words and seale the book even to the time of the end many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased But this light though new to us yet it is not new to the word to the Sun light is not new though it be to the Moon as the Apostle cals strange doctrines Heb. 13. 9. not such as are new to us but such as are forreine to the word so we call that strange light rather then new which the word of God ownes not as the off-spring thereof and therefore I exhort you to consider 1. Whether this light come from the Word or rather doe not shine from a glo-worme in your own fancies Is not this vision of yours extra mittendo by beames going out of your owne eyes to the object doe you not first conceive and then goe forth to seek a father for your child as the Sadduces that first denie the Resurrection and then think that they can make their heresie good out of a case in Moses law Matth. 22. ●4 2. Whether it doe nourish those graces in you in which the Kingdome of God consists or whether doth not this new light starve you doth not this sun-shine put out your fire for whether it be that the intention of the minde upon the vaine theory of opinions doth divert the streame and leaves as I may say practicke godlinesse dry or whether God withdraw his influences from them that lay themselves out in toyes or whatsoever the cause be experience sheweth that after this vertigo takes men in the head many of them decay in the vitals of Religion and turne either Polititians to erect a party or grow very leane in practicke godlinesse and draw loose in their geeres if indeed they become not loose in their lives and wayes 2. This point may give us just occasion to inquire into the reason why we are so tossed to and fro and carried about and crumbled into divisions for who is a stranger in Israel that he should not know these things The heavens are filled with fixed stars without number but the Planets are no more than seven if the proportion was cast up amongst us our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Iude cals them ver 13. doe hold a greater proportion to our fixed starres Is not our Church called to the barre to answer not so much for her purity or chastitie in all Administrations as for her very being and life what children are these that will unmother her before God her husband have divorced and unwifed her that will throw Babylon in her face and then justifie their secession and departure by Flee out of Babylon which will not serve their turne except they can find also a Goe out of Ephesus out of Pergamus out of Sardis out of Laodicea c. Our Sacraments are also called to the barre The Lords Supper under the reason of a mixt Communion by which as I conceive is not meant that unbeleevers or unregenerate persons doe partake rem sacramenti the kernell of this ordinance for in that respect they have no Communion with the faithfull but that the Company of Communicants in the outward seale is mixt of regenerate and unregenerate Saints and hypocrites unto which we say that though the doore ought to be more narrow than to let in dogs and swine yet the presence and profession of intruders doth not evacuate that Communion which the faithfull have with Christ and among themselves for the Master of the great Feast as He observed Matth. 22. 12. doth not say to them that had the wedding garment how came you in hither with such a man but Friend how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment Our Baptisme is said to be a vanity a nullity as being dispensed to infants and that because we want example for it but so we doe for womens receiving the Lords Supper and if the reason and equity of the rule will carry it for women as well as men then also we shall joyne issue in that point and make it good upon that ground for children of beleeving parents as for the parents themselves for are not such See a learned Treatise called The Birth priviledge infants foederati confederates and in the Covenant though they cannot actually restipulate yea surely as well as those which were circumcised The morall Law is questioned whether it be obligatory to and directory of a beleever in Christ for because he hath another bridle of restraint of him from sin and another spurre incentive of him unto obedience therefore he hath not the same rule which is but a confounding of the principle whereby and of the rule according to which a Christian is acted these men are much mistaken in that place whereupon they seeme to ground their opinion Rom. 7. 6. That we should serve in newnesse of spirit and not in the oldnesse of the letter Where they oppose these two as a rule and principle taking away the rule called say they the oldnesse of the letter by the principle which is the newnesse of the Spirit now there is nothing more cleere then that the Apostle opposes not the rule to the principle of obedience but duo principia or rather duos serviendi modos two manners of serving in the one of which they were bond-men in the other free-men Our Ministery is arraigned also as the Papists because the Ministers of many Reformed Churches have not Imposition of the hands of a Bishop deny their ordination to be legitimate so is ours denied because we had We are between two milstones what Ministers will they find in the Churches of Christ for many hundred yeares if this be good against ordination I cannot conceive but God owned some of them for his witnesses prophesying in sackcloth Rev. 11. 3. And finally to the nullity of these the Church the Sacraments the Morall Law the Ministery is added the Mortality of the soule which if reason cannot confute let a man consult conscience if that cannot Scripture will had it not been a strange mistake in our blessed Saviour to have but in a Parable supposed a rich man after his death in torment and Lazarus in Abrahams bosome if the soule be not

immortall or at least if it survive not for that cannot be applied to the resurrection when the rich man will have no brethren on earth to send unto neither can there be any sence in that portion of Scripture but upon supposall of the soule outliving the body I had rather draw a curtaine before this face of things then paint it out unto you How sad a hearing is it to heare I am of Paul I am of Apollo I am of Cephas was not this that which as Ierome observes did at first set up Bishops our divisions are their factours but that is not all more sad it is to heare here is Christ and there is Christ for we are so impotent in our opinions that every man makes his own to be the very Shibboleth of the Church a thing unheard of before our times that men of divers Trades in this famous City can be all of one Company but being of divers opinions they cannot be of one Church nor will be all of one Schoole except they be all of one forme which breakes our communion into fragments Now what may be the cause of this transportation of people are they children ungrounded in knowledge that is too much to be feared or are they proud and wanton and have taken surfet of the great things of the Law or are they ashamed to stand in the levell of sober practicall Christians but must be masters and set up the trade of some new opinion for themselves and build Babel to get a name and to be some body in in the eyes of a party I know not what to say but the Lord stop the gangrene and turne all our eyes to the great things of the Law that so this tithing of mint and cummin may be left to a second place 3. Be not children and oh that this word might stop the fury of your precipitate levity as Coesar did the sedition of his Army by one word Quirites you have had the vitals of Religion a holy and pure doctrine and there is not another Gospell For Ministers that have burn'd and shined themselves out in holding forth essentials and saving truths the whole world since the Apostles time could not overmatch you and for Christians the seale of their Ministery begotten and bred up under their shadow in respect of the power of godlinesse there hath not been another England on earth since that time I doe not ascribe this to the government and discipline no more then I doe ascribe the multiplying of Israel to Pharaoh but under God to the paines and diligence of faithfull pastours whom I would not have any man now to undervalue and debase as brats of Antichrist they were Heroes and Worthies our regeneration and faith are their monuments let no man digge up their ashes and degrade them in esteeme nor belch out poison against the learning livings callings of their godly successors in this Church for wise men will interpret that they doe it upon no other reason then Herod burnt the Registries of the families and genealogies of the Iewes in consciousnesse of his own obscurity And as for this Church certainely she hath had a wombe to beare children and breasts to give them suck which two things doe make a faire proofe for her against all calumnies though alas she had also a generarion of vipers eating through her bowels Finally This Kingdome owes as much to Religion as any in the world we have seene wonders of Gods love and miracles of deliverance and if God shall now bring his Arke to Ierusalem and set it up in greater state then before time let us dance before it but withall let us not despise the house of Obed-Edom which God blessed for the Arke sake we must not put downe the Temple because it s made a den of theeves but rather whip them out of it and for that we fast and pray as also that those seven Ones in the fourth and fifth verses may continue with us for ever One body and one spirit one hope of your calling one Lord one Faith one baptisme one God and Father of all which should be as so many quoines to lock together all parts of the building into one as indeed they would if men were not so opinion-big as to make every extravagant or at least extrinsicall opinion fundamentall and as an Atlas to a new-Church building I come now to the second part of the Text which is the haracter or description of the impostours and seducers that doe unsettle men whereof I shall open the termes or words 1. Sleight of men The originall word for sleight doth properly signifie Dice-playing and by ametaphor taken from players at Dice which sort of men you shall seldome reade of in sober authours without some brand of infamie it sets out the qualitie of false teachers and in this all agree but then in the very point of application of this similitude there is a little difference 1. As the cast of the Die is changeable and variable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alea nihil incertius so are these teachers and such is their doctrine and therefore he calls it sleight of men opposing this doctrine of theirs to that of Gods pure word which is alwayes like it selfe and hath no interests passions crooked ends as men have 2. As dice-players can cogge the Die and make it answer what cast they please so these teachers have an act of mixing and adulterating the word so as to make it answer their own profit or advantage but whether it be so or so or both wayes you see what these teachers make of their hearers meere tablemen which the dice-player carries hither and thither and moves from point to point as he pleases 3. Cunning craftinesse The same word that is used to expresse the subtilty of the serpent tempting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eve 2 Cor. 11. 3. He beguiled Eve through his subtilty and it signifies the deep policie of men 1 Cor. 3. 19. He taketh the wise in their own craftinesse and so it imports that these teachers are veterators beaten fellowes men exercised and skilfull to deceive 4. They lye in wait to deceive And the word in this Text is also used Ephes 6. 11. that ye may be able 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he to stand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the stratagems of the Devill for it signifies properly an ambushment or stratagem of warre whereby the enemy sets upon a man ex insidijs at unawares denoting the specious and faire overtures and pretences of false teachers spreading their net under the chaffe to catch the silly bird for it is plaine that all their sleight and craftinesse is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to this very end and purpose that they may entrap and catch men within the ambush of their impostures That which I collect from this part of the Text is Doct. 1. What oddes the Apostle makes between the seducer and the seduced even as much as between

concernes very much to hold fast the forme of wholesome words 2 Tim. 1. 13. which the Apostle opposeth to questions and logomachies or strife of words and perverse disputings 1 Tim. 6. 3 4 5. as also to prophane and vaine bablings 2 Tim. 2. 16. P●erunque illa duo ●●●●r●nt ●urati● doctri●● novi mod● loque●di Chem. loc com and 1 Tim. 6. 20. that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as some reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 empty words and novell expressions you all know that by losing the genuine and proper meaning of the word Church and Bishop c. we had almost forgot the Scripture use of them and brought the Church within the pale of the Clergy and the Bishop into a throne above the Ministers of the word The Apostle Peter speaking of false teachers hath an expression or two to this purpose They speake great swelling words of vanity 2 Pet. 2. 18. that is they speake great bubbles of words full of wind strong lines or bigge fancies to beare downe people by that torrent and againe in the 2 Pet. 2. 3. through covetousnesse shall they with fained words make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 merchandise of you What are these fained words doe not they meane the same as that 1 Tim. 4. 2. speaking lies in hypocrisie or should it not rather be taken for a set and composed forme of words such as Merchants use in commending their wares to sale shewing the goodnesse and properties of the commodity they desire to put off and even belying it into credit for to that the words seeme to allude I shall not dwell upon this but certainely it is not for nothing that seducers are found to hide their hooke under words and expressions which they doe artificially fit and compose for the purpose a good Title sells a sorry Booke And all times will beare witnesse that it hath been the property of such men as have had any monster to bring to light to use obscurity and cloudinesse of expression that what is unshapen and without forme at the first may afterwards be lickt into proportion errors are bashfull at first and comming out of the darke cannot looke broad-waken upon the light and therefore they are by their parents or nurses alwayes swathed up in clouts of ambiguity as the Oracles of old lapt up their Effata or as he that wrote Edvardum regem occidere nolite timere bonum est where the comma helps him out at which doore he pleases thus the sepia goes away in her own inke and the doore is left halfe chare to make escape They baite their hooke with such baites as are proper to the fish thy would catch Els they were not good anglers to which the Apostle seemes to compare them in that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 2. 18. which is to allure as a bait doth the fish And what is that bait see ver 19. they promise them liberty there is not a more catching bait then liberty Is it likely that Jesus Christ or his Ministers that preach a yoke a daily crosse a forsaking all for him should make such great draughts of fish as they that promise liberty but what liberty haply they may call it Christian liberty or liberty of conscience so the serpent said ye shall be as gods but what is it indeed Is it not a liberty from the controll or check of superiours and their authority for they despise dominion 2 P●t 2. 10. and speake evill of dignities Jude 8. and therefore doth the Apostle Paul so much call for obedience and subjection to Magistrates Masters Ministers thereby anticipating or correcting the thoughts of Libertinisme unto which the name of Gospell liberty might be abused surely our Lord Christ hath not brought in a saturnalia or exemption of Christians from the Scepter of Government or the rod of Discipline Nor is liberty of Conscience though sacred and inviolable a freedome to be or doe what we will for by that engine the sword might be easily wiped out of the Magistrates and the Keyes out of the Churches hand and then we should find our selves returned to a Chaos without forme and void I doe not wonder that all sorts of sects and heresies though they be of contrary principles in particular should meet and concurre in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or liberty to live by their owne lawes unaccountable to others and independent Those that are commonly called Independents are farre off from making the Church to be such a Romulus his asylum a Sanctuary for all commers they allow that Jerusalem shall reach forth her hand as farre as Antioch neither I thinke doe they plead the letting alone of the tares untill the harvest Matth. 13. 30. against the censures of the Church or the fasces securim of the Magistrate but I am sure of this that he that saith Let both grow together untill the harvest doth not give way to any man to sow them An enemy hath done this but enough of this at this time There are others that goe about with liberty too and cry a liberty from the obligation of the Morall Law as a rule a liberty from poenitentiall sorrowes fastings humiliations to them that are regenerate a liberty from sinning or if not so yet from asking pardon for it if they be in Christ These are great liberties indeed but they are glorious liberties reserved unto another world if any man promise you them here on earth he takes upon him to antedate the time of them There are certain fruits and effects of Christs Redemption of us which are payable only in the world to come There is yet another liberty which some will promise and that is a liberty of sensuall lusts and fleshly loosnesse It was Balaams bait whereby he invited the Israelites to the idolatry of Baal-Peor and the Apostle findes these false teachers baiting their hooke with the same 2 Pet. 2. 18. they allure through the lusts of the flesh through much wantonnesse and ver 14. Having eyes full of adulteries or of an adulteresse as the originall carries it and again ver 2. many shall follow their lascivious wayes for some copies have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But you will say Is there any such affinity betweene seducing by doctrine and sensuality How is it that the Apostle charges these teachers with such filthy lusts I shall answer but little to this question as God for idolatry which is spirituall fornication gives men and women up to that which is corporall for it s said Rom. 1. 25 26. They changed the truth of God into a lie for this cause God gave them up to vile affections so will God shame and discredit the errours that are set up against his truth by the lusts that keep company with them They undervalue and cast dirt in the face of all that stand in their light this is an old way of insinuating into people the wolves perswade the sheepe that their