twelve And Luk. 22. 14. And when the hour was come he sare down c. He would not fail in the very time of this Ordinance though a whole Church digressed from it Though Christians are bound to hold communion with the Church in which they live so far as they walk up to the rule yet in any pollution that is in that Church they need not nor ought to be partakers and such a frame of spirit doth well become every Christian This therefore justifieth the practise of such as flie from the errours that are in the Church not daring to meddle with any impositions which are not of the Lords appointment therein though they may not nor dare separate from her VII Lastly After due admonition given to scandalous sinners who live in the Church if the admonition be rejected and the sinners prove obstinate the Church must separate them and cast them out from her communion This lesson our Lord Jesus teacheth Mat. 18. 15-17 If thy brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him if he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy brother But if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established And if he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the Church but if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican In which Text our Saviour doth not teach a non-Non-communion as some call it viz. that when we see Church members to offend and there is in the Church no help to be found for the redress thereof we must therefore decline communion with that Church immediately but he teacheth an Excommunion viz. that such as offend are to be cast out of that Church in case they do not reform upon admonition seasonably and frequently given according to that in Tit. 3. 10 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject cast him off separate him from your communion This Separation is approvable Thus far you see we may and must be Separatists the Holy Ghost enjoyneth it we sin if we be not so and they that cast a reproach upon any man for this kind of Separation are in a great fault and it will be sin unto them And the Apostle in the 2 Cor. Chan. 6. giveth five reasons to persuade to such a Separation as this when he commandeth to come out from sinners and to be separate 1 Because there can be no agreement between the people of God and such sins and sinners This he proveth and confirmeth by propounding five Questions Verse 14 15 16. The first is What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness The second What communion hath light with darkness The third What concord hath Christ with Belial The fourth What part hath he that believeth with an infidel The fifth What agreement hath the Temple of God with idols As if he should have said These things are diametrally contrary the one to the other they are separated asunder and so must ye be separated from sin and sinners 2 Because the people of God are the house or Temple of God ver 16. For ye are the temple of God And it is unmeet that the temple of God should be defiled by having any society with sin and sinners therefore be ye separate 3 Because God dwelleth in this temple ibid. As God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them And it is treachery yea high treason to lodg any rebels within or near the habitation of this great King therefore separate 4 Because this God who dwelleth in this temple is the living God ibid. Ye are the temple of the living God so as he taketh notice of our behaviour and his spirit is grieved at this as a great miscarriage if we hold any communion with such and therefore we must separate from them 5 Because the people of God are an holy covenant engaged people God is their God and they are his people ibid. I will be their God and they shall be my people According to that which is written Deut. â—6 17 18. Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God to walk in his ways and to keep his statutes and his commandments and judgments and to hearken unto his voice And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people And therefore the people of God ought warily to avoid and separate from such things or persons as may endanger a breach of that love and amity that is between God and them Observe then that I speak not against all kind of Separation there is a Separation that is lawfull holy and strictly enjoyned us in the word of God Second Yet there is an unholy unlawful Separation an ungodly Separatist condemned in the unerring word of God You see that the Apostle Jude condemneth these false Teachers of whom he speaketh in this Epistle for their Separation amongst other vices that they were guilty of and sets a black mark of infamy upon them These be they saith he mark observe them well follow them not who separate themselves Let us therefore make enquiry by the written word of God who these Separatists are that we may know them and avoid them And I shall demonstrate that in six particulars I. Such may justly be challenged as guilty of sinfull Separation who deline as unlawfull all necessary society with them whom they conceive to be unregenerate so as they will not eat or drink or converse with them at all Such were the Pharisees of whom mention is frequently made in the New Testament and they were called Pharisees from the Hebrew Pharash separavit For though that word be metaphorically expounded to declare or to interprete yet properly it signifieth to divide or separate as the learned observe and so the Greeks used to call the Pharisees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Separatists to this Epiphanius agreeth Dicebantur Pharisaei eò quòd separati essent ab aliis propter spontaneam superfluam religionem apud ipsos receptam Now one main point of their religion lay in this thing That they refused to eat or drink or come into the company of any whom they looked upon as sinners and blamed all those that followed not their example in this matter as you find in that speech of theirs to the Disciples Mat. 9. 11. Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners But our Lord Jesus refused not to converse with them upon just occasion as appeareth by his defense in the twelfth and thirteenth verses But when Jesus heard that he said unto them They that be whole need not a Physician but they that are sick But go ye and learn what that meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice for I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance By which answer our Lord Jesus Christ doth fully declare unto us that the Pharisees were
persons are unworthy and yet there can be no full proof made of it The opinion or knowledg of one private Christian may not be a sufficient proof in some cases but there must be two or three witnesses And where full proof is wanting there can be no warrant for a judicial proceeding nor sufficient ground to account such person or persons unworthy of that Ordinance Charity will surmise no evil without sufficient proof made When Paul was coming the third time to Corinth to reform their disorder in the Ordinances of Christ he telleth them what course he would follow in that work 2 Cor. 13. 1. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established he would not take upon him to judg by hear-say and bare reports but by full and clear proof which ought to be laid down as a pattern in all Church censures 4 Although it fall out so that full proof may be had of a fault committed by a Church-member and that the Officers of the congregation may be fully persuaded that that person hath done such a thing as might justly exclude him from the Lotds table if he do not repent of it yet it may be there hath not been an opportunity as yet to hear the witnesses and to deal with him by private Admonition whereupon repentance may follow so evidently that there may be no occasion to proceed to suspension much less can there then be an occasion for a private Christian to withdraw communion in Ordinances upon that account It were as I conceive preposterous and against the rule to suspend any church-Church-member from the sealing Ordinances before he be admonished of his fault and have shewed his obstinacie Or it may be that such a mans repentance aswell as his fault is sufficiently known to the Governors of the Church though not to every private member and if his repentance be known to them and they be satisfied therewith that should give much content to others in diverse cases Paul supposed that his testimony of the repentance of Onesimus was a sufficient ground of satisfaction to Philemon as is evident in the epistle to Philemon 5. Admit that the fault be notorious and evidently proved and that those who are in authority in the Church do sinfully connive at it and cast not out the offender according to his merit as it seemeth to have been in the church of Corinth yet that is no sound ground to forsake communion with that church No private christian needs to fear that he shall be accessory to that mans sin or receive hurt by participation in that Ordinance whereunto the other is admitted No it is the fault of children to refuse the bread which their father offereth to them because dogs are suffered to be in the room and snatch at the childrens portion there would appear more of surliness than of discretion and godly wisdom in that The Apostles or some of them at least did participate with Judas in a sealing Ordinance after he was detected to be the traitor as appeareth by comparing John 13. 23-27 with Mat. 26. 23-26 This rejection of Ordinances this separation from them upon supposition that unworthy persons are admitted is to be severely censured as proud censoriousness and uncharitable rashness which God abhorreth notwithstanding that pretence of piety that is put upon it These are they that say Stand by thy self and come not near us for we are bolier than thou But mark what a character the Lord giveth of them Isa 65. 5. These are a smoak in my nose they are a greater offense to God than the stinking snuff of a candle can be to any of us It becometh true Christians to judg themselves and to suspect themselves rather than other men and to sweep at their own dores first Our Lord giveth excellent advice to us all Mat. 7. 1 2. Judg not that ye be not judged for with what judgment ye judg ye shall be judged and with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again It comes to pass frequently that the weakest Christians are most censorious and those that are strongest are most charitable I say not but that it is the part of a godly man to mourn if he see those that are unworthy persons admitted to sealing Ordinances but he may not therefore separate from those Ordinances whilst they remain Gods Ordinances This is an occasion of much hurt and mischief in the church of God and it were more safe for Christians to keep themselves within their due bounds and limits It was the sin of the people to abhor the offering of the Lord 1 Sam. 2. 17. although those that did officiate therein were very lewd men That is the third branch of sinful separation IIII Those are also in a great measure guilty of hateful Separation that decline private christian communion with the godly in such duties as are of common concernment to all that fear God as prayer reading the word conference c. They that feared God spake often one to another Mal. 3. 16. Yet even herein there is singular caution to be used For when such private meetings are made the anvil whereon to hammer out treason and sedition in the land and the snare and bait to draw men into separation from our publique Congregations then whatsoever glorious gloss may be put upon them they cease to be such meetings wherein Christ will be present such assemblies every good foul ought to withdraw from and they ought to be supprested by the civil Magistrate Such seditious meetings I am sure have many of those been of late years which have been said to be religious and in them many of our late miseries have been first plotted and contrived But when Gods people do meet onely for edification and to build up themselves in their most holy faith with prayer in the holy Ghost and do not intermeddle to the disadvantage of Church or Common-wealth but pray for and seek the general good of both as the people of God did in these nations forty and fifty years ago then such meetings are to be countenanced and frequented And for want of this holy private communion of Saints it cometh to pass that beleevers lose much comfort cool in their love to God and his people and rust in their graces much more then formerly From this private Christian communion we must not separate V They that separate from the church of Christ from that particular congregation whereof they are members for some errour which they conceive to be therein and gather themselves into other societies distinct therefrom are without doubt guilty of sinful Separation in an high degree It is no light thing to give a bill of divorce to the Spouse of Christ to count her for an harlot in whose womb we have been conceived who hath brought us forth for God and nourished us till we were brought up and all because she hath some spots and blemishes upon her This course is against the
Separatists among us in this Common wealth or no But this is so obvious that it is written with a Sun beam Have not we multitudes among us that have departed from our solemn Assemblies and cast off the publique Ordinances of the Lord Jesus Christ especially the sealing Ordinances upon a meer pretence of non-non-communion with the ungodly Nay have we not very many both Ministers and others that have cast off our Churches and en bodied themselves into other societies None can deny this he is blind that seeth it not Now let us yet enquire further What is the reason why they have so done They must either acknowledg our Congregations to be true Churches of Jesus Christ or else they must say that we are false Churches Non datur tertium If they acknowledg us to be true Churches as some of them do then why do they separate from us They cannot be excused from the guilt of Schism at the least And do they not put themselves out of Christs protection by their separation Yea verily and they will feel it to be so at the last If they endeavour to excuse the matter thus That though we be true Churches yet we are not pure Churches and they desire to gather into a more pure Church way and therefore are not to be accused for unlawfull Separation I must answer in four words 1 That they have no precept or example in the whole Book of God for going out of a true Church upon pretence of greater purity to be found in another and whatsoever is not of faith is sin Rom. 14. 23. 2 That we have the example of Christ to the contrary who would not separate from the Church of the Jews though corrupted and gather another from among them of a more pure constitution whilst they were to remain a Church and they ought to be followers of God aâ— dear children Eph. 5. 1. 3 That this separation though under the pretence of greater purity to be found else where is a dangerous sign that they were never true members of the church I would not judge them but let us hear what the Holy Ghost saith by the Apostle 1 Joh. 2. 19. They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us 4 This departure of theirs is an occasion of very grievous discommodity and disadvantage to the church of God in general which they ought warily to have declined insomuch as the blessed work of reformation is retarded by their means and our Saviour saith Mat. 18. 7. We to that man by whom the offence cometh If on the other side they shall say we are not true churches of Christ and that therefore they leave us then behold we have blessed be God all the marks and signes of a true church We acknowledge the true and incorruptible doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles and receive it as the onely rule for faith and manners We have a continuation of the right and lawful use of the Word and Sacraments among us and which is the thing that themselves make the most essential note of a church truely instituted We have the sound and sincere profession of the true faith among us So as they can have no cause to judg otherwise then that we are the true church of God What then is the cause that should make them to separate from us Surely the fault lieth not in us because we are not the church of God but there is something in themselves that is amiss it will fall under one of these three causes I will not determine which of them 1 Either They are proud and high minded men that set more price and esteem upon their own abilities parts and graces then upon their brethrens This is indeed the seed of Separation when a man is puffed up with pride of spirit This was the fault of those that â—omâ—nted division in the church of Corinth they had an high conceit of themselves and commended themselves and then own abilities as the Apostle intimateth 2 Cor. 10. 18. but they had â—ase thoughts and uttered unsit speeches against Paul Verse 10. His bodily presence say they is weak and his speech contemptible he had no good elocution But this is far off from that which Christ requireth to be in his disciples the first lesson to be learned in his school is self deniall Mat. 16. 24. If any man will come after me let him deny himself A low esteem of self would keep a man safe from being a Separatist but when pride thus pricketh a man forward and that he valueth his own wisdom and learning at a higher rate then the wisdom prudence and holiness of a whole national Assembly of Orthodox Divines it is no wonder though he run upon this dangerous rock of separation 2 Or else Self ends and base carnal respects draw men into this gulf they aim at their own advantage and self interest to make themselves great and rich in the world The Apostle speaketh fully to this 2 Pet. 2. 1-3 where he informeth us that false teachers through covetousness do with fained words make merchandise of professors Such kind of trading as is there spoken of is base among men and abominable in the sight of God Hope of great gifts and large rewards maketh many a man to turn Separatist Or if they aim not at an outward estate yet at least a great name fame and honor among men doth entice them to this vanity This was it that tickled the new fangled preachers at Ephesus Acts 20. 30. They shall speak perverse things to draw away disciples after them they thought they should have a great company of followers if they set up new fashions in doctrine and discipline And have not some of the Separatists enlarged their precincts beyond the bounds of a Lord Bishops diocess they are likely to watch well one over another living at such a distance These are they saith our Saviour that seek honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh of God onely Joh. 5. 44. 3 Or else they warp to separation through their own injudiciousness being unsetled in the knowledg of the truth It is for want of sound catechising in the fundamentals of religion that so many have of late been troubled with this vertigo â—â— they have got more use of their tongues than Christians had formerly but they have less in their hearts than the old Christians had If men were well instructed in religion they would not be so easily seduced to separation The cause why men are deceived by such delusions is because they have not received the love of the truth into their souls 2 Thes 2. 10 11. They cannot by found judgment discern between truth and error when a false teacher cometh in appearance as if he were an angel of light this want of judgment perverteth
Two Sermons Preached at Christ-Church in the City of Dublin before the Honourable the General CONVENTION of IRELAND The first on Prov. 11. 14. At the first meeting of the said Convention March 2. 1659. The second on Jude v. 19. At a publique Fast appointed by the said Convention March 9. 1659. By Sem Coxe Minister of the Gospel and Pastor at St. Katherines in Dublin DVBLIN Printed by VVILLIAM BLADEN Anno Domini 1660. TO THE HONOURABLE The General CONVENTION of Ireland Worthy Patriots YOur desire which I interpret in the nature of a command hath caused me contrary to mine own disposition and inclination to appear in publique I can behold nothing in these my poor Labours that may deserve your acceptance onely this I can say That I have endeavoured in these two Sermons to discharge a good conscience to God to his Church and to You in particular in which I do and shall find comfort It is no small mercy That plain preaching of seasonable Truths which was formerly stifled by Sectarian spirits is now revived and countenanced through your Patronage this will stand upon your account for good at the great day of the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ I am not ignorant of the rash censures of unstable spirits that have passed upon me for preaching these Sermons because I have medled with their Diana and I expect much more unfriendly dealing now they appear to publique view but I shall say with the Poet Hic murus aheneus esto Nil conscire sibi c. I can speak it in sincerity That I have not intended to bespatter any mans person but to set out the loathsomness which is in the Tenets of those men that have studied under the specious pretence of piety and Christian Liberty to enslave these three nations of England Ireland and Scotland yea and which is worse to unchurch them It is now above thirty years since my reverend and learned Tutor Mr. Arthur Hildersam whose name and praise is yet fresh in the Church of God being in his life time accepted of all the godly though differing in judgment as Fuller witnesseth in his History of Britain Cent. 17. Book 11. did frequently advise me and others to beware of separation from the Church of England which errour began then to be busie in the land assuring me That Separation was likely to be the bane both of Church and State How prophetick his words were the wofull experience of diverse years by past hath sufficiently informed us And therefore whilst he suffered much trouble and restraint under the exorbitances of Prelacy he acted both by preaching and writing against this bitter weed of Separation insomuch as the learned Dr. VVillet in his Epistle dedicatory to Christs College before his harmony upon the first of Samuel stileth him Schismaticorum qui vulgò Brownistae malleum What difference there is between the Brownists formerly and our Separatists now I yet descern not both of them in words and deeds denying to hold communion with our Church save onely that these later have put a fairer dress upon this Monster that it may appear more amiable Being warned by this divine Oracle most consonant to Scripture I have endeavoured ever since the Lord counted me faithful putting me into the Ministry to bear my weak testimony against this general errour of the time both because it is the fruitful mother of manifold Heresies depriving the Church of all means to suppress them and also because from this church-Church-separation hath proceeded State-separation even to the depriving us of all our birth-privileges as subjects if Gods mercy had not seasonably interposed Now God almighty direct you in those great affairs that are before you and help you in the strength of his holy Spirit to contend earnestly for the faith once committed to the Saints both against schism and heresy on the one hand and also against all prophaness and ungodliness on the other hand That ye may be called the repairers of the breach made in the Church of God the restorers of paths to dwell in that so at the last the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ may be advanced in the power and purity of his Ordinances among us and Ireland may be indeed Insula Sanctorum So still shall pray Yours and the Churches Servant in the work of the Gospel SEM COXE From my study in St. Thomas-street in Dublin March 1659. March the 3. 1659. By the General Convention of Ireland ORdered That Sir Paul Davys Sir Theophilus Jones and Doctor Dudley Loftus be and are appointed a Committee to return the thanks of the Convention to Mr. Coxe for the Sermon preached by him before the Convention yesterday and to desire Mr. Coxe to cause his Sermon to be printed And it is also Ordered That Mr. Coxe be desired by the said Committee to attend the Convention every morning to pray with them before the Sitting Signed by Order Ma. Barry Clerk of the General Convention of Ireland The First Sermon Proverbs 11. 14. Where no counsel is the people fall but in the multitude of Counsellors there is safety THe Proverbs of Solomon the son of David King of Israel are usually methodized under three heads viz. His Ethicks his Politicks and his Oeconomicks His Politicks contain the Doctrine of the Government of Kingdoms or Commonwealths Wherein Solomon treateth of four sorts of Persons that compleat such a Government and make it happy viz. 1 A King or supreme Governor 2 Counsellors of State 3 Nobles Favorites or Courtiers 4 Subjects Where such a Government is the people flourish otherwise they cannot be happy Our Text and our present Occasion lead us to speak concerning Counsellors and their counsels of persons that are called to consult de arduis Reipublicae upon which account ye Noble Senators are convened this day Concerning Counsellors Solomon acquainteth us 1. With the Necessity of them 2. With their Qualifications The first our Text speaketh of wherein the second will also be included So we shall come to the words themselves Where no counsel is the people fall but in the multitude of Counsellors there is safety That this divine Sentence may have the deeper impression upon our hearts let us seriously consider who hath delivered it This shall be laid down in two particulars 1. Solomon who wrote this golden sentence was the wisest man in the world The Holy Ghost informeth us 1 King 4. 30 31. That his wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the East country that is of the Arabians or Chaldeans and all the wisdom of Egypt which was very great as appeareth by that commendation given to Moses Acts 7. 22. that he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians that he was wiser than all men than Ethan the Ezrahite and Heman and Chalcol and Darda the sons of Mahol None that write of civil politie are to be compared with him Now upon this very account his judgment is to be diligently harkened unto A
unto you as we go on in our discourse Now this Separation commanded and by all the godly to be endeavored I shall lay down particularly and distinctly in seven things I The Ministers of Jesus Christ must in their preaching make a separation or put a difference between the precious and the vile between the godly and the ungodly by confirming and comforting the one and by reproving and threatning the other In the purest Churches there is chaff aswell as wheat dross aswell as gold and that man that undertaketh the calling of the Ministry and yet hath not learned to make this distinction can hardly be judged a Teacher sent from God This this I say is that taking forth or separating the precious from the vile which the Lord giveth in commandment to the Prophet Jeremiah in that place before quoted Chap. 15. 19. And they that ground their gathering of Churches out of Churches upon this scripture as many do do squeez bloud out of the Text instead of sincere milk as will appear by these three considerations 1 From the words conjoyned in the Text which are these Thus saith the Lord if thou return then will I bring thee again and thou shalt stand before me and if thou take the precious from the vile thou shalt be as my mouth let them return unto thee but return not thou unto them These words are spoken unto Jeremiah who was one of the Lords prophets employed in delivering his message to the Church of the Jews especially the native sense and meaning of this enunciation of the Lord to him is thus much If thou cast off all thy distrustfulness impatiencie and grudging against me whereunto thou art inclinable and turnest unto me relying upon me by faith and walking in a constant course of obedience then I will strengthen thee as in times past and give thee grace to attend upon my service freely without any fear or distractedness And if thou dost faithfully and constantly without fear of man or flattery of any declare what the true good is which I approve of and the evil which I dislike if thou countenancest that that is good and dost bear up and comfort good men and contrariwise condemnest that which is evil and keepest down wicked men then thou shalt shew by these effects that thou art my true prophet that thou speakest in thy Ministry as the Oracle of God So as its clear that this taking forth of the precious from the vile was an act appertaining to his ministerial Office in dividing the Word of God aright to the comfort of the godly and terrour of the ungodly and not in gathering a particular Church out of the national Church of the Jews and unchurching the rest of the people 2 We find it no where recorded in the holy Scriptures that the Prophet Jeremiah did any such thing as to take any out of the Church of the Jews and joyn them into a separate Church or society among themselves And certainly if it had been the Lords intention that in that great defection and backsliding of the Church of the Jews the Prophet should have gathered a select number out of them into a particular Church fellowship amongst themselves there would have been some footsteps of his actings in that kind especially considering that it was so new rare and strange a work 3 If the Prophet had attempted to have done such a thing he had without doubt sinned therein and so had not been as Gods mouth but must have been numbred among the false Prophets For he had therein transgressed by digressing from the practise of the Lord Jesus Christ himself who was born in as corrupt a time of the Church as Jeremiah lived in and yet he made no rent nor separation among them but held communion with them in all the Ordinances and Institutions of the Lord kept the holy Sabbath with them in their Synagogues observed the Passover with them waited at Jerusalem during the time of their solemn Feasts doing all things in Church fellowship wirh them as is abundantly manifest in the Histories of the Evangelists So that you see that this word of the Lord to Jeremiah intended not any such separation as some would infer from it but onely the putting of a distinction in his preaching between the godly and the ungodly But this taking forth the precious from the vile putting a destinction between the holy and the wicked in preaching comfortable doctrine to the children of God and terrour to the children of the devil is a duty belonging to every faithful Minister of Christ and if Gods messengers do not observe this distinction they give that which is holy to dogs and cast their pearls before swine which is a thing utterly forbidden them to do Mat. 7. 6. II All the people of God must separate from communion with Idolaters in the worship and service of God This is a duty frequently enjoyned in the word of God And this separation must be twofold 1 From that worship that heathens give to their false Gods unto idols which is forbidden in the first Commandment This is that which is especially intended in the 52. of Isaiah Verse 11. before cited where the Lord enjoyneth his people to depart and go out from Babilon and to touch no unclean thing that they did or offered in the service of their idols We must separate from all idolaters in their idolatrous worship for it is written Mat. 4. 10. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve All divine honour both that that is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worship and that which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 service belongeth unto the Lord our God onely and therefore we may not meddle with idolaters not with their idols 2 From the false and idolatrous worship of the true God such as the Papists perform to God by their images and ceremonies Of this kind of Separation it is that the Lord speaketh Revel 18. 4. before mentioned Come out of her my people that is Separate from the Papal jurisdiction which is the spiritual Babilon under which the people of God have been in as great spiritual captivity and slavery as ever the Church of the Jews were under in Caldea or all Israel in Egypt And there are two reasons rendered there why we must thus separate 1 Because unless we separate from the idolatrous worship of the Papists we shall certainly be partakers of the sins which they commit in that worship That ye be not partakers of her sins It is a vanity for a man to think that he can be present at a Mass or other worship that they do and yet keep his heart to God and not sin therein presence at idol-worship voluntarily maketh a man to be partaker in the sin of it 2 Because If we do not thus come out all those intollerable miseries that shall come inevitably upon these idolaters shall light upon us likewise and that ye receive not of her
in a great errour in that point And they that practise this kind of separation do fail grossly in two things 1 They are an hinderance to the conversion of sinners as our Lord sheweth in the scripture now mentioned if he had not conversed with them aâ— well as preached publiquely unto them they had never been converted and brought home to God 2 They harden sinners against religion and the professors of it by this means too much austerity in this kind driveth men into a dislike of piety and holiness who might be won by a more gentle and meek demeanour toward them Hence it is that the Apostle Paul giveth that grave advice to Timothy 1 Tim. 2. 24-26 The servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apt to teach patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snares of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will By what hath been said we see that it is sinfull Separation for a man to refuse necessary company with those who are unregenerate that it is a great fault and much to be condemned And therefore the Apostle giveth a notable caveat concerning it 1 Cor. 5. 9-11 I wrote saith he unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world c. But now I have written unto you for the explanation of my meaning wherein I was not rightly understood not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such an one no not to eat Where he plainly teacheth That we ought to estrange our selves more from such as have made a profession and afterward do fall into soul offences than from such as never did yet come up to such an holy profession of the gospel This is the first branch of sinfull Separation II. Those also are guilty in this kind that forsake family society upon this pretence that their relations are unconverted And I the rather mention this because it is a great fault of some persons in these our days aswell as in former times Against this practise it is that the Apostle speaketh expresly 1 Cor. 7. 10-15 Let not the wife depart or separate from her husband c. This kind of separation is in it self a great sin and doth occasion manifold mischiefs and inconveniences III. They also are to be accounted very faulty in this matter and have justly deserved the name of Separatists who separate themselves from the solemn Assemblies and Ordinances of Christ and particularly from that great sealing Ordinance of the Lords supper because there are some that communicate with them whom they judg to be unworthy communicants and graceless men Before I speak to this point I must lay down and constantly affirm these two received and well grounded truths lest I should be misunderstood in what I am to say 1 I say That persons grosly ignorant or notoriously ungodly and prophane are not fit to receive the Lords Supper these are not able to discern the Lords body but eat and drink unworthily and so are guilty of the body and bloud-of the Lord as the Apostle informeth us 1 Gor. 11. 27. 29. Such persons eat and drink their own damnation 2 I affirm That it is the duty of the Officers of the Church to exclude from the Lords Supper all such as shall appear unto them to be unduly qualified for the receiving of that Ordinance and in particular this belongeth to the Minister to put a difference between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean and accordingly to admit or exclude from ordinances They were the Priests that thrust Uzziah out of the temple when the leprosie appeared upon him 2. Chr. 26. 19. 20. From these two undoubted truths which we profess and fear not to practise it is apparent that we allow not promiscuous or mixt communion but that it is a false report and slander that the devil and the sectaries have cast upon us to advance their own interest thereby And if it were lawful to boast we may say that our Ordinances are kept as pure from mixt communion as theirs are blessed be God Yet though all this be true it must be constantly received and maintained as a great truth That private Christians may not therefore separate themselves from the Church or decline any of Christs Ordinances because they see some persons admitted to participate with them in those Ordinances whom themselves look upon as ungodly men and That it is a foul fault thus to separate There were great disorders in the Church of Corinth in those persons who came unto the Table of the Lord 1. Cor. 11. 21 22. one came to it hungry and another drunken greater miscarriages then are to be found amongst our communicants when they come to the Sacrament and the Apostle chideth them sharply about those things What saith he have ye not houses to eat and to drink in or despise ye the Church of God and shame them that have not What shall I say to you shall I praise you in this I praise you not Their disorder called aloud for reformation and the Apostle took a great deal of pains to reform it by reducing them to the first institution But you find not that he gives any commandment or allowance to any of the members of that Church to withdraw themselves and separate from communion in that Ordinance with the Church No he commends them for this that they who were godly did not separate but came still together into one place Verse 20 and he sharply reproveth their schisms and divisions Chap. 3. 3. And there is great reason why Christians should be very cautious in this case For 1 Such persons who may by a private Christian or Christians be judged to be unworthy to participate in that Ordinance may yet be worthy and so accounted of in the judgment of those that are Officers of the Church whose judgment is to be preferred before any private opinion of the best men It may be said of a private Christian in this case as the Hebrew said to Moses Acts 7. 27. Who made thee a ruler and a judg 2 Though the persons be indeed unworthy yet their unworthiness may be unknown unto the Officers of the Church And it is the duty of private Christians to make known such offenders to those that are over them in the Lord that so their reformation may be endeavoured and not therefore to decline and separate from the Ordinances This is the standing rule Dic ecclesiae Mat. 18. 17. He saith not If thou be offended fall off from the Church but acquaint the Church that so the scandal in thy way may be removed 3 Those that rule in the Church may suspect that such or such
Law of the divine nature and repugnant to the modesty of a Saint like profession True born children will rather endeavour to wipe off the stains that are upon their mothers face and lay a garment upon their shoulders and go backward and cover her nakedness The Lord Jesus Christ would not cast off the church of the Jews though there was abundance of corruption therein but held her as a true church and so did the Apostles likewise God doth and will bear much more with us before he will cast us off he never giveth a bill of divorce to any church till she first leave him And we should be like unto our heavenly Father Those persons who take this course to unchurch the church of Christ do proclaim openly to the world that they are bastards and not sons That is the fifth branch of unholy Separation VI. Lastly They also are guilty of this fault that separate to humane devices in the worship and service of God though yet they hold communion with the true church There are many that live in the church of whom also we have cause to hope that they are true members and dear to God and yet they fail herein are apt to make mixtures of their own in Gods worship Hence it is that the Lord giveth such a strict charge to the people of Israel Deut. 12. 32. and else where What thing soever I command thee thou shalt observe to do thou shalt neither ad to it nor diminish from it Such were the Pharisees of whom I spake even now they set up their own washings and purisyings together with rhose that were appointed in the Law of the Lord and put more sanctity and holiness in them then in the Lords own institutions Of this the Evangelist speaketh Mar. 7 3 4. The Pharisees and all the Jews except they wash their hands oft eat not holding the traditions of the Elders And when they come from the market except they wash they eat not And many other things there be which they have received to hold as the washing of cups and pots brasen vessels and of tables But our Saviour chargeth them with separation for it Verse 7. 8. In vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men for laying aside the commandment of God ye hold the traditions of men And Verse 10. Ye reject the commandment of God that ye may keep your own traditions When the ceremonies and devices of men in any kind are imposed or received into the worship of God so far God is slighted his worship defiled and a rent made in the Church of God Thus have we seen that there is an unholy and unlawful Separation and what it is And from these qualifications of the Doctrine it now appeareth more fully and evidently That there is a separation that hath been an old errour in some men that have pretended to be knowing and religious even teachers in Israel There needs not to be much time spent in further proof of this point you may be pleased to observe these few particulars briefly 1 Out own experience doth sufficiently inform us of the truth of this point there is at this day a grievous Separation made from the church the bitterness of this cup we have tasted in the three nations we find it to have infected many Cities Towns and Families 2 We have also sufficient testimony of the antiquity of this abomination it is not a brat of yesterdayes breeding but it is an old errour wherewith many professours have been defiled Let us look backward a little and take notice of its Pedegree So soon as the children of Israel were settled in a church state by Moses in the wilderness we find that Korah Dathan and Abiram began this Separation of whom we read in the sixteenth Chapter of the book of Numbers They were men famous in the Congregation and Korah was a Levite also you may likewise observe there what a wonderful fair pretence of holiness they put on for the carrying on of their schisme and rebellion to the intent that they might draw the people after them Gideon was an holy and good man yet he also made a rent in the church of God insomuch as all Israel in a manner went a whoring after the Ephod which he had made and put in his city Ophrah Judg. 8. 27. What a schisme rene and separation did Jeroboam the son of Nebat make from the church of God when he drew the ten tribes to idolatry and yet he covereth it with a fair pretence of reason and piety also as is to be seen at large 1 King Chap. 12. The Apostle Paul informeth us that the Corinthians were guilty of Separation and divisions 1 Cor. 3. 3 one would be of Pauls church another of Apolloes another of Cephas his church so that they were broken into diverse parties and factions and yet they were very wise men and pretended to very much holiness also Jude that out lived him is not silent concerning the separation made in his days by those that pretended to be teachers in the church of God as you have heard already cleared out of the Text. The Pelagians Donatists Familists and all the old hereticks in the church for diverse hundred years after Christ were many of them learned men and laid claim to much sanctity and holiness yet you know what sad rents and separations they made in the church of Christ The Antichrist of Rome hath made as great a pretence to holiness as any other and yet you cannot be ignorant that the schisme and separation he hath made in the church of God hath been to great that for diverse hundreds of years scarce so much as the face of a church appeared in these Westernly parts of the world save in some few holes and corners When God was pleased to dispell the darkness of popery in the dayes of Luiher and that the church of God began to flourish in Germany behold on a sudden there ariseth a deadly Separation made by the Anabaptists and their Associates in those parts and all was under the disguise of inspirations and revelations from God And Lastly When the work of reformation began to be set on foot among us in these nations about the year one thousand six hundred and forty and the minds of the good people of the Lands were much comforted in hope of unity and uniformity in the worship of God in these Lands be hold what a Separation and Schisme hath been made to the retarding of that glorious work insomuch as the building of the temple of God hath ceased for diverse years elapsed and yet this hath been done under the pretence of holiness and the advancement of the interest of our Lord Jesus Christ I need say no more for proof Let us now proceed to the uses of the Doctrine which are three 1 Of Inquisition 2 Of Humiliation 3 Of Exhortation Use 1. Of inquisition or enquiry Whether there be any of these sinfull
Act. 16. 23. Ministers must preach such points as may be of most use for the present occasion Now the special work upon Fasting dayes is to humble the soul for sin God requireth that on the tenth day of the second month which was the aniversary day of humiliation to Israel they should afflict their souls Lev. 16 29. 31 and threatneth Chap. 23 29 that whatsoever soul it shall be that shall not be afflicted on that same day shall be cut off from among his people Hence it is that the word of God ought to be preached upon the Fasting day that so the people may be brought to sound repentance and humiliation for sin and so made more fervent in their supplications to God for pardon As appeareth by that direction the Prophet Jeremiah giveth to Baruch Jer. 36. 6. 7. Go thou saith he and read in the roll which thou hast written from my mouth the words of the Lord in the ears of the people in the Lords house upon the Fasting day it may be they will present their supplication before the Lord and turn every one from his evil way But how should we mourn for our sins unless we know them That which brought David to true sorrow and heart breaking for his sin was the certain knowledge he had of his own sinful condition I know or acknowledge my transgressions saith he Psal 51. 3. and my sin is ever before me And how should we know our sins so as to mourn for them unless Gods Ministers do their endeavours to discover them to us David of whom mention was made before never repented or mourned for his sins of Adultery and Murder until Nathan the Prophet came unto him and took pains with him in the discovery of them as is clear Psal 51. title you may read the whole history a Sam. Cap. 12. To this end it is that the Lord calleth upon every one of us who are his Heralds Isa 58. 1. Cry aloud spare not lift up thy voice like a trumpet and shew my people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins This alone is the usual way that God taketh for the discovery of sin Yet to make an exact and particular discovery of sin is a thing altogether impossible to be done by any Minister in the world For who can know his own errours Psal 19. 12. how much less the errours that other men are overtaken with Wherefore the Ministers of Christ have used to do in this case of the discovery of sin as he that draweth the Land-skip of a Country or Kingdom who because he cannot describe every bush or tree or house doth therefore take notice onely of the most eminent cities and towns and rivers therein Nathan takes notice of Davids great spots stains onely 2 Sam. 12. 9. Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword and hast taken his wife to be thy wife he speaketh of his great sins So the holy Prophets in their discovery of sin take notice of the foulest as of Ingratitude against God Hypocrisy Covetousness Murder Drunkenness Idolatry Lying Pride Contempt of Gods word Security in sinning and the like The greatest sins are especially to be taken notice of Upon this account that I may discharge my duty aright upon this our Fasting day I have singled out the sin of Separation as the foulest sin of this age and generation and therefore most seasonable to be spoken of that we may be humbled before the Lord our God I know indeed that it is the part of the Lords messengers to cry out against and to endeavour to bring others unto a godly sorrow for all the abominations of the Land for all that gross ignorance superstition and damnable prophanness that is rise amongst us And I doubt not but my brethren that are to beat a part in the work of this day will endeavour to acknowledge all our iniquities and transgressions before the Lord and wrestle with the Lord for the pardon of them But I must ingenuously profess that I conceive the sin of Separation to be the Achan the great abomination of these Lands upon diverse accounts of which I shall speak anon and therefore most to be laid to heart by the Lords people this day To which end I have made choice of this Text These are they who separate themselves c. And before I proceed any further I must first shew the dependance of these words upon those that go before The subject matter of this Epistle is a vehement exhortation of the Apostle Jude to all the godly in all ages That they contend earnestly for the faith which was once committed to the Saints as you see in the third Verse and That they suffer not themselves to be drawn from the faith and belief of the Gospel by those false teachers who were crept in among them unawares in the fourth Verse The arguments by which the Apostle persuadeth with these believers to beware of these seducers are of two sorts I He argueth from the punishments that the Lord hath inflicted upon those sins to which these false teachers endeavoured to seduce them which judgments he layeth down before them in three examples 1 Of the destruction of the people of Israel for their unbelief in the fifth Verse 2 Of the everlasting ruine of the reprobate Angels for their pride in the sixth Verse 3 Of the vengeance of God upon Sodom and Gomorrha for their fornication and buggery in the seventh Verse II He also argueth from the personal vices that raigned in these seducers Whence it was altogether unfit that they should be leaders of these believers and also unsafe that these believers should be followers of them The sins that these seducers were guilty of are reckoned up under thirteen heads in this Epistle two of them are comprised in this Verse viz. 1 Schisme they were such as made a rent in and separation from the Church of God that is laid down in these words These are they who separate themselves 2 Steering their course by sense and carnal reason and not by the Spirit of God in these words Sensual having not the spirit Mine intention is to speak of the first of the sins mentioned in this Verse to which these false Teachers were addicted and which did evidence them to be seducers they were such as did separate themselves from the Church and people of God Where it is to be noted how the Apostle pointeth them out as it were with the finger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As if he should have said thus Behold observe and mark these men to be vile and pernicious persons for they do willingly cut themselves off from communion with the Church of God The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Estius noteth upon the Text signifieth to lead or allure beyond the bounds of the Church to break the pale thereof A term which I am not ashamed to use though it have been much flouted a◠of late These are they that single
and separate themselves from the Church making parties and factions therein and drawing into sectâ— among themselves observe avoid them Now whereas the the Apostle reckoneth up this for one of those great sins that these false teachers were guilty of that they did separate themselves from the Church of God You may observe Doct. That there is a Separation that hath been an old errour even in some men that have pretended to be knowing and religious men and have undertaken to be leaders and teachers of others You see the doctrine to be clearly grounded upon the Text These persons Jude speaketh of were such as pretended to be so full of knowledg and piety that they undertook to be guides to these Christians and again these Christians looked upon them as meet for such an employment so as the Apostle is necessitated to write unto them to admonish them that they be not seduced by them and yet though they pretended to so much they were guilty of Separation this was one of the great faults they were inclined unto I must acknowledg that this point although it be a plain truth arising naturally from the Text may seem to some to be a most unmeet point to be insisted upon in such an age as this is and especially at a publique Faâ—t and before such an honorably Assembly as is now gathered together But I must profess that I judg the sin of Separation to be the great sin of our times as I said before and that therefore I am bound to give mine open testimony against it here in this publique Assembly as well as I have done in mine own more private Congregation in the worst of times which I speak not God is my witness out of any vain ostentation for I have nothing to glory in save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ but that I may withhold an occasion from them that shall seek occasion of offence at this doctrine And because I know and shall prove that there is a Separation even amongst us that is a great sin therefore I am convinced that it is my duty to speak of it upon this our day of Humiliation and that no time is more seasonable than this Yet in treating upon this point I resolve the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ assisting to use all circumspection and caution and to speak nothing but by plain proof of Scripture And therefore 1 I resolve that I will not willingly use any sharp or bitter reflections upon any that I hope do truly fear God so as justly to grieve them I know it is a foul fault to make the heart of the rightous sad whom the Lord hath not made sad Ezek. 13. 22. which is done by speaking lies and not by speaking plain Scripture truths For to the godly every word of God is sweet yea it is the joy and rejoycing of their hearts as Jeremiah speaketh Chap. 15. 16. 2 I shall in my discourse design the information of mistaken judgments rather than the dirt-daubing or bespattering of those that differ in judgment from me and that I am sure is a duty commanded Gal. 6. 1. Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness 3 I will not gratify wicked prophane and superstitious men by any thing that I shall speak unto this point For that would be a great sin to strengthen the hands of the wicked that he should not return from his wicked way by promising him life as the Lord speaketh Ezek. 13. 22. I profess to hate prophanness and superstition on the one side as I do sinfull Separation on the other side That therefore I may duly qualify that which I am to speak at this time it must be known and remembred that I condemn not all Separation as sinfull I said There is a separation that is an errour not that all kind of Separation is erroneous For there is a lawfull and holy Separation and an unlawfull and unholy Separation there is a Separation commanded in the Word of God and there is a Separation forbidden in the same Word And it will be needfull and I hope profitable to speak of both these to the intent That those who decry and speak against all the people of the Lord under the name of Sectaries Schismaticks and Separatists may be convinced of their fault and humbled for their miscarriage in their rash censuring and nick-naming of those that are sound and orthodox in their judgments and That those who are guilty of this sin indeed may be informed in their judgments and if the will of God be so may also be reformed First There is then a lawfull Separation and holy Separatist Such were the Nazarites mentioned Numb 6. 1. Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them saith the Lord when either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite to separate themselves unto the Lord he shall separate himself from wine c. And they were called Nazarites of Nazar separavit because they were separated from worldly occasions and devoted and sanctified to the Lord. Thus all those that are baptized into the name of Christ are by profession Separatists that is they are separated from sin the world and the devil to the use and service of God onely and they ought so to walk as those that are dead to sin but alive to God through Jesus Christ And as baptized persons are by their baptism declared to be separated and set apart to God so we are all bound to judg them to be Gods and to have full right to all Church mercies whilest they continue in that good profession This was Pauls judgment Gal. 3. 27. As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ Yea there is a Separation strictly commanded of God and to be made by all the godly as appeareth by many Scriptures of the old and new Testament of which these are the chief Isa 52. 11. Depart ye depart ye go ye out from thence touch no unclean thing go ye out of the midst of her And Jer. 15. 19. Therefore thus saith the Lord If thou return then will I bring thee again and thou shalt stand before me and if thou take forth the precious from the vile thou shalt be as my mouth let them return unto thee but return not thou unto them And 2 Cor. 6. 17. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing And 2 Thes 3. 6. Now we command you brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye withdraw your selves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the traditions which he received from us And Revel 18. 4. Come out of her my people I have mentioned all these Scriptures together that you may observe the harmonious consent of Gods holy Word for an holy Separation what is intended in them will be opened
plagues Those that will needs sin together must also suffer together this is a just and righteous thing with God Both these reasons should mightily prevail with us to hate idolatry and to avoid and separate from them that are idolaters in that worship and service they pretend to do to God And this is the second branch of lawfull Separation III The godly must separate from all conjugal society with idolaters they may not contract marriage with them at all This is that separation spoken of Ezra Chap. 10. 11. Separate your selves from the people of the land and from the strange wives and also Deut. 7. 3. Thou shalt not make marriages with them thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son Of this kind of Separation it is that the Apostle speaketh in the 2. Cor. 6. 17. if you compare it with the verses precedent Be ye not unequally yoaked with unbeleevers Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing It is utterly unlawful for the true worshippers of God to soder in affinity with such as are idolaters for them that profess the true Protestant religion to marry with heathens or with Papists Yet this that I say in this matter is to be understood with those Cautions that the Apostle giveth in this case 1 Cor. 7. 10-15 For if it be so that any one that is a beleever hath contracted marriage with one that is an unbeleever or heathen this difference of religion is not a sufficient cause of divorce or separation in the dayes of the Gospel Though it be a sin to marry with them of a false religion and so a just cause of humiliation yet after marriage this is not a just ground for a divorce IIII It is a duty appertaining to the servants of God to separate themselves from the unnecessary civil society of all wicked men even of all such as walk and act in an ungodly manner This was Jacobs care Gen. 49. 6. O my soul come not thou into their secret unto their assembly mine honour be not thou united He resolveth to have nothing to do unnecessarily with cruel and merciless men though they were his near relations If godly men come into ungodly company without good occasion so to do they may ruine themselves thereby For Solomon informeth us Prov. 13. 20. that a companion of fools shall be destroyed This is a most certain truth that the godly may come into the company of such as are most wicked and prophane and converse with them upon just occasions viz. 1 If necessary civil affairs whether publique or private do call for it The Apostle forbiddeth not to forbear company altogether with fornicators or covetous or extortioners or idolaters for then we must needs go out of the world 1 Cor. 5. 10. Doubtless it is lawful for any good Christian whether Minister or other to converse with the worst of men upon a necessary civil account and none ought to pass a rash judgment against his neighbour for so doing 2 If a beleever have any cause to hope that he may win another to God or to the love of religion by companying with him he may also company with him lawfully upon that account Of this the Apostle speaketh 1 Pet. 2. 12. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evil doers they may by your good works which they shall behold glorify God in the day of their visitation You see then that it is lawful and convenient for the godly upon some occasions to converse with the worst of men But if such like special occasions do not intervene then the company of the ungodly must be quite forborn and a separation made from their society which is the fourth branch of an holy and lawful Separation V When the children of God have a just cause to be in the company of ungodly men they must always be sure of this that they do Separate from their wicked courses they must hold no eommunion with them in their sins though they do converse with them that is a thing utterly unlawful It is a thing absolutely required of all beleevers 1 Tim. 5. 12. that they be not partakers with other mens sins A man truely gracious will let such a watch over himself when he is necessitated to be among ungodly men that he will not give the least approbation or countenance to any of their lewd and ungracious courses and it is a great sin to keep them company when they are acting their wicked prancks This the godly are oft advised to beware Prov. 23. 20. Be not among wine-bibbers among riotous eaters of flesh Come not among them when they are committing their sins meddle not with them in their drunkenness and gluttony We must ever be such Separatists VI. The godly may and must separate from the pollutions of any Church they live in It is one thing to separate from the Church of God and another to separate from the defilements that are in the Church If that a Church be corrupted so as any of Gods Institutions be broken and his standing rules transgressed and swerved from it concerneth all godly men to take heed to themselves that they be not also defiled A notable pattern and example of this we have in our Lord Jesus Christ himself It was one of Gods statute Laws concerning the Passeover that it should be kept every year on the fourteenth day of the first month at even as you may see in its first institution Exod. 12. 6. Ye shall keep up the paschal Lamb until the fourteenth day of the same that is to say of the first Verse 2. month and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening And so the Lord speaketh expresly Levit. 23. 5. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lords passeover But the Church of the Jews did transgress this in regard of the circumstance of time For they had made it a tradition among them that when the Passeover fell upon the evening before their ordinary Sabbath they did put off the keeping of the Passeover unto the Sabbath day and so kept the Passeover upon their ordinary Sabbath performing both duties under one Thus it fell out in that year wherein our Lord was crucified as appeareth by comparing Mat. 26. 20. with Mar. 15. 42. and John 18. 28. where you may note that the Jews kept the Passeover that evening the Lord Jesus was crucified at which time began their ordinary sabbath Yet the Lord Jesus who held close communion with the Church of the Jews declineth their practise in that very circumstance of time in which they failed and observeth the Passeover in its proper season appointed by the Lord and this is carefully observed by the Evangelists Mat. 26. 20. Now when the evening was come he sate down with the
thousands Use 2. Hence there ariseth just ground of humiliation before the Lord this day in that this error of separation from the Church of Christ is so overspred these dominions and over this island particularly I told you in the begining of my discourse that this is the Achan the Pest of our lands and that I would clear that unto you which I shall now do but with much brevity that so our hearts may be the more deeply humbled in the presence of God The abomination of this sin of separating from the Church and Ordinances of Christ will appear in these four particulars 1 Separation is the most fruitfull sin of many others it is a very comprehensive evil the womb out of which issues many prodigious monsters If I should begin to shew its rise and growth it may be it would prove offensive to some here present and it would be beside my purpose Observe therefore onely its of spring hence arise many of the heresies and abominations that are how among us we are pestered with Anabaptists Seekers Quakers and the like sorts of vipers but they all began in Separation Men first run out of the Church and then they may be of any religion they please Our late experience doth abundantly confirm this And how indeed should it be otherwise when men forsake the true Church what hindreth but they may erect any Church that they shall devise The fruitfulness of it maketh it the fouler sin 2 Separation is a sin that many of Gods own people as we do conceive in the judgment of charity are smutted and tainted with And the sins of Gods children are aggravated by many more circumstances than the sins of other men are Israel hath sinned was that which God affirmeth to Joshua as a great ground of humiliation Chap. 7. 11. The children of God sin against greater outward light and means of grace than others do they sin against the inward light of the spirit of God they sin against greater mercies than others do they sin against covenants vows and strong resolutions This makes their sin of separation much the greater and more to be lamented in the presence of God it is the sin his own people 3 Separation is a greater sin by far than otherwise it would be in this respect because it is maintained countenanced and preached up as if it were no sin at all but a duty This kind withdrawing from Church and Ordinances is held forth as a great gospel truth by many Satans temptation was the more dangerous and the womans transgression the greater when the forbidden fruit was eaten of under the shew and appearance of good Gen. 3. 5 6. It is a great sin to call that good that is evil in it self God cannot abide it when men are so stupid as to call darkness light This also calleth for mourning 4 Separation is that leaven which leaveneth the whole lump it is that canker or gangren that will if God prevent it not eat out the heart of all goodness as the Apostle speaketh of the doctrine of Hymeneus and Philetus 2 Tim. 2. 17. It is indeed a dangerous sign of a carnal man though he may be cloathed in a religious habit The Apostle propoundeth this question to those that studied to make a rent at Corinth and to those that were led by them 1 Cor. 3. 3 4. Are ye not carnal As if he had said I much suspect your grace and doubt that you are persons carnal sensual having not the spirit because ye run thus into separations and divisions in the Church We have now done with the second use Use 3. If separation be such an old dangerous spreading and contaminating evil then here is exhortation in two branches I. If this be so great an evil then I beg that you flie separation and also those that would entice you to it take heed of being drawn from that Church in which you have been born and brought up for God Meddle you not with them that are given to change their Church It becometh us all to be of Davids mind who professeth Psal 119. 113. I hate vain thoughts It is in the original more emphatical ramos or summitates arborum I hate to be like the upper branches of a tree that are bowed and shaken with every wind to be a weather-cock in religion without ballast changing and turning with every turn of the times O this is an hateful thing indeed Now if you would be preserved from this evil that you may not be seduced into separation I shal prescribe unto you five helps which are all laid down by the Apostle Jude in the two verses that do succeed our Text viz. Verse 20. 21. But ye beloved building up your selves on your most holy faith praying in the holy Ghost keep your selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life 1 He that would be kept from separation must lay a good foundation of faith in his heart This is cleerly hinted in these words Building up your selves in your most holy faith there must first be a foundation laid before we can rear a building Faith is this foundation to build upon building on your faith Faith in Christ Jesus will keep a man from seduction Vpon this rock saith our Savour Mat. 16 18. viz. upon my self whom thou hast now confessed I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it neither Satan nor seducers shall be able to lead him from the church who hath true faith fixed upon Christ faith will conquer 2 When you have digged deep and are come to the foundation you must build upon it unto perfection Building up your selves on your most holy faith He that would stand against wind and weather and not be shaken and rent from the church must be sure to build upon the foundation and upon that onely If a man build partly upon the foundation and partly beside it his building will settle and fall or if a man leave earth and rubish between the foundation and the building the fabrick will come to naught The cause why the house stood when the rain descended and the flouds came and the windes blew and beat upon it was because it was founded upon a rock Mat. 7. 24. 25. On the otherside The cause why the other house stood not but fell when the rain descended and the flouds came and the winds blew and beat upon it was because it was built upon the sand and not upon the foundation Verse 26. 27. The more that a man laboureth for perfection of faith to be made compleat in Christ the more shall he be kept from being a Separatist 3 You must pray fervently for your perfeverance in church-state and fellowship Praying in the holy Ghost that is in the strength of the spirit of God by his motion and inspiration and not with the mouth onely as hypocrites use to do it is not lip labour that
will serve the turn but prayer with the spirit will keep a man from this errour There is a promise which may be extended thus far Act. 2. 21. It shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved not onely from everlasting ruine but from forsaking and departing from the true church Prayer is a notable help in this thing 4 He that would be preserved from this evil must love God and his truth Keep your selves in the love of God He that buildeth upon the foundation and prayeth much shall be so kept in the love of God and of his church and people that he shall not fall off to Separation 5 Hope of heaven must be firmly rooted in the heart of him that would decline this sinful Separation Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life Hope of eternal glory will make a man carefully to avoid those allurements that may draw him into this disorder and so obstruct his expectation of that everlasting rest whereof his abiding in the church of God upon earth is a signe or symbole So much for the first exhortation II If Separation be fo old and dangerous an errour and have so overspread this Commonwealth Then labour I pray you to recover those who are seduced into this errour This is a great act of charity to recover a falne Christian from the errour of his way How this is to be done is also declared by this our Apostle Jude in the two and twentieth and three and twentieth verses of this Epistle And of some have compassion making a difference And others save with fear pulling them out of the fire Where we are to observe That we must not deal with all men alike in reducing them to soundness in the faith but we must put a difference in our dealing with them Where the Apostle seemeth to allude to the Lords direction given under the Law concerning the purifying of things taken or recovered in war Num. 31. 23. Every thing that may abide the fire ye shall make it go through the fire and it shall be clean nevertheless it shall be purifyed with the water of Separation and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make it go through the water They were to deal in their purification as the nature of the thing to be purified did require If that they took any prey that would abide the fire as gold silver brass iron tinne or lead that was to be purifyed by fire but that which was combustible and would be consumed if put into the fire must be purifyed by water onely So here in reducing a seduced brother fallen into an errour he adviseth to distinguish of men to make a difference of the temper of their spirits and to deal with them accordingly in this case For that severity that may be profitable to one man may prove very unprofitable and destructive to another and that gentleness that may recover one man may leave another still in his errour And therefore he adviseth in both these things that which may be worth our consideration and practise in these times of seduction and separation 1 He directeth that of some we have compassion Those persons who are of a meek and tractible frame of spirit should be handled gently and tenderly although they have erred Meek and humble spirits will soon be oppressed if any violence be offered to them The Apostle Paul speaketh notably to this point Gal. 6. 1. Brethren if any man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness considering thy self lest thou also be tempted Where observe 1 Of whom he speaketh such as were fallen through infirmity onely and not wilfully which he calleth an evertaking in a fault fallen into an errour inconsiderately 2 What is to be done in this case Restore such a one in the spirit of meekness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Restore or set him in joint again The phrase is borrowed from Chirurgions who being to deal with a broken joint will handle the same very tenderly â—o tender must we be in dealing with those that erre through infirmity 3 The reason the Apostle giveth Considering thy self lest thou also be tempted Every man the best Christian is subject to errour therefore be tender and compassionate to such as are not sullen wilful and resolute but have slipped onely through inadvertancy and common frailty This is the course to be taken with meek and humble souls that erre 2 He adviseth That those which are stuborn obstinate and contumacious should be more roughly handled with greater and more earnest expression of detestation to their errours And others save with fear saith he pulling them out of the fire Snatch them out of the danger as firebrands out of the fire or as the angel did Lot and his wife and daughters out of Sodom when they lingred and put off Gen. 19. 16. It will be a singular point of prudence and piety in you who are members of this Honourable Convention and in all Magistrates Ministers and private Christians to learn to put this difference that so you may carry it aright toward them that are fallen into this sinfull Separation The Lord be pleased out of his great mercy to teach us all this lesson Amen FINIS March the 9. 1659. By the General Convention of Ireland ORdered That Sir John Clotworthy Doctor Jones and Colonel Hill be and are hereby appointed a Committee to return the thanks of this Convention to Mr. Coxe Mr. Charnock Mr. Adare and Mr. Bains for their pains in carrying on the work of this day in Christ-Church Dublin And that Mr. Coxe and Mr. Charnock be desired to print their respective Sermons this day by them delivered before the Convention Signed by Order Ma. Barry Clerk of the General Convention of Ireland DVBLIN Imprinted by WILLIAM BLADEN Anno Domini 1660.