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
new thing to commit Treasons under the vizzard of holiness The Apostle long since foretold that there should be traitours heady high minded persons having a form of godliness 2. Tim. 3. 1-5 This Prophesy is eminently fulfilled in these our backsliding times By their means our holy and good profession is scandalized and the way of truth is evil spoken of by Papists and Atheists and all profane men as the Apostle speaketh 2 Pet. 2. 2. II. It is also desperate madness in them to act after this rate for the extirpation of our counsellors and their counsells For If they had accomplished their designs could they have escaped scot-free in the common overthrow Who but a man bereft of his wits will sink the vessel wherein he is imbarked or fire the house wherein he dwelleth Wherefore they are to be looked upon and dealt withal as mad man use to be being fitter for bedlam then for sober society The possessed of the Devil used to be bound in chains and fetters Mar. 5. 4. You cannot deal too warily with this generation of men Secondly If it be so That the prosperity or adversity of a people dependeth so much upon counsellors and counsels Then this also informeth us of the great worth and excellency of those honourable Persons who have ventured their all for the restitution of our Grand Council the Parliament they have done what in them is to keep these Nations from utter ruine and confusion This is true Nobility This was it that made Saul honourable in the eyes of all Israel when he stood up so manfully for the preservation and deliverance of the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead 1. Sam. 11. Certainly such Worthies deserve well from us and from our posterity We should all say with Deborah in her song Judg. 5. 9. My heart is toward the Governors of Israel that offered themselves willingly among the people I know full well what some black mouths belch out against these Noble persons and Saviours of our countrey and against the Magistrates of this famous City But let them alone when they are come to themselves they will be wiser and consider That it was a duty to save three Nations from sinking into destruction And as thankfulness love and honor are due from us all unto them So they may expect a reward from God for this incomparable service done to the Church and Nations Yea and God will reward them If a cup of cold water given to any one in the name of a disciple shall not be unrewarded Mat. 10. 42. What then shall the reward of those be that have ventured Life Estate and all that is dear unto them to save this Republique wherein are a multitude of true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ The second Use of this Doctrine affordeth ground of praise and thanksgiving unto the Lord our God for two great mercies First If the want of counsellors doth portend the fall of a people Then what abundant cause have we all to bless the Lord that these Dominions are not totally ruined ere this day by the secluding of our counsellors and interrupting their counsels for so many years together You see that such a want of councel as we have had is usually the fall of a people and yet herein God hath been more mercifull to us than to others although we were plunged into the ditch yet we are not quite drowned We may say truly with the Psalmist Psal 118 13. Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall but the Lord helped me And verse 2â— This is the Lords doing and it is marvelous in our eyes You must set a Selah upon this mercie and say Hitherto hath the Lord helped us The 124 Psalm and the 129 Psalm ought to be sung frequently by all the godly in these Nations in commemoration of this mercie Secondly If it be so That the flourishing estate of a people ariseth from their enjoyment of a multitude of Counsellors Then what cause have we to praise the name of the Lord that he hath at last restored unto us our Free Parliament that great Council that may save us from destruction and ruine God hath this day begun to perform unto us that gracious promise which he made to the Jews Isa 1. 26. I will restore thy Judges as at the first and thy Counsellors as at the beginning It is a wonder of mercie that the Lord hath done this great thing for us And it is a great addition of mercy to us in this Island that God hath raised up to us also so many worthy Counsellors in this poor peeled Nation and hath notwithstanding manifold obstructions which were in the way brought them together into this City to consult and advise of those things that so nearly concern us both in matters religious and civil That both these mercies I am speaking of may have the greater impression upon our hearts consider seriously these four things 1 Our own unworthiness for whom God hath appeared so eminently Well may we take up that humble expression of Jacob Gen 32. 10. We are not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servants much less of so great mercy and truth as hath appeared in these mercies that we are now speaking of 2 Look upon the depth of the misery that we were plunged into and that will illustrate the greatness of these mercies our laws were discountenanced our properties impropriated our liberties infringed yea and which is more our selves were unchurched some of our godly Ministers silenced and banished and the Gospel ready to depart from us and nothing but blackness and darkness of error countenanced and encouraged to the wounding of the hearts of all truly pious men The actings of these late times have been like the Rebellion of Korah Dathan and Abiram that strove against Moses and Aaron of which you may read Numb Ch. 16. They endeavoured to pull down Magistracy and Ministry and so have these done Dathan and Abiram were Gentlemen of the tribe of Reuben the eldest son of Israel Num. 26. 5. Famous in the Congregation Verse 9. They thought they had as much right to the civil Government as Moses had and therefore say they speaking in the Levellers dialect Why lift you up your selves above the congregation of the Lord in the third verse And when they were summoned by Moses they refused appear Ch. 16. v. 12. 13. We will not come up say they Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and hony to kill us in the wilderness except thou make thy self altogether a Prince over us Their quarrel against Moses was about civil power they would needs assume the supreme Magistracy Korah was a Levite and he would have none above him in the Church he would needs do the Office of a Priest aswell as Aaron as appeareth verse 10 11. His quarrel was ecclesiastical he would level the
Of this the wise man admonisheth Eccl. 3. 1. That to every thing there is a season und a time to every purpose under the sun And verse 11. Every thing is beautiful in its time To time a business aright is the excellencie of wisdom Upon the wisdom or the mistakes in counsels there doth usually follow answerable events Wherefore when the Lord intendeth to destroy a People he doth usually in the first place infatuate their counsels according to that of the Prophet Isa 44. 25. He frustrateth the tokens of the lyers and maketh diviners mad he turneth wise men backward and maketh their knowledg foolish And hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 1. 20. You see then what an extraordinary measure of knowledg you had need to have to capacitate you for this great buisiness Daniel was judged meet to be called unto the Kings Council because the spirit of the holy God was in him even an excellent spirit in knowledg and understanding and wisdom Dan. 5. 11 12. III. Ye ought to be men of publique spirits and must be such if ever ye intend to be a protection and safety to the people Private self-seeking men are not fit to be employed in publique counsels When God called Solomon to bear the Kingly Office in Israel it is said 1 King 4. 29. That he gave him largeness of heart even as the sand that is on the sea shore he was not of a straitned self interested temper I crave leave to enlarge my self in a few particulars 1 Ye must resolve to serve your Country though ye cannot profit your selves at all thereby but should rather waste your own outward estates Nehemiah for twelve years together did not eat the bread of the Governor when the people were in distress as the former Governors had done Neh. 5. 14 15. An excellent pattern Covetousness pursuing after a private profit in publique matters may well be called pestis Reipublicae this is a special thing to be avoided by them that are to judg others Deut. 18. 21. they must hate covetousness 2 A publique spirit will not suffer injuries of any sort to be put upon the people he beareth with and putteth up private in juries with patience but that wrong that is offered to the publique goeth to his heart he cannot brook it It was a noble virtue and a publique spirit in Saul that when a private despite was done unto himself yet he did hold his peace and was silent 1 Sam. 10. 27. But when he heard of the wrong done to his Subjects the men of Jabesh-Gilead by Nahash the Ammonite the Text saith that the spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard these tidings and his anger was kindled greatly 1 Sam. 11. 6. and he rested not till he had relieved them 3 A publique spirit is more sensible of the peoples sufferings and afflictions then of any private mercies that concern himself onely See this in good Nehemiah although he was in high honour cup-bearer to a great King yet he minded not that but his countenance was sad and his heart full of sorrow when he heard of the great affliction and reproach that was befallen his country-men Why should not my countenance be sad saith he Neh. 2. 2 3. when the city the place of my fathers sepulchres lyeth waste and the gates thereof are consumed with fire So also Uriah denieth his own private content upon a publique account 2 Sam. 11. 11. The Ark and Israel and Judah abide in Tents and my Lord Joab and the servants of my Lord are encamped in the open fields shall I then go into my house to eat and to drink and to ly with my wife as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth I will not do this thing 4 A publique spirit will not stick at his own private danger though it be apparant but will venture his own person to the greatest hazzard so that he may further the publique interest He will use his sword aswell as his tongue if necessity require it David did fight the Lords battels 1 Sam. 10 17. When religion is in danger he will not spare himself but venture life and limb to uphold it Excellent was the resolution of Queen Esther in this case Chap. 4. 16. I will go in unto the King which is not according to the Law and if I perish I perish He knoweth that he is not born for himself but for his country also and can willingly dye in the service thereof He can say as that reverend Bishop did Moriar ego modo me moriente vigeat Ecclesiae 5 He that hath a publique spirit desireth rather to be useful in his generation then to be great When the Lord puts Solomon to his choise what he would have 1 King 3. 5. He beggeth nothing but a publique spirit Verse 9. Give thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people that I may discern between good and bad for who is able to judge this thy so great a people He asketh not honour and grandure in the world but that he might be useful to the people of God over whom he was placed 6 I will adde but one thing more A man that hath the publique upon his heart will lay aside all private animosities put up all private wrongs and differences rather then endanger the publique peace and settlement of the people When there was some private difference between Abraham and Lot occasioned by their herdmen whence the Canaanite and Perizzite who dwelt in the land might have taken an opportunity to have done hurt to both of them we find that Abraham passeth over that difference and would take no notice of it to the publique disadvantage Gen. 13. 7. 8. 9. Let there be no strife I pray thee between me and thee and between my herdmen and thy herdmen for we be brethren Is not the whole land before thee seperate I pray thee thy self from me if thou wilt take the left hand then I will go to she right or if thou depart to the right hand then I will go to the left If the mariners fall out the ship must needs be in jeopardy If private grudges be in the heart the publique concernments are like to suffer I have the rather pressed this duty of publique spiritedness upon you worthy Patriots because you know as well as I that private interest and self seeking in publique affairs have for a long time by past destroyed all our national counsells and consultations IIII Ye ought to be of settled and well resolved spirits and full of courage for God and your country To this end ye have your swords girt How shall ye be able to persevere in seeking the good of Gods house or of the Nation if ye be not resolved and grounded in your Religion and in the Laws of the Land And especially is it requisite at this time that ye be full of immoveable resolution because there is such a
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