THE IMPOSTVRES OF Seducing Teachers Discovered In a SERMON before the Right Honourable the LORD MAJOR and Court of ALDERMEN of the City of London at their Anniversary meeting on Tuesday in Easter weeke April 23 1644. at Christ-Church By RICHARD VINES Minister of Gods Word at Weddington in the County of Warwick and a Member of the Assembly of DIVINES Imprimatur CHARLES HERLE 2 TIM 2. 17. And their word will eate as doth a gangrene LONDON Printed by G. M. for Abel Roper at the signe of the Sunne over against St Dunstans Church in Fleet-street 1644. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE THE LORD MAIOR AND Court of ALDERMEN of the famous Citie of LONDON Right Honourable and Right Worshipfull AN Epistle Dedicatory usually bespeakes a Patron and then the Reader is epistled afterward I intreat Readers only and Patrons no further than the Truth may challenge them suo jure Though I should have done my selfe but right in sending this Sermon forth into publike yet your Commands were the stronger tye upon me It was received with ill resentment by some whose Character not I but the Apostle gives in this Text the aspect whereof is I believe no more pleasing than the Sermon Either they should not weare such faces as are afraid of this glasse or wash first and then they will not be angry I should rejoyce to offend any man for his good and be afraid to please him for his hurt I intended it for a stay to the nutant and unstable a stop to that Gangrene which I hope is not crept so neere the Head as to have taken any of you who in other things have beene so farre from being Children tossed to and fro with windes stormy winds that from you posteritie shall learne to be men The very holding up of the Text in open view may be a quo vadis to one or other If not Yet Thou hast delivered thy soule Ezek. 3. 19 21. is some comfort to him who humbly presents this Sermon to your hands and eyes with some enlargements here and there which the time denyed to your eares and whose honour it is to be Your Servant for Christ RICHARD VINES THE IMPOSTVRES OF Seducing Teachers Discovered EPHES. IV. XIV XV. That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftinesse whereby they lye in wait to deceive But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is the Head even Christ THE Gospell had no sooner ascended the Horizon of the Gentiles and dispel'd that universall shade wherein they had been benighted but the Devill erected his factories in those new discoveries to intercept the trade of truth therefore is our Apostle in many of his Epistles so much in fortifying beleevers against the impressions of seducing teachers and the hystorie of a Fatemur quidem novas quasdam antea non auâ—itas â—ectas Anabaptistas Liberâ—inos Mennonios Zwenkâ—elâ—lâ—anos statim ad exortum Evangelij ex â—irâ—sse Juâ—l Apol. Eccle. Anglicanae Vide Slâ—idanum in commentarijs Luthers time doth witnesse also that it is the lot of reformations while they are greene and recent to be infested with such sects and doctrines as haply were never before heard of and therefore it concernes all to be carefull what money they take when the markets are so full of adulterate coyne and to be armed against the scandall thence arising as if the truth was the mother of such monsters which are none of hers but are laid at her doore to bring her into discredit we must expect no lesse nay haply we have hereby an argument that the truth is at the threshold for it is not ordinary that tares grow any where but in the wheate field The Text too fitly serves our own meridian being purposely chosen to give antidote against the infection of seducing teachers Whether the word Henceforth doe look back to the time past and imply that the Ephesians had been like children tossed to and fro as is generally conceived by the b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Theophilact Oecumenius c. Greeke expositors and others I shall neither enquire nor insist upon it but shall take it as a result from what the Apostle had said in the beginning of the Chapter where having in the 4 5 6 verses named seven ones one body and one spirit one hope of your calling one Lord one faith one baptisme one God and Father of all wherein the Ephesians and all beleevers are concenterated He passeth on and toucheth upon gifts and ministeries given to the Church by Jesus Christ sitting at the right-hand of God in which forme of expression he seemes to allude to the c As he doth elsewhere viz. Luk. 2. 15. and to the Olympick exercisâ—s 1 Cor. 9. 24 25 c. alibi Romans in their tryumphs wherein the Conquerour having the glorious Captaines at his Chariot scattered his munificence in congiaries and donatives to the souldiery and people for so our Saviour ascended up on high and led captivity captive and gave gifts to men and what are those gifts which might become the magnificence of a Conquerour so triumphant are they not ministeries ver 12. He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Paâ—â—ours and Teachers a royall donative given in the day of his triumph but the use and end whereunto these ministeries are subservient and instrumentall addes value to them as it is set forth ver 12 13 14 15. For the perfecting of the Saints c. That we henceforth be no more children In the Text you have A Character and An Antidote The character is of 2. sorts of persons The Seduced The Seducer The Seduced are called children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine The Seducers are said to be sleighty crafty and to have their artifices methods stratagems of deceiving by the sleight of men and cunning craftinesse whereby they lye in wait to deceive The Antidote or preservative is two-fold 1. The Ministery which Christ hath given to his Church He gave some Apostles c. That henceforth we be no more children c. for the salt yee are saith Christ the salt of the earth serves to preserve the people from being flye-blowne with every corrupt doctrine unto putrefaction 2. The holding fast of the substance and vitals of practick godlinesse ver 15. Following the truth in love grow up in all things into him which is the Head even Christ The fortifying of the vitalls is a repercussive to all infections from the stinking breath of a currupt teacher I shall open each part of the Text as I come to it And first the character or description of the Seduced or of them that are unstable for there is no doubt but the Apostle intends to descypher instability and fluctuancy by these words Children tossed to and fro and carried about with
they knew not whether else to goe because eternall life was in them and this testimony our people cannot but give to our deserted Ministers that the words of eternall life is in them and why then will they not reflect upon themselves and say whither shall we goe I would not tread out the least sparke except it be wildfire in the house-eaves which may set the whole Towne afire God hath his babes to whom I would recommend for their comfort the comparing of Heb. 5. 13. with Heb. 6. 9. where the Apostle having called them babes that had need to be taught the first principles doth yet say we are perswaded of you things that accompany salvation and makes mention of their worke and labour of love for there may be much godlinesse in lesser light Fundamentals unto salvation are not so many or burdensome the least Star in the orbe hath as swift and regular a motion though not so much light as the greater only let it be your endeavour to know your own measure Rom. 12. 3. 2 Pet. 3. ult and to encrease in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ which are practicall things and not to 1 Tim. 6. ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be question-sick and leave wholesome food to long after such things as doe but adde to the crudity of your stomacks and fill you up with wind 2. In respect of their ungroundednesse in knowledge which lies loose in them and doth not stake them downe or anchor them from being tossed because they have it by rote and can neither give a reason of that they know nor have found the weight of it upon judgement and conscience and so they are variable and unstable like children the Philosophers definition of a moist element is proper to them That Quod difficulter suis sacilè alienis terminis continetur is saith he it hath no forme or consistence of its own but easily takes such figure as the continent or vessell in which it is doth give it as water takes the forme of the dish or glasse c. into which you put it such are these they have no mould but what the next teacher casts them into being blowne like glasses into this or that shape at the pleasure of his breath to such as these I commend this to get the reason of that they know as it s said a reason of the hope that is in you for Religion consists not in a rhapsody of loose opinions nor will a little knowledge gotten by rote preserve a man from being taken captive by every novell doctrine It s the Apostles phrase 2 Tim. 3. 6. They take prisoners silly women Where you may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Omnes haereses ex gynecaeiâ— Axâ—omat Ecclesiastica pag. 74. note that he saith they prevaile with women they get an Eudoxia Iustina Constantia on their side and so work upon Adam by Eve 2. These children are tossed to and fro and carried about and that denotes 1. That they are unstable under the command of every winde and a prey to every net that is spread for them travelling and wandring through all opinions when they have left the true line sometimes they are in Cancer sometimes in Capricorne falling even into contraries for one errour is still a bridge to another so we know that the Arminian went forward to Popery and many of ours from Antinomianisme to Anabaptisme and Brownisme and whether then why one errour ingendring with another begets a mule or mixt off-spring and so Africk it selfe shall not show more novelties they will encrease saith the Apostle 2 Tim. 2. 16. to more ungodlinesse Errour is a precipice a vortex or whirlepoole which first turnes men round and then sucks them in be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines Heb. 13. 9. for its good that the heart be ballast or stablisht with grace where the opposition is evident between being carried about and being establisht by grace 2. That they are unprofitably carried for to what port is the wave tossed to what station is the cloud carried is not the wave bandied back againe by the racket of the next wave and the cloud by the next wind It s good saith he that the heart be establisht and to that end that we converse in such doctrines as dâ—e profit them that are exercised in them Heb. 13. ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 still asking our selves this question what improvement is there of my soule heavenward by such or such doctrine what healing of the gashes of conscience what further inlet or admission into communion with Christ what cleansing from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the feare of God 2 Cor. 7. 1. If this be your aime then steere this point intend this scope and let goe questions and vaine janglings contending towards the end of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 1. 6. the commandement which marke saith the Apostle many never shoot at 1 Tim. 1. 6. in their ministery or doctrine nor indeed doe many hearers aime at any such thing I meane our Nomades as I may call them or walkers who will not endure to sit at the feet of a constant godly ministery which yet is the best way of proficiency in knowledge and godlinesse but by reason of their feverish thirst as they distast each one so they desire to tast all waters of which sort is he that wanders away the Sabbath by peeping in at Church-dores and taking essay of a sentence or two and then if there be no scratch for his itch lambit fugit he is gone 3. These children are tossed to and fro and carried about by doctrine and that implies that they are hearers that are thus unsetled and they are teachers by whom they are unsetled 1. They are hearers and must not they be hearers what else condemned be the atheisme of the eare of them who turne away their eare from God who speakes by the hand of his messengers let us leave to the Papists ministorum muta officia populi caeca obsequia the dumbe offices of the Priests and blind obedience of the people when Scribes and Pharisees hold the chaire our Saviour saith not Mark 4. 24. Luk. 8. 18. heare not but take heed how you heare Take heed what ye heare beware of their leaven 2. They are teachers that unsettle these hearers They have troubled you with words subverting your soules Acts 15. 24. It much concernes the Church yea and the State into what hands doctrine is committed by reason of the unsettlement of the people which may be occasioned thereby I should beseech them that are in the office of teachers that they would take heed to themselves and to the doctrine 1 Tim. 4. 16. and that they would teach milke or meate and not wind nor lead on people first into criticismes before they have laid in them the plaine Grammar rule of sound and wholesome words that they may be made
proselites to Jesus Christ not to an opinion yea though you may beare the name of a party as Paul might have done at Corinth yet to cry them downe who would cry you up and put over your disciples to Christ as Iohn did telling them that say I am of Paul and I of Apollo that they are carnall 1 Cor. 3. 4. and so you will weane them unto Christ whose they are As for others that teach indeed but yet are no teachers for whatsoever they doe by gifts yet themselves are not the gifts of Christ unto men in the sence of the 11th verse of this Chapter I should desire to know whether every one that hath a gift to be a servant must therefore be a steward or that hath gifts enabling him to deliver a message must therefore be an Embassadour If in truth you be as Amos said of himselfe Herdesmen or gatherers of Sycomore fruit then you must produce Amos 7. 14 15 your extraordinary commission as he did saying And the Lord took me as I followed the flock and said goe prophesie to my people Israel or else you must be taken to be but Herdsmen still and so it will be no wonder that strange teachers should carry credulous people about with strange doctrines as the Apostle cals them Heb. 13. 9. 4. The doctrine by which these children are tossed to and fro and carried about is called wind and that doth not denote the pure Word of God but some illegitimate doctrine which the adulterers and ravishers of the truth doe beget upon it what heresie ever came abroad without verbum Domini in the mouth of it The Arrian pleaded out of that text Iohn 14. 28. The Father is greater than I. The Anabaptist from that Matth. 28. 19. Goe ye therefore and disciple all nations and when he shall be thriven to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or full stature he will undermine Magistracy by that Rom. 12. 19. Avenge not your selves The Antinomian hath for his plea that 1 Tim. 1. 9. The law is not made for a righteous man arguing that he who hath Evangelicall grace for his principle of obedience should not have the law for a rule thereof as if a new principle and an old rule might not stand together but because I intend not a particular confutation of these or the like errours therefore finally you all know that the devill hath a scriptum est ready Matth. 3. 6. the Spider sucks poyson out of the Rose not that I would imply that there is any such thing in the Word it selfe for ex veris nil nisi verum but that a corrupt stomacke concocts wholesome food into disease And why wind of doctrine 1. Because there is no solidity in it but being wind it breeds but wind in the hearer and not good bloud and here I cannot but bewaile our Pulpits of late times filled with hay and stubble in stead of gold and silver as namely invectives against Bishops and Cavaliers newes and novell opinions and in the mean time the staple commodities of Heaven as Christ Faith Love c. are laid aside like breath'd ware which no body cals for I would not be thought to be a patron of any such obnoxious persons against whom the Word of God shoots an arrow but tâ—is I plead for that people who come to looke for soul-nourishing food may not be served with scumme and froth 2. Because of the changeablenesse variety and novelty of it for indeed such teachers doe fit their lettice to the lips of their auditory and doe easily take them by their itching eares nothing more pleasing to an Athenian eare than novelty which affects the hearers while it is fresh and green but when they shall come to chew this wind they find nothing in it and so they hunt about againe untill they start a new notion Christ is the onely everlasting meat who though he be like a great standing dish which by reason of Kickshawes and fine Sallets is now adayes not much fed upon by many yet a truly humble soule is never weary of Christ neither can sit downe to a meale I meane heare a Sermon without him and this sound appetite is a signe of an excellent temperament and healthfull constitution of spirit he that hath his mouth in tast for such doctrine and his stomacke craving such solid food hath cause to blesse God who it may be by inward shakings and temptations cals him to the setling of the main free-holt and state of his soule and so takes him off from running himselfe out of breath after novelties and niceties which will sooner fill his head with dreames than his heart with strength or comfort 3. Because of its prevalencie with and over unstayed men one would wonder that this which the Apostle cals wind of doctrine should so prevaile and spread how suddenly is a whole countrey leaven'd with it whereas the saving knowledge and reception of Christ the power of godlinesse and self-deniall may be preacht an age and not so many fish be taken as are taken at one draught by a corrupt doctrine I will not borrow that comparison which Eusebius made choice of to expresse the quick spreading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Gospell at the first saying that it passed through the world like a Sun-beame but I shall take that of the Apostle 2 Tim. 2. 17. Their word eateth like a gangrene which presently overruns the parts and takes the brain as this wind of doctrine doth and the same Apostle than whom no man did more counter-worke false teachers saith Acts 20. 30. they shall speake perverse things to draw disciples after them whereby it seemes that the way to draw disciples is to speake perverse things hereunto agreeing is that of our Saviour Ioh. 5. 43. I am come in my Fathers Name and ye receive me not If another shall come in his owne name him will ye receive Christ cannot finde entertainment but Bacchochebas is followed and the reason is because Truth when it commeth hath nothing in us but errour hath There is no tinder to catch a sparke of truth but there is oyle for the wild-fire of errour Heresies are workes of the flesh Gal. 5. 19 20. therefore men are soone removed Gal. 1. 6. from truth to errour And now to draw up this point into a summe by way of Application 1. Consider the doctrine you heare and tell it over againe from the hand of the teacher a man will tell money after his father Beware lest any man make prize of you Col. 2. 8. some there are to whom the reputation and worth of the teacher is the proofe of his doctrine receiving all that is stamped with his ipse dixit We should not call any man our father on earth Matth. 23. 9. and some also thinke it enough to say This doctrine makes most against superstition and popery and yet we will not abide that in a Maldonat who shall rather pitch upon such a
every wind of doctrine which is a sentence as every eye may see carried on in metaphors and figurative expressions only some criticks might haply aske what decorum of speech there is in children tossed to and fro and carried about with winds for had it not been more congruity to have said waves tossed to and fro or cloudes carried about than children but we must not teach the Spirit of God to speake the sence is obvious and proper for the better rendering whereof we may consider 1. By what name unstable people are called children 2. How their instability is expressed Tossed to and fro and carried about 3. What cause there is of it Every wind of doctrine 1. For the first They are children d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are synonymiâ—s 1 Cor. 14. â—0 with Heb. 5. 13. alibi so called not in respect of age but of knowledge and understanding 1 Cor. 14. 20. be not children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in understanding but be men Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfect and ripe And so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in veteri Testamento Isa 3. 4. Prov. 19. â—5 Ecâ—lâ—s 10. â—8 alibi men of knowledge are opposed to children that is ungrounded and unskilfull ones unskilfull in the word of righteousnesse for he is a babe Heb. 5. 13. Such babes the Apostle calls carnall though they be in Christ 1 Cor. 3 1 2 3. and opposeth them to spirirituall that is perfect or ripe of knowledge and judgement and you may see that such men that are shallow and unballast with knowledge are easily carried into envying strife factions one crying up Paul another Apollo ver 4. yea they become the certaine prey of Sectaries and seducers made prize of by them as the e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 2. 8. word signifies Col 2. 8. 2. For the second their instability is expressed in two f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 metaphors tossed to and fro and carried about the former is drawn from a wave of the sea for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a wave and so it denotes an uncertaine man that fluctuates in opinion and is explained to the full Iames 1. 6. a wavering man is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed The latter from a light cloud swimming in the ayre carried about in a circle having no weight in it and may well be expounded by that of Iude ver 12. clouds without water carried about Nor wave nor cloud have any consistence but are alwayes in motion if any wind be stirring you shall in vaine look to find them anon where you see them now 3. For the third The cause of this instability is every wind of doctrine there are winds of persecution that overthrow the house upon the sand and there are winds of doctrine that tosse to and fro these children Scripture mentions chaffe and stubble driven with wind the reed shaken with the wind the wave the cloud tossed and carried by the wind It is because we have no weight in our selves nor solid principles that the wind hath power over us they are light things and moveable that are at the command of every wind when the Apostle saith wind of doctrine he implies that there is no solidity and when he saith every wind he implies that there may be contrariety in those doctrins to one another and yet every one tosses some waves to and fro and carries some cloudes about nay the very same cloud that is now carried one way is anon carried another and what a miserable passe is he at whose Religion consists in some empty opinion and is but thereof tenant at curtesie to the next wind that blowes being carried about with every g Heinsiuâ— exerâ—â—â—â— â—â—uâ—â— doctrina â—â—dâ—es â—â—taâ—ilis change or novelty of doctrine There are others that are unstable not for want of principles and knowledge but rather want of a good by as of sincerity for God being carried about too but it is by their Interests and ends whereby they are off and on up and downe as the sent lies and as the game which they hunt doth lead them with these I have not much to doe at this time Having thus opened the words of the first part I shall now sum them up together into this point Doct. Children that is ungrounded people who have no sound bottome of knowledge are apt to be tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine 1. Children is a word denoting relation or imperfection relation and so ye are all the children of God by faith in Iesus Christ Gal. 3. 26. Imperfection so in that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 13. 11. When I was a child I spake as a child c. There are many of this denomination in the Church for as in a Schoole there are divers formes and commonly the most Schollers are in the lower so is it in the Church of God there are abcedaries babes that are to be taught 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their letters Heb. 5. 13 the first elements of the oracles of God and to be fed with the spoone or as the Apostle calls it milke He did not thinke himselfe too high to feed with milke 1 Cor. 3. 2. Therefore let no Minister be he never so learned scorne to be an Usher under Christ to teach his petties their a. b. c. If the people had not pleaded their rotten charters of age and marriage against Catechisme and the Minister had not thought himselfe too good to teach them their letters and first elements we had not seen so many children carried about with winds of doctrine Pride I feare hath made both ashamed of the duty the one to teach the other to be taught and I would that both were now humble enough to acknowledge the fruit of that neglect Now children are so called by reason of the imperfection of their knowledge either in respect of the measure of it or of their ungroundednesse in it and its lying loose in them without rooting 1. In respect of the measure of knowledge which is low and meane though themselves be stedfast in it and unshaken It is not a swimming but an anchoring and centering knowledge and stakes them down from fluctuancy and tossing and this is by having the savour virtue and sweetnesse of that they know He that hath a little knowledge well tryed by the touchstone of the word and tryed in his own experience to be humbling quickning and comforting he loves the truth and love will establish him in it upon that reason which Peter gave to Christ Joh. 6. 68. Whither should we goe Thou hast the words of eternall life The Apostles while under Christs owne ministery and wing were but very raw in knowledge and thereby we learne that no doctrinall teaching or ministery though of Christ himselfe on earth can make way into the heart of man untill the Spirit come yet so much they found in the words of Christ that
sense of Scripture because it makes most against the Calvinists and there are who falling upon some novell opinion doe honestate it with the name of a new light and conceive themselves the greatest illuminates as having two eyes and all the world besides but one I deny it not but that every man in his Regeneration hath a new light which is a part of the new creature for the new creation begins in a fiat lux Nor doe I deny but that in the Church there may be a clearer and further demonstration of and insight into many things in the Scriptures which have lien in the bottome of the pit and may be brought neerer day than aforetime for the neerer to the end the more glory and light as it s said Dan. 12. 4. Shut up the words and seale the book even to the time of the end many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased But this light though new to us yet it is not new to the word to the Sun light is not new though it be to the Moon as the Apostle cals strange doctrines Heb. 13. 9. not such as are new to us but such as are forreine to the word so we call that strange light rather then new which the word of God ownes not as the off-spring thereof and therefore I exhort you to consider 1. Whether this light come from the Word or rather doe not shine from a glo-worme in your own fancies Is not this vision of yours extra mittendo by beames going out of your owne eyes to the object doe you not first conceive and then goe forth to seek a father for your child as the Sadduces that first denie the Resurrection and then think that they can make their heresie good out of a case in Moses law Matth. 22. â—4 2. Whether it doe nourish those graces in you in which the Kingdome of God consists or whether doth not this new light starve you doth not this sun-shine put out your fire for whether it be that the intention of the minde upon the vaine theory of opinions doth divert the streame and leaves as I may say practicke godlinesse dry or whether God withdraw his influences from them that lay themselves out in toyes or whatsoever the cause be experience sheweth that after this vertigo takes men in the head many of them decay in the vitals of Religion and turne either Polititians to erect a party or grow very leane in practicke godlinesse and draw loose in their geeres if indeed they become not loose in their lives and wayes 2. This point may give us just occasion to inquire into the reason why we are so tossed to and fro and carried about and crumbled into divisions for who is a stranger in Israel that he should not know these things The heavens are filled with fixed stars without number but the Planets are no more than seven if the proportion was cast up amongst us our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Iude cals them ver 13. doe hold a greater proportion to our fixed starres Is not our Church called to the barre to answer not so much for her purity or chastitie in all Administrations as for her very being and life what children are these that will unmother her before God her husband have divorced and unwifed her that will throw Babylon in her face and then justifie their secession and departure by Flee out of Babylon which will not serve their turne except they can find also a Goe out of Ephesus out of Pergamus out of Sardis out of Laodicea c. Our Sacraments are also called to the barre The Lords Supper under the reason of a mixt Communion by which as I conceive is not meant that unbeleevers or unregenerate persons doe partake rem sacramenti the kernell of this ordinance for in that respect they have no Communion with the faithfull but that the Company of Communicants in the outward seale is mixt of regenerate and unregenerate Saints and hypocrites unto which we say that though the doore ought to be more narrow than to let in dogs and swine yet the presence and profession of intruders doth not evacuate that Communion which the faithfull have with Christ and among themselves for the Master of the great Feast as He observed Matth. 22. 12. doth not say to them that had the wedding garment how came you in hither with such a man but Friend how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment Our Baptisme is said to be a vanity a nullity as being dispensed to infants and that because we want example for it but so we doe for womens receiving the Lords Supper and if the reason and equity of the rule will carry it for women as well as men then also we shall joyne issue in that point and make it good upon that ground for children of beleeving parents as for the parents themselves for are not such See a learned Treatise called The Birth priviledge infants foederati confederates and in the Covenant though they cannot actually restipulate yea surely as well as those which were circumcised The morall Law is questioned whether it be obligatory to and directory of a beleever in Christ for because he hath another bridle of restraint of him from sin and another spurre incentive of him unto obedience therefore he hath not the same rule which is but a confounding of the principle whereby and of the rule according to which a Christian is acted these men are much mistaken in that place whereupon they seeme to ground their opinion Rom. 7. 6. That we should serve in newnesse of spirit and not in the oldnesse of the letter Where they oppose these two as a rule and principle taking away the rule called say they the oldnesse of the letter by the principle which is the newnesse of the Spirit now there is nothing more cleere then that the Apostle opposes not the rule to the principle of obedience but duo principia or rather duos serviendi modos two manners of serving in the one of which they were bond-men in the other free-men Our Ministery is arraigned also as the Papists because the Ministers of many Reformed Churches have not Imposition of the hands of a Bishop deny their ordination to be legitimate so is ours denied because we had We are between two milstones what Ministers will they find in the Churches of Christ for many hundred yeares if this be good against ordination I cannot conceive but God owned some of them for his witnesses prophesying in sackcloth Rev. 11. 3. And finally to the nullity of these the Church the Sacraments the Morall Law the Ministery is added the Mortality of the soule which if reason cannot confute let a man consult conscience if that cannot Scripture will had it not been a strange mistake in our blessed Saviour to have but in a Parable supposed a rich man after his death in torment and Lazarus in Abrahams bosome if the soule be not
immortall or at least if it survive not for that cannot be applied to the resurrection when the rich man will have no brethren on earth to send unto neither can there be any sence in that portion of Scripture but upon supposall of the soule outliving the body I had rather draw a curtaine before this face of things then paint it out unto you How sad a hearing is it to heare I am of Paul I am of Apollo I am of Cephas was not this that which as Ierome observes did at first set up Bishops our divisions are their factours but that is not all more sad it is to heare here is Christ and there is Christ for we are so impotent in our opinions that every man makes his own to be the very Shibboleth of the Church a thing unheard of before our times that men of divers Trades in this famous City can be all of one Company but being of divers opinions they cannot be of one Church nor will be all of one Schoole except they be all of one forme which breakes our communion into fragments Now what may be the cause of this transportation of people are they children ungrounded in knowledge that is too much to be feared or are they proud and wanton and have taken surfet of the great things of the Law or are they ashamed to stand in the levell of sober practicall Christians but must be masters and set up the trade of some new opinion for themselves and build Babel to get a name and to be some body in in the eyes of a party I know not what to say but the Lord stop the gangrene and turne all our eyes to the great things of the Law that so this tithing of mint and cummin may be left to a second place 3. Be not children and oh that this word might stop the fury of your precipitate levity as Coesar did the sedition of his Army by one word Quirites you have had the vitals of Religion a holy and pure doctrine and there is not another Gospell For Ministers that have burn'd and shined themselves out in holding forth essentials and saving truths the whole world since the Apostles time could not overmatch you and for Christians the seale of their Ministery begotten and bred up under their shadow in respect of the power of godlinesse there hath not been another England on earth since that time I doe not ascribe this to the government and discipline no more then I doe ascribe the multiplying of Israel to Pharaoh but under God to the paines and diligence of faithfull pastours whom I would not have any man now to undervalue and debase as brats of Antichrist they were Heroes and Worthies our regeneration and faith are their monuments let no man digge up their ashes and degrade them in esteeme nor belch out poison against the learning livings callings of their godly successors in this Church for wise men will interpret that they doe it upon no other reason then Herod burnt the Registries of the families and genealogies of the Iewes in consciousnesse of his own obscurity And as for this Church certainely she hath had a wombe to beare children and breasts to give them suck which two things doe make a faire proofe for her against all calumnies though alas she had also a generarion of vipers eating through her bowels Finally This Kingdome owes as much to Religion as any in the world we have seene wonders of Gods love and miracles of deliverance and if God shall now bring his Arke to Ierusalem and set it up in greater state then before time let us dance before it but withall let us not despise the house of Obed-Edom which God blessed for the Arke sake we must not put downe the Temple because it s made a den of theeves but rather whip them out of it and for that we fast and pray as also that those seven Ones in the fourth and fifth verses may continue with us for ever One body and one spirit one hope of your calling one Lord one Faith one baptisme one God and Father of all which should be as so many quoines to lock together all parts of the building into one as indeed they would if men were not so opinion-big as to make every extravagant or at least extrinsicall opinion fundamentall and as an Atlas to a new-Church building I come now to the second part of the Text which is the haracter or description of the impostours and seducers that doe unsettle men whereof I shall open the termes or words 1. Sleight of men The originall word for sleight doth properly signifie Dice-playing and by ametaphor taken from players at Dice which sort of men you shall seldome reade of in sober authours without some brand of infamie it sets out the qualitie of false teachers and in this all agree but then in the very point of application of this similitude there is a little difference 1. As the cast of the Die is changeable and variable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alea nihil incertius so are these teachers and such is their doctrine and therefore he calls it sleight of men opposing this doctrine of theirs to that of Gods pure word which is alwayes like it selfe and hath no interests passions crooked ends as men have 2. As dice-players can cogge the Die and make it answer what cast they please so these teachers have an act of mixing and adulterating the word so as to make it answer their own profit or advantage but whether it be so or so or both wayes you see what these teachers make of their hearers meere tablemen which the dice-player carries hither and thither and moves from point to point as he pleases 3. Cunning craftinesse The same word that is used to expresse the subtilty of the serpent tempting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eve 2 Cor. 11. 3. He beguiled Eve through his subtilty and it signifies the deep policie of men 1 Cor. 3. 19. He taketh the wise in their own craftinesse and so it imports that these teachers are veterators beaten fellowes men exercised and skilfull to deceive 4. They lye in wait to deceive And the word in this Text is also used Ephes 6. 11. that ye may be able 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he to stand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the stratagems of the Devill for it signifies properly an ambushment or stratagem of warre whereby the enemy sets upon a man ex insidijs at unawares denoting the specious and faire overtures and pretences of false teachers spreading their net under the chaffe to catch the silly bird for it is plaine that all their sleight and craftinesse is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to this very end and purpose that they may entrap and catch men within the ambush of their impostures That which I collect from this part of the Text is Doct. 1. What oddes the Apostle makes between the seducer and the seduced even as much as between
concernes very much to hold fast the forme of wholesome words 2 Tim. 1. 13. which the Apostle opposeth to questions and logomachies or strife of words and perverse disputings 1 Tim. 6. 3 4 5. as also to prophane and vaine bablings 2 Tim. 2. 16. Pâ—erunque illa duo â—â—â—â—râ—nt â—uratiâ— doctriâ—â— novi modâ— loqueâ—di Chem. loc com and 1 Tim. 6. 20. that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as some reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 empty words and novell expressions you all know that by losing the genuine and proper meaning of the word Church and Bishop c. we had almost forgot the Scripture use of them and brought the Church within the pale of the Clergy and the Bishop into a throne above the Ministers of the word The Apostle Peter speaking of false teachers hath an expression or two to this purpose They speake great swelling words of vanity 2 Pet. 2. 18. that is they speake great bubbles of words full of wind strong lines or bigge fancies to beare downe people by that torrent and againe in the 2 Pet. 2. 3. through covetousnesse shall they with fained words make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 merchandise of you What are these fained words doe not they meane the same as that 1 Tim. 4. 2. speaking lies in hypocrisie or should it not rather be taken for a set and composed forme of words such as Merchants use in commending their wares to sale shewing the goodnesse and properties of the commodity they desire to put off and even belying it into credit for to that the words seeme to allude I shall not dwell upon this but certainely it is not for nothing that seducers are found to hide their hooke under words and expressions which they doe artificially fit and compose for the purpose a good Title sells a sorry Booke And all times will beare witnesse that it hath been the property of such men as have had any monster to bring to light to use obscurity and cloudinesse of expression that what is unshapen and without forme at the first may afterwards be lickt into proportion errors are bashfull at first and comming out of the darke cannot looke broad-waken upon the light and therefore they are by their parents or nurses alwayes swathed up in clouts of ambiguity as the Oracles of old lapt up their Effata or as he that wrote Edvardum regem occidere nolite timere bonum est where the comma helps him out at which doore he pleases thus the sepia goes away in her own inke and the doore is left halfe chare to make escape They baite their hooke with such baites as are proper to the fish thy would catch Els they were not good anglers to which the Apostle seemes to compare them in that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 2. 18. which is to allure as a bait doth the fish And what is that bait see ver 19. they promise them liberty there is not a more catching bait then liberty Is it likely that Jesus Christ or his Ministers that preach a yoke a daily crosse a forsaking all for him should make such great draughts of fish as they that promise liberty but what liberty haply they may call it Christian liberty or liberty of conscience so the serpent said ye shall be as gods but what is it indeed Is it not a liberty from the controll or check of superiours and their authority for they despise dominion 2 Pâ—t 2. 10. and speake evill of dignities Jude 8. and therefore doth the Apostle Paul so much call for obedience and subjection to Magistrates Masters Ministers thereby anticipating or correcting the thoughts of Libertinisme unto which the name of Gospell liberty might be abused surely our Lord Christ hath not brought in a saturnalia or exemption of Christians from the Scepter of Government or the rod of Discipline Nor is liberty of Conscience though sacred and inviolable a freedome to be or doe what we will for by that engine the sword might be easily wiped out of the Magistrates and the Keyes out of the Churches hand and then we should find our selves returned to a Chaos without forme and void I doe not wonder that all sorts of sects and heresies though they be of contrary principles in particular should meet and concurre in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or liberty to live by their owne lawes unaccountable to others and independent Those that are commonly called Independents are farre off from making the Church to be such a Romulus his asylum a Sanctuary for all commers they allow that Jerusalem shall reach forth her hand as farre as Antioch neither I thinke doe they plead the letting alone of the tares untill the harvest Matth. 13. 30. against the censures of the Church or the fasces securim of the Magistrate but I am sure of this that he that saith Let both grow together untill the harvest doth not give way to any man to sow them An enemy hath done this but enough of this at this time There are others that goe about with liberty too and cry a liberty from the obligation of the Morall Law as a rule a liberty from poenitentiall sorrowes fastings humiliations to them that are regenerate a liberty from sinning or if not so yet from asking pardon for it if they be in Christ These are great liberties indeed but they are glorious liberties reserved unto another world if any man promise you them here on earth he takes upon him to antedate the time of them There are certain fruits and effects of Christs Redemption of us which are payable only in the world to come There is yet another liberty which some will promise and that is a liberty of sensuall lusts and fleshly loosnesse It was Balaams bait whereby he invited the Israelites to the idolatry of Baal-Peor and the Apostle findes these false teachers baiting their hooke with the same 2 Pet. 2. 18. they allure through the lusts of the flesh through much wantonnesse and ver 14. Having eyes full of adulteries or of an adulteresse as the originall carries it and again ver 2. many shall follow their lascivious wayes for some copies have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But you will say Is there any such affinity betweene seducing by doctrine and sensuality How is it that the Apostle charges these teachers with such filthy lusts I shall answer but little to this question as God for idolatry which is spirituall fornication gives men and women up to that which is corporall for it s said Rom. 1. 25 26. They changed the truth of God into a lie for this cause God gave them up to vile affections so will God shame and discredit the errours that are set up against his truth by the lusts that keep company with them They undervalue and cast dirt in the face of all that stand in their light this is an old way of insinuating into people the wolves perswade the sheepe that their
Shepherds feed them to fleece them that so they may the easilyer worry them It is not much that we are called legall Preachers time-servers persecutours inquisitours what not The devill must first asperse God to Eve before he prevaile with her and those popular preachers could not reigne at Corinth but by bringing Paul into dis-esteeme if they could His letters say they are weighty and powerfull but his bodily presence is weake and his speech contemptible 2 Cor. 10. 10. It s easie for men to ingratiate themselves with their party by espying faults in every Ordinance and Administration never so well constituted we see beauty enough and find no want of light in the Sun though they that look upon it through their Galilean glasses discover spots in it as big as all Asia or Africk as themselves say They wrest the Scriptures 2 Pet. 2. 16. making it to speake upon the rack◠that which it never meant partiality and affection to their own opinion is an ill medium to look through Pull the staffe out of the water and it will not be crooked how often doe men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compell the Scriptures to goe two mile when of themselves they will goe but one we should tremble to put words into the mouth of those Oracles which we doe by mis-inferences and misapplications 1. By mis-inference drawing forth that which they will not yeeld as the Sadduces proved no Resurrection because seven brethren had taken one woman to wife Matth. 22. 28. unto whom our Saviour answers that though they cited a place of Scripture yet they erred not knowing the Scripture for not he that repeats the words but takes up the true sence is the man that knowes the Scriptures We must not mangle and cut one joynt from another and expound one sentence against the whole streame I would men would tremble to take Gods hand which he hath set to his owne Word and set it to a lie of their owne it were odious to serve a man so 2. By mis-application of generall rules to particulars For it hath been observed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is a great cause of many evils not to be able to adapt common principles and generall rules to particular cases or actions for how often is a generall rule of Scripture brought for the warrant of an unlawfull action as if the Apostle should have eaten with scandall upon the rule of All things are pure to the pure so we know how men first imagined a decency and order in superstitious ceremonies and then warranted them by that Let all things be done decently and in order we feare not to say that no man can prove the calling of our Ministers or the Baptisme of our infants or the Morall Law to be null c. but by the torture of the Scriptures They recommend their doctrine upon some private pretended revelation and light of their owne or by some effects thereof which they seeme to have found in themselves since they became therewith acquainted as that they have found such experiments of it in themselves as they never had before they are more lively cheerefull comfortable c. As for their revelations or light what is it they meane by them Doe they meane that the vaile is taken off the Scripture or rather their eye so that they have a cleerer spirituall discerning into and savour of and affection to the Word or doe they meane by revelation some secret sealings or assurances which are indeed private to their owne soules like the white stone of absolution with their owne names written thereon These are admirable first-fruits of the Spirit and of glory Happy are they to whom God in this wildernesse gives to taste these Clusters of Canaan-Grapes And for the effects of the word which they find in themselves as attestations of the truth power and goodnesse of the word I find the Apostle appealing to the sense of beleevers to attest the doctrine of the Gospel Gal. 3. 2. received ye the Spirit by the preaching of the law or by the hearing of faith but now what is all this to the revelation or effects of new and strange doctrines what impostures have not been obtruded upon pretence of private light and revelation the old Prophet may bring you into the lions mouth by telling you of an angel that spoke to him 1 Kin. 13. 18. 24. God saith that he proves his people by a Prophet or dreamer of dreames to know whether they love the Lord their God with all their heart and with all their soule Deut. 13. 3. nor Prophet nor Apostle nor Angel is to be heard if he preach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 besides or other than that ye have received Gal. 1. 8. and for that they say that they find themselves as it were in a new world since they found this new way I much question their probatum est Is it not some angel of darknesse transformed into an Angel of light doe they not walke in the light of their fire and the sparkes that they have kindled Isai 50. 11. It must needs be an easie way when a man hath cast off all trouble for sin and all care of holy duties but surely the way is too broad to be good These principles I ought not to sorrow for sin least I disparage the sufficiencie of Christs satisfaction I can pay no obedience to the law but I must thereby either infringe my Christian liberty or joyne merit with Christ must needs worke a strange alteration because the doctrine is strange I would speake a word from this point to Ministers and to the people 1. To the Ministers you see these impostours have sleight and subtilty to lie in wait for the people and whom doth it concerne but you to take heed to the flock you cannot by silence liberare sidem aut animam Christ hath given Pastours and Teachers to his Church to this end that the people should not be children tossed to and fro c. convincing of gain-sayers and stopping the mouthes of soul-subverting teachers doth belong to your office Titus 1. 9 10 11. if there were but one Heterodox teacher start up and neglected by the people you would discharge at him with as much freedome as at Papists what if there be moe such teachers and followed by thousands is it ever the more truth for the number or is it a noli me tangere or are we slaves to popularity and dare not snatch the souls of our people out of the streame for feare of displeasing them by saving of them or have we no hope to worke a cure and so like Phisitians we let desperate patients eat and drinke and doe what they will without contradiction Luther did not much consider how usefull the Sectaries of his time might have been against the Pope and his party but confuted them freely knowing that they more blemisht and hindred the Reformation by their tenets than were likely to help it with
their hands I would not blow the trumpet or proclaime open warre against lesser differences severity and acrimony in such cases breedes schisme and heales it not but pernicious errours and destructive to soules which it is cruelty to spare and not pity must be faced and fought against not with invectives and railing that doth but anger the Gangrene and is not the way to quench wildfire but by solid convictions and evidence of truth for so you shall either gain a brother or not lose a friend But you may aske when should we goe out against a doctrine as pernicious for even that point about the law which denominates an Antinomian and that about Baptisme which denominates an Anabaptist seeme not to be fatall to the soule To this I answer that we must look how a doctrine is attended or consequenced the first circle in the water is the least those that are caused by it are bigger and bigger an opinion may be very ill as it is a bastard mis-begotten by mis-inferences from the Word but it is worse as it is a whore and begets a new off-spring of errours more pernicious but I must remember to whom I speake Brethren if the sheep be infected or worried both God and men will aske Where were the shepherds or what did they in the meane time 2. To the people I say but this Rom. 16. 17. I beseech you brethren marke them which cause divisions and differences contrary to the doctrine which yee have learned and avoid them The avoiding of such teachers is your proper duty as you would avoid an ambuscado or stratagem of deceit our present divisions are scandalous to your selves to your Ministers to the truth for by reason of them The way of truth is evill spoken of 2 Pet. 2. 2. they are the hopes of the common enemy and our own weakenings and because I have named the enemy let no man thinke that the betraying of these differences among our selves doth give handle and occasion to them to traduce us all as Anabaptists Brownists Sectaries we need not feare the calumnies of those to whom godlinesse it selfe as Christianity of old was crime enough we shall doe our selves right in their eyes by disclaiming them The Apostles doe boldly tax the divisions among Christians notwithstanding any upbraidings of the Heathens Let them say that we are about instead of purging the Temple as Christ did to set up a Pantheon as the Romans did or an Altar to the unknown god as they of Athens did This water will not stick upon us long they will be of another mind when we shall shake this viper off our hand In the meane time I beseech you to consider whether beside the sleight and cunning craftinesse of seducing teachers there be not some other stratagems on foot acted from behind the doore and at a greater distance some hand of Ioab is in all this the polititian and the Jesuite blow these coales they would make us as Samaritans and Iewes to one another Let us not gratifie our enemies I le say but this observe the brand or character set upon the seduced Vnstable soules 2 Pet. 2. 14. silly women laden with sins led away with divers lusts 2 Tim. 3. 6 c. and upon the seducers merchants of mens soules 2 Pet. 2. 3. unruly vaine-talkers deceivers aiming at filthy lucre Titus 1. 10 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lawlesse persons 2 Pet. 3. 17. men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith 2 Tim. 3. 8 c. but admit there be a face and presence of holinesse in the person may we not then more securely receive their doctrine To this I answer that both person and doctrine may carry a faire stamp and superscription We doe not weigh gold to try the superscription of it but the weight Guilded pills may convey poison Satan in Peter is not easily discovered The better passe that error brings with it the more dangerous it is So much upon the second part of the text The third is the preservative or antidote against all impressions of such teachers as come with sleight and subtilty c. and that is two-fold 1. The Ministery which Christ hath given to his Church for this ver relates to the 11. He gave some Apostles and some c. that henceforth c. and to them doth the Apostle commit the charge of the flock to watch over them against wolves Acts 20. 28 29. 2. The holding fast and pursuance of the substance and great things of Religion ver 15. but being sincere in love grow up in all things into him which is the head It s an excellent growth to grow up into the head that is into communion with and conformity to Jesus Christ which triviall opinions nothing at all advance observe the antithesis or opposition he makes between being carried about c. and following the truth in love for contraria contrarijs diseases are cured by contraries so the Apostle Peter 2 Pet. 3. 17 18. gives the same receipt against unstedfastnesse but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ and to take off teachers from fables and genealogies and questions of no value Paul commends to them the aiming at godly edifying which is by faith and to hold to that which is the end of the commandement charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfained 1 Tim. 1. 4 5. If both Ministers and people would but drive this trade it would take off that wandring and hunting after novell opinions and doctrines and would keep us constant in the wholesome pastures even now that the hedge of setled government is wanting If you have good feeding why should not that keep you from wandering untill the pale be set up wait upon God in the use of his saving ordinances and pray for us If Moses stay long in the mount must the people be setting up golden calves and say we know not what is become of this Moses Aarons rod shall swallow up all the rods of Iannes and Iambres in Exod. 7. 1◠due time The Apostle puts us in hope of a nil ultra to such 2 Tim. 3. 9. They shall proceed no further for their folly shall be manifest unto all FINIS