Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	doctrine_n	judgement_n	reformation_n	2,513	5	10.2613	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39674	Planelogia, a succinct and seasonable discourse of the occasions, causes, nature, rise, growth, and remedies of mental errors written some months since, and now made publick, both for the healing and prevention of the sins and calamities which have broken in this way upon the churches of Christ, to the great scandal of religion, hardening of the wicked, and obstruction of Reformation : whereunto are subjoined by way of appendix : I. Vindiciarum vindex, being a succinct, but full answer to Mr. Philip Cary's weak and impertinent exceptions to my Vindiciæ legis & fæderis, II. a synopsis of ancient and modern Antinomian errors, with scriptural arguments and reasons against them, III. a sermon composed for the preventing and healing of rents and divisions in the churches of Christ / by John Flavell ... ; with an epistle by several divines, relating to Dr. Crisp's works.	Flavel, John, 1630?-1691.	1691 (1691)	Wing F1175; ESTC R21865	194,574	498

Analogy or proportion of Faith which is St. Paul's own Rule Rom. 12. 6. Let him that prophesieth i. e. expoundeth the Scripture in the Church do it according to the proportion of faith The Analogy or proportion of Faith is what is taught plainly and uniformly in the whole Scriptures of Old and New Testament as the rule of our Faith and Obedience Whilst we carefully and sincerely attend hereunto we are secured from sinful corrupting the word of God Admit of no sense which interfereth with this proportion of Faith If men have no regard to this but take liberty to rend off a single Text from the body of Truth to which it belongs and put a peculiar interpretation upon it which is absonous and discordant to other Scriptures what woful work will they quickly make Give but a Papist liberty to take that Scripture Iam. 2. 24. out of the frame of Scripture A man is justified by works and not by faith only and expo●●d it without regard to the Tenor of the Gospel-doctrine of Iustification in Paul's Epistles to the Romans and Galatians and a gross Error starts up immediately Give but a Socinian the like liberty to practise upon Iohn 14. 28. and a gross H●resie shall presently look with an Orthodox face Rule II. Never put a new sense upon words of Scripture in favour of your preconceived Notions and Opinions nor wrest it from its general and common use and sense This is not to interpret but to rack the Scriptures as that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies 2 Pet. 3. 16. Interpretis officium est non quid ipse velit sed quid censeat ille quem interpretatur exponere as Hieron against Ruff. speaks We are not to make the Scriptures speak what we think but what the Prophet or Apostle thought whom we interpret In 1 Cor. 7. 14. we meet with the word holy applied to the Children of Believers that word is above 500 times used for a state of separation to God Therefore to make it signify in that place nothing but Legitimacy is a bold and daring practising upon the Scripture Rule III. Whenever you meet with an obscure place of Scripture let the Context of that Scripture be diligently and throughly searched for 't is usual with God to set up some light there to guide us through the obscurity of a particular Text. And there is much truth in the Observation of the Rabbines Nulla est objectio in Lege quae non habet solutionem in l●tere There 's no scruple or objection in the Law but it hath a solution at the side of it Rule IV. Let one Testament freely cast its light upon the other and let not men undervalue or reject an Old Testament Text as no way useful to clear and establish a New-Testament Point of Faith or Duty Each Testament reflects light upon the other The Iews reject the New-Testament and many among us sinfully slight the Old But without the help of both we can never understand the mind of God● in either 'T is a good Rule in the Civil-Law Turpe est de Lege judicare tota lege nondum inspectâ We must inspect the whole Law to know the sense of any particular Law Rule V. Have a due regard to that sense given of obscure places of Scripture which hath not only the current sense of Learned Expositors but also naturally agrees with the scope of the place A careless neglect and disregard to this is justly blamed by the Apostle 1 Tim. 1. 7. Cause II. A Second evil temper in the Subject disposing and inclining men to receive and suck in erroneous Doctrines and Opinions is the ABVSE of that just and due CHRISTIAN LIBERTY allowed by Christ to all his people to read examine and judge the sense of Scriptures with a private judgment of discretion This is a glorious acquisition and blessed fruit of Reformation to vindicate and recover that just Right and gracious Grant made to us by Christ and the Apostles out of the injurious hands of our Popish Enemies who had usurped and invaded it The exercise of this Liberty is at once a Duty commanded by Christ and commended in Scripture 'T is commanded by Christ Iohn 5. 39. Search the Scriptures saith Christ to the people 1 Cor. 10. 15. I speak as to wise men judge you what I say And the exercise of this private judgment of discretion by the people is highly commended by St. Paul in the Bereans Acts 17. 11. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so This Liberty is not allowed in that latitude in any Religion as it is in the Christian Religion nor enjoyed in its full liberty as it is in the Reformed Religion whose glory it is that it allows its Principles and Doctrines to be critically examined and tryed of all Men by the Rule of the Word as well knowing the more it is sifted and searched by its Professors the more they will be still confirmed and satisfied in the truth of it But yet this gracious and just liberty of Christians suffers a double abuse One from the Popish Enemies who injuriously restrain and deny it to the people Another by Protestants themselves who sinfully stretch and extend it beyond the just degree and measure in which Christ allows it to them The Pope injuriously restrains it discerning the danger that must necessarily follow the concession of such a liberty to the people to compare his superstitious and erroneous Doctrines with the Rule of the Word St. Peter in 2 Pet. 1. 19. tells the people they have a more sure Word of Prophecy whereunto they do well that they take heed Certainly the Pope forgot either that he was Peter's Successour or that ever St. Peter told the people they did well to make use of that liberty which he denies them Mr. Pool tells us of a Spaniard that used this expression to an English Merchant You people of England said he are happy you have liberty to see with your own eyes and to examine the Doctrines delivered to you upon which your everlasting Life depends but we dare not say our souls are our own but are commanded to believe whatever our Teachers tell us be it never so unreasonable or ridiculous This is a most injurious and sinful restraint upon it on the one side And then Secondly 'T is too frequently abused by stretching it beyond Christ's allowance and intendment upon the other side when every ignorant and confident person shall under pretence of liberty granted by Christ rudely break in upon the Sacred Text distort violate and abuse the Scriptures at pleasure by putting such strange and ●oreign senses upon them as the Spirit of God never meant or intended How often have I heard that Scripture Micha 4. 10. They shall be brought even to Babylon confidently interpreted for almost but not full h●me

more apt to catch in low-built thatcht Cottages than in high-built Castles and Princely Palaces the higher we go still the more peace The highest Region is most sedate and calm Stars have the strongest influence when in conjunction Angels tho legions have no wars among them and as willingly go down as up the Ladder without justling each other And the Most High God is the God of Peace let us also be the Children of Peace And I do assure the Persons with whom I contend That whilst they hold the head and are tender of the Churches Peace I can live in charity with them here and hope to live in glory with them hereafter I remain Reader thine and the Truth 's Friend John Flavell THE CONTENTS OF THE Causes and Cures c. THE Etymology and definition of the word Error Introd p. 2 3. The difference between Heresy and Error Introd p. 4. Twenty general Observations Disc. p. 7. Obs. 1. Truth is the object and natural food of the Vnderstanding p. 7. Explain'd and confirm'd P. 8. Obs. 2. Several sorts of Knowledge amongst which the supernatural knowledge of saving Truths revealed in the Scriptures is the best 9. Obs. 3. Vnto the attainment of Divine Knowledge out of the Scripture some things are naturally yet less principally requisite in the subject and something absolutely and principally necessary 11. As the irradiation of the mind by the Spirit of God the benefits of which 12. Obs. 4. Among the manifold impediments to the obtaining of true Knowledge and setling the mind in the truth and faith of the Gospel these three are of special consideration viz. Ignorance Curiosity and Error p. 13. Obs. 5. Error is binding upon the Conscience as well as Truth and altogether as much and sometimes more influential upon the Affections and Passions than Truth is 14. Obs. 6. 'T is exceeding difficult to get out Error when once it is imbib ' d and hath rooted it self by an open profession 15. Obs. 7. Men are not so circumspect and jealous of the Corruptions of their Minds by Errors as they are of their Bodies in times of Contagion or of their Lives with respect to gross Immoralities 17. Obs. 8. 'T is a great Iudgment of God to be given up to an Erroneous Mind 19. Obs. 9. 'T is a pernicious Evil to advance a mere Opinion into the place or seat of an Article of Faith and to lay as great stress upon it as they ought to do upon the most clear and fundamental Point 21. Obs. 10. Error being conscious to it self of its own weakness and the strong assaults that will be made upon it evermore labours to defend and secure it self under the wings of Antiquity Reason Scripture and high pretensions to Reformation and Piety 23. Obs. 11. God in all Ages in his tender care for his Churches and Truths hath still qualified and excited his Servants for the defence of his precious Truths against the Errors and Heresies that have successively assaulted them p. 25. Obs. 12. The want of a modest suspicion and just reflection gives both confidence and growth to Erroneous Opinions 27. Obs. 13. There is a remarkable involution or concatenation of Errors one linking in and drawing another after it 29. Obs. 14. Errors abound most and spring fastest in the times of the Churches Peace Liberty and outward Prosperity under Indulgent Governors 31. Obs. 15. Errors in the tender bud and first spring of them are comparatively shy and modest to what they prove afterwards when they have spread and rooted themselves into the minds of multitudes and think it time to set up and justle for themselves in the World 33. Obs. 16. Nothing gives more countenance and increase to Errors than a weak and feeble defence of the Truth against it 35. Obs. 17 Errors of Iudgment are not cured by compulsion and external force but by rational conviction and proper spiritual remedies 36. Obs. 18. Erroneous Doctrines producing Divisions and fierce Contentions amongst Christians prove a fatal Stumbling-block to the World fix their Prejudices and obstruct their conversion to Christ p. 38. Obs. 19. How specious and taking soever the pretences of Error be and how long soever they maintain themselves in esteem among men they are sure to end in the loss and shame of their Authors and Abettors at last 40. Obs. 20. If ever Errors be cured and the Peace and Vnity of the Church established men must be convinced of and acquainted with the occassions and causes both within and without themselves from whence their Errors do proceed and must both know and apply the proper rules and remedies for the prevention or cure of them 42. Divine Permission an occasion of Error 44. Which must be prevented by avoiding 1. A want of love to the Truth 45. 2. Pride and wantonness of the mind 46. 3. The neglect of Prayer ibid. Culpable Causes of Errors in men are 1. A wrangling humor at the pretended obscurity of the Scriptures p. 47. Cod's wisdom manifested in leaving some difficulties in the Scriptures 49. For the prevention of this cause these Rules following to be heeded and practis'd viz. R. 1. To expound all obscure Texts of Scripture according to the analogy and proportion of Faith p. 50. R. 2. Not to wrest Scripture from its general and common sense in favour of our preconceived Opinions 51. R. 3. When we meet with a difficult place of Scripture to search the Context throughly 52. R. 4. Let one Testament freely cast its light upon the other the Old on the New and the New on the Old ibid. R. 5. Observe the sense which the current of Expositors do agree in and which naturally agrees with the scope of the place 53 Cause 2. The abuse of the Liberty given by Christ to all his People to read the Scriptures and to judge of the sense of them by a private judgment of Discretion ibid. Remedy of it is to observe the limits which Christ hath set to this Liberty which Limitations are 1. A liberty to read and study but not publickly to expound and preach the Word 57. 2. Christians of different Abilities ought to study some parts of Scripture rather than others 59. Cause 3. Slothfulness in a due and serious search of the Scripture 61. How to find the institution of the Sabbath in the Scripture 64. How to find the institution of the Baptism of Infants there 65. Several Considerations to cure this slothfulness 67. Viz. A serious search of the Scriptures is our duty ibid. No action of ours that is not agreeable to God's will is acceptable to him 68. This is the path in which the wisest and best of men have gone before us 69. Every discovery of the Will of God obtain'd in this method is highly pleasant 70. Confirms our Faith 71. An impartial search into the Will of God will be a testimony of our Integrity and Sincerity ibid. Cause 4. Instability of judgment and unsetledness of mind about the truth

deep corruptions by dangerous Errors Austin was a Manichee and fully recovered from it So have many more and yet multitudes hold them fast even to death and nothing but the Fire can reveal their work and discover what is Gold and what is Straw and Stubble Seventh Observation It deserves a Remark That men are not so circumspect and jealous of the corruption of their minds by Errors as they are of their bodies in times of Contagion or of their lives with respect to gross immoralities Spiritual dangers affect us less than corporeal and intellectual evils less than moral Whether this be the effect of Hypocrisie the Errors of the mind being more secret and invisible than those of the Conversation God only knows man cannot positively determine Or whether it be the effect of Ignorance that men think there is less sin and danger in the one than in the other not considering that an Apoplexy seizing the Head is every way as mortal as a Sword piercing the Body And that a Vertigo will as much unfit a man for service as an Ague or Feaver The Apostle in 2 Pet. 2. 1. calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 damnable Heresies or Heresies of Destruction An Error in the mind may be as damning and destructive to the Soul as an Error of Immorality or Profaneness in the Life Or whether it may come to pass from some remains of fear and tenderness in the Conscience which forbids men to reduce their erroneous Principles into Practice the relying under many confident Errors in the mind a● secret Jealousie which we call formido oppositi which will not suffer them to act to the full height of their professed opinions Austin gives this Character even of Pelagius himself Retract lib. 2. cap. 33. Nomen Pelagii non sine laude aliqua posui quia vita ejus a multis praedicabatur I have not mentioned saith he the name of that man without some praise because his life was famed by many And of Swinkfeldius it is said Caput regulatum illi defuit corbonum non defuit His Heart was much more regular than his Head Yet this falls out but rarely in the world for loose Principles naturally run into loose Practises and the Errors of the Head into the Immoralities of Life Eighth Observation It is a great Iudgment of God to be given over to an erroneous mind For the Understanding being the leading Faculty as that guides the other Powers and Affections of the Soul follow as Horses in a Teem follow the Fore-horse Now how sad and dangerous a thing is this for Satan to ride the Fore-horse and guide that that is to guide the life of man That 's a dreadful spiritual judicial stroke of God which we read of Rom. 1. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God by a penal Tradition suffered them to run into the dregs of Immorality and Pollutions of life and that because they abused their light and became came vain in their imaginations ver 21. Wild whimsies and fancies in the head usually mislead men into the puddle and mire of Prophaneness and then 't is commonly observed God sets some visible mark of his Displeasure upon them especially the Heresiarchs or Ring-leaders in Error Nestorius his Tongue was consumed by Worms Cerinthus his Brains Knock'd out by the Fall of an House Montanus hang●d himself It were easie to instance in multitudes of others whom the visible Hand of God hath marked for a warning to others but usually the spiritual Errors of the Mind are followed with a Consumption and Decay of Religion in the Soul If Grace be in the Heart where Error sways its Scepter in the Head yet usually there it languishes and withers They may mistake their Dropsie for growth and flourishing and think themselves to be more spiritual because more airy and notional but if men would judg themselves impartially they will certainly find that the Seeds of Grace thrive not in the Heart when shaded and over-dropt by an erroneous Head Ninth Observation 'T is a pernicious Evil to advance a meer Opinion into the place and seat of an Article of Faith and to lay as great a stress upon it as they ought to do upon the most clear and fundamental Point To be as much concerned for a Tile upon the Roof as for the Corner-stone which unites the Walls and sustains the Building Opinion as one truly saith is but Reason's Projector and the Spy of Truth It makes in its fullest discovery no more than the dawning and twilight of Knowledg and yet I know not how it comes to pass but so it is that this Idol of the Mind holds such a sway and Empire over all we hold as if it were all the Day we had Matters of mere opinion are every where cried up by some Errorists for Mathematical Demonstration and Articles of Faith written with a Sun-beam worshipping the Fancies and Creatures of their own minds more than God and putting more trust in their ill-founded Opinions than in the surer word of Prophecy Much like that Humorist that would not trust day-light but kept his Candle still burning by him because said he this is not as subject to Eclipses as the Sun is And what more frequent when Controversies grow fervent than for those that maintain the Error to boast every silly Argument to be a Demonstration to upbraid and pity the blindness and dulness of their Opposers as men that shut their eyes against Sun-beams yea sometimes to draw their presumptuous Censures through the very hearts of their Opposers and to insinuate that they must needs hold the Truths of God in unrighteousness sin against their knowledg and that nothing keeps them from coming over to them but Pride Shame or some Worldly Interest What a complicated evil is here Here 's a proud exalting of our own opinions and an immodest imposing on the minds of others more clear and sound than our own and a dangerous Usurpation of God's Prerogative in judging the hearts and ends of our Brethren Tenth Observation Error being conscious to it self of its own weakness and the strong assaults that will be made upon it evermore labours to defend and seeure it self under the wings of Antiquity Reason Scripture and high pretensions to Reformation and Piety Antiquity is a venerable word but ill used when made a cloak for Error Truth must needs be elder than Error as the Rule must necessarily be before the ab●rration from it The gray hairs of Opinions are then only Beauty and a Crown when found in the way of Righteousness Copper saith Learned Dumoulin will never become Gold by Age. A Lye will be a Lye let it be never so ancient We dispute not by Years but by Reasons drawn from Scripture That which is now call'd an Ancient Opinion if it be not a true Opinion was once but a new Error When you can tell us how many years are required to turn an Error into Truth then we will give more heed to Antiquity

when press'd in the service of Error than we now think due to it If Antiquity will not do Reason shall be press'd to serve Error 's turn at a dead lift and indeed the Pencil of Reason can lay curions Colours upon rotten Timber and varnish over erroneous Principles with fair and plausible pretences What expert Artists have the Socinians proved themselves in this matter But because men are bound to submit human Authority and Reason to Divine Revelation both must give way and strike sail to the Written Word Hence it comes to pass that the great Patrons and Factors for Error do above all things labour to gain countenance to their Errors from the Written Word and to this end they manifestly wrest and rack the Scriptures to make them subservient to their Opinions not impartially studying the Scriptures first and forming their notions and opinions according to them but they bring their Erroneous Opinions to the Scriptures and then with all imaginable art and sophistry wiredraw and force the Scriptures to countenance and legitimate their Opinions But because pretences of Piety and Reformation are the strokes that give life to the face of this Idol and give it the nearest resemblance unto Truth these therefore never fail to be made use of and zealously professed in the favour of Error though there be little of either many times to be found in their Persons and nothing at all in the Doctrines that lay claim to it Eleventh Observation God in all ages in his tender care for his Churches and Truths hath still qualified and excited his Servants for the defence of his precious Truths against the Errors and Heresies that have successively assaulted them As Providence is observed in every Climate and Island of the World to have provided Antidotes against the poisonous Plants and Animals of the Countrey and the one is never far from the other So is the care of his Providence much more conspicuous in the case now before us When or wheresoever venomous Errors and deadly Heresies do arise he hath his servants at hand with Antidotes against them When Arrius that cunning and deadly Enemy to the Deity of Christ struck at the very heart of our Religion Faith and Comfort a man of subtil Parts and Blameless Life which made his Heresie much the more spreading and taking the Lord had his well-furnished Athanasius in a readiness to resist and confound him And as he had his Athanasius to defend the Deity of Christ so he wanted not his Basil to defend the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit against Macedonius so when Pelagius was busily advancing Free-will into the Throne of Free-grace Providence wanted not its Mallet in Learned and Ingenious Augustin to break him and his Idol to pieces And it is highly remarkable as the Learned D r. Hill observes that Augustin was born in Africa the same day that Pelagius was born in Brittain When Gotteschalcus published his dangerous Doctrine about Predestination the Lord drew forth Hincmarus to detect and confute that Error by evincing clearly that God's Predestination forces no man to Sin So from the beginning and first rise of Popery that centre and sink of Errors we have a large Catalogue of the Learned and Famous Witnesses which in all Ages have faithfully resisted and opposed it and when notwithstanding all it had even over-run Europe like a rapid Torrent or rather Inundation of the Ocean And Germany was brought to that pass that if the Pope had but Commanded it they would have eaten Grass or Hay more pecudum Then did the Lord bring forth Invincible Luther and with him a troop of Learned Champions into the field against him since which time the Cause of Popery is become desperate Thus the care of Providence in all ages hath been as much displayed in protecting the Church against the dangers that arose from false Brethren within it as from avowed persecuting Enemies without it and had it not been so the rank Weeds of Heresies and Errors had long since overtopt and choaked the Corn and made the Church a barren●Field Twelfth Observation The want of a modest Suspition and just reflection gives both confidence and growth to Erroneous Opinions If matters of meer Opinion were kept in their proper place under the careful guard of Suspition they would not make that bustle and confusion in the Churches they have done and do at this day 'T is confessed that all Truths are not matters of meer Opinion neither are all Opinions of equal weight and value and therefore not to be left hanging in an equipendious Scepticisme And yet it is as true that matrers of Opinion o●ght carefully to be sorted from matters of Faith and to be kept in their own rank and class as things doubtful quibus potest subesse falsum whilst matters of Faith clearly revealed are to stand upon their own sure and firm Basis. The former viz. matters of meer Opinion we are so to hold as upon clearer light to be ready to part with them and give them up into the hands of Truth The other viz. matters of Faith we are to hold with resolutions to Live and Dye by them What is Opinion but the wavering of the understanding betwixt probable Arguments for and against a point of Doctrine So that it 's rather an inclination than an assertion as being accompanied with Fear Floating and Inconstancy In such cases there should be a due concession and allowance of other mens Opinions to them and why not whilst they offer as fair for the Truth as we And haply their Parts Helps and Industries arenot inferior to ours it may be beyond them and we may discern in them as much tenderness of Conscience and fear of Sin as in our selves In this case a little more modest Suspicion in our Opinions would do the Church a great deal of right and that which should prevail with all modest persons to exercise it is the just reflection they may make upon their own former confident mistakes Thirteenth Observation There is a remarkable involution or concatenation of Errors one linking in and drawing another after it Amongst all Erroneous Sects there is still some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some Helena for whose sake the war against Truth is commenced and the other lesser Errors are press'd for the sake and service of this leading darling Error As we see the whole Troop of Indulgences Bulls Masses Pilgrimages Purgatory with multitudes more flow from and are press'd into the Service of the Pope's Supremacy and Infallibility So in other Sects men are forc●d to entertain many other Errors which in themselves considered they have no great kindness for but they are necessitated to entertain them in defence of that great leading darling Opinion they first espoused Those that cry up and trumpet abroad the Soveraign power of Free-will even without the preventing Grace of God enabling men to supernatural works as if the Will alone had escaped all damage by the Fall

hateth Errors Rev. 2. 6. the God of Order and hates Confusions and Schisms in his Church 1 Cor. 14. 33. is yet pleased to permit Errors and Heresies to arise without whose permission they could never spring And this he doth for the tryal of his Peoples Faith and Constancy and for a spiritual punishment upon some men for the abuse of his known Truths and by the permission of these Evils he advanceth his own Glory and the good of his Church and People Augustine answers that Question Why doth not God since he hates Errors sweep them out of the World Because saith he it is an act of greater power to bring good out of evil than not to suffer Evils to be at all Satan's Design in Errors is to cloud and darken God's Name and precious Truths to destroy the Beauty Strength and Order of the Church But God's ends in permitting and sending Errors are 1. to plague and punish men for their abuse of Light 2 Thess. 2. 11. For this cause God shall send them strong Delusions c. 2. To prove and try the Sincerity and Constancy of our hearts Deut. 13. 1 3. I Cor. 11. 19. And lastly By these things the Saints are awakened to a more diligent search of the Scriptures which are the more critically read and examined upon the tryal of Spirits and Doctrines by them 1 Ioh. 4. 1. Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits And Rev. 2. 2. Thou hast tried them that say they are Apostles c. The Prevention Though Heresies and Errors must for the Reasons assigned break forth into the World and God will turn them eventually into his own glory and the benefit of his Church yet it is a dreadful judgment to be delivered over to a spirit Error to eb the Authors and Abetters of them this is a judicial stroke of God and as ever we hope to escape and stand clear out of the way of it let us carefully shun these three following Causes and Provocations thereof 1. Want of love to the Truth which God hath made to shine about us in the means or into us by actual illumination under the means of knowledge 2 Thess. 2. 10 11. Because they received not the love of Truth God gave them up to strong Delusions They are justly plagued with Error that slight Truth False Doctrines are fit Plagues for false Hearts 2. Beware of Pride and Wantonness of Mind 'T is not so much the Weakness as the Wantonness of the Mind which provokes God to inflict this Judgment None likelier to make Seducers than Boasters Iude 16. Arrius gloried that God had revealed some things to him which were hidden from the Apostles themselves Simon Magus boasted himself to be the mighty Power of God The erroneous Pharisees loved the praises of Men. When the Papist reproached Luther that he affected to have his Disciples called Lutherans he replyed Non sic ô fatue non sic oro ut nomen meum taceatur he disdain'd that the Children of Christ should be called by so vile a name as his 3. Beware you neglect not Prayer to be kept sound in your Judgments and guided by the Spirit into all Truth Psal. 119. 10. With my whole heart have I sought thee O let me not wander or err from thy Commandments This do and you are safe from such a judicial Tradition The First Cause We shall next speak of the Causes of Error found in the evil Dispositions of the Subjects which prepare and incline them to receive Erroneous Doctrine and Opinions and even catch at the Occasions and least Sparkles of Temptation as dry Tinder and amongst these is found 1. A perverse wrangling Humour at the pretended OBSCURITY of the Scriptures The Romish Party snatch at this Occasion and make it the proper Cause when indeed it is but a pickt Occasion of the Errors and Mistakes among men They tell us the Scriptures are so difficult obscure and perplext that if private men will trust to them as their only Guide they will inevitably run into Errors and their only relief is to give up their Souls to the conduct of their Church whereas indeed the true Cause of Error is not so much in the Obscurity of the Word as in the corruption of the mind 1 Tim. 6. 5. 2 Tim. 3. 8. We do acknowledge there are in the Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some things hard to be understood 2 Pet. 3. 16. the sublime and mysterious nature of the matter rendering it so and some things hard to be interpreted from the manner of expression as indeed all mystical parts of Scripture and Prophetical predictions are and ought to be delivered The Spirit of God this way designedly casts a veil over them till the proper season of their revelation and accomplishment be come Besides as the Learned Glassius observes in Paul's style there are found some peculiar words and forms of speech which ordinary Rules of Grammar take no notice nor give any parallel Examples of as to be buried with Christ to be baptized into his death to which I may add to be circumcised in him c. There are also multitude of words found in Scripture of various and vastly different Significations and accordingly there is a diversity and sometimes a contrariety of senses given of them by Expositors which to an Humourist or quarrelsome Wit gives an occasion to vent his Errors with a plausible appearance of Scripture-consent And indeed Tertullian saith Non periclitor dicere ipsas Scripturas ità dispositas esse ut materiam subministrarent Haereticis The Scriptures are so disposed that Hereticks may pick Occasions and those that will not be satisfied may be hardened See Mark 4. 11 12. But all this notwithstanding the great and necessary things to our Salvation are so perspicuously and plainly revealed in the Scriptures that even Babes in Christ do apprehend and understand them Matth. 11. 25. 1 Cor. 1. 27 28 29. And though there be difficulties in other points more remote from the foundation yet the Spirit of God is not to be accused but rather his Wisdom to be admired herein For 1. this serves to excite our most intense study and diligence which by this difficulty is made necessary Prov. 2. 3 4 5. the very Prophets yea the very Angels search into these things 1 Pet. 1. 11 12. 2. Hereby a standing Ministry in the Church is made necessary Nehem. 8. 8. Eph. 4. 11 12 13. So that to pretend Obscurity of Scripture to be the culpable cause of Error when indeed the fault is in our selves this is too much like our Father Adam which would implicitly accuse God to exc●se himself he laid it upon the Woman which God gave him and we upon the Scriptures which God hath given us The Remedies The proper Remedies and Preventives in this case are an heedful attendance to and practice of these Rules Rule I. Let all obscure and difficult Texts of Scripture be constantly examined and expounded according to the

them that feared the Lord and thought upon his Name Oh happy time Halcion days I my self remember the time when the Zeal of the Saints spent it self in provoking one another to Love and Good Works in joint and fervent Prayer in inward experimental and edifying Communion my Soul hath them still in remembrance and is cast down within me For alas alas how do I see every where Christian Communion turned into vain janglings Churches and Families into meer Cock-pits Mens Discoursings falling as naturally into contentions about trifles as they were wont to do into Heavenly and Experimental Subjects to the unspeakable disgrace and damage of Religion Fourth Defensative That Opinion is justly to be suspected for erroneous which comes in at the Postern-door of the Affections and not openly and fairly ar the right Gate of an enlightned and well-satisfied judgment 'T is a Thief that cometh in at the back-door at least strongly to be suspected for one Truth Courts the Mistriss makes its first and fair Addresses to the Understanding Error bribes the Handmaid and labours first to win the Affections that by their influence it may corrupt the Judgment And thus you see besides the innocent Occasion viz. God's Permission of Errors in the World for the tryal of his people Nine proper Causes of Errors found in the evil dispositions of the minds of Men which prepare them to receive erroneous Doctrines and Impressions viz. 1. A wrangling humour at the pretended Obscurity of Scripture 2. The Abuse of that Christian Liberty purchased by Christ. 3. Slothfulness in searching the whole Word of God 4. Fickleness and Instability of Judgment 5. Eagerness after Anodines to ease a distressed Conscience 6. An easy Credulity in following the Judgments and Examples of others 7. Vain Curiosity and prying into unrevealed Secrets 8. The Pride and Arrogancy of Human Reason 9. Blind Zeal which spurs on the Soul and runs it upon dangerous precipices We next come to consider the principal Impulsive Cause by which Errors are propagated and disseminated in the World Cause X. Come we next in the proper order to consider the Principal Impulsive Cause of Errors which is SATAN working upon the predisposed matter he finds in the corrupt Nature of Man The Centurists speaking of the strange and sudden growth of Errors and Heresies immediately after the planting of the Gospel by Christ and the Apostles ascribe it to Satan Satan is a Lyar from the beginning and abode not in the Truth He hates it with a deadly hatred and all the Children and Friends of Truth And this hatred he manifesteth sometimes by raising furious storms of persecution against the sincere Professors of it Rev. 3. 10. and sometimes by Clouds of Heresies and Errors with design to darken it In the former he acts as a roaring Lyon in the latter as a subtil Serpent 2 Cor. 11. ● I fear lest as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. He is exceeding skilful and dexterous in citing and wresting the Scriptures to serve his vile designs and purposes and as impudently daring as he is crafty and cunning as appears in the History of Christ's temptation in the desart Matt. 4. 6. where he cites one part of that promise Psal. 91. 11. and suppresseth the rest shows the encouragement viz. He shall give his Angels charge over thee but clips off the limitation of it viz. to keep thee in all thy ways In viis non in praecipitiis In our lawful ways not in rash and dangerous precipices as Bernard well glosseth And 't is worth observation that he introduceth multitudes of Errors into the World under the unsuspected notions of admirable Prophylacticks and approved Preservatives from all mischiefs and dangers from himself Under this notion he hath neatly and covertly slided into the World Holy-water Crossings Reliques of Saints and almost innumerable other superstitious Rites Erroneous Teachers are the Ministers of Satan however they transform themselves into Ministers of Righteousness 2 Cor. 11. 15. and the subtil dangerous Errors they broach are fitly stiled by the Spirit of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the depths of Satan Rev. 2. 24. The corrupt Teachers the Gnosticks c. called them Depths i. e. great mysteries high and marvellous attainments in knowledg but the Spirit of God fits a very proper Epithete to them They are Satanical depths and Mysteries of Iniquity Now the level and design of Satan herein is double First He aims at the ruin and damnation of those that vent and propagate them upon which account the Apostle calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 2. 1. destructive or as we render it damnable Heresies And because God will preserve the Souls of his own from this mortal Contagion therefore Secondly He endeavours by lesser Errors to busy the minds and check the growth of Grace in the Souls of the Saints by employing them about things so foreign to true godliness and the power thereof Heb. 13. 9. The Remedies The Rules for prevention and recovery are these that follow Rule I. Pray earnestly for a thorow change of the state and temper of thy Soul by sound Conversion and Regeneration Conversion turns us from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God Acts 26. 18. They are his own slaves and vassals that are taken captive by him at his will 2 Tim. 2. 16. A Sanctified heart is a Soveraign defensative against Erroneous Doctrines it furnishes the Soul with spiritual eyes judicious ears and a distinguishing taste by which it may discern both good and evil truth and error Heb. 5. 14. yea it puts the Soul at once under the conduct of the Spirit and protection of the Promise Ioh. 16. 13. and though this doth not secure a Man from all lesser mistakes yet it effectually secures him from greater ones which are inconsistent with Christ and Salvation Rule II. Acquaint your selves with the wiles and methods of Satan and be not ignorant of his devices 2 Cor. 2. 11. When once you understand the wash and paint with which he sets off the ugly face of Error you will not easily be enamoured with it Pretences of Devotion upon one side and of Purity Zeal and Reformation upon the other though they be pleasant sounds to both ears yet the wary Soul will examine before it receive and admit Doctrinal Points under these gilded Titles Those that have made their Observations upon the stratagems of Satan will heedfully observe both the tendency of Doctrines and the Lives of their Teachers and if they find looseness pride wantonness in them it is not a glorious title or magnificent name that shall charm them They know Satan can transform himself into an Angel of Light and no wonder if his Ministers also be transformed into Ministers of Righteousness 2 Cor. 11. 14 15. Rule III. Resign your Minds and Judgments in fervent Prayer to the Government of Christ and

or commit murther God sees no sin in him with much more of the same Bran which I will not transcribe But others there be whose Judgments are unhappily tainted and leavened with these loose Doctrines yet being in the main godly persons they dare not take liberty to sin or live in the neglect of known duties though their Principles too much incline that way But though they dare not others will who imbibe corrupt notions from them and the renowned Piety of the Authors will be no antidote against the danger but make the Poison operate the more powerfully by receiving it in such a vehicle Now it is highly probable such men as these might be charmed into such dangerous Opinions upon such accounts as these 1. 'T is like some of them might have felt in themselves the anguish of a perplexed Conscience under sin and not being able to live with these terrors of the Law and dismal fears of Conscience might too hastily snatch at those Doctrines which promise them relief and ease as I noted before in the 5th Cause of my Treatise of Errors And that this is not a guess at random will appear from the very Title-page of Mr. Saltmarsh's marsh's Book of Free-grace where as an inducement to the Reader to swallow his Antinomian Doctrine he shews him this curious Bait. It is saith he an experiment of Iesus Christ upon one who hath been in the bondage of a troubled Conscience at times for the space of about twelve years till now upon a clearer discovery of Iesus Christ in the Gospel c. 2. Others have been induced to espouse these Opinions from the excess of their Zeal against the Errors of the Papists who have notoriously corrupted the Doctrine of Iustification by Free-grace decried imputed and exalted inberent Righteousness above it The Papists have designedly and industriously sealed up the Scriptures from the People lest they should there discover those sovereign and effectual Remedies which God hath provided for their distressed Consciences in the riches of his own Grace and the meritorious Death of Christ and so all their Masses Pilgrimages Auricular Confessions with all their dear Indulgences should lie upon their hands as stale and cheap Commodities Oh said Stephen Gardiner let not this gap of Free-grce be op●ned to the People But as soon as the Light of Reformation had discovered the Free-grace of God to Sinners which is indeed the only effectual remedy of distressed Consciences and by the same Light the horrid Cheats of the Man of Sin were discovered all good men who were enlightened by the Reformation justly and deeply abhorred Popery as the Enemy of the Grace of God and true Peace of Conscience and fixed themselves upon the sound and comfortable Doctrines of Justification by Faith through the alone Righteousness of Christ. Mean while thankfully acknowledging that they which believe ought also to maintain good Works But others there were transported by an indiscreet Zeal who have almost bended the Grace of God as far too much the other way and have both spoken and written many things very unbecoming the Grace of God and tending to looseness and neglect of Duty 3. 'T is manifest that others of them have been ingulphed and suckt into those dangerous Quick-sands of Antinomian Errors by separating the Spirit from the written Word If once a man pretend the Spirit without the Scriptures to be his Rule whither will not his own deluding Fancies carry him under a vain and sinful pretence of the Spirit In the Year 1528. when Helsar Traier and Seekler were confuted by Hallerus and their Errors about Oaths Magistrates and Paedo-baptism were detected by him and by Colvius at Bern that which they had to say for themselves was That the Spirit taught them otherwise than the letter of the Scriptures speaks So dangerous it is to separate what God hath conjoined and father our own Fancies upon the Holy Spirit 4. And it is not unlike but a comparative weakness and injudiciousness of mind meeting with a fervent zeal for Christ and his Glory may induce others to espouse such taking and plausible tho pernicious Doctrines They are not aware of the dangerous Consequences of the Opinions they embrace and what looseness may be occasioned by them I speak not of Occasions taken but given by such Opinions and Expressions A good Man will draw excellent Inferences of duty from the very same Doctrine Instance that of the shortness of time from whence the Apostle infers abstinence strictness and diligence 1 Cor. 7. 29. but the Epicure infers all manner of dissolute and licentious practices Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die 1 Cor. 15 22. The best Doctrines are this way liable to abuse But let all good men beware of such Opinions and Expressions as give an handle to wicked men to abuse the Grace of God which haply the Author himself dare not do and may strongly hope others may not do but if the Principle will yield it 't is in vain to think corrupt Nature will not catch at it and make a vile use and dangerous improvement of it For example If such a Principle as this be asserted for a truth before the World That men need not fear that any or all the Sins they commit shall do them any hurt let the Author or any man in the World warn and caution Readers as the Antinomian Author of that Expression hath done not to abuse this Doctrine 't is to no purpose The Doctrine it self is full of dangerous Consequents and wicked men have the best skill to infer and draw them forth to cherish and countenance their Lusts that which the Author might design for the relief of the distressed quickly turns it self into poison in the bowels of the wicked nor can we excuse it by saying any Gospel-truth may be thus abused for this is none of that number but a Principle that gives offence to the godly and encouragement to the ungodly And so much as to the rise and occasion of Antinomian Errors II. In the next place let us view some of the chief Doctrines commonly called Antinomian amongst which there will be found a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the radical and most prolifique Error from which most of the rest are spawned and procreated Error I. I shall begin with the dangerous mistake of the Antinomians in the Doctrine of Iustification The Article of Justification is deservedly stiled by our Divines Articulus stantis vel cadentis Religionis the very Pillar of the Christian Religion In two things however I must do the Antinomians right 1. In acknowledging that though their Errors about Justification be great and dangerous yet they are not so much about the substance as about the mode of a Sinner's Justification An Error far inferior to the Error of the Papists who depress the Righteousness of Christ and exalt their own inherent Righteousness in the business of Justification ● I am bound in charity to believe that some

among them do hold those Errors but speculatively whilst the Truth lies nearer their hearts and will not suffer them to reduce their own Opinions into practice Now as to their Errors about Justification the most that I have read do make Iustification to be an immanent and eternal act of God and do affirm the Elect were justified before themselves or the World had a being Others come lower and affirm the Elect were justified at the time of Christ's death With these Dr. Crisp harmonizes Error II. That Justification by Faith is no more but a manifestation to us of what was really done before we had a being Hence Mr. Saltmarsh thus defines Faith It is saith he a being perswaded more or less of Christ's love to us so that when we believe that which was hid before doth then appear God saith another cannot charge one sin upon that man who believes this truth That God laid his Iniquities upon Christ. Error III. That men ought not to doubt of their Faith or question Whether they believe or no. Nay That we ought no more to question our Faith than to question Christ. Saltm Of Free-grace p. 92 95. Error IV. That Believers are not bound to confess Sin mourn for it or pray for the forgiveness of it because it was pardoned before it was committed and pardoned Sin is no Sin See Eaton 's Honey-comb p. 446 447. Error V. They say that God sees no Sin in Believers whatsoever Sins they commit Some of them as Mr. Town and Mr. Eaton speak out and tell us That God can see no Adultery no Lying no Blasphemy no Cozening in Believers For though Believers do fall into such Enormities yet all their Sins being pardoned from Eternity they are no Sins in them Town 's Assertions 96 97 98. Eaton's Honey-comb chap. 7. p. 136 137. with others of a more pious Character than they Error VI. That God is not angry with the Elect nor doth he smite them for their Sins and to say that he doth so is an injurious Reflection upon the Justice of God This is avouched generally in all their Writings Error VII They tell us That by God's laying our Iniquities upon Christ he became as compleatly sinful as we and we as compleatly righteous as Christ. Vide Dr. Crisp p. 270. Error VIII Upon the same ground it is that they affirm That Believers need not fear either their own Sins or the Sins of others for that neither their own nor any other mens Sins can do them any hurt nor must they do any duty for their own Salvation Error IX They will not allow the New Covenant to be made properly with us but with Christ for us and that this Covenant is all of it a Promise having no Condition on our part They do not absolutely deny that Faith Repentance and Obedience are Conditions in the New Covenant but say They are not Conditions on our part but Christ's and that he repented believed and obeyed for us Saltmarsh of Free-grace p. 126 127. Error X. They speak very slightingly of trying our selves by marks and signs of Grace Saltmarsh often calls it a weak low carnal way but the New-England Antinomians or Libertines call it a fundamental Error to make Sanctification an evidence of Justification that it is to light a Candle to the Sun that it darkens our Justification and that the darker our Sanctification is the brighter our Justification is See their Book entitled Rise Reign Error 72. In this Breviate or summary Account of Antinomian Doctrines I have only singled out and touched some of their principal Mistakes and Error into which some of them run much farther than others But I look upon such Doctrines to be in themselves of a very dangerous nature and the malignity and contagion would certainly spread much farther into the World than it doth had not God provided two powerful Antidotes to resist the malignity Viz. 1. The scope and current of Scripture 2. The experience and practice of the Saints 1. These Doctrines run cross to the scope and current of the Scriptures which constantly speak of all unregenerate Persons without exception of the very Elect themselves during that state as Children of wrath even as others without Christ and under condemnation They frequently discover God's Anger and tell us his castigatory Rods of affliction are laid upon them for their Sins They represent Sin as the greatest Evil most opposite to the Glory of God and good of the Saints and are therefore filled with Cautions and Threatnings to prevent their sinning They call the Saint frequently and earnestly not only to mourn for their Sins before the Lord but to pray for the pardon or remission of them in the blood of Christ. They give us a far different account of saving Faith and do not place it in a persuasion more or less of Christ's love to us or a manifestation in our Consciences of the actual remission of our Sins before we had a being but in our receiving Christ as the Gospel offers him for righteousness and life They frequently call the People of God to the examination and trial of their Interest in Christ by marks and signs and accordingly furnish them with variety of such marks from the divers parts or branches of Sanctification in themselves They earnestly and every-where press Believers to strictness and constancy in the duties of Religion as the way wherein God would have them to walk They infer Duties from Privileges and therefore the Antinomian Dialect is a wild note which the generality of serious Christians do easily distinguish from the Scripture-stile and Language 2. The Experience and Practice of the Saints recorded in Scripture as well as our Contemporaries or those whose Lives are recorded for our imitation do greatly secure us from the spreading malignity of Antinomianism Converse with the living or read the Histories of dead Saints and you shall find That in their Addresses to God they still bless and praise him for that great and wonderful change of state which was made upon them when they first believed in Christ and on their believing passed from death to life freely acknowledging before God they were before their conversion equal in sin and misery with the vilest Wretches in the World They heartily mourn for their daily Sins fear nothing more than Sin no Afflictions in the World go so near their heart as Sin doth They mourn for the hardness of their hearts that they can mourn no more for Sin They acknowledge the Rods of God that are upon them are not only the evidences of his displeasure against them for their Sins but the fruits of their uneven walking with him And that the greatest of their Afflictions is less than the least of their Iniquities deserve They fall at their Father's feet as oft as they fall into sin humbly and earnestly suing for pardon through the Blood of Christ. They are not only sensible that God sees Sin in them but that he seeth such