to have 5. And Lastly Self-Love makes Men unwilling to be taken notice of or known by others to be in an Errour they think it will reflect on them and redound to their Shame and how unwilling are Men through this same Self-Love to bear the shame of having taken up and entertained Errour instead of Truth tho to recede from Errour would more redound to their Honour than the embracement of it redounds to their Dishonour To err is Humane willingly to persist in Errour is Diabolical to acknowledg and relinquish Errour upon due Conviction is truly Christian and how much better is it for and how much greater an Honour to a Man by a free owning and relinquishing of an Errour to approve himself a true Christian than by a wilful persisting therein for the concealing his Frailties and Infirmities as a Man to gain the repute of Devillish But to put a Close to this and having declared the marvellous proneness of Man as in this fallen and corrupted Estate unto Errour and his usual tenaciousness of it when embraced with the Causes of the one and the other I shall now according to assistance given make some Improvement of what hath been said There is it is true another Doctrine obvious in our Text but that I shall take in in the Application Several Uses might be made to point at some few of them 1. Hence we may infer That there is no just Reason why any should stumble or be offended at the Christian Doctrine or at Religion on the account of the variety of Errours and Heresies found among the Professours of it those Errours and Heresies proceed not from the Doctrine it self Truth is uniform and consonant to it self not is there any reason why any should impute the abounding of Errours and Heresies among Christians to the Scriptures themselves as tho either they were defective in the Revelations of Truth or did by their Darkness render the Knowledg of it unattainable by any There is a full Revelation of Truth made in them and the Knowledg of Truth as contained in them is plain to him that understandeth Neither do those Errours and Heresies proceed from any influence the Doctrine of Christianity hath upon the Minds of Men but they proceed from the Pravity of Man's Nature from Satan and the just Wrath and Displeasure of God against Men. Now there are too many that take up a Profession of Religion that are wholly Flesh in an unregenerate Estate and alas there is too much Flesh too much of that Corruption and Pravity of Nature contracted by the Fall yet remaining in those that are Regenerate and as for those that are wholly Unregenerate they are subject to Satan he worketh effectually in them and as for those that are Regenerate Satan has yet too much Power over them and too many advantages against them and besides God is often provoked by Men to send them strong Delusions The abounding of Errours and Heresies in these Lands wherein we dwell is none of the least Evidences of the Wrath and Displeasure of God against them and Professours in them and from all it is no wonder that Errours and Heresies do so much abound It is to be ascribed to the Grace and Goodness of God that they abound no more Let but Errours and Heresies be resolved into and assigned unto their true and proper Causes and they will be sound to be no just ground of stumbling unto any at the Doctrine of Christ or at Religion professed by Christians 2. Hence we may learn how unmeet and unfit Man as in himself is to be entrusted with Truth in the holding of it forth unto others and yet that is a Trust God has reposed in his Church and consequently in every Member thereof according to their disserent Stations and Capacity therein Hence the Church is said to be the Pillar and Ground of Truth 1 Tim. 3.16 and hereby God doth greatly magnify his Church and People but Men no not the best of Men are to be trusted as absolutely considered in themselves and therefore God hath constituted Jesus Christ the Head Shepherd and Bishop of his Church hath entrusted Truth firstly in his Hand and it highly concerns all Christians to walk humbly with and in a continual holy dependance on him to be by him led into and preserved in all Truth that so they may hold it forth unto others otherwise they will fail in the discharge of their Trust they will take up and hold fast Errour instead of Truth 3. Hence we may infer the necessity that Man as in this fallen and depraved Estate lyeth under some extrinsecal Means whereby he may come to the knowledg of be guided into and preserved in the Truth It must be by some Revelation either mediately or immediately from God that Men must come to the knowledg of Truth Man if left to himself not only his natural Inclination unto Errour but the weakness and shallowness of his own Understanding will necessarily subject him to variety of Mistakes and Errours and that in and about those Things the knowledg of which is indispensably necessary to Happiness and Blessedness Man 's own Understanding is no safe Guide for him to follow in the concerns of his Soul and Eternity it will certainly mislead him therefore is that Caution given us by the wisest of Men and he guided by the Spirit of the All-wise God Lean not to thine own Vnderstanding Prov. 3.5 Those that are led by the meer Light of their own Understandings as those who pretend to a Light within in opposition to the Light of the Scriptures or that which is instrumentally communicated by them at best are will infallibly be led into the Pit even the Pit of everlasting Destruction It is only the Light and Truth that is the true Light of God that Light contained in and communicated by the Scriptures that can infallibly lead any of the Sons and Daughters of fallen Adam into his holy Hill scil Heaven Psal 43.4 4. Hence we may infer the Goodness of God to fallen Man in particular to our selves And as the Goodness of God is variously expressed so eminently in the Provision he hath made for our Guidance into and Establishment in the Truth and Preservation from Error What Provision God hath made with the Fulness and Sufficiency thereof shall be taken notice of in the close of this Discourse At present I shall only say that that marvelous proneness unto Errors that is connatural unto all Saints themselves so far as unrenewed not excepted with the strange Influence that it hath on the minds of Men when once imbraced should greatly raise our Esteem of that Provision made fill our Hearts with admiration at the Goodness of God expressed therein and be matter of continual Praise and Thanksgivings unto him Praise ye the Lord Oh Jerusalem praise thy God Oh Zion saith the Psalmist Ps 147.12 and the principal benefit he instances in as calling for Praise is this He sheweth
Transgressions your Rebellions and more gross Evils but he will not forgive your Sins your Errors or Mistakes and Miscarriages arising from them tho of an inferiour Nature I say had but Christians these Words always sounding in their Ears with a due sense of their Importance upon their Hearts as Jerome had his Surge veni in Judicium which added to the former would make them more efficacious they would be more wary of imbracing any Error and more ready to relinquish it when detected than too commonly they are Christians do not study and labour to acquaint themselves with the infinite Holiness and Jealousy of God get and keep a due sense thereof upon their Hearts as they ought to doe To study and weigh Doctrines and Practices whether only proposed or actually embraced with a right Apprehension of the infinite Holiness and Jealousy of God in the Mind and a due sense of the one and the other upon the Heart would prevent the Embracement of many Errors when proposed and produce the Relinquishment of others when actually taken up and embraced And here let me warn all to take heed of judging of the Holiness and Jealousy of God respective to his own People in especiall respective to themselves by sense 'T is not safe judging of any of the Attributes and Perfections of God by sense which yet Christians are too apt to do and hence not sensibly feeling or discerning of any of the Effects of them in and upon or with reference to themselves they either entertain Mistakes about or else have not a due Sense of what they have the right Notion of upon their Hearts Our Hearts are too commonly affected with what we know of God according as it is verified in sutable Effects upon or with reference to our selves when as God may and often doth manifest and verify his Attributes in Effects that are very secret and hidden at least that fall not in nor correspond with our Expectations or Suppositions and when they are so they are sometimes of most dreadful Consequence unto Men. Thus God may exert and verify his holy Jealousy in suffering Men to fall into and tenaciously hold an Error the Embracement and holding of which is of very dangerous Consequence to them when yet they perceive it not and therefore let us judg of the Holiness and Jealousy of God not by Sense but by Faith according to the Revelations he hath made thereof in his Word and answerably search the Scriptures weigh all Doctrines and Practices whether only proposed or actually embraced with a due Sence holy Awe and Dread of the Holiness and Jealousy of God upon our Hearts 2. The low Enjoyment that Christians generally have of the Communion of the Spirit 'T is one of the glorious Priviledges that our Lord Christ hath purchased and still intercedes for on the behalf of his People and 't is prayed for by the Apostle primarily on the behalf of the Corinthians and secundarily of all Saints 2 Cor. 13.14 yet it is not attained unto and enjoyed but in a lower degree by most of those in whose Hearts he habitually dwells whereby the Life of Grace is maintained in them Christians through their Carnality and Sensuality want of acting their Faith on Jesus Christ for the Spirit and holy Dependance on him for this Communion or through one Miscarriage or another greatly deprive themselves of this Priviledg And pardon me tho I say not to exempt any it is well if those who unadvisedly decry the Jewish Church as a Carnal Church are not themselves found not much exceeding them in Spirituality at least so many of them in most Ages as might justly give to the whole the Denomination of a Spiritual Church Alas we are all too carnal This is certain the more Spiritual any are the more of this Communion of the Spirit they have and the more of this Communion they have the greater is their Security from Error and answerably ordinarily the more free they are from it One of the great Ends of our Lord Christ in purchasing and leaving the Spirit with his Church was its Guidance into and Establishment in all Truth Had we but the Communion of the Spirit in that Fulness attainable even in this Life no sooner should we turn to the Right hand or to the Left but we should as the Prophet speaks hear a Word and that made effectual behind us saying This is the Way walk in it He would not only effectually restrain those corrupt Principles within inclining us to Error and causing our tenacious holding thereof and actuate that Principle of Love to Truth and Self-Denial wrought in Regeneration but would enlighten our Minds in and subdue our Heats unto an Embracement of Truth and consequently to a ready Relinquishment of Error how contrary unto self soever the one and the other may be 3. Christians ignorance of and unacquaintedness with themselves in especial as to their Proclivity unto Error and excess of Self-Love with the various Influences it hath upon their Minds may be assigned as another Cause concurring to the Evils before mentioned Error ex eo est homini quod sibi est incognitus They see not nor are sensible of these Evils in themselves and hence neither apply themselves to that vigorous Mortification of them nor so diligently watch against their Production of the evil Effects under consideration as they ought to do And this may be added that many if not most Christians seem less apprehensive of their danger in respect of these Evils than of most others that original Concupiscence manifests it self in The former of them is not so usually taken notice of and insisted upon by those who have laboured in the Discovery of the dreadful Corruption and Depravation of human Nature through the Fall of Man as most other Evils flowing therefrom are Hence Christians generally are not so apprehensive of the Infection of their Natures with this Evil nor of the Evil and Sinfulness of it as they are of others neither do the inward workings of these Evils make such sensible Impressions upon the Mind as the Workings of many others do yea as the former carries an Appearance of the Fruit of the Spirit whence many take a strong Inclination after new Notions and strange Doctrines to be the Efforts of Love unto Truth so the latter shrouds it self under the Notion of an inseparable Adjunct or essential Property of humane Nature Did but Christians know and consider their own Propensity unto Error and were more apprehensive of the Influence Self-Love may have upon them they would be more cautious of what Doctrines they embrace and more jealous over themselves lest it should be Error that they have embraced instead of Truth and consequently more willing to attend to Light offered unto them Hence it would be of singular Vse unto Christians to hearken to that Advice tho given by an Heathen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This I shall say would but all that love our Lord
No notwithstanding all the Menas used by him to bring them thereunto yea they fell short in that Knowledg and Wisdom that is in and exprest by the very Bruties as the following Context implies Hence the Prophet might well admire at and upbraid them as here he doth Why then is this People of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual Back-sliding or as some read it with an obstinate Rebellion Now the Prophet having thus endeavoured their Conviction that he might be instrumental in their recovery from this their asonishing Obstinacy in their Backsliding or Rebellion and consequently for the prevention of those Judgments which were impendent immediately points at the Cause thereof and that was their holding fast Deceit so in the Words designed as the Foundation to the ensuing Discourse They hold fast Deceit they refuse to return that is therefore they refuse to return Or they refuse to return because they hold fast Deceit In the Words then we have these two things considerable 1. The intrinsick Root Spring of Original Cause of the Jews Apostacy and Backsliding from God and his Ways and that was Deceit There were some Deceit embraced by them which was the Root or Spring of their Apstacy that 's implyed 2. We have the Cause of their obstinate persistance in this their Apostacy or Backsliding and that was their Tenaciousness of this Deceit In a word we have the Root and Spring of their Apostacy and Backsliding supposed and the Cause or Reason of their persistance proposed Briefly to explain the Terms and therewith shew the Genuine Sence and Meaning of the Holy Ghost in them and I shall take them as they lie in order before us They hold fast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Multas habet significationes sed omnes inter se aliquam cognationem habent Boot 't is but one Word in the Hebrew but a very emphatical one the Seventy translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have strengthned themselves so we translate it Gen. 2. and frequently elsewhere Hence from this Hebrew word comes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek possum or potens sum Thus these Jews they had so strengthned and confirmed themselves in Deceit that they were now become strong They hold it with strength And hence it is that we fitly translate They hold fast Deceit The Word isu sed to Pharaoh Exod. 8.19 Then the Magicians said unto Pharaoh This is the Finger of God And Pharaoh 's Heart was beardned and he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said Where the Seventy translate it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Word we have Heb. 3.8 Harden not your Hearts as in the Provocation c. So we may translate in this place They were hardned or they have hardned themselves in Deceit They became obstinate therein Durum quod non cedit tactui Thus their Hearts would not yield to the Word of God by the Prophet the Word had no influence upon their Hearts to work a Conviction upon them Elsewhere the Seventy translate it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viriliter ago So Deut. 31.6 7. 23. We read Be strong the Seventy Play the Man Thus here these Jews they play the Men in holding fast their Deceit The Lord complains Jer. 9.3 that they are not Valiant for the Truth c. but they were valiant for Deceit they could play the Men in holding that fast Yet once more the Word signifies to Prevail 2 Sam. 24.4 Notwithstanding the King's words prevailed c. The Word which we here translate Hold fast we there translate Prevailed Joab tho loth to obey the King's Command yet his Command prevailed over him We have the Word again used in Job 2.3 And still he holdeth fast his Integrity that is he prevailed in holding his Integrity Job had his Discouragements in holding yea he had many Temptations to let go his Integrity Satan endeavoured with all his Might to wring it out of his hands his Wife sollicites him to let it go the Dispensations of God were no small Temptation to him to part with it The Psalmist was well nigh brought to part with his Integrity through the like Dispensation of God towards him as may be seen by comparing Psalm 73. beginning with 13. Yet Job prevails over and conquers all still holding fast his Integrity Thus was it with the Jews in an evil Sence they wanted not a sufficiency of Means for their Conviction they wanted not fore-warnings of the Miseries which they would bring upon themselves but they prevailed over and conquered all and still held fast their Deceit and thereupon refused to Return Yet further the Word signifies not only to hold or to hold fast but also to receive take up or take hold of 2 Sam. 15.5 It 's said there of Absalom When any Man came nigh to him to do him obeysance he put forth his hand and took him and kissed him The Seventy turn it both by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pagnine reads it Apprehenderunt in our Text and so it notes the freeness and readiness of the Jews to receive this Deceit they readily received and took it up and thereupon held it fast Yea they strengthned and confirmed yea hardned themselves in it they play the Men improve all their Parts and Abilities to maintain it and do actually prevail over and conquer all Means used to convince them of and reclaim them from it They hold fast Deceit the Word used is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Seventy read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they strengthned themselves in their Choice implying the closure of their Wills with their Deceit and thence in part it was that they held it so fast The Word seems to include a Notion of Subtilty Cunning or Craft in it hence we read it Subtilty Gen. 27.35 And he said thy Brother came with Subtilty c. And indeed all Deceit must have somewhat of Cunning or Subtilty in it otherwise it would bewray it self and consequently become its own Antidote seeing no Man will ordinarily embrace Deceit as known to be so The Hook must be well covered otherwise the Fish will not meedle with it Deceit must have somewhat of Craft to conceal it Hence Seducers are said to have their Slights and cunning Craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive Eph. 4.14 The silliest of Women as the Apostle speaks would hardly otherwise be led away by them Thus here the Jews hold fast subtile or cunning Deceit Deceit cunningly contrived and obtruded upon them But what was this Deceit I Answer Some take Deceit for those Evils whether Religious as Idolatry or Moral as Impieties in their Conversations that the Jews were seduced into but I rather conceive with others we are to understand Fraudes Pseudo-Prophetarum the false Doctrines preached by the false Prophets So the Word is used by this our Prophet Jer. 14.14 Then the Lord said unto me The Prophets prophesy lies in my Name I
Christ may and probably will if not condemn yet sharply reprove and correct us But of this more hereafter II. That not only the Men of the World but even the People of God themselves may yea are prone to take up and embrace Errour instead of Truth and having taken it up they too commonly are exceeding tenacious of it In the Prosecution of this Doctrine tho I shall have a peculiar respect to Men's Tenaciousness of Errour when embraced by them yet I shall speak somewhat to their Propensity to take it up and embrace it instead of Truth And answerably I shall do these three things First Offer somewhat for the Illustration and Confirmation of it Secondly Shew whence it is that so it is And Thirdly Make some Application For the First And thus the Doctrine may be abundantly proved from various Considerations But to mention some few of them As 1. From the Consideration of the Nature and Quality of Errours that are taken up and tenaciously held by some Men. 2. The slight Ground Men will take up Errours upon with the strange shifts they will use for their own Defence and Justification in their holding of them 3. Their apparent Dissonancy from yea as to some direct Contrariety to plain and express Scripture 4. The utter inconsistency of the Embracement and holding such Errours with Men's own Interests and that both internal and external and consequently their want of any rational Inducements to do the one or the other 5. Men's obstinate refusal of the Means offered for their Information and Conviction These things with others of a like Nature plainly shew how strangely prone Men are to take up and embrace Errour instead of Truth and tenaciously to hold it when once taken up and embraced by them But designing Brevity I shall not insist upon these things but only Illustrate and Confirm what is affirmed by way of Instance and I shall confine my self to these two or three only premissing this That what the Scripture records either of the proneness of any particular Person to embrace Errour instead of Truth or of their Tenaciousness of it when embraced that is not to be understood as tho those Evils were peculiar and proper to those particular Persons but they declare the Case of Men in general as in this depraved and corrupted State respective unto Errour These Instances shew the Nature and Property of Men in general how prone and propense they are unto Errour both to take it up and embrace it instead of Truth and how tenacious usually they are of it when taken up and embraced by them This being premised I shall first instance in the Galatians and they are a strange Instance in special of the proneness of Men yea of such as are truly Regenerate for so undoubtedly many of them were to take up and embrace Errour instead of Truth The Apostle speaks to them on this Account as tho they had been bewitched Gal. 3.1 O Foolish Galatians who bath bewtiched you that you should not obey the Truth c. he had a respect to their strange Infatuation in relinquishing the Truth and their embracing Errour in the stead of it they seemed rather to be bewitched than by ordinary Means and in an ordinary Way to be drawn thereunto It is of no great Concern to know what kind of Witch-craft the Apostle hath reference unto whether that performed by the Eye that performed by uttering hard uncouth and unintelligible Words or that however performed whereby things are represented to the Eye in Forms Shapes or Appearances quite differing from what properly are their own He mighthave reference to any of these kinds of Witchcrafts according to the different derivation of the Word used by him But be the Witchcraft of what kind it will such was their Infatuation that he speaks to them as tho bewtiched And the strangeness of their Infatuation will appear if we consider these three things 1. The Difference between the Truth relinquished on the one hand and the Errour or Errours take it as a single or complicated Errour on the other hand taken up and embraced by them 2. By the Consideration of sundry things peculiarly remarkable in their Case which even according to Principles of Reason should have been engaging unto them to a stedfast Adherence unto the Truth 3. The Consideration of the suddenness and easiness of the false Teachers bringing them over to relinquish the Truth and to embrace the contrary Errour To touch upon these three things a little distinctly yet with what brevity I may 1. Let us consider the Difference between the Truth they had relinquished and the Errour they had embraced The Truth relinquished is contained in the Doctrine of the Gospel preached by the true Apostles the Errour they embraced was contained in the Doctrine of the false Teachers Now let us a little compare these different Doctrines the one with the other As for the Doctrine of the Gospel It is as the Apostle tell us a Doctrine worthy of all Acceptation 1 Tim. 1.15 It is a Doctrine of such Excellency Worth and Benefit unto Men that it puts a Beauty upon the very Feet of the Publishers of it Isa 52.7 In brief we may take this summary Account of it That it is a Doctrine revealing and offering unto all in general and assuring to all those in particular that sincerely Believe Embrace and Practise according to it full and compleat Justification Peace with God and Adoption with suitable Affections and Actings from God the in-dwelling Presence of the Spirit with perfect Sanctification gradually to be wrought by him and at last an Eternal Weight of Glory And all this from the meer Grace Mercy and Love of God through the alone Mediation of Jesus Christ This was the Doctrine which the Galatians had formerly embraced but now relinquished And we may rationally conclude that upon their embracement of it they had tasted of the blessed Effects thereof in the Peace of their Consciences with unspeakable Joy and the Comforts flowing therefrom Hence in part was that Blessedness they gloried in Gal. 4.15 How welcome must such a Doctrine needs be to poor Sinners awakened to a Sense of their Sin and Misery by reason of it According to the Principles of Reason such a Doctrine with the Blessedness enjoyed upon their embracement of it should have so commended it self to their Understandings Wills and Affections as that any Doctrine inconsistent with or contrary unto it should have been rejected with the greatest Abhorrency 2. Let us consider what the Doctrine of the false Teachers was And here it may be observed that their Doctrine did not lie in an absolute and total Contrariety to the Doctrine of the Gospel the Doctrine of the Gospel was only perverted by it Gal. 1.6 7. These false Aposiles did not deny the necessary of Faith in Christ nor did they deny it to be the Duty of his Disciples to obey all his Comands nor did they so far as we read
from him We can hardly suppose that Socrates acting only according to the meer Light of Nature would have laid down his Life in defence of that great Truth That there is but one God had he not expected a plenary Reward from God Now as Men from the very natural Notions they have of God may and do expect a satisfactory Reward for such Sufferings as these we now speak of so the Gospel assures the Embracers of it that this Reward shall be exceeding Great and also declares wherein it shall consist and when to be enjoyed Mat. 19. at the latter end Luke 6.22 23. 2 Cor. 4. the latter end c. Now these Galatians had not only these natural Notions of God that are common to all Men but they had these Assurances of the Gospel Hence it may be rationally concluded that they sometime had very great hopes of a glorious Reward for those Sufferings which they had undergone To these Hopes the Apostle may also have reference in that Gal. 4.13 where he puts them in mind of their boasting of Blessedness viz. in which they were at present but more especially hoped to be made partakers of through their embracement of practising according to and their Sufferings for that Doctrine which he had delivered unto them Hence suppose that the Doctrine preached by the Apostle Paul had been a false Doctrine yet in reason the hopes they had already conceived of so great a Reward might even have blinded their Minds and perverted their Judgments so as to have firmly adhered thereunto and rejected any other Doctrine contrary unto or inconsistent with it We see what a strange Influence the Pleasures Men have in and the hopes of Profit and Advantage which they have from the Ways of Sin have upon their Hearts both to blind their Minds and bribe their Judgments against their embracing of the Gospel But now suppose the Doctrine preached by the Apostle to be true and that Doctrine preached by the false Apostles to be false as it can hardly be imagined that they were above all suppositions that they might be so how great Loosers might they have easily foreseen that they should be and yet for them by relinquishing of that Doctrine they had received from the Apostle Paul and their embracing that Doctrine from the false Apostles to give up all their Hopes of any Blessings and Benefits by all their past Sufferings this argued the strange Influence that Errour had upon their Minds Lastly To instance only in one thing more and that is the strength and fervency of their Affections to the Apostle Paul as Preaching the true Doctrine of the Gospel unto them What a high value for and what fervent Affections towards him had they See Chap. 4. 14 15. They received him as an Angel of God and as he there tells them could have plucked out their own Eyes and given them to him Now it 's usually found that ordinary Professors are very much led to the embracement of and stedfastness in any Doctrine or Practice by the value they have for and the love they have to the Preachers of it Hence it was that the false Teachers endeavoured by all means imaginable to lower the Churches esteem of and to alienate their Affections from the Apostle Paul and on the other hand to commend themselves to them and to insinuate themselves into their Affections So the Apostle Paul was so careful to keep up his Reputation among them and retain their Affections towards him for this cause it is that he was so frequent and large in the vindicating of himself from the unjust Censures and Calumnies he was loaded with and in seemingly boasting of his own Endowments Actions Sufferings and Vouchsafements and that to such a Degree as had he not as himself speaks been compelled thereunto had been inexpedient yea had savoured of Folly for him to have done it Both the one and the other knew that the value Christians have for and the fervency of Affections they bear towards their Teachers have no small Interest in their ready embracement of and firm adherence to the Doctrines taught by them But that 's the second Consideration to shew the strange Infatuation of these Galatians and consequently in them we may see the marvellous Proneness and Propensity of Men yea of those that are truly regenerate while in this imperfect State unto Errour and answerably to take up and embrace that instead of Truth But 3. Let us consider how soon they were brought to relinquish Truth and embrace Errour This the Apostle admires see Gal. 1.6 I marvel saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that you are so soon so quickly or so easily removed from him that called you into another Gospel That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may refer either to the Apostles preaching the Gospel unto them and their embracement of it or to their embracement of that Doctrine they had now embraced from the false Teachers whereby the Gospel was perverted According to the former Reference the Apostle upbraids their Inconstancy according to the latter their Levity and he may as justly he might upbraid them with both more especially the latter The false Apostles it seemeth found little Difficulty in turning them from the Truth of the Gospel to the embracement of those Errours or Deceits preached by themselves they drew them into their Nets Nullo negotio as Paraeus speaks they were soon in a short space of time and with little difficulty on the part of the false Teachers brought to relinquish Truth and embrace Errour But to pass from this Instance let but these three things in the case of these Galatians be laid together and well weighed and we may see in them the strange Propensity of Man in this his fallen and corrupted State unto Errour otherwise it would be unaccountable whence it should be that they should relinquish such a glorious Truth and in the room and stead thereof embrace such a pernicious Errour and that notwithstanding so many things which even according to Principles of Reason should have obliged them to a constant adherence to the Truth and a resolute rejection of that Errour yea and that this should be so soon so quickly and with so little difficulty effected by the false Teachers had not their corrupt Doctrine met with an inward Propensity unto Errour it cannot be well supposed they would and that notwithstanding so many Obligations to the contrary so soon have embraced it 2. I shall instance in the Jews And they are as strange an Instance of Man's tenaciousness of Errour when once taken up and embraced as the Galatians are of their proneness unto it and readiness to embrace it instead of Truth Neither can it be supposed but that Men being so prone unto Errour they will at least ordinarily be exceeding tenacious of it when taken up and embraced by them seeing there are more causes of their tenaciousness of Errour than there are of their proneness to it and readiness to
as well as any other Sin The Understanding of Man stands averse from God and whatever is from him Rom. 8.7 and is strongly inclined to whatever bears a contrariety to him And hence it is that through the Connaturalness of Errour unto Men that it is after a sort sweet unto them even as Truth is to a renewed Mind Hence Henesy is reckoned up amongst the Works of the Flesh Gal. 5.20 And hence as the Apostle James speaks of Envy the Flesh lusteth to it the like may be said of Errour the Flesh lusteth to it Whence that Combate or Conflict between the Flesh and the Spirit in regenerate persons is between Truth and Errour as well as between any other Vice and Vertue or Grace that lie in a direct Opposition one unto the other And from this Connaturalness of Errour unto the Minds of Men we may observe these two things 1. That Man naturally inclines to Errour from the very Womb. Hence it is expressed as one Effect of Original Sin that all Men are gone aside Psal 14. compared with Rom. 3. and that from the very Womb as the Psalmist tells us Psal 58.3 Now Men are said to be gone aside not only in respect of their outward Ways and Actions but in respect of the internal Acts of their Souls their Understandings are gone aside or deviated from Truth to Errour as well as their Wills and Affections are gone aside or turned from God unto the World Hence Errour always anticipates Truth unless prevented by supernatural Illuminations or some Instructions from without 2. That the Mind of Man as corrupted naturally or if left to its own natural Inclination embraces Errour and rejects Truth qua talis My meaning is not that the Mind doth embrace Errour Quemadmodum Terra quae propter peccatum maledictaepst multo feracius fert spinas Tribulos etiam sine Culturâ quam Triticum c. Sic Terra Carnis nostrae multo capacior aest impiae Doctrinae quam piae quia natura sumus impti mali c. or reject Truth as known to be so but it embraceth Errour and rejects Truth meerly from that Suitableness and Agreeableness that is between it as corrupted and Errour and the Unsuitableness and Disagreement that is between it and Truth Hence Men embrace Errours and reject Truth tho there be no rational inducement so to do That is a remarkable Passage of our Lord Christ John 8.45 Because I tell you the Truth ye believe me not The very Design of our Lord Christ is to shew the Reason of the Jews rejecting his Doctrine and that was the unsuitableness and unagreeableness of it to their corrupted Natures Hence he tells them in ver 47. that they heard not the World because they were not of God that is they were not born of God they were not Partakers of the Divine Nature as Peter speaks There is an unsuitableness yea a contrariety between divine Truth and an unregenerated Nature Hence as the Will and Affections reject practical Truth so the Understanding rejects speculative Truth and that meerly because it is Truth as he said Non amo te c. So Men reject Truth when they can give no reason for their so doing only they find their Minds averse unto it And from hence it is sometimes that the clearer Discoveries there are of Truth the more the Minds of Men are averse unto and hardened against it 3. There is some Lust gratified by Errour There is hardly any if any Errour at all but the embracement of it is a gratification of some Lust either of the Flesh or of the Mind as the Apostle distinguishes Eph. 2.3 Truth lies in a direct Opposition to all the Lusts corrupt Affections and Passions of Men insomuch that in case a Man had an exact and perfect System of Truth in his Understanding there could no Lust or corrupt Affection stir within him but it would immediately meet with a check from that Light of Truth in the Understanding and were the Understanding but throughly sanctified and by sanctifying Grace with the concurring Efficacy of the Spirit enabled to guide and rule the whole Man as it ought and at the first Creation was appointed to do they would thereby be effectually curbed and restrained Hence is that of the Apostle Eph. 4.20 21. where having in the foregoing Verse spoken of the corrupt Manners of the Gentiles he immediately subjoins But ye have not so learned Christ that is you have not either been instructed by the Doctrine or guided by the Practice of Christ to lead such Lives as they do neither the Doctrine nor Example of Christ teacheth you to live as they do fulfilling the Desires of the Flesh and of the Mind no as if he should say both the Doctrine and Example of Christ instruct and guide you to a quite different Life even a Life of Holiness and Righteousness Now mark how he proceeds If so be ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the Truth is in Jesus c. that is if you have savingly learned the Truths contained in his Doctrine and exemplified in his Practice you will not live as do the Gentiles that Light of Truth held forth in the Doctrine and illustrated in the Life and Practice of Jesus Christ will curb restrain and effectually keep you from such a Life as they live Whence it appears that as the Truth lies in a direct Opposition to all the Lusts Affections and Passions that are found either in the Flesh or in the Minds of Men so when it is learned and understood in a saving manner all those Lusts and corrupt Affections are curbed and restrained that is they are so according to the measure and degree in which that Light of Truth is received and sanctified unto Men. Hence again is that Petition of our Lord Christ on the behalf of his Disciples Sanctify them through thy Truth John 17.17 Now as the Truth lies in such a direct Opposition to the Lusts and Corruptions of Men so there is no Errour but it hath a compliance with some Lust either in the Flesh or in the Mind and by the embracement of it that a curb or restraint laid upon such a Lust by the opposite Truth is taken off and consequently that Lust is gratified for then is Lust gratified when the Restraints it before lay under from the Light of Truth in the Understanding are taken off and it acts freely without any controul from Conscience To clear up this only in two Instances 1. Let us see it in that Errour entertained and taken up by the Galatians What it was we have already seen Now that Errour had an apt compliance with that Lust of Pride connatural unto all Men as corrupted and depraved through the Fall Man naturally through the Pride of his Heart would fain be his own Saviour at least would have a joint Interest with Christ in purchasing and procuring his own Justification and Salvation He would have somewhat
him and it is more Pleasure to him to conquer Men by Deceit than by meer Force as Men proud of their Wit or Policy take more Pleasure in conquering their Enemies by their Wiles and Stratagems than by open Force so it is with Satan Hereby he doth not only gratifie that Lust of love to Soveraignty and Dominion but also that Lust of Pride he gratifies a double Lust thereby I might Instance in his Malice Revenge and the like but I shall contract 3. It is from his Enmity against God Satan acts in a way of the greatest Enmity against God that it is possible for a Creature to do and he knows that Errour and Deceit in the Minds of Men is highly displeasing and hateful unto him on what account it is so may be shown afterwards at present I only say Satan knows that it is so Hence out of meer Enmity unto him were there no other Motive inducing him thereunto he would endeavour to promote Errour to the utmost of his Power among Men. 4. It is from his desire more and more to corrupt deprave and viciate the Natures of Men and he knows Errour doth so Lastly It is because Errour disposes Men to Sin And it doth so three ways 1. By defiling and depraving their Natures We may suppose that our first Parents entertaining that Errour viz. That eating of the forbidden Fruit they should be like unto God knowing Good and Evil had their Natures corrupted and thereby be come disposed to the actual transgression of that Prohibition 2. According to the Nature and Quality of the Errour it takes off that Restraint that the Light of the opposite Truth laid upon the Lusts corrupt Affections and Passions of Men. 3. Errour it self leads and carries out Men to Sin Men through the Errour of their Understandings often think that to be lawful possibly a Duty which indeed is a Sin yea a very great and heinous Sin as in Paul's Case before his Conversion Acts 26.9 See also John 16.2 So sometimes they think that is sinful which is not only lawful but an important Duty Peter before he was instructed by that Vision seems to have thought it to have been unlawful to go into or converse with the Gentiles tho to preach the Gospel to them so Acts 28. Hence the Jews sorbid the Apostles to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles that they might be saved 1 Thess 2.16 Men often through some Errour sin out of Conscience Conscience it self through the Errour of the Understanding becomes a Patron of Sin and that both of Omission and Commission 4. Errour sometimes provokes God to give up Men to the Lusts of their own Hearts and to the Power of Satan all those Evils and Abominations found amongst the Gentiles are said to be a just recompence of their Errour Rom. 1.27 Now Satan endeavouring with all his might to promote Sin amongst Men his Kingdom consisting therein endeavours to promote Errour as subservient and introductory thereunto These are some of the Reasons why Satan so industriously endeavours to promote Errour amongst Men and from that advantage he has against Men yea good Men Partly through that access he has as a Spiritual Being to their Souls and partly through that Darkness Corruption and natural proneness unto Errour he finds in them he too often prevails From whence Men yea good Men more easily entertain and more tenaciously hold Errour than they would do from the meer Pravity and Corruption of their own Natures But III. Many Men's Proneness to and answerably their actual embracement and tenaciousness of Errour may and must be ascribed to the Wrath and Displeasure of God against them Errours are often sore Judgments they are the Effects of the Wrath and Displeasure of God against Men there are its true variety of Errours Mistakes and Misapprehensions dissonant from and contrary to that System of Truth contained in the Scriptures found with the best of Men which are consistent with the special Love and Favour of God but for more gross Errours there is usually a peculiar hand of God in them they are ordinarily the Effects of his Displeasure if not vindictive Wrath against Men. And I fear it will at last be found that many of those Errours taken up and embraced by Professors in this Age which possibly may be made but light of and reckoned amongst the Inâ—rmities of Saints will yet be found the dreadful Effects of Divine Displeasure if not vindictive Wrath and tho it is certain God never gives his own People up to Errour as an Effect of his vindictive Wrath and Justice yet he may do it as an Effect of his sore Displeasure God may punish Sin with Sin and consequently Sin with Errour in his own People Hence Men yea let me say good Men may take their embracement of such a Doctrine or Tenet and their taking up and walking in such a Practice as an Effect of the special Love and Favour of God to them they may think he hath favoured them with the knowledg of that Truth which is hid from others when as what they conceit Truth may be a â—â—ry gross Errour and consequently their embrancement of it may be an Effect of the Anger or Displeasure of God against them the Consideration whereof should cause us to walk with a holy Fear and Trembling and excite to a more full and diligent Enquiry Whether we have not embraced Errour instead of Truth This is certain Errour is frequently an Effect of Divine Wrath and Displeasure The Apostle expresly resolves the Errours in the Antichristian Kingdom unto this Cause in that forecited 2 Thess 2.11 and when there is the superaddition of this Cause to the two former when there is not only the Pravity of Man 's own Nature and the ordinary Energy or working of Satan but the Wrath or Displeasure of God is out against Men and that expressed this way viz. with reference to their embracement and holding of Errour it must necessarily be that they will be strongly inclined to and strangely tenacious of it when embraced by them Hence it is that all manner of Errours do so abound in and are so tenaciously held by the Subjects of that Kingdom God saith the Apostle shall send them strong Delusions the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may be translated two ways either God shall put into them the Efficacy of Errour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then we are to take Errour subjectively for that natural Inclination and Propensity unto Errours contracted by the Fall and the meaning is God shall put into them an erroneous Inclination that hath an Efficacy in it or he shall put an Efficacy into that erroneous Inclination connatural unto Men. Or 2. God shall send unto them the Efficacy of Errour that is effectual Errour and so we are to take Errour objectively viz. for any false Doctrine or corrupt Tenet whether respecting matters of Faith or matters of Practice God shall
while it is only suggested to the Mind or looked upon as anothers Opinion or Practice the Mind may and ordinarily will with more freedom weigh and examine it but when it is actually closed in with that a Man hath espoused it as his own Opinion or as his own Judgment Self-love will greatly hinder from an impartial and through weighing of and searching into it And besides it is vastly more easie to reject an Error before it is actually imbraced than it is to relinquish it afterwards Error once taken hold of is not easily let go again Error ordinarily is held fast and therefore let us be excited to the greater Wariness and Watchfulness against Error When we see how strangely tenacious Men are of Error let that be the Use we make of it think with our selves how careful should we be that we do not take up any Error instead of Truth Oh! how much Prejudice do some good Men receive by the Mistakes and Errors they have unwarily taken up and imbraced and yet how tenacious are they of them let them be warnings unto us It highly concerns us to be very deliberate before we close in with any Doctrine or Practice especially that differs from those Doctrines and Practices that have been generally received and walked in by true Saints and that throughout all Ages Men's especially good Men's over-hasty taking up and imbracing Doctrines and Practices that are proposed to and pressed upon them under the Notion of Truth without a due use of the necessary means to find out whether they are so or no has been one of the great Causes of the abounding of Errors among Professors Men having once imbraced an Error they too commonly are exceeding tenacious of it and besides Conscience enforceth them not only to be tenacious of it themselves but to promote it among others and hence it is that Errors so much abound as they do and therefore I say let us be wary of imbracing Error instead of Truth And to inforce this together with the foregoing use I would offer two things to Consideration 1. The Evil and Sinfulness of Error and consequently the Provocation it is unto God Few Christians apprehend there is such an Evil in Error as there is and that it is so provoking unto God as indeed it is at least that Error as such and consequently every Error is so evil and displeasing unto God And therefore that we may be more sensible of the Evil and Sinfulness of Error let these four things be considered 1. That Error blots and defaces the Image of God in Man the Image of God in Man is Man's Conformity to and Resemblance of God which respects his Understanding as well as his Will and Affections Hence the Image of God in Man is said to consist in Knowledg as well as in Righteousness and true Holiness Col. 3.10 Eph. 4.24 compared together We are renewed saith Davenant according to the Image of God Cum illustrantur sanctificantur omnes Potentiae Inclinationes Animae nostrae All Error supposes a Defect in Knowledg or is an Effect of Ignorance Ye err not knowing the Scriptures saith our Lord Christ Hence through Error Men come short of the Glory of God as well as through any defect in their Sanctification and all Defects or Blots in the Image of God in his People are sinful and displeasing to him 2. Errordefiles the Nature of Men as well as any moral Evil Error it 's true being in the Understanding it primarily defiles the Understanding but as it proceeds from affected or voluntary Ignorance it defiles the Conscience yea it diffuses a Defilement throughout the whole Soul Hence the Apostle having a peculiar respect to erronious Persons tells us They have their Minds and Consciences defiled Tit. 1.15 3. That as Error it self is a Sin and is usually if not always an occasion of some other Sin either of Omission or Commission so both Error it self and those Sins occasioned by it are lived impenitently in Men humble not themselves for such Sins Now Sin tho it be a Sin of Ignorance especially when that Ignorance is voluntary being lived impenitently in may be greater and more provoking unto God then other Sins are that are of a more heinous Nature in themselves that men through the violence of a Temptation or the strong workings of a particular Lust are over-taken with but are not persisted in 4. Errors break that Unity that ought to be and God delights to see among his People God would have his People to be of one Mind and one Judgment Now Error breaks this Unity whence variety of Evils usually issue And let it be observed that though the difference in Mind and Judgment among Christians will not excuse any in whom those Evils occasioned by or arising from them are found yet they will be eminently charged upon those on whose part the Errors lye But Secondly The other thing I would offer to Consideration is this That by how much the greater the Provision God has made is and the more full the Means he has vouchsafed for our coming to the Knowledg and preservation in Truth are by so much the more sinful and provoking are Errors Now consider what Provision God hath made for and what Means he vouchsafes to us in these Lands 1. He has given us his Word and that in our own Language we may daily read in and converse with it 2. He hath constituted a Ministry raises up Men and furnisheth them with Gifts sutable for that Office and that with reference to our Guidance into and Establishment in the Truth Eph. 4.11 12 13 14. 3. God hath given his Spirit to abide with his Church here upon Earth Joh. 14.16 Hence by Prayer we may obtain his Teachings and that is one of the great ends with reference unto which he is given to and left with the Church Joh. 16.13 Yea God gives his Spirit to dwell in every individual Believer and that with reference to the same end But ye saith the Apostle John speaking unto Saints have an Vnction from the holy One and ye know all things that is all Truth necessary to be known 1 Joh. 2.20 The Apostle speaks of them as tho actually knowing all things The Scripture sometimes speaks of that as true de facto which on many accounts either ought to be or may be so as if he should say such an advantage you have by that Vnction you received from the holy One to know all things that it may well be supposed of and expected from you that you do indeed know all things There can hardly be any Error imbraced by a Believer but it must be through his own Default 4. God works providentially with reference unto our Guidance into and Establishment in the Truth The Providences of God as they are designed for so if wisely observed and well improved would highly conduce to our Guidance into and Establishment in the Truth I will guide thee with mine Eyes
saith the Lord to a righteous Man Psal 32.8 But here is Man's Misery God speaks once yea twice viz. by his Works but Man perceiveth it not Now then God having made such Provision and vouchsafed such a Sufficiency of Means for our Guidance into Truth and preservation from Error our Errors must needs be greatly aggravated and consequently more provoking unto God How careful then should we be to free our selves from Error How diligently should we inquire Whether we have not already taken it up how wary should we be for the future that we do not take up Error instead of Truth I shall close this with that of Solomon Buy the Truth and sell it not But one word more Lastly In case God has of his free Grace instructed us in Truth and preserved us from Error let us praise the Mercy and be exceeding thankful for it God has done great things for us considering the Multiplicity of Errors that now are abroad THE Covenant of Circumcision THE Covenant of Grace OR That that Covenant established with Abraham Gen. 17.7 is the Covenant of Grace clearly and fully proved Wherein the Mistake of Mr. Nehemia Cox in his Historical Account of the Foederal Transactions of God with Abraham are rectified and the Foundation laid in that Covenant to the Covenant-Interest and Baptism of the Infant-Seed of Believers more fully confirmed By J. Whiston Minister of the Gospel And he gave him the Covenant of Circumcision so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him the eight day Acts 7.8 LONDON Printed by J. D. for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden-Lyon in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1682. The Covenant of Circumcision the Covenant of Grace c. THat there is in Men as in this fallen and corrupted Estate a marvellous Propencity unto Errour and that having once taken up and imbraced it they are too commonly exceeding tenacious of it hath been as I conceive sufficiently evinced in the foregoing Discourse Those Instances therein produced do evidently declare it Neither are there wanting too many Instances for the illustrating and confirming the Truth of what is there affirmed among those who stile themselves and may justly bare the Denomination of Protestants In all Controversies that are not meerly verbal Errour must necessarily lye on the one side and sometimes on both Truth cannot but Error may be contradictory and that there are such Controversies among Protestants and they maintained and kept up with great Obstinacy by the Letigant Parties is obvious unto all To pass by all others I shall only single out that between Faedo-Baptists and Antipaedo-Baptists that no Infants are to be baptized That some Infants are to be baptized are Propositions tho not absolutely contrary yet contradictory the one to the other hence both cannot be true Errour must lye on the one side or the other side And yet with what obstinacy this Controversy hath been and still is kept up is sufficiently known hence as the Parties Letigant do mutually charge each other with the Evils afore discoursed of so it must be granted on all hands that the Charge is justly laid on the one party at least as to what yet appears seems so to be Where the Charge justly lieth I shall for the present leave to the Judgment of all that are sober and judicious and refer the final Decision to Him that is ready to judg the quick and the dead who as being in the Bosom of the Father has a perfect Knowledg of Truth so being above all possibility of any biass on the one or the other hand will truly determine without respect of Persons in the mean time being past all rational doubt satisfied that the Truth in this Controversy lieth on the Affirmative Part I have judged it an incumbant Duty to appear according to Grace received in defence of the Part. Neither am I as yet convinced but that the same Duty is still incumbant on me and therefore having now again as hath been judged by some a Call by a late Tract published by Mr. Nehemiah Cox intituled A Discourse of the Covenants that God made with Man before the Law where this debate is revived to appear in defence of the Truth I have readily complied therewith not so much that the Truth is like to be wrested out of the Hands of any that are possessed of it by what he hath said as that his Discourse treating of the Covenants and in special that entered with Abraham I might take the advantage given more fully to settle the Foundation laid in that Covenant to Infant-Baptism But to come to the Discourse by which I am called to this Work In it the Author treats of God's Foederal Transaction first with Adam secondly with Noah thirdly with Abraham they are the last that I judg my self called to the Consideration of With reference unto these he makes a threefold Inquiry see Chap. 4. Sect. 3. p. 72. as a Foundation unto all which he premises this remarkable Paragraph which for the remarkableness of it shall be transcribed verbatim and thus he begins There is one thing more to be premised to the Consideration of God's Covenant-Transactions with Abraham in particular which we have most clearly stated in the New Testament viz. That with respect unto them Abraham is to be considered in a double Capacity both as the Father of all true Believers and as the Father and Root of the Israelitish Nation And for both these Seeds God did enter into Covenant with him howbeit these Seeds being formally distinguisht the one from the other their Covenant-Interest must of necessity be divers and fall under a distinct Consideration and the Blessings appropriated unto either must be conveyed in a way agreeable to their peculiar and respective Covenant-Interest and these things may not be confounded without a manifest hazard of the most important Articles in the Christian Religion and yet such is the mutual respect of all God's Covenant-Transactions with Abraham and such was to be his Dispensation towards the Church for some Ages following as did require a present Intermixture of the Promises and an involving of Spiritual Blessings in the stead of Temporal and of a Spiritual Seed in a Natural this I suppose is more evident than to admit a Denial This one thing that Mr. Cox premits as a Foundation unto the ensuing Inquiries is complicated and made up of several Particulars As 1 That Abraham is to be considered in a double Capacity viz. 1. As the Father of all true Believers 2. As the Father and Root of the Israelitish Nation and he means he is to be considered in this twofold Capacity with respect to God's Covenant-Transactions with him so he expresly declares himself 2. That these two Seeds or kinds of Seed are formally distinguished the one from the other viz. with respect to the Covenants for so he supposes them to be two distinct Covenants that God made with them as Abraham's Seed or as he speaks entered with Abraham for them 3. That
deny the necessity of taking up of his Cross when called thereunto tho thy their preaching of that Doctrine they designed their own security from it as laid upon Christians by the Jews So much the Apostle tells them Gal. 6.12 But they did not absolutely deny it to be the Duty of Christians to bear Afflections for the sake of Christ when justly called thereunto So that their Doctrine did not release from either the Yoke or Burden of Jesus Christ which had it done it might have been some Inducement to them to embrace it but that it did not do But then it may be said Quest Wherein did their Doctrine differ from the Doctrine of the Gospel preached by the true Apostles And consequently What was the Truth these Galatians had relinquished and the Errour they had embraced and taken up in the stead of it In brief thus Answ The false Teachers preached up a necessity of observing and keeping the Law and that both Moral and Ceremonial in a Conjunction with Faith in Christ and Obedience to his Precepts and that as a joint Cause with Christ of their enjoyments of the enefits and Blessings of the Gospel They did not Preach up the necessity of observing and keeping the Law meerly as a Medium or Means of their enjoying the Blessings and Benefits of the Gospel through Christ or as Causa sine qua non as that without which they could not enjoy Christ or any Benefits by him which had they done it had not been so bad tho very bad But this was not all for they join the observation of the Law with Christ as having a like Influence on or the same kind of causality in their Justification or Salvation that Jesus Christ himself has So that the Truth that these Galatians had relinquished was this viz. That all the Benefits and Blessings of the Gospel are granted to and bestowed upon Men meerly by or from the free Grace of God through Jesus Christ and that it is Faith alone that Unites Men unto and Interests them in Christ and consequently gives them a Right to all those Benefits and Blessings The Errour that they had embraced consisted in these two Branches 1. That there was a necessary of observing and keeping the Law of Moses 2. That their observing and keeping that Law had a joint Concurrence with Christ in purchasing and procuring Gospel-Benefits and Blessings for them Now let it be observed That as by Preaching up the necessity of keeping the Law they brought the Persons embracing their Doctrine under the Yoke of the Law which as Peter tells the Jews in Acts 15.10 was a Yoke that neither they nor their fore-fathers could bear So by preaching up the observation of the Law for such an end they brought them under an internal Bondage a Bondage worse then the Yoke of the Law as to the matter of it was viz. The Bondage of Guilt even the Guilt of all their Sins with variety of Fears Terrours and Disquietments of Conscience arising from a Consciousness thereof And let it be supposed that those Galatians were not apprehensive of their total Deprivation of the Grace of God or any Benefit by Christ that the embracement of the Doctrine at least should they finally adhere thereunto would subject them to and consequently were not sensible of their being under the Bondage of Guilt in an Absolute Sence but might have some hope of Pardon through their observation of the Law conjoined with Christ in whom they yet believed yet this Doctrine must needs bring them under a Bondage of variety of Fears Terrours and Perplexities of Conscience Hence the Apostle tells them that the law gendered unto Bondage Gal. 4.9 with the 24. So that by the embracement of that Doctrine they did bring themselves under an internal Bondage And that these two ways 1. The very Preaching of this Doctrine did imply an Insufficiency in Christ to be a Means of or by himself alone of their enjoyment of all the Benefits and Blessings of the Gospel for otherwise to what purpose should the Observation of the Law be adjoined unto Christ as a joint Cause with him of their enjoying of them 2. They would being unable to keep the Law in perfection be at an uncertainty when they had so observed and kept it as that they might be sure of their enjoying those Benefits and Blessings Hence varieties of Fears Terrours and Perplexities of Conscience must necessarily arise for this will be found in Experience if Men once call in Question either the Sufficiency of the Grace of God to bestow or of Christ to purchase and procure for them all the Good promised in the Gospel and thereupon conceit a necessity of adjoining any thing of their own unto Christ as a joint Cause with him of their enjoyment of that Good they will be utterly at a loss to determine when they have added enough of their own so as assuredly to promise to themselves the enjoyment of that Good and consequently must needs be in Bondage under variety of Fears and Perplexities And from hence those Fears Doubts and Perplexities of Conscience found in and in part allowed by the Church of Rome have their Rise I remember an Anonymous Author of the Church of Rome upbraids Luther with his Confessing himself before his full understanding of the Doctrine of free Justifiation by Christ alone to be of a troubled Conscienee and full of Doubts and Perplexities as tho that had been an Argument of the Wickedness of his Heart when as it was the necessary Effect of their own Doctrine and only argued Luther's Conscience to be more throughly awakened and enlightned than his own was 'T is certain that when a Sinner comes to be throughly awakened and to have his Conscience throughly convinced and thereupon comes to see his own lost and undone Condition 't is nothing but a pure Faith a closing in with a relyance upon or a trusting in a naked Christ that can relieve him So long as he supposes a necessity of adjoining any thing of his own unto Christ his Disquietments and Perplexities will remain So that this Doctrine taught by the false Teachers did not only bring the Galatians under the external and unsupportable Yoke of the Law but did subject them unto an unsupportable intenral Bondage of Fears Doubts and Perplexities of Conscience and this they might have easily foreseen would be as they did after Experience that it was the Issue of their relinquishing the Truth and their embracing of that Errour Yet for them to do the one and the other argued their strange Infatuation But Secondly Let us Consider Some of those things peculiarly remarkable in their Case which even according to Principles of Reason should have been engaging unto them to a stedfast Adherence to the true Doctrine of the Gospel and consequently to a Rejection of the Errour embraced by them To Instance in these six 1. There was the Priority of their Instruction in and Embracement of the
Truth of the Gospel Now there is scarce any thing if any thing at all conduces more to Mens establishment in any Doctrine Opinion or Practice than to be instructed in and have the ind prepossessed with it 'T is one main Cause of many Men's obstinate Adherence to Popish Doctrines and Practices viz. That they have been primarily instructed and brought up in them And the like may be said of many Mens firm Adherence to the Doctrine and Practice of Protestantism Hence the Preachers of any Doctrine be it true or false lie under no small disadvantage as to Success when they are so to speak to play an after-Game when the Minds of Men are prepossessed with a contrary Belief Opinion or Persuasion The Consideration of this was one Reason of the Apostle's Admiration Gal. 1.6 I marvel saith he that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the Grace of Christ unto another Gospel Not only that they should be so soon removed of which hereafter but that they should ever be removed from him who had called them into the Grace of Christ by him It is true some understand God but I shall rather with Beza and Piscator understand it of Paul himself and take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Into the Grace that is the Doctrine of Grace expressed to Men through Christ and this Sence the Antithesis as Piscator observes seems necessarily to require This made their embracement of that false Doctrine so strange in that they thereby were removed from another Doctrine viz. The true Doctrine of the Gospel that they had before been instructed in and had embraced 2. There was the clearness and plainness of those Reelations made unto them of the Truth of the Gospel They had not the Mysteries of the Gospel held forth in obscure Types and Shadows as the Jews before had but the Vail was now taken off and they had the Mystery of God in Christ plainly revealed they had Christ set forth as crucified before their Eyes with the full End and Design of God in his Mission Humiliation and Sufferings with the Fulness and Redemption in and obtained by him thereby full manifested they had the exceeding Riches of the Grace of God in him plainly declared this the Apostle takes notice of once and again and that as an Aggravation of their Folly So in Chap. 3. 1. and again in Chap. 4. 9. While they were in their Heathenism and knew not the true God it was no wonder tho they did Service to Idols that by Nature were not God yea tho they were carried away Prout rapi contigisset as some translate that 1 Cor. 12.2 sometimes to Worship and Serve one Idol sometimes another sometimes to Worship and Serve them one way sometimes another as the Apostle there intimates that they were Yea had they been proselited to the Jewish Church when Christ and the Mystery of Salvation by him was more darkly revealed it had not been so much tho they had been removed from the Doctrine of the Gospel as then held forth into another Doctrine But that now after Christ had been evidently set forth as Crucified before their Eyes and God had been clearly revealed to them and that in the Riches of his Grace and Mercy as the Apostle Gal. 2. 21. and Gal. 5.4 not obscurely intimates that he had been that they should relinquish the Truth and embrace another Doctrine this did greatly aggravate their Folly Quam indignum est in medio Lucis tam turpiter errare saith Calvin 3. There was the Confirmation that the Doctrine of the Gospel had received by the Apostle Paul's working of Miracles amongst them Thus Gal. 3.5 He therefore that ministreth to you the Spirit and worketh Miracles among you doth he it by the Works of the Law or by the Hearing of Faith That is doth he it as a Minister or Preacher of the Law or as a Minister or Preacher of the Doctrine of the Gospel The Interrogation vehemently denies the former and asserts the latter So that the Apostle had not only preached the Gospel to them but had confirmed it with miraculous Works Now the miraculous Works wrought by Jesus Christ himself and by the Apostles were the great Means ordained of God for the evidencing to the World that both their Mission and Doctrine were from himself and they were sufficient for that end and purpose and hence left all Men without Excuse who did reject either Jesus Christ himself his Apostles or the Doctrine preached by them Hence is that of our Lord Christ John 15.22 compared with 24. 4. There was yet this further in their Case That many of them through the Preaching of the Gospel had themselves received the Spirit and that to renew and sanctify their Natures and to dwell in them Whereby not only that Doctrine was further confirmed unto them but they had tasted and experienced the Benefit thereof Gal. 4.2 5. 1. They had the Doctrine preached by the Apostle further confirmed and that in the surest and most infallible way possible And therefore the Apostle puts a peculiar Emphasis upon this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 3.2 as if this Consideration alone were sufficient as indeed it was to evince the Truth of that Doctrine he had preached unto them 'T is true both the Teachers and Embracers of a false Doctrine may do wonderful things such as seem to be miraculous tho really they are not so Satan may by his Agents and Instruments produce wonderful Effects so it is said of the Man of Sin 2 Thess 2.9 that his coming should be after the working of Satan with all Power and Signs and lying Wonders This was one special Means whereby the Kingdom of Antichrist was erected and raised up to that Grandeur it did at last arrive to Hence for any Doctrine to be the Ministration of the Spirit for the regenerating renewing and sanctifying the Natures of Men is a more infallible Evidence of its being from God than the bare working of Wonders by the Preachers or Embracers of it is Now such was the Doctrine of the Gospel preached by the Apostle to the Galatians 2. They had hereby a taste and experience of the Good and Benefit of that Doctrine Next to the Gift of Christ the Spirit is the greatest Gift communicable from God himself unto Men. The Gift of the Spirit includes all Good Matth. 7.11 compared with Luke 11.13 Now for them to reject the Gospel and embrace another Doctrine by which they could not expect the like Benefit argued their strange and dreadful Infatuation 5. There were the Sufferings they had undergone for the true Doctrine of the Gospel which they might easily have foreseen would be in vain and useless to them by their relinquishing that Doctrine and embracing another Men according to the natural Notions they have of God may and do expect much Benefit by any Sufferings they undergo for Conscience sake or for and on the account of any Doctrine they have received as