forth their followers whom he calleth Clouds without water carried about of winds ver 11. and in the next verse Waves of the Sea and wandring stars thereby denoting Christians who were inconstant in their profession not like fixed stars which are regular in their Motion but like Planets or Comets wandring from one opinion or way to another being constant onely in inconstancy Thus were there some and not a few in those times those proto-primitive times who were thus carried about with divers and strange doctrines This is that which our Apostle saith of Hymeneus and Philetus in the place forecited 2 Tim. 2. 17 18. that by their pestilent doctrine in denying of the Resurrection they overthrew the faith of some So as there was then a just cause why he should here give out such an Admonition as this Be not carried about c. A useful and a needful Caveat then And no lesse in all the ages of the Church since In every of which still there have been some such doctrines held forth So it hath been so it is at this day that I shall not need to tell you and so it will be This Calvin looketh upon as a truth not obscurely hinted by the Apostle here in the Text that The Church in all ages must account to conflict and combate with divers and strange doctrines And if there be teachers of them it is not to be imagined but that there will be some Disciples some followers Q. But how cometh it so to be How cometh this to passe first that there should be such doctrines held forth and then that so many should be carried about with them To these two queries I shall return Answer severally A. 1. For the former Know we in the first place that this cometh to passe not without a providence and a special providence Herein as in all other things God hath a hand concurring therewith not barely by his Permission but as Melancton calleth it by his Effectual Permission most justly decreeing that they should be whence it is that the Apostle saith There must be Heresies 1 Cor. 11. 19. Must as by reason of Satans malice and Mans corruption so of Gods decree who having determined that they should be most wisely ordereth and disposeth of them when they are Which he doth for divers ends As 1. For the manifestation of his own power in maintaining his Truth and that against all opposition 2. For the honour of truth it self which by these conflicts with Errour is rendred more illustrious That house which standeth out all storms and tempests of wind and weather shewoth it self to have a good foundation 3. For the Probation and tryal of such as are sound in the faith There must also be Heresies saith the Apostle in the Text last named 1 Cor. 11. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There must be also Not onely Schismes of which he had spoken in the verse foregoing divisions about matters of Order and Discipline but also Heresies Errours in doctrine and that fundamental Errours And wherefore must these be why that they which are approved may be made manifest Thus is Wheat differenced and distinguished from the Chasse Inanes paleae tempestate jactantur saith Cyprian Light empty Chaffe is whirled to and fro with the wind while the Wheat lyeth still in the floor Thus whilest empty and formal Professours who have taken up the profession of the truth either pro formâ for fashion sake or else for some by and sinister ends wanting the kernel and truth of grace are carried away those which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 approved unto God sincere and sound-hearted Christians they are hereby made manifest as to themselves so to others Thus doth God by this means as Cyprian in the same place noteth make a kind of a previous separation separating the Chaffe from the Wheat before the day of Judgment 4. This God permits for the just condemnation of others and that both of Masters and Scholars of such as broach and preach such doctrines and such as believe them For the former of these expresse is that of St. Iude in the Text forecited Iude v. 4. There are certain men crept in unawares saith he who were before of old ordained to this condemnation This he speaketh of seducers false teachers whom God in his most just and righteous decree did from eternity preordain so far to leave them to their own natural corruption and malice as that they should dare to corrupt and falsifie his truth and thereby justly incur the sentence of condemnation and bring upon themselves swift destruction as the Apostle St. Peter saith of them 2 Pet. 2. 1. And for the latter that of St. Paul is no lesse expresse 2 Thess. 2. 1. where speaking of Antichristian errours that should come into the Church and should be prevalent with many he assigneth this as one end of Gods dispensation in permitting and sending them God shall send them strong delusion saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Efficaciam deceptionis the Efficacy of Errour or deceit that is such errours as should be effectuall for the deceiving of them so as they should believe a lye receive and imbrace those forged and false doctrines And wherefore this Why That they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse ver 12. Thus hath God not onely an eye to but also a hand in these divers and strange doctrines which come abroad not onely with his prescience and permission but also by his most wife and just Ordination 2. This is Satans doing He it is that is the father of lyes When he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own saith our Saviour pro ingenio suo according to his natural disposition so it is if ever Satan speak truth as sometimes he doth he borroweth it to make some advantage of it that he may the more easily deceive by it Lyes are his proper and natural off-spring For as that Text goeth on He is a lyar and the father of it So he is of all Lyes Among which false doctrines are none of the least And therefore deservedly called by that name 2 Thess. 2. 11. 1 Tim. 4. 2. He it is that was the first Preacher of divers and strange doctrines This he did in Paradise Where when God had preached to our first Parents this Doctrine that The day that they ate of the forbidden fruit they should certainly dye the death Gen. 2. 17. he soon after preacheth to them the clean contrary The Serpent said unto the woman Ye shall not surely dye Gen. 3. 3 4. And still this is his work He that was a lying spirit in the mouthes of Ahabs Prophets 2 King 22. 22. he is still the same in the hearts and mouthes of all false Prophets He is the seedsman that soweth these tares So the Parable in the Gospel sets it forth Mat. 13. 24. The
he was a man as Paul there setteth him forth full of subtilty and mischief And such in their measure ordinarily are seducers false teachers They are as Solomon describeth the Harlot Prov. 7. 10. Subtile of heart Cunning and crafty and wily And by this means they come to seduce and deceive those that will hearken to them viz. by their Subtilty This is that which the Apostle taketh notice of as a principal Engine whereby these wheeles come to be turned about as we may collect from that intimation of his to his Ephesians in that Text to which I have had so frequent recourse Eph. 4. 14. where he giveth them this Caveat that they should not be carried about with every wind of Doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftinesse whereby they lye in wait to deceive Two words expressing for substance one and the same thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The former of which is a Metaphor taken from Cheaters who by Cogging of dice and by sleight of hand cheat and cousin those whom they play with Even so do false Teachers by their sleight and cunning craftinesse deceive those which have to deal with them Which they do divers wayes Instance in some few of them First By their Sophismes fallacious Arguments These are the false Dice which these Cheaters play with Subtile and intrapping Arguments which they take out of divers boxes fetch from several Heads As 1. From Scripture which they make use of this way by wresting it Even as Davids Enemies made use of his words as he complaines Psal. 56. 5. Every day saith he they wrest my words perverting them and turning them to another sense then ever he meant when he uttered them so do false teachers being Gods Enemies make use of his Word This is that which St. Peter saith of some unlearned and unstable soules in his time they wrested some things in Paul's Epistles as they did also divers other Scriptures to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3. 16. This did they by mis-interpreting of them and drawing them violently from their true and genuine sense to a false one which they did to that end that they might thereby uphold their errours And truly such is the ordinary practice of Hereticks and false teachers they wrest the Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 detorquent depravant writhe and wring them about turning them this way or that way as may best serve for their purpose Dealing by them as Chimists sometimes do with natural bodies which they as it were torture to extract that out of them which God and nature never put into them Or as cruel Tyrants sometimes deal by innocent persons whom they set and stretch upon the Rack and so make them speak that which they never thought After the like manner do false teachers use to deal by the Scriptures wresting them to draw a sense out of them which the Spirit of God never intended A practice common to all Hereticks save onely those Antiscripturians who will not acknowledge the Divine Authority of Sacred Writ 2. And as herein they make use of Scripture so also of Reason which it may be sometimes they oppose against Scripture or else make use of to vouch that sense which they put upon it So dealt those false teachers in the Primitive times Such use they made of their Philosophy Thereupon it was that Paul gave that Caveat to his Colossians Chap. 2. v. 8. Beware faith he lest any man spoyl you through Philosophy and vain deceit that is by such subtile and plausible Arguments as are drawn from the principles of Naturall Reason which however in it self it is useful yet when it is made the measure of spiritual mysteries this is a dangerous abuse of it Now it cometh to be no other but as he there calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a vain deceit And this deceit did those false teachers in those first times make great use of by such Arguments both opposing the doctrine of the Gospel and supporting their own errours And the like use do not a few make of it at this day In speciall the Socinians who make this the measure of their faith and the Touchstone to try all Evangelical truths by viz. humane Reason not allowing any thing to be believed how clearly soever in Scripture held forth but what that may apprehend and comprehend Upon which account it is that they desperately disclaim divers Articles of the Christian faith for which Scripture is expresse and which the Church of God in all ages of it hath looked upon as truths the belief whereof was necessary to salvation And by this means it is that they pervert the faith of some who have not learned to submit their carnal Reason to divine Revelation And in the third place sometimes they plead Custome Tradition So did the Scribes and Pharisees in maintenance of their superstitions That is the Argument which they use to our Saviour blaming his Disciples and him in them for not complying with them in some of their Ceremonial observances Mat. 15. 2. Why do thy disciples transgresse the traditions of the Elders Not observing such Customes and usages as they had received from their Ancestors and so had been of long continuance And this Argument the false Apostles in Paul's time made great use of Thereupon it is that he giveth the like Caveat to his Colossians concerning that as he doth concerning Philosophy putting them together in that forecited Caveat Col. 2. 8. Beware lest any man spoyl you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the Traditions of men This was one thing which they pleaded for their doctrines against the doctrine of the Apostles Tradition Custome Wherein they are followed by the Doctors of the Church of Rome who take up the like plea for many of their Errours pretending though most falsly as it hath been made out by divers Champions of the truth who have undertaken that cause against them Antiquity for them casting the odious imputation of Novelty upon all contrary Opinions and Practices Which is a taking Argument with many So was it with the Iewes who brought it in as an Article against Stephen that he should say that Iesus should change the Customes which Moses had delivered them Act. 6. 14. And the Disciples when Paul came to Ierusalem give him to take notice what a stumbling-blockit was in the way of the believing Jewes that he should teach those of that Nation to forsake Moses saying that they ought not to circumcise their children neither to walk after the Customes Act. 21. 21. So tenacious are many at this day of some Customes that they will prefer them even before either Scripture or Reason And these are some of those Arrowes wherewith false Teachers do oft-times pierce the hearts of men Sophistical Arguments fetched from Scripture Reason Custome To which for the further Confirmation of their Doctrines and gaining belief from the credulous multitude they sometimes adde
were in Saint Iude's time These are they that separate themselves Jude v. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word properly signifieth Separatists such as separated themselves and others from the true Church of God renouncing Communion with it so making of Sects Such were the Donatists some ages after against whom Augustine so strenuously and earnestly contended The founder of which Sect Donatus a Bishop taking an unjust and groundlesse distaste at Cecilianus Bishop of Carthage not unlike that which some among our selves at this day have taken up against the Ministers of the Church of England as also of other Churches being in this respect in the same Predicament with them viz. because he had received his Ordination from the hands of some of the Traditores or Proditores such persons as had in time of Persecution delivered the Book of holy Scriptures to be burnt even as our Ministers are said to have received theirs by or through the hands of Antichristian Romish Bishops thereupon he fell off from the unity of the Church separating himself with his party from all others as if the Catholick Church had been no where else to be found but onely in that Corner of Africk where himself dwelt and that among his Society himself and his followers Thus did that Sect then And the very like have the Anabaptists of the last age done who are not unjustly looked upon by some as revivers of the Sect of the Donatists being therein followed by their Successours among our selves in this Nation at this day who by that one Act of Rebaptization which also they learned from those Donatists of whom Augustine tells us that they did the very like Rebaptize those that were baptized before do at once unchurch all the Churches in the world in as much as they do thereby make a nullity of that Sacrament which the members of those Churches have received in their Infancy which being the Initial Seal of the Covenant and the distinguishing mark betwixt Christians and Heathens none can be looked upon as visible members of the Church without it An Errour which be you ware of It being a Mother-Errour and that a teeming a fruitful one in whose womb ordinarily many erroneous Opinions are conceived So it was to those Donatists the first founders of it who being fallen off from the Church stayed not there but were then carried about with divers and strange doctrines ran into many pestilent Opinions as inveterate Schisme for the most part turns to Heresie besides some desperate practices One of which amongst the rest is very observable viz. that whilest they at the first plead for Liberty of Conscience and an Universal Toleration that no man should be compelled to any Religion nor yet hindred from holding forth any opinion denying the Civill Magistrate though Christian as Constantine the Emperour then was under whom this Schisme had its beginning any power for the punishing or repressing of any Hereticks or Heresies or to take any Course whereby either the broachers or maintainers of them might be brought to Repentance or else the poysonous breath of their Opinions might be stopped from infecting of others which is and not without cause reckoned up as none of the least Errours they were guilty of yet in processe of time they came to that height of rage that if they met any in the field or streets who were not of their judgment they made nothing furiously to fall upon them to assassinate to murder them The like spirit whereunto modern Histories tell us was to be found among their successours in Germany in the last age And God grant England may never have experience of the one Well to draw to a conclusion of this Head take you heed of this so dangerous a defection of this turning from the Church Which being the Pillar and Ground or the Stay of Truth as the Apostle calleth it 1 Tim. 3. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Columna et Firmamentum or Stabilimentum as Beza hath it holding forth and in some sense bearing up the truth of God even as Pillars and Posts are wont to do the Proclamations and Orders of Magistrates which are affixed to them that so all may take notice of them No wonder that they who recede from it turning their backs upon it recede also from the truth and so become subject to this Peripherie to be thus carried about with divers and strange doctrines Even as it is with Deer I do not know a fitter comparison when once they have left the Herd and got out of the Park then though they get into Pikles yet there they are restlesse driven to and fro by every Passenger so as then they leap hedge and ditch Even such is the condition of those who have once given a farewell to the Church which is as Gods Park in the world being once got out of the Pale of it now though they fall into Pikles and severals several Companies yet it cannot be expected that they should rest there but that they will be subject to be driven to and fro by Errour after Errour till at the length they come to leap hedge and ditch to make Shipwrack of faith and a good Conscience as the Apostle saith that brace of Hereticks Hymeneus and Alexander with some others in his time had done 1 Tim. 1. 19 20. But I passe to a third Whilest you thus hold fast the Head and the Body Christ and his Church take heed of turning from the Scriptures The Scriptures they are a Christians light whereby he is to walk in this world Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path saith David Psal. 119. 105. And St. Peter speaking of Scripture-Prophecie 2 Pet. 1. 19. calleth it a more sure Word that is most sure the Comparative put for the Superlative as sometimes in Scripture it is whereunto saith he ye do well to take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place c. Such is the Understanding the mind of man in regard of spiritual and heavenly mysteries it is like a dungeon a dark place untill it be enlightned by that light which the Lanthorn of the Scripture holdeth forth Which therefore all Christians are to attend unto Object True say some they are so to do but how long untill the day dawn and the day-star arise in their hearts as it there followeth that is untill their hearts be fully enlightened by the Spirit of Christ who is as the morning-star so called Rev. 2. 28. and the Sun of righteousnesse Mal. 4. 2. But when the Sun is up what need of Canales when Christ is once come into the heart of a Christian dwelling there by his Spirit what need then any more of this Candle-light of the Scriptures This is but to burn day-light A. To this it is answered that true it is the Saints upon earth are thus enlightened They who
strange Doctrines Touch we upon these severally by way of Explication beginning with the Affect or Malady it self Be not carried about 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Original which some Manuscripts as both Beza and Grotius take notice of it read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be not carried away So the vulgar Latine therein following the Syriack renders it Nolite abduci Be not led or carried away Or be not transported beyond the truth and your selves Or Ne insanite as Grotius expounds it Do not dote be not frantick and mad So he observes the word to be used by the Seventy 1 Sam. 21. 13. where it is said of David that he feigned himself mad distracted frantick A sense which will very fitly suit with the Apostles meaning in the Text. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be not distracted made frantick and mad with divers and strange doctrines So it is with some Errours some Heresies It is even a Madnesse to embrace them As it was in the doting Prophet Balaam who would still go on in his way in attempting to curse the people of God though expresly contrary to the mind of God untill such time as the brute and dumb creature reproved and convinced him this was in him no other but Madnesse So the Apostle St. Peter expresly termeth it 2 Pet. 2. 16. The dumb Asse saith he speaking with mans voice forbade the madnesse of the Prophet Even so fareth it with many Hereticks as of former ages so in the present times who have broached and maintained divers Opinions and Doctrines so clearly and expresly contrary to the revealed will of God in the Scriptures as that it can be accounted no other then Madnesse in them A plain evidence that they have been and are besides themselves This was that which Festus thought and said of Paul when he heard him preaching of such strange doctrine such as he had never heard of before He cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paul thou art besides thy self Act. 26. 24. And truly what he spake ignorantly and falsely we may say it knowingly and justly of some Hereticks in this and former Ages when we hear of their strange monstrous and unheard of Doctrines so expressly contrary to the word of truth we may without any breach of Charity conclude they are besides themselves they are Mad. So was that old Heretick accounted in the ancient Church whom the Greeks alluding to his Persian name Manes as if he had Omen in Nomine called Manicheus which signifieth as Augustine interprets it a Madman or one pouring out of madnesse which they did in reference to his many strange and mad Opinions he being a very sink of Heresie in whom most of the Errours of former Ages from Christs time to his were concentred and met together And truly such there have been in the Ages after him almost in every age some whose opinions have been so wilde so monstrous that men cannot conceive that had they not been given up at least to a spirituall distraction and madnesse they would ever have imbraced them or hearkned to them And I wish I might not so truly speak it that some yea many such there are to be found at this day in this poor distracted Nation concerning whom I think it were the greatest piece of Charity that we can exercise towards them to passe this Censure upon them that they are besides themselves under a Spiritual if not Corporal distraction which if they were not they would never do as they do nor say as they say And indeed it is the nature of divers and strange doctrines if men will hearken to them to make them so to distract them to put them besides themselves even to make them mad A truth I think never more sadly verified then in and by the experience of this Age and Nation wherein we live wherein many of the Ancient Heresies which have been dead and buried and lyen rotting in the grave of oblivion for many hundreds of years are now revived and raised up again insomuch that many by reason of those ghostly and ghastly apparitions coming out of the bottomlesse-pit of hell and walking so freely abroad without check or controul even at noon-day are as I say even scared out of their wits plainly according to that sense of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being distracted put besides themselves But I shall not fasten upon that reading of the word though as I said proper enough to the Apostles meaning in the Text. The generality of Copies read it as our Translation renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ne circumferimini Be not carried about Verbum Paulinum saith Pareus upon it A word used sometimes by the Apostle St. Paul So we find it in that Text which running Parallel with this will let some light into it viz. Ephes. 4. 14. That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ne circumferamur Not carried about And so the word here is most properly read as Beza rightly collects from the opposition betwixt this Verb and that other in the following clause Be not carried about but be established Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Establishment to Unsettlement So reading the word come we in the next place to enquire concerning the sense and meaning of it Be not carried about A Metaphorical expression very fitly setting forth the nature of this Malady the unsetlednesse of some Christians who hearkning to divers and strange doctrines are carried to and fro and carried about The Metaphor I find derived and fetched from divers heads Pareus writing upon the Text giveth me the choice of two 1. It may be taken from a Wheel which is turned round and carried about which it is either by its own motion or by the hand that moveth it A lively Embleme of Inconstancy and Unsettlednesse David imprecating the implacable Enemies of God and his Church maketh use of this expression O my God make them like a wheel Psal. 83. 13. A Wheel being set upon a declivity the side of a hill it is restlesse never leaving rolling and turning till it come to the Bottom And such a condition David there wisheth to those his and Gods enemies that they might have no rest or peace but as they were instruments of disquiet to others so they might have no quiet themselves but that being set in slippery places they might be cast down to destruction as elsewhere he speaketh Psal. 73. 18. still rolling downwards till they came to their own place the bottom of Hell And truly such is the condition of some poor unstable soules who are ready to follow every new doctrine and way they are like a wheel which turneth round which is the proper signification of the word in the Text So do they with the times and places wherein they live Being
of like nature Divers and strange Doctrines Such were those which Saint Iude speaketh of verse 4. of his Epistle Iude 4. There are certain men saith he speaking of false Teachers crept in unawares 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subrepserunt subintroierunt they came in closely and covertly coming under-ground as Pioners do who sometimes enter a City by a Mine while the guard is standing upon the Walls So did they insinuate themselves into the Church coming both unlooked for and unsent Not expected or suspected by the Church nor yet sent by God but taking the Ministery upon them of their own heads as our New Annotation paraphraseth upon that word And so entring what did they why among other things they turned the grace of God into Lasciviousnesse and denyed the only Lord God and Saviour Iesus Christ. Both these they did and that as by their practice so by their Preaching Under a pretence of crying up Gospel-liberty and advancing the free grace of God in the pardoning of sin and justifying of sinners they set open a wide door to all kind of sensuality So turning Evangelical Liberty into Carnal Licentiousnesse And they denyed the onely Lord God and their Saviour Iesus Christ Such St. Peter had foretold of 2 Pet. 2. 1. But there were false Prophets among the people saith he meaning the people of Israel under the Old Testament even as there shall be false Teachers among you you Christians under the New who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them And what he foretelleth St. Iude having an eye to that Prophecy as he hath almost throughout his whole Epistle unto that second Epistle of St. Peter the one being looked upon but as a kind of abstract and summary of the other shewes how even in his time it was come to passe Such false and Heretical Teachers then there were who denyed the Lord that bought them denyed the onely Lord God and their Saviour Iesus Christ denyed Christ to be God who having paid a price in it self sufficient for them and being their Master and Saviour by an outward profession they ought to have owned him But they denyed him And that as by their deeds so by their doctrines This among others did thnt Simon of whom we read Act. 8. who was in his time and still is famous or rather Infamous for three things his Sorcery his Simonie his Heresie His Sorcery for which he was admired by the people who cryed him up for little lesse then a God This man say they is the great power of God vers 10. and was afterwards called for distinctions sake by the name of Simon Magus Simon the Magician His Simonie in offering money to purchase the Holy Ghost the extraordinary and miraculous gifts of it from the Apostles vers 18. from whence it is that that Sin for such a sin still there is what ever the present Times think of it beareth his name being called Simonie And lastly his Heresie for which he is no lesse famous in Ecclesiastical then for those two other in Sacred story He being the Father of Hereticks as he is called the first Apostate under the Gospel who broached and maintained divers Blasphemies and damnable Opinions Among other denying the Trinity and denying any other Christ but himself affirming himself to be the true God as afterwards he was accounted at Rome where through the just Judgment of God giving them up to that strong delusion that they should believe a lye they who who in the dayes of Tiberius would not acknowledge the Divinity of Christ yet soon after in the dayes of Claudius erected a Statue to this Impostor with this blasphemous Inscription Simoni Deo Sancto To Simon the Holy God Thus did he bewitch the people as by his Sorcery so by his Heresie Wherein he being the Ring-leader wanted no followers Divers there were who within a few years after when he was gone off from the Stage stept up in his room owning most of his opinions and adding to them many other no lesse monstrous and absurd Such was Menander and Ebion and Cerinthus The last of which was that Heretick with whom St. Iohn is said to have refused to enter into the same Bath and who is the reputed Father the first Authour of the Millenary opinion concerning the temporal Kingdome of Christ upon earth after the Resurrection wherein his Subjects should live in the full enjoyment of all kind of carnal and sensual pleasures and contentments These and some other Hereticks and Heresies did the first age bring forth Among whom St. Paul taketh notice of two Hymeneus and Philetus by name who among other Errours as Errour seldome goeth alone denyed the Resurrection of the Body as Simon Magus is said to have done before them saying That the Resurrection was past already 2 Tim. 2. 17. acknowledging as is probable no other Resurrection but that of the Soul or of the Church in the Renovation the new state of it under the Gospel Besides these St. Iohn maketh mention of another Sect notorious in his time the Sect of the Nicolaitans so called from Nicolas one of the seven Deacons mentioned Act. 7. the reputed Father of them whether justly or no is a question This he doth once and again in that one Chapter Revel 2. First telling the Church of Ephesus to her deserved commendation that she hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans ver 6. then charging it upon the Church of Pergamus as no small blemish to her that she had them some of her Members which held the doctrine of the Nicolaitans ver 15 what that doctrine was Scripture is silent but Ecclesiastical Histories with one consent tell us it was the renouncing of a Conjugall propriety betwixt man and wife and so allowing a promiscuous community at which door brake in many other horrid enormities not fit to be named amongst Christians To them soon after succeeded that impure and infamous brood of the Gnosticks who were indeed the same Sect under a divers name calling themselves by that name Gnosticks from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth knowledge which they of that Sect pretended to above all others who had either gone before them or were contemporaries with them Such high thoughts had they of themselves as for the most part Hereticks are not wanting in that way and thereupon gave themselves that proud title Whereas in truth those other stiles were far more proper which as Augustine tells us were given them by others who called them Borboritae or Coenosi Men given over to wallow in the mire and filth of all kind of abominable uncleannesse Such was their practice and such was their Doctrine I might here yet go on and following the track of Ecclesiastical History shew you what a flood of like monstrous errours after these broke in upon the Church The Golden Age of the Apostles and Evangelists being spent then how did false Teachers croud in
amain infesting the Church and assailing the truth almost in every part of it broaching and venting divers and strange doctrines some and many of which were so strange as it cannot but amaze and astonish any Christian head or heart to hear of them A Catalogue whereof is left to posterity by Epiphanius and Augustine and some other of the Ancients But I shall not trouble you with any more of them This being enough as to our present purpose that such doctrines were then abroad some of them come upon the stage already and others pressing after them Which latter also our Apostle Saint Paul if so be that he were the Penman of this Epistle which for the present I shall yield took notice of So much he telleth the Ephesian Elders at Miletum Acts 20. 29. I know saith he that after my departure from you shall grievous Wolves enter in among you What Wolves were these Why two sorts of them First bloody Persecutors whom he calls Wolves and grievous Wolves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being like those Lupi vespertini the evening Wolves which the Prophet Ieremy speaketh of Ier. 5. 6. which should not spare the flock but make a prey of the poor Lambs of Christ sucking their blood Such Wolves there were many after Paul's departure his dissolution in that Neronian persecution and others following it But besides these there was another kind of Wolves whom Paul looked upon as no lesse dangerous if not more And those were white Wolves Wolves in sheeps cloathing So our Saviour describeth false Prophets Matth. 7. 15. Men who had fair and promising outsides specious apparances of a harmlesse innocency yea and pretenders it may be to a more then ordinary piety but inwardly saith he they are ravening wolves such whose design is to make a prey of the soules of men to destroy them by their false doctrines Now such also the Apostle took notice of that they should come after his departure So he tells them there more plainly in the verse following vers 30. Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 preaching false and heretical doctrines crosse to the truth and wrested contrary to the mind of God in the Scriptures that they may draw disciples after them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 draw and pluck them as members from the mystical Body so making a separation therein that they may gain a party to themselves and so be reputed singular and popular Such Paul foresaw would arise to the great indangering of the Church which as Grotius and others look upon it was made good in the forenamed Nicolaitans and Gnosticks Thus then in those first times there were such doctrines as the Apostle here speaketh of in the Text Divers and strange doctrines And in the second place these doctrines were then taking with some with divers So it seemeth was that doctrine of the false Apostles concerning the observation of the Ceremoniall Law with the Hebrews the Iewes who had been educated and brought up in it having sucked it in as it were with their mothers milk it was taking with them insomuch that they were already some of them carried away with it and others in danger of being so as the Caveat in the Text is conceived to import And not onely they but others also This was that which Paul took notice of in his Galatians charging it upon them not without a wonderment to himself Gal. 1. 6. I marvell saith he that ye are so soon removed from him that hath called you into the grace of Christ unto another Gospel So it was By the means of the false Apostles they were either already turned or turning Both which are looked upon as implyed in that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which being of the Passive voice layeth the fault primarily upon those false teachers by whose means they were perverted Ye are turned And being of the present tense it imports what was in fieri doing if not done They were turning well nigh turned And from what and to what were they thus turned Why from him who hath called you into the grace of Iesus Christ from Paul and his Doctrine who by the preaching of the Gospel to them had called them to seek for Justification and salvation onely by faith in Christ. From this doctrine they were turned to another Gospel taught and brought to seek Iustification in another way at least in part by the observation of Mosaicall rites and Ceremonies Which Paul there calleth another Gospel Not that it was so in truth Well did he know that there was no other Gospel but one No other Name under heaven given among men whereby they must be saved as Peter elsewhere tells the Iews Act. 4. 12. no way or means of salvation appointed by God for lost mankind save onely through the merit and mediation of Iesus Christ. But in as much as it was a doctrine diverse from and a depravation of the true Gospel therefore he so calleth it as he explaineth himself in the verse following Which is not another Gospel but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the Gospel of Christ v. 7. Thus were they carried about And what he saw in them as done or doing he feared the like in his Corinthians So much he tells them 2 Cor. 11. 3. I fear sairh he lest by any means as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. This he also speaketh in reference to the doctrines of the false Apostles who made a medly of the Gospel mixing their own Philosophical speculations or Jewish Traditions or Ceremonial observances with it By which meanes they corrupted and adulterated that pure doctrine even as pure and precious liquors are imbased and corrupted by other mixtures And concerning this Corruption Paul's jealousie was that they were ready to swallow it down and so to be carried about with those divers and strange doctrines A thing that was no newes in those first and purest times This was that which our Saviour himself foretold a little before his death Matth. 24. 24. Where shewing what should come to passe before the destruction of Ierusalem among other things he saith There shall arise false Christs and false Prophets c. Insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very Elect. Intimating that many should be seduced and deceived by them And the like Prophecy we meet withall in that forecited place of St. Peter 2 Pet. 2. where having in the first verse as you have heard foretold of false Teachers that should come in the next verse he sheweth what successe they should have And many shall follow their pernicious wayes ver 2. And what he there forerelleth St. Iude sheweth us how in his time it came to passe Having in the fourth verse of his Epistle in like manner described the false Teachers of his time in the sequel of the Epistle he sets
come he saith They should beguile unstable soules 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Inescantes a Metaphor taken either from Fowlers who by their Calls and Stales and other devices draw the simple birds in to their Nets or Snares or rather from Anglers who by covering their hooks with deceitful baits take the silly fishes Even thus are simple and unstable soules taken oft-times by subtile seducers Wanting judgment and so not being able to discern the hook that lyeth hid under the bait that is presented to them to see the danger of those erroneous doctrines which are held forth unto them under fair and specious pretences they are by that means taken and carried away by them And surely this is the case of many at this day in this Nation Of whom Charity requireth us to hope the best that they are such as whose hearts are upright with God they have good desires good Affections and such as both have had and have reall Saints being through Grace exempted from a Total and final Apostasle the truth of Grace in them yet being but Children not well grounded in the truths of God and so wanting judgment to discern betwixt truth and falshood they are drawn aside out of the way of truth to the imbracing of dangerous and it may be in themselves damnable Opinions Here is a second supposal They may be Children Or in the third place they may be for a time Blinded or Blindfolded Even as men sometimes deal by their horses which they first blindfold by putting some covering over their eyes and then make them go round in their Mills So dealeth Satan sometimes by some Christians the eyes of whose understanding God hath opened inlightning them with the saving knowledge of his truth revealing Christ unto them and in them as the Apostle speaketh of himself Gal. 1. 16. though he cannot put out their eyes as the Philistines did Sampsons Judg. 16. 21. quite extinguish and put out that spark of Divine light which God hath kindled in their heart yet possibly for the time he may blindfold them through his Temptations and so by that means carry them about to the imbracing of divers and strange doctrines And this he doth divers wayes according to the divers kinds of Temptations which he maketh use of as viz. 1. Through Blind zeal Such a Zeal Paul took notice of in many of the Iewes I bear them record saith he that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge Rom. 10. 2. Even as it was with himself before his Conversion as he tells them Act. 22. 3 so was it with them they were zealous towards God many of them bearing an earnest affection to his glory and to his worship and service But wanting the light of knowledge for the guiding and ordering of that Affection by that means they miscarried and so were carried out in an unwarrantable way after legal observances And truly so fareth it with many well-meaning Christians they have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a zeal of God for God they have good intentions and strong Affections but wanting a due proportion of knowledge for the regulating of that zeal it becometh to them as a mist before their eyes hindering their sight so as through the vehemency of that boyling Passion foming up from the heart to the head they do not so judiciously discern betwixt things that differ as they ought to do and otherwise might do and so are carried as into some unadvised actions so also to the imbracing of some erroneous Opinions which have some shew and semblance of piety in them 2. As inordinate zeal may occasion this so also sometimes may inordinate fear fear of suffering This was that which wrought that strange change upon Peter turning him about contrary to his confident resolutions to the denying and abjuring of his Lord and Master Matth. 26. 70 71. Fear having possessed his heart it for the present bred a sudden vertigo in his head so as he was turned about like a wheel by the hand of every damsel And like operation it hath sometimes upon holy and precious Saints causing them either to dissemble the truths of God as Nicodemus did who came to Christ only by night Ioh. 3. 2. This he did for fear of the Iewes Which so far in those times prevailed with many true believers whose hearts were towards Christ that they durst not own him So it is noted Ioh. 7. 13. No man spake openly of him for fear of the Iewes And this it was which made the parents of that blind child dissemble their knowledge of Christ Ioh. 9. 22. or it may be to deny them Thus do timorous Christians too often like the Weathercocks upon this and many of our Church-sleeples turn round under the Crosse being through fear brought not onely to dissemble their Profession but to deny it That was the case of those Primitive Christians among the Jewes whom Paul saith that he by his persecuting of them caused to blaspheme Act. 26. 11. to deny Christ yea and it may be to speak evil of those truths that way which before they had owned Thus is this Vertigo sometimes caused by fear 3. And sometimes again through desire of gain and outward advantage So is it with grosse Hypocrites With them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are all one Gain is Godlinesse as the Apostle saith of some seducers in his time 1 Tim. 6. 5. they make it their design to turn that way which may bring in the best income of profit to them and so are carried about with the hope of gain This is that which St. Iude saith of some in his time in that Text forecited Iude 11. They ran greedily after the errour of Balaam for reward which as Diodate notes upon it the Italian version understands of some who were seduced by those false Teachers spoken of before verse 4. rendring it They suffered themselves to be carried away that is as he expounds it they were carried away by the bait of gain which they ran greedily after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Original a word very Emphatical properly signifying Effusi sunt or erant They were poured out a Metaphor taken from water in a Bottle which being poured forth maketh haste to get out as our New Annotation explains it Even so did they So earnest were they in seeking of gain that they cared not what Errours they closed with for the compassing of their base ends which they followed with such eagernesse that they cared not though they poured their soules in the pursuit thereof though they poured them forrh as water that is spilt upon the ground lost them Even so fareth it oft-times with Hypocrites And I wish there were no cause to suspect that there should be any such by and base respects in the hearts of any whom the judgment of Charity looketh upon as truly godly Possibly thus it may be Some whose hearts are right
not to be carried away with Errours let them not lean too much upon their own Armes trust too much to their own Judgments By this means many have been deceived in matters of the world more in the matters of God And therefore beware of this Self-confidence also And that as in other things so in interpreting and expounding of Scriptures We know what the Apostle St. Peter tells us 2 Pet. 1. 20. where he layeth down this as a Praecognitum a thing which he would have all those who meddle with Prophetical Scriptures to take notice of Know this first saith he that no Prophecie of the Scripture is of any private interpretation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propriae Explicationis of a mans own expounding for a man to interpret of his own head according to his mind without consulting with others with God with Scriptures with other men with God having recourse to him by Prayer with Scriptures comparing one place with another with other men consulting with their Wrttings conferring with their Persons This is the ordinary way for expounding of Prophetical Scriptures And the like we may say of all other Texts specially such as have any degree of obscurity in them And therefore let all Christians take heed how they go about to expound them that therein they do not go upon their own heads lean too much to their own Understandings Which as it concerneth all so more specially those that are ignorant and unlearned who leaning to their own too often prejudiced understanding in interpreting of Scripture may and do sometimes make strange work of it wresting it Thus in Peters time dealt some by Paul's Epistles as also by other Scriptures as himself observes 2 Pet. 3. 16. In which saith he speaking of those Epistles there are somethings hard to be understood viz. by reason of the sublimity the height of the matter and some particular expressions in the phrase which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do also the other Scriptures to their own destruction This did those kind of men then And the like they are still apt to do Being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men void and destitute not onely of Humane Learning which is what ever any who have either little acquaintance with it or affection to it may think and speak of it no small help to the right interpreting and understanding of Scripture but also of Divine having little acquaintance with the mind of God revealed in his Word not having their senses the faculties of their soules Understandings and Judgments exercised to discern good and evil as the Apostle describeth the growen Christian Heb. 5. last to discern betwixt truth and falshood they by this means medling with the Interpretation of Scripture and trusting to their own Judgments wrest it torment it set it upon the rack as I shewed you before the word there used signifieth A truth I think never more verified in any age or part of the world then it is at this day in this Nation Wherein how do these Sacred Records in this time suffer being thus wrested thus tortured by many different sects like so many wild horses drawing at the severall quarters of man every one endeavouring to force them and bring them over to their own party to vote with them and speak for them To which end some of them put such senses upon them as the world before never heard of nor any sober and unprejudiced spirit would ever have dreamed of It were an easie matter here to give you some instances in this kind Take only a taste of them from that poor illiterate act the noise whereof hath of late alarummed these Quarters which gave me the first occasion to fall upon this subject those Gipsies in Religion so I called them with some others before and know not how more fitly to tearm them vulgarly known by the name of Quakers Being as it seemeth every way such as Saint Peter there describeth unlearned and unstable what a nose of wax do they make of the Scriptures which having a low and contemptible esteem of they handle accordingly Bear with me a little if I take up a few of those fragments which have fallen from some of them Having all of them an evill eye upon those two standing Ordinances of God Magistracie and Ministery which diverse look upon as the two witnesses spoken of Rev. 11. 3. and some suppose to be now about to be slain v. 7. and having a design as much as in them is to slay them to take them out of the way or at least to render them contemptible in the eyes of the people how do they hale in Scriptures to their â—id not sparing to offer violence to them to inforce them to speak that which neither the Spirit of God nor yet any man besides themselves ever thought of As for instance Whereas the Prophet Ieremy speaking of the false Prophets that were in Israel saith that the Priests did bear rule by their meanes Jer. 5. last meaning that they strengthened themselves by the league which they had with the Prophets and so were confirmed in their ambitious courses and corrupt carriages they envying the Ministers of God that double honour which the Apostle 1 Tim. 5. 17. saith those which rule well and specially they which labour in the Word and Doctrine are worthy of viz. Countenance and Maintenance and not willing to allow them either the one or the other but being desirous to muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn and willing that they which serve at the Altar should live upon the Ayr some of them and I suppose none of the meanest would have thereby understood their temporal subsistence The Priests bear rule by their means i. e. Ministers of the Gospel domineer by their Maintenance which upon that ground they would have taken away And so finding our Saviour blaming the Pharisees for their ambition and among other things charging them with this that they loved the chief seats ni the Synagogues Matth. 23. 6. they not understanding what the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth nor yet what the manner of the Jewish Synagogues was wherein as in our Churches there were many chief seats for more eminent persons they apply it to the Pulpits which Ministers in preaching of the Word make use of for conveniencies sake not without an expresse Scripture president for it viz. that of Ezra of whom we read Neh. 8. 4 5. That Ezra the Scribe stood upon a Pulpit of wood which they had made for the purpose And so it is said he opened the book in the sight of all the people For he was above all the people And so again while they find the Pharisees taxed by our Saviour for loving to stand praying in the Synagogues so making their private prayers in those publick places which they did for ostentation sake that they might be seen and heard of men as our Sadiour himself there
goeth on heavily though possibly he may be in the right whereas being confident of his way he goeth on chearfully So is it with a Christian in his journey to heaven falling with divers wayes divers doctrines and being in himself unsettled and unresolved which to cleave unto this Amity is to him no small perplexity Whereas going on resolvedly now he walketh comfortably Thus is Heart-establishment a good thing And is it so What then remaines to make a short Application of this threefold Observation but that 1. We be all of us convinced of the want of this Establishment which who so is not surely he is not acquainted with his own heart as he ought to be True it is amongst Christians some are more stable then others having through Grace attained some good measure of this heart-establishment This is that which David saith of the good and Godly man Psal. 112. 8 9. His heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. His heart is established c. So it may be in measure in good measure yet so as still there will be some fluctuations some doubtings some waverings specially in times of Temptation being the remainders of natural Instability And this let every of us be convinced of 2. And being convinced of the thing be withall convinced of the Evil of it that so we may be humbled for it and under it And that as for any actual deviation turning aside from any way or truth of God and being carried away with any divers and strange doctrine which many many I hope well-meaning soules many of them in this Nation that I say not in this place at this day have just and great cause for so for that degree of habitual unsettlednesse which is yet left remaining in us that we should be so obnoxious so subject to be thus carried about as the best of us are if left unto our selves 3. Then in the third place be we exhorted to seek after this blessed frame and temper of spirit never resting untill we have in measure attained it Not resting our selves contented either with that fides implicita or Conjecturalis fiducia that Implicit faith or Conjectural belief which the Doctors of the Church of Rome would have their Disciples to rest contented in As for any certain knowledge or assurance looking upon them as things in an ordinary way not attainable specially for private Christians they would not have them sought after by them And thus do they keep poor soules in a fluctuating doubting condition by which meanes their Consciences can never be quiet not having any sure basis to rest upon but they are continually subject to be carried about A sad and dangerous condition what ever they may think or speak of it An Evil a great Evill So much Pareus writing upon the Text rightly concludes from it against the Iesuites and their Conjectural faith If it be a good thing to have the heart established with grace then it must be an evill thing not to have it thus established And so looking upon it rest we not contented under it but strive after such a Plerophorie such a full perswasion and assurance as the Apostle sometimes speaketh of Thus did the Thessalonians receive the Apostles doctrine as he saith It came unto them in much assurance 1 Thess. 1. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the like doth he wish and earnestly desire as for his Colossians so for other of the Saints Col. 2. 2. That their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God c. that is of the doctrine of the Gospel And the like doth St. Peter beg for the Saints to whom he writeth 1 Pet. 5. 10. The God of all grace c. make you perfect stablish strengthen you And this let all of us seek for our selves that our hearts may be established in the Truth of God This is the Commendation which that Apostle St. Peter giveth to the Saints to whom he writeth that they were established in the present truth 2 Pet. 1. 12. i. e. the truth of the Gospel which was then preached unto them And O! that the like could be said of every of us and of all the Lords people in this Nation that we and they were thus established A blessing never more to be desired then at this day Wherein the times the general state of all things both in Church and State being so unsettled Christians have need of stable hearts When the winds are loud and the Sea is up then have Ships need to be well ballasted And truly so is it with Christians as at all times so specially in unsettled and troublesome times when the wind of divers and strange doctrines is up as is at this day among us blowing upon the Church as that wind of the Devils raising did upon the house where Iobs children were which is said to have smote the four Corners of it Job 1. 19. a strange wind to blow so many several wayes at once and such is the wind of false doctrines which the Devil hath raised against the Church in this Nation at this day now they have need to have their hearts established 1. And this let all of us now seek for Seeking it from God who is the God of all grace From him it is that Peter beggeth this blessing in that Text even now cited 1 Pet. 5. 10. Now the God of all grace stablish you This is his work He which establisheth us with you in Christ is God saith the Apostle to his Corinthians 2 Cor. 1. 21. This he can do To him that is of power to establish you saith the same Apostle describing of God Rom. 16. 25. And that he would do it that he would put forth that power upon every of us beg it from him by Prayer That is Davids request for himself Psal. 51. 12. Stablish me with thy free Spirit so the former Translation readeth it And this let all of us beg as a mercy seasonable at all times never more then at this day Lord establish our hearts stablish us in thy truth confirm us uphold us keep us from being thus carried about 2. Which that he may do be directed with care and conscience to attend upon the meanes of establishment Confirming strengthening establishing Ordinances whereby God is wont to convey this grace into the hearts of his people Such is the Word in the publick Ministery of it and such is the Sacrament of the Lords Supper And therefore that your hearts may be established whilest you attend upon the one of these do not neglect the other That which David and Ezekiel say of ordinary Bread in reference to the Body Psal. 105. 16. Ezek. 4. 16. we may in reference to the Soul apply it to Sacramental bread It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Seventy there render it the stay and