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
allude in the Text whilest he giveth this Caveat to his Hebrews that they should not be thus carried about Be not carried about as Wheeles as Chaffe as Waves as Clouds And thus I have shewen you the Affect or Malady it self Spiritual Unsettlednesse Come we in the next place to take notice of the Ground or Cause of it which we have in the words following With divers and strange Doctrines Here is the wind which carrieth about these Waves these clouds A wind of Doctrine So the Apostle calleth it in that place to which I have had and shall have frequent recourse Eph. 4. 14. Be not carried about with every wind of Doctrine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every wind An elegant Metaphor saith Calvin upon it fitly expressing the nature of all those doctrines of men as the Apostle calleth all false doctrines Col. 2. 22. which draw men aside from the simplicity of the Gospel whatever they may seem to be what noise soever they may make in the eares of those that hearken to them and how prevalent soever they may be with them yet they are but wind vain and empty speculations And concerning this wind it is that our Apostle here as elsewhere warneth Christians that they should take heed of being carried about with it Hence is that natural disease in the Head which we call a Vertigo the Turning Sicknesse or Giddinesse it is caused by wind by flatulent vapours affecting the Brain And from a like cause many times is this spiritual Vertigo the unsetlednesse of Christians in the matters of God They are turned and carried about with this wind of Doctrine But what Doctrine That we have here set forth by a twofold Epithet Divers and strange Doctrines Two words as Lapidee noteth upon them fitly agreeing to False and Hereticall doctrines Which are 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Various divers So they may be said to be in as much as they differ alwayes from the truth and often from themselves 1. Alwaies from the Truth Being no other but Lyes So Paul calleth Heretical doctrine 2 Thess. 2. 11. a Lye And speaking of Heretical Teachers he calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 teachers of lyes 2 Tim. 4. 2. And so Divers Truth as Aquinas notes upon the Text is but one being like the Center Errors are many like the several points of the Circumference which as they all differ from the Center so one from another And so do Errors all differing from the truth which is but one they differ betwixt themselves 2. Yea and often differ from themselves Such is the guize of Hereticks having no sure ground to stand upon they are often flitting running from one Error to another they do not sibi constare but are often inconsistent with themselves self-contradicting saying and unsaying with the same breath denying and destroying that by Consequence which positively they assert and maintain Thus false doctrines are said to be Divers And 2. Strange 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So tearmed again in a like double respect Being strange to the Scriptures and strange to the Church 1. To the Scriptures not to be found in the Canon of the Old or New Testament Not known to Christ or his Apostles Were they alive again they would be strange to them They preached no such doctrine They are no other but humane Inventions Commandments and Doctrines of men as the Apostle calleth them in the place forecited Col. 2. 22. not delivered by God in his Word but invented by men And being so they may upon that account well be called strange having no acquaintance with the Scriptures And secondly strange to the Church Such Doctrines as the true Church either never heard of or at least never owned never acknowledged New Doctrines Such was Paul's doctrine to those Athenian Philosophers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they call it A new doctrine Act. 17. 19. whereupon they charge him to be a setter up of strange gods vers 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strange deities and a bringer of strange things to their eares vers 20. Strange because new And such are Heresies unto the true Catholick Church of God either not known to it or not known by it And upon that account may well be called strange Now concerning such doctrine it is that the Apostle here giveth this Caveat to his Hebrewes that they should take heed of being seduced of being carried about with them Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines A useful a needful Admonition So it was to the Church at that time when the Apostle gave it And that in a twofold regard 1. In regard that some such doctrines were then abroad 2. Some Christians were then carried about with those doctrines Both which are insinuated in the Text. And so it was 1. Some such Doctrines were then abroad in the world Divers and strange doctrines Such was that doctrine which was then preached by the false Apostles whose design was to make a mixture of the Law and Gospel to joyn them both together pressing the Observation of the Mosaical Law not onely the Moral but Ceremonial Law as necessary to Justification and salvation This did some and many in Paul's time who placed a great part of Religion in Ceremonial Observances Such were those Ordinances which he speaketh of Col. 2. 21. where he blameth his Colossians for dogmatizing for complying with the false Apostles in subjecting themselves to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why are ye subject How is it that ye suffer your selves to be so inthralled unto such doctrinal Errors and superstitious Rites and Observances viz. Touch not taste not handle not These were the prescriptions and injunctions of those false Teachers who by crying up these Ceremonial Rites corrupted the minds of those that would hearken to them from the simplicity that was in Christ as he speaketh 2 Cor. 11. 3. drawing off the hearts of Christians from looking onely unto Christ and the free grace of God in him for Justification and Salvation And this was one of those doctrines those divers and strange Doctrines which our Apostle here in the Text hath an eye at So much we may collect from the latter Clause of the verse where he saith It is good that the heart be established with grace not with meats i. e. Not with the choice of meats and drinks using of some as clean abstaining from others as unclean under which by a Synecdoche he comprehendeth all other Ceremonial observances as I shall shew you hereafter This did some of the Teachers of those Times presse upon Christians therein teaching them a Doctrine diverse from and contrary to that which Paul had before taught which was that the Kingdome of God is not meat and drink Rom. 14. 17. The Kingdome of Christ under the Gospel did not consist in such outward observations And besides this there were at that time sundry other Doctrines abroad
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
into others to make proselytes they thereby made them twofold more the children of Hell then themselves Matth. 23. 15. Thus do false and Heretical Teachers by their false and damnable doctrines they beget Children of Hell bringing men under the power of Satan to be taken and led Captive by him As therefore you love your selves beware of such seducers such seductions that you be not thus carried about with such divers and strange doctrines And in the third place whilest herein you have respect to your Ministers and your selves have the like also to the Church of God This is a thing which all Christians who professe themselves members of that mysticall Bodie ought to have a special regard unto so as not to despise it nor yet to shame it 1. Not to despise it This is one thing which Paul chargeth upon some of his Corinthians that by their disorderly manner of administring and receiving of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and Celebrating their Love-feasts before or after it uncertain whether they in so doing despised the Church of God 1 Cor. 11. 22. Or despise you the Church of God Which though some and not a few learned Expositors and that not without some good shew of Reason for it interpret of the place of the Churches meeting which by a usual Metonymie vulgarly is and inoffensively may be so called Ecclesia The Church which place they might be said to have despised in that they put no difference betwixt their own private houses and that which supposing it to be set apart for Religious services ought not without necessary cause to have been imployed to other Civill much lesse Uncivil uses as it seemeth their meetings were Yet others not inferiour to them to whom I professe my self rather to subscribe understand it rather of the Mystical Church the coetus fidelium the Company of believers either in that particular Congregation or elsewhere This Church they by this disorderly carriage of theirs seemed to sleight not regarding the Custome of other Churches nor yet hearkening to the Admonition of their own possibly seconded by some others as Pareus conceiveth of it And this the Apostle there calleth a despising of the Church of God Which he chargeth upon them as a thing most blame-worthy in them Shall I praise you for this I praise you not And so is it in whomsoever shall do the like in any kind Despise the Church of God! that Church whereof they are members and others of the true Churches of Christ. Which they do without regarding the lawful and laudable usages and Customes of those Churches do without any just ground and reason differ from them in matters of concernment Paul in the Chapter last named taxing another undecency in that Church of Corinth viz. their women some of them having their heads and faces unveiled uncovered in the publick Assemblies he presumes this to be Argument sufficient to silence those who ever they were that should appear whether in defence of it or contest about it If any man list to be contentious saith he we have no such Custome nor the Churches of God 1 Cor. 11. 16. And if this be an interpretative despising of the Church not to regard the Customes thereof much more may it be so construed to recede from the doctrine thereof and to run after divers and strange doctrines such as the true Church of God hath not owned but renounceth and disclaimeth Surely this is no other but a despising of the Church of God which who so standeth guilty of let him not look for praise from God or thanks from men 2. Not to shame it This do they who professing themselves to be children of this mother yet desert her doctrine suffering themselves to be thus carried about with such divers and strange doctrines This is no small blemish in the Churches face Even as it is in a field of Corn to see such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a medly in it as sometimes we do in barren soiles such an intermixture of divers and strange weeds and flowers as Cockle and Darnel Poppies and Mayeweed c. all growing among the Wheat this variety of heterogeneous plants what ever their colour be and how pleasing soever they may be in the eyes of Children yet it is no small eye-sore to the husbandman or blemish to the field it self whose best beauty is to be all of one colour And truly so is it in the Church of God where there ought to be but one Faith as the Apostle speaketh Eph. 4. 5. to have divers and strange doctrines put up and take rooting there much more if they come to flourish and spread this is no small eye-sore unto God nor blemish to it Which have you a regard unto that you may not in this way either despise or shame the Church of God In the fourth place having an eye to the Church of God have a regard also to the Religion of God therein professed To the Truth of God which is but one Veritas unica error multiplex Errour is various and may be infinite Truth is but one and that semper eadem ever the same being constant and immutable like unto him who is the Authour of it the God of truth who saith of himself I am the Lord I change not Mat. 3. 6. Now what a dishonour then is this to have the Professours of it so unlike unto it self the children so unlike the mother such Changelings so mutable so changeable As if they were of Pilates race who when Christ spake to him concerning the Truth he replyeth not without some Passion And what is Truth Joh. 13. 38. Truly such Scepticks in Religion are some and many at this day as if they were as some call themselves Seekers not knowing what Truth no not Gospel-truth is which if they did surely they would be more constant in adhering to it and owning of it Fifthly and lastly let me beg this for the sake of your Lord and ours even for Christ his sake His Disciples and followers you professe your selves to be And are you so then hear his voice and no others This will his sheep do My sheep hear my voice Joh. 10. 27. Those that are truly given unto Christ by the Election of God the Father to be made partakers of the merit and benefit of his Redemption to be justified and saved by and through him they will hearken unto him speaking in the Gospel And thus hearing him they will follow him and onely him not so any other A stranger will they not follow saith the fifth verse of that Chapter speaking of the same sheep of Christ but will flee from him For they know not the voice of strangers False Teachers such as teach divers and strange doctrines and in that respect fitly called strangers Christs sheep know not their voyce viz. with a knowledge of Approbation so as to hearken to them to follow them And O
verity or falsity of them properly have to deal yet so in as much as they have also an influence upon the Affective part the Will and the Affections as that I shall not wholly exclude any of them But rather take the word Heart here in the Comprehensive sense of it as commonly it is to be taken where it goeth alone as pointing at the whole inward man both the Intellective and Affective part of the Soul Understanding Iudgment Conscience Will Affections Q. Now so taking it What is it for the heart to be Established A. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To be firmly and surely settled as an house that is built upon a sure foundation or a Pillar that standeth upon a firm and solid Pedestal so as it can neither be removed nor moved And thus is the Heart of man said to be established when it is fixed as David saith his was My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed Psal. 57. 7. settled upon a sure basis a sure foundation or well ballasted so as it is free from such fluctuations such vertiginous distempers as the former part of the Text speaketh of When it is neither Actually carried about nor yet Subject so to be When Christians are not soon shaken in mind nor troubled whether by Spirit Word or Letter as the Apostle speaketh 2 Thess. 2. 2. But are stablished strengthened settled as St. Peter hath it 2 Pet. 5. 10. This it is to have the Heart established Which the Heart of man naturally is not So much is not obscurely insinuated by the Apostle here in the Text where he saith It is a good thing that the heart should be established and that with grace Intimating that of it self it is not so This is a flower that groweth not in natures Garden A truth The heart of man by nature is nothing lesse then stable Even as it is with a Ship when it first cometh out of the Dock or off from the Stocks as here you phrase it before any ballast be put into it being light and empty it is also waltery and unsteady apt to turn this way and that way And truly such is Man as he cometh out of the womb Natures Dock a light and empty thing So David who had well weighed him found him to be Surely men of low degree are vanity and men of high degree are a lye To be layed in the balance they are altogether lighter then vanity that is his verdict Psal. 62. 9. Altogether Iacad Suppose it that all the men upon earth were put together in one balance and vanity it self any light thing as a Bubble or a feather put in the other to be weighed against them they would Ascend mount up as the Original hath it as the lighter scale useth to do they will be found the lighter of the two Such was Davids apprehension of all the sonnes of men Be they what they will whether Beni Adam or Beni Ish filii Hominis or filii viri whether men of low degree or men of high degree all was one to him He sets his Tekel upon them all Even the very same that the hand-writing upon the wall did upon Belshazzer the Persian Monarch the greatest man of his time Dan. 5. 27. Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting wanting weight many graines too light And such are all the sons of men naturally And that as in regard of their outward state and condition being not to be confided trusted in so also in respect of their inward disposition the frame and temper of their hearts and spirits Before the grace of God meet with them they are all light as vanity Being by nature empty things This it is that maketh the Bubble so light because it is empty And such is the heart of man naturally The Evil spirit returning into the heart of a man from whence he seemed to have been ejected findeth it empty Matth. 12. 44. Empty of Grace which being the best and onely ballast for the soul as I shall shew you anon without it it must needs be light and consequently unsettled subject to fluctuations and turnings specially in matters of Religious concernment Thus it is But It is not good that it should be so That is a second thing we have here hinted unto us It is good that the heart should be established So then the contrary is not good That the heart should be unsettled specially in the matters of God this is an Evill a great Evil. So it is first when a man is actually turned When he is under this sad distemper carried about as the Apostle saith with divers and strange doctrines This is an Evil and that both a Sinful and a Penal one 1. Sinful So it was in our first Parents when they hearkened to the voice of the Serpent bringing to them a doctrine diverse from and contrary to that which God himself had preached to them And so is it in their posterity when they shall in like manner hearken to the Instruments of Satan subtle seducers suffering themselves to be turned aside from the way of Truth to the imbracing of Errours This is a sinful Evil. And so it may be called and looked upon upon a double account As it is a forsaking of Truth and as it is a cleaving to Errour Thus the Lord complaineth of his people Ier. 2. 13. My people have committed two Evils two grand and notorious Evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed them out Cisternes broken Cisternes that can hold no water They forsook the true God and turned to false gods Idols This he chargeth upon them as a double Evil. And so is it when any one shall forsake and relinquish the truth once received and acknowledged and shall follow after Errours this is a double Evil. Even as it was in the Israelites when being weary of their Manna they lusted for flesh of which you have the story Numb 11. 4 6. this was in them a double Evill Their loathing one their lusting another their loathing of that heavenly Manna and their lusting after Egyptian flesh-pots Even so is it with Christians when they shall come to loathe divine and heavenly truths which their soules have formerly fed upon and found relish in satisfaction and contentment and shall lust after divers and strange doctrines this is a double Evill So St. Peter looked upon it in those Seducers of whom he complaineth 2 Pet. 2. 15. that they had forsaken the right way and were gone astray following the way of Balaam And so may we look upon it in the Seducers of these times as also in many of those that are seduced by them Their turning from the Truth received and imbracing of Errour is in them a double Evil. A sinfull evil 2. And as sinful so Penal As a sin so a punishment of sin and that a dreadful one So the Apostle looked upon it who writing to his Thessalonians
the hold or hanging upon the bowe it would have no such property but being cast forth and taking hold upon good ground being firmly fixed upon a sound bottom now it becometh useful in this way to this end And so is it with faith It is not faith it self either as it is an Habit or as it is an Act by any worth of its own that can establish the heart of man but onely as it is an Instrument laying hold upon Christ and so upon Gods free Grace through him In this way it is that it cometh to establish the heart So the Psalmist sets it forth in that Text forecited Psal. 112. 7 8. His heart is fixed saith he speaking of the righteous man Trusting in the Lord His heart is established viz. by his faith and Confidence resting upon Gods free grace and mercy in Christ as for the performance of that great promise of life and salvation by and through him so of all subordinate and inferiour promises But I shall not give any further way to enlargements You see that the Habit of Grace doth this and in what way it doth And what then remaines to draw to a Conclusion but that all of us seek after this Grace not resting our selves contented with the bare outward performance of any Duties or yet in a constant attendance upon Ordinances which some conceive here hinted by the Apostle in this word Meates understanding it of the Meates of the Sacrifices Alas these being outside things without the man they will not ballast the soul establish the Heart See we that our hearts be laid in with this Ballast of Grace Concerning which have an eye to two things first to the Quality then to the Quantity of it These are the two requisites in the ballasting of a Ship That which is used for that purpose must be some solid material some weighty substance And there must be a proportionable Quantity of it If either be wanting the work will not be done And thus for the establishing of the Heart 1. See that your Grace be true Grace solid and substantiall Grace that your Faith and Love be unfeigned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without Hypocrisie which is Paul's Epithet 2 Cor. 6. 6. 1 Tim. 1. 5. 2. 1 5. that you believe with all your heart which is that which Philip requireth in the Eunuch before he would baptize him being both a man of yeares and an alien Act. 8. 37. sincerely and firmly that you love God and Iesus Christ in sincerity which who so doth not but out of Malice opposeth him Paul pronounceth an Anathema Maranatha upon him Let him be had in execration unto the death 1 Cor. 16. 22. That your soules be purified through the Spirit to the unfeigned love of the Brethren as St. Peter saith of the believers to whom he writeth 1 Pet. 1. 22. And the like I may say of other Graces See that there be truth sincerity in them that the Root of the matter may be found in you as Iob pleadeth that it was in him Iob 19. 28. True Piety true Grace 2. And being true for Quality then see to the Quantity of it It is not a small Quantity though it be of Lead that will ballast a Ship No more will every degree of Grace stablish the heart True it is it must not be denyed the least measure of Grace if true it is saving but not establishing This will require some proportionable Quantity And therefore rest not in the beginnings of Grace but still strive after a further measure Grow in Grace as the Apostle exhorts 2 Pet. 3. 18. As in knowledge the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ so in Faith and Love and all other Graces adding one Grace to another as the same Apostle exhorts 2 Pet. 1. 5. and one degree to another that so the Habit of Grace may be more confirmed in your hearts and shew it self by a vigorous acting in your lives and so may be more and more conspicuous and visible to your selves and others In this way and by this meanes this being an evidence of a Christians standing in the Grace of God the heart shall come to be quieted setled established Which blessing the God of all Grace out of his abundant Grace and Mercy in Christ Iesus vouchsafe to every soul of us Amen FINIS Ministers Watchmen Occasion of taking up this Text. Parts Caution Reason Part 1. Admonition or Caution wherein the Malady Cause of it 1. The Malady Sic etiam Chrysistomus Hom. 13. ad loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A madnesse to embrace some Opinions Manicheus insaniam sundens Vide August de Haeres contra Faustum Divers and strange Doctrines apt to distract those that hearken to them The Ordinary reading accepted Pareus ad Text. Beza Gr. Annot in loc Sense of the word expounded A Metaphor fetched from divers heads 1. From a Wheel Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Metaphoram habet a Rotā quae continuo motu circumacta partes summas imas semper commutat et nunquam consistit vel à stipulis quas ventus hinc inde in gyrum versat Paereus in Text. A Wheel a lively Embleme of Inconstancy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heinsius ad Text. ex Hesichi◠The worst kind of wheeles temporizing Apostates Ecebolus infamous for turning with the Times Ecebolus Sophista ad mores Imperatorum mutabat Religionem Ar t ad Text. Prostratus ante Templum dicebat Calcate me sa em insipidum Aret. ibid. vide Socratis Histor. Eccl. 2. Chaffe Empty-soules like Chaffe 3. Waves of the Sea 4. Clouds of the Ayr. The Ground or Cause of this Malady A wind of Doctrine Pulchra metaphora dum omnes hominum doctrinas quibus ab Evangelii simplicitate distrahimur appellat ventos Calvin ad loc False and Heretical called divers and strange Doctrines 1. Divers Nec sibi nec veritati consentaneae Pareus in Text. 1. Alwaies differing from the Truth Cum veritas consistit in medio cujus est unitas c. Doctrina ergo fidei una est c. Aquin. Com. ad loc 2. And often from themselves 2. Strange 1. To the Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost ad loc 2. To the Church The Apostles Caveat to his Hebrewes Not to be carried about with such doctrines A useful Admonition at that time upon a double account 1. Such doctrines were then abroad The Ceremonial Law cryed up by false Teachers Gospel-Liberty turned into Carnal Licentiousnesse Christ denyed Simon Magus the Father of Hereticks Vide Augustin de Haeresib Heresies in the first age in the Apostles times Hymeneus and Philetus Augustin de Haeresib The Sect of the Nicolaitans The Gnosticks too like some in the present Times False Teachers foretold of 2. These false Doctrines were then taking with some Many seduced in the first and purest times A useful Caveat at all times Significat praeterea Apostolus Ecclesiae Dei semper fore certamen cum peregrinis doctrinis