and passions be mortified and we shall not fail to know the truth nay all our differences will be at an end or if any remain they will not be destructive either to Charity or that blessed Unity which all good Christians desire to see in the Church of Christ If all will not take this course yet they who do shall stand as unmoveable as a Rock though there be never such strong Winds and violent Gusts of Doctrine abroad that would blow them about For it is only Chaff and Straws and such like light or loose things which are carried about with the Wind Solid and well-built Houses stand firm and unshaken And so will all they who are deeply grounded in holiness and humility They will be stedfast and unmoveable and never be perswaded to follow any other Doctrines than those they have received in this Church though pressed with never so much earnestness because no Doctrines whatsoever can make them better than they are and by the Grace of God intend to be And this truly is a plain Direction whereby to judge of those Doctrines which trouble the Church Do they tend to make men at all the better if they do believe them Will their hearts be more purged from all bad affections Will they become more holy more humble more meek more modest more dead to this World more kind loving and charitable to all men by entertaining those Doctrines which are superadded to the Christian Faith into which we were baptized Or on the contrary Do they not give mens vices greater liberty Do they not puff them up as all windy knowledge doth Will they not dispose us to be more highly conceited of our selves more arrogant more angry more impatient of contradiction more uncharitable and censorious more loose in our conversation more unpeaceable and ungovernable If we find these to be the Fruits of such Doctrines we are assured thereby that they are not the true Christian Doctrines which have the quite contrary effects and make men of another Spirit To conclude There is one piece of Christian piety wherewith all our works must be begun continued and ended and that is earnest Prayer to God whom we must constantly beseech to pour the Grace of his holy Spirit upon us that we may not fail to follow all these Directions and that they may be effectual for our preservation To him let us address our selves with all humility and fervent affection imploring his gracious presence with us at all times to inlighten our minds to guide us in judgment according to his promise to give us understanding in his holy Word to bestow upon us a spirit of discerning that we may clearly perceive the difference of things and not take evil for good falshood for truth but the way of lying may be removed from us and he may grant us his Law graciously But above all things let us beseech him to give us honest and good hearts unbiassed by any carnal or worldly affections Let us pray with David in the Psalm now mentioned cxix 36. that he would incline our heart unto his testimonies and not unto covetousness turn away our eyes from beholding vanity and quicken us in his way For where the love of the World prevails any gainful errour may easily find entertainment And whensoever we find our selves begin to be unsettled in the belief of that which upon the most serious and deliberate consideration we have judged to be the truth whensoever the resolution we took upon that judgment begins to waver and shake let us remember that we are under a temptation and that every temptation is a deceit and would put a cheat upon us for every man is tempted saith St. James when he is drawn away by his own lust and inticed and thereupon let us apply our selves to God with the greater diligence and earnestness for his Grace to purifie our hearts that we may not be seduced by any bad affections but building up our selves in our most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost we may keep our selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life S. Jude 20 21. Finally the Church it self hath put a Prayer into our mouths in the Collect for this Day in which let us not cease to make our humble and hearty requests to Him saying O Almighty God who hast instructed thy holy Church with the heavenly Doctrine of thy Evangelist St. Mark Give us Grace that being not like Children carried away with every Blast of vain Doctrine we may be established in the truth of thy holy Gospel through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen FINIS
what to believe and what to hold and retain with a firm resolution nor exposed us without any help for it to be carried away by the errour of the wicked but abundantly provided us with all things necessary for the knowledge of the Truth and for our improvement therein unto a state of stedfast belief Which is the third thing III. We are not left by God without the means of being settled in the Faith notwithstanding the Blasts of contrary Doctrine which may be in the Church and notwithstanding the cunning and craftiness whereby they may be managed For it is the very Scope of the Apostle in this place to convince the Ephesians that God had taken such care and made such provision that they might not henceforth be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine c. There was a remedy then against this lightness and inconstancy it was possible to discern truth from falshood the Christian Faith from the vain Doctrines which troubled the Church and if they did not continue Children they might continue stedfast in that Faith and not be moved from it by the violent Blasts of contrary perswasions God did not think fit as you have heard to lay such a restraint upon mens Spirits that none should be able to contradict the truth preached by the Apostles but permitted false Apostles deceitful Workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ for the tryal and exercise of the faithful whom he furnished with sufficient means to preserve themselves in a settled constant belief What those means were I shall briefly lay before you as I find them partly here and partly in other places of the Apostolical Writings and shall treat of them with a particular respect to our selves that we may be established in the truth of his holy Gospel First Nothing is to be admitted without good Proof Secondly In the Proof we make of Doctrines the holy Scriptures must be the Rule whereby we judge Thirdly In the use of this Rule we must take direction of our Spiritual Guides and Governours And Lastly We must live in the sincere practice of all other Duties of Christian Piety First The first Direction is that of this Apostle St. Paul to the Thessalonians 1 v. 21. Prove all things hold fast that which is good Which is the same with that of St. John 1 iv 1. Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the World From whence it is likely Dionysius of Alexandria formed that Precept which he calls an Apostolical voice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be ye skilful Bankers able to distinguish between good and bad Silver * Euseb L. VII Hist Eccles Cap. 7. Children indeed having not the faculty of discerning take all upon trust but it is a shame if being arrived at the state of Manhood we do not prove and try and examine as the word signifies every thing that is offered to our belief which we ought not to receive merely because confident men would impose it upon us by their Authority And if it will not abide a proof nor stand a tryal we may be certain it is deceitful Ware which they would put off in the dark and not have brought into the light Now in this proof we must be very serious for nothing can be examined thoroughly without an attentive mind Which we must awaken to ponder and consider every thing in the use of the best reason we have and whatsoever appears upon examination and proof to be agreeable to the Faith once delivered to the Saints that we must hold fast and not suffer our selves to be carried from it by any importunities of contrary affections For as we must receive nothing without good reason so we ought not lightly to forsake that which we have good reason to believe When I speak of Reason I do not mean bare natural Reason without the guidance of God's Grace For which we must heartily pray and He no doubt will readily vouchsafe unto all those who seriously seek for it with a desire to be led by it in the ways of truth and holiness For having given us his Son and by him revealed his mind and will unto us it is infidelity to think that he will not guide us by his Grace to understand his mind and will in all things necessary to our salvation Far be such a thought from our hearts which ought to rest satisfied that he will give us his Grace to direct us as freely as he hath given us his Son Christ to inlighten and instruct us He is as little sparing of his Grace as the visible Sun is of its Beams which shine into the eyes of all those who do not by wilful winking shut it out and thereby make themselves not the Sun guilty of their blindness If we love darkness rather than light or will not be at the pains to open our eyes and let it in but instead thereof give up our selves to be led about by others as they shall please to conduct us it is but just with God to deprive us of the power of judging aright and not to let us see when we would because we would not when we might He hath given us the use of Reason which if we will blindly resign to any pretended Authority what is it but to shut our eyes when we should open them or suffer our selves to be hood-wink'd when we should look about us that we be not deceived We can give no account of this to God who did not give us this talent that we should give it away to others but that we should faithfully employ and improve it our selves He never intended that we should let others judge for us but requires us to examine and judge our selves whether there be reason to receive that which is propounded to us by others This is so great a Truth that they who receive things without examination upon mere trust yet have some reason for what they do For no man trusts another till he hath reason to think he is an honest man and will not deceive him He doth not take his bare word for it that he will not deceive him but hath some ground or other to think he will be as good as his word Insomuch that they who seem least to trust to their own reason do really trust it in the weightiest matter when they trust it to chuse one for them whom they may trust They of the Roman Church I mean who would have us give up our Reason to their Authority do not pretend to perswade us to submit to that Authority without some reason for it And to be perswaded by reason as hath been long ago said that to their Authority we ought to submit our Reason is still to follow Reason and not to quit it and blindly resign it And if we must follow Reason in that why not in all things whatsoever Why
dangerous errors Provided Thirdly that in the use and application of this Rule we take the direction of our Spiritual Guides and Governors In some things as I said there is difficulty and where there is none the cunning of deceivers may so perplex things and intangle our understandings that we may not know what to think In which case especially we ought to seek for the assistance of those that are better able to judge than our selves Which is the very means of stability and constancy which the Apostle here recommends in my Text. For having shown how God appointed several orders of men in the Church not only Apostles Prophets and Evangelists but also Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints c. he lets them know that by these means God expected that they should not be henceforth children tossed to and fro and carried away with every wind of Doctrine For this purpose were Pastors and Teachers more particularly setled in the Church that they might be Instruments of setling others After the Apostles and Prophets and Evangelists had revealed the mind and will of God to men Pastors and Teachers were left in every Church to help them both to understand what the other great men had revealed and to detect the forgeries of false Apostles who went about to supplant the Christian Doctrine These Gifts as the Apostle here calls them were bestowed last of all being intended to remain after the other ceased And accordingly you are blessed with them in this Age as they were in the beginning and they are placed over you for the same end that they were at first that you may advise with them as persons whose business it is to study the holy Scriptures and to guide God's people by them in the way of truth For this they are better qualified than any other persons and therefore ought to be consulted by the people Who must not be so bold as to lean merely to their own understanding but listen also unto them not indeed as infallible but as men of the best understanding both by their Office and by their Study pains and experience whereby they are enabled to discover the frauds and sophistry of Deceivers and to open better than any else can do the true meaning of the holy Scriptures Their Guidance therefore the Apostle to the Hebrews also commends as a remedy against their instability in Religion xiii 7 8 9. Remember them that have the rule over you who have spoken to you the word of God whose faith follow c. Be not carried about with divers and strange Doctrines for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace not with meats which have not profited them that have been occupied therein Where one mark is given them whereby to know what Guides to follow Such as established their hearts in true grace and goodness not those that troubled them with unprofitable Disputes about meats and drink and such like things which were pressed by Judaical Teachers but made those who observed them not one jot the better if they did not make them worse by taking off their hearts from more substantial Duties And truly there is the same mark of distinction at this day All men follow some Guides or other but they alone ought to be followed who lead men not by their own authority but by the direction of the holy Scriptures whose main study it is to understand the Scriptures themselves and then to make others understand them who do not hide those Books from the people but exhort them to look into them and read them seriously and to learn therein above all things to be godly and vertuous to mortifie all evil affections and passions to purifie themselves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit and to perfect holiness in the fear of God Such Guides you are bound in Conscience to advise withal and not lightly to forsake their Conduct For if they of the contrary perswasion follow their Guides with an implicite Faith and a kind of blind obedience being scarce permitted to use their Reason how can our people answer it to God if they will not take heed to those who bid them open their eyes and see and examine and prove what they offer to them by the Rule of the holy Scriptures in the use of the most impartial and unbiassed Reason which God hath bestowed upon them and wherewith they can assist them It is not easie to apprehend how great a sin they are guilty of who neglect such guidance And I must take the freedom to tell you That to listen to other pretended Guides neglecting those of the Church of England under whom ye have been bred whose conversation you know by whom you have been long instructed and had sufficient proof of their abilities is an inexcusable sin and an unaccountable folly For in all reason you ought to have a greater reverence to the Priests of our Church than to those of any other Communion who cannot be presumed to know better than ours do nor to have more concern and care to guide you aright than ours have And therefore as none of you I hope will be carried away from the Faith of this Church by any wind of Doctrine whatsoever so you will not I trust so much as entertain a doubt of the truth here believed without consulting with the Pastors and Teachers of it who are able to preserve you from falling by Gods grace and blessing upon your and their honest endeavours You ought to make a great conscience of this if you chance to be staggered by any objection repair to those whom God hath appointed to settle your minds and preserve you upright Nay if there were nothing of Conscience in it yet it is but a due respect to them under whose ministry you have many years lived not to forsake them upon any suggestions whatsoever without hearing what they can answer to them nor to think them less able and willing to direct you than any other persons or less honest and careful in the directions they give that neither you nor they may do amiss Besides the weakness and levity nay the folly and wickedness it is a rude contempt of those whom you have the greatest reason to esteem and will be so judged at the dreadful day of our Lord to hearken to the voice of strangers and give a perfect credit to them without so much as consulting the judgment of those with whom you have been long acquainted Be not guilty I beseech you of such unmanly and unmannerly behaviour Do not so much as admit the beginning of a doubt about your Religion without acquainting some of them with it that they may resolve you and as St. Peter speaks 1 v. 12. exhort and testify to you that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand And in which you will always stand if you observe one thing more which in truth is the greatest of all Fourthly Live in
Imprimatur Joannes Battely RRmo Patri ac D no D no Wilhelmo Archiep Cantuar. à sacris domesticis Ex Aedib Lambeth Maii 17. 1686. A SERMON PREACHED ON Saint MARK 's Day MDCLXXXVI IN THE PARISH CHURCH of St Paul's Covent Garden BY SYMON PATRICK Rector there LONDON Printed by J. M. for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty 1686. A SERMON PREACHED On St MARK 's Day 1686. EPHES. iv 14. beginning That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine c. THese Words which are part of the Epistle for this Day contain a principal reason why God furnished his Church with such variety of Gifts and so many Ministers of the Gospel of his Grace as you read of in the foregoing Verses Where the Apostle observes ver 8. that after our Blessed Lord was raised from the lower parts of the Earth and ascended up into Heaven He gave gifts unto men and filled all things ver 10. And some he proceeds to shew were made Apostles who were the chief Ministers of Christ the Witnesses of his Resurrection the great Luminaries of the World by the laying on of whose hands the Holy Ghost was given unto others And next to them he placed Prophets who were inspired persons that had an excellent faculty of expounding the old Scriptures which prophesied of Christ and foretold the things that they now preached and did also in some cases foretell like the Prophets in antient time what was to come to pass hereafter in the Church of Christ After whom followed Evangelists of which Rank was St. Mark whose Memory is this Day celebrated They were men who accompanied the Apostles and went about with them in their travels to be sent by them as they were by Christ either to preach the Gospel where they could not go themselves or to confirm and strengthen those in the Faith whom they had already converted Thus St. Mark attended upon St. Peter whose Disciple he was as not only Eusebius and St. Hierom but Irenaeus himself who was more antient assure us He is thought to be the person mentioned by St. Peter in the latter end of his first Epistle v. 13. where he calls him Marcus my Son And is said by the Authors before mentioned to have written his Gospel at the request of the Converts of St. Peter from whom they say he went to Alexandria and there founded a Church of which he himself was the first Bishop Now after all these Apostles Prophets and Evangelists last of all there were Pastors and Teachers Who were Apostolical men setled and fixed in those Churches which had been gathered by the Apostles to be their constant Governours and Instructers when the Apostles could no longer stay with them All these were indued with Divine Gifts according to the measure that Christ pleased to bestow upon them as you read ver 7. And he bestowed these Gifts on them for three ends which are named ver 12. First for the perfecting of the Saints That is to compleat those who were already called into the state of Christianity to supply their defects and to make up what was wanting which is the meaning of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly For the work of the Ministry that they might bring others into the Church who were not yet made Christians which seems to be the proper work of the Ministry as it stands here distinguished from the former and from what follows Which was Thirdly for the edifying of the Body of Christ the building up the whole Church together in knowledge and piety till they all came into the Unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God and grew to be such perfect men as not to be carried about any more like children with every wind of Doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lay in wait to deceive This in short is the coherence of my Text in which I shall observe to you these three things I. That this Apostolical Church of Ephesus was disturbed with variety of Doctrines and with Controversies in Religion II. That it was a childish thing to be unsettled by this variety or contrariety of Doctrines III. That God did not leave his Church without the means of being settled and stedfast in the true Faith of Christ notwithstanding those Blasts of contrary Doctrines and notwithstanding the cunning and craft wherewith they were managed I. First I say these words suppose that the Church to which the Apostle writes was disturbed by variety of Doctrine and by Controversies in matters of Religion For when he saith that henceforth they should not be tossed to and fro c. it suggests that they had been wavering and unsettled apt to be moved away from the Faith of the Gospel by the impetuous assaults that were made upon them by some cunning Deceivers I call them impetuous because these Doctrines which were different from or contrary unto the Faith of the Gospel were pressed with such earnestness that the Apostle compares them to a Blast of Wind and not barely to a Blast but to a Storm or Tempest Which is the meaning of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tossed to and fro as a Ship is in a furious Storm for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence it is derived literally imports signifying here that the false Teachers who disturbed the Church were very vehement or rather violent making up in confidence what they wanted in truth Such were the Jewish Deceivers whom the Apostle in the iii. Philip. 2. compares to Dogs who impudently assaulted the faithful and endeavoured to rend and tear the Church all in pieces Such were the Philosophical Pretenders by whom the Colossians were in danger to be forcibly carried away from the Faith and made a prey to a Company of Thieves and Robbers 2 Coloss 8. Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit Which last word as well as my Text gives you the reason why I said the Church was troubled with the impetuous assaults of some Deceivers For they added much craft subtilty and juggling to their violence and zealous confidence Which is compared here in the latter part of this Verse to that sleight of hand wherewith cunning Gamesters cogg the Die and is further illustrated by a second word importing such subtilty as we have no one English word to express and therefore render it by two cunning craftiness and that thirdly so artificially managed that it was according to a method of deceit or an orderly proceeding in their Cheats as the last words are in the Greek which we translate Whereby they lye in wait to deceive I note these things very briefly only to shew what manner of men they were who troubled the Church of Christ in the Apostles days They were bold and they were crafty confident and cunning busie and boisterous and withal very subtil and insinuating So busie they