these things once nor to receive them by unwritten Tradition but earnestly defired St. Mark that he would write down for them the substance of that History of Christ which they had received by word of Mouth And ceased not till they had prevailed with him And thereby they gave occasion to the writing of that Holy Gospel which we to this day enjoy the benesit of and which bears the name of him that wrote it And again Eusebius writes further out of Papias Hist Eccl. l. 3. c. ult that St. Mark being St. Peters attendant and Interpreter did accurately write down what he had heard from St. Peter not indeed in the same order as they were spoken or done by our Saviour for he was not one of them that heard and followed Christ but onely heard St. Peter and wrote what he retained in his memory from his preaching And therefore he is not to be condemned for that he doth not follow the Method of the other Evangelists seeing he did not design a full Commentary of all things that Christ had done and spoken but onely to relate with faithfulness what he did retain in his memory And further Hist Eccl. l. 6. c. 24. the said Eusebius relating a Catalogue of the Books of Canonical Scripture out of Origen he speaks of this Gospel written by St. Mark that he wrote it according to the direction of St. Peter 1 Pet. 5.13 who in his aforementioned Epistle calls him his Son The death of this Holy Evangelist is referred to the Reign of Nero and the 63d year of Christ by Bucholtzer in his Chronology But Dorotheus refers it to the Reign of Trajan and describes the manner of it thus That at Alexandria in the place called Bucolus he had a Cable-rope put about his neck and therewith drawn from Buclous to a place called the Place of the Angels and there by the Idolaters burnt to death in the Moneth of April and his bones buried in the Bucolus This account I thought meet to trouble you with concerning this Holy Evangelist St. Mark The Text you know is part of that portion of Scripture appointed by our Church to be read as the Epistle for this day In the beginning of which Portion the Apostle sheweth us that the variety of those gifts which God hath bestowed upon divers members of his Church v. 10 11. are the fruits and benefits of Christs Ascension And that the end of all the Officers both extraordinary and ordinary which he hath appointed in the Church is for the benefit of the whole Vers 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the perfecting or kniting together of the Saints And for the work of the Ministry to fit men to serve him in the daily administration in the Church and for the edifying of the Body of Christ for the building up of the Church and further instructing of those that are come into it Vers 13. Till we all come in the unity of the Faith and of the Knowledge of the Son of God till Jews and Gentiles come to be one sheepfold under one Shepherd and till we be grown up to that perfection of Knowledge as will speak us to be men of Stature And then he proceeds in my Text to shew one of the great Benefits which we hope to reap from those Officers whom Christ hath appointed in his Church and from our being built up in Knowledge and Holiness by their Ministry that we shall be setled in the unity of the Orthodox Faith against all the assaults of those that are enemies to the Truth That we henceforth be no more Children tossed to and fro and carried away with every wind of Doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive In which words we may observe six parts 1. The causal particle of conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 2. The subjects spoken of included in the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we be 3. The condition they had formerly been in which had disposed them to receive prejudice and that is expressed in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Children 4. The prejudice which they had been apt to receive in that condition which is set forth in two very Emphatical words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tossed to and fro and carried about 5. The instruments of doing them this mischief set forth in those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the winds of strange Doctrine 6. The Authours and Promoters of this mischief which are set forth in those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive While I go over the illustration of each of these parts and improve them to our ulstruction and Edification I shall be bold to beg your serious and candid attention I begin with the leading part of the Text 1 Part. the Conjunction which connects these words with what went before Pulchre in Metaphorâ a viro perfecto sumptâ perseverat c. saith Mesander upon this Text. The Apostle had been mentioning it but now as one of the special benefits which we receive by those Officers which Christ hath appointed in his Church that we might be built up from the condition of Children to that of grown men or men of stature in the Faith And here he proceeds further in setting forth this benefit that being come to the stature of men in the knowledge of Christ we should now put away childish things wavering and irresolution of minde in matters of Faith and set our selves as men to stand fast in the Profession of that Faith into which we have been Baptized Our Learned Doctor Hammond doth express the sense of this illative particle to the life thus Which may secure us that we henceforth c. So that this Conjunction doth readily offer us this Note That the continuance of a powerful and painful Ministry in the Church is one special expedient to establish people in the Faith and to settle them against the seducements of false Teachers The truth of this is so evident to every mans Observation that I shall need to say very little for the clearing of it To the Office of a Minister it belongs to shew the people the ways of Truth which they ought to follow and by so doing they must needs at once shew them the by-ways of errour which they ought to avoid For Rectum est index sui obliqui To the Office of a Minister it appertains to exhort and admonish the people that they be not drawn away by the errour of the wicked 2 Pet. 3.16 to depart from their own stedfastness but rather to grow in Grace Now the words of the wise saith Solomon are as nails to fasten men and as goads to stir them forward in that which is good when they are fastned by the wise Masters of Assemblies Eccl. 12.11 And therefore the labours of such may
Elect Angels to procure the confirmation of them in their estate of holiness and happiness But in this I determine nothing because the holy Scriptures are so sparing in speaking of it The usual acception of this word Mediator is to signifie him that reconciles parties that be at difference and in this sense Jesus Christ the word made flesh is truely and properly called a Mediator to reconcile God and man because he interposeth himself between God and us in this difference that sin hath made to reconcile Gods justice to us by making satisfaction for our sin and to reconcile us to God by sanctifying our natures and making us conformable to his will in this life inchoatly and at death perfectly CHAP. V. The holy Scriptures being owned at least in outward profession by men of all professions that lay claim to the common name of Christianity we may therefore take it for granted that Arguments drawn from them should put an end to all strife amongst us The design and method of the four following Chapters proposed THe Reverence we owe to the authority of the holy Scriptures doth oblige every good Christian not onely to account it a necessary piece of humility to subscribe to the doctrine thereof as the will and pleasure of him that made us and to whom we owe all obedience but also to esteem it the safest and most prudential course to entertain and embrace the truths thereof as the Word of him who is Wisdom it self and therefore cannot err or be deceived and Goodness it self and therefore we may be sure he will not endeavour to seduce or delude us So that though there be divers things contained in this Sacred Volume which our shallow capacities cannot reach to comprehend yet we finde reason enough to impute it to the defects of our Nature and not to any over-sight in those Sacred Writings that we cannot always see a reason of every thing therein delivered And the Soveraign Authority and infinite Wisdom of him that inspired those holy men that wrote these Books is a sufficient argument to move us to a reverent submission to those matters of Faith which surpass the reach of our reason and therefore as every sober Professor of Christianity makes the Word of God the foundation of his Faith so the best Arguments that can be produced for the confirming of our Belief in that Faith which hath been delivered unto us will be such as are fetched from this Sacred Promptuary of holy Writ And as I was mentioning it before Chap. 2. for the honour of the Word of God that men of all Sects and perswasions who center in the common Profession of the Christian Religion do at least pretend great reverence to these Writings and whether in good earnest or in design to put off their opinions the more plausibly in the world do endeavour to represent even their most heterodox and incredible Notions as the Doctrine of the Spirit of God in the Scripture we may therefore very reasonably expect that Arguments drawn from the Scriptures should be convineing to them and an end of all strife And further that the fair and plain meaning of the words of Scripture which is most obvious to every man of understanding and which hath been received by the Church of God in all ages should be embraced by them as well as by us as the ground upon which all Arguments are to be built It being as absurd in matters of Reason and Faith for one or a few men to expect that his or their single Vote for some singular meaning of a plain Text of Scripture should be heard in opposition to the judgement of the Church of God in all ages as in matters of sense it would be for one man confidently and contentiously to pronounce that colour to be white or red which all his Neighbours and people of all Ages before him have received under the notion of black We may therefore take it for granted that Arguments drawn from the plain and obvious sense of the Scripture such as hath been received by the Church in all Ages should be accounted sufficient both to confirm the faith of those that are serious in Christianity and also to convince or at least put to silence those that are dissenting from us In order therefore to the confirming of us in the belief of this Truth which is the substance of the whole Doctrine of the Gospel that The Word made flesh or God the Son manifest in the flesh hath truely and really undertaken and performed the Office of a Mediator to reconcile God and man I shall propound these four general Heads to be considered and confirmed First That the Lord did promise to Adam after his fall and to all the Fathers and Prophets of the Old Testament his own Son to become man and in the Union of these two Natures to perform all those Offices which were necessary in order to our Redemption and Salvation Secondly That the Time which was appointed for the accomplishing of these promises and Prophesies and for the sending of the Son of God into the World is long since expired and consequently that we ought stedfastly to believe that our Saviour is already come in the flesh Thirdly That we have full and sufficient grounds to believe that the same Jesus whom the New Testament holds forth unto us and in whom we and all the Churches of God in all Ages have believed is that very Person who was promised to the Fathers to come as the Messiah or Saviour of the World Fourthly That the Apostles and Evangelists in the New Testament do hold forth unto us such a Christ as was really and truly God and Man Hypostatically united in one Person and who did in a real and proper sense satisfie Gods Justice for our sins and purchase eternal Salvation for us by his Merits On this Rock is the Church of God built Matt. 16.18 On this have every one of us built our particular Faith and in this we had need to be fully and persectly setled And he that is confirmed in the truth of these four Positions is confirmed in the whole Doctrine of the Gospel Let us then proceed by the assistance of the good Spirit of God to the opening and confirming of them in order CHAP. VI. The first Proposition confirmed in its two Branches viz. First That God did promise to the Fathers of the Old Testament to send his Son into the World to take our Nature upon him Secondly That he promised that in the Vnion of these two Natures he should perform all those Offices which were necessary in order to our Redemption and Salvation ALL the Promises of God are Yea 2 Cor. 1.20 and Amen Faithfulness and Truth as being the Words of the God of Truth Tit. 1.2 who cannot lye Hath he spoken it and shall it not stand Hath he promised and shall he not make it good Mat. 5.18 Behold Heaven and Earth shall pass
13. yea with Vzziah presumptuously to rush unto Gods Altar and incroach upon the Priests Office 2 Chro. 26.17 18 Much less that they should have gone so far in the way of Corah and his company as to tell the Priests of the Lord that they take too much upon them Num. 16.3 and that all the Lords people are holy in the same sense as they and as fit to dispence Gods Ordinances as those that were solemnly and orderly set apart to this Office Those that first began through the specious pretences of some false Teachers to scruple the baptizing of Infants did little think they should have made such progress in giddiness and unfoundness as to deny any such thing as an outward Baptism which was so expresly commanded by our Saviour and sanctified by his own example and practised without any interruption in the Church of God in all ages yea to account the holy Communion of Christs Body and Blood as a common and prophane thing to account the preaching of the Word no better then foolishness whereas the Apostle represents it as the onely outward and ordinary means for working of Faith Rom. 10.14 17. 1 Cor. 1.21 and that which God is wont to make use of for this end yea to esteem the prayers of our Church as no better then Popish superstition and Idolatry which were composed by them that laid down their lives for the witness of the Truth against Popish idolatry and errour And in a word according to their own prophane expression to esteem themselves above those Ordinances which are infinitely above the best of men Those that first begun to raise doubts concerning some points of our Faith were so short-fighted as not to see the pernicious consequents of disturbances and unsettlement in the Church and did little think to see raked out of the grave most of the old errours which had for so long time lain buried in forgetfulness that so many of the notions of the old Gnosticks of the Arians Macedonians Pelagians Socinians Antitrinitarians Antiscripturists should have been revived under the notion of new lights while in the mean time the good old Orthodox Faith is anathematized as Antichristian But such is the deceitfulness of mans heart and such the subtlety and unwearied industry of that enemy of the Church that it is an hard matter for men to set bounds to themselves when once they have transgressed bounds To have foretold these things in the beginning of our Civil and Ecclesiastical confusions would have seemed to many wel-meaning but injudicious people not onely to have foretold strange and unlikely matters but also to have prophesied evil and not good meerly out of prejudice against those specious pretences But as the Maxims of Policy do shew and the sad experience of our Age doth confirm that in the Civil State it is far easier to find faults in a Government then to exchange it for a better and that Vnsettlement must needs resolve it self into Anarchy at last So in Church matters it hath alwayes been observed to be a dangerous course to remove a stone out of the Foundations of our Faith though with never so fair pretences of better polishing it and protestations of placing it there again A man of clear Reason and unbyassed Judgment might partly have foreseen the tendency of these things in the beginning And I hope all succeeding Ages will learn this from the calamities which we have felt that it is better for every Christian to exercise his Patience in bearing with and his Devotion in praying for the Reformation of some mistakes and comings-short in Church-Government then to pull down the whole Edifice under pretence of a through-Reformation lest the Remedy prove far more dangerous than the Disease How sad a pass are we come to in matters of Faith when some talk so presumptuously of a Light within that should be sufficient to lead a man to Heaven if he walk answerably to it which must either be perfect Pelagianism or Socinianism denying any such depravation of our Natures as doth disable us from doing that which is good by our own strength or that there is any such distance between God and man as should make us stand in need of a Mediator to work out a Reconciliation Or else we must take it to be a meer Meteor exhaled by the heat of a misguided Zeal from the Dunghil of Popery and elevated unto the middle Region of their Brain the seat of Fancy a Vapour not well understood by them that are impregnated with it a Tympany that swells them up to a conceit that they are big bellyed of some great matters which yet in the bringing of it forth into the World appears to be like the birth of the Mountains A Glow-Worm that is set in the dark to amuse the minds of those that are Children in understanding A New nothing blown up like a Bladder by the unsavory breath of men of putrid Lungs and laid in the way to cause men to stumble and fall short of Christ who is the Way Jo. 14.6 the Truth and the Life How sad is it to see others turn Scepticks and such as shame not to profess themselves to be to seek whether there be any true Church of Christ upon Earth or any Ordinances to be attended on While in the mean time both these and the former neglect that means of Knowledge whereby they might be convinced of their Errors and instructed in the way of Truth forsake the holy Ordinances of God which He hath appointed us to attend upon for our own good alway their Families are of the number of those that call not upon Gods Name Jer. 10.25 either at their lying down and rising up or at their partaking of the good Creatures of God which the Apostle tells us are to be received with thanksgiving 1 Tim. 4.5 and are sanctified to our use by the Word of God and Prayer It behoves therefore every good Christian to take heed That he be not drawn away with the Error of the wicked to depart from his own stedfastness but to grow in Grace Acts 3.17 18. and in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ And those whom God hath set to watch for the souls of others as they that must give an account ought to be diligent and faithful in preaching Christ crucified 1 Cor. 1.23 24. who though he be to the Jews a stumbling blook and to the Greeks foolishness yet to them that are effectually called both of the Jews and Greeks he is Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God Not but that we know that the Church of Christ is so built upon a Rock that all the malice and subtilty Mat. 16.18 of the gates of Hell shall never be able to prevail against it But yet it is our duty to give testimony to the Truth whereby through Gods blessing those that stand fast may be the more setled and those that are
imagine that the sins of the Children should hinder the fulfilling of them at the time appointed Secondly the promises concerning the Messiah were absolutely expressed without any respect to the worthiness or unworthiness of the people Jacob doth not say Gen. 49.10 If the people be obedient Shiloh shall come when the Scepter departs but speaks it absolutely The seventy weeks are said to be determined Dan. 9. not conditionally if the people did please God but absolutely And if the sins of the people did not hinder the fulfilling of other Prophesies of this Nature why should they be thought to have hindred this Doubtless this is but a Cavil invented by the Jews of latter ages for their fathers that lived about the time of Christs Birth did look upon them as absolute and did expect the Messiah about that time as I shewed before and this cavil is only invented to defend the obstinacy of this Nation at this day Nay let us hear what a promise the Psalmist mentioneth If the children of David do break my laws and keep not my commandments Psal 89.30 31 32. c. then will I visit their transgressions with a rod and their sins with stripes nevertheless my loving kindness will I not take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail my Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gon out of my lips And this must needs be understood of the Covenant concerning the sending of the Messiah so that their sins could not hinder the fulfilling of it in due time Thirdly the Messiah was promised to be a blessing to all Nations Gen. 21.16 and therefore the sins of one Nation could not hinder the sending of him in due time God promised Abraham that in his seed all the Nations of the earth should be blessed and Isaiah speaking from the Lord unto Christ Isa 49.6 saith It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the Tribes of Judah I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayst be my Salvation to the ends of the earth The Gentiles were to receive benefit by his coming into the world as well as the Jews as I have before shewed and therefore it would be unreasonable to imagine that the sins of that one Nation should hinder the coming of Him who was to be a blessing to all Nations Ezek. 18.20 God saith The soul that sinneth shall dye the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him Now if God will not punish the sins of the father on the son who is not accessary to his father's faults much less will he punish the sins of the Jews upon all the whole world who were not accessary to their sins Fourthly Dan. 9.24 The Messiah was promised to come for this end that he might take away sin to finish Transgression and to make an end of sin and to bring in everlasting Righteousness Isa 53.5 and to be wounded for our Transgressions c. as I have said before And therefore why should we think that the abounding of sin should hinder his coming Doth the sickness of the Patient hinder the Physitian from coming whose office is to cure Diseases and there would be no need of him if men were not sick Yea some of the Learned do tell us that the Jewish Rabbies that lived before Christ did foretel that when the Messiah should come there would be a great abounding of Iniquity in the world and therefore we may conclude this to be onely a Cavil of the later Jews to excuse their obstinate slighting of the true Christ whom their Fathers crucified As for that fond conceit of some of the Jews who say that the Messiah is indeed come but is hidden at the gates of Rome and that it shall be some time before he be discovered This is so far lighter than vanity that I shall take no further notice of it then to put you in mind thereby of that heavy curse of God that lies upon them That though the Prophet Malachi Mal. 3.1 for about two thousand years ago did tell them that the Lord should suddenly come into his Temple yet they will believe that he is still to come Yea though they have felt the heavy wrath of God lying upon them to the utmost for so many Ages yea though their condition be so sad that they have no Prophets to tell them how long it shall last yet still they perfist in denying and opposing the true Christ Let us pray for their Conversion and endeavour to be setled our selves in this Article of the Christian Faith that the Messiah who was promised to the Fathers is long since come in the flesh CHAP. VIII The third Proposition viz. That we have full and sufficient Grounds to believe that the same Jesus which is held forth unto us in the New Testament and in whom we and all the Churches of God in all Ages have believed is that very Person who was promised to the Fathers to come as the Messiah or Saviour of the World Confirmed by the Miracles which he wrought to confirm this Truth and by the fulfilling of all Prophesies in him THat a Saviour was promised to the Fathers of Old and that these promises are long since out of date you have seen confirmed so that consequently we must look backward with the Eye of our Faith to a Christ already exhibited and not forward to one yet to come The next thing in which it will be necessary to have our Faith setled is that we are not deceived as to that particular Person upon whom we and all the Churches of God for this sixteen hundred years and upward have pitched as our Messiah or Saviour And though the consent of the Church in all Ages be a very good Argument to satisfie us in this point yet it may be necessary in these fickle times to look for a firmer Ground to build our Faith upon in this which is a matter of so great moment First then 1 Argument I argue from the many Miracles which Jesus wrought when he was upon the Earth for the confirmation of this Truth that he was indeed the Messiah that was promised A Miracle is a work that exceeds the power of any created cause to produce by his own strength and therefore whosoever can do miracles is either God or hath received power from God in a special and supernatural manner And as Gods giving power to any person to work Miracles for the confirming of any point that he teacheth is to be accounted as Gods setting his Seal to the truth thereof So it would be unreasonable as well as impious to imagin that the God of Truth should set his Seal to a ly and consequently whatever Doctrine hath been confirmed by
and to the end of his coming into the world viz. to take away the sins thereof 4. The greatest and most Authentick Testimony that can be defired or imagined is that of the Father from Heaven concerning him This is my well beloved Son Mat. 3.17 Chap. 17.5 in whom I am well pleased That he was truly man was evident to those that were about him that he was God was evident by the Testimony of God himself who is the God of Truth 5. The passages of his life upon Earth doth shew him to be both truly God and truly Man His hungring and thirsting his weariness and faintness his sighing and weeping and such other fruits of humane infirmity were sufficient Arguments to prove him to be truly man And all the miraculous works of his Power which he wrought upon earth of which I have spoken before as they shew him to be the Messiah Isa 35.5 6. that was foretold by the Prophets of whom it was foretold that he should work such miracles so also that he was truly God Joh. 5.36 as himself argues 6. The Testimony of the Evangelists and Apostles doth confirm this Of St. Peter Mat. 16.16 Acts 2.36 Chap. 3.17 18. and Chap. 4.11 12. and Chap. 10.43 1 Pet. 1.19 20. Of St. Paul Acts 9.22 and Chap. 13.23 34. Rom. 15.8 2 Cor. 1.10 2 Tim. 2.8 Of St John 1 John 2.22 and Chap. 5.2 15. Of St. Stephen the Proto-martyr Acts 7.52 Of St. Philip Acts 8.32 And many more Instances of this sort might be alledged but these are some of the chief 7. The general consent of the Catholick Church of Christ in all Ages ever since the time of Jesus and his Apostles who have held this Truth and made it a main Article of all their Creeds The concurrence of all Pious and Orthodox Fathers and Councils beside the chearful and undaunted sufferings of many thousands of Martyrs for the Profession of this Faith This I say together with the former Testimonies do argue this foundation of our Faith to be laid as so sure a Rock that The gates of Hell Mat. 16.18 shall never be able to prevail against it and that we may comfortably venture our selves upon this Truth that the same Jesus in whom we believe is both Lord and Christ God and Man Hypostatically united Secondly Let us proceed to the other Head viz. to prove that Christ did fully and in a true and proper sense make satisfaction to Gods justice for our sins And that Salvation is to be expected from him and no other way 1. It is very evident that the Apostles in the New Testament do affirm us to be reconciled to God and justified in his fight by the merits and sufferings of Christ Rom. 5.10 When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Which as it shews plainly that there was an enmity between God and man through the Fall and this enmity mutual God offended by mens transgression and man alienated from God by the depravation of his Nature So it shews whereby the Reconciliation was wrought between God and man even by the death of Christ the Son of God who did both by the merits of his death satisfie Gods justice and also by the efficacy of his Death and Resurrection take from us the stony heart and give us an heart of flesh And it is very observable Vers 19. how afterward the Apostle makes a direct Antithesis between the first and the second Adam the misery that befel us by the transgression of the first and the benefits we receive by the obedience and sufferings of the latter As by one mans disebedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Which words as they do suppose the Communication of the guilt of Adams sin to all his posterity whereby they are said to be made sinners and liable to Gods justice So they do plainly express the benefits of Christ's death to be communicated to the justification of as many as do believe in him And what can be a plainer proof of the point in hand Secondly The New Testament speaks of the blood of Christ being shed to make an attonement for us Phil. 2.8 Being found in fashion of a man having taken our Nature upon him and set himself in our stead in this nature and in our stead He humbled himself and became obedient to death even the death of the Cross And that we may know that he died for us shed his blood to make attonement to Divine Justice for our sins 1 Joh. 1.7 St. John tells us That the blood of Jesus Christ his Son 1 Pet. 2.24 cleanseth us from all our sins And St. Peter tells us That by his stripes we are healed Not healed only in a moral sense as good examples tend to heal and take away corrupt manners as if Christ had come into the world onely to give us an example of Holiness in his life and of Humility and Patience at his death and that were all the benefit which we were to expect by him But we are so healed by his stripes that our sins are thereby pardoned being punished on his back He suffered the just for the unjust to the end that he might justifie the ungodly that believe in him So himself tells us Luk. 22.20 that his blood was shed for many for the remission of sins He died that he might purchase at Gods hands the pardon of our sins by undergoing that punishment which we had deserved To this agrees that Character which the Baptist gives of Christ Joh. 1.29 Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world This sheweth plainly that he was slain and offered up as a Propitiatory sacrifice to expiate the guilt of our sins 3. The New Testament sets him forth as the Substance of all the Legal purifications and ceremonial Oblations and Expiations which were used by the Law of Moses And this argues that he made an Attonement for us Certainly the great God of Heaven and Earth did not take their Cattel from the Jews because he had need of them or because he delighted in shedding the blood of innocent Beasts that were no wayes accessary to the sins of their Masters But we have reason to believe there were further matters intended by these Ceremonies of the Law God did appoint these Ceremonial washings and expiations after legal defilements that the people might be put in mind of the defiling nature of sin and might be warned to take heed of it as that which defiles the soul and accordingly might endeavour after they had fallen into it to wash their souls with tears of Repentance and Contrition He charged their Estates and caused them to sacrifice their Cattel that they might learn that Sin is very displeasing to God and did expose them to that and a worse death then the innocent beast did sustain And yet further to put
any corruption or produce me any Church of God since Christs time which hath not had some spots in it or else convince me that the society with which himself is joyned is free from sin I will readily excuse him in his Separation But in the mean time forasmuch as I know that none of these can possibly be made out I must needs 1 Cor. 3.1.3 with the Apostle pronounce Schisms to be of the works of the flesh and this plea to be insufficient for the justifying of these practises But yet Mat. 18.5 as our Saviour saith as It is impossible but that offences should come so Woe to him by whom they do come If men take occasion of scandal where it is not given it is their fault but he that gives just occasion of turning men away from the profession of the true Faith and adherence to the true Church by his lewd and wicked life woe be to him and Better had it been for him that he had never been born It must needs be confessed that the mouths of erronious persons are opened through the evil lives of many Church-lovers and Church-men too so that we may say Pudet haec opprobria nobis Et dici potuisse non potuisse refelli These things being told in Gath and published in Asâ—â—elon have caused the Daughters of the Vnoircumcised to rejoyce Let us therefore every one of us set our selves both to cut off this occasion and also to cause our Light so to shine before men as may induce them all to embrace the Truth and Unity Certainly Rom 2.27 what the Apostle speaks of Circumcision to the Jews may be said of Baptism to the Christians It profiteth us greatly if we keep the Law if we lead lives answerable to our Baptismal vow and Covenant but if not it will be all one as if we had not been baptized Yea it will rise up against us at the last day and aggravate our Condemnation Secondly Let me further admonish those that are sound in the Faith that they stagger not in their Profession nor be induced to a love of Errors through the strictness of the lives of those that are Erronious Indeed there is so little shew of Reason or plain Scripture for most things in which our Sectaries differ from us that the Opinions themselves yield little of powerful Temptation to the embracing of them But the greatest thing that is apt to make people of good affections to stagger is the strict lives of many that take these courses But yet if we seriously consider this it doth not afford so strong a temptation as at first view it seems to do That Whore of Babylon of whom these people talk so much is said to have a golden Cup in her hand Apoc. 17.4 full of abominations and the filthiness of her Fornication The Papists are many of them of as strict lives as our Sectaries And their Monks and Jesuits deliver as strict rules for the ordering of our Conversation as any men can and have as sublime and spiritual notions many times in the Interpretation of Scripture But if I meet with and approve these things in one leaf and in the next find blasphemous expressions of honour to the blessed Virgin and other Saints and prayers put up unto them shall I therefore close with their Errors and Idolatry because I find something amongst them which I love Yea the Jews and Turks who are at this day the professed enemies of Christ are for the most part as faithful in their word as just in their dealings and of as strict and temperate lives as our Opiniators But this shall never make me to love Judaism or Mahometanism the better He was not a wise child that threw the whole Apple away because some of it was rotten nor yet he that greedily eat up the rotten together with the sound but he that pared out the rotten and fed upon that which was sound So they do not well who cry out against a Profession of Religion and strictness of life because these things are to be found among them that are erronious Nor are they so wise as they should be who because they see many things commendable in the lives of those that differ from us do therefore turn to an embracing of their Errors and Schisms But this is the truly wise and christian course To love that which is good in every man to love and imitate the strictness and circumspection of their lives yea to let them know that they do not outdo us therein but yet to avoid and abhor their Errors Indeed a man were not fit to be an Heretick if he were of a lewd life Nullis aconita bibuntur Fictilibus tunc illa time c. Satan hath the better advantage in tempting men to drink this poyson of errors by dazling their eyes with the lustre of the golden Cup in which he presents it Let us labour to be so wise as to examine the principles as well as the practises of those with whom we close and not rashly to joyn with persons of strange principles though of never so strict lives 3. It will greatly concern us all to take heed of spiritual pride and self-conceitedness as that which will greatly hazzard our standing fast in the Faith We have seen in our time many stately Cedars blown up by the roots those that have been very high and lofty not only for natural Gifts and Knowledg but at least for a shew of a very high measure of zeal for God yet how have they been overturned by those turbulent winds of strange Doctrine It behoves us therefore to take the Apostles exhortation Rom. 11.20 Be not high minded but fear We should not be puffed up so as to scorn or despise those that are fallen but pitty them as knowing that we also are men subject to the same infirmities if God should leave us to our selves We should not entertain high thoughts of our own strength because we have stood fast thus far as if we had been supported by our own abilities or as if it were not possible for such as we are to be deceived For as there is nothing more displeasing to God then pride and of all pride spiritual pride is the worst so nothing is more likely to provoke God to leave us to our selves then these high thoughts of our own strength Beside Reason and Experience shew that confidence doth usually invite men to carelesness and that prepares men for a fall Had men been well ballasted with Humility they would not have been so far tossed with this sail of self-conceit as to despise the teachings of those that are called to that Office and to think themselves wiser then their teachers so as to prefer their own bare groundless conceits before all the Reasons and Scriptures that can be produced to the contrary and their own fancical wresting of Scripture before the plain and obvious meaning of it and the concurrent judgment of
of those that separate from us to flock like Doves to the Windows yea like good Christians to the bosome of Gods Church If you will not judge your own selves whether your errour be not inexcusable in your departing from and disowning and opposing those things which you do not so much as understand Si accusâsse sat est quis innocens fuerit If meerly to cavil and rail and calumniate be sufficient to confute the Doctrine and practice of a Church without doubt the Church of England hath been as profoundly confuted as possibly can be imagined It is one of the easiest parts of wit that consists in finding faults with others and representing what is practised by them as odious and ridiculous There was never any thing so well devised by the wisest of men but he that had a malicious minde and a pestilent tongue might represent as a very strange Monster when he had first dressed it in clothes of his own devising Nor any thing so evil and pernicious but those that loved it would find something to say for it No marvel then that we have met with so many Pamphlets stuffed with Queries and Cavils and Calumnies to which the best Answer that can be given is The Lord rebuke thee thou evil spirit which art the cause of these divisions of Reuben that are the occasions of so many sad thoughts of heart to all sober and Religious person But setting aside these Cavils which come not from the heart at least not from a heart seriously desirous to be satisfied Will you do your selves the right to come to us who are Ministers of Christ 1 Cor. 4.1 and Stewards of the Mysteries of God as you come to your Lawyer or Physitian move such scruples touching the way of our Church as do really trouble you shew forth such a spirit as doth not come to cavil but to be informed and see if I will not say we but your own mindes will not suggest an answer to what you can reasonably object against our Church 4. Be serious and ingenuous in answering me one Question more Do those whom you follow into corners teach you the same Doctrine which we teach in publick or do they teach that which is contrary to it If they teach that which is contrary we are able fully to confute them by sufficient Scripture-Arguments yea there is not any one of those many errours which are taught by them that creep into houses but it hath been fully and solidly confuted by the publick Ministry to which nothing can be replyed but obstinacy and resolvedness to be deceived If you say they teach the same things that we do Why do you not come to hear them from us who are likely to teach them more profitably as being both better qualified by giving our selves wholly to these things and applying our selves daily to searching of the Holy Scriptures Eccl. 1◠10 and to the setting in order profitable and acceptable words and withal being orderly called to this Office by them who had authority to lay hands upon us May not we say to you as King Abijah to the Israelites 2 Chron. 13.9 10 11. Have not ye cast out the Priests of the Lord the sons of Aaron and the Levites and have made you Priests of the lowest of the people But as for us the Lord is our God and we have not forsaken him and the Priests which minister to the Lord are the sons of Aaron and the Levites wait upon their business And they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening burnt-Sacrifices and sweet Incense c. And though you have gon on in the gain-saying of Corah Jude v. 11. and say with him and his company Ye take too much upon you seeing all the congregation are holy Num. 16.3 and the Lord is among them wherefore then lift you up your selves above the Congregation of the Lord Yet may we answer you as Moses did them Ye take too much upon you vers 7. vers 11. ye sons of Levi that affect the Priest-hood it self and ye are gathered together against the Lord and what is Aaron who are we the Ministers of the Lord that ye murmur against us 5. Consider and lay to heart the sad spiritual judgements which God hath inflicted upon many of those that separate selves from the publick Ordinances Is it not observable that the most of them are given up to a spirit of giddiness and instability so that they cannot tell where to six when once they have forsaken their first Foundation Is it not easily to be observed how many of them have taken their degrees from one errour to another till they have even outdone themselves and their first thoughts in forsaking the Church Hath it not been sadly evident in many that have not received the love of the Truth 2 Thes 2.10 11. that they might be saved that God for this cause hath given them up to strong delusions that they should believe a lye Yea have not many of them brought in or received in damnable heresies 2 Pet. 2.1 even denying the Lord that bought them Besides the presumption and self-willedness that is written in their fore-heads despising of government vers 10. and speaking evil of dignities And that nothing might be wanting among them of those characters whereby the Apostles do decipher the Hereticks of the latter ages they speak evil of those things which they know not but what they naturally know as brute Beasts in these they corrupt themselves they are murmurers complainers walking after their own lusts and their mouths speak great swelling words having mens persons in admiration because of advantage Jude 8.16 19. these are they who separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit Yea are not many of them grown to looseness and licentiousness of life and to an utter neglecting of those Religious duties in their Families and Closets which belong to every good Christian to perform to spend all their Zeal rather in opposing what is held and practised by others than in holding or doing any thing that is good themselves Now these things have befallen them to the end that they might be Examples to us that he that thinketh he standeth might take heed lest he fall 1 Cor. 10.11 12. And that we seeing the sad condition of so many unstable souls may be the more diligent in prayer and watching over our selves 2 Pet. 3.17 18. lest we also being drawn away with the errour of the wicked do fall from our own stedfastness But that we may endeavour to grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ To him be Glory both now and for ever Amen FINIS THE NATURE and DANGER OF A Misguided Conscience A SERMON Preached at the VISITATION OF Mr. ARCH-DEACON of SARVM Held At Warmister April 27. 1664. By Paul Lathom M. A. John 16.2 Yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he
any of us into the way of falling and therefore let us not be secure nor lean to our own understandings Prov. 3.5 but trust to the strength of the Lord who alone is able to hold us up 2 This should teach us charity toward many seduced persons There are Seducers and Seduced amongst the Sectaries The Seducers are abominable and to be prayed against The Seduced are to be pittied and prayed for Our Church teacheth us very piously and charitably to pray that God would please to bring into the way of Truth all such as have erred and are deceived And also that he would strengthen such as do stand and finally beat down Satan under our feet And this is a prayer which we had need daily and devoutly to put up seeing even those that are truly gracious may fall into some Errors And they are in this danger especially at some times which leads me to the III. Part of the Text viz. 3 Part. The condition which these Christians had formerly been in which had laid them open to the danger of being seduced and that is set down in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 children When I was a child saith the Apostle I spake as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child 1 Cor. 13.10 But when I became a man I put away childish things Pueri mobiles sunt sine judicio c. saith Mesander in locum Children are fickle and without judgment and therefore do easily assent to any Doctrine And Calvin Pueri sunt qui nondum gressum firmârunt in viâ Domini c. They are called Children who have not setled their feet in the way of the Lord who are not fully resolved which way to take but fluctuate inclining now this way now that way But those that are setled in Christianity though they be not arrived to full perfection yet they have so much constancy as to be setled in the Faith A Child you know will easily be induced to believe any thing upon slight grounds will presently be enflamed with an eager love to any novel vanity will easily be perswaded to follow a stranger or to part with any thing it hath because it knows not the value of it So those that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 children in Christianity are easily induced to believe the fair and specious pretences of seducing spirits to delight in novel Opinions and modes in Religion 2 Pet. 1.1 to follow false Teachers and to depart from that precious Faith into which they were Baptized And as there are three things in Children which makes them prone to mistakes so also in them that are Children in knowledge 1. Want of Consideration They do not take the pains to weigh what they hear but presently entertain and are fond of it whereas Elder persons are more staid and deliberate and have through use obtained a faculty to see further into a thing then those that are younger And while men are Children in Christianity they are apt rashly and inconsiderately to fall out with the Truth and to embrace novelties whereas due consideration would prevent this 2. Want of Experience Experience is the Mother of Prudence for want of this Children are so easily overseen And those people that are not versed in the History of the Church to observe the rising and falling of these Errors in former Ages that have not experience of the subtilty and wickedness of seducing spirits may easily be ensnared by their fair pretences 3. Self-confidence Young persons are prone to conceit themselves to know more then their Elders and this confidence doth commonly overthrow them while it withholds them from hearkning to the advice which elder years might administer And the Apostle tells us 1 Tim. 3.6 that Novices in the Faith are very apt to be pufft up with pride and thereby to fall into the snare of the Devil It will greatly concern us therefore 1 Cor. 14.13 to take the Apostles Exhortation Brethren be not children in understanding In malice be ye children but in understanding be ye men For to be children in Knowledge will expose us to that great mischief which I am now coming to speak of in the IV. 4 Part. Part of the Text viz. The prejudice that the Apostle tells them they had been apt to receive while they were children in the Faith And this he sets forth by Two very remakable Expressions The first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tossed to and fro like waves of the Sea Another Apostle calls the Seducers Jude 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 raging Waves of the Sea both in regard of the boistrousness of their motion and that trouble and prejudice that they give to those that pass through them And here this Apostle sets forth the condition of those that are seduced by this term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tossed to and fro as a Ship amidst the Waves of the Sea Eleganter miseram eorum trepidationem exprimit c. saith Calvin in locum He very elegantly sets forth the uncertain and wavering condition of seduced people by this Metaphor of a Ship at Sea in a tempestuous time For as such a Ship is tossed by the merciless Wind and Waves so that neither the counsel nor strength of the Pilot or Marriners can guide it Even such is the condition of them that are tossed by the winds of strange Doctrin All the counsel and advice of Friends and Teachers yea all the strength of good Laws and Government cannot prevail to steer them in a right course but the unruly winds of false Doctrin and false Teachers like raging waves of the Sea do hurry them up and down at their pleasures and to their extreme hazzard all this while As a Ship in a tempestuous Sea is in great danger of shipwrack and it is very doubtful whether ever it will safely arrive at its desired haven So these seduced persons are in a very great and apparent danger of their souls though the almighty power of God be able to rescue them as a Lamb out of the mouth of a Lion yet I say for the present they are in a condition of very great hazzard The second word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 carried about Comparat eos vel stipulis vel aliis rebus infirmis c. saith Calv. in loc As twigs are bended every way with the wind and chaff and straw and such like matter that is light and lies loose are easily driven to and fro with it Even so persons that are but as weak twigs will bow and bend to a compliance with every strange Opinion when strong Trees that are well rooted in the Faith will sooner break then bend Those that lie loose and unsetled and withal are of a light and less solid temper are blown up and down like chaff while those that are weighty and good Corn lie still in the floor How greatly therefore will it concern us all to endeavour to be
6. Those that spend more Zeal in crying out against indifferent things then in reproving apparent ungodliness may justly be suspected by us Rom. 2.22 Thou that abhorrest Idols saith the Apostle dost thou commit Sacriledge It is true that in respect of the Authority of him that commands there is no small commandment and the breach of any of Gods Laws is a great sin But yet in respect of the nature of the Command Christ sometimes speaks of a first and great Commandment Mat. 22.38 Mat. 5.19 and sometimes of one of the least Commandments and he that is scrupulous in smaller matters and careless in greater doth betray himself to have a diseased Conscience Sermon on Acts 26.9 as I have elsewhere shewed And therefore those that Cry out with such a loud and bitter cry against things which in the judgement of the soberest of themselves are in their own Nature indifferent as if they were palpable Idolatry and yet have made no bones of sacriledge injustice and shedding of innocent blood it is a shrewd sign that they are Seducers and have a design to impose upon us 7. Those that contradict the sense of the Church of God in all ages are to be suspected as Innovators and that their opinions are rather new then good It is true that the antiquity of an errour doth not excuse it for there have been errours in the Church ever since the time of the Apostles But yet the constant judgement of the Church of God in all Ages concerning any point in controversie or concerning the meaning of any controverted Scripture gives us good encouragement to believe it and to disbelieve them that oppose it because it is not probable that our gracious God would leave his Church in the dark through so many ages and never discover the Truth till now of late 8. Lastly we may know them from the direction that God himself gives us Deut. 18. ult VVhen a Prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord if the thing follow not nor come to pass that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken but the Prophet hath spoken it presumptuously thou shalt not be affraid of him Those that pretend to a gift of prophecy as many have done in our age though they should by often shooting at random hit the Mark sometimes yet if they miss in anything that they foretel as we have seen it in our frequent experience this is a sure sign that the Lord hath not sent them but they speak of their own heads and we have reason to fear that they have not onely belyed the Lord in saying Thus saith the Lord Jer. 23.31 when the Lord hath not spoken but also that they have had a further design even to entice us to the embracing of their errours by these pretences Upon whomsoever we see any of these Marks we have reason to suspect them to be of those that lye in wait to deceive and therefore should avoid them and take Solomons counsel Prov. 19.27 to Cease or forbear to hear the instruction that tends to cause us to err from the ways of Wisdom To conclude I shall give you a recapitulation of what hath been spoken a little varying from my former Method You have heard 1. That there are many Winds of false doctrine stirring to try who are stable 2. That Seducers use a great deal of subtilty and diligence lying in wait to deceive 3. That a great number are by them tossed to and fro and carried about 4. That even those that are of honest affections and good lives are in danger of being ensnared by them and therefore he that thinketh he standeth should take heed lest he fall 5. That especially those that are children and weak in knowledge are in great danger and consequently that we should labour to be men and not children in understanding 6. Lastly that God hath appointed the Office of the Ministry in the Church as a special preservation from errours Now the Lord Joh. 5.29 of his Mercy grant to all of us Grace and Wisdom to search the Scriptures 1 Joh. 4.1 and to try the spirits whether they be of God and to hold fast the Faith and a good Conscience 1 Tim. 1.19 now when so many have made shipwrack of both that so we may not be drawn away with the errour of the wicked to depart from our own stedfastness 2 Pet. 3.17 18. but may grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Grant this O Lord we beseech thee through the Merits of thy dear Son and the working of thy Holy Spirit To which glorious Trinity God the Father Son and Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory world without end Amen FINIS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR HEAVENLY WISDOM described by its seven Properties An ASSIZE SERMON Preached in the CATHEDRAL at SARVM July 9th 1665. at the Wiltshire-Assizes Before the Right Honourable his Majesties Judges of Assize and Nisi Prius for the WESTERN Circuit In the Sheriffalty and at the request of THOMAS MOMPESSON Esquire By Paul Lathom M. A. Pro. 4.7 Wisdom is the principal thing therefore get Wisdom and with all thy getting get Vnderstanding Printed by T. M. 1666. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR Heavenly WISDOM described By its Seven PROPERTIES James 3.17 But the Wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be entreated full of Mercy and good Fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie WIsdom is the soul of Nature the eye of the Soul the light of the Eye the sun of that Light the copy of Heaven the standard of the Earth the helm of Reason the guardian of Life the glory of Men the mirror of Angels the shaddow or reflection of God himself who is as the Psalmist speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 covered with Light as with a Garment Psal 104.2 It is Wisdom that makes a man Denizon of the upper Regent of the lower World correspondent of both Without which we should be but clods of moving Earth steept to dirt in Phlegm and kneaded into humane shape This general term Wisdom divides it self ut analogum in sua analogata into worldly Policy moral Prudence and Christian Wisdom Worldly Policy trades in the World as its City from whence it seems to take its name Now all that is in the world is either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 2.18 or else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pleasures Profits or Honours That which designes riches as its end our Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 earthly that which designes pleasures Jam. 3.15 he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sensual that which designes honour he stiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Devilish because it imitates that great sin of the Devil Pride And of all worldly wisdom in general St. Paul pronounceth that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foolishness before God 1 Cor. 3.19 Moral Prudence whether we take it for a practical