fleshly Will Col. 2.18 accordingly there are two sorts of heresies mentioned and spoken against in Scripture 1. Such as upon Presumptions of natural Reason do contradict express and clear Revelation of Scripture 2 Pet. 2.1 Thus the Apostle Peter cals the denying our Lord Christ i. e. either his Nature as the Socinians of our times or his Offices as all the Papists do a damnable Heresie There shall saith he be false Teachers among you who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall covertly or over and above or contrary to the Truth bring in destructive heresies even denying the Lord that bought them So the Opinion of those who under pretence of Humility brought in the Worship of Angels into the Church of Colosse was a Formal heresie since the Authors of it had no warrant of Scripture to add such kind of Party Mediators to Christ Col. 2.18 but as the Apostle speaks were rashly puffed up by their fleshly mind Thus the denying of the Resurrection of the Body by some in the Church of Corinth was a great Heresie as overthrowing the Foundation of a Christians hope 1 Cor. 15.12 and opening a door to all manner of Impiety and Villany For if the dead rise not the Consequence is very natural and reasonable let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die 2. Verse 32. There are another sort of Heresies spoken against in Scripture which flow from the fleshly will and have an immediate tendency to patronize and encourage dissoluteness of Lise such was the Heresie of the Nicolaitans who held that it was lawful to eat things offered to Idols i. e. to commit I olatry in times of Persecution and to commit Fornication Apoc. 3 14 15. which our Saviour speaks sharply against in the Revelations calling it the Doctrine of Balaam and expresseth his utter dislike of such Tenets in these words which I hate 2 Pot. 2. So the Apostle Peter speaks against some vicious Hereticks as some think the Gnosticks who under pretence of advancing Christian Liberty Verse 19. gave themselves up to all manner of Impurity promising saith he Liberty they themselves are the Servants of Corruption Jude v 8. Jude carries on the same mens heresie further and saith they did not only defile the flesh but by stretching the Notion of Liberty beyond its due Bounds did set at nought Government and revile Dignities i. e. undervalue disesteem and disobey their Civil Governours Which kind of Heresies as they are more dangerous so they are more damnable then others because there can be no pretence of Conscience to justifie them From what I have said concerning Heresies as I find them recorded in Scripture I draw this general Definition of them all An Heresie is such an Opinion as either hath no Foundation in Scripture as the Worship of Angels among the Colossians or expresly contradicts it as the denial of the Resursurrection among the Corinthians or Mistakes and misse-interprets it to countenance dissoluteness of Life and disobedience unto the Civil Magistrate The necessity that there should be such heresies in the Church of Christ will appear from the consideration 1. Of the Causes 2. Of the Occasions which concur to the producing of them 1. The Necessity of Heresies will appear from the consideration of their Causes and they are these three 1. God permitting 2. Satan exciting 3. Man begetting and ingendring of them Cause 1 1. The first Cause of Heresies which makes the being of them necessary is Gods permission of them Where by Permission I do not mean an idle unconcerned ineffectual letting them passe only and barely suffering them to be but Gods wise powerful and mighty ordering of them as he did the hardness of Pharaohs heart for very gracious and holy ends especially these two 1. For the Trial of the Godly As the Apostle hath it that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sincere and single-hearted Christians might by this means appear the more eminent and conspicuous As it did shew the Power of God to preserve the Bush by which his people of Israel was represented in the midst of the Fire so doth his Power equally appear when his Truth is born witness to in the midst of the Triumph and Efficacy of Errour Were there but one Opinion which passed for currant among Christians there would not appear any thing extraordinary in the owning of it but when there are so many Parties each crying up their own way as the Ephesians did their Diana there to keep touch with the things of God and in spight of all contradiction openly to avow and countenance them this shews a well-principled Integrity a temper that God is singularly delighted with In the world God lets his Heaven be oftentimes wrapped up in clouds that the stars which he hath appointed for the Government of the Night Vid. Deut. 13.1 3. may appear more bright and useful So in the Church which is Gods Heaven on Earth the most visible Mansion of the Divine Nature he lets Darkness break forth and thick Vapours that those Saints of his whom he cals Lights of the world may shine with the greater Lustre and redouble their Beams from the greatness of the Opposition made against them We must not think that God hath either given us Faith or Knowledge which are his choicest Largesses but he intends to try the constancy of the one and the seriousness of the other And since the greater Difficulties we encounter still the more Honour redounds to God who is our General therefore he will seem to hazard his Truth by letting it to outward appearance be lost as it were in the midst of a swarm of Heresies that by raising up some Heroick Champions he may recover it again with greater advantage Thus in the first ages of the Church Peter rescued Freedom of Communion with the Gentiles Paul asserts Freedom from the Yoke of needless and insignificant Ceremonies and John defended the Eternal Divinity of our Saviour against the Narrow-spirited Tyrannical and Hellish Impostures of the Hereticks in their Times And in all ages many there are recorded to us of great esteem and credit in the Church of Christ whose Memories in all probability had not survived their Bodies had not they signalized themselves by their zealous asserting of Truth when it was almost swallowed up by the Deluge or outfaced by the authority of Errour And such Examples God will ever continue for which Reason he lets Heresie like Pharaoh and his Egyptians captivate his Truth that he may send some Moses and Aarons for the Redemption and Deliverance of it 2. The Second and no less principal end Ezek. 3.20 as to the Design of God why he permits Heresies is that Reprobates may have occasions presented them of stumbling and taking Offence When a wicked man turns from that Righteousness he once pretended to God saies I lay a stumbling block before him and upon the wicked the Psalmist saies God raines
Snares i. e. Psal 11.6 scatters Traps and Snares in their way that they may be taken There are some men who in Scripture are stiled the People of Gods curse the Vessels of his wrath Isa 34.5 Rom. 9.21 Jude v. 4. and by Jude Forewritten unto condemnation To whom Gods greatest methods of Goodness prove only means of hardning them to sin more desperately thus did Gods Word prove to the Israelites It was saith the Prophet Line upon Line Isa 2.8 13. and Precept upon Precept that they might go and fall backward and be broken and snared and taken And Christ to the unbelieving Jews became a Sione of stumbling and a Rock of Offence unto which 1 Pet. 2.8 saith the Apostle Peter they were appointed So the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to lost and perishing Wretches is a Savour of death But what these things do only by accident that Heresies do in their own proper nature 2 Cor. 2.15 i. e. they harden Unbelievers and make them more resolute in their opposing of the Truth As when God did intend Ahab should go down to battel and perish there 1 Kings 22.22 he let a Lying Spirit of Prophesie be in the mouth of all his Prophets For saith he thou shalt perswade him and prevail also So when God sees a company of lazy vicious men who are weary of the Powerful plainness of Truth then he lets some corrupt Doctrines be scattered abroad which may fit those Inclinations they are already principled with and likewise when others have curious itching Ears and sound Doctrine will not rellish with them then God suffers some lofty airy speculations to be broached by study of which they may grow drunk with Pride and Prejudice against more wholsom Tenets 2 Thes 2.10 12. It was this just Judgment of God upon mens willingness to be deceived that God gave them up to Antichristian i.e. to Papal Delusions As the Apostle hath it Because they received not the Love of the Truth that they might be saved For this cause God shall send them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the active power and efficacy of Errour Mat. 18. that they should believe a lie i.e. a false and feigned doctrine That they all may be damned who have not believed the Truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness i.e. in false and unrighteous Tenets And therefore as our Saviour sayes Wo to the world because of Offences so Wo to the world because of Heresies because as we set traps to catch Vermine so God appoints these to ensnare arrogant and self-presuming or vicious and self-defiling men Cause 2 2. The second Cause which concurs to the producing of Heresies is Satan exciting That evil Spirit whom our Saviour cals the Prince of the world and the Apostle the ruler of the Darkness of the world out of that innate hatred he hath to Truth by which his Kingdom is overthrown scatters the seeds of Errour and ignorance every where up and down the world and as he set upon our Saviour with misse quoted Scripture in which he appeared so dexterous and ready as if he intended to puzzle and non-plus his eternal wisdom So the most deadly and poysonous heresies have by him by a strange kind of Chymistry been extracted out of the same holy Scriptures Thus he brought in the practise of needless rigour and austerity of Life Col. 2. under pretence of Christian strictness and severity in those Precepts Touch not tast not 1 Tim. 4. handle not Thus brought he in the Doctrine of forbidding marriages under pretence of Christian Chastity and Abstinence 2 Cor. 11.3 which the Apostle in express words cals the Doctrine of Devils Thus he brought in Superstition Will-worship and idle Ceremonies under pretence of Christian Decency and Order thereby as the Apostle complains the Serpent beguiling many through his Subtilty Rev. 13. so that their minds were corrupted from the simplicity which was in Christ Thus lastly brought he in the cruel and incompassionate killing of men that would not worship the Image of the Beast and in some outward and visible manner acknowledge their conformity under pretence of Christian zeal and care of Truth In short as the greatest Cordials if not rightly prepared do prove the most deadly and killing Poysons so the most dangerous and destructive heresies have been compounded by Satans malice out of the most Soveraign Drugs of Sacred Truth but by him purposely ill mixed and tempered And here I desire to observe that though the Devil likewise doth stir up Persecution as our Saviour felt in himself when he said of his own Sufferings that then was the Power of darkness i.e. Hell was then broke loose Luke 22.53 and wicked men in crucifying Christ acted the Devils businesses so he foretels to the Church of Smyrna Fear none of those things thou art to suffer behold the Devil shall cast some of you into prison Rev. 3.10 that you may be tried Yet this is but Satans After-game for his great design is to eclipse the beauty of Truth by the Mist of Errour And if he finds that his Heretical Tares will not take root then under pretence of Faction Sedition and the like old charges which were laid both against our Saviour and his Apostles he destroyes those careful Husbandmen which would sow better Seed and leave no room for the Devils Cockle The Art and Policy of Hell lies in the quiet spreading of Heresie for this gains him souls whereas violence never got him any thing but the bodies of men that is it made them obsequious Slaves but not real Converts WE find therefore in the Revelation Rev. 12. that when the Woman under which the True Church is emblemed had brought forth the Divel stood by ready to devour her Child as soon as it was born and for some time endeavoured to maintain his footing in Heaven and till he was cast down from thence did not think of making war with her Seed The Moral of which Representation I take to be this That when Christian Truth begins to break forth then the Devil for a time endeavours to destroy it by disputing the case and venturing his cause upon Argument but when he finds himself mastered at that weapon then he changes the Subtilty of the Serpent into the Roaring of the Lion and with open mouth devours his Opposers But this way the Devil doth not ordinarily try till his False Doctrines have been baffled and foyled and he hath no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no Wile no craft left to countenance the grosseness of his Impostures Cause 3 3. The third Cause concurring to the necessary Being of heresies in the Church is Man himself begetting and ingendring of them For as the most fruitful and pregnant Seed if it be not cast into a warm and prepared Soyl soseth all its Vertue so those Seeds of Errour the Devil sowes if the heart of man was not a fit soyl for them would never
Spirit of God did first discover so doth it still reveal it and by a new and almighty Birth of dead and sinful men make us Living and sincere Christians 2 Cor. 3.16 Now where the Spirit of God is saith the Apostle there is Liberty i. e. not only Freedom from Errour and Ignorance of which he there speaks but from those wretched and inhumane Acts of Force and Fraud whereby other Political Inventions rather then Religions are continued and upheld in the world For whereas all others hate the Light and will not endure to have their Principles questioned as is clear in that devillish Cheat and Mystery of Iniquity the Papacy Our Religion desires nothing more then to be sifted to the bottom that so it may be chosen for its own native Truth and Excellency and not for any outward Advantages or to serve a State-turn which Christian Religion will never stoop to do And whoever have not after the most serious study and impartial Examination arrived to an embracing of this Faith must needs lose the Comfort Satisfaction and Sweetness of it because till a man hath met with and in his own mind resolved all Objections that make against him he cannot be certain that he is in the right but must upon the rising of every doubt be full of anxious fear and perplexity This which I have said concerning the necessity of Christian Liberty doth by accident prove a great means for the propagating of Heresies for as where the Soyl is good and the Ayr free and warm Weeds will spring up as well as good Corn So is it in the Church of Christ since there is Liberty allowed for variety of Judgments Errour must needs thrive and spread as well as truth Mat. 13. Especially since we may not pull up the Tares or by the hand of violence stop the Progress of the most deceitful Errour but if sound Perswasion if Demonstration of the Spirit and Scripture if Rejecting of the Heretick and forbearing of Communion with him will not prevail to make him renounce his Errour I am not yet convinced that in Opinions concerning Matters meerly spiritual our Religion doth allow any other more offensive weapons So that since to that Liberty which is given to the sowing of Heresies there is added Impunity unto their growth and progress it must needs follow that the Causes I mentioned do not more necessitate the Being of Heresies then these Occasions will necessitate their Thriving and Continuance Use 1 1. The Inference from hence shall be to teach us not to mistake the Occasions of Heresie for the Causes of it Among those who are exact and critical Writers of History as Polybius Tacitus and others we find they distinguish carefully between the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Beginning and the causes of a War The Beginning of a War may arise from somthing apparent and visible whereas the cause of it may be more deeply laid even concealed from the view of the Actors So in this case the Occasions indeed of Heresie which do midwife it into the world are Scripture-difficulty and christian Liberty Whereas the true causes are those I have mentioned especially Man himself whose Heart is the Womb in which that evil Birth is formed And therefore let us take heed that through hast and prejudice we accuse not either the Scriptures or due Christian Freedom of those Errours which meerly our own Ignorance Presumption and Partiality do produce To accuse the Scripture for our Heresies is all one as if because we meet with ill sents we should blame the Sun and not the Dunghil So likewise as to Liberty of Conscience to charge that with the production of Errours is all one as if the Ayr without rather then ill humours within us should be thought the cause of our Diseases Let wicked and light-spirited men then bear the blame of whatever Follies they hold and not either the Reading of Scripture be disgraced without which there can be no Knowledge of Truth nor Liberty of Conscience be debarred without which there can be no openness of Profession both which are as necessary to Christian Faith as the Sun and Ayr are to Natural Life we cannot see without the one nor breath without the other Take away Scripture and we are in this world as Mariners upon the Sea without a Compass who have nothing but the violence of waves and the uncertain motion of the wind to drive them Deny Liberty I mean in things Lawful then Christian Prudence Charity condescention and wise doing or forbearing of things indifferent as we see occasion lie all useless by us and we labour to become more knowing then others to no purpose Use 2 2. Is it so necessary that there must be heresies then let us not take offence or think ever a whit the worse of our Religion for that great Variety of Heresies which have sprung up in our daies When the Apostle Paul was himself in trouble he writes to the Church of Thessalonica That no man should be moved by these afflictions for saith he your selves know that we were appointed thereunto for verily when we were with you 1 Thes 3 3 4. we told you before that we should suffer Tribulation even as it came to pass If they were to be comforted under their Afflictions because he foretold them we have the same reason to be comforted under our Heresies since he foretold them too and from thence hath afforded us an excellent Argument to assert our Saviours Truth and Veracity and in that the Truth of our Religion against all Opposers This use the Primitive Writers made of them when Celsus and others did object to the Christians the great variety of Opinions and diversity of Judgments amongst them so that say they Were we willing to turn Christians we know not of what Party to be since notwithstanding your Feuds and Quarrels you all equally pretend to Christ To this Tertullian Origen and the rest reply Haereses non dolemus venisse quiae novimus esse praedictas WE are not at all sorry that Heresies are come for we knew it was foretold they should come So that the very Argument which the Heathens used to disgrace Christianity was by those wise and Learned men improved for the Illustration and confirming of it And indeed since as I have already demonstrated Demonstration that Jesus is the Christ there cannot be a more rational Proof of the Divine Mission of any then the fulfilling of his Prophesies it is very admirable to consider how our Saviour hath left such Predictions behind him which were beyond any Humane Foresight and yet every Age hath been fulfilling some or other of them ever since his time That a Religion so harmless and inoffensive should be persecuted that notwithstanding persecution it should take root and be preached throughout the world That presently after it was propagated there should be Sects and Heresies formed out of it and this to be the constant un-erring Fate of our Religion was a thing beyond all Rational and meerly humane Conjecture and therefore the fulfilling of this great Prediction concerning Heresies should make us with thankfulness look up to Christ who hath already armed us against any Prejudice we may receive from them since they are only discoveries of his Truth and Trials of ours Use 3 But yet Thirdly and Lastly Let no man think that because Heresies are necessary that therefore any shall be excused who is the Author of them Heresies are no otherwise necessary then Scandals and Sins are of which our Saviour saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they must be but yet saies he Wo be to that man by whom they come Mat. 18. Rom. 16.17 Mark them saith the Apostle Paul which cause Divisions and Offences contrary to the Doctrine which ye have received and avoid them And in another place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sect-making man after the first and second Admonition reject Tit. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knowing that such a one is quite perverted and sins being self-condemned All which Places with many other making so directly against new-fangledness of Opinion I cannot but wonder at the boldness of those men who are not content only to start up new and needless Opinions but to the dishonour of our Religion and their own Eternal Ruine if they repent not make those Opinions the Grounds of Separation from all Church-Assemblies but their own Whoever doth thus set up for himself must be able to demonstrate these Three things 1. That the Opinion he dissents from is apparently false and damnable 2. That the Opinion he himself holds is certainly and infallibly true 3. That it is absolutely unlawful for him to joyn in communion with another who in that particular as for instance in Infant-Baptism differs in Judgment from him The two first of which Assertions very sew of our Separate Churches will be able to maintain and I am sure the last none can For if the Errour of another be not imposed upon my Practise I ought not to withdraw my self from the Communion of any who hold the Foundation of Christian Faith namely Belief in Jesus being the Christ as is clear in the practise of these Corinthians among whom some denied the Resurrection and yet were all present at the same Sacrament This Doctrine because it strikes at the Root of all Separation which cannot be justified but in case of indispensable necessity viz. when such things are imposed upon us as Conditions of Communion which we cannot in Conscience submit to for there if we depart we do not go but are driven out But this deserves to be more largely handled which I shall reserve for a particular Treatise FINIS