foundation in the hearts of their hearers 125 Of a two-fold foundation Fundamentum cognoscendi the foundation of our knowledge and faith in matters of Religion viz. the Scripture And fundamentum essendi or the foundation of the being or existence of all our glory and salvation viz. Jesus Christ ibid Four unquestionable Scripture-foundations ibid. With a discovery of rotten foundations 127 Why it is such a sinne to worship God many wayes as man pleaseth 132 As a wise master-builder 137 Observ That it 's not vanity but a duty in some cases for the Ministers of the Gospel to magnifie and set up their Work and Office ibid In what cases a Minister may magnifie his work and office ibid. And another buildeth thereon 139 Observ That people are not to expect that Ministers should bring any other Doctrine than what is laid by Christ and the Apostles already ibid. The use of preaching notwithstanding the fulnesse of the Scripture 140 But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon 141 Observ The Ministers of God are greatly to take heed that they preach no other thing than what is already contained in the Scripture Or It 's a dangerous thing to put that sense and meaning on the word of God which is not the true genuine sense of it ibid. A two-fold building upon the foundation ibid Why Ministers must take heed how they build upon the foundation 142 Verse 11. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ 145 Observ That the Ministers of God ought to lay no other Foundation than Christ ibid. How many wayes Christ is to be preached as a foundation ibid. Reasons why he must be preached as the foundation 150 Objections and Doubts answered 153 How Duties are to be done and preached with relation to Christ 154 The great Advantages those have that are built on Christ 155 Verse 12. Now if any man build on this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble c. 157 Observ That the Doctrine and Truths of Christ are very precious and excellent ibid What the comparing them to Gold c. implieth ibid. If any man build hay and stubble 161 Observ That all errours and falshoods in Religion though not fundamental are no better than hay and stubble ibid Some Propositions about errour ibid. Why errours are called hay and stubble 162 Verse 13. Every mans work shall be made manifest 165 Observ That all the wayes and works of wickednesse though acted in never so hidden and secret a manner shall be made manifest ibid. What kind of hidden wickednesse shall be made manifest ibid. The Aggravation of those sins that are secret and hidden 168 Observ That all the hidden and secret wayes of false Doctrines God will one day make manifest 169 The Causes Nature the cunning subtilty in divulging them shall be made manifest ibid. For the day shall declare it 173 Observ That God hath his time when he will discover the errours and falshoods of mens Doctrines ibid. Errours are spiritual judgements the removal in mercy at Gods time 174 Why God will have a day to discover false Doctrine 176 Because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall declare every mans work of what sort it is 177 The interpretation of fire 178 Observ That God useth to bring people out of errours and false wayes by his Word and Afflictions ibid. Though the Word and afflictions are both helpfull yet differently 179 How wandring sheep are reduced by the Word ibid. How by afflictions 181 Verse 14. If any mans work abide which he hath built thereupon he shall receive a reward 181 Observ That Gods Truths are of a firm and durable Nature notwithstanding any tryal or opposition whatsoever 182 Truth two-fold Increated and Created ibid scripture-Scripture-truths reduced to four heads 183 Verse 15. If any mans work shall be burnt he shall suffer losse but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire 185 Observ That every man will be altogether a loser in any errour or false way that he hath maintained he shall suffer loss 186 Wherein they shall be losers ibid. He shall be saved yet so as by fire 189 Observ That even errours of judgement may endanger a mans salvation as well as ungodlinesse in practice ibid. The several kinds of corruptions of the understanding that indangers a mans salvation ibid. The Difference between errour and heresie with the grounds of the Doctrine 190 Observ That every godly man though never so eminent yet is very difficultly saved 192 Verse 16. Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 193 Observ That the consideration of those Priviledges and Relations which all the People that professe God are put into would be a great Argument against all kind of Pollution ibid Some of the chief Titles or Relations which the people of God have 194 Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God 197 Of the word Temple ibid. Observ That the people of God met together to worship him according to his way are the spiritual Temple of God 197 What there is in the Church allusively to the Temple 198 Of Gods presence with his Church 200 And that the Spirit of God dwels in you 201 Observ That the Spirit of God is God 202 The signification of the word Spirit when attributed to God ibid. That the holy Ghost is God and a person ibid. Why the holy Ghost is called Spirit 204 Observ That the Spirit of God dwels in his Church 205 What to have the Spirit dwell in us implieth in that phrase ibid. How many wayes the Spirit may be said to dwell in Gods people 207 The special works and effects of the holy Spirit in his Chruch 209 I. Gifts ibid. How farre the gifts and abilities of Ministers that are acquired by humane study and industry are to be ascribed unto the holy Ghost ibid. II. Sanctifying graces 209 Of the saving inhabitation of the Spirit 212 Verse 17. If any man defile the Temple of God him shall God destroy 216 Observ That those men who defile the Church of God with corrupt Doctrines do highly provoke God to punish them ibid Why errours are said to defile Gods Church 217 How God will punish Heretiques 219 A godly man may fall into a damnable Heresies 220 How a godly man erring differeth from a wicked man ibid. Errours are erroneous persons distinguished 221 Why God is so provoked with corruptions in Doctrine and worship ibid Him shall God destroy 222 Observ That eternal Damnation is the destruction of a man ibid. Of the punishment of losse sense 224 With the Aggravations of this punishment 225 For the Temple of God is holy which Temple ye are 226 Observ The holy Temple of God under the Gospel is not any place though never so adorned or glorious but persons believing and worshipping of him according to his will ibid Verse 18. Let no man
gold and silver is there we must dig thence we must replenish our selves Teirdly There is implied the durablenesse and constancy of it Gold will not melt away in the fire or be consumed as hay and stubble will And thus the Apostle alludeth to afterwards He shall be saved so as by fire and the fire shall try every mans work He speaks of a probatory and not a purgatory fire that is afflictions or the light of Gods word shall burn all this stubble So that the truths of God they are so constant and abiding that when a man comes to be afflicted to be persecuted to be undone for the truth of God this will abide What is the chaff to the wheat Jer. 23.28 When a wind comes the chaff is blown away And therefore this should make all very carefull herein both Pastor and people God will have his fire there will be winds and tempests whether it be gold or stubble wheat or chaff then it will be discovered whereas divers and strange erroneous Doctrines they have not been willing to come to the fire Every Heresie in the Church went up and down like Cain trembling left every place of Scripture that met it should kill it Fourthly The truths of Christ are compared to gold and silver Because of the solidity and ponderosity of them they are weighty and heavy Whereas errors are compared to hay and stubble what is lighter than these And therefore such as give way to falshood they are said to be carried away with every wind of Doctrine Ephes 4.14 as if they were so many feathers or straws Whatsoever opinion then is accompanied with vanity levity and emptinesse it 's not solid grave and substantial refuse that It is said Solomons ships they went for gold of Ophir and they brought home pearls Thus do many men they make us if they sought out the admirable and solid truths of God and they bring Peacocks empty gaudy flourishings of wit or curious opinions This is not the weighty and solid truth of God Fifthly They are compared to gold Because of the purity and sincerity in them The truths of God they have an holy simplicity and sincerity and therefore false Teachers are said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 2. to corrupt the pure word of God as hucksters do their wine David compareth Gods word to pure gold even seven times refined Psal 19 And hereby it becomes a very dangerous sinne for any to counterfeit it or corrupt it If among men their Laws make it a capital crime to counterfeit or clip their coin certainly God will account it no lesse hainous a sinne to do so with his truths As it's gold for sincerity so it 's compared to the water of life for its purity And as Isaac complained of the Philistims as the greatest injury that could be to stop up his wels with earth and it 's a matter of death to poison a fountain or spring where men use to drink so destructive and hainous a sinne it must be to infect the pure streams of the Sanctuary that people should thereby suck down their own poison Sixthly It 's compared to gold for the efficacy and choice vertue thereof Gold is not only of price and esteem but it hath it's powerfull operations in medicinal wayes against bodily diseases And thus certainly the truths of God are when received by faith they are mighty to the casting down of all the strong holds of sinne they are powerfull to overthrow the greatest oppositions Sanctifie them by thy truth thy word is truth John 17. Thus it 's said Psal 19. To convert the soul as the learned there interpret it is revive the soul to bring life again when a man by discouragements and dejections is even swooning away Oh then these golden truths of Christ they have a special influence upon the heart of a man to revive against faintings to dispel all distempers and to preserve against all languishings Seventhly They are compared to gold and silver For the usefulnesse and profitablenesse to all things Money answereth all things saith the Wiseman Eccles 10.19 Many outward comforts in this world may be had for gold and silver you may have friends food raiment Hence the Heathens made Pluto wealth a god because it wrought all things among men Clausum aur â custodit Jovem Horace spake of the covetous man He keeps his god in his chest And covetousnesse is called Idolatry Col. 3.5 Thus gold and silver prevail in the world And therefore Balaam to expresse his resolvednesse not to curse Israel said Though Balaak would give him an house full of gold yet he would not curse them But alas what are these to the truths of Christ They are profiâ—able for such things which material gold and silver cannot do Judas when tormented in in his conscience foa sinne What could his thirty pieces of silver comfort him Could that ease his conscience Give gold and silver to the damned men in hell will that comfort them There are many mercies that all the gold and silver in the world cannot help us unto but now there is no condition no doubt no affliction no want but the truths of Christ are very profitable unto The truth of Justification by faith in Christ Is not that more worth than the gold of Ophir What precious and powerfull operations hath it upon the hearts of the godly Eighthly The truths of Christ are compared to gold and precious stones Because they are able to enrich a man with all graces There is spiritual and heavenly wealth as well as earthly and temporal and the truths of God are of the first sort Thus the poor of this world are said to be rich in faith Jam. 2 5. And Christ became poor to make us rich 2 Cor. 8.9 not in outward respects or external greatnesse but in internal and spiritual riches Mark that counsel Revel 3.18 to the Church who thought her self rich and needing nothing I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich Oh that people were spiritual You see here is gold offered to all and he is indeed foolish that refuseth this There is many a man with gold and silver and much wealth in this world and yet is very poor towards God When our Saviour had declared that Parable of Dives and the eternal torment he had after his great pleasures he concludeth So is every man that is rich in the treasures of this world and is not rich towards God Luke 12.21 In the second place To build gold and precious stones on this foundation is not onely to preach sound and pure matter but this matter in a pure and exact way Now this golden way of preaching to be Chrysostoms and Chrysologues indeed consiâ—eth First In preaching of them after Scripture Authority when they are conveyed unto you as having the stamp and Authority of God The Prophets came with Thus saith the Lord and this like thunder may make the
THE Scripture Directory FOR CHURCH-OFFICERS AND PEOPLE OR A Practical Commentary UPON THE Whole third Chapter of the first Epistle of St Paul TO THE CORINTHIANS To which is annexed the Godly and the Natural Mans Choice upon Psal 4. vers 6 7 8. By Anthony Burgesse Pastour of the Church of Sutton Coldfield in Warwickshire LONDON Printed by Abraham Miller for T.U. and are to be Sold by Thomas Underhill George Calvert and Henry Fletcher in Pauls Church-yard 1659. TO THE READER THe sound Interpretation and Practical Application of Scripture for the Advancement of Holiness as it is the most profitable and pleasant part of our Ministerial Employment so it should be the Readers wisdome and diligence to Exercise himself most in the perusall of such Spiritual Helps As for Controversies to look on them like the Bryars and Thornes on the Ground even the Effect of original corruption So that to leave the Practical and Affectionate part of Religion for the Speculative and Disputative is to part with our sweetness and fatness to become a bryar Yet Experience doth too much confirm how great a depravation is herein upon the mindes of men naturally doting upon Questions Strifes of wordes wherein is no Edifying It is reported of a Philosopher That he would not be resolved in the doubts he had upon his mind that so he might not be deprived of that pleasure and delight which he found in seeking and searching out of truth Which is as if a feavourish man would not be cured of the drought or thirst upon him that so he might still enjoy the pleasure he findeth in drinking But Scepticism and inconstancy and such inordinate affectation of Opinions and Controversies is contrary to the sound constitution of Christianity which inclineth to a solid mind in Matters of Faith and to an holy mortified heart in respect of our conversation Now to bring such an holy and heavenly Establishment upon the soul the only way is to make a constant and diligent Improvement of Gods Word in all the happy and blessed Effects it causeth upon the soul He that doth thus is like the tree planted by the Rivers side that will not wither but bring forth its fruit in due season Among other Portions of Scripture I have selected this third Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians for the peculiar subserviency and particular conduceableness it may have to heal such distempers which at this time infect many The Church of Corinth though immediately planted as a pleasant Eden by Paul himself yet quickly degenerated the envious one sowing tares amongst the good wheat For not only Godly Discipline was collapsed and Prophaneness in mens lives much increased but such factions and divisions were crept in amongst them that like the renting of the veil of the Temple their destruction was praesaged hereby did they not in time prevent it by having one heart and one way The sky being thus red did signifie the foul weather that was to ensue For as Aristotle observeth That the perpetual duration of things is to be attributed to the simple and quotidian course of the Sun from the East to the West but the generation and corruption of things to the Oblique motion of the Sun and Planets in the Zodiack So the preservation and continuance of Faith and Holiness in the Churches of God is under Christ to be attributed to the uniform motion of the Guides and Officers therein but all corruption of Doctrine and Discipline all generation of errors and vices to their oblique and different courses This Chapter then may be called The Directory of the Holy Ghost both to Officers and People in their respective deportments that so there may be a mutual edification It may be looked upon as a Pillar of Salt to season all other Churches It seemeth to have that Inscription of Senacharibs Tomb upon it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By beholding of me take heed of pride in Gifts and Parts take heed of schismes and divisions set not up a Ministry against Christ nor yet oppose Christ to a Ministry These are to be composed with one another and not opposed Besides this general Matter there are also several Truths of great concernment contained in the Chapter especially the best VVine you meet with at last where is described the rich Treasure of every godly man There is an Inventory given in of all his Goods There is his Magna Charta confirmed Yea as the Devil once shewed the Glory of the world for a temptation so doth the Spirit of God here discover both the Glory of Heaven and Earth for the encouragement of the true Believer I shall not detain thee any longer with Prefacing but conclude Come and see Thine Anthony Burgesse March 18. 1658. THE CONTENTS OF THIS Practical Exposition ON THE Third Chapter of the first Epistle of St Paul TO THE CORINTHIANS Verse 1. ANd I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even as unto babes in Christ Observ That the ignorance and sinfulnesse of a people are a just cause why faithfull and wise Ministers of the Word doe not sometimes preach of the more sublime and excellent points in Christianity p. 2 In what respects the peoples Ignorance is an impediment to the Ministers preaching p 3 In what respects the peoples Sinfulnesse is an impediment to the Ministers preaching p 3 Carnal It s several significations Observ That even among those who are truly and indeed of the visible Church of God there is a vast difference some are spiritual some are carnal some are men some are babes p. 5 What it is to be a spiritual man 7 What to be carnal or babes 8 Verse 2. I have fed you with milk and not with meat Observ 1. It must be the Prudence and Wisdome of the Minister to preach such matter and in such a way as the Hearers may receive good thereby p. 9 Observ 2. It 's necessary to acquaint People with the Principles of Religion before they go higher in Christianity 13 Considerations about the principles of Religion and the knowledge and ignorance of them 13 For hither to ye were not able to bear it neither yet now are ye able Observ That it 's a great sinne and just reproach to a people that have lived long under the means of grace if they have not got the due profit by it 17 The due profits and effects of the Ministry Intellectual and Practical ib. Verse 3. For ye are yet carnal 21 Qu. Why those that are godly for the main are called carnal ibid. Observ That the reliques of corruption which do abide in the godly ought to be an heavy burden to them against which they are daily to strive and combate ib. Considerations about the Saints infirmities and corruptions 22 And whence it is that they do not fully conquer sinne 23 And why God doth not cure his people at once 24 For whereas there is among you Envying and Strife and
your selves you who live in the constant practice of grosse sins who sow to the flesh What would Paul and the holy Apostles if they were alive say to you What do you in Christs vineyard who are bushes and thorns What do ye in his sheepfold who are goats and swine you are a trouble to God and to his Embassadors no godly man can cast his eye on you but with much grief and hearty sighing If babes be offensive what are monsters and beasts Such as these are spots and blots in our Assemblies a reproach to Christianity a very burden to the inanimate creatures and yet no burden to themselves Verse 2. I have fed you with milk and not with meat THis second verse is a further amplification of Paul's complaint They were babes and not strong men Wherein did this appear by the meat he did provide for them He compareth himself to a Nurse who does not provide strong meat but milk for babes for that were to kill them rather then to nourish them So that in these words you have Paul's action and the matter and Object of it expressed metaphorically The action 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have fed you or rather I have given you to drink For so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth properly signify Mat. 25.25 I was thirsty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you gave me drink So Rom. 12.20 Rev. 14 8. Afterwards it is used for watering Yet because in a general sense milk is called Childrens meat so also may they be said to be fed by it Now this action of Pauls does denote the great skill and prudence which the Apostle used considering what was fit for his Hearers and condescending thereunto He that was rapt up into the third Heavens what sublime Misteries might he have preached upon But he preaches not to shew his parts and learning but to do good to them Secondly You have the object of this action milk Although sometimes the whole Word of God with the truth contained therein be compared to milk As when Peter saith As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word 1 Pet. 2.2 There the strongest Christians are exhorted to be like new born babes because of the greediness delight and sweetness they should find in the Word of God Therefore the Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 swallow it down But here it 's spoken by way of opposition and doth signify as compared with Heb. 5. the plain and easie Principles of Religion The Alphabet the Foundation whithout which there cannot be any superstruction So that two profitable Doctrines may be observed hence 1. It must be the Prudence and Wisdom of the Minister to preach such matter and in such a way as the Hearers may receive good 2. It 's necessary to acquaint people with the Principles of Religion before they go higher in Christianity Of the first There is a great deal of prudence and wisdom required in the Ministers of God so to preach as that it may be profitable to the Hearers The Nurse is carefully to observe what meat and how prepared the Child may eat The Shepherd what are the fit Pastours for to lead his Sheep into The Husbandman what is the proper seed for such ground The Physician what is the proper Physick for such constitutions Seeing it's a sure Rule That the actions of Agents are received according to the disposition of the Patients As the Apostle argues against publique duties in an unknown tongue so it holds as well against unknown matter To open this Doctrine Consider That a Ministers duty of feeding his Flock lies in two things His teaching of them and His governing of them And both these require great prudence The Scripture cals it a Key whereupon Divines have a distinction of the Key of knowledge and the Key of jurisdiction in all which they are to be Lights and Guides to be so many Arguses full of eyes If Solomon above all things prayed for Wisdome to govern the people in civil things how much more have we cause to pray for Wisdome in the Administration of spiritual things How easily may we give you poyson for Bread without Wisdome A Serpent for a Fish without Wisdome How easily without Prudence may even the good and wholsome things we preach prove also dangerous to you First therefore for our Doctrine As the Key of knowledge that is branched out into several Particulars wherein an Art of Arts is required As a wise Master-builder saith the Apostle at the 10th vers First for Information There is required judgment and a sound mind to separate Truth from falsehood To know which is gold and precious stone and which is hay and stubble To winnow the chaff from the wheat Hence a Minister is required to be able to divide the Word of God aright 2 Tim. 2.15 as they did the Sacrifice giving that to God which did belong to him and that to man which did belong to him The consequent of which Wisdome is not to be ashamed as if shame would sometimes or other confound those that had not this skill It 's impossible but you should be fed with chaff instead of wheat with dung instead of meat if the Minister cannot separate the precious from the vile The Scripture speaks of some that were ignorant that did wrest the Scriptures 2 Pet. 3.16 to their own damnation but the ignorant Minister he may wrest it to the damnation of many others How many in the world swallow down damnable Heresies feed on the draffe of corrupt Doctrines because God hath sent false Prophets and false Teachers amongst them Secondly As wisdome is required to choose out true and sound matter so to proportion it to the Capacity of the Hearers He is to be the wise Scribe that brings out of his Treasure new and old Mat. 13 25. That is such which may affect every Hearer It 's an allusion to Cantic 7.13 They are indeed as Paul saith Act. 20.27 to acquaint them with the whole counsell of God yet in a methodical way the most easie and most plain First To preach the Nature of God and his Attributes of Original sinne of Conversion of Justification as also about Christ and his Offices These are the New things and the Old And as God made the most necessary things first and the ornaments in the world afterwards so are we Paul in his Epistle to the Romanes begins with the knowledge of God by the creatures then Original sinne afterwards Justification and Sanctification and then proceeds to Election It 's an excellent Rule of Nazianzen We are not to preach of every thing to every man at every time in every place but in prudence to dispence as Auditours are able to bear it So did our Saviour A second part of this Doctrinal Key is To preach comfort and dispense the grace of God in the Gospel But here is much wisdome required that be doth it not to unbroken and impenitent sinners To preach a
Saviour to those that do not find themselves lost to commend a Physician to those that find themselves whole to pour oyl where there are no wounds is to pervert all order Ho every one that thirsteth saith our Saviour Joh 7.37 And Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden Mat. 11.28 The Spirit of God convinces the world of sin and then of righteousness Oh but how much unwise and unfaithfull preaching is there in this respect How many are there that strengthen wicked mens hearts and make them not sad whom God would have made sad That daube with untemppered morter that say to every prophane man if he do but cry Lord have mercy upon me Be of good comfort thy sinnes are forgiven thee It 's this daubing and soothing up people in their wickedness striking out all fear of hell and damnation that makes them wallow like swine in their filth To such to preach no comfort but the Law and Threatnings but to those that are broken in heart a tongue of the learned is required to speak a word in season How carefull was Paul that the incestuous person should not be overwhelmed with grief 2 Cor. 2 And here is the more wisdome because Satans temptations are subtile and insinuating We are not ignorant of his devices of his schismes what false circumventions and appearances he will have Now How many are there that are not acquainted themselves with the depths of Satan that are no better Comforters then Jobs Friends were Christ himself was affected with all our temptations that he might know how the more feelingly to pity others Thus a Minister that hath himself been in the deep matters of God that hath himself been exercised with all kind of temptations he can only tell how to speak to the heart of another So that you see much wisdome is required in the giving of comfort Alas every sick man every dying man looks we should give comfort and they would have a word of comfort Oh but what hath thy life been What truth of grace is there in thee Have not some wicked men cryed out of their sinnes in fear of death and publique judgments as Pharaoh did Therefore we must take heed what we do we must not comfort whom God would not have comforted Here is great wisdome required A third part of his Doctrinal Key is To rebuke and reprove for sinne Now how great a skill is it wisely to reprove to have zeal and knowledge together Some must be reproved sharply Tâ—t 1.13 cuttingly We must not spare Thus John called some a generation of vipers Mat. 3.7 and our Saviour Wo to ye Scribes Pharisees Hypocrites many times repeating that upbraiding of them These were obstinate impenitent Hypocrites Mat. 23.13 14 15. and little blows will not move them Others again are tender tractable meekness will do more than austerity So that there is scarce any thing requireth more wisdome than publique and private reproofs Men can so hardly bear them Genus quoddam Maritirii est reprehensionem patienter ferre It is a kind of martyrdome to bear a reproof patiently And Ministers are either apt to be too awfull and pleasing of men or else too boisterous or passionate So that the Shepherd of irrational Sheep have a farre more easie task then spiritual Shepherds of men especially in superstitious Customes in false waies of worship Here an Angels wisdome will scarce suffice What a trouble was that to the Church in her infancy about the retaining or leaving the Jewish Ceremonies The Questions and differences grew so hot that it had almost torn the Church in pieces The Council of Jerusalem was called about this many still Judaizing thought that if you took the observation of times and outward Ceremonies away you took away all Religion Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians and Rom. 14. is very diligent to inform them about this endeavouring to make them spiritual and to draw up their hearts from those beggerly elements Paul was circumspect how to walk in this slippery Controversie To the Jew I became a Jew 1 Cor. 9.20 Not that he was a dissembler or an Hypocrite or humoured them in their superstitious weakness but he took upon him all sweet affections he was as a Jew to a Jew as weak to weak he would consider them as if he were in their case Yea to walk in these Controversies was so hard that Peter gave great occasion of offence yea Barnabas was also laid aside for he did not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which made Paul resist him to the face with this dissimulation Gal 1. Now if the Apostle was so industrious to root out the practice of those Rites and Ceremonies which yet God himself had once commanded how much rather should we those things which were brought into the Church without any command of God or warrant of Scripture but meerly by the will of man As for the other kind of Keyes Church-Government the wise managing of that is far more difficult then Political But I shall wave that as not so proper to this Text. Let us consider the Reason Why this Doctrinal feeding requireth such skill and Prudence And First Because divine truths are not to be managed by humane wordly wisdome but by spiritual wisdome As it 's God that teacheth people to profit Isa 48.17 so it 's God that teacheth the Minister to preach profitably Hence the word of wisdome is reckoned among the gifts of Gods Spirit 1 Cor. 14. and the Apostle saith We are not able of our selves to think a good thought 2 Cor. 2.5 as some expound it in the way of our Ministery we cannot think that which is good and profitable to mens soules without God Hence as of Christ the cheif sheepherd it is said the Spirit of wisdome counsell and understanding shall rest on him Isa 11.2 so it would be happy if the same Spirit proportionably did rest on inferiour shepherds I have caught you with an holy guile 2 Cor. 12.16 There are divine stratagems to win mens soules and if Aholiab and Bezaliel are said to have the Spirit of wisdome given them to build the material Tabernacle how much more do others need it to edifie this spiritual one Exod. 36.1 Seeing then the managing of holy truths is not had by humane prudence but by wisdome from above we must be Scribes instructed to the kingdome of heaven we are not born but made Preachers of the Gospel by God no marvel if this be so great a work Secondly Therefore is wisdome necessary in our preaching of divine things because the miscarriage of these precious truths is a farre greater loss then any earthly loss It 's pity for want of skill in any calling to miscarry in a mans wordly affairs but much more in heavenly there needs not only faithfulness but wisdome A wise and faithfull steward it is that makes five multiply to ten If the Prophet speaking of the Husbandmans skill about his several graines tithes and
not according to Knowledge Therefore those crafty Principles in Popery to keep men in Ignorance to make it the Mother of Devotion that thereby they may reign and do what they list is to lead men blind-fold into Hell Secondly The Principles are Foundations and are the Root Now he would be an unwise Artificer that should intend to rear up a House and lay no Foundation So that as long as we preach to a people ignorant of these we have no bottom to stand upon Principles are like Seed Every poor man will make hard shift to get Seed to sow with Thirdly Without this good Foundation laid no Preaching or Duties can have any spiritual effect For Why are not the bruit Beasts Why not fools and mad men capable of any benefit by the Word preached But because the one have not rational souls and the other though they have them yet the actual use and exercise of Reason is bound up It is thus with all people destitute of Fundamental Principles All is done in an unknown tongue They are Barbarians to us and we to them Fourthly Conversion cannot be wrought without some Knowledge of the Principles We cannot believe in him we do not know We cannot love him we do not know The Heathens they indeed built an Altar To the unknown God But it is unsufferable for a Christian if a Christian should perform his duties to an unknown God or unknown Christ They must understand and so be converted Isa 6.10 God makes light shine out of darkness 5. The Knowledge of these Principles is necessary to salvation You that are ignorant totally of them cannot upon any just grounds hope for salvation This is eternal life to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Joh. 17.2 They are a people of no understanding therefore he that made them will not save them Isa 27.11 God would have all men to be saved and come to the Knowledge of the Truth 2 Tim 3.7 Oh then how should you who sit in this palpable darkness be afraid People use to fear in the dark and certainly thou should bewail thy self I am an old man an old woman I have lived thus long where the word hath been preached and yet how little do I know Sixthly None can pretend excuses for their ignorance herein To have much Knowledg in Religion there is required much time and study many abilities better education But for these Foundations none can excuse themselves because God hath revealed them in a plain easie manner He that runneth may read them So that it is our slowthfulness if we do not know Seventhly Want of sound Knowledge in these makes many Errors and Heresies Many affect to speak and hold opinions in Religion before ever they were well instructed Those that did not hold Christ the Head they presently fell to the worship of Angels The empty straw is carried about with every wind He that hath no bottom moveth up and down Vse Of sharp Reproof to such who continue in this damnable Ignorance and that though they live where the Word is preached If the Corinthians were to be blamed because they could not bear strong food what then belongs to them who are not capable of milk The very Principles of Religion are too hard for them They know not what you mean when you speak of these things Thus they are as bruit beasts made to be destroyed You may find as much knowledg of God amongst Pagans and Heathens as among some that live in the bosom of the Church Some have not the Knowledg of God I speak to your shame Many have not the Knowledg of God It may be spoken to the confusion of our faces How doth this darkness cover mens faces by Aitheism prophanenes and great negligence They make it not their business to enquire after Knowledg They greatly nâ—glect the means of Knowledg Prayer Hearing Reading Instructing of others Say a man be greatly Ignorant and you say he hath enough to damn him to all eternity He will commit any sin He will embrace any Idolatry even as the man in the dark stumbles and knows not where he goeth Especially this is a sure barre against receiving of the Sacrament for that requires discerning of the Lords body of examining themselves which can never be done without a competent measure of Knowledg in Religion For hitherto ye were not able to bear it neither now are ye able These words contain the reason of Pauls prudence in dispensing spiritual meat to the Corinthians milk and not solid food We may not preach all things to all people There are gyants and dwarfs there are carnal and spiritual The words have no difficulty only our Translators supply a word for in the Greek it is thus only For hitherto ye were not able neither are ye now able they supply to bear or to concoct and digest for he pursueth that metaphor of making Truth the food of the soul Veritas est cibus animi Such a defective expression we have of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 potero Isa 1.13 speaking of their solemn feasts I cannot bear them And Psal 101.5 Him that hath an high look I will not bear So that the words denote the weaknesse and infancy of these Corinthians and that though they had given themselves up to the faith of Chrâ—st and had daily waterings by the Apostle after their first plantation Observe That it is a great sinne and just reproach to a people that have lived long under the means of grace if they have not got the due profit by it The Word preached is commended in Scripture for several and divine operations Now if thou hast many years been under these droppings and yet art a dry wildernesse how unsufferable is it In other things of the world you think it not to be endured You send your children to be taught and if in many years they should not yet be able to spell the Alphabet you would think all cost in vain If year after year you plow and prepare a field for Corn and yet there come up nothing but weeds and thistles this is a vanity of vanities and vexation of spirit What the Heathens speak of their Tantalus to be up to the chin in water and yet ready to perish for thirst is true in thee For opening this let us consider What are those choise and noble effects of the Ministry for the defect whereof a people may be severely blamed And they are of two sorts Intellectual upon the understanding or Practâ—cal upon the heart affections and outward conversation For the Word of God is both a shining and a burning light And for the first That people will be found without all excuse and under a great condemnation who have not found those intellectual effects First Illumination and enlightning of the understanding to believe the first principles and foundations of Religion Every Science and so that of Divinity hath its first principles
day Thou hast light to see where thou shouldst walk The Apostle speaks of one sort of wickednesse That it was not so much as named among Heathens 1 Cor. 5. Oh then How many grosse sinnes are there that should not be so much as named much lesse practised among Christians It 's a dishonour even to the word of God if thou shalt not do so much which the very light of nature and moral Philosophy hath done among others 2. The word of God which is indeed the proper work of it doth convert regenerate make men new creatures not only civil but godly doing things from God and through God and to God Herein the word of God discovers it self to come from God because it makes men of a divine nature Every agent assimilates the Patient into its own nature Fire will turn all things into fire And thus the word of God coming from Heaven makes men heavenly They that live under the Sunne are coloured by the beams of it Oh then how cometh it about that thou hast lived so long under the means and knowest not these things The Doctrine of Regeneration of a new creature thou art not able to bear It 's above thee it 's a riddle and a paradox to thee as it was to Nicodemus Paul speaks of these very Corinthians That they were his epistle to be read and seen of all men 2 Cor. 3.2 They were hâ—s walking epistle what he had commanded them to do they willingly did it all might see what preaching what godly exhortations Paul gave by their lives Oh it 's an happy thing when a Minister can say You are our Sermons to be seen and read of all men All men by your lives may see what is preached to you and what you hear Christ said to the Pharisees You are of your Father the Devil and his works you do Let the contrary be applied to you You are of God and his words you do Observe that place John 8.47 Ye therefore hear not my words because ye are not of God See what terrour is in this place If a mâ—n receive not Gods word and manifest it in his life it is because he is not of God There is not a greater signe of reprobation than disobedience to Gods will and rejâ—cting his Word preached 3. The word of God should have this effect to make men willing and glad in the hearing of it Nothing should be more necessary and pleasant to them What high price did David put upon it It was more necessary than his food With what delight and alacrity did they exhort one another to go to the house of the Lord The preaching of the Word is like setting up spiritual trading and merchandize how busie and active should men be It 's the Spring time for spiritual Bees to make honey It 's the Summer time for spiritual Ants to labour and treasure up Since the dayes of John Baptist untill now the kingdome of Heaven suffers violence Mat. 11.12 They take it by force Thus the Scripture exhorts Heb. 3. While it 's called to day And again Now is the acceptable time Some are threatned to runne from East and West from North to South because of the famine of the Word Amos 8.12 You should do as Joseph in the seven years plenty he laid up against the seven years famine Even Johns hearers though they had no bottome of grace did for a while rejoyce in his light Oh then how uncomfortable is it to see men live like bruit beasts under the Ministry not prizing of it no wayes thankfull to God for it but like the Prodigal regard husks when manna is near 4. It 's a sinne and reproach if where the Word hath been long preached there is not a preparednesse for and conformity unto all the instituted Ordinances of Jesus Christ The Church is a spiritual Society and have a visible Communion or external Forme and that consists in Preaching in Administration of the Sacraments in godly Discipline spiritual Censures upon obstinate Offenders Now all Congregations should be able to bear these things When our Saviour told his Disciples That they must eat his flesh and drinke his bloud some cried out This is an hard saying Who can bear it John 6.60 and from that time forsook him And thus it is in spiritual Discipline to have comely Order about the Sacraments all that walk disorderly admonished the contumacious cast out men cry out who can bear it and to this day they cannot bear it These Corinthians had grosse abuses crept in about the Lords Supper Men did not examine themselves they came drunke and irreverent Therefore the Apostle brings them to the first Institution 1 Corinth 11. Now these things particular Congregations should be prepared for Lastly It is their shame if they cannot bear and submit unto all those duties of self-denyal taking up the crosse preparation for persecutions We may observe that our Saviour and so the Apostles did much endeavour to take men off from expectations of carnal advantages by the Gospel The Devil shewed all the glory of the world but Christ all the misery and temptations that would accompany the profession of his Truth Ye shall be hated of all men for my Names sake John 15.19 So that where the Word hath been preached there men must bear commands and also many sufferings Vse of Instruction If ye would receive the Word in the light and efficacy of it keep not any compliance with humane and carnal lusts The Truth is above your natural understanding and the duties above your corrupt lives and affections Sore eyes cannot bear the light Festered wounds cannot bear salt and yet the Ministry is both light and salt Think if there be Truths if there be purity you cannot bear them Know also there is wrath and vengeance for the refusal of these And who can bear them Who is able to endure those everlasting burnings You cannot bear the Sermon that bids thee Depart from sinne How then that terrible sentence which bids thee Depart into everlasting burnings Verse 3. For ye are yet carnal PAul having in the verse before declared the reason why he fed them with childrens milk viz. because they were not able to digest solid meat In this verse he comes to the Designation or Specification of this their Infancy and Incapacity And this he declareth 1. Generally For ye are yet carnal 2. Particularly In their envyings strifes and factions that were amongst them At this time let us view the General For ye are carnal In what sense the Apostle called them so is explained vers 1. viz. not absolutely but comparatively They had the seed and root of grace but yet corruption was also very prevalent in them Object To what hath been said in explication of this you may make one Objection Why the Apostle if they were godly for the main doth call them carnal Is it not a certain Rule that the denomination ought to be from the greater or better part Do
up these eminent persons as heads of factions or that he did only by supposition attribute these things to themselves as may seem seem 1 Cor. 4.6 I shall therefore wave that Question and handle it when I come to consider these divisions in the heads of them and whether it be lawful for Christians to name themselves after the names of any men whereas then you see the Corinthians blamed for setting up these names though men of great worth and repute in the Church I observe That although it's the duty of people to have a great and high esteem of the Ministers of the Gospel yet they are not sinfully and inordinately to admire or rest meerly upon any mens persons You that are the sheep of Christ have a great duty required of you you are to abound in all love and ready submission unto the doctrine of your faithfull Shepherds and yet also not so to admire any person as thereby to be drawn into errours or falshoods they may possibly maintain The Apostle Jud. 12. makes one great cause of the errours these men followed he speaks of that they had mens persons in admiration That is when men love the truth for the persons sake not the person for the truths sake when men are of such an opinion or such a faith because those that they admire are so though they understand nothing in it whereas it is an excellent rule of Tertullian lib. de prescript Non fidem ex personis but personas ex fide dignoscimus This truth may much heal the disease of the times for men beleive much as they affect and admire and few have a sound mind and judgement to discerne of things that differ qui credit quod vult non quod est cupit errare but I shall speak little of this to this auditory Two parts there are in the Doctrine First That great and high respect is to be shewed to the faithfull Ministers of the Gospel Secondly Yet this respect must not degenerate into sinful admiration so as factiously to set up one Minister against another Let us consider the first part and here I shall not speak of that temporal respect and honour which Gods Word in several places commands lest by captious men we should be thought to plead for our own selves but for that spiritual respect and entertainment of the Ministery which is for your good not for ours people are apt to think if they come to hear us if they commend our Sermons that this is for an advantage No the powerfull receiveing of divine truths is for their good The wearied traveller that drinks of the spring by the way doth not benefit the fountain but advantageth himself now the spiritual respect or entertainment of the Ministery lieth in these particulars 1. Highly to account of the office and the work of the Ministery as being the divine institution and appointment of Christ in his Church Thus the Apostle Chap. 4.1 Let a man account of us as the stewards of Christ They are the officers set up in Christs house to give the food of life and God hath set in his Church pastors and teachers 1 Cor. 12.28 and Eph. 4.11 Act. 20.28 The Elders of the Church are said to be made overseers by God to feed the Church So that if any man set himself against the office of the Ministery to slight it or contemne it he doth immediately oppose the institution of Christ God hath set it and wilt thou endeavour to pull it down so that prophane and carnal men who argue against it know not what they talk of they consider not the Scripture nor the Word of God and if thy heart were not much hardened thou wouldst have an awfull reverence and fear of this divine office Even the very Heathens have exalted the office of their Priests that drew nigh to God and Aristotle well observeth that all religion yea and the notion of the gods themselves would be vilified when they that were imployed in that office were contemned 2. Your spiritual respect lieth in the hearing of the Word preached and the receiving the Word with all gladness of heart Thus Christ saith He that heareth you heareth me Luk 10.16 and therefore they are compared to Embassadours that do in Christs stead entreat you to be reconciled unto God 2 Cor. 5.20 Indeed prophane and ungodly Ministers or erroneus and superstitious Ministers they falsifie their trust they alter their embassage and therefore the Scripture compareth them to unsavoury salt that is fit for nothing but to be cast on the dunghill and God speaking of the corrupt Levites saith Mal. 2 3. I will spread dung upon your faces Thus God dealeth with those Ministers that walk unworthily but as for those that diligently and faithfully preach the Gospel such are to be heard and received withall joy How beautifull are the feet of those that bring the glad tidings of the Gospel Rom. 10.15 and there is nothing that God doth so much curse as the prophane rejecting of his Word and Ministery Jerusalem was quite off and there was no more remedy left for her when she refused the Prophets rising early and delivering the message of God to them 2 Chron. ult The tree that had often culture and cost bestowed upon it and yet barren was at last to be cut down and burnt in the fire so then as the Ministers are to pray God would give them an open mouth so you hear also open eares and open hearts Shall the advice of the Physician for thy body and the advice of the Lawyer for thy estate be accepted and not the advice of the Minister of God for thy soul Hence they are called guides Now what disobedience is it when they would guâ—d thee in the way of holiness they would lead thee out of the dangerous bogs and precipices thou venturest on yet thou will not follow Oh how will this cut thy heart one day that the Ministers of God would have guided thee in other wayes have lead thee to other actions but thou wouldst willingly fall in the ditch even into hell 3. You are not only to give them respectfull hearing and diligent waiting upon their Ministery but to obey and submit unto that work of the Lord which they enjoyn â—ou out of Gods Word Therefore twice in one Chapter Heb. 13.17 the Apostle calls on them To obey and submit themselves to such as watch for their souls and makes one of his Reasons this is good for you Prophane and proud men they are apt to scorn the truths we preach they will not submit to the doctrine we hold out but if they did rightly consider this is good for them how readily would they obey If therefore you become our living Sermons and turn the things you hear into practice though we shall rejoyce in it yet the advantage will be yours Oh then take heed how ye refuse to submit unto those things that out of Gods Word we enjoyne you If
affected wisdome of the world without either miraculouâ— signes or scientifical demonstrations either of which would much perswade men Fourthly and lastly It 's the perpetual invariable means God hath appointed to the worlds end When the Ministery and Preaching shall cease then shall all this world with the things therein cease Thus Eph. 4. it 's there said to continue till Christs coming and Paul's direction about the Ministery must be kept till the coming of Christ The former dispensation is altered he hath taken away Priests and Levites the sacrifices and Altars but he will never take away Pastors and Teachers and Sacraments and these must abide as long as there is a Church on the world Vse of Examination It 's the Ministery this is the ordinary necessary appointed menans for faith and other graces Why then is it that it hath not been so to thee Oh it would be an heavy trouble to thee thou wouldst think God had some extraordinary jugement upon thee if thou couldst have no cloaths to warm no food to nourish thee no creature be that to thee for which it is appointed But behold a greater judgement then this no Ministery doth convert thee no Preaehing begets faith or repentance in thee In the Apostles times What multitudes were converted by the Word Yea in the first times of Reformation from Popery How many did not only receive the truth in their minds but grace in their hearts they were not only converted from Popery and superstition but from prophaness and impiety But now alas to whom is the power of God made known Certainly the Word is the same Gods arm is as strong as ever but men by their wilfull ignorance by their unthankfulness and rebelling against the light have sinned away the presence and power of God from the Ministery and then if God go not along with us Alas what can we do Oh that you who are hearers would deeply lay these things to heart God saith his Word is an enlightning Word a sanctifying cleansing Word Why is it not so to thee Why art thou no more reformed then where there is no Preaching no Ministery at all The same cursing swearing the same lusts pride covetousness and ignorance Is not all this because God doth not appear in his own Ordinances Oh men without hope How desperate is such mens condition for if the Ministery cure thee not what will cure thee Woe be to thee if the Word that is so effectual and operative to others be not also to thee Who is Paul and who is Apollo but Ministers by whom ye believed even as the Lord gave every man The third thing in order to be discust is the noble Effect whereof the Ministry is said to be an Instrumental Cause viz. Ye believed Faith is one of the most eminent Common-places in Divinity It 's the Sanctum Sanctorum in this spiritual building It s the fat in that spiritual Sacrifice we offer to God And because of the spiritual and most sublime nature of it it is least understood by the natural man I shall not at this time handle all the main particulars about it because the holy Ghost intends it not in this place Onely take notice that in stead of all the work of grace repenting reforming he nameth believing because this is Initial and Introductory to all the rest The word Faith or Believing is of a very large and fruitfull signification but it 's impertinent at this time to trouble you with it Observe That Faith is the great and eminent grace which God by the Ministry works in some hearers Thus upon Christ and the Apostles preaching still this is recorded And many believed Insomuch that Faith is said to come by hearing Rom. 10.17 The Scripture indeed sometimes speaks of faith as prerequisite to make the Word profitable Who hath believed our report And the Word profited them not because it was not mixed with faith Heb. 4.6 Here we see unbelief doth obstruct and hinder the savoury effect of the Gospel But that is finally in those that pâ—rish but in those that shall be saved God in his due time will by the Word preached work faith viz. enlighten their minds and open their hearts to entertain it To open this Doctrine Let us consider the Nature of Faith and that is usually said to consist in three acts whether they be all essential or some only I shall not here determine The first is Knowledge and understanding This is eternal life to know thee and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 17.3 Yea it 's a strong and powerfull conviction of the mind Hence it 's called The substance and evidence of things Heb. 11.1 Believing in the soul is compared to the corporal seeing of the body To say a blind faith is as great a contradiction as to say a dark Sunne or a cold fire If it be faith it doth see the ground of its belief Indeed faith cannot comprehend the matter we believe the Doctrine of the Trinity the Incarnation of Christ are like the dazelling Sunne to our Bats-eyes but though faith cannot comprehend the matter believed yet it knoweth the ground why it doth believe in those places of Scripture and the testimony of Gods Word which saith It is thus and thus Oh then How farre are many from being believers For ignorance covers their souls as darknesse did the Chaos at the first The very principles of Religion the total ignorance whereof doth damn a man yet is like a veil upon most mens eyes Oh then consider that knowledge and understanding is the necessary way to let in faith or rather is a beginning and part of it If thou hadst lost thy eyes or wert smitten with corporal blindnesse How much would it affect thee But now thou hast unbelief and spiritual blindnesse yet it doth not break thy heart Say no more thou believest in Christ thou believest in God if thou knowest not what Christ and God is Though ignorant people are full of their devotion yet because it 's without knowledge and faith it 's as abominable as a Sacrifice without eyes Secondly But knowledge is not all How many Atheists are there that know much and understand the points of Religion yet believe not Therefore the second Act of Faith is to Assent to give credit to them as true and this indeed we mean and Scripture also means this most commonly when it speaks of believing the Word of God that is giving a firm and sure assent to it as true Hence that expression Faith is the substance Heb. 11.1 that is by faith we make those things that are future really subsist as it were in our souls as if present Thus Faith makes Heaven and Hell present The Apostle excellently describes it They behold not the things temporal or seen but the things eternal which are not seen 2 Cor. 4 18. Thus Moses is said to have an earnest eye of faith fixed upon the reward and that is an act
in vain are taken up in the New Testament as well as the Old And experience teacheth us That where Christ is preached and the Gospel in a glorious manner promulged yet it 's but dead preaching to many This voice doth not make them come out of the grave of sinne onely herein the Law and the Gospel differ that the matter of the Law pressed will condemn us none being ever able to fulfill it Yea the godly cannot do all things the Law requireth and so the Law is a killing letter to him But the Gospel that comes with a moderation where the graces of Gods Spirit are though weak and imperfect there through Christ their weaknesse is forgiven So that the preaching of the Gospel to a soul oppressed for sinne is like the year of Jubilee to poor servants and indebted prisoners Howsoever then the preaching of the Gospel is said to be the ministration of life and of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. yet that is not to be understood simply of it self but as accompanied with the power of God Hence the Gospel is said to be the power of God to salvation Rom. 1.16 the power of God not of man It 's not mans wisdome that our faith is grounded on Thus much for what the Apostle meaneth not What he positively meaneth or inferreth are First That it 's not in the power or choise of the Minister to make it effectual He cannot bid or command the Word to work as he pleaseth for then the guilt of all mens souls and the damnation of all would lie upon us As our Divines say to the Papists when they brag The Pope hath the Keyes of power above all things not only in earth but in purgatory Why then doth he suffer those souls to lie tormented there as he doth So it would be here Why are any damned Why do any lie in their sinnes if the Ministry by its own power could convert them No the Ministers of God they can only pray they can mourn and grieve in secret to see the miscarriage of the Word and the wilfull resolution in men to destroy their own souls they can mourn over the dead but they cannot recover them to life Secondly The Apostle by this intends that both the Ministers and the people should keep themselves in their due bounds The Ministers though never so eminent though never so much applauded by a numerous company of Disciples yet they cannot make one black hair white They cannot say of any people obeying the Gospel That we by our own power have made such believe It 's true they are said to be Fathers and to beget men to the truth but that is only instrumentally and metaphorically by external application of the Word not internal power for so we have onely one Father in Heaven Pride and ambition do easily breed in the most eminent parts as worms in the sweetest fruit but when they shall consider that they are nothing and God is all this is a good way to humble them and then the people hereby are also taught much moderation Some mens persons they are apt to admire Not such a man in the world Oh but what a great God is there in Heaven without whom this man is nothing This is spiritual Idolatry and that worship which is to be given to Christ only you give to instruments Lastly In making the Ministry nothing and God all The Apostle would have both Minister and people in their Ministry to have our hearts and eyes up to Heaven As the Bird after every drop of water it sips looks up presently to Heaven so shouldst thou Lord what the Minister hath spoken what he hath pressed oh set it home with a blessing Cause it to come like rain upon the new mowed grasse Oh the carelesse and prophane hearing that is every where This makes God give no increase you matter it not you believe not you tremble not under it you do not earnestly pray about it If a man have a leg or arm to be cut off oh you desire all you meet with to pray about it Why because it may cost him his life How much rather about every Sermon every Duty that is preached shouldst thou pray and again pray Oh it may be the damning of my immortal soul to miscarry therein Quest But how may we addresse our selves to hear and to the Ministry so that God may make them something to us Answ To be made something is when the Word doth greatly wound thy heart or comfort thee when it makes a noise and a pain at thy very bowels when it makes thee sick at the very heart when it makes thee cry out Oh me a wretched sinner what have I done Whither shall I go Ah wretch that I am In what a wofull condition am I plunged Sinne is on one side hell on the other the wrath of God above me and all the curses of the Law round about me Then it 's something then our words fall like hot burning coals upon your consciences you cannot sleep nor rove but tremble under it Now this will be done these wayes First Make it a real and conscientious matter to pray unto God to give increase As to the woman our Saviour said According to thy faith so be it unto thee So according to thy prepared prayer saith God this Sermon and this duty shall be blessed unto you As your cruise is fitted so will God pour in oil If we then complain that the Ministry works no more notable effects that it makes no more transcendent alterations judge whether the blame lie not on thy own self Prayer is that which moveth with God Prayer is that in which the Sermon rolled produceth sutable operations The Word of God is a two-edged sword but prayer maketh it penetrate that sets God on work and God sets his Word on work A man much in prayer is alwayes much in profiting As the Preacher is to pray Christ prayed much in the night as he taught much in the day so the hearer he also must pray much Secondly Exercise strong and divine acts of faith this will make the Ministry something to thee The Word profited not because it was not mingled with faith Heb. 4.2 or as some interpret because by faith they were not mixed as it were with the Word they were not incorporated into it and who hath believed our report Rom. 10. Faith is that which comes at first by hearing and then afterwards makes hearing profitable The Atheism and unbelief which is on mens hearts make the Word without efficacy such are prophane mockers As you see they despised the Prophets that often said The burden of the Lord the burden of the Lord. Men believe not the things preached to be Gods truth that they are Gods word that they will be made good whether they will or no they are living words and sure words and faith only layeth the first foundation of this spiritual building believe the threatning and thou darest
thy own self Those that at first believed Christ upon the woman of Samaria's report did afterwards believe Christ for his own sake The Ministry is that by which we do believe but we doe not believe in it Now that is the reason many do so stagger and know not what to say or do They are not stedfast and immoveable in faith The just shall live by his faith by his faith in particular And then though the whole world should turn Sceptick yet he would be as resolute as a Stoick in the matters of God 4. Humble your selves under these differences when they goe not the same way when they preach not the same things Let these things fear and wound thy heart as much as they do the Churches peace Say as he did Why do we fall out seeing we are Brethren Say Oh Lord it 's for our sins that are the hearers our unprofitablenesse our barrennesse and vanity that God hath raised up such a contentious spirit amongst us But because this is more necessary for us than you though necessary for both let us see what Use you ought to make of it And First Is the Ministry thus one Then when any doth set upon this maine worke they meddle not with other things they preach not about other thins How inexcusable will you be if you answer not God thus calling of you You cannot plead Lord we heard nothing but disputes nothing but controversies we were puzzled with one side and with another side Oh no! The plain and necessary things without which thou couldst not be saved have every day sounded in thy eares Preaching hath not distracted hath not filled you with troublesome Disputations but wholesome Exhortations It will therefore be thy greater wickednesse if thou refuse Oh then as all the Ministry are to be one in this way so that all that hear were one also that their thoughts affections study and utmost endeavours were for the main necessary things Oh consider you frustrate the Ministry of the proper end it hath your edifying your conversion For this God hath appointed us to labour in preaching to you and if you fail here all is lost Vse 2. Ought all ministerial abilities to be imployed in one way Then no wonder if the Devil when he cannot destroy preaching yet makes it uselesse and unprofitable and that is by raising divisions and enmity And thus he takes the old Rule Divide impera while he divides others he himself reigneth alone and his Kingdom is advanced Vse 3. Are they all to agree in one in the same ends in the same Doctrine Then take heed of itching after sinfull novelties Faith is but one faith and if thou art weary of it it is as if a man should be weary of the Sunne because it 's not a new Sunne Why do you not desire a new Scripture and a new Bible as well Oh it 's a grievous thing to be weary of old truths because thou knowest them already This is to despise Manna and God in judgement giveth thee up to an inconstant spirit to have Reubens curse Vnstable like water And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour The former part of the verse was an Argument against Divisions amongst Teachers and People When all are one there they ought not to be divided Now this later part is a kind of an anticipation or answer to an Objection thus How can they be one who are so different in their parts abilities and labour The Apostle therefore doth by way of explication adde this although they are one in their Office Institution and End yet there is a diversity of Gifts and Labour as also a diversity of Reward So that the words contain a Proposition wherein you have 1. The Subject with the Note of Universality Every man If you take it strictly in relation to what went before then the meaning is of Teachers and Officers Every Church Officer shall receive according to his labour But it is also a truth concerning every man in any way God hath appointed him to work 2. You have the Predicate or Attribute He shall receive a Reward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here the Popish Writers triumph pleading for the merit and causality of works it 's a reward but the Scripture speaks of a two-fold reward 1. Of Debt Rom. 4.8 To him that laboureth the reward is of debt and that is when a man by his own power doth those things which have an inward condignity and proportion with the reward as it is in the paiment of a day-labourer 2. There is a Reward of Grace and meer Promise When such a reward is a sure consequent of such an antecedent not that it was a Cause or Merit but God hath appointed such a necessary order and connexion as between grace and glory glory necessarily followeth not by causality of our works though from grace but by the fidelity of the promise Hence God is said to be Debitor sibi not nobis reddit debita nulli debens and therefore this eternal life which is called a reward is in other places called a gift and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Inheritance very frequently in allusion to the Land of Canaan where several Tribes had their several portions of Land by lot not according to any worth and that the Ancients did meane no more by Meritum our learned men shew at large 2. Consider the Appropriation and Distinction of this Reward He shall receive his reward implying by this that there are degrees of reward and glory in Heaven There are some learned men that think there are no degrees of glory in Heaven but all are alike And certainly there are many places which are usually brought to prove it which when throughly understood do not convince it yet I believe the different Degrees of glory to be a truth and this Text among others may confirm it where you have an excellent Appropriation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not here opposed to a contrary species as in other places He shall receive according to his works good or evil but to degrees in the same kind one labours in the good work of the Lord more and another lesse now according to this gradual diversity shall be gradual differences of glory Lastly There is the Measure and rule of this reward According to his labour he speaks it of the Minister he doth not say According to his successe according to the fruit of his Ministry If he labour and take pains God will reward him though no man hath believed the Word preached I shall consider this Proposition generally and not limited to the ministerial labour Observe That according to a mans labour and working for God he is sure to have a proportionable reward Although the Wiseman inscribes this Motto upon all the labour under the Sunne That it is vanity and wearisomnesse yet spiritual labour hath a sure recompence It 's not praying in vain
doubt may be raised How Paul can say He layeth the foundation which is no other but Christ as appeareth at the eleventh verse seeing God appropriateth it to himself Isa 28.16 Behold I lay in Zion a foundation stone c But The answer is God layeth this foundation 1. By his Decree appointing Christ thereunto And 2. By his temporal mission of him into the world but Paul layed the foundation only ministerially and declaratively by publishing Christ to be the Saviour especially to those who never heard of him before It 's a special part of the wisdome and heavenly art of the Ministers of the Gospel to lay a good and sure foundation in the hearts of their hearers This Paul makes the principal part of his wisdome that he began with a good foundation If people are not rightly built upon this any tempest that ariseth will throw down all theâ—r Religion Our Saviour speaketh a Parable Luke 6.48 49 like to this of the wise builder and the foolish builder And although there it be meant of every particular Christian yet we may apply it to every Minister He that doth not build up his people upon sure and Scripture foundations they are like the chaff and straw that the wind doth drive to and fro There is no true faith no truâ— godlinesse no true hope of salvation where the right and sure foundation is not laid The point therefore in hand is of great consequence both to the Preacher and to the Auditor to consider what foundation his Religion and Godlinesse is fixed upon For the opening of this Consider that Divines do ordinarily make a two-fold foundation The one they call Fundamentum cognoscendi The foundation of our knowledge and faith in matters of Religion and this is the Scripture only We can lay no other foundation for matters of Faith but the word of God Non credo quia non lego said Tertullian of old And Secondly There is Fundamentum essendi The Foundation of the being or existence of all our glory and salvation and that is only Jesus Christ He is the foundation-stone and every one is to believe in him only for Salvation and Justification So that as God made two great lights for the world so he hath done for the Church the Scriptures and Christ This Doctrine is true yet Heb. 6.1 we there reade of more foundations than one for there are practical fundamentals as well as speculative I shall therefore not limit my self to this one foundation mentioned by the Apostle but enlarge my self to the necessary foundations in our Christian life and shew you the necessity of that wisdom which will build upon these fundamentals And although I am not ignorant That the Dispute about what are foundations or fundamentals in Religion and what not is very hard and difficult yet I shall instance in four unquestionable foundations which are the four main pillars that support our Christian building The necessary things of Religion are these four Either 1. The Matters to be believed 2. The Worship and necessary service of God 3. The spiritual Benefits and mercies Justification and Salvation 4. The things to be done by us in our way to Salvation All these are fundamental and necessary in their kind to salvation and therefore it behoveth every Minister of the Gospel to principle and settle his people in all these particulars For herein is the danger not of mens bodies or estates but their immortal souls We will begin with the first The foundation of our faith or divine assent in matters of Religion What is that which every man must build his faith upon What is the foundation he must lay there And that is the Word of God declared and written for our instruction in those Canonical Books of the Scripture When we come to believe the matters of our salvation the ultimate motive into which all is to be resolved is Thus saith the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word of God hath spoken it It 's not antiquity universality or the laws of the Land or the tradition of our fathers that is the warrantable foundation but the Scripture only Thus Timothy is commended for attending to the Scriptures which are able to make him wise to salvation through faith 2 Tim. 3.17 18. So that although other things be required by way of helps and means as prayer interpretation of the Scripture Gods assistance the guidance of the Ministry yet by way of a Foundation or a Rule that is the Scripture only As God at first put all the light into the Sunne and the Starres shine by a borrowed light from it So God hath now put all supernatural light into the Scripture and all guides are to shine by that Hence it is so often compared to a light and a lamp unto our feet So that the Ministers of the Word do then lay a good foundation when in matters of Doctrine and truths to be believed they build them on the Scripture make them a Scripture-auditory a people that dare not that will not take any matter of faith but upon Scripture-grounds Thus those Bereans are commended for a noble and ingenuous people that compared what Paul preached with the Scriptures they then had whether it was consonant to them or no Act. 17 11. So that that people who know nothing of the Scripture are not instructed by the Word have not their faith their Religion from it all they offer to God is a Sacrifice without eyes they do believe they know not what Now that the written word of God is the only foundation of our Christian faith appeareth by these Reasons First A Christian faith ought to be a divine supernatural faith not a bare humane faith Now nothing can be the ground of a divine faith but a divine authority a divine Argument suggested by God himself Most men that call themselves Christians have no more than an humane faith in matters of Religion They believe thus because their parents did so because the Laws of the Land compell them to do so Thus they have no other grounds of faith then the Turks or Papists have for themselves but as copper is not gold so neither is this humane faith that holy and Christian perswasion which the Spirit of God through the Word works in man because revealed in the Word 1 Thess 1. They are commended That they did not receive the Word preached as the word of men but as indeed the word of God 1 Thess 1.13 So that whosoever hath an holy faith he must have a divine perswasion for this from the Authority of God that as an humane faith is because humane authority speaks it so a divine faith because God revealeth it in the Scripture But alas generally our people can no more look into these things then an Owl in the dazelling Sun How few are perswaded of the true Doctrine of Christ from this Divine Authority because God hath said thus God hath spoken thus Oh
then believe no longer as men Do not think or speak as men but as those who have God perswading you Secondly The Scriptures are only the foundation because they are the immediate verity or truth coming from God who is the first essential truth They have not only a Divine Authority but evident infallibility As God himself is Truth and is not like man that may lie So his Word is likewise Truth and cannot lie or deceive as the writings of men Therefore Psal 19. they are said to be purer than gold seven times refined And it 's said The Scripture that cannot lie or cannot be broken John 10.35 It 's an heavy judgement to be delivered up in matters of salvation to believe a lie It 's the spiritual curse that is threatned to those of the Antichristian apostasie 2 Thess 2.11 Now they must needs be thus punished that forsake the Scripture and build upon other foundations Seeing then the Scripture doth contain infallible truth onely and not one iota or tittle of that can fall to the ground and in all other foundations that may be laid there may be falsehood errour and grand Impostures Let then those hearers that are carefull to keep a good faith walk by this Rule Chrysostome said Never expect good from that man who is not searching of the Scriptures attending to the Scriptures It 's an heavy grievous sinne that in your family in your closets you do no more acquaint your selves with the Bible Take a Tree from the River side and plant it in a wildernesse what can you expect but a withering And thus it is if you take a man from the Scripture his seeming faith graces godlinesse will all presently vanish Thirdly The Scriptures onely are the foundation of faith because they are onely immutable and unmoveable They abide alwayes the same they are not subject to changes to perturbations of affections as men are Councils consisted of men carried by passions and interests Even in the Council of Nice and the four first Councils there were great sidings great animosities particular interests and parties and therefore unlesse we had an unchangeable foundation we must be mutable Camelions Now the word of God that is said To abide for ever whereas all flesh is grasse and the glory thereof fadeth away 1 Pet. 1.24 25. It 's called the eternal Gospel Revel 14.6 So then that which was three thousand yeares agoe is still true because the Scriptures are still the same There is no new Bible though there may be many new opinions and new Sects Aristotle commendeth the Government of a Nation by Lawes above the wils and arbitrary resolutions of men because Lawes are fixed and known And so it is in the Church of God that hath a known Law and Rule Therefore it is an hainous errour which the learned note in Cusanus though otherwise not a very bad man in affirming That the Scripture is to be interpreted Secundum currentem statum Ecclesiae according to the present course and exigency of the Church and therefore in some age those things are received which in another are rejected Lastly The Scripture is only to be laid for a foundation because this onely is strong enough to support and bear up in sad hours of temptation and dangerous times of persecutions Who would be cheated or distinguished out of the Truth by subtil Hereticks or scared and terrified by violent opposers Therefore we had need be built upon such a rock that can endure all waves How could the Martyrs have resisted to blood had not they had Scripture-assurance Luther had this temptation Tune solus sapis c. and nothing but the Scripture confirmed him Our Saviour quelled Satans temptations by arrows out of the Scripture quiver When a man comes to die may he not be assaulted about the truth of his faith whether he die not in heresie or damnable opinions and nothing but the Scripture can uphold him Now for the matter of Doctrine to be believed some men lay four rotten and weak foundations others may be reduced to this The first is that of the Papist The Authority of the Church and the Pope being wholly ignorant themselves but resting all on their Authority Bellarmine doth not blush to expound that place Behold I lay in Zion a foundation stone secondarily to the Pope Now although we grant That the Ministry of the true Church is very usefull and necessary as the instrument of our faith and the preservation of it In which sense it 's called The pillar and ground of the Truth 1 Tim. 3.15 yet it is onely a Ministry not a Magistry It 's a political Pillar upon which Edicts use to hang for Declaration of the Magistrates will not an Architectonical Pillar that beares up the house So that Austins speech is true I had not believed the Gospel had not the Authority of the Church moved me viz. by way of introduction and preparation As the woman of Samaria did to the Samaritans who at first believed because she told them but afterwards they believed for Christs own sake We do not believe in the Church as we doe in the matter revealed in the Scripture Therefore that ignorant implicit faith to believe what the Church saith is not a Scripture-faith faith of knowledge besides then every member must believe according to that Church he is of and seeing there are Churches against Churches there shall also be faith against faith The second foundation men lay is The Authority of the Civil Magistrate This is a meer political faith Many men have no other apprehension about Religion than the Laws of the Land wherein they live They matter not whether true or false whether acceptable to God or consonant to Scripture but this is commanded and this they do As Seneca said in his time He observed that Worship of their gods Non tanquam Diis grata but legibus jussa not as acceptable to the gods but commanded by the Lawes But the Apostles example is clean contrary for they preached a faith to be believed that was contradictory to that Religion which was established by humane authority and they resolve thus It 's better to obey God than man Act. 5 29. The third is Private Revelation and Enthusiasmes As the Papists on one side have cryed down the sufficiency and perfection of the Scripture so Illuminatists men fancying to themselves Revelations from God have also decried it making themselves above the Scripture A dangerous and damnable delusion Therefore the Apostle John bids us Try the spirits and that cannot be without the Rule of the Word 1 John 4.1 And Fourthly Another false foundation is Meer humane Reason There are many risen up that make Reason the Judge and foundation of all Doctrinal Points the Socinian especially hereupon they reject the Trinity the Divine Nature of Christ as being against Reason Now although rectified Reason be necessary as an instrument to revive the things of faith yet it
of private persons though they also are to take heed they put no false or erroneous sense upon the Scripture but he speaks of publick Teachers who by their calling and Offices are to build Now the Object of this Exhortation is To take heed what they build To build after the foundation is laid is the same with watering after planting And it implieth a further continuation and illustration explication and application as also a clearer confirmation of that matter which is already laid down by the Apostles So that observe The Ministers of God are greatly to take heed that they preach no other thing than what is already contained in the Scripture Or It 's a dangerous thing to put that sense and meaning on the word of God which is not the true genuine sense of it They are with much care fear and trembling to consider how they build upon the Scriptures And if Ministers are thus to take heed then likewise all others who reade and search the Scriptures are to take heed of presumptuous boldnesse and irreverent ignorance in the perverting of it The Scriptures are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Testament or Will of Christ Now as it 's a dangerous thing even by the Laws of a Land to corrupt forge or falsifie a mans will No lesse capital is it to the soul of a man any wayes to pervert the Doctrine of the Word of God 2 Pet. 3.16 They that are unlearned wrest the Scriptures unto their own destruction See here a man may damn his soul by wresting and tormenting the Scripture as it were upon a rack to a contrary sense then what it intended Oecumenius on the place saith It 's as great a sinne to pervert the writings of the Apostles as it was to cut and mangle or murder their bodies To amplifie this consider There may be a two-fold building or ADDITION to the Word of God either Destructive and Corruptive such as wholly overthroweth the true meaning and sense of the holy Ghost And this is a very dangerous sinne Or else Perfective and Explicative Thus the New Testament was added to the Old as a perfective addition not corruptive though it could not have been added as Scripture but that the Authors thereof had a divine infallibility And now what the Ministers of God in their Ministerial labours do it must be an addition explicative of the foundation though it be not with divine infallibility We see here God thought it not enough to plant a people but he will have in all ages men to water not enough to lay a foundation but he will alwayes have builders who are to build on this For indeed we must not strain the Metaphor too farre Paul did not only lay the foundation but did also build up all the necessary parts of the house also onely by this similitude he would shew That there must be alwayes in the Church publick persons who by their Office are to build up people in faith and godlinesse but they are not left to their own imaginations to their own thoughts They must dresse every Sermon at the glasse of the Word they must preach as they reade in Scripture Secondly The word of God which containeth the foundation that the Apostles have laid may be either considered in respect of the words only or in respect of the sense cloathed with the words Now indeed it 's not the holy Scripture but when both the sense and the words go together if a man take the words only contrary to the sense he abuseth it and so promoteth the Hereticks and the Devils interest not Gods glory For the sense that is the internal for me and life of all the words So that it is not enough to alledge the words of the Scripture It 's not enough to be able to say The Scripture saith such words but the true sense and meaning that is the soul the words are the body only yet the words must be diligently attended unto as that by which we come to find out the sense The Devil brought Scripture but he perverted it applying it to an ill sense and so all Heretiques have alledged words but not the true sense breathing in them In the next place Let us consider Why we ought so to take heed and that is to be manifest in many respects First From God himself his glory and honour is greatly concerned herein For when we come in his Name and pretend his Word and indeed it is our own What is this but an high offence to God God doth severely threaten those Prophets that broached their own thoughts and preached the lies of their own imaginations yet said Thus saith the Lord. It 's no dallying matter it 's a matter wherein much prayer much humility and many graces are to be exercised lest we should highly dishonour God Oh if this were written in mens hearts they would be more tender and fearfull in delivering their opinions in saying This is the sense or that is the sense For when thou sayest This is the meaning of the holy Ghost This is the truth of God it behoveth thee again and again to consider lest thou put thy lie thy falshood thy sinfull imagination on God Secondly On Gods part we are to take heed Because he hath so severely threatned all those that adde or detract to his Word Any that shall alter these foundations or change these bounds If it be so hainous a matter among men to remove a land-mark and to confound such bounds how much more here That command not to adde or take away is set home with a terrible threatning Revel 22.18 If any shall adde God shall adde unto him the plagues that are in this book Oh see then what thou deliverest out of Scripture as Gods word for the judgments of God are threatned to such as offend herein And Prov. 30.6 Adde not unto his words lest he reprove thee Thou challengest any adversary to confute thee see here God will confute thee he will reprove thee and thou be found a liar Thou thinkest happily such and such an adversary will reprove thee take heed God doth not become thy enemy for such an opinion Oh then while we are preaching and delivering our heavenly message to you we are under a dreadfull account we are to pray and fear and consider lest God find us liars and reprove us at last Secondly On the peoples part Therefore we ought greatly to take heed For 1. The word of God in the true sense of it is the onely food and nourishment of the soul That onely doth nourish and cause to grow So that all those who build up any thing but scripture-Scripture-truths they give poison to a people to live upon How great a crime is it to poison any fountain where all people fetch their water And thus all they do and if it be not poison yet it 's but chaff What is chaff to the wheat said the Prophet Jer. 23.28 All
corrupt errours though not fundamental are called hay and stubble It behoveth us therefore to take heed what we do that we give you not gall for honey poison for food The Apostle compareth all Ministers in himself to a tender nurse 1 Thess 2 now she is carefull to give fit and convenient food to her child Scripture-truths only can give nourishment 2. If we build not on this foundation the preaching of the Word loseth those glorious and excellent effects for which it is appointed You have many admirable properties of this The word of God enlightens the mind Psal â—9 It sanctifieth the nature Joh. 17. It is the power of God to salvation 1 Cor. 1. It 's the instrument by which we are begotten anew Heb. 4.12 It 's a two edged sword to enter into and discover all the secrets of the heart Now alas are the foolish and unwarrantable opinions and doctrines of men able to produce such gracious effects No Gods word only is blessed to such great ends and therefore it 's good to consider that our Saviour looking upon the people in his dayes it 's said His bowels were moved within him as sheep without a shepâ—erd Mat. 9.36 They had the Priests the Scribes and Pharisees then who read the Scripture and taught in the Synagogue every day yet because they mingled their own sour leaven they brought their chaff to the wheat therefore he pitied them 3. On the peoples part we had need to take heed Because they are more prone and ready to receive any corrupt sense than the pure meaning of the Scripture A natural man perceiveth not the things of God they are foolishnesse to him 1 Cor. 2.14 he hath enmity to them Paul said The Law was spiritual but he was carnal Rom. 7. No man naturally can love the Bible in the true and heavenly sense of it no more than a malefactour can his Judge for that condemneth sin that convinceth of folly that spareth not that flattereth not As the people of Israel could not endure the light on Moses his face but they would have a veil on it So neither are people able to receive the true and pure sense of the Scripture it is too glorious too spiritual therefore they put a veil upon it Hence you see how quickly errours and false doctrines especially such which give licence to sinne get a multitude of disciples Paul complained of this when he said They would suffer false teachers to abuse them to oppresse them 2 Cor. 11.20 The Corinthians would endure false teachers though they domineered over them kept them in bondage when yet they would not bear Pauls Ministry And did not many willingly suffer the Egyptian thraldom in Popery who would not endure the yoke of the Gospel Thus Christ complained If any man câ—me in his own name you will receive him John 5.43 Lastly On the Ministers part it 's necessary that he should take heed For 1. He hath not a Magistery but a Ministry committed to him He may not be a Master to dictate and affirm what he pleaseth but his Office is a Ministry to deliver nothing but what he reads Thus Paul That which I have received of the Lord I deliver unto you 1 Cor. 11. If among men Judges must not make new Laws but are strictly bound up to the Laws made to their hands Then much more are the Ministers of God bound up to their Rule the Scripture truth is committed to our charge we must be sure to render that in kind which was betrusted to us And as Aristotle observeth He that is unfaithfull in any thing deposited with him is worse than an open unjust or unrighteous man because he wrongs the good thoughts and opinion the other man had of him he thought him faithfull and honest but he proveth not so Now every Minister hâ—th the truths of God deposited as it were in his faithfull custody 2. He is accountable for all the sin and errour people run into through his neglect If he indeed sound the trumpet and warn the sinner then he hath delivered his soul and the blood of wandring sheep will never be required at his hand if he hath used all means to keep them in the sheepfold and they would not It behoveth us therfore to take heed how we build for herein we do not only endanger our own selvs but others The blind lead the blind saith our Saviour and both fall in the ditch Mat. 15.14 It was Luthers temptation he had sometimes on him Qâ—id si tu dâ—â—naris c. What if thou by thy doctrine are damned and drawest many others to hell with thee It 's true indeed the seduced are under a milder punishment then the seducers yet they are not excused Those that received the mark of the â—â—â—st in the hands and fore-heads though but followers yet had not their name written in the book of life This certainly should make every one take heed what he delivers for should he be a snare to or a murderer of other mens souls the blood of the soul will cry more terribly than the blood of the body 3. He must take heed Because though a man do preach the substantials and the necessary things of salvation purely yet if he adde or mix any corrupt opinions though of a lesse nature that mans salvation is very difficult and that the Apostle driveth at in this place If a man build gold and silver that is the precious fundamentals and afterwards build hay and stubble that is frothy unsound and unsavoury doctrine though it doth not overthrow the fundamentals that man shall be saved yet so as by fire I know it 's a place about which much fire of contention hath been but generally the most learned do agree That it signifieth the difficulty of that mans salvation he must go through many tribulations look for many afflictions which will be as fire to get his drosse out Oh do not then account such errours in judgment so easily venial yea almost innocent as the Socinians saying blind men are to be pitied not punished The Scripture putteth a severer character upon them In the next place What is to be done both by people or Minister that they may both build and be built on a sure foundation that they may not take drosse for gold 1. Be much in prayer That is the key to open all mysteries locked up studying praying and temptations make a Divine said Luther Daniel was much in prayer about studying those seventy weeks and God instructed him revealing them to him 2. Prayer is not enough There must be a holy and godly life Thou wilt never understand Pauls sense if thou hast not Pauls spirit nor Davids Psalms if there be not such a spirit in thee as was in David He that doth my will shall know whether the Doctrine be of God or no John 7.17 3. Neglect not those external means which are requisite to understand the sense of the author as knowledge
God when it may be thou art further off than ever 2. The truths of Christ are profitable to sanctification and holinesse Sanctifie them by thy truth John 17. By the Word we come to take heed of sin Psal 19. to order our lives whereas errour that is wholly instrumental to wickednesse and impiety A corrupt mind and a corrupt life go together Faith and a good conscience are kept together and lost together When a man fals off from the truth he will also fall off from that power of godlinesse and degree of holinesse â—e once seemed to have Truth is the eye and if the eye be dark the whole body will be dark Grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3.18 these go together If therefore thou wouldst keep up the whole way of godlinesse all that accuratenesse and strictnesse thou hast been exercised in take heed of erroneous Doctrines they loosen the reins they corrupt good manners Though some Heretiques have been of a seeming religious life yet even they were but as glistering Serpents full of inward poison for all their fair out-side viz. of inward pride and hypocrisiâ— And indeed it is commonly Gods judgement to punish the abuse of knowledge with an ungodly life The Heathens did not glorifie God according to their knowledge and therefore God gave them up to strong delusiâ—ns and vilâ— affections Rom. 1. It 's good to have the heart established with grace and not with meats Heb. 13 9. Loosnesse of opinions is apt to beget loosnesse of lâ—fe as ill distâ—llations from the head breed the consumption of the vitals 3. They are unprofitable for any sound comfort and joy That we through the comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. 15.4 The truths of Christ will only be owned by him and to such as suffer for it he administers much consolation and comfort As the Martyrs felt unspeakable joy and assurance It cannot be denied but Heretiques and erroneous persons may find much sensible comfort in their false way Thâ—refore no man must conclude the truth of a Doctrine from comfort but he must try his comfort by his Doctrine yet even that comfoâ—t men have in a false way is not like the true joy Godâ— truth brings To give differences between them is not here my purpose no more than between the patience of a true Martyr and the quietnesse of an Heretique in their sufferings 4. They are not profitable for duration or continuance This straw will not keep off the rain of Gods tempests Hence God will purge his people from this drosse The Disciples were many times in great errours but Christ did recover them And truly such is the goodnesse of God to his elect people that they shall never totally and finally be deceived you see here they shall be saved by fire and the fire will try it God will by some severe affliction or other means bring his people back again The sheep that wandered will come home again acknowledging their folly and that they did only lose their wool in the briars of needlesse disputes Vse of Instructâ—on To shew the vanity and folly either of such teachers or hearers that dote on errours that admire hay and stubble as if it were gold and precious stones Oh try and prove things first by the Word ere you rejoyce or boast in them 2. What makes a Church truly glorious even when it 's pure from errours and heresies A Church imbracing the truth is like a goodly Edifice of all beautifull excellencies but where errors and falshoods are there is a disgrace and dishonour to it Vse of Exhortation In all the matters of Religion see what solidity and profit there is in the thing thou believest If they be full of divine Authority if they make for godlinesse for exactnesse in life for true and sound peace then it 's something but if they do intoxicate mens brains make them spiritually drunk they stagger and reel if they make them straws an empty reed shaken with every wind then fear these things Verse 13. Every mans work shall be made manifest IN the twelfth verse you had a Description of a two-fold Builder Now in this verse and the other following the Apostle proceeds to shew a two-fold event And 1. He generally declareth that there will be a Manifestation of every mans work And then 2. The Consequent Effectâ— upon that Manifestation that there will be a discovery at last though for a while men may carry on their purposes with much subtilty you have in the first part of the verse Peter said of Pauls Epistles That there were in them many things hard to be understood And Austin he thought as you heard this Text was one of them I shall therefore explain it by degrees And First I shall at this time consider the Proposition laid down by the Apostle as a ground work Every mans work shall be made manifest Consider the Subject the Note of Vniversality and the Attribute 1. The Subject Every mâ—ns work work Here the Apostle calleth erroneous Doctrines as also the publishing and propagating of them works which overthroweth that nice distinction of some who pressed with that place Rom. 13. The Magistrate is a terrour to evil works Works say they not opinions or false Doctrines for though the opinion simply as so is hidden in the heart yet the professing and publication of it is a work therefore here they are made all one So vers 8. it 's called a mans labour And John epist 2. we must not bid God speed to a man that brings a false Doctrine lest thereby we be partaker of his evil deeds 2. Here is the Note of Vniversality Every mans work that is every Doctors every builders work Lastly Here is the Attribute Shall be made manifest Which implieth that all errours and falshoods have a glittering out-side they are maintained with much subtilty and specious pretences so that he who looks only to the seeming out-side and appearances of false wayes will easily be deceived But as the painted face when it comes near the fire will melt so these painted errours when God bringeth his fire will dissolve away So that there is much in that phrase Shall be made manifest Now although this Proposition is to be taken in a limitted sense to the false subtil and crafty wayes of errours and the authours thereof yet I shall first handle it as a general truth and so as the Apostle may take it as a general and then apply it to the particular of foolish builders Observe That all the wayes and works of wickedness though acted in never so hidden and secret a manner shall be made manifest When and how I shall not yet enquire All that I have now to do is That such works though creeping under the ground will be brought to light So Chap. 5.10 Eccles ult ult First We will shew What kind of hidden wickednesse shall be made manifest And then The
If it abide Observe That Gods Truths are of a firm and durable Nature notwithstanding any tryal or opposition whatsoever Thus Christ Mat. 5.8 Heaven and Earth shall sooner passe away then one iota or title Whatsoever is asserted or threatned or promised stands firmer then Mount Sion like the earth which cannot be removed They who have endeavoured to overthrow Gods Truths they are as absurd as if a man should set his shoulder to remove a huge mountain 1 Pet. 1.25 Gods truths are exalted for duration above all earthly pomp All flesh is grasse the grasse withereth the flower fadeth but the Word of God endureth for ever See then the incorruptibility and immortality of Gods Truths that as it 's said of God himself I am the Lord and I change not Mal. 3.6 so these are Gods truths they change not All flesh is grasse Whatsoever greatnesse and power hath exalted it self against Gods truth hath vanished into dust when truth hath still prevailed To understand this consider First That there a two-fold truth Increated and Created Increated and that is God himself who is the first essential and immediate truth God is true and every man a lyer I am the truth said Christ Joh. 14.6 And this is indeed the ground why Gods truths are so permanent because they are the Assertions or Testimony of the first Truth So that as the Sunne the Fountain of light cannot be dark so neither is it possible for God to lie or deceive Now Created Truths are of two sorts Natural Truths such as are in Philosophy and are implanted in mens minds either as principles or as necessary conclusions to be deduced from them And these are of God as appeareth Rom. 1. Which made one say Omnis veritas est a spiritu sancto And these also are necessary and certain And Secondly There are Divine Truths such as are revealed in Gods Word most of which humane reason could not comprehend but as Zacheus of a low stature got up into the tree to see Jesus so reason being too low must ascend up into the Scripture to behold these truths Now these are more certain and durable then those natural Truths because natural truths are founded upon the nature and essence or properties of the creatures but Divine Truths on Gods Word It is true all Truth is said to be in indivisibili and so one Truth is not more true then another but yet the foundation of this truth may be more firm in one then in another In the next place consider that Gods Truths in his word may be reduced to four heads 1. Assertory Truths such as assert any matter of Faith or matter of fact 2. Truths of Prophesying and Prediction and such do not abide alwaies because they are compleated in the accomplishment of them 3. Truths of Promise or Promissory and those have not only Gods word but some of them Gods Oath also and they are founded in Christ in whom they are yea and amen 2 Cor. 1. 4. There are Comminatory truths or threatnings now here is this difference between the two latter since Promissory truths are not made good unlesse a man believe It 's of saith that the Promise might be sure Rom. 4.16 but the threatnings of God are sure and wiâ—l be true though the prophane person do not believe them though he think the contrary Now the Ministers work which he must build is upon one of those foundations Assertory Promissory or Comminatory Truths and this will abide though the flames burn never so violently Thirdly This good building of truth doth not only abide the fire but desireth the fire it 's willing to come to the Touchstone The thief hateth the light because his deeds are evil Heresie and false Doctrine doth not love the Touchstone no more then the Owle the Sunne Hence it is that being provoked to go to the Scriptures they accuse the Scriptures of insufficiency and imperfction It 's a saying of Lindan a great Papist living in the first time of the Reformation That it had been better if they had never yeilded to the Protestants to prove things by Scripture but kept only to tradition Whensoever any erroneus persons begin to disparage or to dethrone the Scripture not to adore the fulnesse and sufficiency of it as a Rule suspect that man he is like the Elephant which because he cannot endure to see himself in the water is said to disturbe and bemuddy it So that the truths of God do not shun the fiery tryal Fourthly The Truths of God built by a spiritual builder do not only abide the fiery tryal but they grow more illustrious and glorious thereby All the heresies and Persecutions that ever have been were like the waters to the Ark they lifted it higher to Heaven The truth about grace had not been so clear had not Pelagius maintained free-will The Divine Nature of Christ had not been so fully evidenced out of Scripture had not the Arrians opposed it Justification by Faith in Chrâ—st had not been so strongly and powerfully proved had not Justification by works been obtruded in Popery So that it doth not only abide the fire but it 's grown more admirable thereby Many doubts are removed and as the winds shaking of some trees make the root the faster so the difference and disputes about Religion though they do hurt to some yet to sound and solid men they have made them more established Nil tam certum quam quod è dubio certum Which made an Antient say excellent well Pâ—us debeo Thomae dubitanti quam Petro credenti For by his doubting Christs Resurrection was more confirmed unto us Fifthly Not only the Truths of God in their Nature but also in the proper and genuine effects upon the Hearers they also abide and will endure the tryal Now the Truths of God revealed in the Scripture among other Effects have these notable ones First To assure and perswade the heart of the certainty of them Hence faith is called assurance and full assurance Heb. 10.22 And The substance of things Heb. 11.1 So that where Gods Truth hath been fully received there it establisheth the heart It 's not carried away with every wind of Doctrine There are few that we can say of that they have received the truth not as the word of man but as the word of God 1 Thes 2.13 Many are so fickle so inconstant so unsetled that they are ready every day to have a new Faith this is because the Word is not received as Gods Word but as a mans Opinion The second notable Effect is To regenerate and make us new creatures And this is also an incorruptible effect no sinne or Devil or the temptations of the world shall be able to obliterate that heavenly Image or Picture the Word of God hath drawn upon such a mans soul Thus 1 Pet. 1.23 24. Being born not of corruptible but the incorruptible seed which is said to abide
though all flesh and the flower thereof doth perish It 's true indeed Davids grace and Peters grace in the fiery tryal of sinne seemed to be quite extinct but they were as the trees in winter which have life in the root though no signes of life appear by fruit or leaves If therefore you see any who seemed to have been regenerated by the Word totally Apostatize and fall off take the Scriptures saying up They went from us because they were not of us Joh. 2.19 No true Starres can indeed fall from Heaven meteor's may Thus not only the truths we preach but even you that are Hearers ought to be our work and an abiding work The Apostle cals the Corinthians his Epistle to be seen and read of all men 2 Cor. 3.2 You are to be as walking Sermonâ— and no temptations or persecusecutions yea The gates of Hell are not to prevail over you Mat. 16.18 The forgetfull or unprofitable Hearer doth as much as lies in him to make the truths of God of no more durable operation then humane figments Now to this Doctrine there is an obvious and palpable Objection How can we say that the true and Orthodox building in Christs Church will abide all stormes Do we not read frequently that in the Church truth hath been condemned errour owned All those Martyrs that lost their lives for the truths of God were they not condemned as heretiques Hath not errour alwaies found more upholders then the truth Was not the Lord Christ condemned and that by a Council of the Priests and Elders of Jerusalem Was not the whole world turned Arrian And in our forefathers daies was not the Aegyptian darknesse of Popery covering the whole world Was not the Masse Transubstantiation and Image worship set up as the principal truths of God And are there not men that write the time will come when the Word Trinity Co-essential or Consubstantial shall be as much hated as Masse and Transubstantiation To this Objection we Answer That those matters of fact cannot be denyed and yet the Doctrine is true for those oppressions and overwhelmings of the truth were but for a while The truth of God did abide the fire even then and afterwards prevailed more then ever The Sunne for a while may be in an Eclipse and hidden by black cloudes but at last it's light doth prevail We do not say that in every place and at every time truth alwaies is extolled and errour condemned but in time it will be It 's with the truths of Christ as it was with Christ himself he seemed to be overcome by his adversaries he was dead and buried yet he had a glorious Resurrection and Ascension So that as God would not suffer his holy one to see corruption so neither will he let his holy Truths But as in Christ his bones by Gods providence were not to be broken the seat of strength so neither can the bones of Truth be The Apostle saith The Day shall declare it that is the time appointed by God 2. This abiding or decaying must not be judged by carnall reason but by the eye of Faith It 's enough that to the godly and Believers though but a few truth is acknowledged though the greater part of the world vote for an errour Christ himself was not owned for the Messiah but by a very few that had the eye of Faith the greater part denyed him To every mans eye the Sunnne is lesse then the whole world but to art it is farre bigger That therefore is said to abide the fire which indeed and to the eye of Faith doth so Wisdom is justified of her Children Mat. 11.19 3. We told you Though the day of Judgement was not principally intended yet we could not wholly exclude it neither And then the truth and sound principles of faith will abide when errours shall call for the mountains and hils to cover them Vse 1. Of Exhortation to us Ministers Seeing we are builders How behoveâ—lliâ— it to build such sound solid matter that will abide Oh that this Text were written in the heart of every one that undertakes to maintain or preach any thing in Religion It is a Babel or Jerusalem thou buildest and God will discover so at last But Secondly Of Instruction what you hearers should be such in whom the truths we preach should live and abide How can we say All flesh is grasse but the Word of God abideth for ever in your hearts Nay rather the Word and all preaching withereth as the grasse and the works of sinne and the world abide for ever with you Well know this that whatsoever we preach out of Gods word it is of everlasting abode it will go to the grave with you it will go to Hell or to Heaven with you Do you forget it never so much that will not forget you The Word will judge and condemn you And how can that be but because it will be alive and come forth at that great day against thee Verse 15. If any mans work shall be burnt he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire THis Text containeth the contrary event of the foolish builder to the wise We would think hay and stubble should be no such great matter that God would not much stand upon such small things But this Text will sufficiently inform to the contrary In the words then consider The evil worke supposed and the sutable Reward threatned The evil worke supposed is to be such that cannot endure the tryal but will be burnt If any mans Doctrine be hay and stubble which cannot endure the fire but will immediately be burnt Then there is a two-fold reward even resembling that of an hell There is Poena damni a punishment of losse 2 Sensus He shâ—ll be saved but so as by fire There is no difficulty in the former For though it may be thought to referre to the work yet it is farre more probable that it doth relate to the person whose work it is So that as metal cast into the fire loseth its dross and so cometh out lesse then it was thus it shall be with him he shall be afflicted yet so that it shall turn to his good But the later is much vexed And First You see the Apostle speaks not of fundamental Heresies such as are damnable in their nature and carry the party without repentance to destruction but of such as are consistent with salvation Learned men apply it to the Gnosticks the famous Heretiques of those times who did not deny Christ but superstructed many evil and sinfull Doctrines upon this rock or foundation In the second place They are such as make a mans salvation very difficult Even as you have an expression of a righteous man A righteous man is scarcely saved 1 Pet. 4.18 For this phrase So as by fire is a proverbâ—al expression to denote the extream danger a man is in and yet escapes as those three Worthies in the fiery furnace
mans salvation as well as ungodlinesse in practice An unsound mind as well as unsound life may undo a man Austin once made a Question and knew not well how to resolve it viz. Which was worst an Heretique living with an unblameable life or an Orthodox man with a vicious and corrupt life Non audeo dicere saith I dare not determine it Though Austin could not determine it yet Salvian a religious and zealous Ancient he seemeth to preferre an Heretique if unblameable in his life before a wicked liver Now the truth is in some respects one is worse than another only herein there can be lesse said to excuse a prophane wicked Christian than an Heretique because moral duties such as not to lie swear or to be drunk or unclean are more easily known than many points in Religion especially those which are of a sublime consideration But yet if we speak in the general they both do endanger a mans salvation Thus the Apostle Peter saith That ignorant men wrâ—st the Scripture to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 So that you see a man may destroy his soul not only by a prophane life but by a presumptuous abusing and wresting of the Scripture from the true sense And the Apostle James speaketh of it as a great matter To convert one that erreth from the truth he hath saved a soul and covered a multitude of sins Jam. 5.20 To open this Doctrine consider That the understanding of a man hath sâ—veral kinds of corruption whâ—ch do more or lesse endanger a mans salvation First There is ignorance in a mans understanding whereby he doth not know or believe the truth and this indangers a mans salvation This is eternal life to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 17.2 Therefore not 〈…〉 these is eternal death God would have all men to be saved and to come to thâ— kâ—â—wledge of the truth 2 Tim. 3 7. Thus as the true knowledg of God and Christ is the way to salvation This is the starre to lead to Christ so ignorance of these things is the way to damnation Hence wicked men are often said Not to know God and yet how universal is this sinne Few have any knowledge or understanding in the matters of Religion They have Eagles eyes to worldly things but very blinde Owles they are in heavenly things A second Corruption of the understanding is Errour Ignorance is in the first act of the understanding which they call simple and bare apprehension but Error is in the second Act which they call Judgement So that to erre is to mis-judge in matters of Religion as those that denied the Resurrection are said to erre because they did not know the Scriptures Mat. 22.29 Indeed sometimes the wicked wayes of a mans life are called errours They have alwayes erred in their hearts saith the Scripture of the Israelites in reference to their ungodly actions Heb. 3.10 because every sinne is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an errour or missing of the mark so that in this sence we may say thy ungodly actions are errours Thou dost well to complain of errours in doctrine but why dost thou not complain of thy errours in thy life Omnis peccans est ignorans every sinner as so is ignorant and erroneous but we speak not of this but of those errours in judgement whereby it judgeth false things true or true false And there is no man in the world but he hath some errour in his mind As there is not in any constitution Temperamentum ad pondus an exact temperament So neither in any mans understanding an exact and right judging of all things in matters of Religion We know in paâ—t saith the Apostle 1 Cor 13. Yea we are ignorant of farre more things than we know Thirdly There is a further corruption of the mind and that is heresie Which word though in the first rise of it was innocent in its signification and is so used twice or thrice in the Acts of the Apostles as some affirm yet in the Epâ—stles it is alwayes used in an ill sense and by ecclesiastical use it 's different from errour two wayes 1. Errour is in matters of lesse consâ—quence that are not of necessity but heresie they make to be of things fundamentall therefore the Apostle speaks of some Who shall bring in damnable Heresies 2 Pet 2.1 2. They make it differ in the affection of the person He that is an Heretique hath pertinacy and obstinacy An Heretique after the first and second admonition reject Tit. 3.10 But errours are with willingnesse to learn and to be informed as Austin Errare possum haereticus esse nolo Thus Ecclesiastical custome hath used the word Heresie though I cannot say the Scripture doth make that the adequate notion of the word Thus you see in these three wayes the minds of men may be corrupted and through every one of them more or lesse a man may be brought to the very brink of hell This is a truth little thought of yea some have thought Heresie to be innocency yea there are some who have maintained a man may be saved in any Religion or in any sect which if so then there could be no damnable Heresies Let us consider the Grounds of the Doctrine And First Therefore errours as well as ungodlinesse in life will damne Because they are a sinfull corruption of the best and noble faculty in a man The understanding is wounded with sinne as well as the will and affections insomuch that if it were possible for a man to have a right will and well ordered affections yet the sinfulnesse of his understanding is enough to damn him Grant then that ignorance errours or heresies are sinnes and you say enough to make any godly man afraid of them Therefore think of this you who make it no matter to hold this or that opinion in Religion If not to know the truth be a sinne know that is an infinite evil that will divide between God and thee and then it 's a sinne of the best and most noble part the understanding and reason whereby we are differenced from beasts A disease in the eye is a dangerous thing because so choice a part and if our eyes be so dear to us as that it 's a Proverb How dear should your minds and understandings be Nature hath provided a covering for them and hair to defend them and thus we should be carefull to keep our minds from all infections Secondly It must needs be damnable Because it 's opposite to saving grace and that is a true faith and knowledge of God in his Word Now this is a Rule We judge of the illnesse of every privation by the excellency of the habit it is contrary unto Now ignorance and errour they are contrary to a sound faith to a true knowledge and deprive the soul of those divine truths which are so instrumental to all holinesse Therefore to say to
erre or be of this or that opinion is no great matter is as much as to say faith is no great matter the truths of the Scripture are no great matter It was well said of Austin Veritas Christianorum est incomparabiliter pulchrior Helenâ Graecorum The Christians truth is more lovely than the Grecians Helena for whom there was much strife Hence the Apostle commands us To strive earnestly for the faith once dâ—livered to the Saints Jude v 3. Thirdly They endanger salvation Because all errours come from a damnable cause Gal. 5.20 Heresies are said to come from the flesh as opposite to the Spirit and therefore are reckoned in the same Catalogue with grosse sinnes So that if you go to the first fountain you shâ—ll find errours in Doctrine and loosnesse in practice boâ—h came from the same ground they are both fruits of the flesh though they be different streams yet they are united in one â—pâ—ing Though they may struggle one with another yet both are twins in the same womb Oh what an antidote would this be against these soul-infections that are abroad to think that errours and ungodly practices come both from the same fountain They are all fruits of the flesh and therefore have a damnable cause Fourthly Errours in judgement endanger salvation Because they lead into sinfull and dangerous practices In Philosophy we are â—old of the great connexion that is between the understanding will and affâ—ctions Now the understanding that is the Sunne in this firmament and if that be in an Eclipse you know that evils are portended thereby The understanding is the counsellour and if that be corrupt the will and affections must be very sinfull and unruly Vse of Admonition To take heed we be not led aside with any errour or corrupt Doctrines You see death is in these things as well as in lusts yea if the mind be corrupt all else will be corrupt If the eye be dark the whole body will be dark Errours will breed loosnesse and prophanenesse of life They are a disease in the choisest part of a man and know it is not thy wisdome thy care can preserve thee It 's the Spirit of God through his Word that leadeth us into truth Christ is the truth the way and the life John 14.6 The greatest learning and knowledge will not keep a man learned men have been Heretiques but two things will especially keep us 1. Humility and lowlinesse of mind To such God giveth grace To babes and sucklings he revealeth himself And 2. An holy conformity to Gods will so farre as we know When we do not detain truth as a prisoner in our lives Doct. 2. Whereas you see an eminent Officer in the Church building but hay and stubble is yet hardly saved We may hint this Doctrine though not insist on it That every godly man though never so eminent yet is very difficultly saved If hay and stubble will put us to such danger what then will evident poison If these errours of the mind which are so hardly prevented what will the constant lusts and daily infiâ—mities even of all men Which makes the Apostle Peter say The righteous man is scarcely saved 1 Pet. 4.18 Which although some understand of a temporal salvation he is very hardly delivered from those temporal afflictions that fall out in this life yet by consequence it reacheth to eternal salvation Hence is that command To work out our salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 Yea Paul who had one foot in Heaven yet he said He kept under his body lest while he preached to others he himself should be a reprobate 1 Cor. 9. ult Now the Grounds of these truths are First From the exactnesse and strictnesse that is in the way to Heaven Godlinesse is on the high hill as he placed virtue Strive to enter in at the strait gate Luke 13.24 Be in an agony yea how strait is it as in Matth 7 14 by exclamation few do enter therein To lay out the nature of a godly man or godlinesse from Scripture-rules would be almost like Tullies description of a perfect Orator or Plato of a Commonwealth Our Saviour speaking of the difficulty of a rich man to be saved that is one who trusteth in them as one Evangelist saith Mar. 10.24 The Disciples cry out Who then can be saved They do not say What rich man but who can be saved because every man hath something or other be trusteth in as well as the rich man in his riches Secondly The difficulty doth appear from that remainder and relique or corruption that is in every man which is in danger to break out Our Saviour bid hiâ— Dâ—sciples Beware of drunkennesse and surfeting though they seemed to be â—arre from it Luke 21.34 Paul how doth he mourn under the powerfull vigor of sinne still abiding in him Rom. 7. Yea the Apostle speaking of a combate in all The Flesh lusteth after the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh Gal. 5. So that by this means he is in constant danger of being undone There is heart against heart affections against affections c. Thirdly There are many afflictions and tribulations which God brings on his people and they do much endanger Did not God break out upon Aaron Eli David and Moses very dangerously as if he would have cast them quite off and therefore the Apostle brings in the difficulty of the righteous mans salvation upon that Judgement must begin at the house of God 1 Pet. 4.17 So that if we consider the tempests and rocks in the sea of this world it 's a wonder any can come to the haven Vse of Exhortation Be quickned up to more exact strict and diligent walking If Paul that knew how to abound and want and to do all things who was like a gyant running his race and yet hardly gets to Heaven Where wilt thou appear Hear what he saith I presse forward I forget what is behinde if I may attain to the prize of the high calling Oh then how inexcusable is thy negligence thy dissolutenesse Is thy life a striving an agony Art thou like one in a combate and conflict By this we may see the number of men that shall be saved is very few there are so few that strive that pray that work with fear and trembling that are violent for the Kingdom of Heaven and get it by force Verse 16. Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you THe Apostle though he alter his Metaphor yet continueth in the same matter In the verses before he compared the Church of Corinth to a building here he sheweth what kind of building it is even a sacred holy building The Temple of God So that as in the Temple of old which was consecrated to God whosoever did bring in any unclean and unconsecrated things to the Temple he did pollute it and was to be punished thus all corruptions in Doctrine Worship or
Manners are a pollution of this spiritual Temple So that in the words you have a strong Argument against all Church pollutions whether doctrinal or practical from a similitude or comparison the Apostle useth Those that are the Temple of God must be dedicated to him and not polluted with any unclean thing but the Church of Corinth is the Temple of God And that this Argument might pierce the more he puts the sting of a sharp Interrogation upon his words Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God Know ye not as if he would have said This is a confessed Principle a truth acknowledged by all none can or ought to be ignorant of it Now for the explication of the word Temple and the Reason to prove they were the Temple as followeth in the words I referre it till we come at it For truly this Text is a Mine of gold every word hath precious matter in it Only consider at this time the interrogative Introduction Know ye not One great cause why they admitted such prophanensse and corruption in the Church was the ignorance of or the not attending to those Priviledges and Relations they were called unto If they had duely considered they were Gods Temple they would not have suffered strange Doctrines or strange manners to come in amongst them as no strange uncircumcised might enter into the Temple Observe That the consideration of those Priviledges and Relations which all the People that professe God are put into would be a great Argument against all kind of Pollutions In the 1 Cor. 6.19 the Apostle argueth against all libidinous and unclean waies because their bodies were the Temple of the Holy Ghost now here the Apostle doth not so much speak of every man as their Assembly united together as they were a spiritual Society joyned together As is more largely to be shewed The Apostle argueth chiefly though not excluding sinnes of practice against corruptions in Doctrine and the Ordinances instituted in the Church by which we may see the Scripture puts corruptions in Doctrine through errours and in our lives through ungodlinesse in the same guilt both are unclean and so may not be admitted into the Temple even as the Apostle in the first Chapter verse 5 6. and Gal. 59 useth a Proverbial speech A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump against corruptions in life and in Doctrine but of this more afterwards That which at this time I insist on is To shew what a goade and spurre to all purity and holinesse in Doctrine and Manners the consideration of Church-Priviledges Church-Titles and Relations aâ—e Thus Rom. 6.3 Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death Ignorance of the extent of their baptism what it did signifie and oblige to made them live in sinne I know nothing more to be complained of then that people generally rest in this They are the Church of God They are Christians They are baptized but they do not understand what these things mean nor what they oblige them unto It would make us all tremble to consider the vast disproportion between our Names our Relations and our lives This hath occasioned many to runne into an extremity to say We have no true Churches no true members of a Church amongst us because the ignorance corruption and prophaneness is so great amongst us though therein they go beyond bounds For this Church of Corinth was not unchurched by the disorders and corruptions amongst it To enforce this Doctrine upon us consider some of the chief and notable Titles or Relations the people of God have and see if rightly considered they would not work like fire to consume all our drosse As First The very word Ecclesia Church This is given to all the spiritual Societies and Assemblies that we read of in the Scripture converted to the true Faith Thus the Church of Corinth the Churches in Asia Now how great a matter is this very word Church For a people to be a Church the word signifieth as much as a company of people called out of the ignorance idolatry and prophanenesse of the world to worship and serve God in his way and to obey his Laws So that when men come to be of this body they are to renounce all their former prophanenesse and wickednesse and live a life conformable to the Word which is the Churches Charter and by which it walketh Thus all our Congregations should be men called out of the ignorance and prophanenesse of the world to live according to Gods Rule But where are the persons or the Societies that do this Are not many of our Assemblies in the world and of the world still in respect of conversation There will be scandals and offences in the Churches of God too often but woe be to such who by their prophanenesse idolatry and wickednesse give so many scandals as to make us accounted a Babylon a Sodome or as the world Indeed they who do thus charge us go beyond their line for we have a true Church and a true Ministry and true Ordinances only the lives of men are generally so corrupt and wicked so ignorant and beastly that they are spots in our Assemblies and a grievous reproach to that holy Profession which we have taken upon us So then if we would have our Congregations and persons freed from all these defilements remember what the word Church is a company called out of the world And as for ignorant and prophane men the orders of Christ are to endeavour their reformation but if they continue obstinate then they are to be cast out As the Clouds that are exhaled from the earth which though terrestrial in nature yet follow the motions of the Heavens so though in our original we be of the world and are dust and ashes yet by this heavenly call we are wholly to live a heavenly conversation Is it for Starres to be like the dung of the earth Is it for a Church to be a prophane ignorant and worldly people Oh this very title should raise up your hearts Are we not a Church persons called out of wickednesse Why then are we such Apostates as to degenerate from our Titles and Names If Christ complained of those that had made the material Temple a den of thieves Mat. 21.13 will he not also of such who shall make his Church a stew a dunghill a place of wickednesse and ungodlinesse I beseech you know these things and consider them better If you would have the Name of a Church have the nature Life and operations of a Church Secondly The consideration that we are the people of God in a more peculiar manner then all the Nations of the world that do not know God This also should affect us This is that Covenant of Grace God enters into I will be their God and they shall be my people Jer. 7.23 2 Cor. 6.16 Yea a peculiar people Gods Jewels Gods Treasure Deut. 26.18 Psal 135.4
for the most part is spiritual and supernatural and partly because as the Prophets and Pen-men spake or wrote as they were moved by the holy Ghost even to every syllable and word so the same Spirit of God is required though not in such a measure to the understanding of it Hence the Spirit of God is promised To lead us into all truth John 16.13 Alas the greatest men of parts and learning have many times been the greatest Heretiques and most ignorant of the Scripture because destitute of the Spirit Yet on the other side you must not runne into another extremity as if the Spirit alone without those helps God hath required would lead us into truth for that were to tempt God and to expect a miracle For give a Bible in Hebrew or Greek to a man though enjoying Gods Spirit yet he is not able to understand this or that Text without the interpretation of the language I have been more large on this because it 's necessary to shew with how much prayer and earnest application to the throne of grace the Ministers of God should addresse themselves to their work without the Spirit of God guiding and leading of them they are the ship that wants a winde yea though they have many excellent gifts and much humane learning They are but as a swift horse without a rider while they want Gods Spirit and the faster they runne the more they are out of the way So then put the Spirit of God and other helpes appointed by him together and then you will never split at any Rock Secondly As the gifts of the Ministry are thus efficiently from God So directively also they are from his Spirit The guidance and ordering of the whole Ministry is from the Spirit of God When Paul was resolved to go to some place to preach the Gospel he was sometimes forbidden by the Spirit and directed to go to others Acts 16.6 9. Thus in the word of God preached by the Apostles the Spirit of God did demonstrate it self because the Jews are said to resist it Acts 7.51 therefore though it was first dispensed to the Jews yet upon their neglect it was transplanted to the Gentiles And thus truly every Congregation every particular person may wonderfully observe the divine guidance of the Ministry that it should come to such a people and not to such that those who are unworthy and trample upon it as swine do the pearl should have it and many a poor hungring and thirsting people can never enjoy have or such a Ministry especially every godly hearer may observe a divine guidance of the Word in the matter preached how near and seasonably it comes to him The unbeliever that came to the Church ordinances saw his heart and thoughts so judged and discovered that he cried out Verily God is among you 1 Cor. 14.25 Thou sittest and wonderest how the Minister should fall on such a point how he should be directed to such a particular that doth so nearly concern thee this makes thee say Verily God is here Thirdly Which is the last and greatest The efficacy and spiritual benefit of the Ordinances and gifts of Officers is wholly from the Spirit of God Hence it is called the holy Spirit not only essentially as the other Persons are or by way of opposition to the unclean spirit the Devil but effectively because by way of title and Office as it were it belongs to him to sanctifie the gifts of the Minister and to make them powerfull in the hearts of the hearers So that although parts and abilities should be in the Officers choice and power yet the successe and benefit is not When Paul hath planted Apollo watered it 's God that giveth the increase 1 Cor. 3. And certainly if the Physician cannot give health the Gardener cannot make any fruit only disposeth and prepareth in these things much lesse can spiritual Officers in the Church cause the Word to open the eyes of the blinde or soften the heart of those that are hardened Thus we have seen how the Spirit of God dwels in the Church by reason of gifts only and to be more affected with this though that of Graces be more excellent consider First That the end of all these gifts thus vouchsafed by the Spirit is only to profit withall as the Apostle argueth 1 Cor. 12.7 They are not for vain oftentation neither are we to seek our selves by them but they are to be improved for edification Now that cannot be called profit which is onely to please the ear to tickle the fancy but what is to convince the conscience and change the heart and lives of men Oh that this were considered both by Minister and all people It 's spiritual profit that is to be looked at Hence the Word is compared to food which is not for the eye but the stomack The more usefull and profitable the gifts of any are either for instruction or reformation the nearer they come to their due end Secondly Consider the plenty of these gifts under the New Testament The Spirit of God inabled to all those gifts and graces in the Old Testament but because they were in a little pittance or measure therefore the Gospel is said to be The time of the manifestation of the Spirit So that it 's a great shame and sinne if both Ministers and people partake not more of the gifts of Gods Spirit than in the Old Testament and that so much grosse ignorance and beastly prophanenesse doth overflow is a great reproach unto the times of the Gospel Thirdly The variety of them is also very admirable The Apostle reckons up the diversity of them So that as it was an argument of Jacob's love to give Joseph a party-coloured coat Thus it is of Gods favour to bestow such diversity of gifts This makes the Church indeed to be in imbroidered garments Fourthly The wisdome of the Spirit is seen in that no one man hath all As all men have not the same face but some difference there is which makes Gods providence admirable in this particular So all have not the same gifts some are for the word of Doctrine some for the word of Exhortation and all this is that there being a mutual excelling of one another there might be no envy or schisme in the body Vse of Instruction What cause we Ministers and you people have to pray for this Spirit of God without which we preach in vain and you hear in vain As Moses said to God Vnlesse thou go along with us we will not go up O Lord if the presence of thy Spirit be not with us we cannot discharge those duties who is sufficient to preach Who is sufficient to hear Oh it should be like a sword in our bowels to think we feel no more of him in our Assemblies Arise O North winde and blow O South saith the Church that the spices may send forth their smell Cantic 4.16 Oh that the Spirit of God would thus arise
into the Temple The Greek words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an elegant allusion The sinne and the punishment shall be both alike some have rendered it corrupt some vitiate others destroy This of our Translators is very good For seeing the truths of God and his Ordinances are pure then it followeth all errours and false Doctrines are a pollution as if you should put drosse to gold or cast mud into a pleasant spring Some Interpreters think the Apostle doth intend to an higher sinne then he named before For say they vers 15. he speaks of such false Doctrines that did not overthrow the foundation now such a man may be saved though difficultly but vers 17. he nameth such as strike at the very root and destroy the very Temple it self So that they make this the meaning If any man bring such corruptions of Doctrine as destroy the Temple of God overthrow Religion and make it no Church he shall not be saved at all There is no fire to cleanse him but to consume him Thus some But it 's more consonant to take the words more general and so they do better cohere And this destruction spoken of is to be understood unlesse he repent or pro subjectâ materiâ if it be onely hay and stubble then the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is no more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before a destruction partial not total but if they be damnable heresies than they meet with a total destruction Observe That those men who defile the Church of God with corrupt Doctrines do highly provoke God to punish them The Text is an Argument à minori ad majus If the defilers of the material Temple did not escape Gods punishments as Athaliah for prophaning the Temple and Belshazzar the holy vessels of the Temple then much lesse shall they escape who pollute the Church of God by any such falshoods And we reade that our Saviour did in this shew his anger and wrought a miracle by way of indignation and another particular namely cursing the fig-tree In these two cases did Christs miracles tend to destruction or punishment all the other were full of mercy and healing For when they had defiled the Temple and made it a den of thieves twice our Saviour made a whip and scourged them out which Hierom doth admire as a greater miracle than any other our Saviour did that a man unarmed and contemptible should chase away such a multitude of men and in that matter of their profit making no resistance but barely asking By what power he did these things No doubt the City of Jerusalem was then guilty of many horrible and grievous crimes of injustice adulteries but Christ takes no notice of that but goeth presently to the Temple to reforme there and this is attributed to the godly zeal that was in him which did even eat him up John 2.17 For the opening of the Doctrine let us consider Why false Doctrines are a defiling why they are called corruptions For so in the Old Testament Idolatry is often called men are said to have corrupted their wayes by false worship and this will be good to take off that lovely painting and alluring dresse which some would put upon their errors and superstitions Now they are called defilings and corruptions First From the pure nature of Gods truth and his worship which falshoods do staine and take away the glory of You see the Apostle compareth them to gold and precious stone Now to take these and to throw them into the dirt is a debasing of them Gods word is said to be more pure than gold seven times refined yea more to be desired than fine gold Psal 19.10 Christ commends his Doctrine under the notion of living water John 4.10 the pure running streams of the brook Now all false Teachers they throw in mud and dirt to these as the Philistims did earth into those Wells that Isaac digged for his cattel Every pure thing is made impure when mingled with any thing of a more sordid and inferiour nature as gold with leade wine with water water with mud So then though men give glorious Titles and Names to their falshoods as excellent Truths glorious Lights yet indeed they are no more than defilements and pollutions Oh then how humble tender and carefull ought men to be Are the Truths and Ordinances of God by institution and in their original so pure Come not then with thy soul hands to handle such precious things Secondly They are called defilements and pollutions Because the truths and Church of God are not only pure but dedicated and appropriated to him as the only object So that they are holy as well as pure and in this notion the Apostle considers them So that it 's a sacrilegious defilement to take the Truths and Ordinances or worship of God and by thy carnal and sinfull imaginations to pervert them And here we may say in another sense Thou that abhorrest Idols doest thou commit sacriledge Thou that art against Popery against the Idolatry of the Masse and other abominable things Doest thou sacrilegiously pervert the holy Truths and Ordinances of God by sinfull and corrupt opinions Certainly if this were believed men would not so prophanely dispute and dally in the holy things of God Thirdly Errours and heresies may well be called defilements Because they are a disease and so spread over the Church The Scripture compareth them not to every kind of disease but that which is most mortal and dangerous even a Cancer Thus Paul of Hymenaeus and Philetus Whose word eateth like a canker 3 Tim. 2.17 The Leprosie in the Old Testament of which Levit. 13. there is so much spoken is acknowledged by Divines to typifie heresie and errours and as that did infect and make the very garments unclean that they were to be washed or burnt so the Apostle alludes to this Jude vers 23. Hating even the garment that is spotted by the flesh See what thoughts we are to have of all errours and heresies we are no to touch the garment of the flesh that is we are not to come near such as it 's said Come out of Babylon because of her Church-corruptions and touch no unclean thing 2 Cor. 6.17 Thus you see that you are not only to take heed of defâ—â—ng your selves with errours but because they are a Leprosie a spreading filthinesse you are not to come near the temptations be as much afraid of such an one as of one with a plague sore running upon him That very phrase Whose word eats like a canker should much terrifie women who by seeming pretences are apt to be mis-led What a dangerous thing is a canker in thy brest But as soon as thou hast received any errour thou hast got a canker in thy heart So that if it were onely a pollution it was not so terrible but here is a killing disease with this pollution If therefore thou lovest thy soul flee from
errours and the more difficult it is to know when it is an errour the more art thou to be afraid In Levit. 13. you see it was a very hard matter to discern between the Leprosie and any other distemper some had not the Leprosie it was only a scab so some do not runne into grosse and damnable heresies but yet they have a scab a loathsome distemper upon them These things being the truths of Scripture and not the words of men pleading for their own interest and reputation should much prevail with you Fourthly They are defilements Because they pollute the conscience minde heart and whole life of a man Hence you have that phrase Men of corrupt minds 1 Tim. 6.5 2 Tim. 3.8 Destitute of the truth Thus mens consciences also are said to be defiled Tit. 1.15 So that the corruption of a man by errours is a Metaphore from the body which through sicknesse or death is corrupted Thou wilt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption Act 2.17 That as from the dead body worms and putrid vermine grow and live So from minds corrupted and destitute of truth do flow these erroneous Doctrines Thus not only wickednesse may denominate men to be dead Let the dead bury the dead Mat. 8.22 And the wanton widow is dead while she liveth 1 Tim. 5.6 but even the erroneous and heretical minde is dead while it seemeth to have much 〈◊〉 And truly bodily corruptions in some sense are not so great as the corruptions of minde and conscience The Apostle in the second Epistle makes lustfull and libidinous waies to defile the body of a man which is Gods Temple but here you see errours and corrupt opinions defile the soul that is the more noble Temple of the Holy Ghost So that these mind-defilements make thy disease the more â—â—câ—rable This putteth out the eye this kils the spy and monitor of all thy actions Lastly Corrupt Doctrines are called defilements to shew how loathsome and abhominable they should be to us To hear the Scripture say That by false Doctrines the Church is polluted and defiled should make a man presently abhorre such waies Thou canst not abide dirt or vomit upon thy garments and canst thou endure these deformities upon thy soul Thou canst not endure to see a drunkard wallowing like a swine in the mire but to see men stagger and reel and even be drunk with giddy and vile opinions this should be a more loathsome sight Labour then for a Scripture judgment in these things and do not thou have more indulging thoughts towards errours then the Scripture alloweth I do not forbid thy charity to some persons erring but to errours If a godly man should be overtaken with drunkennesse or uncleannesse thou wouldst say the sinnes were abhominable though thou wouldst pitty the man and pray for him so it is here Vse of Instruction Wherein lyeth the purity of Churches Even in pure and sound Doctrine as well as in pure lives Some they cry out against purity in lives they love not such Puritans they cannot endure such strictnesse Others they love not this purity of Doctrine The Remonstrants deride the word Orthodox as if it were a spell used by some Writers Now in both waies we overthrow the purity of Churches To have pure Doctrine pure Ordinances and yet men to be impure in lives is a very dolefull sight Again to have men appearing with pure lives yet impure Doctrines is also very grievous to him who is endowed with a sound Faith If any man defile the Temple of God him shall God destroy We have dispatched the sinne supposed we come to the punishment proposed Him shall God destroy A terrible sentence and that which may make all those who grow wanton in the matters of Religion like Belshazer to quake and tremble In the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same word with defiling the Temple They defile Gods Temple and God will defile them This is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in other places God will destroy Now this is meant of eternal destruction without repentance The Scripture cals eternal punishment destruction not in the sense of the Socinians heresie as if both body and soul were totally annihilated for that cannot be called a torment but rather a freedom from torment but because both body and soul are deprived of all comfort and happiness and so are exposed to all the curses and the tormenting wrath of God without ceasing So that this Text doth represent corruptions in the Doctrine and Worship of God under as terrible a consideration as any great sinnes committed For look upon the threatnings against the vilest monsters of sinners they can be no more then this Those will God destroy And so it is here of such as defile the Truths of God with errours even as Nadab and Abihu were wonderfully and terribly destroyed for offering strange fire upon Gods Altar though men may suffer them Though the parties themselves may blesse their condition yet God will destroy them if they do not recover out of these snares of the Devil Now that God will destory eternally such as defile this Temple without reformation will most fully appear by 2 Pet. 2.3 4. which Chapter should be an Allarum to these times For First Her fore-tels that as in the Old Testament there were false Prophets so in the New Testament notwithstanding all the light of the Gospel and the Truths of God revealed in his Word there should be false Teachers here you see it 's expressely fore-told that it should be no stumbling block to us we should not be offended at the truth nor at reformation out of Popery and superstitions because of such events Now these are described by their Actions They shall bring in damnable heresies Connder that expression All heresie is not innocent It 's not excusable as the Remonstrants plead for here are damnable heresies 2. The Manner how they shall privily bring in There is great craft and subtilty there is underworking as Moles do under-ground Then you have the consequent evil of this They bring upon themselves swift destruction Here is more then in my text not only destruction but swift destruction That is two waies swift First Because God will not delay He is so provoked that he cannot bear them long And then Secondly Swift in regard of their thoughts It comes before they thought of or expected any such thing And whereas it may be said They prosper they meet with no such visible wrath of God see verse 4. Whose judgment lingereth not and whose damnation sleepeth not All the while they are secure their judgment doth but watch the time the fittest time to make their destruction more dreadfull Now that still people may be afraid of errours and heresies he instanceth in three the most horride Examples of Gods vengeance and argueth thus that if God were so severe against them let not such as bring in damnable heresies expect better The
the world to come and for eternity So that as a mans sense comes farre short of reason because sense reacheth onely to the present objects but reason can compare past and future things together So the best worldly reason cometh short of Scripture-wisdome for that is limited only to the pleasures and profits of this world Vse of Reproof To all those who glory in their worldly wisdome speculative or practical Thou art wiser in thy generation than the children of light Thou art wise to do evil but to do good thou hast no understanding Who more crafty and politique than thou art in matters of profit and worldly respects But who more ignorant and foolish in heavenly things Oh that thou hadst the Scripture-wisdome for all thy craft and parts thou wilt die and be damned as a fool Boast not of thy self for the Day of Judgement will discover who is wise and who not If any man seeme to be wise let him become a foole that he may be wise We have considered the two diminishing expressions used by the Apostle concerning earthly and meer humane wisdome Now let us consider the preceptive part of this Text arising from the affective Seeing earthly wisdome doth deceive a man is but a seeming wisdome and a wisdome of this world only Therefore the Apostle cometh with this command Let him become a fool that he may be wise To become a fool is only in appearance and in the judgment of the world he speaketh by concession the world will judge all true Scripture and heavenly wisdom to be foolishnesse So that as the worlds wisdom is a real folly but a seeming wisdome So the Scripture-wisdome is a real wisdome but a seeming folly Let him be a fool that is as David said I will be more vile still 2 Sam. 6.22 It was a râ—al honour and glory to David to dance before the Ark but a prophane scoffing Michel she calleth it vilenesse and basenesse Thus it is indeed the only true and sound wisdome to believe and live according to Christs Rule but with the world this is onely folly they mock and deride it Observe That true Christian wisdome is nothing but folly in the worlds account To believe Christs Doctrines to keep his Commandments makes a man very ridiculous and absurd in the worlds account You see what Paul said of the Apostles who were the eminent starres in this Christian Heaven They were the off-scouring of the world and a spectacle to men and Angels 1 Cor. 4.9 They were as contemptible as the dirt under the feet But as the starres in Heaven are of a glorious excellent nature though they have those ugly names of a Dog and a Bear So the Apostles and all true Christians are the seed of God and shine as lights in a dark night howsoever the dogs of the world do bark at them To prosecute this I shall remind you of Austin's division of the whole matter of Christian Religion or Wisdome viz. the Credenda Speranda and Agenda Things to be believed hoped for and practised and instance how all these particulars are a meer folly and reproach in the world And First For the things to be believed there are these seeming follies First The very way of Christianity that it is not a knowledge but believing This be the great wits of the world hath been accused as a foolish thing Indeed one Hebrew word for a fool comes from believing because it 's a simple childish thing to be too credulous a fool believeth every thing and in political wisdome that is a famous Apophegme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but in matters of Religion There cannot be any greater wisdome than to believe God speaking concerning himself For who can know any thing of God but by God himself As we cannot see the Sunne but by the light of the Sunne Howsoever therefore the great Heathen Philosopher called Christians Credentes by scorn yet indeed this is the most sure and infallible way Julian that wretched Apostate but a great admirer of humane learning Nazianzen saith of him he would brag and say The Heathens had all the learning but you Christians Vestrûm est infantia barbaries nec quicquam aliud quam crede vestra est sapientia See what a fit instance this is they said Christianity was infancy childishness barbarisme and they had no other wisdome but only believe Nazianzen first tels him That the Pythagoreans would abhorre that argument for they said of their Master Ipse dixit ulterius non est quaerendâ—m but our belief is not in men but in the word of God which truth was confirmed by signs and wonders So then take heed of this sinfull distemper curiosity and pride in knowledge to be wise above what is written It was Adams sinne at first to affect a knowledge not vouchsafed him Secondly The Matter believed that hath appeared a great folly to the wisdome of the world is That God should be made man that he should die be crucified and by this means work salvation for the poor sinner This whole Systeme of Gods dispensation seemed but an heap of foolish imaginations Lucian that prophane dog who they say was torne in pieces by dogs by derision called Christ The crucified God Therefore Paul hath that expression I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ Rom. 1.15 He was not ashamed of it though the Heathens the wise men of the world despised it and herein consider the unreasonablenesse of the Heathens that could and did believe such monstrous things about their gods even as those that committed all wickednesse Hence Austin well speaking of Seneca's advice to set some wise grave man as Cato before us that we may not sin said He must propound a man not any of their gods for every one of them was noted for some filthinesse or other Hence he in Terence encouraged himself to lusts because their gods did so The Heathens I say that could believe such monstrous and filthy things about their gods and worship them yet would deride at Christ crucified though risen with power working many miracles and teaching nothing but admirable holy duties But now in all this dispensation about Christ God shewed his manifold wisdome even farre above that which was in making the world Thirdly The Manner of propagating and spreading this faith through the whole world was very contemptible and foolish in the worlds account though mighty powerfull and confounding the wise things of the world At first Christ doth not raise an army of men or legions of Angels but only twelve men and those of a mean contemptible way and these served to leaven the whole world These were the light and the salt of the earth Here the mustard-seed lesse than other seeds grew bigger than any other What Caesars sword or the Philosophers knowledge could not do that this plain preaching did effect All the power of men and the gates of hell have been no more able to stop this preaching
who have got a Bird tyed to a string they make themselves sport with her and when she thinketh to fly here and there they pull her back again Thus God hath an over-ruling wisdome and an over-ruling power over all men their counsels and their actions Which made an Heathen call man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Tennis-ball that the Providence of God playeth withall and handeth hither and thither Thus the Scripture excellently expresseth it by putting an hook into mens nostrils and a bridle in their lips Isa 37.29 The Providence of God is the Rider or Sessor upon all the wise mens counsels and actions and they are over-ruled by God as we do our Horses to turn them this way and that way backwards and forwards And this is the chief scope of the Apostle in the words following as will then more particularly appear First therefore God makes this wisdome foolishnesse in a passive sense in that he did not vouchsafe to use it as an instrument to propagate the Gospel He disdained to take the wise and learned Oratours or Philosophers of the world Now wherein could a greater scorn be put upon the wisdome of the world then in this particular that God would not so much as own it or take notice of it in the plantation of the Gospel Paul doth often mention this 1 Cor. 1. It pleased God by the foolishnesse of Preaching to save men when the wise men of the world would not acknowledge God by the creatures And at another time Paul renounced the cunning and deceitfull waies of humane wisdome They did not come in such words And why That their faith might be in the power of God 1 Cor. 2.5 So then if you regard what Instruments God did at first choose to diffuse his Gospel truths you will find he slighted and passed over the great wise men of the world and chose the poor foolish and contemptible Instruments Herein God did demonstrate his wisdome that so all power and greatnesse might be acknowledged to be in and from him only What a reproach did Haman account it that all the Royal robes and honour should be put upon Mordecai his great enemy and he laid aside No lesse did this inrage the wise men of the world to see that by such contemptible Instruments so great and mighty changes should be wrought upon the hearts and lives of men This is the first instance Yet this is not so to be understood as if God did not sometimes use the wise men of the world for he chose Cyprian Nazianzen Basil to the latter whereof Libanius the great Scholar in those daies but an Heathen wrote that he did so admire his judgment that he did all over swete and tremble to think on that time when he should read his Epistle and passe his censure of it But though God did use such wise men yet this was not the chief and principall thing whereby they propagated Faith but rather the Gospel simplicity They did it not quà sapientes quà Oratores but quâ credentes As Sampson wrought those great and wonderfull things not by the strength of his armes but by his hair that so the effect might be attributed to God and not to Sampson Secondly Herein God make it foolishnesse that as he doth not use it for the enlarging of his Gospel so he taketh very few of such men to bestow on them spiritual and soul saving graces Few of such doth he call doth he justifie doth he sanctifie doth he reveal the mysteries of grace unto Oh what a wonderfull instance is this of the foolishnesse of this worldly wisdome There are few of that ranck to whom God will communicate grace and salvation That whereas of many prophane and grievous sinners he hath chosen many to salvation of worldly wise men very few The Apostle 1 Cor. 1.26 doth industriously take notice of this Not many wise men after the flesh hath God chosen Yea Christ solemnly gave thanks to God that he had not revealed heavenly mysteries to the wise but to babes Mat. 11.25 So that there is little cause for men to boast of their worldly wisdome and prudence that they are crafty and subtile in their generation for this is both a cause and a sign also that thou art not one to whom God will reveal himself Not that God calleth none of such but not many viz. comparatively to those of a more contemptible way whom he doth set apart for himself Take heed thou be not too wise too proud of thy parts and therefore God will passe thee by Thirdly Herein also God will make it appear to be folly in that he takes the foolish things of the world and makes them confound the wise things When Pharaoh said Let us deal wisely to suppresse the Israelites the foolish Midwifes did confound him so that he brought up one by his own bread and at his own charge who should be his ruine and deliver the Israelites If we read in the Scripture you shall find nothing more ordinary then God by foolish things to confound wise and by weak things to overcome strong And well may it be called the confounding of the wise for certainly there cannot be a greater astonishing and confounding of men worldly wise then by such foolish instruments As Abimelech was enraged at the heart that it should be said A woman had killed him Thus by Frogs and Lice and such contemptible vermine did God plague the great Pharaoh of Aegypt Fourthly Herein doth God make the wisdome of the world foolishnesse because all that wise men do is a vain work They are not able to acomplish their ends to bring about their designes especially those which are to overthrow the Kingdom of Christ and rooting out his Church and People This hath been often attempted by the wise men of the world but it hath been a vain thing Psal 2. you see it was of old prophesied Why do the Heathens rage and the people imagine a vain thing It 's applyed to the chief Priests and other Grandees among the Jews but it was a vain thing It could not be effected And truly for many hundred years the Devil hath been attempting this by all kind of Instruments and by all manner of waies to root out the faithfull ones of Christ his Truth and Gospel but it hath been to them as God said to Paul in the heat of his persecution Thou kickest against the pricks What wise man would with his bare heels kick against the sharp points of iron and yet all the wise men of the world that have set against Christ and Godlinesse have been such fools Fifthly God makes the wisdome of the world foolishnesse because what they work is not only a vain work but a deceitfull work They are wholly frustrated in their expectation They find the clean contrary to what they intended Such foolishnesse doth God make the wisdome of the world The wicked worketh a deceitfull work saith Solomon Prov. 11.18 Compared therefore
to the spiders web that is of no defence or use when a boistrous wind ariseth Read over the History of the Bible and there you shall see to that which the wise men of the world intended God brought about the clear contrary Come saith Pharaoh let us deal wisely and oppresse the Israelites Exo. 1.10 lest they grow to numerous Now by that very means the people of Israel did more multiply The Pharisees thought when they had crucified Christ they had laid all Christianity in the Grave with him but by his Ascension his power was the more seen When I am lifted up said Christ viz. upon the Crosse I will draw all men to me Joh. 12.32 That which in probability would have driven all men from him by that he did efficaciously bring all unto him Hence he compareth his death to the grain of Corn thrown into the ground which untill it die doth not bring forth a great crop So that the wisdome of man must needs be made great folly when it shall be forced to bring about those things which it hates so much Sixthly Herein the wisdome of the world is made foolishnesse because it doth not only work a vain deceitfull work but also a destructive one to its self so that all the wisdome they have is only to destroy themselves Thus like fools they runne their swords in their own bowels How often doth David speak this of his wise and potent enemies Their feet were taken in their own snares and they were fallen into the pit they digged for others Was not all Pharaohs wisdome but to ruine himself and his Kingdome The Jews that thought to be so wise in crucifying Christ thereby to prevent the Romane Caesar yet for a reward had the Romane enemy come and utterly destroy them Thus as they work a spiders web in regard of the unprofitablenesse of them so they are said to hatch cockatrice egges because of the hurtfull poisonous nature of them even to the owners Seventhly The wisdome of the world becometh foolishnesse because God many times infatuateth and blasteth the parts and abilities of the wise men of the world He takes away their understanding from them That as we read of Nebuchadnezar God bereaved him of his wisdome and judgment so that he became like a beast and lived with beasts so he doth either in whole or in part pervert and darken the thoughts and counsels of wise men Hence he is said by the Prophet to Diviner's mad Isa 44.25 as also Isa 19.14 Et quos Deus vult perdere prius dementat as we see in Haman and in Belshazer and in Herod all these died as fools and were destroyed by their own foolish thoughts Thus we read of Ely's Sons and others they would not hearken to the good counsel of the Lord because it was of the Lord to destroy them Eightly Herein God doth also make their wisdome folly because by their pride and haughtinesse they undoe themselves God lets them prosper and the wisdome of the world seemeth to flourish a great while but it is that their destruction may be the greater Thus Heb. 1.11 it s said of Nebuchadnezar after all that great successe which he attributed to himself His mind should change and he should passe over and offend Prosperity slayeth the foolish one saith Solomon Prov. 1.32 And Psal 18. With the froward that is the crafty worldly wise man opposite to the pure and upright in heart thou wilt wrestle as it were and give a fall unto according to the Hebrew As the wrestler lifts a man up from the ground that he may throw him down with the more violence so doth God give a man of the world his hearts desire that he shall attribute all to his wisdome and prudence and this is to be his overthrow Thus we have the Prophet insulting over Aegypt and the wise men thereof as also over Tyre and Zidon that set their heart as God and thought she had the wisdome of Daniel Ezek. 28.2 Now to adde one Caution we must distinguish of a two-fold humane wisdome One that is the same with true prudence whereby men are able to mannage publique places of trust they do prae esse ut prosint for the publique good they have the art of ruling well And this the Text meaneth not For though it be not a virtue yet it is the eye to all a mans actions It 's as necessary to publique affairs as the Sunne to the world therefore God gave it Solomon as a special mercy Secondly Their humane wisdome which originally cometh from the corrupt reason of man and for the manner of it is only according to worldly and fleshly considerations and tends only to worldly advantages And lastly For its nature it is opposite formally to all heavenly and Scripture wisdome Of this we speak Vse 1. How vain a thing it is to trust in humane policy and worldly wisdome Thou thinkest by it to raise and advantage thy self but God turneth it into folly Insomuch that we may say more have been undone by earthly wisdome then by meer simplicity None have had such tragical and dismall ends as they Therefore uprightnesse and an holy fear of God that is the best wisdome And although Christ himself and the Martyrs who abounded in this wisdome did not escape the miseries of the world yet that cometh from the wise and high dispensations of God who hath ordered that through many tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Vse 2. To judge that only wisdome which the wise God judgeth so Who so is wise and prudent he will foresee the evil day of death and judgment and accordingly prepare himself He will lay up Treasure for the life to come He layeth that Principle as the chiefest of his Politiques What will it profit a man to winne the whole world and loose his own soul Mat. 16.26 For it is written he taketh the wise in their own craft That divine axiome asserted by the Apostle in the former part of this verse he now confirmeth by a two-fold testimony The one is from Job 5.13 and this we are to handle at this time They are the words of Eliphaz to Job who though with the other Friends they did erre in the particular application of their speeches to Job yet the general matter taken in an abstracted sense was full of wisdome and truth The words are worthy of all diligent consideration though I shall not insist long hastning to the other matter that followeth The Testimony is a Proposition declaring Gods carriage and power to the earthly wise men of the world And 1. Let us consider Gods Efficiency 2. The Subject of this Gods Efficiency is described in that expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Septugint hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The original word in the Hebrew is used several waies and very applicable to this matter in hand 1. It is used of taking any thing by force of armes jure belli Thus
not Christ ours because though Christ was given for us yet it was as a Mediatour to work our peace that so thereby he might be exalted and might have the preheminence in all things So that the Church is for Christ not Christ for the Church Secondly Because all things in the world are ordered by his providence onely but the whole worke of God about his children is the effect of his Predestination Now Predestination is an act of his more immediate love than Providence is and the Providence of God is subservient to his Predestination Therefore is Gods care and government over all things that he may attain the ends of his Predestination Insomuch that there had been no Creation at first no world at all nor would there still be any sustentation or conservation of it were it not for the Churches sake Vse 1. Of Exhortation to the godly to live by faith on such principles What generous noble and heavenly dispositions would these thoughts breed Scito te Deum esse said one thinking the soul to be a beam of that Divine Essence but thou mayest truly say God hath made thee heir of all things It 's not the Devil but God that doth now shew thee the glory of the world and the Church and saith All these things are thine Consider then whether they be thine by that spiritual end they are intended for Do all creatures all conditions all events make thee more godly Do they work such divine effects upon thy soul Oh do not thou be thy own adversary herein Vse 2. Of Terrour to wicked men for it followeth by way of contraries Nothing is yours viz. for your spiritual good The Ministry God gives is not for you The mercies you have they are not for your souls health Oh the depth of thy unspeakable misery whether life or death all things help thee forward to hell Having asserted a comfortable and rich Doctrine out of these words for the godly we proceed to make some Objections or doubts about it which will be as file to the iron or like the Wine-presse to the Grapes to prâ—sse out the sweet Wine therein And indeed this truth seemeth Obnoxious to many Exceptions as in Religion there are many Doctrinal points which do amaze humane reason such as that of the Trinity the Incarnation of Christ the Resurrection of the body so there are also many Practical Positions which seem contrary to all reason and experince of which this in my Text is one All things are the godly mans It seemeth to be an Idea or meer fiction and expression if we consult with what befals the godly Come we therefore to Answer some of the Objections And First The doubt may be How are all things the godly mans for his use and spiritual edification when many times we see the godly man gets no goâ—d by these The Corinthians who had Paul and Apollo and all those eminent Teachers for their use yet by their Divisions and carnal Emulations they made no spiritual improvement of them How many Sermons and Sabboths do even the godly let go that there never appeareth any footstep of them as if they had never been And then as for their mercies and their afflictions how many times do these draw out their corruptions and they seem to be the worse for them To Answer this First We must distinguish between Gods intention in giving these and the godly mans actual improvement of them to that end When the Apostle saith All things are yours his meaning is on Gods part His love is so great that for the godly only all things in Heaven and Earth were created If so be therefore at any time these things turn to thy hurt blame thy self The Physician will tell the Patient sometimes All these Potions and all these Cordials they are yours you are to take them you may expect much good and ease by them But if the Patient be wilfull and disorder himself it is his fault not the Physicians that they do hurt So that the meaning is all things in their creation and Institution were for the godly mans good Therefore Secondly The godly man through his weaknesse and sinfulnesse not walking up to Gods order may make that an hinderance which God intended a furtherance A godly man may receive the Word and Ordinances sometimes in vain Sometimes afflictions may for the present make him more froward and passionate and mercies more presumptions and confident as the Examples of David and others shew So that our folly and corruptions mingle bitter things with Gods sweet and then we complain this Text is not true The foolishnesse of a man perverteth his way and his heart fretteth against the Lord Prov. 19.3 When we do not our duty we think God doth not fulfill his Promise Our waies are unequall and then we think Gods are not equall So that you must understand this Promise All things are yours in a well ordered use of the means as all other Promises are It 's said The Spirit will lead you in all truth Joh. 16.13 Gods Word is promised to be accompanied with the fulnesse of the Lords blessing to those that are his But how If we order and prepare our selves If we do not put in some barre and obstructions For sinne that withholdeth good things from us that separates between God and us as also between these Promises and us Thirdly Though the godly may for a while make these things against their end and not for it yet this will not be alwaies Nay God will so order it that this decay of theirs or this disorder shall likewise be turned to their good As those who through mistake may swallow down some strong Physick though for the present they may be deadly sick and worse then ever they were yet afterwards it may be they are the better for such violent helps Fourthly When we say all things are the godly mans you must take them in their Collective cooperation as Rom. 8. All things work together This particular or that particular may throw thee down may make thee worse but then God bringeth about some other things that help altogether for thy good As they say of Aegypt All the venemous Herbs grow there and also all the Antidotes are to be had there Where there is a Malady there is also a Remedy And truly thus Gods dispensations are with his Children This or that particular may hinder thee this or that may prejudice thee but God hath appointed other things to correct these There is a benigne influence with the malignant as it were and both tempered together advance speedily towards Heaven The second doubt is this If all things are for the godly and only theirs exclusively to the wicked then this may seem to justifie all the wickednesse and impiety of ungodly men Why should they be blamed if they get no good by the Ordinances if they profit not under the Ministry for God did not intend them for their
good and so if they abuse the creatures to all manner of wickednesse they can do no otherwise They had them for this end to accomplish sinne thereby If every thing works to their damnation this may make them sin the more desparately But First Divines have a good distinction about Gods Will. There is a will of Complacency or Approbation and there is his will of Efficiency what he will bring about and none shall hinder Now it 's the will of Gods approbation that all things should be improved by the wicked for their good It 's his approving and commanding will that every Sermon should be received by Faith that every mercy be improved fruitfully The goodnesse of God doth invite such to Repentance The afflictions and scourges God brings on them are to humble them and make them to repent of their sinnes But if we regard the will of Efficiency so these things are the savour of death to them that perish The Apostle saith this plainly The Word was the savour of life to such as are saved and the savour of death to such as perish 2 Cor. 2.15 That their is such a will of God will appear by that instance to Pharaoh God inflicted strange and miraculous judgments upon him it was his approving and commanding will that by those Pharaoh should be humbled and repent and let the people go For this end Moses and Aaron are sent to exhort him to this duty Yet if we respect Gods will of Efficiency we see he told Moses that Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he would not let them go and his heart grew harder by these wonders So then Gods will of Approbation and Command is That even the wicked should make all things theirs though Gods will of Efficiency doth not bring it about Secondly If thâ—se things are poison to the wicked and snares to them they may still blame themselves for it 's the corruption of their natures not any violence God offereth them that makes them turn every thing to their own destruction Thy perdition is of thy self O Israel Hos 13 9. So that every wicked man having a corrupted nature and this wickednesse strengthened through actual impieties no wonder if every thing promote his damnation But still it 's of himself As you see poisonous creatures Serpents and Toads they turn every thing they eat to poison because of their venomous constitution So it is here wicked men turn all good things into ill Vnumquodque recipitur ad moâ—um recipientes Put the sweetest liquor into a noysome vessel it will have an ill tincture Paul sheweth this evidently The Law that was for life he found for death Rom. 7. The Law was good aand spiritual yet it stirred up all sinne in him because he was carnal It 's that within thee which defileth all without thee Wicked men sinne as wilfully and as industriously attend to pervert all things to their damnation as if there were no contracted necessity upon them to offend against God in all things The third Doubt is If all things be the Godlies Why then are they so uncomfortable so dejected complaining of wants as if nothing were theirs If this be true we would thinke no godly man should ever be in a plunge he may take up this Text and it would be an antidote against all fears and cares It can be no night with him as long as this Sunne shineth Answ It 's true it should be so but we are weak in faith we do not live upon Scripture-principles and priviledges but sensible and then we stagger and reel up and down While we are cloathed with the Sunne and have the Moon under our feet we walk in light and comfort David when his faith is lively then God is his shepherd he shall want nothing and he will lay him down and sleep because God taketh care for him But let him come from this Mountain of faith and look on the waters of afflictions below his head goeth round and he knoweth not where he is Now a two-fold faith is necessary to bear up the head and heart the one Firmly assenting to the truth of the things The other Fiducially applying them to our selves If we have not the first faith we look upon such things as meer good words as bare expressions Even as if a man should think he had such a Country because he had the Map of it Oh this divine historical faith strongly perswading our selves these things are Gods truth they cannot be a lie they cannot deceive us would greatly establish us And then Fiducial application is the hand that takes these things making them to be ours So that if you ask How all present and future things life and death are ours It 's by faith only A quiet resting and reposing of the soul upon Gods promise puts us into the possession of all these things Secondly As they want faith So an heavenly prudence and skill how to improve them spiritually Though all things be for their good yet they must have wisdome to know how to use all things Therefore Paul who said He had all things saith He was instructed in it as in a mystery Phil. 4.11 Prescribe the best medicines in the world if men have not judgement rightly to order them they can never get good What is a fountain sealed up or a Book that cannot be read though it hath never such admirable matter Thus are all things though never so usefull if thou hast not Christian wisdome There is no condition affliction or event but thou mayest say if I had heavenly wisdome I might make excellent use of it The last Doubt is How are all things the Godly mans seeing for the most part they are most wanting they are in the greatest necessities Had not Dives all things when Lazarus had not not so much as crums Doth not this Doctrine give a mock-comfort as those in Jam. 2.16 who bid some be cloathed and warmed but gave nothing Answ 1. This place doth not so much speak of the possession of all things as the spiritual serviceablenesse of them Those things which they have no possession of may yet serve for their souls good He doth not so much mean what they have as what tends to their good 2. If the godly have not all things they would that want is good for them The want of any outward mercy may sometimes be better than the having of them To lose blood when there is too much fulnesse is healthfull So then complain not saying I have not this or that good thing the not having it is good 3. Thou hast what is best for thee and that according to the wise Gods ordering Let this silence thee alwayes These afflictions these exercises these wants are the best The wise great God of Heaven doth dispense them and they come from his hand 4. Thou hast better things then any earthly thing thou wantest thou hast Christ thou hast a title to Heaven and eternal glory
pure Worship because 1. God is greatly provoked by the contrary God may be provoked by sinfull worship three waies 2. Corrupt worship â—ends to the breach of Union between God and his Church 3. God looks upon corrupt worship as done to Devils 4. Men are prone to invent new worship Reasons to prove that all acceptable worship must have a Divine Command Quest Answ Of the foundation of practice The parts are 1. It 's directory Gods Word 2. The justifion of our persons 3. A receiving power from Christ 4. A renewed and sanctified nature Why we should be carefull of laying these foundations for every good action The â—oâ—ten foundations that men build upon in regard of practice Observ Of Ministers praising themselves In what cases Ministers may magnifie their Work and Office Observ Ministers are not to preach any new Doctrine The use of Preaching notwithstanding the fulness of the Scripture Observ Of Ministers building upon the foundation of Scripture by their preaching Gal. 3.15 A two-fold building upon the foundation Both the words of Scripture and the sense of Scripture must be attended unto Why Ministers must take heed how they build upon the true foundation 1. On Gods part 2. On the peoples part 3. On the Ministers part Directions to Ministers and people how to build aright upon the foundation Observ Of preaching Jesus Christ as the foundation How many waies Christ is to be preached as a foundation Reasons why Ministers are to lay no other foundation but Christ Object Answ Object Answ The great advantages which those people have who are built on Christ Observ What is implied by comparing the truths of Christ to gold and precious stones 1. In respect of the matter 2. In respect of the way and manner of preaching them Observ Errors not fundamental are hay and stubble Propositions to amplifie this point Why errors are called hay and stubble Wickedness in practice the fruit of errour in judgement Observ What secret sins shall be brought to light The aggravation of secret hidden sins Observ Hidden and secret wayes of false doctrine shall be made manifest What concerning errours shall be made manifest 1. The causes of errour shall be manifest 1. Pride 2. Ignorance 3. Hypocrisie 4. Ambition and affectation of high places 5. Discontent and imparience 6. Envy 7. Contemplative delight in a mans own notions II. The nature of errour shall be manifested III. The cunning subtilty in divulging them shall be manifested Observ That God hath his time for the discovering of errour Errors are spiritual judgements What is meant by fire The way God takes to bring people out of errour By the word and afflictions Which are both helpfull but differently in these respects How wandering sheep are reduced by the Word Object Answ How afflictions may help to reduce men from errour Observ Of the durable nature of Gods Truths Truth two-fold Increated and Created Created truths of two sorts Scripture truths reduced to four heads Truth willing to be tryed They grow more illustrious by the fiery Tryal The effects of truth also upon the heart will abide this tryal Object Qu. Whether any Ministers or Churches are quite free from building hay or stubble Observ Every man shal be a loser by what error soever he maintaineth Wherein they shall be losers Observ Errours in judgment may damn a man as well as a wicked life The several corruptions of the understanding that endanger a mans salvation The difference between errour and heresie The grounds of the Doctrin Observ The difficulty of salvation even to a godly man The Church is Gods Temple Observ Church Priviledges and Relations are great Obligations to Holinesse How the word Temple is used in Scripture What it doth signifie Of Gods spiritual Temple What there is in the Church alusively to the Temple Of Gods presence with his Church The significa of the word Spirit when attributed to God That the Holy Ghost is God and a Person That he is a Person That he is God Arguments Why the holy Ghost is called Spirit Of the Spirits dwelling in us What to have the Spirit dwell in us implieth The special works and effects of the holy Spirit in his Church Doubt Resolution Observ Of defiling Gods Church with errours Why errors are said to defile Gods Church How God will punish Heretiques A godly maâ—n may fall into a damnable heresie How a godly man erring differeth from a wicked man Errour and erroneous persons distinguished Why God is so provoked with corruptions in Doctrine and Worship Observ Of Eternal Damnation The punishment of losse The pain of sense The aggravations of this destruction Eternal Universal Inevitable Observ Of the Temple of God Of the Jewish Tabernacle and Temple Believers joyned in a Church way according to Scripture are Gods temple Observ Of humane wisdome what an hinderance it is to the things of Christ Carnal wisdom an enemy to the Scripture Carnal wisdom an enemy to Christian duties Observ Humane wisdome nothing to Scripture-wisdome Scripture-wisdome excels speculative wisdome Scripture wisdome excels the moral or practical wisdome of the world Observ True wisdome is but folly in the worlds account The things to be believed have these seeming follies The hope of a Christian foolish in the judgment of the world The duties of Christians foolish in the judgement of the world Observ That true wisdom is only in the Church of God demonstrated Observ All worldly wisdom is folly before God And that whether considered actively or passively I. Active foolishnesse How worldly wisdome is foolishnesse in a passive sense God turning all their wisdome into folly A two-fold humane wisdome viz. good evil Observ How God takes the wise men of the world in their own craft Object Answ Observ Of vain thoughts In what sense the Scripture useth the word vain Observ Of glorying in men How many wayes we may be said to glory in men in the general How many wayes we may be said to glory in Doctors and Teachers Observ All things are the Saints In what respects all things may be said to be the godly mans Why God made all things for the godly Object Answ Object Answ Doubt Answ Object Answ Observ All Offices are for the Church In what sense the Ministers are not servants to the Church against Brownists In what sense they are the Churches The end for which they are the Churches Observ In what sense the world is said to be a godly mans Object Answ Observ Godly men only live In what respects it is true that the wicked do not live Observ The generation of death In how many particulars death is a godly mans Observ Observ Observ In what respects a godly man is Christs Characters of such as are Christs In what sense Christ can be said to be Gods Observ Of the Natures and Person of Christ and of the hypostatical Union How Christ as a man and as a Mediatour is Gods The general Character of the godly and the wicked All good the creature affords should lead us to God the universal good All naturally desire felicity The perswasiâ— of what is the best good and which is chiefly to be desired is wonderfully diversifyed according to the several inclinations humours and conditions of men How hardly this sin is discerned untill a man be enlightned by Gods Spirit All have lost the Image of God which alone did elevate the soul And Original corruption is come in the room of it If the godly man is yet conflicting with this sinne then it must needs reign in an unregenerate man The common gifts and graces of Gods Spirit never cures this evil The point is proved from the nature of Conversion And from the restlesse and unquiet heart of every natural man Their very approaches to God demonstrate that they prefer something before him The creature is unable to help us in our greatest exigencies Immoderate love of the creature is inconsistent with the love of God Is's a wofull snare and temptation The Word is unprofitable to a man while he preferres the creature It is a tormenting sinne All the things thus affected are vanities It 's direct Idolatry It 's a debasing of a man Such as prefer the world before God cannot Pray The heart is too noble for the creature Consider that all that have over-loved the creature have experienced the vanity of it Consider the reâ—sâ—â— why God mingles gall with the Honey of every creature Consider how insufficient they are of themselves to help and comfort us Heaven and glory cannot be obtained without a preement and transcendent affection to all other things Consider how â— some Heathens and superstitious persons have trampled upon earthly things to attain a notable end What this phrase to lift up the light of Gods countenance upon a man implyeth I. Riches II. An untroubled Conscience is no Argument of Gods countenance 1. An untroubled Conscience may be a stupid seared Conscience 2. And may be accompanied with grosse sinnes 3. And without taking Gods way for the obtaining and preserving of it Causes of the eclipse of Gods face to the godly The nature of this joy How it exceeds all worldly Joy The wonderfull Effects of Faith in quieting the soul in Afflictions The Doctrine xplain ed. The Arguments by which Faith quieteth the Soul The Stoical Security The Mirth and jollity of most wicked men under Gods Judgements How it differs from a gratious Confidence God alone preserveth in safety I. II. God preserveth principally And by creatures instrumentally 1. Irrational 2. Rational men Angels III IIII. The several waies by which God preserveth his people in safety