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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80730	Two sermons preached at Christ-Church in the city of Dublin, before the honourable the General Convenion of Ireland. The first on Prov.11.14 at the first meeting of the said convention, March 2. 1659. The second on Jude v.19. at a publique fast appointed by the said convention, March 9. 1659. By Sem Coxe, Minister of the gospel and pastor at St. Katherines in Dublin.	Coxe, Sem.; Ireland. Parliament.	1660 (1660)	Wing C6726; Thomason E1026_21; ESTC R208752	50,638	72

and separate themselves from the Church making parties and factions therein and drawing into sect● among themselves observe avoid them Now whereas the the Apostle reckoneth up this for one of those great sins that these false teachers were guilty of that they did separate themselves from the Church of God You may observe Doct. That there is a Separation that hath been an old errour even in some men that have pretended to be knowing and religious men and have undertaken to be leaders and teachers of others You see the doctrine to be clearly grounded upon the Text These persons Jude speaketh of were such as pretended to be so full of knowledg and piety that they undertook to be guides to these Christians and again these Christians looked upon them as meet for such an employment so as the Apostle is necessitated to write unto them to admonish them that they be not seduced by them and yet though they pretended to so much they were guilty of Separation this was one of the great faults they were inclined unto I must acknowledg that this point although it be a plain truth arising naturally from the Text may seem to some to be a most unmeet point to be insisted upon in such an age as this is and especially at a publique Fa●t and before such an honorably Assembly as is now gathered together But I must profess that I judg the sin of Separation to be the great sin of our times as I said before and that therefore I am bound to give mine open testimony against it here in this publique Assembly as well as I have done in mine own more private Congregation in the worst of times which I speak not God is my witness out of any vain ostentation for I have nothing to glory in save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ but that I may withhold an occasion from them that shall seek occasion of offence at this doctrine And because I know and shall prove that there is a Separation even amongst us that is a great sin therefore I am convinced that it is my duty to speak of it upon this our day of Humiliation and that no time is more seasonable than this Yet in treating upon this point I resolve the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ assisting to use all circumspection and caution and to speak nothing but by plain proof of Scripture And therefore 1 I resolve that I will not willingly use any sharp or bitter reflections upon any that I hope do truly fear God so as justly to grieve them I know it is a foul fault to make the heart of the rightous sad whom the Lord hath not made sad Ezek. 13. 22. which is done by speaking lies and not by speaking plain Scripture truths For to the godly every word of God is sweet yea it is the joy and rejoycing of their hearts as Jeremiah speaketh Chap. 15. 16. 2 I shall in my discourse design the information of mistaken judgments rather than the dirt-daubing or bespattering of those that differ in judgment from me and that I am sure is a duty commanded Gal. 6. 1. Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness 3 I will not gratify wicked prophane and superstitious men by any thing that I shall speak unto this point For that would be a great sin to strengthen the hands of the wicked that he should not return from his wicked way by promising him life as the Lord speaketh Ezek. 13. 22. I profess to hate prophanness and superstition on the one side as I do sinfull Separation on the other side That therefore I may duly qualify that which I am to speak at this time it must be known and remembred that I condemn not all Separation as sinfull I said There is a separation that is an errour not that all kind of Separation is erroneous For there is a lawfull and holy Separation and an unlawfull and unholy Separation there is a Separation commanded in the Word of God and there is a Separation forbidden in the same Word And it will be needfull and I hope profitable to speak of both these to the intent That those who decry and speak against all the people of the Lord under the name of Sectaries Schismaticks and Separatists may be convinced of their fault and humbled for their miscarriage in their rash censuring and nick-naming of those that are sound and orthodox in their judgments and That those who are guilty of this sin indeed may be informed in their judgments and if the will of God be so may also be reformed First There is then a lawfull Separation and holy Separatist Such were the Nazarites mentioned Numb 6. 1. Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them saith the Lord when either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite to separate themselves unto the Lord he shall separate himself from wine c. And they were called Nazarites of Nazar separavit because they were separated from worldly occasions and devoted and sanctified to the Lord. Thus all those that are baptized into the name of Christ are by profession Separatists that is they are separated from sin the world and the devil to the use and service of God onely and they ought so to walk as those that are dead to sin but alive to God through Jesus Christ And as baptized persons are by their baptism declared to be separated and set apart to God so we are all bound to judg them to be Gods and to have full right to all Church mercies whilest they continue in that good profession This was Pauls judgment Gal. 3. 27. As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ Yea there is a Separation strictly commanded of God and to be made by all the godly as appeareth by many Scriptures of the old and new Testament of which these are the chief Isa 52. 11. Depart ye depart ye go ye out from thence touch no unclean thing go ye out of the midst of her And Jer. 15. 19. Therefore thus saith the Lord If thou return then will I bring thee again and thou shalt stand before me and if thou take forth the precious from the vile thou shalt be as my mouth let them return unto thee but return not thou unto them And 2 Cor. 6. 17. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing And 2 Thes 3. 6. Now we command you brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye withdraw your selves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the traditions which he received from us And Revel 18. 4. Come out of her my people I have mentioned all these Scriptures together that you may observe the harmonious consent of Gods holy Word for an holy Separation what is intended in them will be opened

Separatists among us in this Common wealth or no But this is so obvious that it is written with a Sun beam Have not we multitudes among us that have departed from our solemn Assemblies and cast off the publique Ordinances of the Lord Jesus Christ especially the sealing Ordinances upon a meer pretence of non-communion with the ungodly Nay have we not very many both Ministers and others that have cast off our Churches and en bodied themselves into other societies None can deny this he is blind that seeth it not Now let us yet enquire further What is the reason why they have so done They must either acknowledg our Congregations to be true Churches of Jesus Christ or else they must say that we are false Churches Non datur tertium If they acknowledg us to be true Churches as some of them do then why do they separate from us They cannot be excused from the guilt of Schism at the least And do they not put themselves out of Christs protection by their separation Yea verily and they will feel it to be so at the last If they endeavour to excuse the matter thus That though we be true Churches yet we are not pure Churches and they desire to gather into a more pure Church way and therefore are not to be accused for unlawfull Separation I must answer in four words 1 That they have no precept or example in the whole Book of God for going out of a true Church upon pretence of greater purity to be found in another and whatsoever is not of faith is sin Rom. 14. 23. 2 That we have the example of Christ to the contrary who would not separate from the Church of the Jews though corrupted and gather another from among them of a more pure constitution whilst they were to remain a Church and they ought to be followers of God a● dear children Eph. 5. 1. 3 That this separation though under the pretence of greater purity to be found else where is a dangerous sign that they were never true members of the church I would not judge them but let us hear what the Holy Ghost saith by the Apostle 1 Joh. 2. 19. They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us 4 This departure of theirs is an occasion of very grievous discommodity and disadvantage to the church of God in general which they ought warily to have declined insomuch as the blessed work of reformation is retarded by their means and our Saviour saith Mat. 18. 7. We to that man by whom the offence cometh If on the other side they shall say we are not true churches of Christ and that therefore they leave us then behold we have blessed be God all the marks and signes of a true church We acknowledge the true and incorruptible doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles and receive it as the onely rule for faith and manners We have a continuation of the right and lawful use of the Word and Sacraments among us and which is the thing that themselves make the most essential note of a church truely instituted We have the sound and sincere profession of the true faith among us So as they can have no cause to judg otherwise then that we are the true church of God What then is the cause that should make them to separate from us Surely the fault lieth not in us because we are not the church of God but there is something in themselves that is amiss it will fall under one of these three causes I will not determine which of them 1 Either They are proud and high minded men that set more price and esteem upon their own abilities parts and graces then upon their brethrens This is indeed the seed of Separation when a man is puffed up with pride of spirit This was the fault of those that ●om●nted division in the church of Corinth they had an high conceit of themselves and commended themselves and then own abilities as the Apostle intimateth 2 Cor. 10. 18. but they had ●ase thoughts and uttered unsit speeches against Paul Verse 10. His bodily presence say they is weak and his speech contemptible he had no good elocution But this is far off from that which Christ requireth to be in his disciples the first lesson to be learned in his school is self deniall Mat. 16. 24. If any man will come after me let him deny himself A low esteem of self would keep a man safe from being a Separatist but when pride thus pricketh a man forward and that he valueth his own wisdom and learning at a higher rate then the wisdom prudence and holiness of a whole national Assembly of Orthodox Divines it is no wonder though he run upon this dangerous rock of separation 2 Or else Self ends and base carnal respects draw men into this gulf they aim at their own advantage and self interest to make themselves great and rich in the world The Apostle speaketh fully to this 2 Pet. 2. 1-3 where he informeth us that false teachers through covetousness do with fained words make merchandise of professors Such kind of trading as is there spoken of is base among men and abominable in the sight of God Hope of great gifts and large rewards maketh many a man to turn Separatist Or if they aim not at an outward estate yet at least a great name fame and honor among men doth entice them to this vanity This was it that tickled the new fangled preachers at Ephesus Acts 20. 30. They shall speak perverse things to draw away disciples after them they thought they should have a great company of followers if they set up new fashions in doctrine and discipline And have not some of the Separatists enlarged their precincts beyond the bounds of a Lord Bishops diocess they are likely to watch well one over another living at such a distance These are they saith our Saviour that seek honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh of God onely Joh. 5. 44. 3 Or else they warp to separation through their own injudiciousness being unsetled in the knowledg of the truth It is for want of sound catechising in the fundamentals of religion that so many have of late been troubled with this vertigo ●● they have got more use of their tongues than Christians had formerly but they have less in their hearts than the old Christians had If men were well instructed in religion they would not be so easily seduced to separation The cause why men are deceived by such delusions is because they have not received the love of the truth into their souls 2 Thes 2. 10 11. They cannot by found judgment discern between truth and error when a false teacher cometh in appearance as if he were an angel of light this want of judgment perverteth