600 Separation by Heresy, Schism, or Åpostacy. the secret dispositions of all men's hearts. We, whose eyes are too dim to behold the inward man, must leave the secret judgment of every servant to his own Lord, accounting and using all men as brethren, both near and dear unto us, supposing Christ to love them tenderly, so as they keep the profession of the Gospel, and join in the outward communion of saints. Whereof the one doth warrantize unto us their faith, the other their love, till they fall away, and forsake either the one, or the other, or both; and then it is no injury to term them as they are. When they separate themselves, they are AνтоKаTÁKρITοι, not judged by us, but by their own doings. Threefold Men do separate themselves either by heresy, schism, or 1.312 tacy. separation. apostacy. If they lose the bond of faith, which then they are justly supposed to do when they frowardly oppugn any 1.512 principal point of Christian doctrine, this is to separate them1. Heresy. selves by heresy. If they break the bond of unity, whereby 532 the body of the Church is coupled and knit in one, as they do which wilfully forsake all external communion with saints in holy exercises, purely and orderly established in the Church, 2. Schism. this is to separate themselves by schism. If they willingly cast off, and utterly forsake both profession of Christ and communion with Christians, taking their leave of all religion, 3. Apos- this is to separate themselves by plain apostacy. And St. Jude, to express the manner of their departure which by apostacy fell away from the faith of Christ, saith, "They separated themselves;" noting thereby, that it was not constraint of others, which forced them to depart; it was not infirmity and weakness in themselves; it was not fear of persecution to come upon them, whereat their hearts did fail; it was not grief of torments, whereof they had tasted, and were not able any longer to endure them: no, they voluntarily did separate themselves with a fully-settled and altogether-determined purpose, never to name the Lord Jesus any more, nor to have any fellowship with his saints, but to bend all their counsel, and all their strength, to raze out their memorial from amongst them. XII. Now, because that by such examples, not only the hearts of infidels were hardened against the truth, but the minds of weak brethren also much troubled, the Holy Ghost hath given sentence of these backsliders, that they were carnal evidence that they men, and had not the Spirit of Christ Jesus, lest any man having an over-weening of their persons should be over-much amazed and offended at their fall. For simple men, not able to discern their spirits, were brought by their apostacy thus to reason with themselves: If Christ be the Son of the living God, if he have the words of eternal life, if he be able to bring salvation to all men that come unto him, what meaneth this apostacy and unconstrained departure? Why do his servants so willingly forsake him? Babes, be not deceived, his servants forsake him not. They that separate themselves were amongst his servants, but if they had been of his servants, they had not separated themselves. "They were Infallible amongst us, not of us," saith St. John; and St. Jude proveth eve it, because they were carnal, and had not the Spirit. Will faithful, you judge of wheat by chaff, which the wind hath scattered are God's from amongst it? Have the children no bread, because the 1 John ii. dogs have not tasted it? Are Christians deceived of that salvation they look for, because they were denied the joys of the life to come which were no Christians? What if they seemed to be pillars and principal upholders of our faith? What is that to us, which know that angels have fallen from heaven? Although if these men had been of us indeed, (O the blessedness of a Christian man's estate!) they had stood surer than the angels that had never departed from their place: whereas now we marvel not at their departure at all, neither are we prejudiced by their falling away; because they were not of us, sith they are fleshly, and have not the Spirit. Children abide in the house for ever; they are bondmen and bondwomen which are cast out. XIII. It behoveth you therefore greatly, every man to examine his own estate, and try whether you be bond or free, children or no children. I have told you already, that we must beware we presume not to sit as gods in judgment upon others, and rashly, as our conceit and fancy doth lead us, so to determine of this man, he is sincere, or of that man, he is an hypocrite; except by their falling away they make it manifest and known that they are. For who art thou that takest upon thee to judge another before the time? Judge thyself. God hath left us infallible evidence, whereby we may at any time give true and righteous sentence upon ourselves. children. 19. 7.176 4.582 [1 John iii. 14.] [2 Cor. xiii. 5.] 21-23. Ver. 24. We cannot examine the hearts of other men, we may our own. "That we have passed from death to life, we know it (saith St. John), because we love the brethren:" and “Know ye not yourselves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates?" I trust, beloved, we know that we are not reprobates, because our spirit doth bear us record, that the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ is in us. XIV. It is as easy a matter for the Spirit within you to tell whose ye are, as for the eyes of your body to judge where you sit, or in what place you stand. For what saith the Colos. i. Scripture? "Ye which were in times past strangers and enemies, because your minds were set on evil works, Christ hath now reconciled in the body of his flesh, through death, to make you holy and unblameable, and without fault in his sight; if you continue grounded and established in the faith, and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel :" and in the third to the Colossians, "Ye know, that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of that inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ." If we can make this account with ourselves: I was in times past dead in trespasses and sins, I walked after the prince that ruleth in the air, and after the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience; but God, who is rich in mercy, through his great love, wherewith he loved me, even when I was dead, hath quickened me in Christ. I was fierce, heady, proud, high-minded; but God hath made me like the child that is newly weaned. I loved pleasures more than God, I followed greedily the joys of this present world; I esteemed him that erected a stage or theatre, more than Solomon, which built a temple to the Lord; the harp, viol, timbrel, and pipe, men-singers and women-singers, were at my feast; it was my felicity to see my children dance before me; I said of every kind of vanity, O how sweet art thou in my soul! All which things now are crucified to me, and I to them: now I hate the pride of life, and pomp of this world; now "I exix. 14.] take as great delight in the way of thy testimonies, O Lord, as in all riches;" now I find more joy of heart in my Lord and Saviour, than the worldly-minded man, when "his wheat and oil do much abound;" now I taste nothing sweet but the "bread which came down from heaven, to give life unto the world;" now mine eyes see nothing but Jesus rising from the [Psal. [1 John. vi. 33.] 2, 3. dead; now my ears refuse all kind of melody, to hear the song of them that have gotten victory of the beast, and of his image, and of his mark, and of the number of his name, that stand on the sea of glass, "having the harps of God, and Rev. xv. singing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, O King of Saints." Surely, if the Spirit have been thus effectual in the secret work of our regeneration unto newness of life; if we endeavour thus to frame ourselves anew: then we may say boldly with the blessed Apostle, in the tenth to the Hebrews, "We are not of Ver. 39. them which withdraw ourselves to perdition, but which follow faith to the conservation of the soul." For they which fall away from the grace of God, and separate themselves unto perdition, they are fleshly and carnal, they have not God's Holy Spirit. But unto you, "because ye are sons, God hath Gal. iv. 6. sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts," to the end ye might know that Christ hath built you upon a rock unmoveable; that he hath registered your names in the Book of Life; that he hath bound himself in a sure and everlasting covenant to be your God, and the God of your children after you; that he hath suffered as much, groaned as oft, prayed as heartily, for you, as for Peter, "O Father, keep them in thy name; O John xvii. righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. I have declared thy name unto them, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved them, may be in me and I in them." The Lord of his infinite mercy give us hearts plentifully fraught with the treasure of this blessed assurance of faith unto the end! papists tacy. XV. Here I must advertise all men that have the testimony The of God's holy fear within their breasts to consider, how un- falsely kindly and injuriously our own countrymen and brethren have accuse us of heresy dealt with us by the space of twenty-four years, from time to and apostime, as if we were the men of whom St. Jude here speaketh, never ceasing to charge us, some with schism, some with heresy, some with plain and manifest apostacy, as if we had clean separated ourselves from Christ, utterly forsaken God, quite abjured heaven, and trampled all truth and religion under our feet. Against this third sort, God himself shall plead our 14. 4. xiii. 5. 604 Christ the Head of the mystical Body. cause in that day, when they shall answer us for these words, not we them. To others, by whom we are accused for schism and heresy, we have often made our reasonable and, in the Acts xxiv. sight of God, I trust, allowable answers. "For in the way which they call heresy, we worship the God of our fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and the prophets." That which they call schism, we know to be our reasonable service unto God, and obedience to his voice, which Rev. xviii. crieth shrill in our ears, "Go out of Babylon, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." And therefore, when they rise up against us, having no quarrel but this, we need not seek any further for our apology, than the words of Abiah to Jeroboam and his 2 Chron. army. "O Jeroboam and Israel, hear you me: ought you not to know, that the Lord God of Israel hath given the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him, and to his sons, by a covenant of salt?" that is to say, an everlasting covenant. Jesuits and papists, hear ye me: ought you not to know that the Father hath given all power unto the Son, and hath made him the only head over his Church, wherein he dwelleth as a husbandman in the midst of his vineyard, manuring it with the sweat of his own brows, not letting it Cant. viii. forth to others? For, as it is in the Canticles, "Solomon had a vineyard in Baalhamon, he gave the vineyard unto keepers, every one bringing for the fruit thereof a thousand pieces of silver;" but my vineyard, which is mine, is before me, saith Christ. It is true, this is meant of the mystical head set over the body, which is not seen. But as he hath reserved the mystical administration of the Church invisible unto himself; so he hath committed the mystical government of congregations visible to the sons of David, by the same covenant; whose sons they are in the governing of the flock of Christ, whomsoever the Holy Ghost hath set over them, to go before them, and to lead them in several pastures, one in this congregation, another in that; as it is written, "Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock whereof the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." Neither will ever any pope or papist under the cope of heaven be able to prove the Romish bishop's usurped supremacy over all churches by any one word 11. Acts xx. 28. The pope's usurped supre macy. |