The Communion of Saints, Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII.
HOw God by his word, hath alwayes called and separated a people▪, from communion with Divils and wicked men; to the fellowship of his grace, by faith in Christ.
VVHen our ‖Gen. 3.first parents had revolted from God, forsaken his word the ground of their faith and obedience, and embraced the *vers. 5.contrarie word of the Serpent; wherby they were brought vntounto syn, & by syn being finished, vntounto death: they were estranged from God, ‡vers. 8.affrayd of his face and voyce, ashamed of themselves; & sought to shrowd them among the trees, to hide their shame with …igleaves, and to excuse theyr syn by trāslating the fault vntounto others, the †vers. 12.man to the woman, given him of God, the womā ‖vers. 13.to the serpent; but shewed no repentance, neyther asked mercy for their misdeeds, though they were sūmoned to the judgment of God. Wherfore, had not his grace prevented them, they had proceeded on to all manner impietie, as did and do the Divils, (whō God hath left in their wretchednes;) in whose slavish subjection, they and wee all their children had continued captives, vntounto eternal damnation.
2. But God immediatly manifested his purpose, according to his election of grace, by giving to men that were dead in syn, the word of life whereby they were revived; by which word he called them from Satans service to his own again by fayth in Christ, who should in tyme become the womans seed, and crush that Serpents head for his chosens sake. He also brake that cursed amitie between men and Divils, and sayd Gen. 3. 15.that the would put enimity between them; & not that only, but between the Serpents seed (that is the wicked men and reprobates, who are named the sonnes †Deut. 13. 13 1 Iohn. 3. 10.of Belial and of the Divil;) and the womans seed, that is Christ & his church, even all men and women that should embrace the faith of the woman now named Evah, that is Living, and the *Gen. 3. 20.mother of all that live.
3. And Adam which had shewed that singular faith in Gods promise, by naming her ‡Adam vponupon the promise of God caled his wife Evah that is Life.Life, whom of late he accused to be the instrument of his death: informed his childrē in this grace of God; who together wt their parents professed one commune faith & obedience, which also they testified by their service and sacrifices †Gen. 4. 3. 4.offred to the Lord. Thus he & his howse were freed from Satans bondage by the word of truth the Gospel which was taught them, and were made *1 Cor. 1. 2.Saincts by calling.
4. But Cain who was the first seed of the serpent, and therefore sayd in scripture to be of of that ‡1 Iohn. 3. 10 11. 12.Wicked-one, being an hypocrite and without †Heb. 11. 4.faith, for which cause his ‖1 Iohn. 3. 1….works also were evil: though he were among the Saints, yet was he not *1 Iohn. 2. 19.of them, and therfore continued not with them. Yea though he were ‡Gen. 4. 6. 7.warned of God, he would not be amended; but shewed the malice and enmitie of his father the Divil, by ”vers. 8.killing his righteous brother. Neyther then relented he, but added †ver. 9.obstinacie to his bloody act: wherfore he was cursed of God, and fel into ‖ver. 13. 14.desperation, & condemnation of the Divil.
5. The peace and communion of the Saincts, being by that caytiff thus disturbed and broken; & the deadly war with the womans seed, by that trump of Satan thus proclamed: God for the good & preservation of his Church, cast out this synner from his ‖Gen. 4. 14. 15. 16.presence on earth, (as he had don the Angels which synned, from the same in heaven;) and he being separated from the fellowship of the faythful, dwelt a runnagate in a land of that *A runnagate is in Hebreve caled Nad, Gen. 4. 12. & Cain was driven into the land of Nod, ver. 16▪ which took the name of him & his wof…ll state therin.name, and an other seed was ‡Gen. 4. 25.given to Eve in sted of just Abel decessed. And so the Church of Christ was propagated, governed by ten faithful †Gen. 5.patriarchs successively; distinguished from the seven ‖Gen. …. 17. &c.generations of Cain, as in place and estate, so in name; the one sort called the children of *Gen. 6. 1. 2.God, the other of men. And whereas the Cainites increased, as wel in wickednes as in multitude: the Lord to keep his people from mixture with them, gave warning by *Gen. 5. 22. Iude ver. 14. 15.Henoch the seventh from Adam; who prophesied the destruction of them and al vngodly persons, for their wicked deeds & cruel speakings; when God should come to give judgment, with ten thowsands of his Saincts.
6. But neyther his word wherby he admonished his people, nor yet his spirit which †Gen. 6. 3.strove in them; could restreyn them from being commingled with the profane, and Serpents seed: for ‖Vers. 2.they coupled themselves in mariage with their fayr women, wherby there sprong a tyrannous race of *Vers. 4. 13.Giants, by whom the▪ earth was filled with crueltie. That God seing how his children wer degenerat & become also ‡Vers. 3.flesh, and that †Vers. 5the wickednes of man was wexen great, ‡Verse. 6.repented that he had made man in the earth, and was sory in his hart: Yet warned them agayn by *Gen. 6. 13. 14. … Pet. 2. …Noah a preacher of righteousnes, and by the building of the ark 120. yeres: which patience they contemning, God brought the flood vponupon the world of the vngodly, & destroyed them; onelyonly Noah and his howse wer reserved, finding grace in the eyes of the Lord.
7. Yet even in that litle family of eight sowles, so wondrously saved in the water as ‡1 Pet. 3. 20. 21.by a Baptisme; the Serpent had his seed stil, which in processe of time was discovered, in the person of Cham & his posteritie and by the Patriarch †Gen. 9. 22. 24. 25.Noah was accursed. Which wicked brood to get themselves a name, went about to build a tower vp to heaven, in ‖Gen. 11. …. &c.the land of Shinar the place and habitation of *Zach. 5. …. ….Wickednes; wher God confounded their lips, scattred them from thence, stayed their proud building, and Babel or Confusion is their monument to this day. And when not onelyonly Chams cursed progeny, but also the seed of blessed Sem, even ”Gen. 11. 27.…erah the father of Abram, and Nachor fel to idolatrie, and †Iosh. 24. 2.they served other Gods, or rather in deed Divils as the Lev. 17. 7. Deut. 32. 17.scripture also nameth them; then God caled1 Cor. 10. 20. Gen. 12. 1. Act. 7. 3.Abram from his countrie, kinred and fathers house, to go into the land which he would shew him, vntounto which caling he †Hebr. 11. 8.by faith obeyed, and departed, not knowing wither he went.
8. The Lord who was the caller and Isa. …. 22.redemer of Abram, gav him two gracious promises to confirm his faith; as 1. that he should †Gen. 15. 7.inherit the land of Canaan to which he brought him: 2. & that he should hav heyres of his own seed Gen. 12. 2.to inherit it after him even a great nation, and one seed specially (which was †Gal. 3. 16. Gen. 12. 3. Act. 3. 25.Christ) in whom al families of the earth should be blessed. With these promises, and blessing and ronoume adioyned to them, the Lord perswaded him to forsake his idolatrous countrie and communion with idols, and to †Gen. 17. ….walk before him, who was God the Alsufficient, and to be vpright; and gav him the covnant of circumcision, the †Rom. 4. 11.seal of the righteousnes of the faith which he had; he gav him also Gal. 4. 21. 23. &c.two sons, Ismael of Hagar a servant born after the flesh; and Isaak of Sarah a free woman, born by promise.
9. But he that was born after the flesh, fel to profanenes, became a Gen. 21. ….mocker and †Gal. 4. 23.persecutor of the true and promised seed: wherfore he was cast out of the church, the howse of Abraham; and lost the honor of being reputed his †Rom. 9. 7. 8.seed, or heyr with Isaak the freeborne, and child of promise.
10. Againe, vntounto Isaak wer born Gen. 25.Esau and Iakob; but God *Rom. 9. 13.loved Iakob, and hated Esau; and he also degenerated and became profane; ‡Heb. 12. 16.sold his birthright and †Gen. 27.lost his blessing, and was Gen. 28. 1. 2…4. & 36. 6. Iosh. 24. 4.separated from his brother Iaakob, vntounto whom alone the blessing of Abraham was derived.
11. Iaakob (whose name was Israel) being willed of God to build him †Gen. 35. 1.an altar at Bethel before he would do it, had a care to purge his howshold of the false Gods wherwith they wer defiled, vers. 2.who giving him both their Idols & idolatrous jewels he *ver. 4.hid them vnderunder an oke at Sichem, for he knew that the worship of God & of Idols could not stand togither. Afterwards he went with his family by the ‡Gen. 46. 2. 3. &c.word of the Lord from Canaan into Aegypt, & was a sojourner in the †Psal. 105. 23land of Cham: wher God Exod. 1. 7.multiplied his church exceedingly, as he had promised to Abraham his freind. There when the Israelites forgate the Lord their God, and defiled themselves with the Idols of Aegypt: *Ezek. 20. 7.he recaled them by his word from those abominations, & ‡vers. 8. 9.had almost destroyed them for their disobedience. But respecting his own name and glory, he ceased not to visit them, first by his †Exod. 1. 23. 14. & 2. 23.punishments, then by his Exod. 4. 30.promises & miracles; til he had won them againe vntounto his *vers. 31.faith and service.
12. Then bringing them forth from that both spiritual and corporal bondage, & executing judgments vponupon the Aegyptians and vponupon their *Num. 33. 4. Exod. 12. 12.Gods; he certified Israel of his end and purpose herin, which was to †Exo. 19. 4. 5bring them to himself, that they might hear his voyce, and keep his covenant, and be his chief treasure above al people, though al the earth wer his. Charging them, not to do *Levit. 18. 3. ….after the doings of the land of Aegipt wherin they dwelt, neyther to do after the manner of the land of Canaan whither he would bring them, nor walk in their ordinances; but to do after his judgements and keep his ordināces to walk in them, for he was the Lord their God; and to this end had ‡Lev. 20. 23. 24.separated them from other people, even from among †1. king. 8. 53al people of the earth did he separate them vntounto himself for an inheritance. Wherfore he commaunded Deut. 7 2. 3.them vtterly to destroy those cursed nations, to make no covenant with them, nor hav compassion on them, nor make mariages with them: for they would †Vers. 4.cause them to turne from him, and serv other Gods, which would be to their destruction, & willed to ‡ abolish al their… Vers. 5 also chap. 12. 2. 3. idolatrie with the names & monuments of the same; for that they wer an holy people vntounto him.
13. Iosua, treating with Israel of serving the Lord in vprightnes & truth, †Ios. 24. 14.exhorted them to put away the Gods which their fathers had served in Mesopotamia and in Aegypt; & so to serv the Lord, whō he caleth ‡Vers. 19. 20.holy and gealous, that would not pardon their iniquity or their syns, if they should forsake him, & serv strange Gods. And when the people made choise of the Lord, to serv him; he required them agayn, *Vers. 23.to put away the strange Gods that wer among them: teaching them and vsus therby; that Gods true worship, & the service of Idoles, cannot be joyned togither, but the one wil expell the other. Which law when they kept not, but worshiped the Gods of the peoples round about them, and so forsooke the Lord: ”Iudg. 2. 12. 13. 14.his wrath was hot against them, and he delivered them into the hands of spoylers that spoiled them, and they could no longer stand before their enimies; yea the Lord would no more cast out before them †vers. 21.any of the nations which Ioshua left when he died. Againe when Samuel reconciled them vntounto the Lord; 1 Sam 7. 3. 4. &c.he in like manner first procured them to put away their false religion, (which was the cause of their calamitie,) and to direct their harts vntounto the Lord, and serve him onelyonly.
14. Neyther did this warning of idolatrie respect the idols of Canaan onelyonly, but the false religions of all other peoples neer or far off, for any other *Exod. 20. 2. 3. 4. 5.God besides or with Iehovah they might not have or serve. Therfore though they had no commission to root out any idols save those in Canaan, because that should be their †Deut. 12. 1.possession; yet were they to Deut. 29. 16 17. 18.avoyd communion with all other idolaters; which when they did not, but *Num. 25. 1. 2. 3. &c.coupled themselves with Baalpeor the God of the Moabites, and ‡Hos. 9. 10.separated themselves vntounto that Shame, and did eat the sacrifices of †Psal. 106. 28 29. &c.the dead: the plague of God brake out vponupon them, and there fell of the Israelites in one day Num. 25. 9.four & twentie thowsand; even everie man that followed Baal-peor the Lord destroyed *Deut. 4. 3.him from among his people.
15. And in no better account were the idols and voluntarie services of the Israelites themselves; for God by his word forbad them *Exod. 20. 4. 5.eyther to make or vse any manner idol or similitude vponupon payn of his gealous indignation. Therfore when they had made a resemblance & memorial of their ‡Exod. 32.God that brought them out of the land of Aegypt; and turned him their †Psal. 106. 20Glorie into the similitude of an oxe that eateth grasse: then were they esteemed to hav ‖vers. 21.forgotten God their saviour, and *Neh. 9. 1….committed great blasphemies; & for that ‡Exod. 32. 27 35.syn many of them died, & al of them †vers. 10.had ben rooted out, (with ‖Deut. 9. 20.Aaron himself,) but that Moses stood in the breach and by *Exod. 32 11. 31. 32. Deut. 9. 25. 26. &chis instant prayer, turned away the Lords wrath frō destroying them.
16. Againe when Ieroboam the king of Israel had set vp signes for the people to worship their ‡1 Kin. 1…. 27. 28.God (as they thought) that brought them out of the Land of Aegypt; because they were in the Lords account but *2 Chron. 11. 15.Divils, & so al that followed them worshiped Satan & not God, yea the people in that estate were ‡2 Chro. 15. 3.without the true God: therefore he ceased not both by †1 Kin. 13. 1. &c.doctrines and judgments to keep & reclaim his people from them; warning ‖Hos. 4. 15.Iudah not to syn, though Israel played the harlot; and forasmuch as Ephraim was joyned to Idols, they should *ver. 17.let him alone; and not ‡Amos. 5. 5.seek Bethel, nor enter to Gilgal, nor go to Beersheba, (which were the places of publick worship among them,) but to seek the Lord and they should live, whereas †Amos. 9. 10.all those synners of his people should die; even as Ieroboams howse for his syn was ‖1 Kin. 1…. 34.rooted out and destroyed from the face of the earth.
17. As the Prophets thus witnessed vntounto Israel in their several ages: so our Saviour Christ when he came, with his Apostles, first laboured to keep and withdrawe the people from the service of Divils and idols, whither more open or secret. For as he appeared for this purpose ‡1 Ioh. 3. 8.that he might loose the works of the Divil, and was that promised seed which should crush the serpents head: so did he first himself hand to hand *Mat. 4.combat with Satan, resisted his tentations, overcame and put him to flight, and would not admit of any cōmunion between the Fiends and him, nor suffer them to say so much as that they *Mar. 1. 24. 34.knew him. He †Luk. 4. 41. & 8. 2.dispossessed them of many men over whom they tyrannized, and commanded his ‖Mat. 10. 1. 8.disciples to do the like; and ceased not this warr, til Satan which had vsurped the princedom of this world *Ioh. 12. 31.was cast out; even to the death did he resist him, and by ‡Heb. 2. 14.death destroied him which had the power of death. For though in him the Serpent could find †Iohn. 14. 30.nothing, yet for his chosens sake he endured al things: till he had spoyled ‖Colos. 2. 15.the principalities and powers, and triumphed over them in his crosse: thus teaching vsus in his own example and person, to hate with perfect hatred that enemie of God & man; and to know, that ther can no concord be, betwixt *2 Cor. 6. 15.Christ and Belial.
18. Satan being thus ‡Luk. 10. 18.like lightning fallen down from heaven, & his place †Rev. 12. 8.not found there any more, after our Michael had overcome him ‖Luk. 11. 22.taken from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divided his spoyles: many peoples were more easily recovered and drawen out of his snares; who were all taught by the trumpet of the gospell to prepare themselves to battel against him, to take vntounto them the *Ephes. 6. 13.whol armour of God, that they might be able to resist in the evil day; to fight the good fight of faith, and by it stedfastly to resist *1 Pet. 5. 8. 2.that roring Lion which walked about, seeking whom hee might devour: being with this comforted and assured, that *Rom. 16. 20.the God of peace would tread Satan vnderunder their feet shortly.
19. But because this Adversary would transfigure himself into an Angel of light, and his ministers2 Cor. 11. 14. 15. also, as though they wer ministers of righteousnes: the more care & watchfulnes the Saincts were warned to have, least they should be circumvented. They wer taught therfore touching al the hethens religion, that whatsoever they sacrificed, they sacrificed to †1 Cor. 10. 20.Divils and not to God; and that Christians might have no fellowship with Divils, and consequently neyther with those idolaters which ignorantly worshiped such: but must *2 Cor. 6. 17.come out from among them, separate themselves and touch no vnclean thing: for they could not be partakers ‡1 Cor. 10. 21both of the Lords table and of the table of Divils, two such contrarie maisters †Mat. 6. 24.they could by no meanes serve. And if they joyned with the wicked in their worship, or haunted their assemblies; even as in Israel they that did ‖1 Cor. 10. 18.eat of the sacrifices were partakers of the Altar; whereby they had part and interest in the whol worship, and the God worshiped: even so had they with Satan, that did eat of his sacrifices in his temples; how ever they might perswade themselves otherwise, because they did know the idol *1 Cor. 10. 19. & 8. 1. 4.was nothing. Wherefore they were forbidden al cōmunion with such, and exhorted to *1 Cor. 10. 14flee from idolatrie, for behold al that are of the fellowship thereof shalbe confounded, ‡Isa. 44. 10.as sayth the Prophet.
20. And because this old serpent would creep again into the church and paradise of God, to seduce the Saincts, & set his own throne there: the Lord Iesus by his Angel certified his †In the booke of Revelationservant Iohn, and by him hath warned vsus al, that the Christians also would in time forsake the true service of God in spirit, & would worship ‖Rev. 9. 20.Divils; even idols of gold and silver and brasse and stone & wood; being drawen herevnto by the effectual delusion of Satan in his eldest son Antichrist the child of perdition; whose doctrines would be the doctrines of *1 Tim. 4. 1.Divils; whose kingdome should be menaged by ‡Rev. 16. 13. 14.spirits of Divils, and men drawen by them to battel against God almighty. Herevpon is that glorious synagogue proclaymed with the lowd voyce of an heavenly Angel, to be become the †Rev. 18. 1. 2habitation of Divils, and with an other voyce ‖vers. 4.al Gods people ar willed to go out of her, that they partake not in her syns, and receiv not of her plagues: for if *Rev. 14. 9. 10.any man worship that beast or his image, or take his mark; he shal drink of the wine of Gods wrath, and be tormented in fyre and brimstone before the holie Angels & before the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment shall ascend evermore.
21. And as by the word of Christ men wer withdrawen from idolatrie and communion with the wicked; so wer they also exhorted to draw neer to the Lord and in fayth and love to cleav vntounto him alone: that turning from darknes to light, and from †the power of Satan vntounto‡ Act. 26. 18. God, they might receiv forgivnes of syns, and inheritance among them which ar sanctified by faith in him. They were therfore ‖Mat. 28. 19. 20. Act. 2. 14.—38. and 8. 35. - 38. & 10. 36—48.informed in the mysteries of the gospel, baptised into the name of the Lord in whom they beleeved, separated from others *Act. 2. 40. & 19. 8. 9.that frowardly refused, had their ‡Act. 1. 13. 14. 15. & 2. 1. and 12. 12. & 14. 27.assemblies for prayer doctrine and other holy exercises, which they wer exhorted †Heb. 10. 25.to cōtinew, taking heed that they wer not vnequally yoked with ‖2 Cor. 6. 14.infidels of the world; nor commingled with open sinners in the church, but to †1 Cor. 5. 9. 11. 13.cast out the wicked from among them, that they might be joyntly a sweet new lump as they were severally ‖ver. 7.vnlevened loaves, and so to serve *Heb. 12. 28.the Lord as they might please him with reverence and feare, ‡1 Ioh. 5. 21.keeping themselves from idols, and †Iam. 1. 27.vnspotted of the world.
22. Thus hath God taught vsus, that all idolatrie, whither of Paynims Iewes or Christians, is the worship of Divils: & from it, hath in all ages since the world began, caled his elect; that they shūning the societie of the Serpent & his seed, might repair to *Revelat. 14, 1.—4.the Lamb that standeth on mount Sion, having his Fathers name written on their foreheads, and follow him whither soever he goeth; might walk in the *Rev. 21. 24.light of the heavenly Ierusalem, and there hav fellowship with the Lord and one with an other; to their preservatiō from death, & the glory of God in their eternal life & salvation.