Discourse of Mental Errors, Part · Section 26 – Section 29
The Remedies.
The proper Remedies against Errors, insinuated by the abuses of Duties and Ordinances, are such as follow:
Remedy I.
Let Men consider, that there is nothing in Religion so great, so sacred and excellent, but some or other have greatly corrupted or vilely abused them.
What is there in the whole World more precious and excellent than the Free-grace of God? and yet you read, Iude 4. of some that turned the Grace of our Lord into Lasciviousness. What more desirable to Christians, than the glorious Liberty Christ hath purchased for them by his Blood, and setled upon them in the Gospel-Charter? A Liberty from Satan, Sin, and the rigour and Curse of the Law; and yet you read, 1 Pet. 2. 16. of them that used this Liberty for a cloak of maliciousness. 'Tis true, Christ came to be a Sacrifice for Sin, but not a Cloak for Sin; to set us at Liberty from the Bondage of our Lusts, not from the Ties and Duties of our Obedience. Under the pretence of this Liberty it was, that the Gnosticks, Carpocratians, and the Menandrians of old, did not only connive at; but openly taught and practised all manner of leudness and uncleanness.
St. Augustin, Menandriani omnem turpitudinem libentèr amplexi sunt, tanquàm gratiae Dei erga homines fructum. August. Lib. de Haeres.in his Book of Heresy, makes this sad complaint, The Menandrians (saith he) do willingly embrace all uncleanness as the fruit of the Grace of God towards Men. And not only the Liberty purchased by Christ, but the very Person and Gospel of Christ are liable to abuses; and oftentimes through the corruptions of Mens hearts, become Stones of stumbling, and Rocks of offence. What then? Shall we renounce the Grace of God, our Christian Liberty, the very Gospel, yea, and Person of Christ himself, because each of them have been thus vilely abused by wicked wretches? At the peril of our eternal damnation be it, if we do so. Blessed is he (saith our Lord) that is not offended in me. Beware, lest by this means Satan at once wound the Lord Jesus Christ by scandal, and thy Soul by prejudice.
Remedy II.
Consider also, that it is the nature and temper of a gracious Soul, to raise his esteem, and heighten his love to those Ordinances which are most abused and disgraced by Men.
The more they are abused and opposed by others, the higher they should be valued and honoured by us; Psal. 119. 126, 127. It is time for thee, Lord, to work; for they have made void thy Law; therefore I love thy Commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold. q. d. The more they are disgraced and abused by wicked men, the more do I honour and prize them. A like spirit, with David's, was found in Elijah, 1 King. 19. 14. I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts; because the Children of Israel have forsaken thy Covenant, thrown down thine Altars, and slain thy Prophets with the Sword.
A good Man will strive to honour and secure those Truths and Duties most, which he finds under most disgrace or danger. He loves the Truth sincerely, who cleaves to it, and stands by it under all opposition. This is a good tryal of the soundness of thy heart, and purity of thine ends in Religion: Such a proof, as the honour and reputation of Religion in the World can never give thee.
In Solomon's time the Iews were very cautious how they admitted and received Proselytes, suspecting that by-ends and worldly respects may draw men to it; but they were not so cautelous in times of disgrace and persecution.
Remedy III.
Before you part with any Ordinance or practice in Religion, bethink your selves whether you never found any spiritual blessings or advantages in that path which you are now tempted to forsake.
Had you never any spiritual meltings of your hearts and affections in that Heavenly Ordinance of Singing? And may there not be now Thousands of Mercies in your possession in consequence to, and as the fruit of your solemn dedication to God in Baptism by your Covenanted Parents? For my own part, I do heartily and solemnly bless God for it upon this account; and so I hope Thousands besides my self have cause to do. However, such a Practice may by no means be deserted by you, because abused by others.
Cause XIII.
Another Method and Artifice, by which false Teachers draw multitudes of Disciples after them, is, by granting to their Ignorant and Ambitious Followers the LIBERTY of PROPHESYING; flattering them into a conceit of their excellent Gifts and Attainments, when God knows they had more need to be Catechised and taught the Principles of Christianity, than undertake to expound and apply those profound Mysteries unto others.
Satan hath filled the Church and World with Errors and Troubles this way.*Stultissimiatque impiissimi homines, non intelligentes nihil contrarium in rebus iisdem ab eodem dictum fuisse, verbis tantùm inhaerentes. causas ipsas dictorum reliquêrunt. Et diversa quidem Scripturae dicta videntes, ad impietatem reciderunt, divinorum dictorum incapaces. Hilarius, Lib. 1. de Trinit. When ignorant and unexperienced Persons begin to think it a low and a dull thing to sit from year to year under other mens teachings, and to fancy that they are wiser than their Teachers; their Pride will quickly tempt them to shew their Ignorance, and that mischievous Ignorance will prove dangerous to the Truth, and troublesome to the Church. The Apostle forbids the Ordination of a Novice, lest he be puffed up, and fall into the condemnation of the Devil: and in 1 Tim. 1. 7. he shews us the reason why some swerved and turned aside unto vain jangling; and it was this, That they desired to be Teachers of the Law, neither understanding what they said, nor whereof they affirmed. That is, They affected to be Preachers, though not able to speak congrucusly, with tolerable sense and reason.
I do not here censure and condemn the use and exercise of the Gifts of all private Christians. There are to be found amongst them some Persons of raised parts, and answerable modesty and humility, who may be very useful, when called to service, in extraordinary Cases, by the Voice of Providence; or exercise their Gifts in a probationary way, or in due subordination unto Christ's publick Officers and Ordinances, by, and with the consent of the Pastor, and Congregation.
But when unqualified and uncalled Persons undertake such a work out of the conceit and pride of their own hearts, or are allured to it by the crafty Designs of Erroneous Teachers, partly to overthrow a publick, regular and standing Ministry in the Church, to which end the Scriptures are manifestly abused, such as Ier. 31. 34. Rom. 12. 6. 1 Cor. 14. 1 Pet. 4. 10. with many others; This is the practise I here censure, which like a Trojan Horse, hath sent forth multitudes of Erroneous Persons into the City of God to infest and defile it.
I cannot doubt but many a sincere Christian may be drawn into such employment whichputs him into a capacity of honouring God in a more eminent way, which is a thing desirable to an honest and zealous heart: and that the temptation may be greatly strengthened upon them by the plausible suggestions of cunning Seducers, who tell them, That those Ministers who oppose and condemn this practise, do it as men concerned for their own Interest, as desirous to monopolize the work to themselves, and as envying the Lord's People: and that Christ hath given them a greater liberty in this case, than those men will allow them. By this means they daw many after them, and fix them in their Erroneous ways.
I have no mind at all here to expose the Follies and Mischiefs introduced this way, as neither being willing to grieve the hearts of the Sincere on one side, nor gratify scoffing Atheists, and prophane Enemies to Religion, upon the other side: only this I will, and must say, That by this means the Sacred Scriptures are most injuriously wrested, the Peace and Order of the Church disturbed, and a great many Mistakes and Errors introduced.
The Remedies.
The prevention and cure of Errors this way introduced, or likely to be introduced into the Church, is by pondering and applying the following Considerations.
Consideration I.
Let all that encourage others, or undertake by others encouragement such a Work as this, for which they are not competently qualified, and unto which they are not regularly called, consider seriously with themselves what danger they cast their own, and other mens Souls upon.
The Apostle tells us, 2 Pet. 3. 16. That the unlearned and unstable do wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction. Danger enough, one would think, to scare them from it, did not the same sin of Ignorace, which makes them wrest the Scriptures, cause them also to slight and overlook the danger of so doing.*Athanas…s indicat Scripturas malitiosè intellectas & detortas, errores parere. Athanasius contra Apollinar.
Certainly, my Friends, it is a great deal safer, and more excusable, to put an ignorant Rustick into an Apothecary's Shop to compound a Medicine of Drugs and Spirits, which he understands not, and considently administer the same to the Bodies of men; than for such Persons as are led by ignorance and confidence, to intermeddle with the Ministerial Employment: the one, perhaps, by mistake, may poison mens Bodies; but the other their Souls. An ignorant Master, or Pilot, that never learned the Compass, are rather to be trusted among Rocks and Quick-sands, than a proud ignorant Person with the conduct of Souls.
Consideration II.
What daring Presumption is it to intrude our selves into so great and weighty an Employment without any Call or Warrant of Christ! Rom. 10. 14. How shall they call upon him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a Preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent?
These Mysteries must be committed to faithful Men, who shall be able to teach others. Those Abilities must be examined, 1 Tim. 3. 10. and the Exercise of them warranted by a due and orderly appointment thereunto, 1 Tim. 4. 14. else (as one well observes) In tàm praeposterâ disciplinae ruinâ tot essent sensus, quot capita; tot dissensus, quot sensus; We shall have as many senses of Scripture, as we have Preachers, &c.
If every Phaeton, that thinks himself able, shall undertake to drive the Chariot of the Sun, no wonder if the World be set on fire. Gifts and Abilities of Mind are not of themselves sufficient to make a Preacher. Some Lawyers at the Bar may be as skilful as the Iudge upon the Bench, but without a Commission they dare not sit there.
Consideration III.
The honour you affect, to vent your unsound Notions with liberty, is in Scripture-account your greatest dishonour.
The Scripture reckons false Teachers among the basest of the People: The Prophet that teacheth lyes, he is the Tayl, i. e. the basest part of the whole body of the People, Isa. 9. 15. And so far is due Gospel-Liberty from countenancing such dangerous Irregularities, that we find in a clear Prophecy of Gospel-times, what shame God will pour upon them, Zech. 13. 4, 5. They shall be brought with shame enough to confess, I am no Prophet, I am an Husband-man; for man taught me to keep Cattel from my youth.
Consideration IV.
How much more safe, regular and advantageous were it for such as you, to fill your own proper Places under able and faithful Gospel-Ministers, and to suck the Breasts of fruitful Ordinances, than to consume and pine away by sucking your own Breasts? I mean, living upon your own weak and insufficient Gifts, in the sinful neglect of Christ's Appointments?
Cause XIV.
False Teachers also propagate their Errors by a Spirit of ENTHVSIASM, the usual concomitant of Erroneous Doctrine; and draw away multitudes after them, by pretending to extraordinary Revelations, Visions, and Voices from Heaven, which seem to give great credit to their Way and Party.*Nonnulli autem falsorum Prophetarum vaticinio illecti de quibus & veri Prophetae, & ipse praedixerat, exciderunt à doctrinâ Dei, & traditionem veram reliquerunt. Sed illi omnes daemoniacis fraudibus irretiti, quas prospicere & cavere debuerant, divinum nomen & cultum per imprudentiam perdiderunt. Lact. lib. 4. cap. 30. de Haeresibus.
This was an old trick and practice of Deceivers, Deut. 13. 1. to give Signs and Wonders in confirmation of their Way, which Signs the Lord may permit to fall out to prove his People, vers. 2. 3. tho, for the most part, they are confuted by their unanswerable Events.
In the beginning of our Reformation by Luther, Calvin, &c. there sprung up a Generation of Men, called Swenkfeldians, great Pretenders to Revelations and Visions, who were always speaking of Deifications; and an higher strain of Language they commonly used among themselves, than other serious Christians understood, and therefore scornfully entitled Orthodox and humble Christians, who stuck to the Scripture-phrase, and wholsome form of sound words, Grammatists, Vocabulists, Literalists, &c. These Men (as*Irretiti suis quibusdam Enthusiasticis laqueis, unde se extricari summam putant impietatem: dementabant multos magnificis istis verbis, Illuminatio, Revelatio, Deificatio, &c. Scultetus in his Annals, ad annum 1525. Observes of them) were so entangled in certain Enthusiastick Snares, that they thought it the highest impiety to renounce them: and they had befooled multitudes with their magnificent words of Illumination, Revelation, Deification.
Much of the same Spirit was Thomas Muntzer, Iohn of Leyden, David George, Iacob Behmen, &c. whose cloudy Nonsense, aenigmatical Expressions, and wilful Obscurity, drew many into a strange admiration of them: They all pretend to an higher knowledge of Mysteries than what the Gospel is acquainted with; and and yet give us (as Mr. Baxter well observes) neither Reasons with Aristotle, nor Miracles with Christ, and his Apostles, to cause us to believe any of their new Revelations. Vid. Baxter of the Sin against the Holy Ghost, p. 148.
Of the same Bran were our late Familists in England, of whom Henry Nichols was the chief Leader, who decried the written Word as a dead Letter; and set up their own fond Conceits and Fancies under the notion of the Spirit; against whom that heavenly and Learned Man, Mr. Samuel Rutherford, seasonably and succesfully appeared. Hacket, Coppinger and Arthington, were of the same Tribe; who lived a-while wrapt up in Antinomian Fancies, which at last brake forth into the highest and most horrid Blasphemies.
Another Art they make use of to seduce the Credulous, is a pretence unto the Spirit of Prophecy; and great sucsess they promise themselves this way among the weak, but curious Vulgar. And to this end Satan hath inspired and employed some Cunninger Heads to invent very pleasing Predictions and Prophecies, in favour of that Party whom he designs to deceive. And how catching and bewitching these things are, gaining more respect among these vain Spirits, than the divine unquestionable Prophecies of Scripture, this Age hath had full and sad experience.
Now the Design of Satan in these things, is to gain credit to those Sects, as People peculiarly favoured and beloved of God above others; as if they were the particular Favourites of Heaven, as Daniel was; and so to draw the Multitude to admire their Persons, and espouse their Errors.