Works, Treatise · Chapter 10
CHAP. X.
The Second Particular in the Description of the Great Apostasie, viz. The Persons Apostatizing, exprest by TINE' foreign SOME. The Great Apostasie was to be a General one. That the word [TINE' foreign SOME] doth not always imply a Few or a Small number, proved by several passages in Scripture. The true Church of Christ was never wholly extinguish't. Wherein we and the Papists differ about the Churche's Visibility. In what respects our Church was Visible, and in what it was Invisible under the Apostasie and Reign of Antichrist. This is further cleared by the parallel state of the Israelitish Church under the Apostasie of Israel.
NOW I come unto the Second point expressed in this Description of the Great Apostasie, namely, The Persons Revolters; They should not be all, but TINE' foreign SOME. foreign, Some shall Apostatize. Some, that is, not (as we in our English do often use it) a Few; but Some, that is, not All; yet Some, that is, So many, as that the whole visible Church should be said thereof to be Apostatized; So many as should like a Cloud over-spread the face of the Christian Firmament, in such sort as the Stars and Lights therein should not easily be discerned. For the Great Defection so much prophesied of was to be a Solemn and General one; such a one as wherein the chiefest of the Churches, honoured as a Mother in Israel, should become a Babylonish Whore, a Mother of Harlots and of the abominations of the Earth, Revel. 17. such a one as whereby the Outmost Court of the Temple of God should not only be prophaned, but troden down by Gentilism, Revel. 11. such a one as the World is said to wonder after the Beast, and to worship him; and such a one as should not only make war with the Saints, but overcome them, Rev. 13. Otherwise, if our Apostle here, and S. Iohn there, should mean no more but the Errours of some particular ones, and their Revolt from the Faith of the Church, they should make either no Prophecy at all, or at the best but a needless one.
For who knows not that in S. Paul's, S. Iohn's, and the Apostles own times, were many Heresies and Hereticks grown up as weeds in the Wheat-field of Christ? but as yet the wheat overtopped them, and the visible body of the Church disclaimed them. If these had been the worst the Church should look for, the Apostles should seem to prophesie of things present, and not as they do of things to come; yea and more than this, they should foretell of a thing as proper and peculiar to the Last-times, which was no Novelty in their own times.
We must take notice therefore that the Apostasie and Corruption of Faith so much prophesied of, was another manner of one than that which was so frequent in those first times; such a kind of one as should not be disclaimed by the Visible body of the Church, but should surprise, eclipse and overcloud the beautiful face thereof: which manner of Desection never had been before, nor should the like be after it.
Now that the word TINE' foreign or SOME useth in Scripture to imply no small number, but only serves to intimate an exception of some particulars, though there were but two or three to be excepted, I will make manifest by a few examples, lest ou… English use might deceive us.
First, Iohn 6. 60. Many of the Disciples, (saith the Text) when they heard this, said, This is an hard saying; and v. 66. Many of his Disciples from that time went back, and walked no more with him: Nevertheless concerning these many Christ himself saith, v. 64. foreign, But there are Some of you which believe not: Here we see that Some is a great many. So Rom. 11. 17. S. Paul there saith of the rejection of the Iews, Some of the branches are broken off: Now what a Some this was, appears in the same Chapter, v. 32. when he saith, God hath included them ALL in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon ALL. But to seek no further, the 1 cor. 10. will store us with examples: as v. 7. Neither be ye Idolaters foreign, as Some of them were; this was a great Some, for Moses saith of it, Exodus 32. 3. And ALL the people brake off their golden Ear-rings, and brought them to Aaron. In v. 8. Neither let us commit fornication, as Some of them; which were so many, Numb. 25. 4. that the Lord said unto Moses, Take ALL the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel; and v. 3. it is said in general, and Israel joyned himself to Baal-Peor. Again in the same Chap. v. 9. it is said, Neither let us tempt Christ, as Some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of Serpents; and verse 10. Neither murmure, as Some of them also murmured: this Some was a great Some indeed, even all the people, save Moses, Ioshua and Caleb; whereof is said, Numb. 14. 1. And ALL the Congregation lifted up their voice and wept; and v. 2. And ALL the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron; and the WHOLE Congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died, &c. wherefore they were as largely punished, all of them dying in the wilderness, Ioshua and Caleb excepted. These places of many will suffice, to shew that the word [SOME] in my Text intends not to extenuate the number of Apostates, as implying they should be but Few; but only shews they should not be All: For where the Apostates are but foreign, Some, there Some also are not Apostates, but excepted from the common Defection, wherewith the rest were miserably overwhelmed.
The Observation therefore which this [TINE' foreign SOME] affords us is, That the true Church of Christ was never wholly extinguished, nor the light of his Gospel ever quite put out, no, not in the greatest darkness that ever was to overwhelm it.
By the true Church of Christ I understand That holy Society and Company of Believers, which as they accord and are joyned together in one common Faith of all Divine Truths needful to Salvation, so are they also free from the fellowship of such enormous abominations and mortal errors as destroy and overturn it. This is that Society whereof, by the grace of Almighty God, we glory to be the members; This that Society which in the Primitive times grew and flourished; This that Society which (when the times foretold of the Churche's Eclipse came, and the Great Apostasie had overspread the face thereof) was indeed much impaired, indangered and obscured, but never was totally extinguished, but continued even under the Iurisdiction of the Man of sin, yea in Babylon it self where he had this Throne: For doth not Christ at length say, Apocal. 18. 4. Come out of her my people? How could they come out thence, unless they had been there? or how should Antichrist sit in the Temple of God, 2 Thess. 2. 4. unless God's Temple were even there where Antichrist sate? As a few living embers in a heap of dying ashes; As a little Wheat in a field overgrown with weeds; As the Lights of the heaven in a firmament overcast with clouds; As a little pure Gold in a great mass of dross and mixed metal: such was the faithful Company of Christ in the Apostate body of Christendom, the*Apocal. 14. … Virgin-Church in the midst of Babylon.
But, will our Adversaries say, This is not sufficient to make you the true Church of Christ, because some of you have always been; but you must prove also that you have alwayes visibly been: For the true Catholick Church must not only never have been interrupted or extinguished, but it must have been a Society visibly known unto the world, and not as Embers in the ashes, but as a burning and shining Flame.
But this Objection deserves no answering; because our Adversaries (howsoever they would dissemble it) do but play upon the present advantage which they think their own Church hath in this point above ours: Otherwise, when they forget the contention they have with us, and are in a calmer mood, they can be pleased to deliver other doctrine; which if they would be so ingenuous as always to remember, we needed not such a stir about the point of the Churche's Visibility. For the difference between them and us hereabout is not so great as they would make it seem. They themselves, and the Fathers also, teach, That when Antichrist cometh, the Visibility of the Church shall be eclipsed: nay they affirm more than we usually in that case require; For then, they say, the use of the Sacraments shall cease; no Eucharist, no Mass, no publick Assemblies, yea all Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction shall be extinguished. But here lies all the difference; they hold the glorious Visibility of the true Church to have continued from the beginning unto this present, and the overshadowing of the Light and Eclipse of the glory thereof under Antichrist to be yet to come: We on the contrary maintain, the clouding of the Churche's Visibility under the Man of sin to have been already, and some part of the Visible splendor thereof to be yet to come: Both agreeing in this, that in the fatal Apostasy the Churche's Visibility and Glory should cease: but we say, That time hath been already; they say, It is yet to come: we say, That time of darkness was to continue many ages; they say, When it comes, it shall last but three single years and a half. Seeing therefore the whole Controversie lies in the point of Time, Whether the Churche's fatal Apostasie be already past or yet to come; it would be much the shorter and quicker course for both them and us to decide this Controversie, To examine the condition and quality of both Religions by the Holy Scripture, where we have also, as S. * Peter speaks, a most sure word of Prophecie, whereunto we shall do well if we take heed, as to a light shining in a dark place.
Now though this Answer be sufficient enough for the Objection of our Adversaries; yet for the better understanding and clearer insight into the matter questioned, we will further consider, Whether and in what manner or measure our Church may be said to have been Visible during the prevailing Apostasie, and in what respect again it was not Visible; and in both agreeable to the State of the true Church under the frequent Apostasies of Israel.
First therefore, we must know that by A Visible Christian Society in this Question is meant A Society or Company of Christian Believers joyned together in one external Fellowship and Communion of the same publick Profession and Rule of Faith, Vse of Sacraments, and Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction; For these make the outward form and (as it were) shape of the Church, whereby this Society is discernable from other Societies of men: So that a Society by this outside severed and distinguished from other Societies, is a Society visible and conspicuous to other Societies of men.
The question therefore is, Whether that holy Society of Believers before mentioned, who accorded together in one Common Faith with us of all Divine Truths needful to Salvation, and kept themselves free from such enormous abominations and mortal errours, which we now disclaim as utterly annihilating that Common Faith; Whether such a Society as this has been in all Ages, joyned and distinguished by such a common out-side from other Companies, either of men in general, or Christians in special; or in shorter, and perhaps plainer, terms thus, Whether the Society of men of our Christian belief hath in all ages been for the out-side a distinct Ecclesiastical Corporation from other Societies of men.
My Answer is, That for the First Ages it was so; not only thus Visible, but easily discernable from all other Societies of men whatsoever: But afterward, when the Great Apostasie we speak of surprized and deformed the beautiful Spouse of Christ, then was not that Virgin-Company of Saints, our Mother, a distinct external Society from the rest of Christendom; but a Part, yea and the only sound Part, of that External and Visible Body whereof our Adversaries boast their predecessors to have been members. For howsoever this our Virgin-Mother, for the inward and invisible communion of her sincere and unstained Faith, were a distinct and severed Company from the rest with whom she lived; yet, for the Common Principles of the Christian Faith still acknowledged in that corrupt body of Christendom, she retained communion with them, and for the most part of that time of darkness continued an External part of the same Visible Body with the rest in gross call'd Christians; as being begotten by the same Sacrament of Baptism (as the Israelites in the like case of Circumcision,) taught in some part by the same Word and Pastours still continued amongst them, and submitting to the same Iurisdiction and Government, so far as these or any of these had yet some soundness remaining in them. But for the rest which was not compatible with her sincere and unstained Faith, and which annihilated, in those it surprised, even those Common Grounds of Christianity otherwise outwardly professed; she with her children either wisely avoided all communion with it; or if they could not, then patiently suffered for their conscience sake under the hands of Tyrants, called Christians; until that Tyranny growing insupportable, and that mortal contagion unavoidable, it pleased God, lest we might have been as Sodom and Gomorrah, to begin to call us thence at the time appointed unto a greater Liberty, as we see this day.
As therefore when a little Gold is mixed with a great quantity of base and counterfeit metal, so that of both is made but one mass or lump; each metal, we know, still retains its nature diverse from the other, and yet outwardly and visibly is not to be discerned the one from the other; but both are seen together as they are outwardly one, but cannot be distinguished by the eye as they are diverse and several; the Gold is Visible as it is one mass, and under the same outside and figure with the rest, yet it is truly Invisible as it is diverse from the rest: but when the Refiner comes and severs them, then will each metal appear in his own colours, and put on his own outside, and so become Visible apart from the rest: Such is the case here, and such was the State and Condition of the Church in the prevailing and great Apostasie; The purer metal of the Visible Christian Body was not outwardly discernable from the base and counterfeit, while one outside covered them; and so much the rather, because the Apostate part in a great proportion exceeding the sound, made it imperceptible: but when the time of Refining came, then was our Church not first founded in the true Faith, (God forbid) but a Part of the Christian Body newly refined from such Corruptions as time had gathered; even as Gold refined begins not then first to be Gold, though it begin but then to be refined Gold.
WHATSOEVER we have hitherto spoken of the State of the true Believers under the Apostasie of Antichrist, is the same which befell the true Israelites in the Apostasie of Israel. And doth not S. Peter intimate that the Apostasie which should be…ide Christians should be like to that which we read to have befallen Israel, 2 Pet. 2. 1? Therewere (saith he) False Prophets also among the people, (i.e. Israelites) even as there shall be False teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them. If the Apostasie of Christians were to be of the same stamp with that of Israel, and the Heresies brought into Christendom by the false Doctors of Babylon, like unto those wherewith the false Prophets of Israel infected and poisoned the ancient people of God; surely we cannot find a better Pattern whereby to know what was the state and condition of the unstained Christian Believers under the Apostasie of the Man of sin, than that which was of the true Israelites under the Apostasie of Israel.
For the right understanding whereof, we must always remember that the Israelitish Church did at no time altogether renounce the true and living God, not in their worst times; but in their own conceit and profession they acknowledged him still, and were called his people, and he their God, though they worshipped others beside him: So Christians in their Apostasie neither did nor were to make an absolute Apostasie from God the Father and Christ their Redeemer, but in an outward profession still to acknowledge him, and to be called Christians; though by their Idolatry and spiritual whoredoms they indeed denied the Lord that bought them, (i.e.) whom they profest to be their Redeemer; just as Israel for the like is said to have forsaken the Lord their God that brought them out of the Land of AEgypt. Here therefore the case of both is alike; let us also see the rest.
You ask, Where was the true Church we speak of in Antichrist's time? I ask likewise, Where was the Company of true worshippers in Ahab's time? was it not so covered and scattered under the Apostate Israelites, that Elias himself, who was one of it, could scarce find it? I have been very jealous (saith he) for the Lord God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken thy Covenant, thrown down thy Altars, and slain thy Prophets with the sword; and I, even I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it away, 1 Kings 19. 14. Yet the Lord tells him, verse 18. I have yet left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. Yet I trow these seven thousand were not outwardly severed from the rest of Israel, but remained still external members of the same Visible body with them.
But you will except, that the true and unstained Church in Iudah was still visible and apparent. I ask you then, Where was the Company of the true worshippers of Iehovah in Manasses time, the worst time of all other? when the ten Tribes were carried captive, and but Iudah and Benjamin only left; and they, as far as the eye of man can see, wholly and generally fallen from the Lord their God to all manner of Idols and Idolatries, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel: 2 Chron. 33.when in the Temple it self, the only place where the true God was legally to be worshipt, were Idolatrous Altars erected, even in the House whereof the Lord had said, In this House and in Ierusalem will I put my name for ever; even in this House, this holy House, were Idols and graven Images erected, and in both Courts thereof Altars to Baalim, the Sun, the Moon, and the whole host of heaven; the like whereof never had been until that time. Besides, who is able to name the man for almost fifty years together that remained a Faithful servant and True worshipper of the Living God in the midst of this hideous profanation? Nor is it easie to be conceived, how it was possible all that time to offer any Legal sacrifice without Idolatry, when God's own Temple and House was made a den of Idols; nay his Altar, the only Altar of Israel, destroyed, to make room for Altars erected to Idols; as may be gathered 2 Chron. 33. 15, 16. Where was the true Church of Israel now? or had the Lord no Church at all? Yes certainly, he had a Church, and a Company which defiled not their garments; a Company (I say,) but not visibly distinguished from the rest of their Nation, but hidden as it were in the midst of that Apostate body, and yet known together with the rest to be Israelites and people of Iehovah; but known to God alone and themselves to be true Israelites and faithful servants to Iehovah their God. And that such a Company there was, and a strong party too, though not seen, appeared presently upon the death of Manasses and his wicked son, when Iosiah began to reign at eight years of age. For they then prevailed even in the Court it self, and so brought up the King, that even while he was yet young, in the eighth year of his reign, he began to seek after the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year to make a publick and powerful Reformation,2 Chron. 34. such as the like was never done before him. Could all this have been done so soon, and by a King so young in years, and to carry all before it like a torrent, unless there had been a strong party, which now having a King for them, began quickly to shew themselves and to sway the State, though before they were hardly to be seen?
When therefore our Adversaries ask us where our Church was before Luther, we see by this what we have to answer.
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