THese are the Words of the Apostle Paul, and urged by him as a Reason, why he did believe the Report he had heard concerning their Schismes and Contentions; For as we find, Chap. 1. He tels them, Verse 11.that he was informed by some who were related to the Family of Chloe (who seems to have been a Woman of Quality and Re­pute in that Church of Corinth) that there were Contentions among them: Each Party endeavouring to cry up those Teachers by whom they were first converted, or most profited, to the Preju­dice and Disgrace of the rest: Whereupon, one said, Verse 12.he was of [Page 2] Paul; i. e. a Disciple of Paul; another was for Peter; a third sort for Apollos; whereby they did not so much bandy against one a­nother, as oppose the Honour of the Lord Christ; who, by these Ministers, as his Instruments, did work their Salvation. And therefore for them, to have such fierce and vehement Conten­tions, about those who were meerly subordinate, and could do nothing but as the Power of Christ did co-operate with them, ar­gued these Corinthians, notwithstanding their Gifts, to be very raw, V. 4, 7. childish, and carnal Christians: As the Apostle concludes, Chap. 3. For-while one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are not ye carnal? i. e. Are ye not led by very weak and childish Inclinations, to make such a Note of Difference among your selves, because of your Teachers?) For who is Paul? and who is Apollos, but Ministers, by whom (i. e. by whose Ministry, and Preaching) ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? (i. e. according to that ability which God was pleased to distri­bute to each of his Ministers) to him therefore the sole Honour is due, and not to be factiously ascribed to any of his Servants; as the Apostle further argues, I have planted, i. e. laid amongst you the Foundation of Christian Faith; Apollos hath wateved i.e. by his Eloquence (for we read that he was [...], Acts 18.25. i. e. a well spoken man) Apollos hath added a Verdure and Freshness to my Doctrine, and made it spring up amongst you: But, saith he, God gave the increase, i. e. made it fruitful and effectual. From whence it fol­lowes, that neither he that planteth is any thing, i. e. to be esteemed, and solely gloried in; nor he that watereth, but God who giveth the increase.

Having thus convinced them of their Folly, as well as sin, in making Schismes upon such ill-grounded pretences; he proceeds in this Chapter, to take notice of a great Disorder, which they committed even at the time of the Sacrament; for there, when they should have acted in the highest Love and Coudescention towards each other, yet then they brought their Contentions and Animosities along with them, and made the Publick Assembly, (for so I understand the Word [...], since the Christians as yet had no publick Places of Resort, but met, as they could, in Private Houses) witnesses of their unchristian Discord. When ye come together in the Church, saith he, i. e. as Iunderstand it, in the Rublick Assembly, I hear that there be Divisions among you: and [Page 3]though it might seem a thing almost impossible, at that time, when you come to receive the Lords Supper, and in that Place, when all the Faithful are met together, there should be any so bold Defyers of Christian Charity and Order, as then and there, to vent their Discontents, and manifest an ambitious Strife; yet, saith he, I partly believe it; For there must also be Heresies amongst you, &c. And therefore I do not much wonder if you begin so early in Schism and Separation.

The words contain Two Parts. 1. A Prediction. There must be Heresies. 2. One Reason or Ground of it. That [...], i. e. those that are approved and sincere, may be made manifest.

Doct. The Position or Doctrine that I intend to insist on, is, That in the Church of Christ, there is an unavoidable necessity of heresies. Luke 17.1. As our Saviour saith of Offences, [...], i. e. It is un­chanceable, or, it cannot happen but they must come. So say I of He­resies, [...], It is impossible to avoid it, but they will come.

To clear up this, I shall explain these two things. 1. What is meant by Heresies. 2. What are the Grounds or Reasons, why in the Church of Christ, they are so fatally necessary.

For the First, viz. What is Heresie? Some hold it is impossible to be defined, amongst whom was Austin. Others define it to be Sententia humano sensu electa, Scripturae Sacrae contraria, palam edo­cta, & pertinaciter defensa, i. e. Mat. Paris. p. 874. An Opinion chosen by a mans own Understanding, contrary to the holy Scriptures, openly taught, and ob­stinately defended. Which is the Desinition of Grosthead, the Learned Bishop of Lincolne, who for his singular Zeal in opposing the Popes Usurpations in England, was stiled, Romanorum Mal­leus & Contemptor. With this Desinition, because of the Learn­ing and Vertue of its Author, I should acquiesce, but that all who have got long possession of any Tenet, charge Dissenters with the name of Hereticks; and every one, who maintains any singular Opinion, doth endeavour to back it with Authority of Scripture. And therefore without attending to Conclusions of others, the best way to understand aright the nature and meaning of Heresie, will be to have recourse our selves unto the Scripture, from whence alone we had the first Notice of such a thing; I mean, as it is a thing criminal and damnable.

In the Scripture I find the word [...] to be vox mediae signifi­cationis, [Page 4]and to signifie any Opinion indifferently, whether good or bad. Acts 15.17. Thus we read of the heresie of the Sadduces; and the heresie of the Pharisees. And Paul mentions it of himself, by way of ho­nour: Acts 15.5. Acts 26.5. according to the most exact or accurate heresie or Opinion of our Religion, I lived a Pharisee. But for the most part, the word [...] is taken in an ill sense, to signifie, an Opinion repugnant to the sense of Scripture, and likewise destructive of the Civil Peace. Thus when Tertullus would blast the Repute of Christian Religi­on before Felix, the Roman Deputy, he cals it an heresie: We have, saith he, Acts 24 5. speaking in behalf of the Jews against Paul, found this man [...], a very Pest, and one that moveth [...], Sedition, or up­roar amongst the Jews, throughout the world; and a chief Leader of the Sect or Heresie of the Nazarenes: So doth he in contempt call the Christians, as being the followers of Jesus of Nazareth, which was a Name of Disgrace and Obloquy among them. As Paul te­stifies of himself, whilst he was yet an Unbeliever; [...], I thought with my self, Acts 26.9. that I ought to do many things against the Name of Jesus of Nazareth. In this sense is the word Heresies to be understood, Gal. 5.20, 21. when by the Apostle they are reckoned among Works of the Flesh, and they are joyned with Strife, Seditions, Wrath, Envyings, which are the usual Attendants of Heresie. Now be­cause Works of the flesh are of two sorts, either such as flow from the fleshly Understanding (as the Apostle cals corrupt Reason, [...], the Understanding of the Flesh) or such as flow from the fleshly Will; Col. 2.18. accordingly there are two sorts of heresies mentioned and spoken against in Scripture. 1. Such as upon Presumptions of natural Reason, do contradict express and clear Revelation of Scripture. 2 Pet. 2.1. Thus the Apostle Peter cals the denying our Lord Christ, i. e. either his Nature, as the Socinians of our times; or his Offices, as all the Papists do, a damnable Heresie. There shall, saith he, be false Teachers among you, who [...], shall covertly, (or over and above, or contrary to the Truth) bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them. So the Opinion of those, who under pretence of Humility, brought in the Worship of Angels, into the Church of Colosse, was a Formal heresie, since the Authors of it, had no warrant of Scripture to add such kind of Party Medi­ators to Christ, Col. 2.18. but as the Apostle speaks, were rashly puffed up by their fleshly mind. Thus the denying of the Resurrection of the Body, by some in the Church of Corinth, was a great Heresie, as over­throwing [Page 5]the Foundation of a Christians hope, 1 Cor. 15.12. and opening a door to all manner of Impiety and Villany; For if the dead rise not, the Consequence is very natural and reasonable, let us eat and drink, for to morrow we shall die 2. Verse 32.There are another sort of He­resies spoken against in Scripture, which flow from the fleshly will, and have an immediate tendency to patronize and encourage dissoluteness of Lise, such was the Heresie of the Nicolaitans, who held, that it was lawful to eat things offered to Idols, i. e. to commit I olatry, in times of Persecution; and to commit Fornication, Apoc. 3, 14, 15. which our Saviour speaks sharply against in the Revelations, cal­ling it the Doctrine of Balaam, and expresseth his utter dislike of such Tenets, in these words, which I hate. 2 Pot. 2. So the Apostle Peter speaks against some vicious Hereticks (as some think, the Gno­sticks) who, under pretence of advancing Christian Liberty, Verse 19.gave themselves up to all manner of Impurity; promising, saith he, Li­berty, they themselves are the Servants of Corruption. Jude v 8. Jude carries on the same mens heresie further, and saith, they did not only, de­file the flesh, but by stretching the Notion of Liberty, beyond its due Bounds, did set at nought Government, and revile Dignities, i. e. undervalue, disesteem, and disobey their Civil Governours. Which kind of Heresies, as they are more dangerous, so they are more damnable then others; because there can be no pretence of Conscience to justifie them. From what I have said concer­ning Heresies, as I find them recorded in Scripture, I draw this ge­neral Definition of them all. An Heresie is such an Opinion, as either hath no Foundation in Scripture, (as the Worship of Angels, among the Colossians) or, expresly contradicts it (as the denial of the Resur­surrection, among the Corinthians) or, Mistakes and misse-interprets it, to countenance dissoluteness of Life, and disobedience unto the Civil Magistrate.

The necessity that there should be such heresies in the Church of Christ, will appear, from the consideration, 1. Of the Causes. 2. Of the Occasions, which concur to the producing of them.

1. The Necessity of Heresies will appear from the consideration of their Causes, and they are these three, 1. God permitting. 2. Sa­tan exciting. 3. Man begetting and ingendring of them.

Cause. 1 1. The first Cause of Heresies, which makes the being of them necessary, is, Gods permission of them. Where, by Permission, I do not mean, an idle, unconcerned, ineffectual letting them passe [Page 6]only, and barely suffering them to be; but Gods wise, powerful, and mighty ordering of them, as he did the hardness of Pharaohs heart, for very gracious and holy ends, especially these two.

1. For the Trial of the Godly: As the Apostle hath it, that the [...], the sincere and single-hearted Christians, might, by this means, appear the more eminent and conspicuous. As it did shew the Power of God, to preserve the Bush (by which his peo­ple of Israel was represented) in the midst of the Fire; so doth his Power equally appear, when his Truth is born witness to, in the midst of the Triumph and Efficacy of Errour. Were there but one Opinion which passed for currant among Christians, there would not appear any thing extraordinary in the owning of it; but when there are so many Parties, each crying up their own way, as the Ephesians did their Diana, there to keep touch with the things of God, and, in spight of all contradiction, openly to avow and countenance them, this shews a well-principled Inte­grity; a temper that God is singularly delighted with. In the world, God lets his Heaven be oftentimes wrapped up in clouds, that the stars which he hath appointed for the Government of the Night, Vid. Deut. 13.1, 3. may appear more bright and useful: So in the Church, which is Gods Heaven on Earth, the most visible Mansion of the Divine Nature, he lets Darkness break forth, and thick Vapours; that those Saints of his, whom he cals Lights of the world, may shine with the greater Lustre, and redouble their Beams, from the greatness of the Opposition made against them. We must not think that God hath either given us Faith or Knowledge, which are his choicest Largesses, but he intends to try the constancy of the one, and the seriousness of the other: And since the greater Difficulties we encounter, still the more Honour redounds to God, who is our General; therefore he will seem to hazard his Truth, by letting it, to outward appearance, be lost as it were, in the midst of a swarm of Heresies, that by raising up some Heroick Champions, he may recover it again with greater advantage. Thus in the first ages of the Church, Peter rescued Freedom of Com­munion with the Gentiles; Paul asserts Freedom from the Yoke of needless and insignificant Ceremonies; and John defended the Eternal Divinity of our Saviour, against the Narrow-spirited, Tyrannical, and Hellish Impostures of the Hereticks in their Times: And in all ages, many there are recorded to us of great [Page 7]esteem and credit in the Church of Christ, whose Memories, in all probability, had not survived their Bodies, had not they sig­nalized themselves by their zealous asserting of Truth, when it was almost swallowed up by the Deluge, or outfaced by the autho­rity of Errour. And such Examples God will ever continue; for which Reason, he lets Heresie, like Pharaoh and his Egyptians, captivate his Truth, that he may send some Moses and Aarons for the Redemption and Deliverance of it.

2. The Second, and no less principal end, Ezek. 3.20. as to the Design of God, why he permits Heresies, is, that Reprobates may have occa­sions presented them of stumbling and taking Offence. When a wicked man turns from that Righteousness he once pretended to, God saies, I lay a stumbling block before him; and upon the wicked, the Psalmist saies, God raines Snares, i. e. Psal. 11.6. scatters Traps and Snares in their way, that they may be taken. There are some men, who in Scripture are stiled, the People of Gods curse, the Vessels of his wrath, Isa. 34.5. Rom. 9.21. Jude v. 4. and by Jude, Forewritten unto condemnation: To whom Gods great­est methods of Goodness prove only means of hardning them, to sin more desperately; thus did Gods Word prove to the Israe­lites: It was, saith the Prophet, Line upon Line, Isa. 2.8, 13. and Precept upon Precept, that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. And Christ, to the unbelieving Jews, became a Sione of stumbling, and a Rock of Offence, unto which, 1 Pet. 2.8. saith the Apo­stle Peter, they were appointed. So the Gospel, [...], to lost, and perishing Wretches, is a Savour of death. But what these things do only by accident, that Heresies do in their own proper nature, 2 Cor. 2.15. i. e. they harden Unbelievers, and make them more resolute in their opposing of the Truth. As when God did intend Ahab should go down to battel, and perish there, 1 Kings 22.22. he let a Lying Spirit of Prophesie be in the mouth of all his Prophets; For, saith he, thou shalt perswade him, and prevail also. So when God sees a com­pany of lazy, vicious men, who are weary of the Powerful plain­ness of Truth, then he lets some corrupt Doctrines be scattered a­broad, which may fit those Inclinations, they are already princi­pled with: and likewise, when others have curious itching Ears, and sound Doctrine will not rellish with them, then God suffers some lofty airy speculations to be broached, by study of which, they may grow drunk with Pride and Prejudice against more wholsom Tenets. 2 Thes. 2.10, 12. It was this just Judgment of God upon mens [Page 8]willingness to be deceived, that God gave them up to Antichri­stian, i.e. to Papal Delusions. As the Apostle hath it, Because they re­ceived not the Love of the Truth, that they might be saved. For this cause God shall send them [...], the active power and efficacy of Er­rour, Mat. 18. that they should believe a lie, i.e. a false and feigned doctrine. That they all may be damned who have not believed the Truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness, i.e. in false and unrighteous Tenets. And therefore as our Saviour sayes, Wo to the world, because of Of­fences; so, Wo to the world, because of Heresies; because as we set traps to catch Vermine, so God appoints these to ensnare arrogant and self-presuming, or vicious and self-defiling men.

Cause. 2 2. The second Cause which concurs to the producing of Here­sies, is Satan exciting. That evil Spirit, whom our Saviour cals, the Prince of the world, and the Apostle, the ruler of the Darkness of the world; out of that innate hatred he hath to Truth, by which his Kingdom is overthrown, scatters the seeds of Errour and ignorance, every where up and down the world: and as he set upon our Saviour with misse quoted Scripture, in which he ap­peared so dexterous and ready, as if he intended to puzzle and non-plus his eternal wisdom: So the most deadly and poysonous heresies, have by him, by a strange kind of Chymistry, been extra­cted out of the same holy Scriptures. Thus he brought in the pra­ctise of needless rigour and austerity of Life, Col. 2. under pretence of Christian strictness and severity, in those Precepts, Touch not, tast not, 1 Tim. 4. handle not. Thus brought he in the Doctrine of forbidding mar­riages, under pretence of Christian Chastity and Absti­nence, 2 Cor. 11.3. which the Apostle in express words, cals the Doctrine of Devils. Thus he brought in Superstition, Will-worship, and idle Cere­monies, under pretence of Christian Decency and Order; thereby, as the Apostle complains, the Serpent beguiling many through his Subtilty, Rev. 13. so that their minds were corrupted from the simplicity which was in Christ. Thus lastly, brought he in the cruel and incompassio­nate killing of men that would not worship the Image of the Beast, and in some outward and visible manner acknowledge their. con­formity, under pretence of Christian zeal and care of Truth. In short, as the greatest Cordials, if not rightly prepared, do prove the most deadly and killing Poysons; so the most dangerous and destructive heresies, have been compounded by Satans malice, out of the most Soveraign Drugs of Sacred Truth; but by him pur­posely ill mixed and tempered. And here I desire to observe, [Page 9]that though the Devil likewise doth stir up Persecution, as our Sa­viour felt in himself, when he said of his own Sufferings, that then was the Power of darkness, i.e. Hell was then broke loose, Luke 22.53. and wicked men in crucifying Christ, acted the Devils businesses; so he foretels to the Church of Smyrna, Fear none of those things thou art to suffer; behold the Devil shall cast some of you into prison, Rev. 3.10. that you may be tried. Yet this is but Satans After-game; for his great design is, to eclipse the beauty of Truth, by the Mist of Er­rour: And if he finds, that his Heretical Tares will not take root, then under pretence of Faction; Sedition, and the like old charges, which were laid both against our Saviour, and his Apostles, he destroyes those careful Husbandmen; which would sow better Seed, and leave no room for the Devils Cockle. The Art and Policy of Hell, lies in the quiet spreading of Heresie, for this gains him souls, whereas violence never got him any thing, but the bodies of men; that is, it made them obsequious Slaves, but not real Converts. WE find therefore in the Revelation, Rev. 12. that when the Woman, under which the True Church is emblemed, had brought forth, the Divel stood by, ready to devour her Child as soon as it was born; and for some time, endeavoured to maintain his foot­ing in Heaven, and till he was cast down from thence, did not think of making war with her Seed. The Moral of which Repre­sentation, I take to be this, That when Christian Truth begins to break forth, then the Devil for a time endeavours to destroy it, by disputing the case, and venturing his cause upon Argument; but when he finds himself mastered at that weapon, then he changes the Subtilty of the Serpent, into the Roaring of the Lion; and with open mouth devours his Opposers. But this way the Devil doth not ordinarily try, till his False Doctrines have been baffled and foyled, and he hath no [...], no Wile, no craft left, to countenance the grosseness of his Impostures.

Cause 3 3. The third Cause concurring to the necessary Being of here­sies in the Church, is, Man himself, begetting and ingendring of them. For as the most fruitful and pregnant Seed, if it be not cast into a warm and prepared Soyl, soseth all its Vertue, so those Seeds of Errour the Devil sowes, if the heart of man was not a fit soyl for them, would never rise up again in so large an harvest of absurd and impious Heresies. Were the winds never so fierce, yet if the water of the Sea were not of an unstable and moveable [Page 10]nature, there would never be any Tempest. So, how impetuous and violent soever the Gusts, and Breath of Satans Temptations be, yet if our nature were not of it self ductile, and pliant, the world had never been so prodigiously tossed up and down, nay, often overturned by erroneous Maximes. Now there are Two Principles in man, which are alwaies susceptible of any false and Heretical Impression; the one is, his Ignorance in spiritual mat­ters, the other is, his Pride inNatural Knowledge. By his Igno­rance, he is apt to mistake Errour for truth, and by his Pride he is apt to propagate it; that like Simon Magus (the first noted Heretick in the Church of Christ) he may appear some body in the eyes of a few partial Followers; Acts 8. and this is it, which makes his Errour Heresie. So that till we can find some Art to change the Nature of man, to make his Understanding more refined, sub­lime and spiritual; till we can purge the Will from prejudice, de­sign and partiality; till we can alter the course of his Affections; and set them afloat another way, to love God, in stead of him­self, and to prefer Truth before applause; till we can do this, we have as little hope to see the Church free from Heresies, as to have our Gardens clear from infectious Mists and Vapours, which have the Sun to exhale, the wind to convey, and a Bog hard by, to ingender them.

But besides these Causes, which do absolutely necessitate the Being of Heresies. There are two other Occasions, which do migh­tily conduce, if I may so speak, to the well-being of them, i. e. to their easier growth and spreading. And they are, 1. Scripture­difficulty. 2. Christian Liberty.

Occasion 1 1. The Difficulty of Scripture is a very great occasion for the increase of Heresies, because of that variety of Interpretation, which many places, especially in the Apostle Pauls Epistles, are capable of: Whose Writings, even in the Apostle Peters time, were liable to much misse-construction. For to omit, that the things themselves recorded by him, 2 Pet. 3. are [...], soarcely intelligi­ble, being full of mysterious and fathomless depths, they are written by that excellent Apostle, in a style so dissonant from all Rules of ordinary Grammar, that it requires great pains, meerly to find out his Literal Meaning. Which Industry, very few, who read him with prepossession and prejudice, have leisure for; and therefore hastily expound their own sense, without attending to [Page 11]his: So that, as Tertullian observes, De Praescript. Haeretic. God seems to have ordered the Text of Scripture on purpose, that it might afford opportunity to Heretical Glosses. For as in the works of Providence, though the whole Frame and Systeme of the world be admirably well-composed, composed, yet, if we consider them in patcels, we shall meet with many things, which will startle us into jealous, and misse­believing Thoughts. So is it in that compleat body of Divine Truth contained in Scripture, the whole Connexion and Series, as it relates to the Messiah, foretold in the Old, and fulfilled in the New Testament, together with those ravishing heights of Heavenly Directions for life, is most ineffably curious, and excel­lent: But if we take those things asunder, and consider them distinctly, by Chapter and Verse, we shall meet with Mistakes in Chronology, Variations in Names, Diversity of Readings, and some lesser seeming contradictions, which to a snarling and quarrelsom wit, are so many Bones, for him to spend his mouth upon, with­out minding more wholsom and digestible Food. And yet this makes very much for the plausible entrance of an Heresie, that it hath the Letter of Scripture to countenance it: The Papist will urge for his Implicit Faith, Hear the Church, Mat. 18. without ever con­sidering, that by the Church there, is not meant, what he fancies, a Pope, or Cardinals, or Councils, or Fathers, but a Select Number of Christians; which is the only sense wherein that word Church is taken throughout the whole New Testament, when it is used by our Saviour and his Apostles. So the Socinian shelters his impi­ous denying of our Saviours Divine Nature, under that, which he finds our Saviour speaking, The Father is greater then I: not considering in what capacity our Saviour spake these words, viz. John 16. according to the Person he then took; or how many other places there are, wherein his equality with the Father is asserted. The Arminian wants not the same Plausibilities for his Free will: and in short, no Heresie that ever yet was in the Christian world, but pleaded Scripture for its defence and Patronage; which such strange Variety of Opinions could never have done, were not the Scripture exceeding difficult and hard to be understood, and thereby an occasion given for the Rise and Conceiving of them.

Occasion 2 2. The second Occasion of the large growth and spreading of Heresies, is Christian Liberty: Which in no Religion is allowed, [Page 12]nay commanded, in that Latitude, as in ours. For we are enjoyned to try all things, 1 Thes. 5.21. 1 John 4.1. Cal. 1.8. and then, to hold fast that which is good: We are bid, to try the Spirits, and though an Angel should come form Hea­ven, and preach to us, we are not to believe him, if he teach a­ny thing contrary to this Gospel. We are commanded to see with our own eyes, and to chuse for our selves; without depending any further upon the Authority of Fathers and Doctors, Isa. 8.20. then as they speak according to this word, which under the severest penal­ties, we are obliged to study and peruse. For as God, in the old Testament, Mal. 1. would not have the blind for sacrifice, so neither will he in the New; and they had as good not worship him at all, who like the Samaritans, John 4. worship him they know not why. And as in point of Judgment, we are to be thus free; so likewise in point of Practise, 1 Cor. 7. Mat. 15. Gal. 5.1. as to Religious Rites and Orders, we are commanded, not to be the servants of men; not to worship God by the Precepts of men; not to be entangled with any yoke of Bondage, but to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free; James 1.1, 2. Whereupon, our Gospel is called the Royal Law of Liberty; and we are, so to speak, and so to do, as those that shall be judged by that Law. Yea, further, as we are to be thus free in our selves, so we are to be exceeding charitable and tender towards others, bearing with our weak bre­thren; and if they do but hold the Foundation of Faith and good works, to tolerate the Hay and Stubble, which they may build up­on it. And the reason of this is, because our Religion, as it sprang from Heaven, so is it maintained from thence; as the Spirit of God did first discover, so doth it still reveal it; and by a new and almighty Birth, of dead and sinful men, make us Living and sincere Christians: 2 Cor. 3.16. Now where the Spirit of God is, saith the Apostle, there is Liberty, i. e. not only Freedom from Errour and Ignorance, of which he there speaks, but from those wretched and inhumane Acts of Force and Fraud, whereby other Political In­ventions, rather then Religions, are continued and upheld in the world: For whereas all others hate the Light, and will not en­dure to have their Principles questioned, as is clear in that devil­lish Cheat and Mystery of Iniquity, the Papacy: Our Religion desires nothing more, then to be sifted to the bottom, that so it may be chosen, for its own native Truth and Excellency, and not for any outward Advantages, or to serve a State-turn, which Christian Religion will never stoop to do. And whoever have [Page 13]not after the most serious study and impartial Examination, arri­ved to an embracing of this Faith, must needs lose the Comfort, Satisfaction and Sweetness of it, because till a man hath met with, and in his own mind resolved all Objections that make against him, he cannot be certain that he is in the right, but must upon the rising of every doubt, be full of anxious fear and perplexity. This which I have said concerning the necessity of Christian Liber­ty, doth by accident prove a great means for the propagating of Heresies; for as where the Soyl is good, and the Ayr free and warm, Weeds will spring up as well as good Corn: So is it in the Church of Christ, since there is Liberty allowed for variety of Judgments, Errour must needs thrive and spread, as well as truth. Mat. 13. Especially since we may not pull up the Tares, or by the hand of violence, stop the Progress of the most deceitful Errour; but if sound Perswasion, if Demonstration of the Spirit and Scripture, if Rejecting of the Heretick, and forbearing of Communion with him, will not prevail, to make him renounce his Errour, I am not yet convinced, that in Opinions concerning Matters meerly spiritu­al, our Religion doth allow any other more offensive weapons. So that since to that Liberty, which is given to the sowing of He­resies, there is added Impunity unto their growth and progress, it must needs follow, that the Causes I mentioned, do not more necessitate the Being of Heresies, then these Occasions will neces­sitate their Thriving and Continuance.

Use 1 1. The Inference from hence shall be to teach us, not to mistake the Occasions of Heresie, for the Causes of it. Among those who are exact and critical Writers of History, as Polybius, Tacitus, and others, we find, they distinguish carefully between the [...], and the [...], the Beginning, and the causes of a War. The Begin­ning of a War may arise from somthing apparent and visible; whereas the cause of it may be more deeply laid, even concealed from the view of the Actors. So in this case, the Occasions in­deed of Heresie, which do midwife it into the world, are Scrip­ture-difficulty, and christian Liberty: Whereas the true causes are those I have mentioned; especially Man himself, whose Heart is the Womb, in which that evil Birth is formed. And therefore let us take heed that through hast and prejudice, we ac­cuse not either the Scriptures, or due Christian Freedom, of those Errours, which meerly our own Ignorance, Presumption and [Page 14]Partiality do produce. To accuse the Scripture for our Heresies, is all one as if, because we meet with ill sents, we should blame the Sun, and not the Dunghil. So likewise, as to Liberty of Con­science, to charge that with the production of Errours, is all one, as if the Ayr without, rather then ill humours within us, should be thought the cause of our Diseases. Let wicked and light-spirited men then bear the blame of whatever Follies they hold; and not either the Reading of Scripture be disgraced, without which, there can be no Knowledge of Truth: nor Liberty of Conscience be de­barred; without which, there can be no openness of Profession; both which are as necessary to Christian Faith, as the Sun and Ayr are to Natural Life, we cannot see without the one, nor breath without the other. Take away Scripture, and we are in this world as Mariners upon the Sea, without a Compass; who have nothing but the violence of waves, and the uncertain motion of the wind, to drive them. Deny Liberty, I mean, in things Lawful, then Christian Prudence, Charity, condescention, and wise doing, or forbearing of things indifferent, as we see occasion, lie all useless by us, and we labour to become more knowing then others, to no purpose.

Use 2 2. Is it so necessary, that there must be heresies, then let us not take offence, or think ever a whit the worse of our Religion, for that great Variety of Heresies which have sprung up in our daies. When the Apostle Paul was himself in trouble, he writes to the Church of Thessalonica, That no man should be moved by these affli­ctions; for, saith he, your selves know, that we were appointed thereunto, for verily when we were with you, 1 Thes. 3, 3, 4. we told you before, that we should suffer Tribulation, even as it came to pass. If they were to be com­forted under their Afflictions, because he foretold them, we have the same reason to be comforted under our Heresies, since he foretold them too; and from thence hath afforded us an excellent Argument, to assert our Saviours Truth and Veracity, and in that, the Truth of our Religion, against all Opposers. This use the Primitive Writers made of them, when Celsus and others did object to the Christians, the great variety of Opinions, and diversity of Judgments amongst them, so that, say they, Were we willing to turn Christians, we know not of what Party to be, since not­withstanding your Feuds and Quarrels, you all equally pretend to Christ. To this, Tertullian, Origen, and the rest reply, Haereses [Page]non dolemus venisse, quiae novimus esse praedictas. WE are not at all sorry, that Heresies are come, for we knew it was foretold they should come. So that the very Argument, which the Heathens used to disgrace Christianity, was by those wise and Learned men im­proved for the Illustration and confirming of it: And, indeed, since, as I have already demonstrated, Demonstrati­on that Jesus is the Christ. there cannot be a more ra­tional Proof of the Divine Mission of any, then the fulfilling of his Prophesies, it is very admirable to consider, how our Saviour hath left such Predictions behind him; which were beyond any Hu­mane Foresight, and yet every Age hath been fulfilling some or other of them, ever since his time. That a Religion so harmless, and inoffensive, should be persecuted: that notwithstanding per­secution, it should take root, and be preached throughout the world: That presently after it was propagated, there should be Sects and Heresies formed out of it; and this to be the constant, un-erring Fate of our Religion, was a thing beyond all Rational and meerly humane Conjecture; and therefore the fulfilling of this great Prediction concerning Heresies, should make us with thankfulness look up to Christ, who hath already armed us against any Prejudice we may receive from them, since they are only dis­coveries of his Truth, and Trials of ours.

Use 3 But yet, Thirdly and Lastly, Let no man think, that because Heresies are necessary, that therefore any shall be excused, who is the Author of them; Heresies are no otherwise necessary, then Scandals and Sins are, of which, our Saviour saith, [...], they must be; but yet, saies he, Wo be to that man by whom they come. Mat. 18. Rom. 16.17. Mark them, saith the Apostle Paul, which cause Divisions and Offences, contrary to the Doctrine which ye have received, and avoid them. And in another place, [...], The Sect-making man, after the first and second Admonition, reject; Tit. 3. [...]. knowing that such a one is quite perverted, and sins, being self-condemned. All which Places, with many other, making so directly against new-fang­ledness of Opinion, I cannot but wonder at the boldness of those men, who are not content only to start up new and needless O­pinions, but to the dishonour of our Religion, and their own Eternal Ruine, if they repent not, make those Opinions the Grounds of Separation from all Church-Assemblies, but their own. Whoever doth thus set up for himself, must be able to demon­strate these Three things. 1. That the Opinion he dissents from, [Page]is apparently false and damnable. 2. That the Opinion he him­self holds, is certainly and infallibly true. 3. That it is abso­lutely unlawful for him to joyn in communion with another, who in that particular (as for instance, in Infant-Baptism) differs in Judgment from him. The two first of which Assertions, very sew of our Separate Churches will be able to maintain, and I am sure, the last, none can. For if the Errour of another be not im­posed upon my Practise, I ought not to withdraw my self from the Communion of any, who hold the Foundation of Christian Faith, namely, Belief in Jesus being the Christ; as is clear in the practise of these Corinthians, among whom, some denied the Re­surrection, and yet were all present at the same Sacrament. This Doctrine, because it strikes at the Root of all Separation, which cannot be justified, but in case of indispensable necessity, viz. when such things are imposed upon us, as Conditions of Commu­nion, which we cannot in Conscience submit to; for there if we depart, we do not go, but are driven out. But this deserves to be more largely handled; which I shall reserve for a particular Treatise.