I By such a shaking he prepared the way for Christ's first eomlng, and in like man- ner he will prepare the way for his second appearance. Great have been the cliangea he has made in the world before this, but there is still to come a much greater, Grotius.
t Accessorium sequitur naturam principalis. Ageiites et consentientes, pari jfoenn pleclwUurt
530 A^'tIPHAIlMACUM SALUBEEHmor,
Lastly^ Consider how careful God hath always been io keep liig people off at the greatest distance from idolatry. Compare these scriptures, 2 Kings xvii. 15. Ezek. xliv. 20. Numb, xxxii. S8, 1 Thess. V. 22. Heb. iv. 1. O let these arguments be impartially weighed, and let not any low fleshly interest be set up to oppose them.
Bercare of such persons as are factors and agents fir antichrist^ tind K'cep off from such a ministry^ the tendency and scope of which, is to entice and drazv you to idolatry^ Matth. vii. 15. and x. 17. Phil, iii. 2. Col. ii. 8.
There is a * generation of men now abroad, skilful to destroy souls, who would make merchandise of you, and by good words and fair speeches, deceive the hearts of the simple [axaKctyi] such as mean well, but want prudence to discern such as mean ill. These are of two sorts ; the generality of them are, by the righteous hand of God, given over to such dissoluteness and debauchery, that their folly and madness is made manifest to all men, 2 Tim. iii. 9. And others that have gifts and parts, how few are there of them, but employ them in defending abominable superstitions, and persuading their congregations to submit to them: So that you have your choice, whether you will drink poison, mixed with water, or in- fused into brisk and generous wine, which will give it a speedier access to the spirits. These are -f- wells without water, deceiving the hope of weary and thirsty souls: Clouds they are without rain, that send not forth one gracious shower to refresh the inheritance of the Lord : The best of them is a brier, and the most upright of them sharper than a thorn-hedge, Micah vii. 4.
I believe there be many among you that are sharp set, and by this time have felt the misery of a spiritual famine. It is bread you come for, but your Father hath shut up house^ and is gone for a time, the glory is departed ; they are become wells without water, breasts without milk : Is there not a vanity in these, as well as in the creatures, when God is withdrawn from them? We may say concerning them, as Isaac did to his father. Gen. xxii. 7. " Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the sacri- fice ?" Here you may see the skin and shadow of an ordinance, but where is the power ? Where is the life, quickening, and soul- refreshment, that was wont to accompany them ? Ah poor Eng-.
* It is not my design to asperse any godly person, that by the prevalency of temp- tation may join with them ; The Lord, I hope, will recover stxch out of the snare : But I speak of the body and generality of them.
f They boast and make no small noise about scripture, but understand it not ; yea, they pervert it, they open, as it were, fountains of learning, who, kowever, are des- titute of the wholesome waters of sound doctrine.
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land ! what hast thou lost ! what a ministry hast thou sinned away ! Wast thou not renowned among tlie nations for the power and purity of ordinances ? Were not thy ministers as sheep com- ing up from the washing, whereof every one bare twins, and none was barren among them ? How was the Lord Jesus lifted up in thy ministry, that all might see the necessity, beauty, and excel- lency of him ! and did not the pangs of the new-birth frequently come upon souls in thine assemblies? But alas, those days are over, they are gone, they are gone; ah wo us, that we must say, so it was ! Well then, what will you do in this case ? Will you seek the living among the dead? Will you suck empty breasts, whence you can draw nothing but wind or blood ? O no, but rather say, as Cant. i. 7. " Tell me, O thou whom my soul " loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at " noon, for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks " of thy companions ?" These companions of Christ, must be none of yours.
A?'^. 1. Because it is the manifest drift and design of their mi- nistry, to unteach and beguile you of those precious gospel-truths which you have formerly received and learned : this some of them have not shunned to declare in the face of their congregations; and nothing is more apparent, than that it is the design they all manage* I appeal to your own observations, what is more com- mon with them, than to tell you, you have been misguided by your teachers these twenty years, and now must return to the good old way, which themselves are utterly unacquainted with ?
Now what do you, by attendance on such a ministry, but run your souls upon a temptation to unsettlement and apostasy, and dig a grave (as I may say) to bury all the precious truths you have learnt under your former faithful ministers ? who may sigh over you, and say as Peter Martyr did, when he was in Oxford, at the coming in of queen Mary* He heard a college-bell ring to mass, and looking out at his study-window, saw the scholars flocking apace to it ; being struck to the heart with this sight, he brake out into this expression, Hcec jma notula (said he) omnem meam doctri- nam evertit, (i e.) This bell rings a passing-peal to all my doc- trine : And upon serious consideration, this will appear to be no small evil. For you cannot but be convinced, that it is your duty to be iramoveably fixed in the truths of the gospel, which you have received, and to suffer no man to spoil you of them : If you doubt that, road 9, Pet. iii. 17, 18* Col. i. 23. Eph. iii. 17. Col. ii. 6, 7. 1 Cor. xv. 58.
And if this be your sin, to be moved away from it, then it must needs be your duty, to avoid the temptations, means and occa- sions of such unsettlement. And this is that which is intended in
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all those cautions given in the word, and but lately recited.
I am against the prophets that steal the word, every man from his neighbour, Jer. xxiii. 60. He means the false prophets that enticed the people from those truths, wliich the true prophets had taught them. There be spiritual cut purses abroad, pray look to yourselves : The old Chemarims are revived again in this gene- ration : The word Zeph. i. 4. is conceived to come from i)2d hi- ccduit; (i. e.) Men more zealous and hot than ordinary, for their superstitious traditions ; inflamed with desires to draw you to it : Ut 77iidtitudine seqiiocium, scse efferant : Which the apostle en> glishes. Gal. vi. 13. that they may glory in your flesh : And there- fore beware of men.