the place before cited: _First_, Is there not now a measuring of the
temple, ordinances and worshippers, by “a reed like unto a rod?” The reed
of the sanctuary in the Assembly’s hand, and the rod of power and law in
your hand, are well met together. _Secondly_, There is a court, which
before seemed to belong to the temple, left out and not measured: “From
him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath,” Matt. xxv.
29. The Samaritans of this time, who serve the Lord, and serve their own
gods too (2 Kings xvii. 33, 34), and do after the manners of idolaters,
have professed (as they of old to the Jews, Ezra iv. 2), that they would
build with you; that they will be for the true Protestant religion as you
are; that they will also consent to the reformation of abuses, for the
ease of tender consciences. But God doth so alienate and separate betwixt
you and them, by his overruling providence, discovering their designs
against you, and their deep engagements to the popish party, as if he
would say unto them, “Ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in
Jerusalem,” Neh. ii. 20; or as it is in the parable concerning those who
had refused to come when they were invited, yea, had taken the servants of
Christ and entreated them spitefully, and killed them,—the great king hath
said in his wrath, that they shall not taste of his supper, and he sends
forth his armies to destroy those murderers, and to burn up their city,
Matt. xxii. 6, 7; Luke xiv. 24. Surely what they have professed(1398)
concerning reformation is scarce so much as the Pope did acknowledge when
reformation did begin in Germany. However, as it is our heart’s desire and
prayer to God for them that they may be saved, so we are not out of hopes
that God hath many of his own among them, unto whom he will give
“repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.”
Lastly, The time seemeth to answer fitly: The new temple is built when the
forty-two months of the beast’s reign, and of the treading down the holy
city (that is, by the best interpretation, twelve hundred and sixty years)
come to an end. This computation, I conceive, should begin rather before
the four hundredth year of Christ than after it; both because the Roman
Emperor (whose falling was the Pope’s rising) was brought very low before
that time by the wars of the Goths and other barbarous nations, and
otherwise, which will appear from history; and further, because pope
Innocentius(1399) (who succeeded about the year 401) was raised so high
that he drew all appeals from other bishops to the apostolical see,
according to former statutes and customs, as he saith. I cannot pitch upon
a likelier time than the year 383, at which time (according to the common
calculation) a general Council at Constantinople (though Baronius and some
others reckon that Council in the year 381) did acknowledge the primacy of
the bishop of Rome,(1400) only reserving to the bishop of Constantinople
the second place among the bishops. Did not then the beast receive much
power when this much was acknowledged by a council of one hundred and
fifty bishops, though sitting in the East, and moderated by Nectarius,
archbishop of Constantinople. Immediately after this council, it is
acknowledged by one of our great antiquaries,(1401) that the bishop of
Rome did labour mightily to draw all causes to his own consistory, and
that he doth scarce read of any heretic or schismatic condemned in the
province where he lived, but straight he had recourse to the bishop of
Rome. Another of our antiquaries(1402) noteth not long before that
Council, that Antichrist did then begin to appear at Rome, and to exalt
himself over all other bishops.
Now if we should reckon the beginning of the beast’s reign about the time
of that Council, the end of it will fall in at this very time of ours. But
I dare not determine so high a point. God’s work will, ere it be long,
make a clearer commentary upon his word. Only let this be remembered, We
must not think it strange if, after the end of the twelve hundred and
sixty years, Antichrist be not immediately and utterly abolished; for when
that time is ended he makes war against the witnesses, yea, overcometh and
killeth them. But that victory of his lasteth only three days and a half,
and then God makes, as it were, a resurrection from the dead, and a tenth
part of the great city falls before the whole fall; see Rev. xi. 3, 7, 11,
13. Whether this killing of the witnesses (which seemeth to be the last
act of Antichrist’s power) be past, or to come, I cannot say: God knows.
But assuredly, the acceptable year of Israel’s jubilee, and the day of
vengeance upon Antichrist, is coming, and is not far off.
But now, is there no other application to be made of this point? Is all
this said to satisfy curious wits, or, at the best, to comfort the people
of God? Nay, there is more than so: it must be brought home to a practical
use. As the assurance of salvation doth not make the child of God the more
presumptuous, but the more humble (Ezek. xvi. 63); neither doth it make
him negligent, but diligent in the way of holiness, and in all the acts of
his spiritual warfare, Phil. iii. 13, 14; 2 Pet. i. 10; so that “every man
that hath this hope in him purifieth himself,” 1 John iii. 3: so
answerably, the assurance of the new temple, and of the sweet days to
come, serveth for a twofold practical use; even as David also applieth
God’s promise of Solomon’s building the temple, 1 Chron. xxii. 9; for thus
he speaketh to the princes of Israel, ver. 19, “Now set your heart and
your soul to seek the Lord your God; arise, therefore, and build ye the
sanctuary of the Lord God;” and this is, beside, the charge which he
giveth to Solomon.
First, then, ye must set your heart and your soul to seek God, forasmuch
as you know it is not in vain to seek him for this thing, Dan. ix. 2, 3.
When Daniel understood by books that the seventy years of Jerusalem’s
desolation were at an end, and that the time of building the temple again
was at hand, then he saith, “I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by
prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.” O let
us do as he did! O let us “cry mightily unto God,” Jonah iii. 8; and let
us, with all our soul, and all our might, give ourselves to fasting and
prayer. Now, if ever, “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much,” James v. 16.
Secondly, And the more actively you must go about the business. “Be ye
stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch
as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord,” 1 Cor. xv. 58.
What greater motive to action than to know that you shall prosper in it?
“Arise therefore, and be doing.”
And so I am led upon the third and last part of the text, of which I shall
speak but very little.
The doctrine is this: Reformation ends not in contemplation, but in
action. The pattern of the house of God is set before us to the end it may
be followed; and the ordinances thereof to the end they may be obeyed:
“Give me understanding (saith David), and I shall keep thy law; yea, I
shall observe it with my whole heart,” Psal. cxix. 34; “If ye know these
things (saith Christ), happy are ye if ye do them,” John xiii. 17. The
point is plain, and needeth no proof but application.
Let me therefore, honourable worthies, leave in your bosoms this one point
more: Many of the servants of God who have stood in this place, and could
do it better than I can, have been calling upon you to go on in the work
of reformation: O “be not slothful in business,” Rom. xii. 11; and forget
not to do as you have been taught. Had you begun at this work, and gone
about the building of the house of God as your first and chief business, I
dare say you should have prospered better. It was one cause, among others,
why the children of Israel (though the greater number, and having the
better cause too) did twice fall before Benjamin, because, while they made
so great a business for the villainy committed upon the Levites’
concubine, they had taken no course with the graven image of the children
of Dan (Jud. xviii. 30, 31), a thing which did more immediately touch God
in his honour.
But I am confident errors of this kind will be now amended, and that you
will, by double diligence, redeem the time. I know your trouble is great,
and your cares many, in managing the war, and looking to the safety of the
kingdom, yet mark what David did in such a case: “Behold, in my trouble
(saith he) I have prepared for the house of the Lord an hundred thousand
talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass
and iron without weight,” 1 Chron. xxii. 14. David did manage great wars
with mighty enemies, (2 Sam. v., viii., x., xi.,) the Philistines,
Moabites, Ammonites, and Syrians; beside the intestine war made first by
Abner (2 Sam. ii. 8), and afterward by Absalom (2 Sam. xv. 10), and after
that by Sheba (2 Sam. xx. 1.) Notwithstanding of all this, in his trouble
and poverty (the word signifieth both), he made this great preparation for
the house of God; and if God had given him leave, he had, in his trouble,
built it too, for you well know he was not hindered from building the
temple by the wars or any other business, but only because God would not
permit him.
Set before you also the example of the Jews, when the prophets of God did
stir them up to the building of the temple, Ezra v. 1, 2. They say not, We
must first build the walls of Jerusalem to hold out the enemy, but the
text saith, “They began to build the house of God.” They were not full
four years in building the temple, and finished it in the sixth year of
Darius, Ezra. iv. 24 with vi. 15. Now all the rest of his reign did pass,
and all Xerxes’ reign, and much of Artaxerxes Longimanus’s reign, before
the walls of Jerusalem were built, for about that work was Nehemiah from
the twentieth year of Artaxerxes to the two and thirtieth year (Neh. v.
14); and if great chronologers be not very far mistaken, the temple was
finished fourscore and three years before the walls of Jerusalem were
finished.(1403)
It is far from my meaning to cool your affection to the laws, liberties,
peace, and safety of the kingdom. I desire only to warm your hearts with
the zeal of reformation, as that which, all along, you must carry on in
the first place.
One thing I cannot but mention: The reverend Assembly of Divines may
lament (as Augustine in another case), _Heu, heu, quam tarde
festino!_—_alas, alas, how slowly do I make speed!_
But since now, by the blessing of God, they are thus far advanced, that
they have found, in the word of God, a pattern for presbyterial government
over many particular congregations; and have found also, from the word,
that ordination is an act belonging to such a presbytery, I beseech you
improve that “whereto we have already attained” (Phil. iii. 16), till
other acts of a presbytery be agreed on afterward. Yourselves know better
than I do, that much people is perishing (Prov. xxix. 18), because there
is no vision: “The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few,”
Luke x. 2, Give me leave, therefore, to quicken you to this part of the
work, that, with all diligence and without delay, some presbyteries be
associated and erected (in such places as yourselves in your wisdom shall
judge fittest), with power to ordain ministers with the consent of the
congregations, and after trial of the gifts, soundness and conversation of
the men. In so doing you shall both please God and bring upon yourselves
the blessing of many poor souls that are ready to perish (Job xxix. 13);
and you shall likewise greatly strengthen the hearts and hands of your
brethren in Scotland, joined in covenant and in arms with you. I say
therefore again, “Arise therefore, and be doing, and the Lord be with
thee,” 1 Chron. xxii. 16; yea, the Lord is with you (Hag. ii. 4, 5)
according to the word that he hath covenanted with you, so his Spirit
remaineth among you: Fear ye not, but “be strong in the Lord, and in the
power of his might.”
A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE HOUSE OF LORDS, IN THE
ABBEY CHURCH AT WESTMINSTER.
A
SERMON
PREACHED BEFORE THE
RIGHT HONOURABLE THE HOUSE OF LORDS,
IN THE ABBEY CHURCH AT WESTMINSTER,
AUGUST 27, 1645;
BEING THE DAY APPOINTED FOR SOLEMN AND PUBLIC HUMILIATION.
BY GEORGE GILLESPIE,
MINISTER AT EDINBURGH, 1642.
“Aliae sunt leges Caesarum, aliae Christi: aliud Papinianus, aliud Paulus
noster praecipit.”—_Hieron. in Epitaphio Fabioloe_
EDINBURGH:
ROBERT OGLE AND OLIVER AND BOYD
M. OGLE & SON AND WILLIAM COLLINS, GLASGOW. J. DEWAR, PERTH. W. MIDDLETON,
DUNDEE.
G. & R. KING, ABERDEEN. W. M’COMB, BELFAST
HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO., AND JAMES NISBET AND CO., LONDON.
1645.
REPRINTED BY A. W. MURRAY, MILNE SQUARE, EDINBURGH
1844.
PREFACE TO THE READER.
I have in this sermon applied my thoughts toward these three things: 1.
The soul-ensnaring error of the greatest part of men, who choose to
themselves such a way to the kingdom of heaven as is broad, and smooth,
and easy, and but little or nothing at all displeasing to flesh and blood,
like him that tumbled down upon the grass and said, _Utinam hoc esset
laborare_. 2. The grumbling and unwillingness which appeareth in very
many, when they should submit to that reformation of the church which is
according to the mind of Jesus Christ, like them that said to the seers,
“See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak
unto us smooth things,” Isa. xxx, 10; and again, “Let us break their bands
asunder, and cast away their cords from us,” Psal. ii. 3. 3. The sad and
desolate condition of the kingdom of Scotland, then calling for our
prayers and tears, and saying, “Call me not Naomi (pleasant), call me Mara
(bitter): for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me,” Ruth i. 20.
We were “pressed out of measure, above strength,” and “had the sentence of
death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God
which raiseth the dead; who delivered us from so great a death, and doth
deliver; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us,” 2 Cor. i. 8-10.
Our brethren also “helping together by prayer for us,” that for the mercy
bestowed on us by means of the prayers of many, thanks may be given by
many on our behalf. “The Lord liveth, and blessed be my Rock: and let the
God of my salvation be exalted,” Psal. xviii, 46; He is our God; and we
will prepare for him an habitation; our father’s God, and we will exalt
him, Exod. xv. 2; “Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only
doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let
the whole earth be filled with his glory,” Psal. lxxii. 18, 19. Scotland
shall yet be “a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem
in the hand of thy God,” Isa. lxii. 3; and shall be called Hephzi-bah and
Beulah. Only let us remember our evil ways, and be confounded, and never
open our mouth any more because of our shame, when the Lord our God is
pacified towards us. Now are both kingdoms put to a trial, whether their
humiliations be filial, and whether then can mourn for sin more than for
judgment. And let us now hear what the Spirit speaketh to the churches,
and not turn again to folly New provocations, or the old unrepented, will
create new ones; therefore “sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto us.”
SERMON.
MALACHI iii. 2.
“But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when
he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s
soap.”
If you ask, “Of whom speaketh the Prophet this, of himself or of some
other man?” (Acts viii. 34)—it is answered, both by Christian and Jewish
interpreters: The Prophet speaketh this of Christ, the Messenger of the
covenant, then much longed and looked for by the people of God, as is
manifest by the preceding verse. And as it was fit that Malachi, the last
of the prophets, should shut up the Old Testament with clear promises of
the coming of Christ (which you find in this and in the following
chapter), so he takes the rather occasion from the corrupt and degenerate
estate of the priests at that time (which he had mentioned in the former
chapter) to hold forth unto the church the promised Messiah, who was to
come unto them to purify the sons of Levi.
But if you ask again, Of what coming or appearing of Christ doth the
Prophet speak this? whether of the first, or of the last, or of any
other?—the answer of expositors is not so unanimous. Some understand the
last coming of Christ, in the glory of his Father, and holy angels, to
judge the quick and the dead. This cannot stand with ver. 34, “He shall
purify the sons of Levi, and purge them,” &c.; but at the last judgment it
will be too late for the sons of Levi to be purified and purged, or for
Judah and Jerusalem to bring offerings unto the Lord, as in the days of
old.
Others understand the first coming of Christ. And of these some understand
his incarnation, or appearing in the flesh; others take the meaning to be
of his coming into the temple of Jerusalem, to drive out the buyers and
sellers (Matt. xxi. 10-12), at which time all the city was moved at his
coming. This exposition hath better grounds than the other, because the
coming of Christ (here spoken of) did not precede, but soon follow after
the ministry of John Baptist, and therefore cannot be meant of our
Saviour’s incarnation, but rather of his appearing with power and
authority in the temple. But this also falleth short, and neither
expresseth the whole nor the principal part of what is meant in this text;
for how can it be said that the prophecy which followeth, ver. 3, 4 (which
is all of a piece with ver. 2), was fulfilled during Christ’s appearing
and sitting in the temple of Jerusalem? or how can it be conceived that
the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem were pleasant to the Lord at that
time, when the Gentiles were not, and the Jews would not be brought in, to
offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness? So that whether we
understand by Judah and Jerusalem the Jewish church or the Christian, this
thing could not be said to be accomplished while Christ was yet upon
earth. And in like manner, whether we understand by the sons of Levi the
priests and Levites of the Jews, or the ministers of the gospel, it cannot
be said that Christ did, in the days of his flesh, purify the sons of Levi
as gold and silver.
I deny not but the Lord Jesus did then begin to set about this work. But
that which is more principally here intended, is Christ’s coming and
appearing in a spiritual, but yet most powerful and glorious manner, to
erect his kingdom, and to gather and govern his churches, by the ministry
of his apostles and other ministers, whom he sent forth after his
ascension.
Of this coming he himself speaketh, Matt. xvi. 28, “Verily I say unto you,
There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see
the Son of man coming in his kingdom;” Mark addeth, “with power” (Mark ix.
1). Neither was that all. He did not so come at that time as to put forth
all his power, or to do his whole work. He hath at divers times come and
manifested himself to his churches; and this present time is a time of the
revelation of the Son of God, and a day of his coming. We look also for a
more glorious coming of Jesus Christ before the end be: for “the Redeemer
shall come to Sion” (Isa. lix. 20), “and shall turn away ungodliness from
Jacob” (Rom. xi. 26); and he shall destroy Antichrist “with the brightness
of his coming,” 2 Thess. ii. 8; in which place the Apostle hath respect to
Isa. xi. 4, where it is said of Christ, the rod of Jesse, “with the breath
of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” There, withal, you have the
church’s tranquillity, the filling of the earth with the knowledge of the
Lord, and the restoring of the dispersed Jews, as you may read in that
chapter. Some have observed(1404) (which ought not to pass without
observation) that the Chaldee Paraphrase had there added the word
_Romilus_: “He shall slay the wicked Romilus;” whereupon they challenge
Arias Montanus for leaving out that word to wipe off the reproach from the
Pope. However, the Scriptures teach us, that the Lord Jesus will be
revealed mightily, and will make bare his holy arm, as well in the
confusion of Antichrist, as in the conversion of the Jews, before the last
judgment and the end of all things.
By this time you may understand what is meant in the text by the day of
Christ’s coming, or εἰσοδου,—_coming in_, as the Septuagint read, meaning
his coming, or entering into his temple, mentioned in the first verse; by
which temple Jerome upon the place rightly understandeth the church, or
spiritual temple.
When this temple is built, Christ cometh into it, to fill the house with
the cloud of his glory, and to walk in the midst of the seven golden
candlesticks. The same thing is meant by his appearing: “When he
appeareth,” saith our translation; “When he shall be revealed,”; others
read, “When he shall be seen,” or “in seeing of him.” The original word I
find used to express more remarkable, divine, and glorious sights, as Gen.
xvi. 13, “Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?” xxii. 14, “In
the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.” From this word had the prophets
the name of seers, 1 Sam. ix. 9; and from the same word came the name of
visions, 2 Chron. xxvi. 5, “Zechariah, who had understanding in the
visions of God.”
Now, but what of all this? might some think. If Christ come, it is
well,—he is the desire of all nations. O but when Christ thus cometh into
his kingdom among men with power, and is seen appearing with some beams of
his glory, “Who may abide, and who shall stand?” saith the text. How shall
sinners stand before the Holy One? How shall dust and ashes have any
fellowship with the God of glory? How shall our weak eyes behold the Sun
of righteousness coming forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber? Did
not Ezekiel fall upon his face at “the appearance of the likeness of the
glory of the Lord”? Ezek. i. 28. Did not Isaiah cry out, “Woe is me, for I
am undone,” “for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts”? Isa.
vi. 5.
But why is it so hard a thing to abide the day of Christ’s coming, or to
stand before him when he appeareth in his temple? If you ask of him, as
Joshua did, “Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?” (Josh. v. 13,) he
will answer you, “Nay; but as a captain of the host of the Lord am I now
come,” (ver. 14.) If you ask of him, as the elders of Bethlehem asked of
Samuel (while they were trembling at his coming), “Comest thou peaceably?”
He will answer you as Samuel did, “Peaceably.” What is there here, then,
to trouble us? Doth he not come to save, and not to destroy? Yes, to save
the spirit, but to destroy the flesh; he will have the heart-blood of sin,
that the soul may live for ever. This is set forth by a double metaphor:
one taken from the refiner’s fire, which purifieth metals from the dross;
the other, from the fuller’s soap; others read the fuller’s grass, or the
fuller’s herb. Some have thought it so hard to determine, that they have
kept into the translation the very Hebrew word _borith_. Jerome tells
us,(1405) that the fuller’s herb which grew in the marsh places of
Palestina, had the same virtue for washing and making white which nitre
hath. Yet I suppose the fuller’s soap hath more of that virtue in it than
the herb could have. However it is certain that ברר,—_borith_, cometh from
a word which signifieth to make clean, according to that, Mark ix. 3, “His
raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth
can white them.”
But to whom will Christ thus reveal himself? And who are they whom he will
refine from their dross, and wash from their filthiness? That we may know
from the two following verses: He is not a refiner’s fire to those that
are “reprobate silver,” (Jer. vi. 30,) and can never be refined; neither
is he as fuller’s soap to those whose spot “is not the spot of his
children” (Deut. xxxii. 5): nay, Christ doth not thus lose his labour, but
he refineth and maketh clean the sons of Levi, also Judah and Jerusalem.
This, I doubt not to aver, doth principally belong to the Jews, for to
them pertain the promises (Rom. ix. 4), saith the Apostle, and the natural
branches shall be graffed into their own olive-tree (xi. 24); but it
belongeth also to us Gentiles, who are cut out of the wild olive-tree, and
are graffed into the good olive-tree. God hath persuaded Japhet to dwell
in the tents of Shem; and so we are now the Judah and Jerusalem, and our
ministers the sons of Levi. God’s own church and people, even the best of
them, have need of this refiner’s fire and of this fuller’s soap.
And so much for the scope, sense, and coherence of the text. The general
doctrine which offereth itself to us from the words, is this:—
“The way of Christ, and fellowship with him, is very difficult and
displeasing to our sinful nature, and is not so easy a matter as most men
imagine.”
First of all, this doth clearly arise out of the text. As when the people
said to Joshua, “God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve
other gods,” (Josh. xxiv. 16,) Joshua answered, “Ye cannot serve the Lord,
for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God,” (ver. 19.) Just so doth the
Prophet here answer the Jews, when they were very much desiring and
longing for the Messiah, promising to themselves comfort, and peace, and
prosperity, and the restoring of all things according to their heart’s
desire, if Christ were once come. Nay, saith the Prophet, not so: “Who may
abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth?”
Secondly, Other scriptures do abundantly confirm it: The doctrine of Jesus
Christ was such as made many of his disciples say, “This is an hard
saying; who can hear it?” John vi. 60. And from that time many of them
“went back, and walked no more with him.” A young man, a ruler, who came
to him with great affection, was so cooled and discouraged at hearing of
the cross, and selling of all he had, that he went away sad and sorrowful,
Mark x. 21, 22. The apostles themselves having heard him say, that “it is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man
to enter into the kingdom of God,” “they were exceedingly amazed [at this
doctrine], saying, Who then can be saved?” Matt. xix. 24, 25. As for his
life and actions, they were such that not only did the Gadarenes beseech
him to depart out of their coasts (Matt. viii. 34), but his own friends
and kinsfolks were about “to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside
himself,” Mark iii. 21. His sufferings were such, that all his disciples
did forsake him, and went away every man to his own home again. And what
shall be the condition of those that will follow him? If we will indeed be
his disciples, he hath forewarned us to sit down first, and count our
cost, Luke xiv. 28. He hath told us, It will cost us no less than the
bearing of the cross, the forsaking of all, yea, which is hardest of all,
the denying of ourselves, John v. 26; ii. 33. We must even cease to be
ourselves, and cannot be his, except we leave off to be our own, Matt.
xvi. 24. And what shall the world think of us all this while? “Know ye not
(saith James) that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?
whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God,”
James iv. 4; “Let no man deceive himself (saith Paul). If any man among
you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may
be wise,” 1 Cor. iii. 18. What do ye think now? Are not all these hard
sayings for flesh and blood to hear? I might add much more of this kind.
Thirdly, Thus it must be, to set the higher value upon Christ, and upon
the lot of God’s children: “Will I offer burnt-offerings to the Lord my
God (saith David) of that which doth cost me nothing”? 2 Sam. xxiv. 24.
And shall our lines fall to us in pleasant places? or shall we have a
goodly heritage which doth cost us nothing? How should the preciousness of
the saint’s portion be known, if we lose nothing that is dear to us to
come by it? Phil. iii. 7, “What things were gain to me, those I counted
loss for Christ;” Matt. xiii. 44-46, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto
treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and
for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant-man seeking goodly
pearls; who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all
that he had, and bought it.” Jacob’s family must give away all the strange
gods, and all their ear-rings also (Gen. xxxv. 4), before they get leave
to build an altar unto the Lord at Bethel; Abraham must get him out of his
country, and from his kindred, if he will come unto the land which the
Lord will show him; Moses must forsake the court of Egypt, if he will take
him to the heritage of Jacob his father; the disciples must leave ships,
nets, fathers, and all, if they will follow Christ. And as they who come
in sight of the south pole lose sight of the north pole, so, when we
follow Christ, we must resolve to forsake somewhat else, yea, even that
which is dearest to us.
Fourthly, If it were not so, there should be no sure evidence of our
closing in covenant with Christ; for then, and never till then, doth the
soul give itself up to Christ to be his, and closeth with him in a
covenant, when it renounceth all other lovers, that it may be his only.
Shall a woman be married to a husband with the reservation of another
lover, or upon condition that she shall ever stay in her father’s house?
So the soul cannot be married to Christ, except it not only renounce its
bosom sins, lusts, and idols, but be content also to part with the most
lawful creature-comforts for his sake: “Forget also thine own people, and
thy father’s house,” Psal. xlv. 10. The repudiating of creature-comforts,
and a covenant with Christ, go hand in hand together, Isa. lv. 2, 3.
Nahash would not make a covenant with the men of Jabesh-Gilead, unless
they would pluck out their right eyes, intending (as Josephus gives the
reason) to disable them from fighting or making war; for the buckler or
shield did cover their left eye when they fought, so that they had been
hard put to it, to fight without the right eye. This was a cruel mercy in
him; but it is a merciful severity in Christ, that he will make no
covenant with us, except the right eye of the old man of sin in us be put
out.
O then, let us learn from all this how miserably many a poor soul is
deluded, imagining, as the Jews did, that Christ shall even satisfy their
carnal and earthly desires, and that the way of salvation is broad and
easy enough. If the way of Christ be such as you have now heard, then
surely they are far from it, who give loose reins to the flesh, as David
did to Adonijah (1 Kings i. 6; Eccl. ii. 10); who have not displeased
their flesh at any time, nor said, “Why hast thou done so?” who do not
withhold their heart from any joy, and whatsoever their eyes desire, they
keep it not from them; who are like the “wild ass used to the wilderness,
that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure” (Jer. ii. 24), and like “the
swift dromedary, traversing her ways” (ver. 23); who cannot endure to be
enclosed into so narrow a lane as ministers describe the way to heaven to
be. These are like fed oxen, which have room enough in the meadows, but
they are appointed for slaughter, when the labouring oxen, which are kept
under the yoke, shall be brought home to the stall and fed there. Was it
not so with the rich man and Lazarus? Luke xvi. 25. Nay, and many of the
children of God fall into this same error, of making the way of Christ
broader and easier than ever Christ made it, and taking more liberty than
ever he allowed; therefore mark ye well our Saviour’s words: “Enter ye in
at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that
leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because
strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and
few there be that find it,” Matt. vii. 13, 14. There be but few that seek
it, and yet fewer that find it, but fewest of all that enter in at it.
But how doth all this agree with Matt. xi. 30, “For my yoke is easy, and
my burden is light;” and 1 John v. 3, “His commandments are not grievous.”
I answer, 1. That is spoken to poor souls that are labouring and heavy
laden; a metaphor taken from beasts drawing a full cart,—which both labour
in drawing, and are weary in bearing. But my text speaketh to those that
are like undaunted heifers, and like bullocks unaccustomed to the yoke.
The same Christ is a sweet and meek Christ to some, but a sour and severe
Christ to others.
2. Christ’s yoke is easy in comparison of the yoke of the law, which
neither we nor our fathers were able to bear.
3. As wisdom is easy to him that understandeth, so is Christ’s yoke easy,
and his burden light, to those that are well acquainted with it, and have
good experience of it: “When thou goest, thy steps shall not be
straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shall not stumble,” Prov. iv. 12:
this is spoken of the way of wisdom. But he saith, “When thou goest,” not
“when thou beginnest,” or “when thou enterest.” If thou art but once upon
thy progress, going and running, thou shalt find the way still the easier,
and still the sweeter.
4. Mark Christ’s own words: It is a yoke, though an easy one, and a
burden, though a light one: a yoke to the flesh, but easy to the spirit; a
burden to the old man, but light to the new man. He poureth in wine and
oil into our wounds: oil to cherish them, and wine to cleanse them. He can
both plant us as trees of righteousness, and at the same time lay the axe
to the root of the old tree: he will have mercy upon the sinner, but no
mercy upon the sin; he will save the soul, but yet so as by fire.
And thus much, in general, of the difficulty and hardship of the way of
Christ,—the great point held forth in this text; which I have the rather
insisted upon, as a necessary foundation for those particulars which I am
to speak of. Were this principle but rightly apprehended, it were easy to
persuade you when we come to particulars.
Some Papists have alleged this text for their purgatory. Here is indeed a
purgatory, and a fire of purgatory, and such a purgatory that we must
needs go through it before we can come to heaven. But this purgatory is in
this world, not in the world to come. The flesh must go through it, and
not the soul separated: and it must purge us from mortal, not from venial
sins; and by a spiritual, not a material fire.
I will now come to the particulars: Christ is to us as a refiner’s fire,
and as fuller’s soap, three ways: in respect of, 1. Reformation; 2.
Tribulation; 3. Mortification;—which make not three different senses, but
three harmonious parts of one and the same sense.
I begin with _reformation_; concerning which I draw this doctrine from the
text:—
“The right reformation of the church, which is according to the mind of
Jesus Christ, is not without much molestation and displeasure to men’s
corrupt nature. It is a very purgatory upon earth: it is like the fire to
drossy silver, and like fuller’s soap to slovenly persons, who would
rather keep the spots in their garments than take pains to wash them
out.”(1406)
Look but upon one piece of the accomplishment of this prophecy, and by it
judge of the rest. When Christ cometh to Jerusalem, “meek, and sitting
upon an ass” (as the Prophet said), all the city is troubled at his
coming, Matt. xxi. 5,10; when he had but cast out the buyers and sellers
out of the temple, the priests and scribes begin to plot his death, Luke
xix. 45, 47; nay, where Christ and the gospel cometh, there is a shaking
of heaven and earth, Hag. ii. 6. The less wonder if I call reformation
like a refiner’s fire. The dross of a church is not purged away without
this violence of fire.
This is the manner of reformation held forth in Scripture, and that in
reference, 1. To magistrates and statesmen; 2. To ministers; 3. To a
people reformed; 4. To a people not reformed.
In reference to magistrates and statesmen, reformation is a fire that
purgeth away the dross: Isa. i. 25, “And I will turn my hand upon thee,
and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin.” Here is the
refiner’s fire; and the Chaldee Paraphrase addeth the fuller’s _borith_.
Then followeth, ver. 26, “And I will restore thy judges as at the first,
and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called,
The city of righteousness, The faithful city.” Interpreters note upon that
place, that no effectual reformation can be looked for till rulers and
magistrates be reformed; and that therefore the Lord promiseth to purge
away the dross and tin of corrupt rulers and judges, and to give his
people such judges and rulers as they had of old, Moses, Joshua, the
judges, David, Solomon, and the like.
In reference to ministers the doctrine is most clear. The next words after
my text tell you, that this refining fire is specially intended for
purifying the sons of Levi. The same thing we have more largely, though
more obscurely, in 1 Cor. iii. 12-15. I do not say that the Apostle there
meaneth only of times of reformation, but this I say, that it holdeth
true, and most manifestly, too, of times of reformation; and that this is
not to be excluded, but to be taken in as a principal part of the Holy
Ghost’s intendment in that scripture.(1407) He is speaking of the
ministers of the gospel and their ministry, supposing always that they
build upon Christ, and hold to that true foundation. Upon this foundation
some build gold, silver, precious stones; that is, such preaching of the
word, such administration of the sacraments, such a church discipline, and
such a life as is according to the word, and savoureth of Christ: others
build wood, hay, stubble; whereby is meant whatsoever in their ministry is
unprofitable, unedifying, vain, curious, unbeseeming the gospel; for the
ministers of Christ must be purified, not only from heresy, idolatry,
profaneness, and the like, but even from that which is frothy and
unedifying, which savoureth not of God’s Spirit, but of man’s. Now, saith
the Apostle, “Every man’s work shall be made manifest, for the day shall
declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try
every man’s work of what sort it is.” The church shall not always be
deluded and abused with vanities that cannot profit. A time of light and
reformation discovereth the unprofitableness of those things wherewith men
did formerly please and satisfy themselves. There is a fire which will
prove every man’s work, even an accurate trial and strict examination
thereof, according to the rule of Christ; a narrow inquiry into, and exact
discovery of every man’s work (for so do our divines(1408) understand the
fire there spoken of), whether this fiery trial be made by the searching
and discovering light of the word in a time of reformation, or by
afflictions, or in a man’s own conscience at the hour of death. If by some
or all of these trials, a minister’s work be found to be what it ought to
be, he shall receive a special reward and praise; but if he have built
wood, hay, and stubble, he shall be like a man whose house is set on fire
about his ears; that is, he shall suffer loss, and his work shall be
burnt, yet himself shall escape, and get his life for a prey, “so as by
fire;” that is, so that he can abide that trial and examination whereby
God distinguisheth between sincere ones and hypocrites; or, so that he be
found to have been otherwise a faithful minister, and to have built upon a
right foundation.
In the third place, you shall find reformation to be a refining fire in
reference to a people or church reformed: “He that is left in Zion, and he
that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy,” saith the Prophet;
“when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion,
and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by
the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning,” Isa. iv. 3, 4.
Where you may understand(1409) by the filth of the daughters of Zion,
their former idolatries, and such like abominations against the first
table (which the prophets call often by the name of filth and pollution);
and by the blood of Jerusalem, the sins against the second table. These
the Lord promiseth to purge away by the spirit of judgment; that is, by a
spirit of reformation (according to that John xii. 31, “Now is the
judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out”).
Which spirit of reformation is also a spirit of burning; even as the Holy
Ghost is elsewhere called fire (Matt. iii. 11), and did come down upon the
apostles in the likeness of cloven tongues of fire (Acts ii. 3). The
spirit of reformation may be the rather called the spirit of burning,
because ordinarily reformation is not without tribulation (as we shall
hear) and by the voice of the rod doth the Spirit speak to men’s
consciences. When the Lord hath thus washed away the filthy spots, and
burnt away the filthy dross of his church, then (Isa. iv. 5) she becomes a
glory or a praise in the earth; and the promise is, that “upon all the
glory shall be a defence:” but, you see, she is not brought to that
condition till she go through the refiner’s fire. It is no easy matter to
cast Satan out of a person,—how much less to cast his kingdom out of a
land? Another place for the same purpose we find, Zech. xiii. 9: When two
parts of the land are cut off, the remnant which escape, the third part
which is “written to life in Jerusalem,” even they must be brought through
the fire. “I will bring the third part through the fire (saith the Lord),
and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is
tried.” This is the fiery trial of affliction, but the fruit of it is a
blessed reformation, to make the church as most pure refined gold: “They
shall call on my name, and I will hear them;” that is, they shall no
longer worship idols, but me only, and they shall offer to the Lord an
offering in righteousness, which shall be accepted. And what more? “I will
say It is my people; and they shall say, The Lord is my God.” Behold, a
reforming people and a covenanting people. But he that hath his fire in
Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem (Isa. xxxi. 9), doth first refine them
and purify them. We are not reformed, in God’s account, till the refining
fire have purged away our dross; till we be refined as silver is refined,
and tried as gold is tried.
Lastly, In reference to a people not reformed, hear what the Prophet
saith: Jer. vi. 28-30, “They are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.
The bellows are burnt, the lead is consumed of the fire, the founder
melteth in vain; for the wicked are not plucked away. Reprobate silver
shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.” The Chaldee
Paraphrase expoundeth it of the prophets who laboured in vain, and spent
their strength for nought, speaking to the people in the name of the Lord,
to turn to the law and to the testimony; but they would not turn.
I might draw many uses from this doctrine; but I shall content myself with
these few:—
First of all, it reproveth that contrary principle which carnal reason
suggesteth: Reformation must not grieve, but please; it must not break nor
bruise, but heal and bind up; it must be an acceptable thing, not
displeasing; it must be “as the voice of harpers harping with their
harps,” but not “as the voice of many waters,” or “as the voice of great
thunders.” Thus would many heal the wound of the daughter of Zion
slightly, and daub the wall with untempered mortar, and so far comply with
the sinful humours and inclinations of men, as, in effect, to harden them
in evil, and to strengthen their hands in their wickedness; or at least,
if men be moralised, then to trouble them no farther. Saith not the
Apostle, “If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ”?
Gal. i. 10; and again, “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be,” Rom. viii. 7. So
that either we must have a reformation displeasing to God, or displeasing
to men. It is not the right reformation which is not displeasing to a
Tobiah, to a Sanballat, to a Demetrius, to the earthly-minded, to the
self-seeking politicians, to the carnal and profane; it is but the old
enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent (Gen.
iii. 15): nay, what if reformation be displeasing to good men, in so far
as they are unregenerate, carnal, earthly, proud, unmortified (for “who
can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin,” Prov. xx. 9)?
What if a Joshua envy Eldad and Medad (Num. xi. 27-29)? What if an Aaron
and a Miriam speak against Moses (xii. 1, 2)? What if a religious Asa be
wroth with the seer (2 Chron. xvi. 10)? What if a David will not alter his
former judgment, though very erroneous, and will not (no, not after better
information) have it thought that he was in an error (2 Sam. xix. 29)?
What if a Jonah refuse to go to Nineveh when he is called (Jonah i. 3)?
What if the disciples of Christ must be taught to be more humble (Mark ix.
33-35)? What if Peter must be reproved by Paul for his dissimulation (Gal.
ii. 11)? What if Archippus must be admonished to attend better upon his
ministry (Col. iv. 17)? What if Christ must tell the angels of the
churches that he hath somewhat against them (Rev. ii., iii.)? If
reformation displease both evil men, and, in some respect, good men, this
makes it no worse than “a refiner’s fire;” and so it must be, if it be
according to the mind of Christ.
My second and chief application shall be unto you, my noble lords. If you
be willing to admit such a reformation as is according to the mind of
Christ, as is like the “refiner’s fire” and “fuller’s soap,” then, in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ (who will say, ere long, to every one of
you, “Give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer
steward,” Luke xvi. 2), I recommend these three things unto you,—I mean,
that you should make use of this “refiner’s fire” in reference to three
sorts of dross: 1. The dross of _malignancy_; 2. The dross of _heresy and
corruption in religion_; 3. The dross of _profaneness_.
Touching the first of these, take the wise counsel of the wise man, Prov.
xxv. 4, 5, “Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come
forth a vessel for the finer. Take away the wicked from before the king,
and his throne shall be established in righteousness.” Remember, also, the
fourth article of your solemn league and covenant, by which you have
obliged yourselves, with your hands lifted up to the most high God, to
endeavour the discovery, trial, and condign punishment of all such as have
been, or shall be incendiaries, malignants, or evil instruments, by
hindering the reformation of religion, dividing the king from his people,
or one of the kingdoms from another, or making any faction or parties
among the people contrary to this covenant. There was once a compliance
between the nobles of Judah and the Samaritans, which I hope you do not
read of without abominating the thing: You find it, Neh. vi. 17, 19, “In
those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the
letters of Tobiah came unto them. Also (saith Nehemiah) they reported his
good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him.” But you have also the
error of a godly man set before you as a rock to be avoided, 2 Chron. xix.
2, “Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord?
therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord.” I am not to dwell upon
this point: “I speak as to wise men, judge ye what I say.”
In the second place, think of the extirpation of heresy and of unsound
dangerous doctrine, such as now springeth up apace, and subverted the
faith of many. There is no heretic nor false teacher which hath not some
one fair pretext or another; but bring him once to be tried by this
refining fire, he is found to be “like a potsherd covered with silver
dross,” Prov. xxvi. 23. “What is the chaff to the wheat?” saith the Lord
(Jur. xxiii. 28), and what is the dross to the silver? If this be the way
of Christ which my text speaketh of, then, sure, that which now passeth
under the name of “liberty of conscience” is not the way of Christ. Much
hath been written of this question; for my part I shall, for the present,
only offer this one argument: If liberty of conscience ought to be granted
in matters of religion, it ought also to be granted in matters civil or
military; but liberty of conscience ought not to be granted in matters
civil or military, as is acknowledged, therefore neither ought it to be
granted in matters of religion. Put the case: Now there be some
well-meaning men, otherwise void of offence, who, from the erroneous
persuasion of their consciences, think it utterly sinful, and contrary to
the word of God, to take arms in the Parliament’s service, or to
contribute to this present war, or to obey any ordinance of the lords and
commons, which tendeth to the resisting of the king’s forces. Now compare
this case with the case of a Socinian, Arminian, Antinomian, or the like:
they both plead for liberty of conscience; they both say our conscience
ought not to be compelled, and if we do against our conscience, we sin. I
beseech you, how can you give liberty of conscience to the heretic, and
yet refuse liberty of conscience to him that is the conscientious recusant
in point of the war? I am sure there can be no answer given to this
argument which will not be resolved into this principle: Men’s consciences
may be compelled for the good of the state, but not for the glory of God;
we must not suffer the state to sink, but if religion sink we cannot help
it. This is the plain English of it.
When I speak against liberty of conscience, it is far from my meaning to
advise any rigorous or violent course against such as, being sound in the
faith, and holy in life, and not of a turbulent or factious carriage, do
differ in smaller matters from the common rule. “Let that day be darkness;
let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it”
(Job. iii. 4), in which it shall be said that the children of God in
Britain are enemies and persecutors of each other. He is no good Christian
who will not say Amen to the prayer of Jesus Christ (John xvii. 21), that
all who are his may be one in him. If this be heartily wished, let it be
effectually endeavoured; and let those who will choose a dividing way
rather than a uniting way bear the blame.
The third part of my application shall be to stir you up, right
honourable, to a willing condescending to the settling of
church-government, in such a manner, as that neither ignorant nor
scandalous persons may be admitted to the holy table of the Lord. Let
there be, in the house of God, fuller’s soap, to take off those who are
“spots in your feasts,” and a refining fire to take away the dross from
the silver. Psal. cxix. 119, “Thou puttest away all the wicked of the
earth like dross,” saith David. Take away, therefore, the wicked from
before the King of glory, for they shall not stand before him who hateth
“all workers of iniquity,” Psal. v. 5. You see God puts all profane ones
in one category, and so should you. There is a like reason against seven,
and against seventy scandals; or, if you please to make a catalogue of
seven, you may, provided it be such as God himself makes in the fifth
verse of this chapter, where seven sorts are reckoned forth, as some
interpreters compute; but the last of the seven is general and
comprehensive, καὶ τοὺς φοβουμένους με, as the Septuagint have it,—_and
those that fear not me_,—those, saith one, who are called in the New
Testament ἀσεβείς,—_ungodly_. Jerome noteth upon the place,(1410) that
though men shall not be guilty of the aforementioned particulars, yet God
makes this crime enough, that they are ungodly. Nay, I dare undertake to
draw out of Erastus himself, the great adversary, a catalogue of seven
sorts of persons to be kept off from the Lord’s table, and such a
catalogue as godly ministers can be content with. But of this elsewhere.
Most horribly hath the Lord’s table been profaned formerly in this
kingdom, by the admission of scandalous persons. God will wink at it no
longer,—now is the opportunity of reformation. The Parliament of England,
if any state in the world, oweth much to Jesus Christ; and he will take it
very ill at your hands, if ye do him not right in this. I say do him
right; for, alas! what is it to ministers? It were more for their ease,
and for pleasing of the people, to admit all; but a necessity is laid upon
us, that we dare not do it; and woe unto us if we do it. And for your
part, should you not establish such a rule as may put a difference between
the precious and the vile, the clean and the unclean, you shall in so far
make the churches of Christ in a worse condition, and more disabled to
keep themselves pure, than either they were of old under pagan emperors,
or now are under popish princes, you shall also strengthen, instead of
silencing, the objections both of Separatists(1411) and Socinians,(1412)
who have, with more than a colour of advantage, opened their mouths wide
against some reformed churches, for their not exercising of discipline
against scandalous and profane persons, and particularly for not
suspending them from the sacrament of the Lord’s supper. Nay, which is yet
more, if you should refuse that which I speak of, you shall come short of
that which heathens themselves, in their way, did make conscience of, for
they did interdict and keep off from their holy things all such as they
esteemed profane and scandalous, whom therefore they called ἐναγεῖς, that
is, accused or delated persons. In this manner was Alchibades
excommunicate at Athens, and Virginia at Rome, the former recorded by
Plutarch, the latter by Livius. I trust God shall never so far desert this
Parliament as that, in this particular, pagan and popish princes,
Separatists, Socinians and heathens shall rise up in judgment against you.
I am persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation;
and, namely, that you will not suffer the name and truth of God to be,
through you, blasphemed and reproached.
Do ye not remember the sad sentence against Eli and his house, “Because
his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not,” 1 Sam. iii.
13. The Apostle tells us, that the judgment of God abideth not only on
those that commit sin, but those also who consent with them, Rom. i. 32.
Aquinas upon that place saith, We may consent to the sins of others two
ways: 1. Directly, by counselling, approving, &c.; 2. Indirectly, by not
hindering when we can. And so did Eli consent to the vileness of his sons,
because, though he reproved them, he did not restrain them.
There is a law, Exod. xxi. 29, “But if the ox were wont to push with his
horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath
not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or woman; the ox shall be
stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.” It could be no excuse
to say, I intended no such thing, and it is a grief of heart to me that
such mischief is done. That which I aim at is this: The Directory which
you have lately established saith, “The ignorant and the scandalous are
not fit to receive this sacrament of the Lord’s supper;” and therefore
ministers are appointed to warn all such in the name of Christ, that they
presume not to come to that holy table. It is now desired that this, which
you have already acknowledged to be according to the word of God and
nature of that holy ordinance, may be made effectual, and, for that end,
that the power of discipline be added to the power of doctrine, otherwise
you are guilty, in God’s sight, of not restraining those that make
themselves vile.
In the third and last place, I shall apply my doctrine to the sons of
Levi, and that in a twofold consideration: 1. Actively; 2. Passively.
Actively, because, if we be like our Master, even followers of Jesus
Christ, or partakers of his unction, then our ministry will have not only
light, but fire in it,—we must be burning as well as shining lights (John
v. 35), not only shining with the light of knowledge, and of the doctrine
which is according to godliness, but burning also with zeal for reforming
abuses, and purging of the church from the dross thereof. Which made
Augustine(1413) to apply propologically to ministers, that which is said
of the angels of heaven, Psal. civ. 4, “Who maketh his angels spirits; his
ministers a flaming fire.” Satan hath many incendiaries against the
kingdom of Christ. O that we were Christ’s incendiaries against the
kingdom of Satan! If we will indeed appear zealous for the Lord, let it
not seem strange if the adversaries of reformation say of us, as they said
of the apostles themselves, “These that have turned the world upside down
are come hither also,” Acts xvii. 6. Yet it shall be no grief of heart to
us afterward, but peace and joy unspeakable, that we have endeavoured to
do our duty faithfully.
Passively also the application must be made, because the sons of Levi
must, in the first place, go through this refining fire themselves, and
they, most of all other men, have need to be, and must be, refined from
their dross. I find in Scripture that these three things had a beginning
among the priests and prophets: 1. Sin, error, and scandal, beginneth at
them, Jer. l. 6, “Their shepherds have caused them to go astray;” xxiii.
15, “From the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the
land.” 2. Judgment begins at them, Ezek. ix. 6, “Slay utterly old and
young,—and begin at my sanctuary.” 3. The refining work of reformation
beginneth, or ought to begin, at the purging and refining of the sons of
Levi; so you have it in the next words after my text, and where Hezekiah
beginneth his reformation at the sanctifying of the priests and Levites, 2
Chron. xxix. 4, 5, &c. But as it was then in Judah, it is now in England,
some of the sons of Levi are more upright to sanctify themselves than
others. The fire that I spake of before will prove every man and his work.
I am sorry I have occasion to add a third application. But come on, and I
will show you greater things than these. What will you say, if any be
found among the sons of Levi, that will neither be active nor passive in
the establishing of the church-refining and sin-censuring government of
Jesus Christ, but will needs appear upon the stage against it. This was
done in a late sermon now come abroad, which hath given no small scandal
and offence. I am confident every other godly minister will say, let my
tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth before I do the like.
I have done with that which the text holds forth concerning reformation.
The second way how Christ is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s
soap, is in respect of tribulation, which either followeth or accompanieth
his coming into his temple. Affliction is indeed a refining fire: Psal.
lxvi. 10, “For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver
is tried;” ver. 12, “We went through fire and through water;” 1 Pet. i. 6,
7, “Ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations; that the trial of
your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though
it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise,” &c. Affliction is also
the fuller’s soap to purify and make white: Dan. xi. 35; xii. 10, “Many
shall be purified, and made white, and tried;” where the same word is used
from which I said before the fuller’s soap hath its name.
The doctrine shall be this: “Tribulation doth either accompany or follow
after the work of reformation or purging of the house of God.” So it was
when Christ himself came into his temple: Luke xii. 49, 51, “I am come to
send fire on the earth. Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth?
I tell you, Nay; but rather division;”—so it was when the Apostles were
sent forth into the world: Peter applieth to that time the words of Joel,
“And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath;
blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turned into
darkness, and the moon into blood,” Acts ii. 19, 20. The meaning is, such
tribulation shall follow the gospel, which shall be like the darkening of
the great lights of the world, and, as it were, a putting of heaven and
earth out of their course, so great a change and calamity shall come. The
experience both of the ancient and now reformed churches doth also
abundantly confirm this doctrine. Neither must we think that all the
calamities of the church are now overpast. Who can be assured that that
hour of greatest darkness, the killing of the witnesses, is past, and all
that sad prophecy, Rev. xi., fulfilled? And if some be not much
mistaken,(1414) it is told, Dan. xii. 1, that there shall be greater
tribulation about the time of the Jews’ conversion than any we have yet
seen: “At that time,” saith the angel to Daniel, “there shall be a time of
trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same
time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall
be found written in the book.”
I make haste to the uses; and, first, let me give unto God the glory of
his truth. If we have been deceived, surely he hath not deceived us; for
he hath given us plain warning in his word, and hath not kept up from us
the worst things which ever have or ever shall come upon his church. And
now when the sword of the Lord hath gotten a charge against these three
covenanting and reforming kingdoms, is this any other than the word of the
Lord, that when Christ cometh into his temple, “Who may abide the day of
his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a
refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap.”
And for the invasion of Scotland by such an enemy after a reformation, is
it any new thing? May we not say, that which is hath been? Did not
Sennacherib invade Judah after Hezekiah’s reformation? 2 Chron. xxxii. 1.
And though, after the reformation of Asa, and after the reformation of
Jehoshaphat also (2 Chron. xiv. 9; xx. 1), the land had a short rest and a
breathing time, yet not long after a foreign invasion followed both upon
the one reformation and the other. Nay, look what is the worst thing which
hath befallen to Scotland as yet;—as much, yea, worse, hath formerly
befallen to the church and people of God toward whom the Lord had thoughts
of peace, and not of evil,—to give them an expected end. I say it not for
diminishing anything either from the sin or shame of Scotland; the Lord
forbid:—we will bear the indignation of the Lord, because we have sinned
against him; we will lay our hand upon our mouth, and accept the
punishment of our iniquity; we will bear our shame for ever, because our
Father hath spit in our face, our rock hath sold us, and our strength hath
departed from us;—but I say it by way of answering him that reproacheth in
the gates, and by way of pleading for the truth of God. Some have objected
to our reproach, that when the Lord required the Israelites to appear
before him in Jerusalem thrice a year, he promised that no man should
invade their habitations in their absence, Exod. xxxiv. 23, 24; “which
gracious providence of his, no doubt (says one(1415)), continues still
protecting all such as are employed by his command;” yet it hath not been
so with Scotland during the time of their armies being in England. I
answer, besides that which hath been said already, even in this the word
and work of God do well agree; and that Scripture ought not to be so
applied to us, except the Canaanites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites
of our time had been all cast out of our borders (we find this day too
many of them lurking there, and waiting their opportunity); for the
Septuagint, and many of the interpreters(1416) read that text thus: “For
when I shall cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders, no
man shall desire thy land when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord
thy God thrice in the year:” and this is the true sense, read it as you
will; for the promise is limited to the time of casting out the nations,
and enlarging their borders (which came not to pass till the days of
Solomon). It is certain that, from the time of making that promise, the
people had not ever liberty and protection for keeping the three solemn
feasts in the place of the sanctuary; as might be proved from divers
foreign invasions and spoilings of that land for some years together;
whereof we read in the book of the Judges. But I go on.
In the second place, let God have the glory of his just and righteous
dealings. Let us say with Job, “I will leave my complaint upon myself,”
[and say unto God,] “Show me wherefore thou contendest with me,” Job x. 1,
2. But, by all means, take heed you conceive not an ill opinion of the
covenant and cause of God, or the reformation of religion, because of the
tribulation which followeth thereupon. Say not it was a good old world
when we burnt incense to the queen of heaven, “for then we were well and
saw no evil.” “But (said the people to Jeremiah) since we left off to burn
incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her,
we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the
famine,” Jer. xliv. 18. To such I answer, in the words of Solomon, “Say
not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these?
for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this,” Eccl. vii. 10. Was the
people’s coming out of Egypt the cause why their carcasses did fall in the
wilderness? Or was it their murmuring and rebelling against the Lord which
brought that wrath upon them? If thou wilt inquire wisely concerning this
thing, read Zephaniah, chap. i. In the days of Isaiah, even in the days of
Judah’s best reformation, the Lord sent this message by the Prophet: “I
will utterly consume all things from off the land,” Zeph. i. 2; “And I
will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because
they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as
dust, and their flesh as the dung,” ver. 17. What was the reason of it? It
is plainly told them (and let us take it all home to ourselves), because,
notwithstanding of that public reformation, there was a remnant of Baal in
the land, and the Chemarims, and those who halt between two opinions; who
swear by the Lord (or to the Lord, which is expounded of the taking of the
covenant in Josiah’s time), but they swear by Malcham also, ver. 4, 5.
There are others who do not seek the Lord, nor inquire after him, and many
that turn back from the Lord in a course of backsliding (ver. 6); others
clothed with strange apparel (ver. 8); others, exercising violence and
deceit (ver. 9); a number of atheists also, living among God’s people
(ver. 12). For these and the like causes doth the land mourn. It is not
the covenant, but the broken covenant; it is not the reformation, but the
want of a real and personal reformation, that hath drawn on the judgment.
Blessed are they who shall keep their garments clean, and shall be able to
say, “All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither
have we dealt falsely in thy covenant,” Psal. xliv. 17.
Thirdly, Give God the glory of his wisdom. Many are now crying, “How long,
Lord? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?”
Psal. lxxxix. 46. Your answer from God is, that the rod shall be indeed
removed, and even cast into the fire in your stead, but when? It shall be
“when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion, and on
Jerusalem,” Isa. x. 12. If the judgment have not yet done all the work it
was sent for, then “they shall go out from one fire, and another fire
shall devour them” (Ezek. xv. 7), saith the Lord. God is a wise refiner,
and will not take the silver out of the fire till the dross be purged away
from it. He is a wise father who will not cast the rod of correction till
it have driven away all that folly which is bound up in the hearts of his
children: “Behold, therefore (saith the Lord) I will gather you into the
midst of Jerusalem. As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead,
and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt
it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave
you there, and melt you,” Ezek. xxii. 19, 20. He speaks it to those who
had escaped the captivity of Jehoiakim, and also the captivity of
Jehoiachin, and thought they should be safe and secure in Jerusalem when
their brethren were in Babylon: I will gather you, saith the Lord, even in
the midst of Jerusalem, and when you think you are out of one furnace, you
shall fall into another; and, if you will not be refined from your dross,
you shall never come out of that furnace, but I will melt you there, and
leave you there: which did so come to pass; for the residue that escaped
to Egypt, and thought to shelter themselves there, as likewise those that
remained in Jerusalem, and held out that siege with Zedekiah,—even all
these did fall under the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence, till
they were consumed, Jer. xxiv. 8, 10. Let those that are longest spared
take heed they be not sorest smitten. Say not with Agag, “The bitterness
of death is past.” The child chastised in the afternoon weeps as sore as
the child chastised in the forenoon. Remember the Lord will not take away
the judgment till he have performed his work, yea, his whole work, and
that upon Mount Zion and Jerusalem itself. It is no light matter; the rod
must be very heavy before our uncircumcised hearts can be humbled, and the
furnace very hot before our dross depart from us. We have need of all the
sore strokes which we mourn under, and if one less could do the turn, it
would be spared, for the Lord doth not afflict willingly: we ourselves
rive every stroke out of his hand.
But, in the fourth and last place, let us give God the glory of his mercy
also; he means to do us good in our latter end. It is the hand of a
father, not of an enemy: it is a refining, not a consuming fire. The poor
mourners in Zion are ready to say, “Our bones are dried, and our hope is
lost: we are cut off for our parts” (Ezek. xxxvii. 11); we are like to lie
in this fire and furnace for ever, because our dross is not departed from
us; we are still an unhumbled, an unbroken, an unmortified generation;
yea, many like Ahaz, in the time of affliction, trespassing yet more
against the Lord, many thinking of going back again to Egypt. To such I
have these two things to say for their comfort: First, There is a remnant
which shall not only be delivered, but purified, and shall come forth as
gold out of the fire. The third part shall be refined, and the Lord shall
say, “It is my people,” Zech xiii. 9. And a most sweet promise there is
after the saddest denunciation of judgment: Ezek. xiv. 22, 23, “Yet,
behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both
sons and daughters; behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall
see their ways and their doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the
evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all the evil that
I have brought upon it. And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways
and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all
that I have done in it, saith the Lord God;” Dan. xii. 10, “Many shall be
purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and
none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” After
the promise of delivering those that were carried away to Babylon, there
is another promise added of that which was much better: Jer. xxiv. 7, “I
will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be
my people, and I will be their God; for they shall return unto me with
their whole heart;” Psal. cxxx. 8, “He shall redeem Israel from all his
iniquities;” Zeph. iii. 12, 13, “I will also leave in the midst of thee an
afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord.
The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall
a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth.” Let your souls now apply
these and the like promises, and cry, Lord, remember thy promise, and let
not a jot of thy good word fall to the ground. Secondly, As the promises
of spiritual and eternal blessings, so the promises of peace and temporal
deliverances are not legal, but even evangelical. If we be not refined and
purged as we ought to be, that is a matter of humiliation to us, but it is
also a matter of magnifying the riches of free mercy: Isa. xlviii. 9-11,
“For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I
refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. Behold, I have refined thee,
but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. For
mine own name’s sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it.” The Lord is
there arguing with his people, to humble them, to convince them, and to
cut off all matter of glorying from them; and among other things, lest
they should glory in this, that whatever they were before, they became
afterward as silver refined seven times in the furnace:(1417) Nay, saith
the Lord, I have refined you in some sort, but not as silver, not so as
that you are clean from your dross; but I have chosen you, and set my love
upon you, even while you are in the furnace not yet refined; and I will
deliver you, even for my own name’s sake, that you may owe your
deliverance for ever to free mercy, and not to your own repentance and
amendment. A land is accepted, and a people’s peace made with God, not by
their repentance and humiliation, but by Christ believed on: Mic. v. 5,
“This man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land.”
There were sin-offerings and burnt-offerings appointed in the law for a
national atonement (Lev. iv., xiii., xxi.; Num. xv. 25, 26) which did
typify pardoning of national sins through the merit of Jesus Christ. We
must improve the office of the Mediator, and the promise of free grace, in
the behalf of God’s people, as well as of our own souls, which, if it be
indeed done, will not hinder, but further a great mourning and deep
humiliation in the land. And so much of tribulation.
The third thing held forth in this text (of which I must be very short) is
mortification. This also is a refining fire: Matt. iii. 11, “He shall
baptise you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire;” Mark ix. 49, “For every
one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with
salt.” He hath been before speaking of mortification, of the plucking out
of the right eye, the cutting off the right hand, or the right foot, and
now he presseth the same thing by a double allusion to the law,—there was
a necessity both of fire and salt; the sacrifice was seasoned with salt
(Lev. ii. 13), and the fire upon the altar was not to be put out, but
every morning the wood was burnt upon it, and the burnt-offering laid upon
it (Lev. vi. 12, 13). So if we will present ourselves as a holy and
acceptable sacrifice to God, we must be seasoned with the salt, and our
corruptions burnt up with the fire of mortification.
The doctrine shall be this: “It is not enough to join in public
reformation, yea, to suffer tribulation for the name of Christ, except we
also endeavour mortification.” This mortification is a third step distinct
from the other two, and without this the other two can make us but “almost
Christians,” or, “not far from the kingdom of God.” In the parable of the
sower and the seed, as we find it both in Matthew (chap. xiii.), Mark
(chap, iv.), and Luke (chap, viii.), this method may be observed, That of
the four sorts of ground, the second is better than the first, the third
better than the second, but the fourth only is the good ground, which is
fruitful, and getteth a blessing. Some men’s hearts are like the highway,
and the hardbeaten road, where every foul spirit, and every lust hath
walked and conversed, their consciences, through the custom of sin, are,
as it were, “seared with a hot iron;” in these the word takes no place,
but all that they bear doth presently slip from them. Others receive the
word with a present good affection and delight, but have no depth of
earth; that is, neither having had a work of the law upon their
consciences for deep humiliation, nor being rooted and grounded in love to
the gospel, nor, peradventure, so much as grounded in the knowledge of the
truth, nor having counted their cost, and solidly resolved for suffering;
thereupon it comes to pass, when suffering times come, these wither away,
and come to nothing. There is a third sort, who go a step farther; they
have some root, and some more solid ground than the former, so that they
can suffer many things, and not fall away because of persecution, yet they
perish through want of mortification. One may suffer persecution for
Christ, not being sore tried in that which is his idol lust, yet enduring
great losses and crosses in other things: of such it is said, that “the
cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of
other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful,”
Mark iv. 19. Mark that, “the lusts of other things;” that is, whether it
be the lust of the eyes, or the lust of the flesh, or the pride of life;
and he speaks of the “entering in;” meaning of some strong tentation
coming upon a man to catch him in that which is the great idol of his
heart, and his beloved lust, whatever it be; such a tentation he never
found before, and therefore thought the lust had been mortified, which was
but lurking. Did not Judas suffer many things with Christ during the time
of his public ministry? Did not Ananias and Sapphira suffer, for a season,
with the apostles and church at Jerusalem? What was it then that lost
them? They neither made defection from the profession of the truth, nor
did they fall away because of persecution; but having shined in the light
a sound profession, having also taken up the cross, and borne the reproach
of Christ, they made shipwreck at last upon an unmortified lust.
I shall enlarge the doctrine no further, but touch upon some few uses, and
so an end.
First, Let all and every one of us be convinced of the necessity of our
further endeavouring after mortification. The best silver which cometh out
of the earth hath dross in it, and therefore needeth the refiner’s fire;
and the whitest garment that is worn will touch some unclean thing or
other, and therefore will need the fuller’s soap. The best of God’s
children have the dross of their inherent corruptions to purge away; which
made Paul say, “I keep under my body, and bring it unto subjection; lest
that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a
castaway,” 1 Cor. ix. 27. It is a speech borrowed from reprobate silver
which is not refined from dross, and so is the word used by the
Septuagint, Isa. i. 22, τὸ ἀργύριον ἰμῶν ἀδόκιμον “Thy silver is become
dross.” The Apostle therefore sets himself to the study of mortification,
lest, saith he, when I have been refining and purifying others, I myself
be found to be drossy silver. And as there is _inherent_ dross, so there
is _adherent_ uncleanness in the best; and who can say that he hath kept
his garments so clean that he is “unspotted of the world” (Isa. i. 27), or
that he hath so separated himself from the pollutions of the world as that
he hath touched no unclean thing: so that there is an universal necessity
of making use both of the refiner’s fire, and of the fuller’s soap.
Secondly, Let us once become willing and contented, yea, desirous to be
thoroughly mortified. A man’s lusts and corruptions are indeed so strongly
interested in himself, and his corruptions are his members, therefore,
when we leave off sin, we are said to live no more “to ourselves,” 2 Cor.
v. 15; and mortification is the greatest violence that can be done to
nature, therefore it is called a cutting off of the chief members of the
body (Mark ix. 43, 45, 47), a salting with salt, and a burning with fire
(ver. 49), a circumcision (Col. ii. 11), a crucifying (Rom. vi. 6): so
that nothing can be more difficult or displeasing, yea, a greater torment
to flesh and blood. Yet now art thou willing, notwithstanding of all this,
to take Christ on his own terms? to take him not only for righteousness
and life, but to take him as a refiner’s fire, and as fuller’s soap? O
that there were such a heart in thee! When Christ bids thee pluck out thy
right eye, and cut off thy right hand, say not in thy heart, How shall I
do without my right eye, and my right hand? Nay, thou shalt do well
enough, thou shalt even enter into life without them, thou shalt be a
gainer, and no loser. Say not thou, How shall I go through this refining
fire? Fear not, thou shall lose nothing but thy dross. Thus get thy heart
wrought to a willingness, and a condescending, in the point of
mortification.
Lastly, If you say, But after all this, how shall I attain unto it? Put
thyself in the hands of Jesus Christ, trust him with the work; if you mark
the text here, and the verse that followeth, Christ is both the refiner,
and the refiner’s fire: thou shalt be refined by him, and thou shalt be
refined in him. Thou deceivest thyself if thou thinkest to be refined any
other way but by this refiner, and in this refiner’s fire. The blood of
Christ doth not only wash us from guilt, but purge our consciences “from
dead works, to serve the living God,” Heb. ix. 14; “And they that are
Christ’s, have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts.” Gal.
v. 24. Here you may see the thing is feasible and attainable, and not only
by an apostle or some extraordinary man, but by all that are Christ’s.
Being his, and in him, they are enabled, through his strength, to crucify
the flesh, with the affections and lusts thereof.
FOOTNOTES
1 It is right to state that a large proportion of those who ultimately
formed the presbyterian party, had been brought up in the Church of
England, and had received episcopal ordination.
2 There is another anecdote commonly repeated respecting a signal
defeat which Gillespie is said to have given to one of the
Independent divines, when recent from his travel to London. That he
did repeatedly refute their arguments is quite certain, of which
both Lightfoot’s notes and his own record many instances, but no
such event could have occurred as that with which the anecdote is
commonly introduced; for both Henderson and Gillespie arrived at the
same time, and were received formally, and with great respect into
the Assembly, before any of the controverted points had begun to be
discussed at all. It is easy to conceive how imaginary incidents may
be added by tradition, to an anecdote essentially true; and our
endeavour has been to restore the anecdote to its true position and
character. We may add that Gillespie’s expression, “Can ye not admit
a pinning?” is one which tradition has preserved; but we find the
same word used in his Aaron’s Rod, in a similar sense, which
confirms the tradition.
3 The present Erastian Establishment in Scotland might do well to
consider whether theirs be the church of which Gillespie was a
distinguished minister.
4 The above anecdote is sometimes given with this variation:—that when
the youngest member consented, he requested the rest to engage in
prayer, while he retired to make the attempt. They did so, and in a
short time he returned with the answer exactly as it now appears. We
prefer the anecdote as given in the text, both as equally likely,
and as much more beautiful.
5 These interesting documents are printed in this Series at the
conclusion of the Part containing his “Sermons and Controversial
Pieces.”
6 Preface to Stevenson’s History.
7 This refers to his opposition to the intrigues of the Engagers, and
their invasion of England under Hamilton.
8 Gillespie must have left London at that time to attend the General
Assembly which was summoned to meet at Edinburgh on the 22d of
January, 1645.
9 The death rattle in the throat of the dying man.
10 Bodin. Meth. Hist., cap. 4, p. 47.
11 Rep to the Ans. p. 269.
12 Enar in Luc. xvii.
13 De Civ. Dei., lib. 18, cap. 51.
14 Lib. contra Const. Aug.
15 Synops. Papis., cont. 13, quest. 7, p. 593.
16 Davenant. in col. 2, 8, p. 186
17 Osiand. Hist. Eccles., cent. 4, in Ep. Dedic.
18 Lib. 5, cap. 20.
19 Enarrat in Matt. xv.
20 Eccl. Pol., lib. 5, sect. 65.
21 Praef. of the Answ., p. 14.
22 Popish Praejud., cap. 10.
23 Cent. 2, cap. 2, col. 109.
24 Cron. Turcic., tom.3, lib. 4, p. 63.
25 Aug. de Civ. Dei. lib. 3, cap. 25.
26 Ib., cap. 26.
27 Ovid. Metam., lib. 15.
28 Apud Binium, tom. 4; Concil., part 1, p. 630.
29 No Peace with Rome, sect. 2.
30 Lib. Epist., col. 298.
31 Medit. in Rev. ii., iii.
32 Hist. Eccl. lib. 3 cap. 11.
33 Eccl. Pol., lib. 1, sect. 10.
34 Natal. Comit. Mythol., lib. 2, cap. 7.
35 Praelict., tom. 1, p. 367.
36 Ibid., p. 372.
37 Sermon on John xvi. 7.
38 Apolog., cap. 4.
39 Conrad. Pscilen. Clav. Theol., art. 9, p. 373.
40 Comm. in Eph. v. de subject.
41 Of the Church, lib. 4, cap. 34.
42 Aquin., 1a, 2a, quest. 43, art. 1; Stella in Luke xvii. 1.
43 Speed. Hist. of Brit., book 6, chap. 9, sect. 9.
44 Lactant., lib. 5, cap. 20.
45 P. Mart. in 1 Reg. 8. de Templ. dedic.
46 Epist. to the Pastors of the Church of Scotland.
47 Serm. at Perth Assem. insert. by Dr Lindsey.
48 Practic. Def. cap. 3, sect. 20.
49 Dr Forb. Iren. lib. 1, cap. 5, sect 6; cap. 7, sect. 1, 9; cap. 9,
sect. 6.
50 Cassand. Ang. p. 270, 11.
51 Ans to the Repl. pref. p. 43.
52 Ib. p. 53.
53 De Cas. Cons. lib. 4, cap. 11, cas. 3.
54 Ubi supra.
55 De cult. Sanct. cap. 10.
56 De Orig. Fest. Christian. cap. 2.
57 Repl. to the Ans. p. 258.
58 Calv. Com. in hunc locum.
59 De Exam. part 1, de Bon. Oper. p. 180.
60 Synt. part 2, disp. 27, thes. 30.
61 Bell. Enerv. tom. 1, lib. 3. cap. 7.
62 Ubi supra, thes. 31.
63 Annot. in Act. xv. 29.
64 Cens. lit. Angl. cap. 2.
65 Comm. in 1 Cor. vii. 23.
66 Synt. part. 2, disp. 44, thes. 33.
67 Ubi supra.
68 Hom. 1, in Ep. ad Tit.
69 Synt. Theol. lib. 6, cap. 38.
70 Instit. lib. 3, cap. 19, sect. 7.
71 Ib. cap. 10.
72 Chem. Exam. part. 2. de rit. in adm. Sac. p. 33.
73 Zanch. comm. in Col. ii. 20.
74 Apol. part. 3, cap. 1, sect. 5.
75 Comm. in 1 Cor. vii. 23.
76 De haeret. Baptiz.
77 B. Lind. Epist. to the Pastors of the Church of Scotland.
78 Spots. Sermon at Perth Assembly.
79 Of the Cross, cap. 5, sect. 11.
80 Of the Church, lib. 4, cap. 34.
81 Apol. part 3. cap. 1, sect. 4. So Dr Forb. Iren. lib. 1, cap. 11,
sect. 5, 6.
82 Manuduct. p. 42.
83 Thes. Theol. de Libert. Christ thes. 10.
84 Prel. in Mat. xviii. 7, tom. 2. p. 340.
85 Ubi supra.
86 Ubi supra.
87 Sermon of the worshipping of Imaginations.
88 Til. Synt. part. 2, disp. 27, thes. 38.
89 Thuan. Hist. lib. 124, p. 922.
90 Of the Church, lib. 4, cap. 33.
91 De Cens. lib. 1, cap. 2.
92 Treat. of Cons. cap. 2, sect. 3.
93 Theol. Cas. cap. 2.
94 Ames. de Cons. lib. 1, cap. 3.
95 Instit. lib. 4, cap. 10, sect. 5.
96 Synt. part. 2, disp. 32, thes. 4.
97 De Rep. Eccl. lib. 5, cap. 2, n. 12.
98 Til. Synt. p. 2, disp. 27, thes. 39.
99 Chem. examp. 2, de Bon. Oper. p. 179.
100 Marc. Ant. de Dom. de Rep. Ec. lib. 6, cap. 10, num. 67.
101 Apud Field, of the Church. lib. 4, cap. 34.
102 Animad. in Bel. contr. 3, lib. 4, cap. 16, nota 87.
103 Synt. p. 2, disp. 27, thes. 39.
104 Instit. lib. 4, cap. 10, sect. 32.
105 Decr. part. 1, dict. 61, cap. 8.
106 Ubi supra, art. 21.
107 De Cons. lib. 1, cap. 2.
108 Theol. Casuum. cap. 2.
109 Synt. per Theol. disp. 35, thes. 19.
110 Ames. Bell. Enerv. tom. 1, lib. 3, cap. 7.
111 De Pol. Christ. lib. 5, cap. 1.
112 De Orig. Fest. Christ, cap. 2.
113 Comm. in 1 Cor. xiv. 40.
114 Thes. Theol. de Libert. Christ. thes. 11.
115 Treat. of Cons. cap. 2, sect. 8.
116 Theol. Cas. cap. 2.
117 Synt. part. 2, disp. 27, thes. 9.
118 Calv. Resp. ad Libel. de pii viri officio, p. 413.
119 T. Bez. Conf. cap. 5, art. 18. Perk. ubi supra, et Meisner Philos.
Sobr. part. 3, sect. 2, quest. 12.
120 Of the Church, lib. 4, cap. 33.
121 De Pont. Rom. lib. 4, cap. 20.
122 Ubi supra.
123 Of the Cross, cap. 5, sect. 14, 15.
124 Præl. tom. 1, de Potest: Eccl. cont. 2, p. 371.
125 Ibid. p. 366.
126 Par. Com. in Rom. xiv. dub. 7.
127 Par. Com. in Rom. xiv. dub. 7.
128 In Dan. vi.
129 De Pont. Rom. lib. 4, cap. 20.
130 Ubi supra.
131 Com. in 1 Pet. v. 3.
132 Euchyrid. class. 3, cap. 14.
133 Synt. pur. Theol. disp. 35, thes. 17.
134 Comment. in Rom. xiv. 5.
135 Theol. Cas. cap. 2.
136 Enchyr. class. 2, cap. 7.
137 Bald. de Cons. Cas. lib. 1, cap 8.
138 De Cons. Cas. lib. 1, cap. 7.
139 1 an. 2 an. quest. 19, art. 5.
140 Ames. de Cons. lib. 1, cap 4.
141 Manual. lib. 4, cap. 4.
142 Zanch. Comm. in Illum Locum.
143 Ubi supra.
144 Ubi supra.
145 Perth Assem. p. 8-10, and B. Lindsey, in the Proceedings set down by
him, p. 63, 64.
146 Park, of the Cross, cap. 5, sect. 10.
147 Camer. Prael. tom, 1, de Potest. Eccl. contr. 2.
148 Apol. part. 3, cap. 1, sect. 25.
149 Exam. part. 3, de Ceclib. Sacer. p. 38.
150 Animad. in Bel. cont. 3, lib. 4, cap. 16.
151 Hist. of the Coun. of Trent, lib. 2.
152 Polit. Christ, lib. 5, cap. 3.
153 Ep. 64.
154 In Apologet.
155 Chem. Exam. part. 1, de Bon. Oper. p. 180.
156 Synt. pur. Theol. disp. 49, thes. 72.
157 Magd. cen. 1, lib. 2, cap. 4, co. 443.
158 Decr. part. 1, dist. 12, cap. 1.
159 Aquin. 2, 2 ae. 4, 147, art. 4.
160 Comm. in 1 Cor. x. 15.
161 Comm. in 1 Thes. v. 21.
162 Eccl. Pol. lib. 5. n. 71.
163 Par. æs. ad Sco. cap. 16. p. 64.
164 Comm. in Illum Locum.
165 Præl. in Eundem Locum.
166 Pro. in Perth Assem. par. 3, p. 13.
167 Ubi supra.
168 Ib. p. 26, 27.
169 Apud Bald. de Cas. Cons. lib. 2, cap. 12, cas. 1.
170 Prael. tom. 1, de Pot. Eccl. contr. 2.
171 Ubi supra, p. 16.
172 Ag. the Rhem. annot. on Gal. iv. 10.
173 Ubi supra, p. 16, 17.
174 Paran. ad Sco. cap. 16, p. 64.
175 Ubi supra, p. 25.
176 Ibid. p. 17.
177 Ibid. p. 27.
178 Calv. Comm. in illum locum.
179 Zanch. Comm. ibid.
180 Proc. in Perth Assembly, part. 3, p. 43.
181 Annot. on Col. ii. 16.
182 Annot. on Gal. iv. 10.
183 Annot. ibid.
184 De Cult. Sanct., cap. 10.
185 De Orig. Fest. Christ. cap. 2.
186 De Templ. et Fest. in Enchyrid contr. inter Evang. et Pontif.
187 Ubi supra.
188 Epist. 118, ad Januar.
189 De Orig. Fest. Christ. cap. 2.
190 Paren. ad Scot. cap. 16, pp. 66.
191 Comm. in illum locum
192 Annot. in Gal. iv. 3.
193 Comm. in illum locum.
194 Ubi supra, p. 40.
195 Comm. in Col. ii. 17.
196 Infra. part 3, in the arg. of Superstition.
197 Anim. in Bel. cont. 3, lib. 4, cap. 16, nota 20.
198 Comm. in illum locum.
199 Annot. ib.
200 Anim. ad Bel. contr. 3, lib. 4. cap. 16, nota 32.
201 Ubi supra.
202 Bell. de Euch. lib. 6, cap. 13.
203 Annot. on Matt. vi. 15, sect. 5.
204 Comm. in Col. ii. 16.
205 Ubi supra, p. 7.
206 Supra, cap. 7, sect. 7.
207 Infra, part. 2, cap. 2.
208 Paræn. ad Scot. cap. 16. p. 65.
209 Cent. 2, cap. 6, col. 119.
210 Lib. 5, cap. 22.
211 Lib. 12, cap. 32.
212 Lib. 7, cap. 19.
213 In Gal. iv.
214 Hospin. de Orig. Fest. Christ p. 71.
215 Annot. on Matt. xv. 9.
216 Ubi supra.
217 Part 3.
218 Calv. Ep. et Resp. edit. Genev. an. 1617, col. 137.
219 Ibid. 138.
220 Ib. col. 119.
221 Paraen. cap. 16, p. 68.
222 Sermon, Jer. iv. 2.
223 Ubi supr, p. 84.
224 Alsted. in Cronol. Testium Veritatis.
225 AEn. Sylv. apud Didocl. alt. Damasc. p. 707.
226 Paraen., cap. 16, p. 64.
227 Sermon at Perth Assembly.
228 Ubi supra, p. 83.
229 Ibid. p. 138.
230 Ubi supra, p. 91.
231 Ibid. p. 41.
232 Ibid. p. 95.
233 Ubi supra, p. 83.
234 Calv. Ep. et Resp. col. 592.
235 Serm. at Perth Assembly insert. by B. Lindsey.
236 Ans. to the Repl. praef. p. 43.
237 Repl. to the Ans., p. 270.
238 Cassand. Ang., p. 46.
239 Ib. p. 23.
240 Ibid., p. 8.
241 Ib., p. 9-11.
242 Infra, part 3. chap. 1.
243 Ubi supra, p. 24, 28.
244 Ibid. p. 52.
245 Ibid. p. 28.
246 Ibid. p. 62.
247 Ibid. p. 63.
248 Page 67.
249 P. 68-70.
250 Page 85, 93, 110.
251 Hist. of the Wald., part. 3, lib. 1, cap. 6. Thuan. Hist. lib. 6, p.
189.
252 Thuan. ibid. p. 186.
253 Alsted. Chron. Rolib. p. 550.
254 See his treatise entitled _Vera Ecclesiæ Reformandæ Ratio._
255 Alsted. ibid.
256 Sleid. Com., lib. 21, p. 388.
257 Sleid., ibid., p. 393.
258 Polan. Synt., lib. 7, cap. 17.
259 Calv. Inst., lib. 4, cap. 10, sect. 32.
260 Chem. Exam. par. 2, p. 121.
261 Fenner Theol., lib. 2, cap. 2.
262 Pareus in 1 Cor. xiv. 26.
263 Calv. Ep. et Resp., col. 478.
264 Calv. in 1 Cor. x. 23. Taylor on Tit. i. 15, p. 295.
265 Ubi supra, p. 55.
266 Pareus in 1 Cor. vi. 12.
267 Calv. in 1 Cor. x. 23, & Pareus ibid.
268 Serm. on Job xvi. 7.
269 Serm. at Perth Assembly.
270 Fresh Suite, cap. 2, p. 12.
271 In 1 Cor. x. 23.
272 Thuan. Hist. lib. 39, p. 367.
273 Pareus in 1 Cor. viii. 13.
274 Page 44, 45.
275 Pareus in 1 Cor. x. 23.
276 Alsted. Theol. Cas. cap. 12, 199.
277 Pareus in Rom. iii. 8.
278 Page 210, 211.
279 Ubi supra.
280 Bald. de Cas. Cons., lib. 4, cap. 11, cas. 3.
281 Sleid. Com. lib. 21, p. 381.
282 Ibid. lib. 25, p. 485.
283 Partic. Def. cap. 1, sect. 1.
284 Paraen., cap. 16, p. 65.
285 Proc. in Perth Assembly, part 3, p. 7.
286 Ibid. P. 121.
287 Apol. part 3, cap. 3, sect. 45, 51.
288 Sleid. Com. lib. 20, p. 365, 371. Alsted in Chron. Religionis, an.
1548.
289 Sleid. Com. lib. 21, p. 377.
290 Ibid. p. 388.
291 Ibid. p. 393.
292 Reg. Eccles. lib. 7, cap. 12, num. 107.
293 Ibid. num. 120.
294 Ibid. num. 132. See to the same purpose D. Potter, in his book
called, “Want of Charity justly charged,” p. 76.
295 Field, of the Church, append. to the third book, cap. 11, p. 298. B.
Andr. Serm. on Jer. xxiii. 6, p. 79-82.
296 Sleid. Com. lib. 21, p. 377.
297 De Laicis, cap. 19.
298 Annot. 1 Tim. vi. 20.
299 Rep. Eccl. lib. 7, cap. 12, num. 134.
300 Park., of the Cross, part 2, p. 80.
301 P. 32.
302 Ibid. p. 34.
303 Ibid. p. 41.
304 Ibid. p. 42.
305 Jun. Animad. in Bell. de Cult. Sanct. lib. 3, cap. 5.
306 Natal. Comit. Mythol. lib. 1, cap. 15.
307 Bell. de Effect. Sacram. cap. 31.
308 Hooker, Eccl. Pol. lib. 4, num. 1.
309 Hospin. Epist. Dedic. Praefix. Libris de Orig. Monach.
310 Censur. Liturg. Angl. cap. 9.
311 Exam. part 2, de Rit. In Administ. Sacr. p. 32.
312 Com. in John iv. 24.
313 Popish Prejud. cap. 10.
314 Calv. Com. in Exod. xx. 5.
315 Com. in illum locum.
316 De Divers. Grad. Ministr. Evang. contr. Bez. cap. 24, sect. 25.
317 Popish Prejud. cap. 10.
318 Camero, ibid.
319 Hospin., ubi supra.
320 Rev. xvii. 7.
321 Com. in illum locum.
322 Praef. of the Ans. p. 17.
323 Sarav. N. Fratri et Amico, art. 17.
324 Socrat. lib. 3, cap. 12.
325 Decr. part 2, caus. 7, quest. 1, cap. 36.
326 The Pastor and the prelate, p. 36.
327 Hist. of the Waldenses, lib. 1, cap. 3.
328 Calv. Epist. et Resp. col. 132.
329 Way to the Church, ans. to sect. 33.
330 Epist. ad Regin. Fes. lib. 1, Epistol. p. 112.
331 Of the Cross, cap. 9, sect. 1.
332 Expos. Conf. Ang. art. 37, et problem, 2 de prædest.
333 Maldon. Com. in Matt. viii. 3.
334 De Verb. Dom., serm. 6.
335 Conrad. Schlusselburg. apud Park. of the Cross, part 2, p. 97.
336 De Cas. Consc., lib. 4, cap. 11. cas. 3.
337 De Laicis, cap. 19.
338 Calv. Epist. et Resp. col. 451, 452.
339 Plutin In vita Innoc. VII.
340 Sleid. com. lib. 21, p. 376.
341 Epist. to the Pastors of the Kirk of Scotland.
342 Sarav. N. Fratri et Amico, art. 17.
343 Park., of the Cross, cap. 6, sect. 21.
344 Ibid. sect. 22.
345 Serm. At Perth Assembly.
346 Part 1, p. 63.
347 Ibid. p. 64.
348 Nature Hist. lib. 10. cap. ult.
349 Serm. on 1 Cor. xi. 16.
350 Thuan. Hist. lib. 16, p. 506.
351 Plin. Natur. Hist. lib. 4. cap. 1.
352 Com. in Matt. lib. 2 lib. 15.
353 Synt. Theol. lib. 6 cap. 3 col. 19.
354 Aquin. 2, 2 an. quest. 43 art. 1 Marc. Ant. de Dom. de Rep. Leel
lib. 5 cap. 10 num. 44.
355 Marc. Ant. de Dom. de Rep. Eccl. lib. 1, cap. 11, num. 18.
356 Com. In 2 m. 2 an. quest. 43, art. 7.
357 Hemming. Enchir. Theol. class. 3, cap. 17, Magdeburg cont. 1, lib.
2, cap. 4, col. 448, 449.
358 Ames, lib. 5, de Consc. cap. 11, quest. 6.
359 Ames. Ibid. quest. 3.
360 Camero, Prael. In Matt. xviii. 7, de scand.
361 Com. in illum locum.
362 Com. ibid.
363 Com. ibid.
364 Of the Cross, part 2. p. 57.
365 Eccl. Pol. p. 246.
366 Supra, cap. 1.
367 Maldonat. Com. in illum locum.
368 Pareus, Com. ibid.
369 Com. in Eph. iv. 13.
370 Polan. Synt. Theol. lib, 6, cap. 3, col. 19.
371 Aquin. 2, 2 an. quest. 43. art. 2.
372 Marc. Ant. de Dom. de Rep. Eccl. lib, 1, cap. 11, num. 18.
373 Cent. 1, lib. 2, cap. 4, col. 450.
374 Com. in Dan. i. 8.
375 De Rep. Eccl. lib. 5, cap. 10, num. 44.
376 Com. in 1 Thes. v. 22.
377 Of the Cross, cap. 3, sect. 6.
378 Annot. on Gal. iv. 10.
379 Confer. with Rain. cap. 8, div. 2, p. 408, 410.
380 Com. in 1 Cor. x. 28.
381 Lib. 1, epist. 41.
382 Can. 5.
383 Ubi supra.
384 Bald, de Cas. Cons. lib. 2, cap. 14, cas. 7.
385 N. Fratri et Amico, art. 13.
386 Annot. on Acts viii. sect. 5.
387 Park, of the Cross, part 2, p. 57; 1 Thes. v. 14; Rom. xiv. 16; 1
Cor. lx. 12; 1 Thes, ii. 7; Acts xx 34; Matt xviii. 6.
388 Cornel Jansen. Conc. Evang. cap 71.
389 Aug. de Morib. Manich. lib. 2, cap. 14; Rom. xiv. 30.
390 Ames lib. 5, de Consc. cap. 11, quest. 6.
391 Dr Forebesse, Iren. lib. 2. cap. 20, num. 27.
392 Alt. Damasc. cap. 9, p. 556.
393 Parker, of the Cross, part 2, p. 75.
394 Com. upon this place.
395 Tom. 1, an. 55, num. 39.
396 De Rep. Eccl., lib. 1, cap. 11, num. 18.
397 Serm. at Perth Assembly.
398 “Non enim solum scandalizure, sed ... dulizari peccatum est, quia
... est,” saith Maldonat upon Matt. xviii. 7.
399 2 2an., quest. 43, art. 1.
400 Pareus, Com. la. illum locum.
401 Epist. to the Pastors of the Church of Scotland.
402 Com. in 1 Cor. viii. 9.
403 Lib. 2, cap. 20, num. 5, 6.
404 Supra, sect 4-6.
405 Ibid., num. 7.
406 Num. 10-14.
407 Num. 15, 16.
408 Num. 17.
409 Iren., lib. l. cap. 10, sect. 2.
410 Supra, cap. 8, sect. 6.
411 Ibid. lib. 2, cap. 20, num. 14.
412 Supra. cap. 8, sect. 5, cap. 9, sect. 10.
413 Ibid, sect 7.
414 Mosney Myster. of Iniq. In the conclus.
415 Aquin. 3, quest. 66, art. 8, Rhein Annot. on Matt. xvi. sect. 5,
Bell de Pontif. Rom., lib. 4, cap. 18; and De Sacrif. Missæ, lib. 6,
cap 13.
416 Eccl. Pol., lib. 4, 11, 12.
417 Cap. 1, sect. 3.
418 Expos. of the Creed, Art. of Christ’s Birth.
419 Com. on Gal. iv. 10.
420 Parker, of the Cross, cap. 6, sect. 10.
421 Sect. 7.
422 Apol., part 3, cap 5.
423 Com. in Matt. xviii. 6.
424 Com. 1 Cor. viii.
425 Ames., lib. 5, de Consc., cap. 11.
426 Supra, cap. 1.
427 Cent. 1, lib. 2, cap. 10, col. 560.
428 De Auserib Papae, consider. 12.
429 Com. in illum locum.
430 Ubi Supra, p. 441.
431 Of the Cross, part 2, p. 79.
432 Serm. on John xvi. 7.
433 Pareus, Com. in Rom. xv. 1.
434 Serm. on John xvi. 7.
435 Fresh Suite ag. Cerem., cap. 9, p. 96, 100.
436 Lib. 1, de Vit. Ext. Cult. Oppos., col. 501, 502.
437 Aquin. 2. 2, quest. 92, art. 1.
438 Syn. Pur. Theol., disp. 44, thes. 53.
439 Cent. 4, cup. 6, col. 427.
440 De Cas. Consc., lib. 2, cap. 12, Cas. 13.
441 Concil. Laodic., can. 58.
442 Hist. of the Waldenses, part 3, lib. 1, cap. 6.
443 Eccles. Pol., lib. 5, sect. 3.
444 Apud Aquin. 2. 2, quest. 93, art. 2.
445 J. Rainold’s Confer. with J. Hart, cap. 8, divis. 4, p. 489.
446 Stella, Com. in Luke xvii. 20.