Twenty general OBSERVATIONs about the Rife

Twenty general OBSERVATIONs about the Rife

A Blow at the Root ; or, : him, whilst men labour in vain to convince him. Hedoth not formally, and in terms, condemn himself; but he doth ſo equivalently, whilft he continues to own and maintain doctrines and opinions which he finds himself unable to defend against the evidence of truth.

Human frailty may lead a man into the firſt, but deviliſh pride fixes him in the laft.

The word of God, which is our rule, muſt thereforebe the onlyteft and touchſtone to try and diſcover errors ; for regula eft index fui & obliqui.

'Tis not enough toconvince aman of error, that his judgment,differs from other mens ; you must bring it to the word, and try how it agrees or diſagrees therewith; elfe he that charges another with error, may be found in as great or greater anerror himself. None are more diſpoſed eafily to receive, and tenaciouſly to defend errors, than thoſe who are the Anteſignani, heads or leaders of erroneous ſects ; eſpecially after they have fought in defence of bad cauſes, and deeply engaged their reputation.

The following diſcourſe juſtly entitles itſelf, A BLOW AT THE ROOT . And though you will here find the roots of ma- 'ny errors laid bare and open, which, comparatively, are of far different degrees of danger and malignity; which I here mention together, manyof them ſpringingfrom the fame root :

Yet I am farfromcenfuring them alike ; nor would Ihave any that are concerned in leſſer errors be exasperated, becauſe their leſſer miſtakes are mentioned with greater and more pernicious ones; this candour I not only intreat,butjuſtly challenge from my reader.

And becauſe there are manygeneral andvery useful obſervations about errors, which will not ſo conveniently come underthe laws of that method which governs the main part of thisdiſcourſe, viz. CAUSES and CURES of error: Ihave therefore forted them by themselves, and premiſed them to the following part in twenty obſervations next enfuing.

** Twenty general OBSERVATIONS about the Rife and Increase of the ERRORS of the Times.

First Observation.

TRUT RUTH is the proper object, the natural and pleaſant food of the understanding, Job xii. 11. Doth not the ear( that is, the underſtanding by the ear) try words, as the mouth tafleth meat ?

Knowledge is the affimilation of the underſtanding to

TheCauses and Cure of MentalErrors.

thetruths received by it. Nothing is more natural to man, than adefire to know : knowledge never cloys the mind, as food doth the natural appetite; but as the one increaſeth, the other is proportionably ſharpened and provoked.

The minds of all (that are notwholly immerſed in ſenſuality) ſpend their ſtrength in the laborious ſearch and pursuit of truth : ſometimes climbingup from the effects to thecauſes, and thendeſcending again fromthe cauſes to the effects ; and all to diſcover truth.

Fervent prayer, ſedulous ſtudy, fixed meditations, are the labours of inquiſitive fouls after truth.

All the objections and counter-arguments the mind meets in its way, are but the pauſes andhesitations ofa bivious ſoul, not able to determine whether truth lies upon this ſide, or upon that.

Anſwerable to the ſharpness of the mind's appetite, is the fineedgeof pleaſure and delight it feels in the diſcovery and acquiſition of truth.

When it hath racked and tortured itſelf upon knotty problems, and, at laſt, diſcovered the truth it fought for, with what joy doth the foul dilate itſelf, and run

(as it were with open arms) to claſp and welcome it ?

The understanding of man, at firſt, was perfpicacious and clear ; all truths lay obvious in their comely order and ravithing beauty before it: God made man upright, Eccl. vii. 29.

This rectitude ofhis mind conſiſted in light and knowledge, as appears by the preſcribed method of his recovery, Col. iii. 10.

Renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him.

Truth in the mind, or the mind's union with truth, beingpart of the divine image inman, diſcovers to us the fin and miſchief of error, which is adefacing (fo far as it prevails) of the image of God.

No ſooner was man created, but by the exerciſe of knowledgehe foondiſcoveredGod's image in him; and by his ambition after more, loft whathe had.

So that now there is an hazineſs or cloud ſpread over truth by ignorance and error, the ſad effects of the fall.

Obferv. 2. Of knowledge there are divers forts andkinds : fome is human, and ſome divine ; ſome ſpeculative, and ſome practical ; ſome ingrafted as the notions of morality, and ſome acquired by painful ſearch and ſtudy: but of all knowledge, none like that divine and ſupernatural knowledge of ſaving truths revealedby Chriſt in the ſcriptures ; from whence ariſeth thedifferent degrees both of the finfulneſs anddanger of errors ; thoſe errors being always the worſt, which are committed against the moſt important truths revealed in the gospel.

VOL. IV.

A Blow at the Root; or, Theſe truths ly infolded eitherinthe plainwords, or evident and neceſſary conſequences from the words of the Holy Scripture; fcripture-confequences are of greatuſe for the refutation of errors : itwas by a ſcripture-conſequence, that Chrift fuccefsfullyproved the refurrection against theSadducees, Mat. xxii.

The Arians, and other heretics, rejected confequential proofs, and rquired the expreſs words ofScripture only ; hoping, that way, to defend and ſecure their errors against the arguments and affaults of the orthodox.

Somethink thatreaſon and natural light is abundantly fuf. ficient for the direction oflife; but certainly nothing is more neceffary to us, for that end, than the written word; for tho' the remains of natural lighthave their place anduſe, in direct. ing us about natural and earthly things, yet they are utterly infufficient to guide us in ſpiritual and heavenly things,

1 Cor. ii . 14. " The natural man receiveth not the things ofGod," c. Eph . v. 8. " Once wereye indarkneſs, νῦν δὲὲφῶς εν κνυρίω, DOW are ye light in the Lord;" i. e. by abeam ofheavenly light ſhining from the Spirit ofChrift thro' the written word, inte your minds or underſtandings.

'Tis the written word which ſhines uponthe path ofour duty, Pfal. cxix. 105. The ſcriptures ofthe OldandNewTestament dojointlymake the folidfoundation ofaChriſtian'sfaith. Hence,

Eph. ii. 20. we are faid to be builtupon the foundation ofthe apoftles and prophets. We are bound therefore to honourOld

Teßament fcriptures, as well asnew, they beingpartofthe divine canon; and muſt not ſcruple to admit them as ſufficient, and authentic proofs, for the confirmation of truths, and refuta. tion of errors.

Chriſt referred the people to them, John v.

39. and Paul preached and disputed from them, Acts xxvi.

22.

Obſerve. 3. Unto the attainment of divineknowledge outofthe fcriptures,fomethings are naturally, yet less princpallyrequisitein thefubject; andsomethingabfolutely, and principally neceffary.

The natural qualifications defirable inthe ſubject, are clearneſs of apprehenfion, folidity ofjudgment, and fidelity ofretention.

Theſe are defirable requifites to make the underſtanding fufceptible of knowledge; but the irradiationof the mind, by the Spirit of God, is principally neceſſary, John xvi . 13.

"He shall guide you into all truth:" The clearest andmolt comfortable lighthe giveth tomen is in theway offanctification, calledthe teachings ofthe anointing, I John. ii. 27.

When this ſpiritualſanctifying lightſhinesupona mind, natu

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

rallyenriched and qualified with thethree forementionedrequifites,that mind excels others in the riches of knowledge.

And yet the teachings of the Spirit, in the way offanctification, do verymuch ſupply and recompenſe the defects and weaknefles of the forementioned qualifications.

Whence two things are highly remarkable :

1. That menofgreat abilities ofnature, clear apprehenfions innatural things; ſtrongjudgments, and tenacious memories, donot only frequently fall into groſs errors, and damnable herefies themſelves, but become Herefiarchs, or heads of erroneous factions, drawing multitudes intotheſame ſin andmiſery with themselves ; as Arius, Socinus, Pelagius, Bellarmine, and multitudes ofothers have done.

And ſecondly, It is no leſs remarkable, that men ofweaker parts, but babes in compariſon, through the fanctification and direction of the Spirit, for which they have humbly waited at his feet inprayer, havenot only beendirectedandguidedby him into the truth, but ſo confirmed and fixed therein, thattheyhave beenkept found intheir judgments, intimes of abounding errors; and firm in there adherence to it, indays of fierceſt pers ſecution. Howmen of excellentnaturalparts have beenblinded, andmen ofweak natural parts illuminated ; ſee 1 Cor. i. 26,

27. Mat. xi. 25.

Obſerv. 4. Among the manifold impediments to the obtaining of true knowledge, andfettling the mind in the truth andfaith ofthegospel, thesethree are ofspecialremarkandconfideration ; viz. ignorance, curiofity, and error.

Ignorance lights it, ordespairs of attaining it.

Truth falls into contempt amongthe ignorant, from fluggishneſs, and apprehenfion of the difficulties that lie in the way to it, Prov. xxiv. 7. Wisdom is too highfor afool.

Curioſity runs beſide orbeyond it.

This pride and wantonneſs of the mind, puffs itupwith a vain conceit, that it is not only able to penetrate thedeepest mysteries revealed in the ſcripture, but even uprevealed fecrets alſo; Col. ii. 18.

Intruding into thoſe things "whichhehath not feen,vainly puffedupby his flethly mind."

But error militates directly againſt it, contradicts and oppoſeth

truth, eſpecially when an error is maintainedby pride against inward convictions, or means of better information.

'Tis bad tomaintain an error for want of light ; but abundantlyworſe to maintain it against light.

This is ſuch an affront to the Spirit ofGod, as he usuallypunishes with penal ignorance, andgives themup to aſpirit of error..

Cc2

A Blow at the Root ; or, Obſerv. 5. Error is binding upon the conscience, as well as truth; and altogether as much, and, fometimes, more influential upon the affections andpaffions, as truth is

For it preſents not itſelf to the soul in its own name and nature, as error; but in the name anddress of truth, and under that notionbinds the confcience, and vigorously influences the paſſions and affections; and then being more indulgent toluft, than truth is, it is, for that, ſo much the more embraced and hugged by the deceived foul, Acts xxii. 4, 5.

The heat that errorputs the ſoul into, differs from religious zeal, as a feverish doth from a natural heat ; whichis not, indeed, ſo benign and agreeable, but much more fervent andſcorching. A mind under the power of error, is reſtleſs andimpatient to propogate its errors to others, and theſe heats prey upon, and eat up the vital ſpirits and powers of religion.

Obſerv. 6. 'Tis exceeding difficult to get out error, when once it is imbibed, and hath rooted itself by an open profeffion.

Errors, like ſome forts of weeds, having oncefeeded in afield or garden, 'tis ſcarce poſſible to fubdue and destroy them ; eſpecially if they be hereditary errors, or have grown up with us from our youth,; a teneris affuefcere multum eft, faith Seneca ; 'tis a great advantage totruth, or error, tohave anearly and long poffeffion of the mind.

The Phariſees heldmany erroneous opinions about the law, as appears by their corruptive commentaries upon it, refuted by Chriſt, Mat. v.

Butdidhe root them out oftheir heads andhearts thereby ? No, no; they fooner rid him out ofthe world.

The Sadducees held a moſt dangerous error about the refurrection; Chriſt diſputedwith them, tothe admiration ofothers, and proved it clearly against them; andyet, we find the error remaining long after Chriſt's death, 2 Tim. ii. 18. The apostles themselves had their minds tinctured with this error, that Chriſt ſhouldbe outwardly great andmagnificent in the world, and raiſe his followers to great honoursand preferments amongstmen.

Chriſt plainly toldthem it was their mistake and error ; "for the fon of man came not " to be miniſtredunto, but to minifter;" yet this did notrid their minds of the error; it ſluck fast in ihem, even till his afcenfion to heaven. O how hard is it to clear the heart ofa goodmanonce leavenedwith error ! and much more hard to ſeparate it from awickedman *.

* I am persuaded (faith Mr. Gurnal) ſome mentake more pains

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

Somehave choſen rather todie,than topart withtheirdarling errors, andfoul-damningherefies. I have read (faith Mr Bridges) of a great Atheist, that was burnt at Paris for blafpheming

Chriſt, held faſt his Atheistical opinions till he came to the very ſtake ; boaſted to the priests and friars that followed him, howmuch more confidently he went to ſacrifice his life inthe ſtrength ofreaſon, under which he ſuffered, than Chriſt himself did; but when he began to feeltorments indeed, then he roared andraged to the purpoſe.

Vidi ego hominem, faith the author :

In his life, he was looſe ; inhis imprisonments, fullen; andat hisdeath, mad with the horrors of confcience.

Some, indeed, have recoveredthe foundness oftheirjudgments, afterdeep corruptions bydangerous errors.

Auſtin was aManichee, and fully recovered from it.

So have many more ; and yet multitudes hold them faſt even to death, and nothing but the fire can reveal their work, and diſcover what is gold, and what is ſtraw and stubble.

Obſerv. 7. It deſerves a remark, That men are not so circumspectandjealous ofthe corruption oftheirminds by errors, as theyare oftheir bodies in times of contagion; or oftheir lives, with refpect to groſs immoralities.

Spiritual dangers affect us leſs than corporal; and intellectual evils leſs than moral.

Whether this be the effect of hypocriſy, the errors of the mindbeing more fecret and inviſible than thoſe of the conversation, God only knows, man cannot poſitivelydetermine.

Or whether it be the effect of ignorance, that men think there is leſs ſin and danger in the one than inthe other; not confidering, that an apoplexy ſeizing thehead, is every way as mortal as a fword piercing the body: And that avertigo will as muchunfit aman forſervice, asan ague or fever.

The apostle, in 2 Pet. ii . 1. calls them αιρεσεις απωλειας, damnable hereſies, or hereſies ofdeſtruction. An error inthemind may be as damning and deſtructive to the foul, as anerror ofimmorality or profaneneſs in the life.

Or whether it maycome to paſs from ſome remains of fear and tenderneſs inthe conscience, which forbids men to reduce their erroneous principles intopractice; their lying under matofurniſh themſelves with arguments todefendſome errorthey have takenup, thantheydo for the moſt ſaving truthsinthe bible. Auſtin faid, when he was a Manichaean, Non tu eras,fed error meus erat

Deus meus; Thou, O Lord, wert not, but my error was my God.

Furnal's Christian Armour, part 2, pag. 36.

A Blow at the Rost; or, ny confident errors in the mind, a ſecret jealousy, which we callformido oppofiti, which will not fuffer them toact tothe full height of their profeſſed opinions.

Auſtin gives this character even of Pelagius himself, Retract. lib. II. cap. 33. Nomen Pelagiinonfinelaude aliqua pofui, quia vita ejusa multis praedicabatur: Ihave not mentioned (faith he)the name of that man, without fome praiſe, becauſe his lifewas famedby many. And of Swinkfeldius it issaid, Caput regulatum illi defuit, corbonum non defuit : His heart was much more regular than his head.

Yet this falls out but rarelyin the world; for looſe principles naturallyrun into looſe practices; and the errors of thehead into the immoralities of life.

Obferv. 8. It is a greatjudgment ofGod, to begiven over to an erroneous mind.

For the understanding being the leading faculty, as that guides, the other powers and affections of the foul follow, as horſes in a team follow the fore-horse. Now, how fad and dangerous a thing is this, for Satan to ride the fore-horſe, and guidethatwhich is toguide the life of man ? That's a dreadful, fpiritual, judicial ſtroke ofGod which we read of, Rom. i. 26. πάρεδωκεν αυτες ο Θεος εἰς πάθη ατιμίας : God, by a penal tradition, fuffered them to run into the dregs of immorality, and pollutions of life; and that, becauſe they abuſed their light, andbecame vain in their imaginations, ver. 21 .

Wild whimfies and fancies in thehead, uſually miſlead men into the puddle and mire of profaneneſs, and then 'tis commonly obſervedGod ſets ſome viſible mark of his diſpleaſure upon them; eſpecially the Herefiarchs, orring-leadersin error. ſtorius his tongue was confumed by worms.

Cerinthus his brains knocked outby the fall ofan houſe. Montanus hanged Nehimſelf: Itwere eaſy to inſtance in multitudes of others, whom the viſibleband of God hath marked for a warning to others; but ufually the ſpiritual errors ofthe mind are followed with a confumptionand decay of religion inthe foul.

If grace be in theheart, where error ſways its fceptre in the head, yet uſually there itlanguithes and withers. They may miſtake their droply for growth and flourishing; and think themselves to be more fpiritual, becauſe more airy and notional ; but if men would judge themselves impartially, they will certainly find that the feeds of grace thrive not in the heart, when ſhadedand overdroptby an erroneous head.

Obferv. 9. 'Tis a pernicious evil, to advance a mere opinion into the place andfeat ofan article offaith ; and to lay as great a stress upon it, as they ought todo upon the most

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

clear and fundamental point. To be as much concerned for a tile upon the roof, as for the corner-ſtone, which unites the walls, and ſuſtains the building.

Opinion (as one truly faith) isbut reaſon's projector, and the ſpy of truth ; it makes, in its fulleſt diſcovery, no more than thedawning and twilight of knowledge ; and yet, I know not how it comes to paſs, but ſo it is, that this idolof the mind holds fuch a ſway and empire over all we hold, as ifit were all the day we had.

Matters of mere opinion, are every where criedupby ſome erroriſts, for mathematical demonſtration, and articles of faith written with a fun-beam ; worſhipping the fancies and creatures of their own minds, more than God; and putting more trust in their illfounded opinions, than in the furer word of prophecy.

Much like that Humorist that would not truft day-light, but kept his candle ſtill burning by him ; becauſe, ſaithhe, this is not fubject to eclipſes, as the fun is.

And what more frequent, when controverfies grow fervent, than for thoſe that maintainthe error, toboaſt every filly argument to be a demonſtration; to upbraid and pity the blindneſs anddulneſs of their oppoſers, as men that ſhut their eyes against fun-beams; yea, fometimes, to draw their preſumptuous cenfures through the veryhearts oftheir oppofers, andtoinfinuate, thatthey must needs hold the truths ofGod in unrighteouſneſs, fin against their knowledge, and that nothing keeps themfrom comingover tothem, but pride, ſhame, or fome worldly intereft? What a complicated evil ishere ! Here's a proud exalting ofour own opinions, and an icamodeſt impoſing on the minds ofothers, more clear and found than our own, andadangerous ufurpation ofGod's prerogative injudging the hearts and ends ofour brethren.

Obſerv. 10. Error being confcious to itſelf of its own weakness, and thestrong affaults that will be made upon it, evermore labours to defendandfecure itself under the wings of antiquity, reason, fcripture, and high pretenfions to reformation and piety.

Antiquity is avenerable word, but ill uſed, when made a cloke for error.

Truth must needs be elder than error ; as the rule muſt neceffarily be, before the aberration from it.

The greyhairs ofopinions are thenonlybeauty, and a crown, when found in the way ofrighteousness.

Copper (faith learned Du Moulin) will never become gold by age. A lie will be a lie, letit be never ſo ancient. We diſpute not by years, butby reaſons drawn from ſcripture.

That which is now called an ancient opinion, ifit be not a true opinion, was oncebut anew

A Blow at the Root ; or, error. Whenyou can tellus, how manyyears are requiredto turn an error into truth, then we will give more heed to antiquity, when preſſed inthe ſervice of error, than we now think due to it.

If antiquity will not do, reaſon ſhall be preſs'd to ſerve error's turn at adead-lift; and, indeed, the pencil of reaſoncan lay curious colours upon rottentimber, and varniſh over erroneous principles, with fair and plauſible pretences.

Whatexpertartiſtshave the Socinians proved themselves inthis matter ?

But becauſe men are bound to ſubmit human authority and reaſon todivine revelation, both must give way, and ſtrike failto the writtenword.

Hence is comes to paſs, that the great patrons and factors for error, do above all things, labour to gain countenance to their errors from the written word; and, to this end, they manifeſtly wreſt and wrack the ſcriptures, to make them ſubſervient to their opinions ; not impartially ſtudying the ſcriptures firſt, and formingtheir notions and opinions according to them.

But they bring their erroneous opinions tothe ſcriptures, and then, with all imaginable art and ſophiſtry, wire-draw and force the ſcriptures to countenance and legitimate their opinions *.

But becauſe pretences of piety and reformation & are the ſtrokes that give life tothe face of this idol, and give it the nearest reſemblance unto truth, theſe therefore never fail to be made uſe of, and zealously profeſſed in the favour of error, though therebe little ofeithermanytimes to be found intheir perſons, and nothing at all in the doctrines that lay claim to it.

Obſervation 11. God inallages, in his tender care for his churches andtruths, hathstill qualified andexcited hisfervants,for thedefence ofhis precious truths, against theerrors and herefies that havefucceſſively afſfaultedthem.

As Providence is obſerved in every climate and ifſland ofthe world, to have provided antidotes against the poisonous plants andanimals of the country, and the one is never far from the other : So is the care of his providencemuch moreconfpicuous

* Every hereſy has the devil for the parent ofits invention, and is obnoxious to the ſhame of ſo odious a name.

Itprofeſſes the Saviour's name, which is moſt excellent and tranſcends all, and is difguiſed under ſcripture expreſions.

Athanafius againstArian.

+ Take heed, faith one, thatwhen zeal for reformation knocks at thedoor, ſome new errors ſtep not in with it, which willas much need an afterreformation,

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

in thecafe now before us.

When, or whereſoever, venomous errors, anddeadly herefies do ariſe, he hath his ſervants at hand with antidotes againſt them.

WhenArius, that cunning anddeadlyenemy to theDeity of Chriſt, ſtruck at the very heart of our religion, faith, andcomfort; a man of fubtle parts, and blameless life, which made his hereſy much the more ſpreading and taking; the Lord had his well-furnished Athanafius in a readiness to reſiſt and confound him.

And as he had his Athanafius todefend the Deity of Chriſt, ſo he wanted not his Baſil todefend the doctrine of the holy Spirit againſt Macedonius.

So when. Pelagius was buſily advancing free-will into the throne offree-grace, providence wantednot its mallet in learnedand ingeniousAuguſtine, tobreak him and his idol to pieces.

And it is highly remarkable, (as the learned Dr. Hill obſerves), thatAuguſtine was born inAfrica, the fame day that Pelagius wasborn in Britain.

WhenGottefchalchus publiſhed his dangerousdoctrine about predeſtination, the Lord drew forth Hincmarus to detect and confute that error, by evincing clearly, that God's predeſtinationforces no man to fin.

So, from the beginning and firſt riſe of Popery, that center and ſink of errors, we have alarge catalogue ofthe learned and famous witneſſes, which, in all ages, have faithfully reſiſted and oppoſed it ; and when, notwithstanding all, it had even overrun Europe like a rapid torrent, or rather, inundation ofthe ocean, andGermany was brought to that paſs, that ifthe Pope hadbut commanded it, they would have eaten graſs or hay, morepecudum ; then did the Lord bring forth invincible Luther, andwith him atroop of learnedchampions, into the field against him ; ſince which time, the cauſe ofPopery is become defperate.

Thus the care ofprovidence, in allages, hath been asmuch diſplayed in protecting the church against the dangersthat aroſe from falſe brethren within it, as from avowed, perfecuting enemies without it ; and had it not been ſo, the rank weeds of hereſies and errors hadlong ſince over-topt and choaked the corn, andmade the church a barren field.

Oferv. 12.

The want of a modestsuspicion, andjust reflexion, gives bothconfidence andgrowth to erroneous opinions.

If matters of mere opinionwere kept intheirp roper place, under the careful guard of fufpicion, they would not make

VOL . IV.

A Blow at the Root ; or; thatbuſile and confufion in the churches they have done, and doat this day.

It is confeffed, that all truths are not matters of mere opinion; neither are all opinions of equal weight and value; and thereforenot tobe lefthangingin an equipendiousſcepticism.And yet it is as true, that matters of opinion ought carefully to be forted from matters of faith, and to bekept in their own rank and claſs, as things doubtful, quibus poteft fubeffefalfum ; whilſt matters of faith clearly revealed, are to ſtand upon their own fure and firm baſis. The former, viz. matters ofmere opinion, we are ſo to hold, as upon clearer light to be ready to part with them, and give them up intothe hands of truth.

The other, viz. matters of faith, we are to hold with reſolution to live and dieby them.

What is opinion,but thewavering of the underſtanding betwixt probable arguments, for and againſt a point of doctrine ?

So that it is rather an inclination than an affertion, as being accompanied with fear, floating and inconstancy.

In such cafes there ſhould be a due conceffion and allowance of other mens opinions to them, and why not, whilst they offer as fair for the truth as we ? and haply their parts, helps, and induſtries are not inferior to ours ; it may be beyond them; and we maydifcern in them as much tenderness of confcience, and fear of fin, as in ourſelves.

In this cafe, alittle more modeft fufpicion in our opinions, would do the church a great deal of right; and thatwhich ſhould prevail with all modeft perſons to. exerciſe it, is thejuſt reflexion theymaymake upon their own former confident mistakes.

Obſerv. 13. There is a remarkable involution or concatenation of errors, one linking in, and drawing another after.

Amongſt all erroneous ſects, there is ſtill ſome πρῶτον ψευδος, fome Helena, for whoſe fake the war againſt truth is commenced; andthe other leſſer errors are preſſed for the fake and ſervice of this leading darling error. As we fee the whole

* troop of indulgences, bulls, maſſes, pilgrimages, purgatory, with multitudes more, flow from, and are preſſed into the fervice of the Pope's fupremacyand infallibility ; ſo, in other ſects, men areforced to entertainmanyother errors, which, in them- * Πρώτον ψευδος. The leading error of the church of Rome is,

That all things must be ſubjected to the ſupremejudgment and tribunal of the church over which the Pope preſides.

Thence it is concluded, That all the traditions of the Romith church, and all theirtenets and decrees, whether ofthe Popes or their councils, are tobe ſtedſaſtly maintained.

Fred. Span. Elench. Controv. p. 51.

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

ſelves confidered, they have no great kindness for; but they are neceffitatedtoentertainthem indefence ofthatgreat, leading, darling opinion they firſt efpouſed.

Thofe that cry up, and trumpet abroad the fovereign power offree-will, even without the preventing graceofGod, enablingmen to fupernatural works, as if the will alone had efcaped all damage by the fall, andAdamhad not finned in that noble virgin-faculty. To defend this idol, which is the πρῶτον ψευδος, they are forced to oppugn anddenyſeveral other great andweighty truths, as particular, eternal election, the certaintyof the faints perfeverance, the neceſſity of preventing grace in converfion : which errors are but the out-works raiſed in defence of that idol.

So in the baptifmal controversy, men would never have adventured to denyGod's covenant with Abraham, to be a covenant ofgrace; or to affert the ceremonial law, fo full of Chriſt, tobe an Adam's covenant of works; and circumcifion, exprefly called theseal of the righteousness offaith, tobe the condition of Adam's covenant. Much less would they place all the elect ofGod in Ifrael, at one and the same time, under the fevereſt curſe and rigour of the law, and under the pure covenantofgrace, were they not forced into theſe errors and abfurdities bydint of argument, in defence of their darling opinion.

Obferv. 14. Errors abound most, andspring fastest, in the times of the church'speace, liberty, andoutwardprofperity, under indulgent rulers.

Arianism ſprung up under Conftantine's mildgovernment*.

Chriftian, benevolent rulers are choice mercies andbleſſings to the church.

Such as rule over men in the fear of God, are tothe church, as well as civil ſtate, " like the lightof the morning, when the fun arifeth; even a morning without clouds, asthe tender graſs ſpringing outofthe earth by clear ſhining

" after rain," 2 Sam. xxiii. 4.

But this, as well as other mercies, is liable to abuſe ; andunder the influences of indulgent governors, error, as well as truth, ſprings up, flowers and feeds.

Perfecution gives check to the wantonneſs of mens opinions, and finds them other andbetter work to do.

Caterpillars and locuſts are ſwept * Eufebius records, That Arius Alexandrian began to vent his diſtracted hereſy at Alexandria, in the year of ourLord 324, and inthe 15th year of the reign of Conſtantine.

Dd 2

A Blow at the Root ; or, awayby the bitter eaſt winds, but ſwarm in halcyon days, and fall upon every green thing.

So that the church rides in this reſpect, more ſafely in the ſtormy ſea, than in the calm har bour.

Peace and profperity is apt to caſt itswatchmen intoa ſleep ; andwhilst they ſleep, the envious oneſowethtears, Matth, xiii. 25.

Itwas under Conſtantine's benigngovernment, thatpoiſonwas pouredout intothe churches.

The abuſe offuch an excellent mercy provokes the Lord to cut it ſhort, and cauſe the clouds to gather again after the rain.

We have found it ſo once and again (alas, that I muſt ſay again !) inthiswanton and foolish nation.

Profeſſors could live quietly together, converſe, faſt, and pray in a Chriſtian manner together, under common cala mities and dangers : differences inopinion were ſuſpendedby conſent. But no tooner do we feel awarm, ſun-blaſt of liber tyandpeace, but it revives and heats our dividing lufts and corruptions, inſtead of our graces.

The sheep ofChriſt fight with each other, though their furious puſhing one atanotheris known to preſage a change ofweather.

Obfervation 15. Errors, in the tender bud, andfirstspring of them, are comparativelyshy andmodeft, towhat theyprove afterwards, when they havespreadand rooted themselves. intotheminds of multitudes, and think it time tofet upand juftlefor themselves in theworld *.

They usually begin in modeſt ſcruples, conſcientious doubts and queries.

But having once gotten many abetters, and, amongst them, some that have fubtility and ability to pleadand diſpute their cauſe, they ruffleitout at another rate ; glory in their numbers, piety and ability of their party ; boast andglory in the conceited victories they atchieved over their oppofers. The maſk drops off its face, and it appears with abrow of braſs, becomes inſolent and turbulent, both in church and ſtate.

Ofwhich it is easy togive many pregnant inſtances, in theArians of old, and more recent errors, which I thall not at preſent be concerned with, leſt I exasperate, whilft I ſeekto heal thewound.

† Should a man hear the fermons or privatediſcourſes of era * Eunomius, by advice of Eudoxus, for ſome time ſpread his bereſy ſecretly, intricately, and ambiguously; but at length taking courage, he openly avowed inpublic aſſemlies whathe heretically maintained.

Theodoret, book 3. c. 29.

† The Donatifts, in Auguſtine's time, modestlymoved, Thatmen might

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

roriſts,whilst thedeſignisbut forming and projecting, he ſhould meet with little to raiſe hisjealousy.

They speak in generals, and guard their difcourſes with political reserves.

You ſhall notfee, though you seem to fee the tendencyof their diſcourſes. Hence the apostle faith, 2 Pet. ii. 1. παρεισαξεσιν, They

Shall privily [or covertly] bring indamnable herefies : As the boy in Plutarch, being asked by a ſtranger, What is that you carryſoclofely under your cloak ? wittily anſwered, You may wellknowthat, I intendyou ſhallnotknow itby my ſocarrying it.

Obſerv. 16. Nothinggives morecountenance and increase to error, thana weak andfeebledefence of the truth against it*, The ſtrength of error lies much in the weakness ofthe advocates anddefendants oftruth.

Every friend oftruth is not fitto make achampion for it.

Many love it, and pray for it, thatcannotdefend and dispute for it.

Ican diefor the truth (faith the martyr) but Icannot disputefor it.

Zuinglius blamed Caroloſtadius for undertaking the controverfſy of that age, becauſe (ſaid he) non habuitfatis humerorum, hisshoulderswere too weakfor the burthen.

Itcanbe faid of few, as Cicero ſpeaks ofone, Nullam unquam in difputationibus rem defendit, quam non probarit ; nullum oppugnavit, quem non everterit : i. e. He undertook nocauſe indiſputation, which he could notdefend; he oppoſedno adverſary, but could overthrow him.

Here is a rare and happy diſputant, whocanclear and carry everypoint oftruth, ofwhich heundertakes the defence.

It were happy for the church, if theabilities andprudence of allher friends were commenfurate and equal to their love and zeal.

Every little foil, every weak mightnot be compelled to live holy.

Coacta et invita pietas, they mentioneditwith diflike ; but when grown in power,facti infolentes orthodoxisinferebant, infomuch that Dulcitius the tribune was fain todefend the orthodox againſt them with an army.

* Some not being ſufficiently inſtructedin heavenly knowledge could not anſwer the oppoſers of truth, who abjected, that it is a thing either impoffible or incongruous thatGodfhould incloſe himself withinthewomb ofawoman, &c. byallwhich things,when theyhad notfufficientcapacityorlearning todefend truth andrefute error,(for theyhadnotthoroughinſightintotheimportandreaſonofſuchthings) they were miſledfrom the right way, corruptedheavenly knowledge, and compoſed to themſelves anew ſyſtem ofdoctrine thathad no root or ſtability, Laſtan. book 4. chap. 30. concerningHerefies,

A Blow at the Root ; or, or impertinent anſwer ofa friend totruth, isquickly turned intoaweapon to wound itthe deeper.

Obferv. 17. Errors ofjudgment are not cured by compulfion and externalforce, but by rational conviction, and proper

Spiritual remedies.

Bodily fufferings ratherſpread thancureintellectualerrors.

Ideny not butfundamental hereſies, breaking forth into open blafphemies againstGod, and feditions inthe civil ſtate, ought to be restrained.

Itis nowayfitmen ſhouldbepermittedtogo up anddown the worldwith plague-fores running upon them.

Nordo I underſtandwhy men ſhouldbemore cautious topreferve their bodies thantheir fouls. But I fpeakhere offuch errors as may conſiſt with the foundations ofthe Chriſtian faith, and are not deſtructive of civil government.

They take the readywaytoſpreadandperpetuatethem,thatthink to root them outof the worldbyfuch improper and unwarrantable means as external force and violence.

The wind never caufes an earthquake, 'till itbe pent in, andrestrainedfrom motion.

We neither find, norcanimagine, that thoſe church or ſtate Exorcists ſhould everbe able to effect their end, who think to confine all the ſpirits of error withinthe circle ofa fevere uniformity.

Fires, prifons, pillories, ſtigmatizings, mutilations, whippings, banishments, &c. are the Popiſh topics to confute errors.

It is highly remarkable that the world, long ago, conſentedfor the avoidingofdiſſent injudgment, toenflave themfelves and their poſteritytothe moſtfatal anddeſtructive hereſy that ever itgroaned under.

It is a rational and proper obfervation, long fince madeby Lactantius, quis mihi imponat neceffitatem credendi quod nolim, velnon credendi, quod velim? i. e. Who can force me to believe what I will not, or not to believe what I will ? The rational and gentle ſpirit of the gospel, is the only proper and effectual method to cure the diſeaſes of the mind.

Obſerv. 18. Erroneous doctrines, producing diviſions andfierce contentions amongst Christians, prove afatalstumbling-block to the world, fix their prejudices, and obstruct their converfion to Christ||.

They diffolve the lovely union of the faints, and thereby fcare offthe world from coming into the church.

This is eviMany enemies to Chriſtianity, fromhatredtothe Chriftians for their aboliſhing the Gentile ſuperſtition, flockedtothe Nicene ſynod that they might find somewhom they might mock.

Say theCen turifts.

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

dently implied in that prayer of Chriſt, John xvii.

That all his people might be one, that the world might believe the Fatherhad senthim.

There is, indeed, nojuſt cauſe for any to take offence atthe Chriſtian reformed religion, becauſe ſomany errorsand hereſſes ſpring up amongthe profeffors of it, and dividethem into ſo many ſects and parties; for, in all this, we findnomorethan whatwas predicted from the beginning, 1Cor. xi. 18, 19. " I hear there be diviſions amongyou, and I partly

" believe it: for there must be alſo herefies among you," &c.

Andagain,Acts xx.30. " Alſo ofyour own ſelves ſhall men arife, " ſpeakingperverſe things, to draw awaydiſciples after them"*.

The very famethings ſtronglyconfirm the Chriſtian religion, whichwicked men improve to the reproach and prejudice of it.

When Celfus objected to the Chriſtians the variety and contrarietyof their opinions: faying, Werewe willing to turn Chriftians, we know not of what party to be, feeingyou allpretend to Christ, andyet differ so much from one another.

Tertullian, the Chriſtian Apologiſt, made him this wife and pertinent reply, " We are not troubled that hereſies are come, ſeeing itwas

" predicted that they must come †."

Theſe things deſtroy not the credibility of the Chriſtian religion, but increaſe and confirm it, by evidencing to the world the truth and certainty of Chriſt's predictions (which were quite beyond all human forefight) that as foon as his doctrine ſhould be propagated, and achurch raiſed by it, errors and hereſies ſhould ſpringup among them, for the trial of their faith and conſtancy.

Nevertheless, this no way excuſes the ſinfulness of errors and diviſions in the church.

Chriſt's prediction neither infuſes, nor excuſes the evil predicted by him: for what heelſewhere ſpeaks of ſcandals, is as true in this cafe of errors ; " Theſe things

"mustcome topaſs,butwo be tothatmanbywhom theycome."

Obſerv. 19. How ſpecious and taking foever the pretences of error be, andhow long foever they maintain themselves in esteemamong men, they arefure to end in the lofs andshame of their authors and abettors at last ‡.

*Above all things itisproper for us to knowthat Chriſt himself andhis ambaſſadorshave foretold that many ſects and Hereſies ſhould arife, which would break the peace ofhis facred body, and have ad. moniſhed us to watch with the greateſt prudence, leſt at anytimewe ſhould fall into the nets and ſnares of that adverſary of ours, with whom God requires us to contend.

Lactan. book 4. chap. 30.

+Herefes nondolemus veniſſe, quia novimus efſſepredictas, † Athanafius writes, that after the ſhameful death ofArius, very many

A Blow at the Root ; or, Truth is a rock that the waves of error daſh against, and evermore return in froth and foam: Yea, they foam out their own ſhame, faith the apostle, Jude 13.

What Tacitus ſpake of craftycounſels, I may as truly apply to craftyerrors : "They

" are pleasant in their beginning, difficult in their manage- " ment, and ſad in their event and ifſſue *."

Suppoſe a man have union with Chriſt, yet his errors are but ſo much hay, wood, ſtraw, ſtubble, built, or rather endeavoured tobebuiltupon afoundationofgold; this the fierytrial burns up ; the author ofthem ſuffers loſs; and though him ſelf may be ſaved, yet ſo as by fire, 1 Cor. iii. 12, 13, 14, 15. themeaning is, he makes a narrow eſcape. As a man that leaps out of an houſe on fire, from a window or battlement, with greatdifficulty ſaves his life ; juſt ſo errorists ſhall be glad to quit their erroneous opinions, which they have taken ſo much pains to build, and drawothers into : and then, oh what a ſhame muſt itbe for a good man to think, howmany days and nights have I worſe than waſted todefend and propagate an error, which might have beenemployed in a cloſer ſtudy of Chriſt, and mine own heart ! Keckerman relates a ſtory of a vocalstatue, which was thirty years a making by a cunning ar tiſt, which, by the motion of its tongue with little wheels, wires, &c. could articulate the found, and pronounce an entire ſentence.

This statue faluting Aquinas, furprized him, and at one ſtroke he utterly destroyed the curious machine, which exceedinglytroubledthe fond ownerofit, and made him fay, with much concernment, " Thou hast at one ſtroke de- " ſtroyed the ſtudy and labour of thirty years †."

Beſide, what ſhame and trouble,muſt itbe to the zealous promoters of errors, not only to caſt away ſo vainly and unprofitably their own time and ſtrength, which is bad enough, but alſo to enſuare and allure the fouls of others into the fame, or worſe miſchief: for though God may ſave and recoveryou, thoſe that havebeen miſledbyyou, may periſh.

Obſerv. 20. If ever errors be cured, and the peace andunity of the church established, men must be convinced of, and acquaintedwith the occafions and causes both within and without themselves, from whence their errors do proceed; many of thoſewho hadbeen deceivedbyhim returned to ſoundneſs inthe faith.

* Confilia callidaprimaſpecielæta, tractatu dura, eventu triftia.

† Keck . Phyſ. p. 16. Albertus Magnus. Uno ictu opus triginta annorum deftruxifti.

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

andmust both know, and apply theproper rules and remediesfor theprevention or cure of them.

There is much difference betwixt an occafion, and a proper cauſe; theſe two are heedfully to be diftinguiſhed.

Critical and exact hiſtorians, as Polybius and Tacitus, distinguiſh betwixtthe ἀρχὴ, and the αιτια, the beginning occaſions, and the real cauſes of a war ; and ſo we ought, in this caſe of errors, carefully to diftinguiſh them. The moſt excellent and innocent things in the world, tuch as the Scriptures of truth, the liberty of Chriſtians, the tranquillity and peace of the church (as you willhearanon) may, by the ſubtilty of Satan working in conjunction with the corruptions of mens hearts, become the occaſions, but can never be the proper culpable cauſes of errors.

Accordingly, having made theſe twentyremarks upon the nature andgrowth of errors (which cannot ſowell be brought within the following rules ofmethod) Iſhall, in the nextplace, proceed in thediſcoveryboth ofthe mereoccafion, as alſo ofthe proper culpable cauſes of errors, together with the proper preventives, and most effectual remedies, placed together in the following order.

Divine PerThe occafion . The holyGod, who is aGod of truth, Deut. xxxii. 4. andhateth errors, Rev. ii. 6. theGodoforder,andhates confufionsand miſſion. ſchiſms in his church, 1 Cor. xiv. 33. is yet pleaſed to permit errors and herefies to ariſe, withoutwhoſe permiſſion they could never ſpring. And this he doth for the trial of his people's faith and conſtancy, and for a ſpiritual punishment upon ſome men for the abuse of his known truths ; and by the permiſſion of theſe evils, he advanceth his own glory, and the good of his church and people.

Auguſtine anſwers that queſtion, Why doth notGod, ſince he hates errors, ſweep them out of the world?

Becauſe (faith he) it is an act of greater power to bringgood out of evil, than not to ſuffer evils tobe at all.

Satan's deſign in errors, is to cloud and darken God's name and precious truths ; to destroythe beauty, ſtrength, and order of the church.

But God's ends in permitting and ſending errors, are ( 1. ) To plague and puniſhmen for their abuſe of light, 2 Theff. ii. 11. " For this cauſe God ſhall ſend them ſtrong deluſions," &c. (2.) To prove and try the ſincerity andconſtancyof our hearts, Deut. xiii . 1, 3. 1 Cor. xi. 19 And laſtly, By theſe things the faints are awakened to a morediligent ſearch ofthe Scriptures, which are the more critically read and examined upon the trial of ſpirits and doctrines by them,

VOL . IV.

ABlow at the Rost ; or, iJohn iv. 1. "Believe not every ſpirit, but try the fpirits." And Rev. ii. 2. " Thou haft tried them that ſay they are apoftles," c.

The prevention.

Though herefies and errors muſt (for the reaſons affigned)break forth into the world, andGod will turn them eventually into his own glory, and the benefit of his church; yet it is a dreadful judgment to be delivered over to a ſpirit of error, to be the authors and abettors of them. This is a judicial ſtroke of God, and as ever we hope to eſcape, and ſtand clear outoftheway of it, let us carefullyſhun theſe three following cauſes and provocations thereof.

(1.) Want of love to the truth, whichGod hath made to ſhine about us in the means, or into us, by actual illunination, under the means ofknowledge. 2Theff. ii. 10, IF . "Becaufe

" they received notthe love of the truth, God gave themup " to ſtrong deluſions."

They are juſtlyplagued with error, that flight truth . Falſe doctrines are fit plagues for falſehearts.

(2.) Beware of pride andwantonneſs of mind.

' Tis not fo much theweakness as the wantonneſs of the mind, which provokesGod to inflict this judgment.

None likelier to make ſeducers than boasters, Jude 16.

Arius gloried, thatGodhad revealed ſome things to him, which were hidden from the apoſtles themſelves.

Simon Magus boasted himself to be the mighty powerofGod.The erroneousPhariſeeslovedthe praiſes of men. When the Papiſt reproached Luther that he affected tohave his diſciples called Lutherans, he replied, * " He dif- "dained thatthe children of Chriſt ſhouldbe calledby fo vile σε a name as his."

(3.) Beware you neglect not prayer, to be kept found in yourjudgments, and guided by the Spirit into all truth, Pfal. cxix. 10. " With my whole heart have I fought thee: O let me not wander, or err, from thy commandments."

This do, andyou are fafe from ſuch ajudicial tradition.

Thefirst cause.

We shall next ſpeak of the cauſes of error found in the evil diſpoſitions ofthe ſubjects, which prepareand incline them to receive erroneous doctrines and opinions, and evencatch at the occaſions, and leaſt ſparkles of temptation, as dry tinder : and amongst theſe is found.

(1.) A perverſe wranglinghumour at the pretended obfcu ityofthe Scriptures. TheRomiſh party ſnatch at this occafion, andmake it the proper cauſe, when, indeed, it is but a picked

* Luther faid, not ſo, O fool, not fo, for Idefire that myname beconcealed.

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

occafion ofthe errors and miſtakes among men.

They tellus, the Scriptures are ſo difficult, obſcure, and perplexed, that if private menwill truft to them as their only guide, they will inevitablyrun into errors, and their only relief is to giveup their fouls to the conduct of their church ; whereas, indeed, the true cauſe of error is not ſo much in the obſcurity of the word, as in the corruption of the mind, I Tim. vi. 5. 2 Tim . iii. 8 .

Wedoacknowledge there are in the Scriptures, τινα δυσηοντα, και τινα δυσερμενευτα, ſomethings hard to be understood, 2 Pet. iii. 16. the fublime and mysterious nature of the matter rendering it fo; and ſome things hard to be interpreted, from the manner ofexpreſſion; as indeed all myſtical parts of Scripture, and prophetical predictions are, and ought tobe delivered. The Spirit ofGod this waydeſignedly caſts a veil over them, tillthe proper ſeaſon of their revelation and accomplishmentbe come.

Beſides (as the learnedGloffius obſerves) inPaul's ſtyle, there are found ſome peculiar words, and forms of ſpeech, which ordinary rules ofgrammar take no notice, nor give any parallel examples of: as, to be buried with Chrift ; to be baptized into hisdeath; to which I may add, to be circumcifed in him, &c.

There are alſo multitudes of words found in Scripture, of various and vaſtly different fignifications : and accordingly there is a diverſity, and, fometimes, acontrarietyof ſenſes, given of them by expoſitors ; which, to an humouriſt, or quarrelſome wit, gives an occafion tovent his errors with a plausible appearance of Scripture-confent. And indeed Tertullian faith,

" The Scriptures are ſo diſpoſed that heretics may pick occaſions; " andthoſe that willnot be ſatisfied maybe hardened.

See Mark iv. 11, 12.

But all this notwithstanding, the great and neceffary things to our falvation are ſo perfpicuouslyand plainly revealed in the Scriptures, that even babes in Chriſt do apprehend and underftand them, Matth. xi. 25. 1 Cor. i. 27, 28, 29.

And though there be difficulties in other points more remote from the foundation; yetthe Spirit of God is not to be accuſed, but rather his wisdom to be admired herein.

For (1.) this ſerves to exciteourmoſt intenſe ſtudyanddiligence, which, by this difficulty, is made neceſſary, Prov. ii. 3, 4, 5. The very prophets, yea, the very angels ſearch into theſe things, 1 Pet. i. 11, 12.

* Non periclitor dicere ipfas fcripturas ita difpofitas effe, ut materiamfubminiftarent hæreticis.

Ee 2

A Blow at the Root ; or, (2.) Hereby a ſtanding miniſtry in the church is madeneceſſary,

Nehem. viii. 8.Eph iv 11, 12, 13. So that topretend obſcurityofScripture to be the culpable cauſe of error (when, indeed, the fault is in ourſelves) this is toomuch like our fatherAdam, who would implicitely accuſeGod, to excuſe himſelf; he laid itupon thewoman whichGod gavehim,andweupon theScriptures whichGod hath given us.

The Remedies .

The proper remedies and preventives in this cafe, are an heedfulattendance to, and practice of theſe rules.

Rule I.

Let all obſcure and difficult texts of Scripture be conſtantlyexamined and expounded according to the analogyor proportionof faith , which is St. Paul's own rule, Rom.xii.6. " Let

" him that prophefieth (i. e. expoundeth the Scriptures in the " church)do it according to the proportion offaith." The analogyorproportionoffaith, iswhatistaught plainlyand uniformlyin the whole Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, as the rule of our faith and obedience.

Whillt we carefully and fincerely attendhereunto, we are ſecured from finful corrupting the word of God. Admit of no ſenſe which interferreth with this proportion of faith.

If menhave no regardto this, but take libertyto rend offa ſingle text from thebodyof truth, to which it belongs, and put a peculiar interpretation upon it, which is abſonous and diſcordant to other Scriptures, what woful work will they quickly make ?

Give but aPapiſt liberty to take that ſcripture, James ii. 24. outof the frame ofſcripture, " Amanisjuſtifiedbyworks, and " andnot by faithonly ;" and expound it without regard tothe tenor of thegoſpel-doctrine ofjuftification inPaul's epiſtles to the Romans and Galatians, and a groſs error ſtarts up immediately.

Give but a Socinianthe like liberty to practise upon, John xiv. 28. andagroſs hereſy ſhall preſently lookwith an orthodox face.

Rule II. Never put anew ſenſeuponwords of ſcripture, in favour of your pre-conceived notions and opinions, nor wrest it from its general and common ufe and ſenſe. This is not to interpret, but to rack the ſcriptures as thatword στρεβλεσιν figpifies, 2 Pet. iii. 16. as * Hieron againstRuff ſpeaks. We are not tomakethe ſcriptures ſpeak what we think, but what the prophet or apoſtle thought, whom we interpret. In 1 Cor.

V. 11. 14. we meet with theword [boly] applied to the children * It is the part of an interpreter to explain what the author thought whom he interprets,andnotwhat he himselfthinks,

TheCauses and Cure ofMentalErrors.

ofbelievers : That word is above five-hundred-times uſed for a ſtateof feparation to God; therefore to make it ſignify, in that place, nothingbut legitimacy, is abold and daring practiſing upontheſcripture.

Rule III. Wheneveryou meet with anobfcure place of ſcripture, let the context of that ſcripture be diligently and throughly ſearched ; for it is usualwithGodto fetup fome light there, to guide us through the obſcurity of a particular text. And thereismuchtruth in the obſervation ofthe Rabbins *, "There

" is no fcruple or objection in the law, but it hath a folution " atthe fide of it."

Rule IV. Let oneteſtament freely caſt its light upon the other; and let not men undervalue or reject an Old Testament text, as no way useful to clear and eſtabliſh aNew Testament point of faith or duty.

Each Testament reflects light upon the other.

The Jews reject the NewTestament, and many among us finfully flightthe Old : butwithout thehelp ofboth, we can never underſtandthe mind ofGod in either.

'Tis a good rule inthe Civil Law, † " We muſt inſpect the whole law, to know " the ſenſe ofany particular law."

Rule V. Have adue regard tothat ſenſe givenofobſcure places ofſcripture, whichhath not only the current ſenſe of learned expofitors, but alſo naturally agreeswiththe ſcope of the place.

Acareleſs neglect and diſregardto this, isjuſtly blamed by the apoſtle, 1 Tim. i. 7.

Cause 2.Afecond evil temper in the ſubject, diſpoſing and incliningmento receiveand fuck in erroneous doctrines and o. pinions, is theabuſe ofthatjuſt anddue Chriſtian Liberty ‡ allowed by Chrift toall his people, toread, examine, and judge the ſenſe of ſcriptures with aprivate judgment of difcretion.

This is a glorious acquifition, andbleſſed fruit of reformation, tovindicate and recover thatjust right, and gracious grant made to us by Chriſt and the apostles, out ofthe injurious hands of our Popiſh enemies, who had ufurped and invaded it.

The exerciſe of this liberty, is, at once, aduty commandedby Chriſt, and commended in ſcripture.

'Tis commanded by Chriſt, John v. 39. Search thefcriptures, faith Chrift to the * Nulla eft objectio in lege, quae non habetfolutionem in latere.

† Turpe est de legejudicare, tota lege nondum inſpecta.

‡The Anabaptifts controverſy ſprung up in the laſt age in many places in Europe from Montzero a Saxon with his followers in the year 1521. through occafion ofa book wrote by Luther on ChriſtianLiberty.

Fred. Spanh. Elench. Contr.p. 95.

A Blow at the Root; or, people, 1 Cor. x. 15. " I ſpeak as to wiſe menjudge you what

I ſay."

And the exercile of this privatejudgment ofdifcretionby the people is highly commendedby St. Paul in theBereans , Acts xvii. 11. " Theſe were more noble than thoſe in Theſſalonica, in that they received the word with all readi- " neſs of mind, and ſearched the ſcriptures daily,whether thoſe

" things were ſo."

This liberty is not allowed in that latitude in any religion, as itisin the Chriſtian religion; nor enjoyed in its fulness, as it is in the reformed religion ; whoſe glory it is, that it allows its principles and doctrinesto be critically examinedand tried of all men, by the rule ofthe word, as well knowing, themore it is fifted and ſearchedby its profeſſors, the more they will be ſtill confirmed and fatisfied inthe truth ofit.

But yet this gracious andjuſt liberty ofChriſtians ſuffers a double abuſe ; one from the Popiſh enemies,who injuriouſly reſtrain and deny it to thepeople: Another by Proteftants themſelves,who finfully Aretch and extend it beyond the juſt degree and meaſure in which Chriſt allows itto them.

The Pope injuriously reſtrains it,difcerning the danger that muft neceffarily follow the conceffion of ſuch a liberty to the people, tocompare his fuperftitious anderroneous doctrines with the rule ofthe word.

St. Peter, in 2 Pet. i. 19.tells the people, they havea more fure word ofprophecy, whereunto they do well that they take heed.

Certainly the Pope forgot either that he was Peter's fucceffor; or that ever St. Peter told the people they did well to make use of that liberty which he denies them.

Mr. Pool tells us of a Spaniard that uſed this expreſſion to an Engliſh merchant, You people of England (faith he) are happy ; you have libertytofee withyourown eyes, andtoexamine the doctrines deliveredtoyou, upon whichyour everlasting lifedepends ; butwe darenotfay oursouls areour own, but are commanded to believe whatever our teachers tell us, be it neverfounreasonable or ridiculous.

This is a moſt injuriousand finful restraint,upon iton the one fide.

And then ſecondly, 'Tis too frequently abuſed, by ſtretch. ing itbeyond Chrift's allowance and intendment upon the other fide ; when every ignorant and confident perſon ſhall, under pretence of liberty granted by Chriſt, rudely break in upon the facred text, diſtort, violate, and abuſe the ſcriptures at pleaſure, byputting fuch ſtrange and foreign ſenſes upon them, as the fpirit ofGod never meant or intended *.

* Prov, viii. 22. Which words Epiphanius writes, gave the firſt occafion to Arius to form his Hereſyagainstthe Son ofGod,

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

How oftenhave I heard that ſcripture, Micah iv. 10. "They " ſhall be brought even to Babylon," confidently interpreted for almost, but notfullhome to Babylon, against the verygrammar of the text, and the truth of the hiftory? And ſo again, that place, Ifa. lviii. 8. " The glory of the Lord ſhall be thy

" rere-ward," through ignoranceof the word, readrere-ward, that is, a double reward to his people? But theſe are ſmall matters, compared with thoſe groffer abuſes of fcriptureby the ignorant and unlearned, which prejudice truth, and toomuch countenancePopiſh reproaches.

The Remedies.

Theproperway toprevent and remedy this mischief, is not bydepriving anyman of hisjust liberty, either to read, orjudge for himſelf, whatGod ſpeaks in his word, and think that way

tocure errors; that were the ſame thing as to cut offthe head, to cure anhead-ach.

Leave that ſinful policy with the falſe religion ; let thoſe only that know they do evil, be afraid of coming to the light : But the proper courſe ofpreventing the miſchiefs that come this way, is by labouring to bound and contain Chriſtians within thoſe limits Chriſt himself hath fer unto this liberty which he hath grantedthem. And theſe are fuch as follow.

Limitation I. Though Chriſt hath indulged, to the meanest and weakest Chriſtian, a liberty to read andjudge of the ſcriptures for himſelf; yet he hath neither thereby, nor therewith granted him a liberty publicly to expoundand preach the word to others : That's quite another thing.

Every man that can read the ſcriptures, and judge of their fenfe, is not thereby preſently made Chriſt's commiffion-officer, publicly and authoritatively to preach and inculcate the fame to others : Two things are requiſite to ſuch an employment, viz. Proper qualifications, I Tim. iii. And a folemn call or defignation, Rom. x. 14, 15.

The miniſtry is a diftinct office, Acts xx. 17, 28. 1 Theff. v. 12. and none but qualified and ordainedperſons can authoritatively preach the word, 2 Tim i.

6. 1 Tim. iv. 14. 1 Tim. v. 22 .

Chriftians may privately edify one another by reading the fcriptures, communicating their ſenſe one to another ofthem, admoniſhing, counſelling, reproving one another in a private, fraternal way, at ſeaſons wherein they interfere not with more publicduties : But for every one thathath confidence enough

(and the ignorant uſually are beſt ſtocked with it) to affume a liberty without due qualification or call to expound and give the ſenſe of ſcripture, and pour forth his crude andunſtudeid

A Blow at the Root ; or, notions, as thepure ſenſe and meaning ofGod's Spirit in the ſcriptures; this is what Chriſt never allowed, and through this flood-gate errors have broken in, and overflowed the church ofGod, to the great ſcandal ofreligion, and confirmationof

Popiſh enemies.

Limitation. II. Though there be no part of ſcripture ſhut up or reſtrained from the knowledge or use of any Chriſtian, yet Jeſus Chriſt hath recommended to Chriftians of different abilities, the ſtudy ofſome parts of ſcripture, rather than others, as more proper and agreeable to their age and ſtature in religion.

Chriſtians are by the apoſtle ranked intothree claſſes,fathers, young-men, and little children, 1 John ii. 13. and accordingly the wisdom ofChriſt has directed to that fort of food which is proper to either : For there is, inthe word, all forts of food fuitable to all ages in Chriſt ; there is both milk for babes, and strongmeat forgrown Chriſtians, Heb. v. 13, 14.

Thoſe that are unſkilful in the word of righteousness, ſhouldfeed upon milk, that is, the eaſy, plain, but moſt nutritive and pleaſant practical doctrines of the goſpel.

But ſtrong meat (faith he) that is, the more abſtruſe, deep, and mysterious truths, belongeth to them that are offull age, even thoſe who, byreaſon of uſe, havetheirſenſes exerciſed to diſcernbothgoodandevil ; that is, truth and error.

To the fame purpoſe he ſpeaks, 1 Cor. iii. 2.

" I have fed you with milk, and not with meat; for hitherto yewere not able to bear it.

Art thou a weak unſtudiedChriſtian ? ababe in Chriſt ? Then the easier, and more nutritive milk ofplain goſpel doctrine is fitter for thee, and will do thee more good, than the ſtronger meat ofprofound and more mysterious points; or the bones of controverfy, which are too hard for thee to deal with .

Godhath bleſſed this age with great variety offound and allowed expofitors in our own language, by the diligent ſtudy of which, and prayer for the illumination andguidance ofthe ſpirit, you may not only attain unto the true ſenſe and meaning ofthe moreplain and obvious ; but alſountogreater knowledge, and clearer infight intothe more obfcure and controverted parts ofſcripture.

Gaufe III. There is alſo another evildiſpoſition inthe ſubject, rendring it easily receptive oferrors, and that is ſpiritual Slothfulnessand careleſneſs ina due and ferious ſearch of the whole ſcripture, with a ſedate and rational confideration ofevery part andparticle therein; which maygive us any, tho' the leaft light,

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

tounderſtand the mind of God in thoſe obſcure anddifficult points we ſearch after the knowledge of.

Truth lies deep, as the rich veins of gold do, Prov. ii.

If we will get the treaſure, we must not only beg, as he directs, ver. 3. butdig alſo, ver. 4. elſe, as he ſpeaks, Prov. xiv. 23.

" The talk of the lips tends onlyto poverty."

We are not to take up with that which lies uppermoſt, and next athand upon the furface of the text; but to ſearch with the moſt ſedate and confiderative mind into all parts of the written word, examining everytext which hath any reſpect to the truthweare ſearching for, heedfully to obſerve the ſcope, antecedents, and conſequents, and tovalue every apex, tittle, and iota; for each of theſe areofdivine authority, Mat. v. 18. andſometimes greater weight is laid upon a ſmall word, yea upon the addition or change of a letter in aword, as appears in the names Abram and Sarai.

Itwill require ſome ſtrength ofmind, andgreat ſedulity, to layall parts of ſcripture beforeus, and to compare words with words, andthings with things, as the apoſtle ſpeaks, 1 Cor. ii.

13." Comparing ſpiritual things with ſpiritual."

And though itbe true that fome importantdoctrines, as that ofjuſtification by faith, are methodicallydiſpoſed, and thoroughly cleared and fettledinoneand the fame context ; yet it is as true, that very manyother points of faith and duty are not ſodigeſted, but are deliveredſparfim, here a little, and therea little, ashe ſpeaks,

Iſa. xxviii. 10.

You must not think to find all that belongs to one head or point offaith, orduty, laid together in a ſyſtem or common place, in ſcripture ; but ſcattered abroad in ſeveral places, ſome inthe Old Testament, and ſome in the New, at a greatdiſtance from one another.

Now, in our ſearches and inquiries after the full and fatisfying knowledge ofthe will ofGod in ſuch points, it is neceſſary thatthewhole wordofGodbe throughly ſearched,and allthoſe parcels brought together to an interview. Ex. Gr.

If a manwould ſee the entire diſcovery that was made of Chriſt, to the fathers, under the Old Testament, he ſhall not find itlaid together in anyone prophet; but ſhall find thatone ſpeaks to one part ofit, and another to another.

Mofes gives the firſt general hint of it, Gen. iii. 15. " The " feedofthewoman ſhall bruiſethe ſerpent's head." But then, if you would know more particularly of whoſe ſeed, according to the flesh, he ſhould come, you must turn toGen. xxii. 18.

"Inthy feed(faithGod to Abraham) ſhall all nations of the VOL. IV.

A Blow at the Root ; or, " earth be bleſſed." And if you yet doubtwhat feedGod means there, you must go to the apostle, Gal. iii. 16. To thy feed, which is Chriſt.

If you would furtherknow the place of his nativity, the prophet Micah muſt inform you of that, Mic. v. 2. it ſhouldbe Bethlehem Ephrata.

If you enquire ofthe quality of his parent, another prophetgives you that, Ifa. vii.

14. " Behold a virgin ſhall conceive, and bear a fon, and call his name Immanuel."

If the time of his birth be inquired after, Mofes andDaniel muſt informyou ofthat, Gen. xlix. 10.

Dan. ix. 24.

So under the New Testament, Ifa man inquire about the change of the fabbath, he must notexpectto finda formal repeal ofthe ſeventh day, and anexpreſs inſtitution of the firft day inits room; but he isto confider, First, What theEvangeliſt ſpeaks, Mark ii. 28. That Chrift is Lord of the Sabbath, and fohad power, not onlytodifpenfe with it, butto change it.

Secondly, That on the first day ofthe week Chrift roſe from thedead, Mat. xxviii. 1, 2. And that this is that great day, foretold tobetheday tobe folemnized uponthat account, Pfal. cxviii.24.

Thirdly, That, accordingly, the firstday ofthe week is emphatically ſtiled the Lord'sday, Rev. i. 10. where you find his ownname writtenupon it.

Fourthly, You ſhall find this was the day onwhich the apoAles and primitive Chriftians aſſembled together for the ſtated andfolemn performance of public worship, John xx. 19. and other public church-acts and duties, 1 Cor. xvi. 1 , 2. Andfo by putting together, and confidering all theſe particulars, we draw ajust concluſion, That it is the willofGod, that fince therefurrection ofChriſt, the firſtdayoftheweek ſhouldbe obferved as the Chriſtian-fabbath.

In like manner, as for the baptizingof believers infants; we are not to expect itin the expreſs words ofaNew Testament inſtitution, or command, that infants, under the gofpel, ſhould be baptized; butGodhath leftus togather fatisfaction about his will, and our duty, in that point, by comparing and confidering the ſeveral ſcriptures ofthe Old and New Teftament whichrelatetothat matter; which, ifwe be impartialand confiderative, we may do.

First, By confidering, that by God's expreſs command,Gen, xvii. 9. 10. the infant-feed ofhis people were taken into covenantwith their parents, andthe then fign ofthatcovenant commanded tobe applied tothem.

The Causes and Cure ofMental Errors.

Secondly, That though the ſignbe altered, the promiſe and covenantis ſtill the fame, and runs, as it did before, to believers andtheir children, Acts ii. 38, 39.

Thirdly, That the foederal holiness of our children is plainly afferted under the New Testament, 1 Cor. vii. 14. Rom. xi. 16.

Fourthly, We shall further find, that baptifm fuceeds in the room of circumcifion; and that, by an argument drawn from the completeness of our privileges under the New Testament, no way inferior, but rather more extenſive than thoſe ofthe

Jews, Col. ii. 10, 11, 12.

Fifthly, We shall find that uponthe conversionofanymaſter or parent, the whole houshold were baptized.

By putting all theſe things, with ſome others, together, we may arrive tothe defired fatisfaction about the will ofGod in this matter.

But fome men wantabilities, and others are too fluggiſh and lazy togather together, compare and weigh all theſe, and manymore hints and diſcoveries ofthe mind ofGod, which would givemuch light unto this point; but they take an easier and cheaperway to fatisfythemselves withwhat lies upper-moſt up. on the furfaceofſcripture, and ſo, as it were by confent, let go, and loſe their own, and their childrens bleſſed and invaluable privileges, for want ofa little labourandpatience to fearch the ſcriptures : A folly which few would be guilty of, if buta ſmall earthly inheritancewereconcernedtherein,

TheRemedies.

To cure this ſpiritual fluggishness, and awakenus to themoſt ſerious and diligent fearch after the willofGod in fuch controverſial and doubtful points, that we maynot neglect the ſmalleft hintgivenus aboutit,the following confiderations willbe found ofgreat uſe and weight.

Confider. 1. Themoſt ſedate,impartial, anddiligent inquiries after thewillofGod revealed in his word, is a duty exprefly enjoinedby his ſovereign command, which immediately, and indiſpenſiblybinds the conſcience ofevery Chriſtiantothe practiceofit.

Remarkable is that text tothis purpoſe, Rom. xii . 2. "And " benotconformed tothis world; butbeye transformed by the " renewing ofyour mind, that ye may prove what is that good,

" and acceptable, and perfect will ofGod."

Here you find thisduty, not only aſſociated with, but made the very endofour non-conformity to the world, and renovation ofour minds, the very things which conſtitutea Chriſtian.

Ff2

A Blow at the Root ; or, And to ſweeten our pains inthis work, that will ofGod, for the diſcovery whereofwe ſearch, is preſented tous under three illustrious and alluring properties ; viz.good, acceptable, andperfect.

Good it must needs be,becauſe the willand efſence ofGod, the chiefgood, arenot two things, but oneand the fame. Andperfect it must needs be,because it is the beam and ſtandard by which the actions of all reasonable creatures ought to be weighed and tried, as tothe moral good or evil of them. Andbeingboth goodand perfect,howcan itchuſebut, uponboth accounts,be highly acceptable andgratefulto an uprightfoul,as thatepithet ἐνάρετον, there imports.

Searchthescrip tures, faith Chriſt, John v. 39. To the law, and tothe testimony, faith the prophet, Ifa. viii. 20.

This is not matter of mere Chriſtian liberty, but commandedduty; andat our peril be it, if weneglect it.

Confider. 2. No act of ours can be good and acceptable to the Lord, further than it is agreeableto hiswill revealedin the word.

No mancan be a rule to himself.

He can be no more his own rule than his own end.

One man cannot be a rule to another. The beſt of men, and their actions, and examples, are only ſo far a rule of imitation to us, as they themſelves are ruled by the divine revealed will, 1 Cor. xi. 1. uncommanded acts of worship are abominable toGod, and highly dangerous to ourſelves ; they kindle the fire of his jealousy, to the ruin and deſtruction of the preſumptuous ſinner, Lev. x. 1, 2. So that if the beauty, and excellency of the will of Godbe not enough to allure us, the danger of acting, without the knowledge of it, may juſtly terrify us.

Confider. 3. In this duty we tread inthe footsteps of the wiſeſt, andholiest men that ever went to heaven beforeus.

It is not onlythe characteriſtical note of a good man, Pfal. i. 2. but it has beenthe conſtant practice of the moſt eminent believers in all ages.

The greatest prophets,who had this advantage of us, that they were the organs, or inſpired inſtruments of diſcovering the will ofGod to others, yet were not excuſed from, neitherdid they neglect to ſearch it diligently themselves , 1 Pet. i. 10, 11.

Daniel, that great favourite of heaven, who had the viſions and revelations ofGod; yet he himſelf diligently ſearched the written word, in order to the diſcovery of the mind of God, Dan. ix. 2.

Confider. 4. Every diſcovery of the will ofGod, by fervent prayer, diligent, andimpartial ſearch ofthe Scriptures, and all

The Caufes and Cure of Mental Errors.

other allowedhelps, gives the highestpleaſurethe mind ofman is capable of in thisworld.

If Archimedes, upon the diſcovery of a mathematical truth, was ſotranſported, andraviſhed,thathe cried out, ευρηκα, ευρηκα,

Ihavefound it, Ihavefound it ; what pleaſure then muſt the inveſtigation anddiſcovery of a divine truth give to a ſanctified foul! " Thy words were found of me (faith Jeremiah) and I " dideat them ; andthyword was unto me the joy andrejoicing

" of my heart," Jer. xv. 16. as pleasant food to a famiſhed man; for now conſcience is quieted, comforted and cheered, inthe way ofduty. A man walks not at adventure withGod, as that word ſignifies, Lev. xxvi. 40, 41. but hath the pleaſant directive light of the word and will of God, shining sweetly upon the path of his duty.

Confider. 5. By this means you ſhall findyour faith greatly confirmed in the truth of the Scriptures.

The ſweet conſent and beautifulharmonyof all the parts of the written word, is a great argument of its divinity; and this you will clearly diſcern, when, by a due ſearch, you ſhall find things that ly at the remoteſt diſtance, to confpire and confent inone, and one part casting light, as well as adding ſtrength, to another.

Thus you ſhall find, Vetus teftamentum in novo revelatum, et novum in vetere velatum ; the New Testament vailed in the Old, and theOld revealed in theNew : and that fucha conſentofthings, ſodiſtantintime andplace, cannever bethe project and invention of man.

Confider. 6.

Thediligent and impartial fearch and inquiry after the will ofGod, out ofno otherdeſign than topleaſe him inthe whole courſe of our duties, will turn to us for a teftimonyof the integrity and ſincerity of our hearts.

Thy word (faid David) have Ihid in my heart, that I might notfin against thee.

AndGod will not hide his will from thoſe thatthus ſeek toknow it.

If men would apply themselves to ſearch thewordby frequent prayer, and fixedmeditations,upon ſo pure adeſign, not bringing their prejudiced or prepoſſeſſed minds unto it; the ſpirit of the Lord wouldguide them into all truth, and keep them out ofdangerous anddeſtructive errors,

Cause4. Besides the ſlothfulness of the mind, there is found inmany perſons another evil diſpoſition preparing them eaſily to receive erroneous impreſſions ; namely, the INSTABILITY, and fickleneſs of thejudgment, and unfettledneſs ofmind about the truth of the gospel.

Of this the apoſtle warns us, Eph. iv. 14. " That wehence

A Blow at the Root ; or, " forth be no more children, toſſed to and fro, and carried

" about with every wind of doctrine, by the flight of men, " and cunning craftineſs whereby they lie in wait to deceive."

None are ſo conſtant, and ſteady in the profeſſion of the truth, asthoſe that are fully convinced of, and well fatisfied with the grounds of it.

Every profeffor, like every ſhip at fea, ſhould have an διονυσήριγμον, a ballaſt and ſteadiness of his own, 2 Pet, iii. 17. ready, and prepared to render a reaſon of the hope that is inhim, I Pet. iii. 15. able, upon all occafions, togive an accountof thoſe inward motives which conſtrained his affent to the truth.

He that profeſſeth a truth ignorantly, cannot be rationally ſuppoſed to adhere to it conſtantly. He that is buthalf convinced of a truth, when he engages in the profeſſion of it, mutt needs be διψυχος άνηρ, a double-minded man, as the apostle calls him, Jam. i. 8. half the mind hangs oneway, and half another, and ſo it is easily moveable this way or that, with the leaft breath of temptation. And hence it comes to paſs they are ſo often at a loſs about their duty, and their practice ; for,

Animi volutatio pendentem reddit vitam ; i. e. adoubtful mind muſt needs make a ſtaggering and uncertain practice.

Erroneous teachers are called wanderingſtars, Jude 13.which keepno certain courſe, as the fixedſtars do, but are ſometimes nearer, and fometimes remoter one from another. Thus errorists firſt imbibe unſettled opinions, and thendiscover them in their inconſtant practices.

Bertius wrote a book, de Apostasia Sanctorum, and foon after turnedPapiſt.

The Socinians, and Libertines teach, that a man of any perfuafion, in religion, may be faved, fo that he walk not contrary tohis own light : fuch doctrine directly tends to Scepticiſm inreligion.

And this inſtability of the judgment proceeds either from hypocrisy or weakness.

Sometimes from hypocrify : All hypocrites are double-minded men.

Jam. iv. 8.

The double- " minded man (that is, the hypocrite) is unſtable in all his

" ways: " oneof that number was not ashamed to ſay, Seduas habere animas in eodem corpore, unamDeo dicatam, alteram unicuique qui illam vellet : i. e. That he had two fouls inonebody, one forGod, and another for whosoever wouldhave it.

Sometimes inſtability ofthe mind is the effect only ofweakneſs in the judgment, proceeding merely from want of age, and growth in Chriſt, not having asyet attained ſenſes exerciſed todifcernboth good and evil, Heb. v. 14. they are but children inChriſt, and children are eaſy andcredulous creatures, Eph. iv.

14. prefentlytaken with a new toy, and as foon weary ofit;

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

fuchawavering, and unftable temper, invites temptation, and falls an easy prey into its hands.

Iconfefs fome cafes mayhappen, where thepretences onboth fides maybe ſo fair, as to put a judicious Chriſtian to a ſtand what to chuſe ; but then their deliberation will be anſwerable, andthen theywill not change their opinions every month, as Sceptics do.

Wherever error findsſuch amutablediſpoſition, itswork is halfdone before it makes one affault. How many waveringprofeffors, at thisday, lie intemptation's way? and how great a harvest have Erroriſts and Heretics had among them? There's not amountebank comes upon the ſtage, but he ſhall find ten times more cuſtomers for his drugs, than the moſt learned and experienced physician.

The giddy-headed multitudehave more regard to novelty thantruth.

The remedies .

How neceffary and defirable are ſome effectual rules and remediesin this cafe ! O what a mercy would it be to the profeffors oftheſe days, tohave their minds fixed, and theirjudgmentfettled inthe truths of Chrift ? Happy is that manwhole judgment is ſo guarded, that no dangerous error, or hereſy, can commit a rape upon it. To this end I shall here commend the four following rules, to prevent this vertiginous malady in the heads of Chriſtians.

Rule 1. Look warily to it, that you get a real inward implantation into Chrift, and lay the foundation deep, and firm, in a due and ferious deliberation of religion, whenever you engage in the public profeffion of it.

To this ſenſe are the apostle's words, Col. ii. 6, 7. "As you " have therefore received Chrift Jeſus the Lord, ſowalk ye in

him, rootedand builtup in him, andeſtabliſhed in the faith, as you have been taught."

Fertility, andſtability in Chrift, apair of inestimable bleſſings, depend upon a good rooting of the foul in him at first.

He that thruſts adead ſtick into the ground, may eafily pull itup again, but fohe cannotdo by a well rooted tree. Acolour railed by violent action, or a great

" fire, foon dies away; butthat which is natural, or conftitutional, willhold: every thing is as its foundation is; it was want ofagood root, and duedepth ofearth, which foonturned the green corn into dry stubble, Mat. xiii. 21.

Rule 2. Labour after an inward, experimental taſte of all thoſe truths whichyou profeſs .

This will preſerve your minds fromwavering and hefitation about the certainty and reality of them.

We will not eafily partwith thoſe truths, which have ſenſibly ſhed down

J A Blow at the Root ; or, thoſe ſweet influences upon our hearts, Heb. x. 34. No fophifter can easily perfuade a man that hath taſted the ſweetness ofhoney, that it is abitter and unpleasantthing; Non eft difputandum de gustu : You cannot easily perfuade aman out of his ſenſes.

Rule 3. Study hard, and pray earneſily for fatisfaction in the preſent truths, 2 Pet. i. 12. " That you may be eſtabliſhed

" εν τη παρᾶση ἀληθεια, in the truth that now is under oppoſition, and controversy."

Be not ignorant ofthe truths that lie in preſent hazard .

Antiquated opinions, that are more abſtracted from our prefent intereſt, are no trials of the ſoundneſs of our judgments, and integrity of our hearts, as the controverfies and conflicts ofthepreſent times are.

Every truth hath its time to come uponthe ſtage, and enter the lifts ; ſome in one age, and ſome in another ; but Providence ſeems tohave caſt the lot of your nativity for the honour anddefence of thoſe truths with which error is ſtruggling, and conflictingin your times.

Rule 4. Lastly, Be thoroughly ſenſible of the benefit and good of eſtabliſhment, andofthe evil anddanger of a waveringmind, andjudgment.

"" Be not carried about with divers and ſtrange doctrines, (faith the apostle,) for it is a good thing that the heart be

" eſtabliſhed," &c. Heb. xiii. 9.

Eſtabliſhed fouls are the honour of truth.

It was the honour of religion, in the primitive days, that when the Heathens would proverbially expreſs an impoſſibility, they uſed to ſay, You may as foonturn a Chriſtian from Chrift, as do it.

The fickleneſs ofprofeſſors is a ſtumbling-block tothe world.

They'll fay, as Cato of the civil wars betwixt Caeſar and Pompey, Quem fugiam video, quemfequar non video : they know whom to avoid, but notwhom to follow. And as the honour of truth, ſo the flourishing of your own fouls depend upon it.

A tree, often removed from one foil to another, can never be expected to be fruitful; it is well if itmakes a ſhift to live.

Caufe 5. Another inward cauſe, diſpoſing men to receive erroneous impreſſions, is an unreasonable eagerness to ſnatch at any doctrine or opinion, that promiſeth eaſe to an anxious conſcience.

Men that are under the frights and terrors ofconfcience, are willing to liſten to anything that offers preſent relief. Of all thetroubles in the world, thoſe ofthe mind and confcience are moſt intolerable and thoſe that are in pain, are glad of eaſe and readily catch, at anything that ſeems tooffer it.

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

This ſeems tobe the thing which led thoſe poor diſtreſſed wretches, intimated Micah vi. 6. into their groſs mistakes and errors, about the method of the remiſſion of their ſins.

" Wherewith ſhall I come before the Lord, and bow myself " before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt66 offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lordbe pleaf- " ed with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand of rivers of *" oil ? Shall I give my firſt-born for my tranſgreſſion, the fruit

" of my bodyfor the fin of myfoul ?"

They were ready to purchaſe inwardpeace, andbuy out their pardonat any rate.

Nothingbut the twingesof confcience couldhave extortedtheſe things from them. Great is the efficacyand torment ofa guilty confcience.

Satan, who feels more ofthis inhimselfthanany other creature in the world, and knows how ready poor ignorant, but diſtreſſed ſinners, are to catch at any thing that looks like eaſe, or comfort, and being jealous what theſe troubles of confcience may iſſue into, prepares for them ſuch erroneous doctrines, and opinions, under the names of anodines, and quieting recipe's, by ſwallowingof which they feel ſome preſent eaſe; but their diſeaſe is thereby made fomuch the more incurable.

* It is upon this account he hath found ſuch vent in the world for his penances, pilgrimages, and indulgences among the Papiſts.

But ſeeing this ware will notgo offamong the reformed, and more enlightened profeſſors of Chriſtianity, he changeth his hand, and fitteth other doſes under other names, toquiet fick and diſtreſſed ſouls, before ever their frights of confcience come to fettle into true repentance and faith, in the blood of Christ, by dreſſing up, and preſenting to them ſuch opinions as theſe, viz.

That they mayboldly applyto themselves all the promiſes ofpardon and peace, without any reſpect at all torepentanceor faith in themſelves ; that it is not at all needful, nay, that it is illegal and ſinful tohave any reſpect totheſe things, foraſmuch as their fins were pardoned, and they justified from eternity; and that the covenant ofgrace is in all reſpects abſolute, and is made to finners, as finners, without anyregard to their faithor

*Mr. Gataker, inhis book againſt Saltmarſh, p. 27. tells us of one that had taken ill courſes, andbeing under much trouble of mind, couldnot be quiet till he turned Papiſt, andhad been ſhrieved and abſolvedby a prieſt.

VOL . IV.

A Blow at the Root ; or, repentance; and whatever fins there be inthem, Godſees them not §.

To fuch a charm of troubles as this, how earnestly doth the ear of a diſtreſſed confcience liften ? howgreedily doth it fuck in ſuchpleaſing words ? Are all fins that are pardoned, pardonedbefore they are committed ? and, Does the covenant ofgrace require neither repentancenor faith antecedently to the applicationofthepromises ? How groundleſs then are allmy fears and troubles ? This, like a doſe ofopium, quiets, or rather ſtupifies the raging conscience; for, even an error injudgment, till it be detected anddiscovered tobe ſo, quietsand comforts the heart, as well as principles of truth; but, whenever the fallacy ſhall be detected, whether here or hereafter, the anguiſh of conſciencemust be increaſed, or(which is worſe) left deſperate.

The remedies.

To prevent and cure this mistake and error in the foul, by which it is fitted and prepared to catch any erroneous principle

(which is but plausible) for its preſent reliefand eaſe, I ſhalldefire my reader feriouſly to ponder and confider the following queriesuponthis cafe.

Query 1. Whether, by the voteof thewhole rational world, agood trouble be not better than a falſe peace ? Preſent eaſe is defirable, but eternal ſafety is much more fo: and, if theſe twocannotconſiſt under the preſent circumſtances of the foul,

Whether it be not better to endure for a time thoſe painful pangs, than feel more acute and eternal ones, by quieting conſcience with falſe remedies before the time?

It is bad to ly toffing a few days under a laborious fever; but far worſe tohave that fever turned into a lethargy, or fatal apoplexy.

Erroneous principles mayridthe foul of its prefent pain, and eternal hopes and ſafety together. Acute pains are better than a ſenſeleſs ſtupidity.

Though the preſent rage of confcience be not a right and kindly conviction, yet it may lead to it, and terminate infaith andunion with Chriſt at laſt; ifSatan do not this waypractiſe upon it, and quench it before its time.

Query 2. Bethink yourſelves feriouſly, whether troubles fo quieted and laid aſleep, will not revive and turn again upon theewithadouble force, as foon as the virtue of the drug (I meanthe erroneous principle) hath ſpent itſelf?

§ Saltmarſh, in the title page of his book called Free-grace, ſhews you the ſovereign virtue of Antinomian principles, to quiet troubles ofconfcience oftwelve years growth.

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

The efficacy of truth is eternal, and will maintain the peace itgives for ever; but all deluſions muſt vanith, and the troubles which theydammed up for a time, break outwith a greater force.

Satan employs two forts of witches, ſome to torment the bodies of menwith grievous pain and anguiſh : but then he hath his white witches at hand, to relieve and eaſe them.

And, have theſe poor wretches any great caufe, think you, toboast of the cure, who are eaſed of their pains at the price of their fouls ?

Much like unto this, are the cures of inward troubles by erroneous principles.

I lament the case of blinded Papiſts, who by pilgrimages, and offerings to the ſhrines of titular faints, attempt the cure of a leſſer ſin by committing a greater : is it becauſe there is not aGod in Ifrael, who is able indue ſeaſon to pacify confciencewith proper anddurable goſpel-remedies, thatwe fufferour troubles thus to precipitate us into the ſnares of Satan, for the sake of preſent eaſe ?

Query 3. Readthe Scriptures, and enquire, WhetherGod's people, who have lain long under ſharp inward terrors, have not, at laſt, found ſettlement and inward peace by thoſe very methods which the principles that quiet you do utterly exclude?

If you will fetch your peace from agroundleſs notion, that your fins were pardoned, and your perſons juſtified from all eternity, and therefore you may apply boldly and confidently toyourſelves thechoiceſt promiſes and privileges in the goſpel, without any regard to faith or repentance wroughtby the Spirit in your fouls.

I am sure holy David took another courſe for the fettlement of his confcience, Pfal. li. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

And ithath been the conſtant practiceofthe faints, in ali ages, to clear their title to the righteouſneſs ofChriſt,wroughtwithout them, by the works of his Spirit wrought within them .

Cause6. The next evil temperinthe ſubject, preparing and diſpoſing it for error, is an eaſy CREDULITY, or fequacious humour in men,renderingthem apt toreceive things upon truft from others, without due and thorough examination of the grounds and reaſons of them themselves..

This is a diſpoſition fitted to receive any impreſſion ſeducerspleaſe to make upon them; they are faid to deceive the hearts of the ſimple, ἀκακων, i. e. credulous, but well meaning people that ſuſpect no harm.

It is faid, Prov. xίν. 15. "The ſimple believeth every word." Through this fluice, or floodgate, what a multitude of errors in Popery have overflowed

Gg 2

A Blow at the Root ; or, the people ! They are told, they are not able tojudgefor them ſelves, but must take the matters of their ſalvation upon truſt from their ſpiritual guides; and ſo the filly people are easily. ſeduced, and made eaſily receptive of the groſſeſt abſurdities their ignorant leaders pleaſe to impoſeupon them.

And it were to be wiſhed, that thoſe two points, viz. Miniftrorum muta officia, etpopuli caca obfequia, thedumb ſervices of their miniſters, and the blind obedience of the peoplehad ſtaid within the Popiſh confines.

But, alas, alas ! how many ſimple Proteſtants be there, who may be ſaid to carry their brains in other mens heads ; and, like filly ſheep, follow the next in the track before them; eſpecially if their leaders have butwit and art enough to hide their errors under ſpecions and plauſible pretences. How many poisonous drugs hath Satan put off under the gilded titles of antiquity, zealforGod, higher attainments in godliness, new lights, &c. ? How natural is it for men to follow in the track, andbe tenacious of the prine ciples and practices of their progenitors ? Multitudes ſeem to hold their opinionsjurehareditario, by anhereditary right, as if their faith deſcended to them the ſame way their eſtates do.

The emperor of Morocco toldking John's ambaſſador, that hehad lately read St. Paul's epiſtles; and truly, (faid he)were I now to chuſe my religion, I would embrace Chriſtianity

• before any religion in the world; but every man ought to • die in that religionhe received from his ancestors.

Manyhoneſt, well-meaning, but weak Chriſtians, are alſo eafily beguiled by ſpecious pretences ofnew light, and higher attainments in reformation.

This makes the weaker fort ofChriſtians pliable to manydangerous errors, cunningly infinuated under ſuch taking titles. What are moſt ofthe erroneous opinions now vogued in the world, but old errors, under new names and titles ?

The remedies.

The remedies and preventions in this caſe, are ſuch as follow :

Remedy 1. It is beneath aman to profeſs anyopinion to be his own, whilst the grounds and reaſons of it are in other mens keeping, and wholly unknown to himself.

If amanmay tell gold after his father, then ſure he may, and ought to try and examine doctrines and points of faith after him. We are commanded to be ready to give an account ofthehope that is in us, and not to fay, This or that is my judgment or opinion, but let others give an account of the ground andreaſon of it.

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

Iconfefs, ifhe that leads me into an error were alone expofed tothe hazard, and Iquit and free, whateverbecome ofhim, it were quite another thing: but when our Saviour tells us

Matth. xv. 14. that both (that is, the follower as well as the leader) fallinto the ditch; at my peril be it, ifI follow without eyes ofmy own : that's but a weak building that is ſhored up bya prop from a neighbour's wall. How manymen have ruined their their eſtates by furetiſhip for others ? but ofall furetiſhip, none ſodangerous as ſpiritual furetiſhip.

•We neither ought (as a late Worthy ſpeaks) todefy thejudgment ofthe weak- ' eſt, nor yet, onthe other fide, to deify thejudgment of the : ſtrongest Chriſtian :' He that pins his faith upon anotherman's ſleeve, knows not whither he will carry it.

Remedy 2. As you ought not to abuſe your Chriſtian privilege and liberty, to try all things,

I Theff. v. 21. ſo neither onthe other fide to undervalue or part with it.

See the things that ſo much concern your eternal peace with your own eyes.

I ſhewed you before, this liberty isabuſed by extending ittoo far; and under the notion ofproving all things, many emboldenthemſelves to innovate and entertainany thing: yet, beware of bartering fuch a precious privilegefor the faireſt promiſes others can make in lieu of it.

Iwould not flight, nor undervalue the piety and learning ofothers, nor yet put out my own eyes to ſee by theirs.

Remedy 3. Before you adventure to eſpouſe the opinions of others, diligently obſerve and mark the fruits and conſequences ofthoſe opinions in the lives of the zealous abettors and propagators of them: By theirfruits (faith Chrift) yeshall know them .

When the opinion or doctrine naturally tends to looſeneſs, or when it fucks and draws away all a man's zeal, to maintain anddiffuſe it, and practical religion thereby viſibly languiſhes intheir converſations; it is time for you to make a paufe, beforeyou advance one ſtepfarther towards it.

Cause 7. The next evil diſpoſition that I shall note in the ſubject, is a vain CURIOSITY of mind, or an itchingdefire topry into things unrevealed; at least, above our ability to ſearch out and diſcover .

It is an obſervation, as true as antient, Pruritus auriumfeabies ecclefiae, itchingcars cometo a ſcab upon the face of the church.

The itch ofnovelty produceth the fcab of error, thisdiſeaſe the apoſtle warns us, 2 Tim. iv. 3. " For the time

Of " will come, when they will not endure found Doctrine ; but after their own lufts ſhall they heap to themselves teachers,

A Blow at the Root; or, " having itching ears."

Nothing will pleaſe them but new

notions, and new modes oflanguage, and method, tone, and geſture.

Sounddoctrine is the only ſubſtantial and ſolid food that nourishes and ſtrengthens the heart ofthe new creature; but vainScepticsnauſeateanddeſpiſethisastrite, vulgar, cheap, and low.

Nothing humours them but novelties and rarities; their unſettledbrains muſt be wheeled about,διδαχαις ποίκιλαις και ξέναις, with diverſe andstrange doctrines, Heb. xiii. 9.

Novelty and variety are the only properties that commend doctrines to wanton palates : Hence it is they ſo boldly intrude into things they have not feen, Col. ii. 18.

Theſe Cyril fitly calls τῶν τολμηρον κυριοτητα, thedomineerings, or darings ofbold ſpirits.

The ſchoolmen have filled the world with a thousand ungrounded fancies, as the diſtinct offices and orders of angels ; and higher flights offancy than theſe, which seem tobe inventedfor no other end or uſe, but to pleaſe the itching ears ofthe curious.

There is not only avefana temeritas Genethliacorum, awild anddaring raſineſs of astrologers, preſuming to foretel futurities, and the fates ofkingdoms, as wellas particular perſons, from the conjunctions and influences ofthe ſtars; but there is alfo found as high a preſumption and boldness among menin matters ofreligion.

Satan is wellaware ofthis humour inmen, andhowexceedingſerviceable it isto his deſign; andtherefore,having thevery knack ofclawing andpleaſingitchingears, withtaking novelties, he is never wanting to feed theirmindswith apleaſing variety, and freſh ſucceſſion of them; new opinions are ſtill invented, and minted, in which the dangerous hooks of error are hid : ifmenwere once cured of this ſpiritual itch, and their minds reduced to that temper and fobriety, as to be pleaſed with, and bieſs God for the plain revealed truths of the goſpel, Satan would drivebut a poor trade, and findbut, few cuſtomers for his erroneous novelties.

The Remedies.

The proper remedies tocure this itch after novelty, or dangerous curioſity ofthe mind, are,

Remedy 1. Due reflection upon the manifoldmiſchiefs that have entered into the world this way.

Itwas this curioſity, anddefire toknow, thatoverthrew our firſt parents, Gen. iii. 6. " When the woman ſaw that the tree

" wasgood for food, and that it was pleasant to the eye, and a " tree to be defired to make one wife; the took of the fruit

TheCauses and Cure of Mental Errors.

" thereof."

The very fame way bywhich he let inthe firſt error, he hath let thousands into the world ſince that day. Nothing is more common in the world, than for an old error to obtainafreſh under the name of new light.

Satan hath the very art ofturning ſtale errors after the mode of the preſent times, and make them current and paſſable as new difcoveries, and rare novelties.

Thus he puts offLibertiniſm, the old fin ofthe world, under the title of Chriſtian Liberty.

What a troop of Pagan idolatrous rites were by this means introduced among the Papifts ? A great part of popery is but Ethniciſmus redivivus,

Heatheniſm revived. The Pagans Pontifex maximus, was revived under the new title ofPope.

The Gentiles Lustrations in thePopiſh holy water.

Their novendialefacrum, or facrifice ninedays after the burial ofthe party, in the Popiſh Maſſes for thedead.

Their Alvarium Fratrum, in cloiſters of Monks and Friars; their Enchanters, in Popiſh Exorcists ? their Aſyla, in Popiſh Sanctuaries; with multitudes more of Paganrites, quite out of date in Chriſtendom, introduced again under new names in l'opery; as was intimated, Rev. xi. 2. andRev. xiii. 15.

Remedy 2. Be fatisfied thatGod hath not left his people to ſeek their ſalvation, or ſpiritual ſubſiſtance among curious, abſtruſe, anddoubtfulnotions; but in the great, ſolid, and plainly revealed truths ofthe goſpel *, John xvii 3. "This is life eter- " nal, thatthey may know thee the only trueGod, and Jeſus

" Chriſtwhom thou haſt ſent."

Infacili et abfolutoftat aternitas : the great concerns ofourfalvation, areplain and eaſyto beunderstood.

Remedy 3. Vain curioſity is adangerous ſnare of Satan:

By fuch trifles as theſe, he devours our time, eats up our ſtrength, and diverts our minds from the neceſſary and moſt importantbuſineſsofreligion.

Whilſt we immerſeour thoughts intheſe pleaſing, but barrencontemplations, heart-work, cloſetwork, family-work, lie by neglected.

Whilſt we are employed in garniſhing the diſh with flowers, and curious figures, the cunningcheat takes away the meat our fouls ſhould fubfift by.

Cause. 8. Pride and arrogancy ofhuman reaſon is another evil diſpoſition, moulding and preparing the mind for errors.

* Whatwe may be ignorant of without a fault, we should not pry into withdanger.

A Blow at the Roet ; or, Whenmen are once conceitedof the ſtrength and perſpicacity oftheir own carnal reaſons and apprehenſions, nothing is more uſual than for fuch men to run mad, with reaſon, intoathoufandmistakes and errors.

To this cauſe Eccleſiaſtical Hiſtorians afcribe the errors that infeſt the church *.

Reaſon, indeed, is the highest natural excellency of man ; it exalts him above all earthly creatures, and, in its primitive perfection, almoſt equalized him with angels, Heb. ii. 7.

The pleaſures which result from its exerciſes and experiments, tranfcend all the delights and pleaſures of ſenſe.

How common is it for men todote upon their own intellectual beauty, and glory in their victories over weaker underſtandings ? And though the reason of fallen men is greatlywounded and weakened by fin; yet it conceits itſelftobe as ſtrong and clear as ever ; and with Sampſon when his locks were thorn, goes forth as before time; being neither ſenſible of its own weakness, or of the mysterious and unſearchable depths of ſcripture.

Reaſon is our arbiter, andguide,by the inſtitution and law of nature, in civil and natural affairs : 'Tis the beam, and ſtandard, at which we weigh them : It is an home bornjudge, andking in the foul : Faith comes in as a ſtranger to nature, and ſo it is dealt with, even as an intruder into reaſon's province, juſt as the Sodomitesdealt with Lot : It refuſeth to be an underling to faith. Outofthis arrogancy of carnal reaſon, as from Pandora's Box, ſwarms oferrors are flown abroad into the world.

By this means Socinianiſm firſt ſtarted, and hath ſincepropagated itſelf.

They look upon it as a ridiculous, and unaccountablething toreaſon, that the Son ſhould be co-equal, and co-eternal with the Father : ThatGod ſhould forgive fins freely, and yet forgive none but upon full fatisfaction.

That Chriſt ſhould make that fatisfaction byhis ſufferings, and yet bepars laefa, the party offended, and ſo make fatisfaction to himſelf; with many more ofthe like ſtamp.

Yea Atheiſm, as well as Socinianiſm, are births from this * Philoſophy or the wisdom ofhuman reaſon, which always hath donevery much hurt to religion, hath produced of itſelf not a few

Hereſies; for at that time philofopical ſtudies chiefly flourished; andmenby their ownfubtilities,or (as theythought) demonſtrations were ſo confirmed in their opinions, thattheythought nothing true whichdiffered from their preconceivedopinions.

Magdeb in. Cent.

2. cap. 5.p. 56.

The Gauses and Cure of Mental Errors.

womb.

'Tis proud and carnal reaſon, which quarrels at the creationofthe world, and ſeems to triumph inits uncontroulable maxim, Ex nihilo, nihilfit ; Out of nothing, comesnothing.

It looks upon the doctrine of the refurrection with aderiding ſmile, as a thing incredible.

It thinks ithard, and harſh, that God ſhould command men to turn themſelves to him, and threaten them with damnation, incase of refuſal; and yet, at the ſametime, man ſhould not have in himselfa ſufficientpower, and a free will todo this, without the ſupernatural, and preventinggrace ofGod.

It thinks it a ridiculous thing for ſuch agreat and folemn ordinance of God as baptifm is, to paſs upon ſuchaſubject as an infant of a week old, which is not capable to underſtand the ends and uſes of it.

Hence it is ſome over-heated zealots have not ſtuck to ſay, That we have as goodwarrant, and reaſon to baptize cats, dogs, and horses, as wehavetobaptize infants *.

Oh the madneſs ofcarnal reaſon !

The remedies.

To take down the arrogance, and prevent the miſchief of carnal reaſonings, let us be convinced, Remedy 1. That it is the will ofGod, that reaſon in allbelievers, ſhould reſign to faith, and all ratiocination ſubmit to revelation.

Reaſon is no better than an ufurper, when itprefumes to arbitrate matters belonging to faith and revelation.

Reason's properplace is to fit at the feet offaith, andinstead ofſearching the ſecret grounds and reaſons, to adore and admire the great and unſearchable mysteries of the goſpel. None ofGod's works are unreasonable, but many of them are above reaſon. It was as truly, as ingenioufly ſaid by one; Never doth reason shew itself more reasonable, than when it ceaſeth to reason about things that areabove reason. " Where is the wife ? Where is

" the Scribe ? Where is the diſputer of this world ? Hath not " God made foolish the wisdom of this world ? For after that in " the wisdom of God, the world by wisdomknew notGod ;

" it pleaſedGod, bythe foolishness of preaching, to ſave them " that believe," 1 Cor. i. 20, 21. 'Tis not reaſon, but faith that muſt ſave us .

* Mr. Samuel Clerk'sGolden Apples. p. 149.

|| Man having finnedby pride, the wisdom ofGod humbles him at the very root of the tree of knowledge, and makes him deny his ownunderſtanding, and ſubmit to faith; or elſe for ever to loſehis defired felicity.

Laud. against Fisher. p. 5.

VOL. IV.

A Blow at the Root ; or, Thewisdom of God in the gospel, iswiſdom in amyttery, evenhiddenwisdom, which God ordained beforethe world unto our glory,

Cor. ii. 7.

Such wisdom, as the moſt eagleeyed Rationalists, and famed Philoſophers of the world underftood not.

Eye hath not ſeen, nor ear heard, neither have " entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath

" prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed :

" them to us by his Spirit," ibid. ver. 9, 10.

Remedy 2. Be convincedof the weakness anddeep corruption ofnatural reaſon; and this will reſtrain its arrogance, andmake it modeſt and wary.

A convinced and renewed foul, is confcious to itſelf of its ownweakness and blindness ; and therefore dares not pry audaciouſly into the arcana caeli, norfummon the greatGod to its bar: It finds itſelf poſed by the mysteries of nature, and therefore concludes itſelfan incompetent judgeofthe mysteries offaith.

The arrogancy ofreaſon, is the reigning fin ofthe unregenerate; though it be a diſeaſe with which the regenerate themſelves are infected.

When conviction ſhalldo its work upon the foul, the plumes ofſpiritual pride quickly fall; and itfaith with Job, " Oncehave I spoken, butI willspeak no more; yea,

" twice, but I will proceed no further," q. d. I have done, father, I have done ; " I have uttered things that I underſtand

" not," Job xlii. 3.

Spiritual illumination cures this ambition.

Remedy 3. Confider the manifold miſchiefs and evils flowing from the pride of reafon .

It doth not only fillthe worldwith errors and diſtractions, but it alſo invades the rights ofheaven, and cafts a vile reflectionupon the wisdom, fovereignty, and veracity of God. It lifts up itſelf against his wisdom, not confidering that " the " foolishness of God is wiſer than men," I Cor. i. 25.

It ſpurns at his glorious ſovereignty, not confidering that " he givethno account of his matters," Job xxxiii. 13.

Itqueons his veracity, in ſaying with Nicodemus, "How can theſe

" things be ?" John iii.9.

Cause 9. The last evil diſpoſition I ſhallhere take noticeofin the ſubject, is raſh and ignorant zeal; a temper preparing the mind both to propagate furiously, andreceive eafily, erroneous doctrines and opinions.

When there is inthe foul moreheat than light, whena fer. vent ſpirit is governedby aweak head; fuch atemper of ſpirit

Satandefires and ſingles out as fitteft for his purpoſe, eſpeciallywhen the heart is graceleſs, as well as the understanding

The Causes and Cure ofMental Errors.

weak. A blind horſe, of an high mettle, will carry the rider intoany pit, and venture over the moſtdangerous precipices.

Such were the ſuperſtitious Jewish Zealots ; they had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. This κακοζηλια, blind zeal, St Paul charges juſily upon the Jewish Bigots,

Rom. x. 2. as the proper cauſe of theirdangerous errors about the great point ofjuſtification; andſurelyno man understood the evil ofit more than he, who in his unregenerate ſtate, was tranſported by it to the moſt furious perfecution of the faints,

Acts xxvi. 11. and even todotage, and extream fondneſsupon the erroneous traditions of his fathers, Gal. i. 14.

Blind zeal is a ſword in amad-man'shand. Noperfecutor to ☐a confcientious one, whoſe erroneous confcience offers up the bloodofthe faints tothe gloryofGod, Johnxvi . 2. Theblind, but zealous Phariſees would compaſs ſea and land to make one proſelyte, Matth. xxiii. 15. as our modern Pharifees, the Jefuifts, have ſincedone, who have mingled themſelves with the remoteft and moſt barbarous nations, to drawthem to the Romiſh errors.

Ofthefame temperwas the falſe teachers taxed by the apostle, Gal. iv. 17. they zealoufly affect you, but not well ; yea, they would exclude you (viz. from our ſociety and ordinances) that you might affect them.

Andas it is the great inſtrumentby which Satan propagates errors, ſo it makes a fit temperin the fouls ofthe peopleto receive them: For, by this means error gains the poffeffion of the affections, without paffing a previous and due teft by the understanding, and fogains the foulby the advantage of a furprize. Every thing, byhow much the more weak and ignoble itis, by fo much the more it watcheth upon furpritals and advantages.

Error cares not to endure the due examination, and teſt ofreaſon; and therefore ſeeks togainby ſurpriſal, what it deſpairs of ever gaining by a plain and fair trial.

Therebe few Erroriſts in the worldof Alexander's mind,who would rather lose the day, thanfteal the victory. Hence it comes to paſs, that the greateſt number ofthoſe they lead captives, are filly women, as theapostle ſpeaks, who are the moſt affectionate,but leaſt judicious, fex.

From this blind zeal it is, that they cunningly wind their erroneous opinions into all their difcourtes, where they have anyhope to prevail. A rational and modeft contradiction puts them into aflame, itbreaks the nearest bonds offriendſhip and fociety.

Rabſhekah in 2Kings xviii. wouldnot treat with Hezekiah's Hh2

A Blow at the Root ; or, counsellors of ſtate, but with the commonpeopleuponthe wall =

And error cares not to treat with found reaſon, able to fiftit through the ſcripture-ſearch, but with the affections ; aswell knowing, it is invain to make war in reaſon's territorieswithout firſt gaining a party among the affections.

The remedies.

Thebest defenfatives againſt erroneous contagions, in this caſe, are tobefound in the following particulars.

First Defenfative. Reflect ſeriously and ſadly upon the manifold miſchiets occaſioned every where, and in allages ofthe world, by raſh zeal .

Revolve church-hiſtories and you ſhall find, that fcarceany cruel perfecution hath flamed in the world, which hath not been kindled by blind zeal.

Turn over all the records, both ofPagan and Popiſh perſecutions, and you ſhall ſtill findtheſe two obfervations confirmed and verified.

First, That ignorant zeal hath kindled the fires ofperſecution; and, Secondly, That the more zealous any havebeen for the ways of error and falſhood, ſtill the more implacably fierce and cruel they have been to the fincere fervants ofGod. None like a fuperftitious devoto tomanage the devil's workof perfecution thoroughly, and to purpoſe. They'll ruſh violently and head-long into the blood oftheir dearest relations, or moſt emi nent ſaints, to whoſe ſides the devil ſets this ſharp fpur.

Superftitious zeal draws all the ſtrength and power ofthe foul into thatonedeſign; andwoe tohim that ſtands in the way offucha man, ifGod interpoſe not betwixt him and the ſtroke.

Itwas a rational with of him that faid, Liberet me Deus ab homine unius tantum negotii, Goddeliverme from a man of one only deſign.

Now conſider, reader, if thy judgment be weak, and thy affections warm, how much thou lieſt expoſed, not only to errors which may ruin thyſelf, but alſo to tongue andhand. perfecution,wherein Satan may manage thy zeal for the injury or ruinofthoſe that are better than thyself: And withal, con ſider, howmany dreadful threatenings arefound in ſcripture2gainſtthe inſtruments ofperſecution, ſo imployed andmanaged bySatan.

Certainly, reader, itwere better for theeto ſtand with thy nakedbreast before the mouth of a diſcharging cannon, than that thy foul ſhould ſtand under this guilt, before fuch a fcrip ture-threatening as that, Pfal. vii. 13. " He hath alſo prepared

" for him the inſtruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows

The Causes and Cure ofMental Errors.

"against the perfecutors." And none more likely tobecome fuch,thanthoſeofthine owntemperandcomplexion; eſpecially ifgrace bewanting in theheart, whilft zeal for erroneous principles eats upthe affections .

Second Defenfative.

Confider what miſchief zeal for an error will do to thine own foul, as well as others .

Itwillwholly ingroſs thy time, thoughts, and ſtrength : fo that if there be anygracious principle inthee, it ſhall notbe abletothrive and profper.

For look as a fever takes off the naturalappetite from food, fo will erroneous zeal take offthy ſpiritual appetite from meditation, prayer, heart-examination, andall other the moſt neceſſary, and nourishing duties of religion, by reaſon whereof thygrace muſt languiſh.

When thy foul, with David's, ſhould be filled and feaſted, as with marrow and fatneſs, by delightful meditations ofGod uponthy bed, thou wiltbe rolling in thy mind thy barren and infipid notions, which yield no food, or ſpiritual ſtrength to thy foul; thou wilt lie muſing how to diſſolve the arguments, andobjections againſt thine errors, whenthou ſhouldeſt rather beemployed inſolving the juſt and weighty objections that lie against thy fincerity, and intereſt in Chriſt, which weretime far, better improved.

Third Defenfative. Confider howbaneful this inordinatezeal hathbeen toChriſtian ſociety, lamentably defacing, and almoſt • diffolving it every where, to the unspeakabledetrimentof the churches.

We read, Mal . iii. 16. of a bleſſed time, when they that feared the Lord ſpake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was writtenbefore him, for them that feared the Lord, and thought uponhis name. Oh happy time! Halcyon days ! I myself, remember the time, when the zeal of the faints ſpent itself in provokingone another to love, and good works, in joint and fervent prayer, in inward, experimental, andedifying communion; myfoulhath them ſtill in remembrance, and is caſtdown withinme : for alas ! alas ! how do I ſee every where Chriſtian communionturned into vainjanglings ? Churches and families, intomere cockpits ? Mens diſcourſings fallingas naturally into contentions about trifles, as they were wont to do into heavenly and experimental fubjects, to the unspeakable difgrace anddamage of religion .

Fourth Detenfative.

That opinion is juſtly tobe ſuſpected for erroneous, which comes in atthe poſtern-door ofthe affections; andnot openlyand fairly atthe right gate of an enligh-

ABlow at the Root; or, tenedand well-fatisfiedjudgment.

It is athief that cometh in at the back-door, at leaſt ſtrongly to be ſuſpected for one.

Truth courts the miſtreſs, makes its firſt, and faireſt addreſſes to the underſtanding.

Error bribes the handmaid, and labours firſt to win the affections, that by their influence itmay corrupt the judgment.

And thus you ſee, beſides the innocent occafion, viz.God's permiffion of errors in the world, for the trial of his people, nineproper cauſes of errors found inthe evil diſpoſitions ofthe minds of men, which prepare them to receive erroneous doctripes, and impreſſions, viz.

1. Awrangling humour,at the pretendedobſcurityof Scripture.

2. The abuſe of that Chriſtian liberty, purchaſed by Chrift.

3. Slothfulneſs, in ſearching the whole word ofGod.

4. Fickleneſs, and inſtability ofjudgment.

5. Eagerneſs after anodines, to eaſe adiſtreſfed confcience.

6. Aneafycredulity, infollowingthejudgments, and examplesof others.

7. Vaincuriofity, and prying into unrevealed fecrets.

8. The pride and arrogancy of human reafon.

9. Blind zeal, which ſpurs on the foul, and runs it upon dangerous precipices.

Wenextcometo confider the principal, impulſive cauſe, by which errors are propagated, and diffeminated in the world.

Cause 10. Comewe next, in the proper order, to confider the principal, impulfive cauſe of errors; which is SATAN, working upon the pre-diſpoſed matter he finds in the corrupt nature of man.

* The centuriſts, ſpeaking of the strange, and sudden growth of errors, and herefies, immediately after the plantingof the gospelby Chrift, and the apofſtles, afcribe it to Satan.

Satan was a liar fromthe beginning, andabode not inthe * Which thing indeed, doth abundantly ſhow that the malice of Satan is dreadful, who being conquered andoverthrown by Chrift, hath nevertheleſs attempted to ſully, rent, and almoſt overturn his word, and the whole frame of religion, by horrible opinions and blafphemies .

But we should have inview theſe monttrous inventions of this malignant ſpirit, and, as itwere, theſe firſt ſprings of many herefies, which afterwards increaſed in a wonderful manner, like rivers receiving others into them, &c.

Hist. Magdeb. cent. 1. lib. 2. cap. 5.p. 368.

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

truth : *He hates itwith a deadly hatred, and allthe children, and friends of truth.

And this hatred he manifeſteth ſometimes by raiſing furious ſtorms of persecution against the fincereprofeffors of it, Rev. iii. 10. and ſometimes by clouds of herefies, and errors, with defign todarken it.

In the former he acts as a roaring lion; in the latter as a fubtle ferpent, 2 Cor. xi. 5. " I fear, left as the ferpent beguiled Eve through " his fubtilty; ſo your minds ſhould be corrupted from the " ſimplicity that is in Chriſt."

He is exceeding ſkilful,and dexterousin citing, and wreſting the ſcriptures to ſerve his vile deſigns and purposes ; andas impudently daring, as he is crafty, and cunning ; as appears in thehiſtoryofChriſt's temptation in the deſart, Mat. iv. 6. where hecitesone partofthatpromiſe,Pfal. xci. 11. andſuppreſſeththe reft; ſhewstheencouragement, viz.Heshallgivehis angelscharge over thee; but clips off the limitation ofit, viz. to keep thee in allthyways : In viis, non in praecipitiis, In our lawful ways, notin raſh, and dangerous precipices ; as Bernard well gloffeth.

And 'tis worth obſervation, that he introduceth multitudes oferrors into the world under the unſuſpected notions ofadmirable prophylactics, and approved preſervatives from all miſchiefs, and dangers from himself.

Under this notion, he hath neatly, and covertly flided into the world, holy-water croffings, reliques of faints, and almoſt innumerable other fuperftitious rites.

Erroneous teachers are the miniſters ofSatan, however they transform themſelves into miniſters ofrighteouſneſs, 2 Cor. xi.

15. and the ſubtle, dangerous errors they broach, are fitly ſtiled by the Spirit of God, τα βαθη του Σαλανου, the depths of Satan,Rev. ii. 24. The corruptteachers, theGnoſtics, &c. called them depths, i e. great myſteries, high and marvellous attainments in knowledge ; but the Spirit ofGod fits a very proper epithet to them.

They are ſatanical depths, and mysteries of iniquity.

Now the level and deſign of Satan herein, is double.

First, He aimsat the ruin, anddamnation of thoſe that vent, and propagate them; upon which account the apoſtle calls them, αιρεσείς απωλειας, 2 Pet. ii. I. deſtructive, or (as we render

* When Swinkfield ſent his books to Luther, he told the meſſenger, the devil was the author of them and the Lord rebuke thee, Satan, was the anſwer he returned to them.

ABlow at the Root; or,

it)damnable hereſies. And becauſe God will preſerve the fouls ofhisown fromthis mortal contagion, therefore,

Secondly, He endeavours, byleffer errors, tobufythe minds, andcheck thegrowth ofgrace in the fouls ofthe faints, by employingthem about things foforeign to truegodliness, andthe power thereof, Heb. xiii. 9.

The remedies.

The rules, for prevention and recovery, are theſe that follow:

Rule 1. Pray earnestly for a thorough change ofthe ſtate, and temper of thy foul, by found converfion, and regeneration.

Converfion turns us from darkness to light, and from the power ofSatan to God, Acts xxvi. 18. They are his own ſlaves and vaſſals, that are taken captive by him at his will, 2 Tim. ii. 16. A fanctified heart is a ſovereign defenſative against erroneous doctrines; it furnishes the foul with ſpiritual eyes, judicious ears, and a diftinguiſhing taste, by which it may difcern both good and evil, truth and error, Heb. v. 14. yea, it puts the foul at once under the conduct of the ſpirit, and protection of the promise, John xvi. 13. and though this doth not ſecure aman from all leſſer miſtakes, yet it effectually ſecures him from greater ones, which are inconſiſtent with Chriſt, and ſalvation.

Rule 2. Acquaint yourſelves with the wiles, andmethods of Satan, and benot ignorant ofhis devices, 2 Cor. ii. 11 .

When once you understand the waſh, and paint with which he fets offthe ugly face of error, you will not eaſilybe enamouredwith it.

Pretences of devotion upon one fide, and of purity, zeal, and reformation upon the other ; though they be pleaſant ſounds to both ears, yet the wary foul will examine, before it receive, andadmit doctrinal points under theſe gilded titles.

Thoſe that have made their obſervations upon the ſtratagems ofSatan, will heedfullyobſerveboth the tendencyof doctrines, and the lives of their teachers; and ifthey find looſeneſs, pride, wantonneſs in them, it is not a glorious title, or magnificent name that ſhall charm them.

They know Satan can transform himself into an angel of light; and no wonder if his miniſters alſo be transformed into miniſters of righteoufneſs, 2 Cor. xi. 14, 15.

Rule 3. Reſign your minds, and judgments in fervent prayer tothe governmentofChriſt, andconduct ofthe Spirit; and in all your addreſſes toGod, praythat he would keep them chafte, and pure, and not fufferSatan to commit arape upon

The Caufes and Cure of Mental Errors.

them: PleadwithGod that part of Chriſt's prayer, John xvii.

17. " Sanctify them through thy truth ; thy word is truth."

Rule 4. Live in the confcientious, and conſtant practice of all thoſe truths and duties God hath already manifeſted toyou.

This will bring you under that bleſſed promiſe of Chriſt, John vii. 17. " If anyman willdo his will, he ſhall know of "the doctrine, whether it be of God "

Satan's greateſt ſucceſſes areamong idle, notional, and vain profeſſors ; not humble, ſerious, and practical Chriſtians, i Cause 11. Having confidered, anddiſpatched the ſeveral internal cauſes of error, found in the evil diſpoſitions of the feduced, as alſo the impulsive cauſe, viz. Satan, who fits ſuitable baits to all theſe ſinful humours, and evil tempers of the heart; we come next to confider the inſtrumental cauſe, employedby Satanin this work, viz. the falſe teacher, whom Satanmakes use ofas his ſeeds-man, to diſſeminate and ſcatter erroneous doctrines and principles into the minds ofmen, ploughedup, and preparedby thoſe eviltempers fore-mentioned, as a fit foil to receive them.

The choice of inſtruments is a principal part ofSatan's policy. Every one is not fit to be employed in ſuch a ſervice as this. All are not fit to be of the council ofwar, who yet take theirplaces of ſervice in the field. A ruftic carried out ofthe field, on board a ſhip at ſea, though he never learned his compaſs, nor ſawa ſhipbefore, can,by another's direction, tugluſtilyatarope; but hehadneedbe an expert artiſt, that fitsat the helm, and ſteers the course.

The worſt cauſes need the ſmootheſt orators; and bad ware, acunningmerchant to put itoff*.

Deep-patedmen are coveted by Satan, to manage this deſign :

None like an eloquent Tertullus toconfrontaPaul, Acts xxiv.

1.AfubtleEccius toenterthe liſt, indefenceofthePopiſh cauſe, against the learned, and zealous reformers.

When theduke of Buckingham undertook to plead the bad cauſe of Richard the third, theLondoners ſaid, They never thought it had been poſſible forany man to deliver ſomuch bad matter, infuchgood words, andquaint phrases t.

* That the impoſtures ofMontanus were fubtle and cunning, and ſuchasmight eaſily impoſe on ſome bya fair ſhow, is plain from this, that he admitted almoſt the whole ſcripture, and as Epiphanius writes, taught the ſame things concerning God the Father, Son and Holy Ghoſt, which the church ofChriſt did teach, Magdeb. Cent.

2. cap. 5.P.77 .

† Continuation ofDaniel's Hiſtory. p. 233.

VOL. IV.

A Blow at the Root; or, The firſt inſtrument, choſenby Satan to deceiveman,was the ferpent; becauſe that creaturewas more fubtle than any beaft of the field.

There isnot amanof eminent parts, but Satan courts and folicitshimforthis ſervice.

St.Austin toldan ingenious, but unſanctified ſcholar,Cupitabsteornari diabolus, Thedevil covets thy parts toadorn his cause. He ſurveys the world, andwhereverhe findsmorethanordinary ſtrength ofreafon, pregnancy ofwit, depth of learning, andelegancy oflanguage, that isthe manhe looks for.

Theſe arethe menthatcan almoſt indiſcernibly ſprinkletheir errorsamongmany precious truths, and wrapup theirpoisonous drugs in leaf-gold, or fugar.

*Marefius notes ofCrellius, and his accomplices, That bythe power of theireloquence, and fophiſtry of their arguments, theywere able, artificially, tocloath horrible blafphemies,toallurethe ſimple.

And, like the Hyaena, they can counterfeit thevoiceofthe ſhepherds,todeceiveand destroythe sheep.

There is (faith a late + worthy) an erudita nequitia, alearned kind of wickedneſs, a fubtle art ofdeceiving the mindsofothers. Uponwhich accountthe ſpirit ofGodſometimescomparesthem, 2Pet. ii.3. tocunningandcheating tradesmen, whohavethe very art to fet agloſs upontheirbadwareswith finewords, πλαστοίς λόγοις υμας

εμπορευσονται , theybuyand fellthepeoplewiththeirenfnaringand feignedwords .

And fometimes he compares them tocunning gameſters, thathave the art, and fleight ofhand,tocog the die, todeceivethe unſkilful, andwin their game, Eph. iv. 14. κύβεια, &c.

And fometimesthe ſpirit ofGod compares them to witches themſelves, Gal. iii. 1. τις υμας εδασκανε, Foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you ? How many strange fates havebeen done upon thebodies of menandwomen, by witchcraft? But far more, and ſtranger, uponthe foulsofmen,by themagic oferror.

Jannes, and Jambres,performedwonderful things in the fight * With the diſguiſe of paintedeloquence, with fophifticalargu. ments taken from ſcripture, perniciouſly wreſted and with falſe and deceitful argument, the moſthorrid blafphemies are artfully dreffed upto infoare the ſimple.

Pref. to Hyd. Socin.

+ Mr. W. Gurnal, Chriſtian armour, Part 2.p. 33 .

‡ There are certain vain talkers and ſeducers ofmens minds, not in reality Chriſtians but men making a trade andmerchandize of Chriftianity, who ſo mix the poiſon of error with ſome ſweetning allurements, as with wine and honey, that he who drinks of that palatable potion, being takenwith its ſweetneſs,isunawares, betrayed todeath.

Ignatius Epift. to Trallian. p. 68.

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

ofPharaoh,by which theydeceivedandhardenedhim; and untotheſe falſe teachers are compared.

Suchamanwas Elymas the forcerer,wholaboured to ſeduce thedeputy, Sergius Paulus, tho' a prudent man, Acts xiii. 7, 8,

9, 10. Ohfullof allfubtilty, andallmischief, thou child ofthedevil! faith Paul untohim. The art of feduction, fromthe ways oftruth andholiness, discovers aman tobe both the child, and Scholarofthedevil.

Butas the wife and painful minifters of Chriſt, who turn manyto righteouſneſs, ſhall have doubleglory in heaven ; fo thefefubtile,andmoſtactive agents for thedevil, whoturnmany fromtheways ofrighteousness, will have adouble portionof miſery inhell.

The remedies.

The proper remedies inthis caſe are principally two.

Remedy 1. Pray fervently, and labour diligently in the uſe ofallGod'sappointedmeans, toget more folidity ofjudgment, and ſtrength of grace, to eſtabliſhyou in the truth, and ſecure your fouls against the cunning craftineſs of menthat lie inwait todeceive.

Itis the ignorance, andweakness ofthepeople,which makes the factors for errors ſo ſucceſsful as they are.

Confultthe Scriptures, andyou ſhall findtheſe cunning merchants drive the quickest and gainfullest tradeamong theweak and injudicious.

Sofpeaks the apostle, With goodwords, andfairſpeeches, they deceive the hearts of the simple ; axund , harmless,weak, eafy fouls,whohaveadefire to dowell, butwantwisdom todifcern thefubtilties ofthemthat mean ill; who are void both of fraud inthemſelves, and fufpicion of others. Oh ! what ſucceſshave thedeceivers, χρησολογια και ευλογια, their fair words and fugaredſpeeches, ſweet andtakingexpreſſions,among fuch innocent ones!

Andwho aretheyamong whom Satan's cunning gameſters commonly win the game, and ſweep the ſtakes, but weak

Chriſtians, credulous fouls, whom forthat reaſon the apostle calls νήπιοι, children ? The word properly ſignifies aninfant, when it is referred tothe age; but unſkilful andunlearned, whenreferred (as itishere) tothe mind.

So again, 2 Pet. ii.

14. They (that is, the falſe teachers there ſpoken of) beguile ψυχας ἀσηρικτές, unstable fouls, fouls thatarenotconfirmedand grounded in the principles of religion. Whence by theway,

: take notice oftheunspeakable advantage, and neceffityofbeing Iiz

A Blow at the Rost ; or, well catechiſed in your youth; the more judicious, the more fecure.

Remedy 2. Labour to acquaint yourſelves with the ſleights and artifices Satan's factors and inſtruments generallymake uſe of, to ſeduce and draw men from the truth.

The knowledge of them is a good defenſative against them. Now there are two common artifices of ſeducers, which it isnot fafe for Chriftians to be ignorant of.

First, They usually ſeek to diſgrace andblaſtthe reputations of thoſe truths, and miniſters ſet for their defence, which they deſign afterwards to overthrow and ruin, and to beget credit, and reputation, to thoſe errors which they have a mind tointroduce. How many precious truths of God are this day, and with this deſign, defamed as legal and carnal doctrines ; and thoſe that defend them, asmen of anOldTestament ſpirit ?

Humiliation for fin, contrition of ſpirit, &c. fall underdifgrace with many, and indeed all qualifications, and pre-requifites unto coming to Chritt, as things not only needleſs, but pernicious unto the fouls of men, although they have not the leaſt dependanceupon them : yea, faith ittelf, asapre-requiſite unto juftification, as no better than a condition pertaining to Adam's covenant.

And fo for the perſons of orthodox miniſters ; you fee into what contempt the talſe teachers would have brought both the perſon and preaching of Paul himself, 2Cor. x. 10. "His bo66 dilyprefence (fay they) is weak, and his ſpeechcontemptible."

Secondly, Their other common artifice is, to infinuate their falſe doctrines among many acknowledged andprecious truths, which only ſerve for a convenient vehicle to them; and befides that, to make their errors as palatable and guſtful as they can to the vitiated appetite of corrupt nature. The forementioned worthy * hath judicioufly obſerved how artificially

Satan hath blended his banetul doſes, to pleaſe the palate of carnalreason, Spiritualpride, and the defire offleſbly liberty.

Carnal reason is thatgreat idol, which the more intelligent part of the carnal world worſhips. And are not the Socinian hereſies as pleaſant to it, as a well mixt julep to afeverish ftomach.

Spiritual pride is another Diana, which obtains greatly in theworld; and nodoctrine like the Pelagian, and Semipelagian errors, togratify it. A doctrine that fets fallen nature upon its legs again, and perfuades it, it cango alone to Chrift ; at leaft, with a little-external help of moral fuafion, without any

Mr. W. G.

TheCauses and Cure of MentalErrors.

preventing, or creating work in the foul. This goes down glib, and gratefully.

And then for fleſbly liberty, Howdo thoſe that are fondof it rejoice in that doctrine, or opinion, which looſes nature fromtheyoke ofrestraint ? How does the poor deluded Papist hughimself, to think he hath liberty, by his religion, to let looſe the reins of his luſt to all fenfualities, and quit himſelf from all that guilt, by auricular confeffion tothe priest once a year ? Howdoth the Familiſt ſmile upon that principle of his, which tells him, the gospel allows more liberty than fevere legal teachers think fit to tell them of: they preſs repentance, and faith; but Chriſt hath done all this to thy hands.

Cause 12. Having confidered the ſeveral cauſes of errors, found in the evil diſpoſitions of the ſeduced, as alſo the impulfive, and inſtrumental cauſes, namely, Satan, and falſeteachers employed by him; I ſhall now proceed to diſcover ſome ſpecial, and moſt ſucceſsful methods, frequently uſed by them, to draw the minds of men from the truth. Amongſt which, that which comes firſt to confideration, is thegreat ſkill they have inrepreſentingthe abuſes of the ordinances of God, and duties of religion, by wicked mento ſcare tender and weak confciences fromthedue use of them, and all further attendance uponthem.

The abuse of Chriſt's holy appointments is ſo cunningly improved to ſerve this deſign, that the minds ofmanywell-meaning perſons receive ſuch deepdiſguſt at them, that they are ſcarce ever to bereconciled to them again. A fſtrong prejudice is apt to drive men from one extreme upon another, as thinkingtheycanneverget farenough offfrom that which hath been ſo ſcaringly representedto them. Thus, making good the old obſervation, Dum vitantftulti vitia, in contraria current; they run from the troubletome ſmoak ofſuperſtition, into the fire of an irreligious contempt of God's ordinances, ſplit themselves uponCharybdis to avoid Scylla. Ex gr.

The Papiſts havingdeeply abuſed the ordinance ofBaptifm, by their corruptive mixtures, and additions of the ſurperftitious crofs, chrism, &c. Part whereof is not ſufficiently purged to this dayby the reformation; and finding alſo multitudes of carnal

Proteftants dangerously reſting upon their ſuppoſed baptifmal regeneration, to the great hazard of their ſalvation ; which miſtake is but too much countenancedby ſome ofits adminifſtrators : they take from hence ſuchdeep offence at the adminiſtration ofit to any infants at all, (tho' the feedof God's covenantedpeople) that they think theycan never be ſharp enough

Blow at the Root ; or,

in their invectives againſt it; norhavethey patience to hear the moſt rational defences ofthat practice.

So, for that fcriptural heavenly duty offinging: what more commonly alledged against it, than the abuſe and ill effects of thatprecious ordinance ? Howoftenis the nonſenſe, and error ofthe common tranflation, the rudeneſs and dulneſs of the metre ofſome Pfalms, as Pfal. vii. 13. as alſo the cold formality,with which that ordinance is performed by manywho de but parrotize ? I ſay, how often are theſethings buzzed intothe ears of the people, to alienate their hearts from ſo ſweet and beneficial aduty ?

Andveryoften wefind it urged tothe fame end, how unwarrantable, and dangerous athing it is for carnal and unregeneratedperfons, toappropriate tothemselves in finging thoſe praiſes andexperiences which are peculiar to the faints; not understanding, or confidering, that the ſinging of Pfalms is an ordinance of Chriſt, appointed for teaching, and admonition, as wellas praiſing, Col. iii. 16. " Teaching and admoniſhing

" one another in Pfalms and hymns," &c.

* Thus Antinomianiſm took, ifnot its riſe, yetits encouragement from the too rigorous preffing ofthelawuponconvinced finners.

IfSatan can prevail firſt with wicked men, to corrupt and abuſe God's ordinances by ſuperftitious mixtures and additions; and then with goodmen, torenounceand flight them for thefakeofthoſe abuſes; he fullyobtains his deſign, andgives

Chriſt a double wound atonce; oneby thehand ofhis avowed enemies, the other by the hands ofhis friends, no leſs grievous thanthe firſt.

Firſt, wickedmen corrupt Chriſt's ordinances, andthengoodmennaufeate them.

The remedies.

The proper remedies againſt errors, infinuatedby the abuſes ofduties andordinances, are fuchas follow:

Remedy 1. Letmen confider,that there isnothingin religion ſogreat, ſo ſacred and excellent, but ſome orother have greatly corrupted, orvilely abuſed them.

What isthere in the whole world more precious and excellent thanthe free grace of God ? and yetyou read, Jude 4. of ſome that turned the grace of our Lord into laſciviouſneſs.

What more defirable to Chriſtians, than the glorious liberty Chrift hath purchased for them by his blood, and ſettled upon * The divinity of former ages, faith Mr. Saltmarſh, put but a grain ordrachm of goſpel toapound of law, in their receipts for diftempered fouls.

Vide Saltmarsh of free grace, p. 40%

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

-them inthegoſpel-charter ? Aliberty from Satan, fin, andthe rigour and curſe of the law; and yet you read, 1 Pet. ii. 16. ofthemthat uſed this liberty for a cloak of maliciouſneſs.

It is true, Chriſt came to be afacrifice for ſin, but not a cloak for fin; to ſetus at liberty from the bondage of our lufts, not fromtheties andduties ofourobedience. Under the pretence of this liberty it was, that theGnoſtics,Carpocratians, and the Menandrians ofold,did not onlyconnive at, butopenly taught and practiſed all manner of lewdneſs and uncleanneſs.

+St. Auguſtine, in his bookof hereſy, makes this ſadcom. plaint, " The Menandrians (faith he) do willingly embrace all

"uncleanneſs, as the fruit of thegrace ofGod towards men.'

Andnot only the liberty purchasedbyChriſt, but the veryperfon andgoſpel of Chriſt are liable to abuſes; and oftentimes, through thecorruptions ofmens hearts,become stones of ſtumbling, and rocks of offence. What then? ſhallwe renounce thegrace ofGod, our Chriſtian liberty, the very gofpel, yea, and perſon of Chriſt himself, becauſeeach of themhave been thus vilely abuſed by wicked wretches ? At the peril of our eternal damnation be it, if we do ſo.

Bleffed is he (faith our Lord)that is not offended in me.

Beware, left by this means Satanatoncewound the Lord Jesus Chriſt by ſcandal, andthy foul by prejudice.

Remedy 2. Confider alſo, that it is thenature and temper ofa gracious foul, to raiſehiseſteem, and heighten his love to thoſe ordinances, whichare moſtabuſedanddiſgracedbymen.

The more they are abuſed and oppoſed by others, the higherthey ſhould be valued andhonouredbyus: Pfal. cxix. 126,

127. " It is time for thee, Lord, towork; for they have made " void thy law; therefore I love thy commandments above

"gold, yea, above fine gold;" q. d.

The more they are difgraced and abuſedby wicked men, the moredo I honour and prize them. A like ſpirit with David's was found in Elijah,

Kings xix. 14. " Ihave been very jealous for the Lord God " of hosts; becauſe the children of Ifrael have forſaken thy

"covenant; throwndown thine altars, and flain thy prophets "with the ſword."

Agood manwill ſtrive tohonour and ſecure thoſe truths and duties moſt, whichhe finds under moſt diſgrace or danger : he lovesthe truth fincerely, who cleaves to it, and ſtandsby it underalloppoſition.

This isa good trial ofthe ſoundness ofthy +Menandriani omnem turpitudinem libenter amplexifunt, tané quamgratiaeDei erga hominesfructum.

Auguſt. lib. deHæref.

A Blow at the Rost ; or, heart, and purity ofthine ends in religion; ſuch aproof, as thehonour and reputation of religion intheworld cannever givethee.

In Solomon's time, the Jews were verycautious how they admitted and received proſelytes, ſuſpecting that by-ends, and worldly reſpects, maydraw men to it; but they were not fo cautious intimes ofdiſgrace and perfecution.

Remedy 3. Before you part with any ordinance, or practice in religion, bethink yourſelves, whether you never foundany ſpiritual bleſſings or advantages in that path which you are now tempted to forſake.

Had younever any ſpiritual meltings ofyour hearts andaffections inthat heavenly ordinance offinging ?,And, may there not be now thousands of mercies in your poſſeſſion, in confequence to, and as the fruit ofyour ſolemn dedication toGodin baptifm, by your covenanted parents ? For my own part, Ido heartily and folemnly bleſsGod for it upon this account; and ſo, I hope thouſands, beſides myſelf, have cauſe todo: however, ſuch apractice may, by no means, be deferted by you, becauſe abuſed by others.

Cause 13. Anothermethodand artifice, bywhich falſe teachersdraw multitudes of diſciples after them, is, by grantingto their ignorant and ambitious followers the Liberty of Prophesy. ing: flatteringthem into aconceit of their excellent gifts and attainments, whenGod knows they had more need tobecatechiſed,andtaught the principlesof Chriſtianity, than undertake toexpound and apply thoſe profound mysteries unto others.

Satan hath filled the church and world with errors and troubles this way.

*When ignorant andunexperienced perſons begintothink it alow and dullthing to fit fromyear toyearunder other mens teachings, and to fancy) that they are wiſer thantheir teachers, theirpridewillquicklytempt them to ſhewtheir ignorance, and that miſchievous ignorance will prove dangerous to the truth, andtroubleſome to the church.

The apostle forbids the ordi nation of anovice, leſt he be puffed up, and fall into the condemnation of the devil ; and in 1 Tim. i. 7. he ſhews usthe

* Ignorant andwicked men, not minding, that the fame inſpired writer never advances contrary aſſertions onone and the ſame ſubject; and regarding only the found of the words, do overlook the ſenſe and ſcope of them; and obſerving that there is a diverſity or ſeeming contrariety in the ſame ſcripture-expreſſions, theyhave apoſtatized into error, notunderſtanding the true meaning ofthem.

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

realonwhy ſome ſwerved and turned aſide unto vain janglings : anditwas this, that theydesired to be teachers of the law, neither understanding what they faid, nor whereof they affirmed; that is, they affected to be preachers, though not able to ſpeak congruously, with tolerable ſenſe andreaſon.

Idonot here cenfure and condemn the uſe and exerciſe of thegifts of all private Chriſtians.

There are to be found, amongst them, ſome perſons ofraiſed parts, and anſwerable modeſtyand humility, who may be very useful, when called to fervice, in extraordinary caſes, by the voice of providence ; or exerciſe their gifts in a probationary way, or in due fubordination unto Chriſt's public officers and ordinances, by, and with the confentof the paftor andcongregation.

Butwhen unqualified, and uncalled perſons, undertake ſuch awork, out of the conceit and pride of their own hearts, or are allured to it by the craftydeſigns of erroneous teachers, partly to overthrow a public, regular, and ſtanding miniſtry in

the church, to which end the ſcripturesare manifeſtly abuſed, fuch as, Jer. xxxi. 34. Rom. xii. 6. 1 Cor. xiv. 1 Pet. iv. 10. with many others : this is the practice Ihere cenfure, which, likea Trojan horse, hath ſent forth multitudes oferroneous perfonsintothe city ofGod toinfeſt anddefile it.

I cannot doubtbut many a fincere Chriſtian may be drawn intofuch employment, which puts him intoacapacity ofhonouringGod inamore eminent way, which is a thing defirable to an honeſt and zealousheart : and that the temptation maybe greatly Arengthened upon them by the plauſible ſuggeſtions of cunningſeducers, who tell them, that thoſe miniſters who oppoſe and condemn this practice, do it as men concerned for their own intereſt, as deſirous tomonopolize thework to themfelves, and as envying the Lord's people : and that Chriſt hath giventhem agreater libertyin this cafe, than thoſe menwillallowthem. Bythis means they drawmany after them, and fix them in theirerroneous ways .

Ihave no mindat all here to expoſe the follies and miſchiefs introduced this way, as neither being willing to grieve the hearts of the fincere onone fide, nor gratify ſcoffing Atheists, andprofane enemies to religionupon the other fide; only this

I will, and muſt ſay, that by this means the ſacred ſcriptures aremoſt injuriouslywreſted, the peace and order ofthe church diſturbed, and agreatmany mistakes and errors introduced.

The remedies.

The prevention and cure of errors thiswayintroduced, or VOL. IV.

A Blow at the Root ; or, likely tobe introduced into the church, isbypondering andap plying the following confiderations.

Confideration 1. Let allthat encourage others, or undertake byothers encouragement, ſuch awork as this, for which they are not competently qualified, and unto which they are not regularly called, confider ſerionfly with themselves what danger they caft their own and other mens fouls upon.

The apottle tells us, 2 Pet. iii. 16. " That the unlearned " and unſtable dowreſt the ſcriptures totheir own deſtructi- " on."

Danger enough, one would think, to ſcare them from it, didnot the ſame ſin of ignorance, which makes them wrest

-the ſcriptures, cauſe them alfo to flight and overlook thedangerof fodoing *.

Certainly, my friends, itis a great deal fafer, andmore excuſable, to put an ignorant ruftic into an apothecary's ſhop, to compound amedicine ofdrugs and ſpirits, whichhe underſtands not, and confidently adminiſter the ſame tothe bodies of men, thanfor ſuch perſons as are led by ignorance and confidence, to intermeddle withthe miniſterial employment; the one perhaps, by mistake, may poiſon meusbodies; butthe other their fouls.

Anignorant maſter, or pilot, that never learned the compaſs, are rather tobe truſted among rocks and quick-fands, thana proud ignorant perſon with the conduct offouls.

Confideration 2. What daring preſumption is it to intrude ourſelves into ſo great and weighty an employment, without any call or warrant of Chriſt ! Rom. x. 14. "How ſhall they

" call upon himofwhom theyhave notheard? and, how ſhall they hear without a preacher ? and, how shall they preach

" except they be fent ?"

Theſe mysteries muſt becommittedto faithfulmen, who ſhall be able to teach others: thoſe abilities must be examined,

1 Tim. iii. x. and the exercise of them warrantedby adue and orderlyappointment thereunto, I Tim. iv. 14. elfe, (asonewell obſerves) In tam praepoſtera disciplinae ruina tot effent fenfus, quot capita; tot diffenfus, quot fenfus; we shall have as many ienſes of ſcripture, as we have preachers, &c.

If every Phaeton, that thinks himself able, ſhall undertake todrive the chariot of the fun, no wonder if the world be fet onfire.

Gifts and abilities ofmindarenot, ofthemselves, fuf ficient tomake a preacher. Some lawyers at the bar, maybe

* Athanafius declares, that the malicious wreſting of ſcripture brings forth errors.

Athanafius against Appolinar.

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

as ſkilful as the judge upon the bench, but without acommiffion they dare not fit there.

Confideration 3. The honour you affect, to vent your unfound notions with liberty, is, in ſcripture-account, your greatestdifhonour.

The ſcripture reckons falſe teachers among the baſeſt of the people: The prophet that teacheth lies, he isthe tail, i. e. the baſeſt part of the whole body ofthe people, Ifa. ix. 15. And ſo far is duegoſpel-liberty from countenancingſuch dangerous irregularities, that we find inaclear prophecy of goſpel-times, what ſhameGod will pour uponthem, Zech. xiii.4, 5. " They

" ſhall be brought with ſhame enough to confefs, Iam nopro- " phet, I am an huſbandman; for man taught me to keep

" cattlefrom my youth."

-Confideration 4. How much more ſafe, regular and advantageous were it for fuch as you, to fill your own proper places under ableand faithful goſpel-miniſters, and tofuckthe breasts of fruitful ordinances, than to confume and pine away by fucking your own breasts ? I mean, living upon your own weakandinfufficientgifts, inthe finful neglectofChriſt's ap . pointments?

Cause 14. Falſe teachers alſo propagate their errors by a ſpirit of Enthusiasm, the usual concomitant of erroneous doctrine; anddraw away multitudes after them, by pretending to extraordinary revelations, viſions, and voices from heaven, which feem togive great credit to their wayandparty t.

This was an old trick and practice of deceivers, Deut. xiii.

1. to give ſigns andwondersin confirmation oftheir way, which ſigns the Lordmay permit to fall out toprove hispeople, ver.

2, 3. though, for the moſt part, they are confuted by their unanswerable events.

In the bginning of our reformationby Luther, Calvin, &c. there ſprang up a generation of men, called Swinkfeldians, great pretenders to revelations and viſions, who were always. ſpeaking ofdeifications ; and an higher ſtrain oflanguage they

Kk2 † But ſome being deceivedby the predictions of the falſeprophets, ofwhom both God and the true prophets had forewarned them, fell from the word of God, and forſook the true tradition ; for all theſe, being entangled with the ſnares of the devil, (which theyought to have foreſeen and avoided) have profaned the divine

Name andworſhip, thro' their fooliſineſs.

Lact. book 4. chap. 30. onHeref.

260:

A Blow at the Root ; or, commonly uſed among themselves, than other ferious Chriſtians understood, and therefore ſcornfully entitled orthodox and humble Chriſtians, who ſtuck to the ſcripture-phrafe, and wholſome form of found words, Grammatiſts,

Vocabuliſts, Literalifts, &c.

" Theſe men (as ‡ Scultetus in his annals, ad " annum 1525. obſerves ofthem) were ſo entangled in certain

" enthuſiaſtic ſnares, that they thought it the highest impiety to renounce them; and they had befooled multitudes

" with their magnificent words of Illumination, Revelation, " Deification."

Much of the ſaine ſpirit was Thomas Muntzer, John ofLeyden, David George, Jacob Behmen, &c. whoſe cloudy nonfente, enigmatical expreſſions, and wilful obſcurity, drew many into a ſtrange admiration ofthem; they all pretend to an higher knowledgeofmyſteries thanwhat the gofpel is acquaintedwith; andyetgive us (as Mr. Baxter well obſerves) neither reaſons with Aristotle, nor miracles with Chriſt and his apoſtles, to cauſeus tobelieve any oftheir new revelations.

Vide Baxter ofthe Sin against the Holy Ghost, p. 148.

Of the fame bran were our late Familiſts in England, of whom Henry Nichols was the chief leader, who decried the written wordas adead letter ; and ſet up their own fond conceits and fancies under the notion ofthe Spirit, against whom that heavenly and learned man, Mr. Samuel Rutherford, feaſonably and fucceſsfully appeared: Hacket, Copinger, andArthington were of the fame tribe ; who lived a while wraptup inAntinomian fancies, which at laſt brake forth into the highest and moſt horrid blafphemies .

Another art they make use oftofeduce the credulous, is a pretence untothe fpirit of prophecy ; and great ſucceſs they promiſe themſelves this way among the weak, but curious vul-. gar. And to this end Satan hath inſpired and employed ſome cunninger heads to invent very pleaſing predictions and prophecies, in favourofthat party whomhe deſigns to deceive.

And how catching and bewitching theſe things are, gaining more reſpect among theſe vain ſpirits, than thedivine unquefionable prophecies of ſcripture, this agehath had full andſad experience.

Now the deſign ofSatan intheſe things, istogain credit of thoſe fects, as people peculiarly favoured and beloved ofGod

† Irretitifuis quibufdam Enthusiasticis laqueis, undese extricari fummamputant impietatem : dementabant multos magnificis iftis verbis, Illuminatio, Revelatio, Deificatio, &c.

The Causes and Cure ofMental Errors.

above others ; asifthey were the particular favourites ofheaven, as Daniel was ; and ſo to draw the multitude to admire their perfons, and eſpouſe theirerrors.

The remedies.

Now the remedies in this cafe are ſuch as follow.

Remedy 1. Whatever doctrine, or practice feeks credit to itſelfthis way, fallsjuſtly thereby under fufpicion, that it wants afolidfcripture-foundation.

Godhath not left his people to ſeek fatisfaction in ſuch uncertain ways as theſe; but hath given them a furer word of prophecy, towhichthey dowell to take heed, 2 Pet. i. 19. He hath tied us to the ſtanding rule ofthe word, forbiddingusto giveheed to any other voice, or ſpirit, leading usanother way,

Ifa. viii. 19. 2 Theff. ii. 1, 2. Gal. i. 8. Scripture-light is aſafe andfure light, a pleasant and fufficient light.

The ſcripture (faith Luther) is ſo full, that as for viſions and revelations, Nec curo, nec defidero, I neither regard, nor defire them. Andwhenhe himselfhad a viſion ofChriſt, after aday of faſting and prayer, he cried out, Avoid, Satan, I know no image of Christ, but the fcriptures. An hankering mind after theſe things, ſpeaks a fickly and diſtempered ſtate of ſoul, as longing after traſh in young diſtempered perfons, doth adiftempered ſtate, or illhabit ofbody.

Mr. William Bridges fomewhere tells us ofa religious lady ofthe empreſs's bed-chamber, whose name was Gregoria, who beinggreatly troubledabout her falvation, wrote toGregory, that she would never ceaſe importuning him, 'till he had fent herword, thathehad obtained arevelation from heaven, that ſhe ſhouldbefaved; to whom he returned this anſwer; Rem difficilem poftulas et inutilem, Thou requireſt of me that which is difficult tome,and unprofitable for thee.

Remedy 2. Confider howoftenthe world hath beenabuſed bythe tricks andcheats ofthat officious ſpirit, thedevil, in ſuch ways as theſe.

What hath propagated idolatry amongHeathens and Chriftians more than this ?

HincAuxerunt multae peregrinationes, monafteria, delubra, diesfefti et alia, faith Lavather, onJobxxxiii.

Pilgrimages, monasteries, ſhrines of faints, holidays, &c. have beenintroduced by this trick.

'Twere endless togive inſtances: of itinthe hiſtories of former ages *.

* Of the prophecies,viſions,and pretended inſpirations ofStorke, Pfeiffer, Becold, Warendrop, &c. with the efficacy of them on the deluded

A Blow at the Root, or, र Wehaveanotable late account of itamong ourſelves, ina book entitled, [A Discovery of the notorious Falsehood andDif. fimulation, contained in a book, ſtiled, The gospel way confirmed bymiracles], licenſed and publiſhed 1649,wherein is laidopen to the world, the free confeſſion ofAnn Wells, MatthewHall,

&c. deluding the people of Whatfield in Suffolk, with fuch pretended voices, viſions, prophecies and revelations, the like have ſcarcelybeenheard of in England ſince the reformation.

Multitudes of people weredeludedby them.

At length the Lord extorted from this woman a fullconfeffionof the notorious falſeneſs of theſe things, by a terrible viſionof hell: her partizans laboured four days to fuppreſs and ſtiſle it, but tono purpoſe; for the horrors of confcienceprevailed with her to confeſs the notorious diſſimulations contain ed inthatbook, before the people of Whatfield, and ajustice of thepeace. And thus the Lord out-ſhot Satan inhis own bow.

Remedy 3.

Conſiderhowdifficult, yea, and impoſſible itis for a man todetermine, that fuch avoice, viſion, or revelation, is ofGod; and that Satan cannot feign or counterfeitit; feeing he hath left no certain marks by which we may diſtinguith one ſpirit from another : an albus ? an ater?

Surewe are, Satan can transform himself into an angel of light; and therefore abandoning all thoſe unſafe and uncertain ways, whereby ſwarms of errors have beenconveyed into the world, let us cleave inſeparably tothe ſure word of prophecy, the rule and ſtandard of our faith andduty.

Cause 15. Anotherway inwhich falſe teachers diſcovertheir fubtilty with great ſucceſs is, in timing their affaults, and nicking the proper ſeaſon, when the minds of men are moſt apt and eaſy to be drawn away by their fair and ſpecious pretences.

Such a ſeaſon as this, they find about thetimeof mens firſt converfion, or foon after their implantation into Chriſt. Now it is that their affections are moſt lively and vigorous, though theirjudgmentsbe but weak. Theyhave now ſuch ſtrong, and deep apprehenfions of thegrace and love of Chriſt, and ſuch tranfcendent zeal for him, that they easily embrace any thing whereby they conceive he may be honoured, andexalted. They have alſo ſuch deep apprehenfions, andpowerful averſations as deludedpeople, andfatalconſequences of them both to the deceiv

T ed, and deceivers.

See Mr. SamuelRutherford's Survey ofthe Spiritual Antichrist, p. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.

The Causes and Cure ofMental Errors.

to fin, that they are indanger to flyeven from truth, andduty itſelf, when it ſhall be artificiallyrepreſented to them as fin.

Fornot only that which is malumperſe, ſin indeed; but that which is male coloratum, painted with fin's colours, is apt to fcare and fright them...

Besides, theſe young converts, or novices, have nothadtime toconfirm, and root themselves in the truth; and trees, newly planted, are much more easily drawn up, than thoſe that have ſpread, and faſtened their roots in the earth.

'Tis obſervable what a ſwarm of falſe teachers troubled the churches of Corinth, Galatia, and Philippi, at, and newly after their firſt planting: andwhat danger thoſeyoung Chriſtians were in, abundantly appears inthe apoſtle's frequent cautions, andholy jealoufies over them: he bids them " beware ofdogs, beware

" ofevilworkers, beware oftheconcifion," Phil. iii.2. " I fear " left by any means asthe ferpent beguiled Eve through his

" ſubtilty, foyour minds be corrupted from the ſimplicity that " is inChritt," 2 Cor. xi. 3. he was afraid of the Galatians, lefthe had bestowed upon them labour in vain, Gal. iv. 11. hewould not give place to falſe brethren, nonot for an hour,

Gal. ii. 5. charges the Romans to receive them that were weak in the faith, but not to doubtful diſputations, Rom.xiv. 1.

All which, and many more expreſſions, diſcover his grounded jealousy, and their extraordinary danger of ſeduction at their firſt plantation . A novice, in Chriſtianity, is the perfon Satan feeks for: Strong believers are not in ſuch apparent danger as littleones in Chriſt, 1Johnv. 21. Littlechildren, keepyourselves fromidols.

Andthe reaſonis, becauſekeenaffections, matchedwith weak judgments, give a mighty advantage to ſeducers.

Children are apt to be takenwith beautiful appearances, and fine thews ; and erroneous teachers have the very knack to ſet aglofs of extraordinary ſanctity upon their dangerous opinions.

Hence thoſe perſons that promoted the ſect of the Nicolaitans, made uſe of a cunningwoman, who for her ſkill in painting errors with the colours oftruth, got the name of Jezebel, Rev. ii.

20. That queen was famous for the art of painting, iKings xvi. and ſo was this falſe propheteſs: Indeed there was ſcarce any eminent ſect of Errorists, or Heretics, mentioned in churchhiſtory, but ſome curious feminine artiſt hath been employed tolaythebeautiful colours upon it.

Sowe find Simon Magus had his Helena ; Carpocrates, his Marcellina; Montanus, his

Prifcilla and Maximilla.

And the curious colours of holineſs, zeal, and free-grace, artificially laid upon the face of error,

A Blow at the Root ; or, howwrinkled andugly foever in itſelf, ſets it off temptingly and takingly to weak and injudicious minds.

Moreover, erroneous teachers are great boaſters : They usuallygive out to the world, what extraordinary comforts they meet with in their way, which proves a ſtrong temptationto youngconverts, whohavebeenſo lately inthedepths of ſpiritual trouble, to try at least, if not to embrace it, for the expected comfort's fake.

Ah, how many pious minifters in England, upon ſuch grounds and pretences as theſe, have had their fpiritual children rent from them as soon as born ? they have travelled as inbirth forthem; and no ſoonerdid theybeginto take comfort in the fucceſs of theirlabours,but to the great griefanddifcouragement oftheir hearts, they havebeenthis way bereaved ofthem. Thoſe that have owned them as their ſpiritual fathers one month, would ſcarce vouchſafe toown them, when they have met them in the ſtreets, another month.

Manyſadinſtances I couldgive of this, and as remarkable as they are freſh and recent ; but I filence particulars. Oh! ſee the advantage Satan and his inſtruments gain by nicking ſuch a critical ſeaſon as this is.

The cure, or remedy.

The remedies in this caſe, are twofold: the firſt reſpects the ſpiritual fathers, andthe ſecond the ſpiritual children; both are concerned in the danger, and the Lord help both to attend to theirduty.

Remedy 1. Let all thoſe whoſe miniſtryGod bleſſes with the defirable fruits of converfion, look carefully after the fouls of young converts.

No nurſe ſhould be more tender andcareful of her charge, than a miniſter ſhould be ; and unto the care ofa tender nurſe,

Paul compareth his care over the young converts inTheffalonica, 1 Theff. ii. 7. for, alas ! they lieexpoſedto alldangers, they are credulous, and ſeducers cunning; they want judgment to difcern truth from error; have not yet attained unto ſenſes exerciſed, and age in Chriſt to diſcern good from evil; when errors are made palatable, children will be hankering after them; and ſeducers have the very art to make them ſo t.

Shepherds, look to your flocks ; imitate the great Shepherd ofthe theep, who gathereth the lambs with his arms, and carries them inhis boſom; viſitthem frequently, exhort andwarn

†-Veluti pueris abſynthia tetra medentes Cumdareconantus, prius oras pocula circum

Continguntdulci mellis, flavoque liquore.

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

them diligently, and uſe all means to eſtabliſh them in the prefent truths.

Remedy 2. Letyoungconverts, and weak Chriſtians, look carefully to themſelves by an heedful attendance unto the followingtruths.

First, It is not safe to try, nor upon trial likely that you ſhould find Chriſt in one way, and comfort in another. God doth not usually bleſs thoſeways to mens comfort and edification, into which they turn aſide from that good way wherein they firſt met with Chriſt and converfion.

The fame miniſtry and ordinances, which are appointed and bleſſed for the one, are likewiſe appointed, and commonly bleſſed for the other,

Eph.iv. 11 , 12, 13.

Secondly, 'Tis a manifeſt ſnare ofthe devil (andyou may eaſily difcern it) to take you off from the great work you are newly engaged in, by entangling your minds in notions that are foreign to it.

Your hearts are now warm with God ; Satan labours this wayto cool and quench them; the cunning cheat labours to ſteal away the ſweet and nutritive foodwhich isbeforeyou, and lay the hard and dry bones ofbarren controverſies, and infipid notions intheir room.

Your buſineſs is not toframe fyllogifms, or ſtudy ſolutions tocunning arguments about lower and leſſer matters, ſo much as it is by prayer, and ſelf-examination, to clear your intereſt inChriſt, and tofolve thoſe doubts that lie with weight uponyour ſpirits, with referencetothatgreat concern.

Thirdly, It is a fad thing togrieve thehearts of thoſe faithful miniſters, thathave travelled in pain for us, andrejoiced in inourconverfion as the seal of their miniſtry. Oh ! ferve not your godly miniſters, as the hen is ſometimes ſerved, that hath longbrooded, brought forth, and withmuchcare and ſelf-denial, nouriſhed up young partridges, which, as soon as fledged, take thewing, and return no more toher.

Cause 16. There is yet another artifice of falſe teachers, to drawmen into errors, and that is, by preſſing theconfciences of thoſe they have made ſome impreſſions upon, unto all hafte and Speed, openly todeclare their new opinions, andavow and own them before the world ; as knowing that this will rivet, and fixthem to all intentsand purpoſes.

When they find menunder halfconvictions and ſtrong inclinations totheir way, they are ſure then to ply them with a thick ſucceſſion ofmotives and arguments, tojoin themſelves byafree and open profeſſion, to that erroneous party, which areheadedbythemselves.

VOL. IV.

A Blow at the Rost; or, Andthe arguments usually preſſed to this purpoſeare, 1. The danger of delay.

2. The comfort ofdeclaring themſelves.

1. They preſs them with the danger of the leaſt delay, by telling them, That now they must live every day and hour in known fin, andhold the truth ofGod in unrighteouſneſs, the evil whereof they ſkilfully aggravate; andthe more tender and fenfible the confcience is, the deeper impreſſions ſuch diſcourſes make, although the caſeindeed willnot bear the weight theylay uponit, as having not that due allowanceGodgives of time and means of full information inmattersofthis nature ; yea, poffibly drivingthem into as great a foare byprecipitation, and too hafty engagements under a doubting confcience.

2. They prefs them to a quick reſolutionwith the expectati. ons ofabundance ofcomfort, inward peace and joy, which will reſultfromafullengagement ofthemſelves, and opendeclaration oftheir judgment; proſelyting to a party being themain deſign they drive at.

This was the veryart and methodby which Satan prevailed with Eve tofwallow the bait, Gen. iii. 5. " ForGoddothknow,

" that in the dayye eatthereof, thenyoureyes ſhall be opened, " and ye ſhallbe as gods, knowing goodandevil ;" q. d. The * fooner thou taſteſt, the better; for the firſt taſte willgive thee agodlike knowledge, and marvellous advancement of thy un. derſtanding: didſt thou butknowthe benefit thatwould accrue to thee hereby, thou wouldst notdelayone moment : And thus by ſetting before her the ſpeedyandimmediatebenefits ofeating, he prevailed, anddrew her intothe fatal fnare.

In this, the miniſters of Satan imitate the miniſters of Chrift.

As theſe preſs mentomakehafte to Chrift, left by conſulting with flesh and blood, and liſtening to the temptations ofSatan, hopeful inclinations ſhouldbe blaſted in the bud; fo the others puth men on to hafty reſolutions, left by hearkening to the voice of God's Spirit, and their own confciences, the defiga theyhave fo faradvanced, ſhouldbe loſtanddisappointed. The miniſters of Chriſt urge men to a ſpeedy change of theircom pany and to affociate themselves with ſpiritual and profitable

Chriftians, aswellknowing ofwhat greatuse this willbetoconfirmand ſtrengthen themin the ways ofGod: So errorifts, in likemanner, vehemently urge them to aſſociate with their party, as knowinghow onewedges in, and fixes another in theways oferror; for fuch cauſes Satan pushes on half convictions into hafty reſolutions, quick diſpatch being his great advantage.

This the apoſtle intimates, Gal. i. 6. "I marvel (faithhe) that

TheCauses and Cure of Mental Errors.

"ye are fofoon removed," &c. έτω ταγέως, what, ſo ſoon ! yes, ifithadnotbeen ſo ſoon, it might never have been at all: for errors (as one ingeniouſly obſerves) like fiſh, muſt be eaten freſh andnew, or they will quickly ſtink.

The cure, or remedy.

The remedies and preventatives, in this cafe, are ſuchas follow :

L Remedy 1. Confider thathaſty engagements, inweighty and diſputable matters, have coſt many fouls dear.

As hafty marriageshave produced long and late repentance ; ſo hath the clappingup ofan haſty match betwixt themind anderror. By entertaining of ſtrange perſons, men fometimes entertain angels unaware; butbyentertainingofſtrangedoctrines, manyhave entertaineddevils unawares. 'Tis not safe toopen the door of the ſoul, to let in ſtrangers inthe night; let them wait tilla clear day-lightofinformationſhewyou what they are.

Remedy2. Weighty actions require anſwerabledeliberations.

It was the worthy faying ofAuguſtus Ceaſer *, " That's foon 66 enough, that's well enough."

There be many things to be confidered, and thoroughly weighed, before aman change his judgment, and embrace a newdoctrine or opinion.

Luther, in his epiſtle tothe minifters ofNorimberg, cites an excellent pafſage out of Bafil †, "He that is about to ſeparate himselffrom

" the fociety of his brethren, hadneedtoconfider many things "even unto anxiety, tobegofGod thedemonftration oftruth,

" withmanytears; andto paſsmanyfolitarynights withwaking " eyes, before he attempt, or putſuch a matter in execution."

By the voteof thewhole rational world,time andconfideration ought to be proportionate to the weight ofan undertaking.

Remedy 3. the only ſeaſon men have toweigh things judiciouflyandimpartially, isbefore theiraffections be toofarengaged, and their credit and reputation toomuch concerned.

Men are better able toweigh doctrines and opinions,whilft they are other men's, thanwhenthey have eſpouſed them, and made them their own, Beforean opinion be eſpouſed, the affectionsdo not blindand pervert thejudgment, as they do afterward.

Self-love pulis down the balance at that endwhich L12 * Satis celeriter quicquid commodegeritur.

+Multa anxie confiderare eum oportet, etmultasnoctes abfumere infomnes, et cum multis lacrymis petere a Deo veritatis demonftrationem, quife afratribusfeparari vult.

Blow at the Root; or, is next us*.

If therefore, by haſty reſolution, you loſe this only proper and advantageous ſeaſon of deliberation, you are not like to find ſuch another, Remedy 4. Truſt not tothe clearnessofyour own unaſſiſted eyes, nor to the ſtrength of your ſingle reaſon; but confult, in ſuch caſes, with others that are pious and judicious, eſpecially your godly and faithful miniſters ; and hearken to the counſels they give you.

Paul juſtly wondered that the Galatianswere ſo foon removed : and well he might ; for,had they not aPaul to confult with, before theygave their conſent ta falſe teachers ? or, if he was at a diſtance from them, about the work of the Lord, in remote places, had they no godly and judicious friends near them, whoſe prayers and aſſiſtances they might call in, as Daniel did, Dan. ii. 17. Woe unto him that is alone in atime of temptation, except the Lord be with himby extraordinary afſiſtance and direction.

Remedy 5. Lastly, Suſpect that opinion (as juſtlyyou may) for erroneous, that is too importunate, and preſſing uponyou, and will not allow youdue time of confideration, andmeans of information : That which is a truth to-day, will be a truth to morrow ; but thatwhich looks like a truth to-day, maybe detected, and look like itſelf, an odious error, to-morrow :

Andthis is the reaſon ofthatpoſt hafte that Satan andhis factorsmake togain our preſent conſent, left a ſpeedydetection fruſtrate the fuit, and ſpoil the deſign.

The uses follow in fix conſectaries.

Confestary 1. From allthat hath been faidabout errors, we ſee, in the firſt place, the great usefulneſs and plain neceffity of an able, faithful, ſtanding miniſtry in the church.

One ſpecial end of the miniſtry, is the eſtabliſhment of the people's fouls against the errors ofthetimes,Eph. iv. 11, 14. "He

" gave ſome apoſtles, &c. that we henceforthbenomorechildren, " toffed to andfro,and carried aboutwith everywindofdoctrine,

" bythe flight ofmen," &c . Ministers are ſhepherds; andwithoutaſhepherdhowfoonwill the flockgo astray ? Mofes was abſent but a few days from the Ifraelites, andathis return found them all run intoſnares of idolatry. Asheep is animalfequax,a creaturethatfollows aleader. One ſtraggler maymiſlead awhole flock. Aminiſter's work isnotonlyto feed,butdefendthe flock,

" I am fet (faith Paul) for the defence of the gofpel," Phil. i. 17.

An orthodox and faithful miniſter, is adouble bleſſing *Perit omnejudicium, cum res tranfit in affectum, i. c. When the affections are biaſſed, judgment is loſt.

The Causes and Cure of Mental Errors.

tothe people; butwoe to thatpeople,whoſe miniſters, instead of ſecuring them againſt errors, do cauſe them to err, Iſa. ix.

16. theyare thedogs ofthe flock: Some in Scripture are called dumb dogs, who, inſtead of barking at the thief, bite the children; but faithful miniſters give warning of ſpiritual dangers.

Sodid the worthy miniſters ofLondon, Worceſterſhire, Devon, &c. in their teftimonies againft errors.

Confectary2, This diſcourte ſhews us alſo how little quietneſs and peace the church may expect, till a greater degree of light and unity be poured out upon it; what by perfecutions from without it, and troubles from within, little tranquillity is tobe expected. 'Tis a note of St. Bernard's, that the church hath ſometimes hadpacem aPaganis, fed raro autnunquam a filiis, peace ſometimes from Pagan perfecutors, but feldom or never any peace from her own children.

We read, Zech. xiv. 7. the whole ſtate of the Chriſtian church, from the primitive days to the end of the world, fet forth under the notion of one day, and that a ſtrange day too, the lightof it ſhall neither be clearnordark, nor day nor night, but at evening-time itshall be light ; i. e. aday full of interchangeable and alternate providences; ſometimes perſecutions, hereſies, and errors prevail, and theſe make that part of the daydark and gloomy ; and then truth and peace break forth again, and clear up the day. Thus it hath been, and thus itwillbe, untilthe evening of it, and at evening time it ſhall be light ; then light and love ſhall get the aſcendant of error and diviſions.

Most of our ſcuffles and contentions are for want of greater meaſures of both theſe.

Confectary 3. From the manifold cauſes and miſchiefs of errors before mentioned, we may alſo ſee what a choice mercy it is tobe kept found in judgment, ſtedfaſt andunmoveable in the truths and ways of Chriſt. A foundand ſtedfaſt Chriſtian is ableſſing in his generation, and a glory to his profeſſion.

It was anhigh encomium ofAthanafius, Sedem maluit mutare, quamfyllabam : i. e. He would rather loſe his ſeat, thana ſyllable of God's truth.

Soundness of judgment muſt needs bea choice bleſſing; becauſe the underſtanding is the το ήγημονικον, thatleading facultywhich directs the willand confcienceofman, and they his whole life and practice. How often, and how earnestlydoth Chriſt pray for his people, that they may be kept in the truth ?

'Tis true, orthodoxy in itſelf is not fufficient to anyman's ſalvation; but the conjunction of an orthodox head, with anhoneſt ſincere heart, does always conſtitute an excellent

A Blow at the Root; or, Chriſtian, Phil. i. 10. Happy is the manthat hath anhead fo hearted, and an heart ſo headed.

Confectary 4. By this diſcourſe, wemay further diſcoverone great and ſpecial cauſe and reaſon of the lamentable decay of the fpirit and power of religion, amongst the profeſſors of the prefentage.

'Tis a complaint morejuſt than common, that wedo allfade asaleaf. And, what maybe the cauſe ? Nothing moreprobable, than the waſting of our time and ſpirits in vainjanglings, and fruitless controverfies, which the apoſtle tells us, Heb. xiii.

9. havenot profited, i. e. they have greatlydamnified and injuredthem that havebeen occupied therein. Many controverfiesoftheſe times grow up about religion, as fuckers from the root and limbs of a fruit-tree, which ſpend the vital ſapthat ſhould make it fruitful.

* 'Tis a great and ſad obſervation made upon the ſtate of England, by ſomejudicious perſons, That after the greatest increaſe of religion, both intenſively inthe power of it, and extenfively in the number of converts, what a remarkable decay it fuffered both ways, when, about the year forty-four, controverſies anddiſputations grew ferventamong profeffors.

Since that time, our ſtrength andglory havevery much abated.

Confectary 5. From this diſcourſe we may alſo gather, the true grounds and reaſon of thoſe frequent perfecutionswhich

Godlets inupon his churches and people : Theſe rank weeds call for ſnowy and froſty weather, to fubdue and killthem.

Iknow the enemies of God's people aim at ſomething else; they ſtrike at profeſſion, yea, at religion itſelf; and according to theirwicked intention, without timely repentance, will their reward be : But, whatever the intention of the agents be, the iſſues of perſecution are, upon this account, greatly beneficial to the church ; the wisdom ofGodmakes them excellently ufeful, both to prevent and cure the miſchiefs anddangers of errors.

If enemies were not, friends and brethren wouldbe injurious to each other.

Perſecution, ifit kills not, yet, at leaſt, it gives check to the rife and growth of errors : And, if itdo not perfectly redintegrate andunite the hearts of Chriſtians, yet, to be fure, it cools and allays their finful heats; and that two ways :

( 1.) By cutting out for them far better and more * England in four years became a fink, and puddle of all errors and ſects ; noprovince, ſince the beginning ofthe world, in ſo ſhort a time produced ſo many Herefies as this.

Honor.Reg. deStatu Ecclef. Britan,p. 1 .

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