2. It teacheth us to take heed of thosem who cause divisions and breaches contrary to the Doctrine of Christ which we have received, who rend his Seamless Coat, and make their tongues and their pens bellows to blow up the flames of contention among Christians, biting, tearing, and devouring one another, of whom the Apostle saith, That they serve not the Lord Jesus but their own belly. It is noted byn Epiphanius as a wicked speech of Marcion the Heretic, Ego findam Ecclesiam vestram, & mi•tam fiffuram in ipsam in aeternum: And the Apostle maketh the ground of contentions and divisions in the Church to be fleshly Lusts, 1 Cor. 3. 3. Gal. 5. 20. ⟨p. 48⟩It is a great sin to make an undue separation from the true Church of Christ. A sin against the Communion of Saints from which the Separation is made. A sin against the Unity and Peace of the Church, which we all ought with our utmost endeavours to preserve. A sin against the Spirit of Christ, which is thereby grieved, as the soul is pained by the wounds which are made upon the body. A sin against the honour of Christ, whose name is thereby exposed to contempt and reproach. A sin against a mans own edification, who thereby cutteth himself off from the means of Grace, and exposeth himself to the danger of Heresy and Contagion. And therefore those holy Fathers St.o Cyprian, pAugustine, andq Optatus, use to set forth the Atrocity and danger of this sin, by the greatness and strangeness of the Judgement, wherewith God punished it in Corah, Dathan and Abiram, and those who adhered unto them, whom the earth opened her mouth to ⟨p. 49⟩swallow up; and by the sore Judgement upon the ten Tribes, in their total rejection, for separating from the house of David, and the true Worship of God in Jerusalem. We should therefore take special heed of departing from the true Church of Christ, where his Word is truly taught, and where Christ the foundation is held, for every infirmity or blemish which we may conceive to be upon it; for though the Apostle reproved many Corruptions and Abuses in the Church of Corinth, yet he blameth the Contentions, Emulations, Breaches and Divisions which were therein, 1 Cor. 1. 11, 12, 13.
2. It teacheth us to take heed of thosem who cause divisions and breaches contrary to the Doctrine of Christ which we have received, who rend his Seamless Coat, and make their tongues and their pens bellows to blow up the flames of contention among Christians, biting, tearing, and devouring one another, of whom the Apostle saith, That they serve not the Lord Jesus but their own belly. It is noted byn Epiphanius as a wicked speech of Marcion the Heretick, Ego findam Ecclesiam vestram, & mi•tam fiffuram in ipsam in aeternum: And the Apostle maketh the ground of contentions and divisions in the Church to be fleshly Lusts, 1 Cor. 3. 3. Gal. 5. 20. ⟨p. 48⟩It is a great sin to make an undue separation from the true Church of Christ. A sin against the Communion of Saints from which the Separation is made. A sin against the Unity and Peace of the Church, which we all ought with our utmost endeavours to preserve. A sin against the Spirit of Christ, which is thereby grieved, as the soul is pained by the wounds which are made upon the body. A sin against the honor of Christ, whose name is thereby exposed to contempt and reproach. A sin against a mans own edification, who thereby cutteth himself off from the means of Grace, and exposeth himself to the danger of Heresie and Contagion. And therefore those holy Fathers St.o Cyprian, pAugustine, andq Optatus, use to set forth the Atrocity and danger of this sin, by the greatness and strangeness of the Judgement, wherewith God punished it in Corah, Dathan and Abiram, and those who adhered unto them, whom the earth opened her mouth to ⟨p. 49⟩swallow up; and by the sore Judgement upon the ten Tribes, in their total rejection, for separating from the house of David, and the true Worship of God in Jerusalem. We should therefore take special heed of departing from the true Church of Christ, where his Word is truly taught, and where Christ the foundation is held, for every infirmity or blemish which we may conceive to be upon it; for though the Apostle reproved many Corruptions and Abuses in the Church of Corinth, yet he blameth the Contentions, Emulations, Breaches and Divisions which were therein,
- mRom. 16. 17, 18.
- nEpiphan. Haer•s. 4 2.
- oCyprian Ep•st. 65. Sect 2 Ep. 76. Sect. 5. de unitat. Eccles. Sect. 16.
- pAug. ep. 162. & lib. 2. de Baptismo. c. 6.
- qOptatus contra Parmen. lib. 1.
