WERE and cannot Now we are So in this Case God be thanked that ye were the Servants of Sin that it may be said Ye were but that now ye are not But II. Since there is mention of Servants take a Parallel viz. an Israelite saying thus God be thanked that ye were Bondmen in Egypt His meaning is especially to thank God for their Delivery out of Egypt and what accrued to them upon their being Bondmen there They had never seen so great Wonders never seen so great Deliverance had they not been Bondmen And he thanks not God barely for their Bondage but for the Good and Mercy that followed it So God be thanked that ye were the Servants of Sin Else ye had never known the Riches of the Grace of God else ye had never come to prize the Infiniteness of his Mercy in your Deliverance Ye had never been so careful to be Servants of Righteousness but that ye have known what Slavery it is to be Servants of Sin So that he gives not God Thanks barely for their Slavery to Sin but especially for what was come to pass with them upon their Sinfulness He would not say to any upon Earth God be thanked that ye ARE so sinful but he says God be thanked that ye VVERE and are not That God made your great Sinfulness his Opportunity to shew you Mercy X. The Papists the Millenaries and the Traditionary Jews confuted from that Place Whom the Heavens must contain until the Times of Restitution of all things c. Act. iii. 21 HE shall send Jesus Christ to you Act. iii. 20 And yet the Heavens must contain him A Paradox unless Christ could be in many Places at once VVhich the Papists would fain justifie that they may have his Body in every Sacrament And yet there is a great Truth in this Paradox if we distinguish 'twixt the very Person of Christ and the Influence that proceeds from him As God dwelleth in the highest Heaven and yet dwelleth in an humble Heart As the Sun is in the Firmament and yet the Sun in his Influence is on the Earth also So Christ in his Body and Person is in Heaven and the Heaven must contain him till the Restitution of all things and yet Christ is among Men in the Vertue of his VVord and Influence of his Spirit As the Prince is on his Throne and yet the Diffusion of his Power Justice Clemency is thro' his whole Kingdom The Presence of Christ is everywhere as he is God and his VVord and Spirit everywhere where he pleaseth to send them But that the BODY of Christ should be everywhere is utterly against all Philosophy Divinity Scripture and the Nature of a Body And the Doctrine that Christ's very Body is received by every one that receiveth the Sacrament is clean against all these and against the very Nature of a Sacrament But the thing is not worth insisting on tho' an Argument is commonly taken hence to confute that Doctrine Restitution This is a VVord of Difficulty and requires some Resolution and which being resolved will help the better to understand the rest of the Verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Restitution or Restoring of all things Times of Restoring of all things Restitution To what To their old Estate Or to a new and a better Estate This Expression breeds the main Difficulty in this Place And this encourages the Millenary to dream of Christ's reigning here on Earth a Thousand Years before the final End of the VVorld For then they conceive the Jews shall be restored to be a People again universal Peace to be restored to all the VVorld and Swords beaten into Plow-shares and Spears into Pruning hooks Then an universal Peace Concord and Tranquility to be restored to the Church and all the Glorious Things the Prophets have spoken of to come to pass and be settled I. The VVord indeed in Greek Authors commonly signifies Restoration to a former Estate Hence Circuitus Solis the Course of the Sun from the Vernal Equinox to that Point again is called the Restoration of the Year And so is that to be understood Acts i. 6 Lord wilt thou at this Time restore the Kingdom to Israel That is that Israel shall have a Kingdom as heretofore But how does this Sense agree here The restoring of all things in the Prophets to their former Estate What former Estate can here be meant to be the Pattern of another to come And the Millenary will not agree to this Interpretation who dreams not of restoring to any former Estate but to such an one as never was before II. Therefore there may be Restoration or Restitution to a better Estate As Mat. xvii 11 Elias truly shall first come and restore all things Now Elias in the Baptist restored not all things to the former Estate but to a new and better And it is said He restored all things Yet here all things are to be restored still and the Restoration not yet effected Therefore that Restoration cannot be the Restoration here meant neither Therefore III. The meaning is Making good Accomplishing all things So Elias Baptist made good all things written of him and that concerned his Office And the Times are coming when there shall be an accomplishing and making good all Things in the Prophets And so the Arabic reads Until the Times which shall confirm the fulfilling of all those things God hath spoken by the Prophets And the Syriac not much unlike But it will be demanded then When are those Times when all things spoken by the Prophets shall be fulfilled Truly Reason it self may answer At the end of the World For have not the Prophets spoke of the end of all things and of the Resurrection both of the Just and Unjust and of the Eternal Reward of both Till that time then the Heavens must contain Christ. And where should we look for Christ at any time in any Generation but in Heaven All things that God hath spoken by the Mouth of his Holy Prophets The Apostle in so saying seems to face the saying of the Jews Traditions in this Case To give you a brief Story of their Traditions 1. Before the Captivity they had Prophets Urim Visions of God Apparitions of Angels So that in Matters of Doubt they resorted to a Prophet as Saul and his Servant to Samuel In Matters of State to Urim as David did 2. After the Captivity these ceased viz. After the first Generation No Vision no Prophet more So that in how changed a Condition were they now How destitute of their great Priviledge 3. Then the Devil saw his Opportunity and stirred up some Instruments to foist Traditions upon them instead of Oracles And they taught that God gave a written Law but an unwritten Exposition of it And some Glosses that they had invented themselves they imposed as the very Words of God to Moses at Sinai So that every fond Invention of Men now went current as the Oracles of God And this is
And in one and the same Year both Father and Son dye Divers such Passages as these you will find in this Story of the Kings if you will but cast it into Annals after this manner as be these Ahaziah Two Years older than his Father 2 Chron. xxii 2 Baasha fighting Nineteen Years after he is dead 2 Chron. xvi 1 Jotham reigning Four Years after he is buried 2 King xv 30 Joram crowned King in the Seventeenth Year of Jehoshaphat 2 King i. 17 compared with 1 King xxii 51 And in the Two and Twentieth Year of Jehoshaphat 2 King viii 16 And after Jehoshaphat's Death 2 Chron. xxi 1 Variety of such strange things are to be found by taking this course which otherwise you can never see nor doubt of For Resolution of such Ambiguities when you have found them the Text will do it if it be well searched Conference with some Man or other learned and practiced in this way will soon resolve and remove all Scruples One Month or two spent thus with a living Guide will profit more than Seven Years Study spent according to the common way of reading the Bible This way attained to will guide you it self in what else is agreeable to profitable reading As in marking those things that seem to be Contradictions in the Text or Slips of the Holy Ghost in which always is admirable Wisdom Parallels of Times Places and Persons c. Which if you once fix sadly to make a Scripture-Chronicle you cannot slip unmarked and it will be enough to me to see you Doubt I know your Doubting will not rest till resolved I have here briefly run before you the Order of Scripture as I conceive the Continuance of the History requires it to lye If you will but settle to make a Scripture Chronicle this is needless for that will search out the Order for you So that you may spare your Labour of reading this that I have written and then I need not to excuse my Confusedness in it for haste Yet if you do read it it may shew you the Necessity of that that I so instantly urge viz. Skill in the Chronicle For if there be whole Chapters and Books laid out of their Places and the reason thereof commonly most sweet what may we expect in smaller Bulk of things as Genealogies Names Speeches Years Quotations c. but strange Variations yet always Divine Admirable it is to see how the Holy Spirit of God in Discords hath shewed the sweetest Music. But few Men mark this because few â—ake a right course in reading of Scripture Hence when Men are brought to see flat Contradictions as unreconciled there be many in it they are at amaze and ready to deny their Bible A little Pains right spent will soon amend this wavering and settle Men upon the Rock whereon to be built is to be sure SECT II. THE Canonical Books of the Bible are Seventy if the Psalms be parted into Five like the Seventy Souls that built up the House of Israel The Apocrypha speaks for it self that it is not the Finger of God but the Work of some Jews Which got it so much Authority among Christians because it came from them from whom the lively Oracles of God indeed came also But the Talmud may be read to as good Advantage and as much Profit and far more Leviathan reserved to be eaten 2 Esdra vi 52 is Judaism in Targ. Jonath in Gen. R. Sol. Elias 〈…〉 of all tastes in Wisd. xvi 20 21. is Jewish R. Sol. in Num. xi Paradise created before the World is Judaism in Targ. Jonath in Gen. ii Pirke R. Eliezer R. Nephtali Bel and the Dragon is a Jewish Parable from Jer. li. 44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon and I will bring forth out of his Mouth that which he hath swallowed up c. 〈◊〉 blessing Simeon for the Slaughter of 〈◊〉 is worse than Jewish Jud. ix 2 c. flat against Jacob who curseth the Fact and against Moses who for it leaves him out of his Blessings Deut. xxxiii Tobit's Chronology is worse than Heathenish Tob. xiv 4 and 15. making the Ruin of Nineveh by Nebuchadnezzar to depend upon Jonah's Prophecy Whereas since Jonah's Prophesie that City had been deâ—â—royed by Arbaces and Belosus and built again and stood the Succession of Seven or Eight Kings and near about Two Hundred Years before it was taken by Nebuchadnezzar So might one censure the rest but Verbum Sapienti Believe not every Spirit SECT III. GENESIS CHAP. I. THE Law begins with the Creation because by the Creature is our first Step to the Knowledge of God Rom. i. 20 Ps. xix It teacheth the end from the beginning the Resurrection from the Creation For if God made Man of Dâ—st he can raise him our Spiritual Union with God in Glory even in our Body by the Union of our Spirit and Body in Creation God not named Jehovah till the Creation be perfect for special Reason The second Days Work not approved but the third twice Heaven and Earth created in one and the same instant as Center and Circumference The First Day The Heavens are made perfect and move as soon as ever they are made and with them are created the Angels But the Earth is unformed and vast all covered over with Water And the Spirit of God by the Motion of the Heavens cherisheth the inferior Creature of Earth and Waters Twelve Hours did the Heavens move in Darkness and then by God's Appointment Light appeared in that Hemisphere in which God had decreed that the Light of Religion should first shine And there it gave Lustre for Twelve Hours more declining by degrees with the Motion of the Heavens to the other Hemisphere where it also shone Twelve Hours So that the first Day to that part of the World was †So long was Joshuah's Day when the Sun stood still and so long was Christ under Death Six and Thirty Hours long The Second Day As soon as ever the Light was gone off from this upper Horizon God commanded that instead of that Vacuity which was between the Waters that covered the Earth and the Clouds which were created full of Water in the same instant with the Heavens the Air should be spread abroad throughout the Universe And in Four and Twenty Hours the Command is accomplished The Third Day The Waters that cover the Earth at God's Command recoil Westward into those Channels which God had appointed them And still as they go away and dry Land appears Herbs Plants and Trees with their ripe Seed and Fruit upon them grow instantly out of the Earth This Day God plants the pleasant Garden of †The Story of Eden Gen. 11. ver 9 10 11 12 13 14. in proper Order should lye between ver 12 and 13. of this Chapter But Moses hath reserved the History of that to be handled at Adam's being placed in it Because he would dispatch his Treatise of Generals before he come
Bondage of Corruption in-the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God AMong the Children of Men there are some Children of God These Words speak something concerning them and their Condition The Prophets speak much of Multitudes to be brought in to be Sons of God Esay xliii 6 I will say to the North give up and to the South keep not back Bring my SONS from far and my DAUGHTERS from the ends of the Earth And Ch xlv 11 Thus saith the Lord the holy one of Israel and his Maker ask me of things to come concerning my SONS Hos. i. 10 And it shall come to pass that in the Place where it was said unto them Ye are not my People there it shall be said unto them Ye are the SONS of the living God And Caiaâ—has that prophesied but once John xi 51 Propâ—â—sied that Jesus should die for that Nation And not for that Nation only but that also he should gather together iâ—to one the CHILDREN of God that were scattered abroad Therefore the Holy Ghost in the New Testament sets himself to speak to this thing and to shew who these Sons of God are John i. 12 13. shews who are and who are not But as many as received him to them gave he Power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name Which were born not of Blood nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of God As many as received him those were Sons of what Nation Quality or Rank whatsoever Not born of Blood nor of the Will of Man The Holy Ghost sets the Regeneration in Opposition to natural Generation In natural Generation Men are born of Blood and of the Will of Man but 't is not so in this Or else he sets the true Begetting and Birth of the Sons of God in Opposition to those fancied Ways the Jews thought Men were made Children of the Godly They concluded none were Children but of Israel And if they came to be of Israel then undoubtedly Children So Christ speaks according to their Sense It is not meet to take the Children 's Bread and cast it before Dogs And the Apostle confutes this Arrogant and Erroneous Opinion Rom ix 7 Neither because they are the Seed of Abraham are they all Children but in Isaac shall thy Seed be called that is they which are the Children of the Flesh these are not the Children of God Now they thought they became the Sons of God or Israelites these Ways I. By being born of Blood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bloods that is long Descent of Blood of Ancestors even to Abraham or by Bloods of Sacrifice and Circumcision II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Will of the Flesh As they took many Wives and desired many Children accounting all Children of Promise III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the Will of Man as the Consessus or Sanhedrin did bring in Proselites and make them Israelites Not this nor that nor that makes a Son but he that is born of God and he is so that receives Christ and believes on his Name The Apostle is speaking of the same Subject in this Chapter ver 14 15 17. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God For ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to fear but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father And if Children then Heirs c. And then he comes on to shew whence these Sons especially should come ver 19. The earnest Expectation of the Creature waiteth for the Manifestation of the Sons of God c. By Creature here and whole Creation ver 22. is meant nothing but the Gentiles or Heathen World A Phrase among the Jews ordinarily put so to signifie Mark xvi 15 Col. i. 23 Now this whole Passage is to this Purpose God had prophesied of Sons to come from the Heathen and the earnest Expectation of the Creature that is of the Heathen waited for this Manifestation of the Sons of God Two or three things there were that might awaken the Heathen World a little to consider of their wretched Case 1. It may be they had the Greek Bible 2. Howsoever the Jews scattered abroad among them might something convince them of their Condition 3. We may conceive that against their Call God had stirred up their Hearts by way of Preparative to be weary of Idolatry and groping in Darkness As against the Reformation by Luther all Christendom desired some Reformation and as against the Coming of Christ the People were in Expectation of the Messias Observe that John iv 35 Lift up your Eyes and look on the Fields for they are white already to Harvest By which Words he hinteth at that Multitude of Samaritans and under them of Heathen that were ready to be reaped by the Gospel So the Earnest Expectation of the Heathen World waited now for the Manifestation of the Sons of God Ver. 20. For the Creature was made subject to Vanity c. Not a few understand this of the Frame of the World made subject to Vanity by Sin But the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vanity means Vanity of Mind So Rom. i. 21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Gentiles become vain in their Imaginations Eph. iv 17 The Gentiles walk in the Vanity of their Mind So the meaning is that the Heathen were given up to the Vanity and Folly of their own Mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Made subject put under such a Condition by the just Judgment of God as the Apostle handles it Chap. i. But they are put under in Hope that in time it should be better with them For the Creature it self also shall be delivered from the Bondage of Corruption c. By Corruption is signified here as generally in Scripture sinful Corruption not natural Corruptibility or fading away 2 Pet. i. 4 Having escaped the Corruption that is in the World through Lust. And Ch. ii 19 Servants of Corruption And elsewhere evil Men are stiled Men of corrupt Minds and corrupt Communication Meaning that the Gentiles shall be delivered from their sadly sinful Condition into the Evangelical and Spiritual Liberty from Sin that the Sons of God partake of Some understand it of the Change of the Frame of the World at the end of the VVorld and think Peter speaks of the same thing 2 Pet. iii. 13 He does indeed in some Sense but far from theirs viz. A new State of Affairs in the Church when the Gentiles shall be called This is the new Heaven and the new Earth that they looked for of their Calling the Text speaks which was now in Agitation And of that let us first speak a little partly for the observing of Providence in so great a VVork and partly for the understanding of some Passages in Scripture I. The casting off of the Gentiles was at Babel Gen. xi where there were four Punishments inflicted on them 1. Destroying their Building
Communion III. This Communion is twofold Doctrinal and Spiritual 1. Doctrinal As they do communicate in one and the same Faith or Profession of one and the same Religion So all Protestant Churches hold Communion in one and the same Doctrine of Faith and in regard of that Disunion with the Church of Rome Holland and We tho' so disunited in regard of civil Converse yet we are at Communion as Christians in the Profession of the same Religion But this is not the Communion the Article means It speaks of Communion of Saints Now every prophane carnal Protestant may hold such Communion in outward Profession of the same Religion Thousands of prophane Persons in England hold Communion thus even with the preciousest Saints viz. That they acknowledge the same Articles of Religion and yet are far from the Communion of Saints here spoken of Therefore the Communion of Saints is II. Spiritual A hidden Manna a Communion that the World knows not a Spiritual Interest and Communicating which they only partake of and which they only are sensible of Which we may discern the better by observing these things 1. That there is one and the same Spirit in every true Saint of God in the World 1 Cor. xii 4 There are Diversities of Gifts but the same Spirit True there are Diversities of Degrees of Grace and of Operations but one and the same Spirit that worketh all in all As Kinsmen have Communion in Kindred because the same Blood runs in all their Veins so Saints have Spiritual Communion because the same Spirit dwells in them all As in that Comparison that they are Members of the same Body because the same Spirit of Life is in every one of the Members It was the Custom with the Jews to enter into Communion by eating of the same Bread To which the Apostle alludes 1 Cor. x. 17 For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all Partakers of that one Bread And hereupon they might not eat with those with whom they might not have Communion So Christ feasts all his with the same Spirit 1 Cor. xii 13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one Body whether we be Jews or Gentiles whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one Spirit That it is that that gives their Souls Life and Growth because they are all fed with the same Spirit This is the Hunger and Thirst of a Child of God to be filled and refresh'd with his Spirit And this is the feeding and refreshing God affords them John vi 55 63. For my Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed It is the Spirit that quickeneth the Flesh profiteth nothing The Words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life And John vii 37 39. If any Man thirst let him come unto me and drink But this spake he of the SPIRIT which they that believe on him should receive This was David's Hunger and Thirst when his Soul was almost starved by his great Fall Psal. li. 11 12. Cast me not away from thy Presence and take not thine Holy Spirit from me Restore unto me the Joy of thy Salvation and uphold me with thy free Spirit And this is a Trial whether a Soul be alive and healthy and whether a Person be a Saint or no by his longing and hungring for the Spirit of God Examine your Stomach what craves it Lord give me Corn and Cattel After these things the Gentiles seek not the Saints of God But Lord give me thy Spirit fill me with thy Grace support my fainting Soul with the Spirit of Grace This is a blessed hungring and thirsting which shall be blessedly satisfied Matth. v. 6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled Thus in the first place Saints have all Communion in the same Spirit of Christ drink of the same Fountain eat and feed upon the same Manna 2. Thus all communicating of the same Spirit of God they have by that Spirit Communion with God himself 1 John i. 3 And truly our Fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. A high Saying blessed Apostle Fellowship with God and Christ Let Haman brag of his great Friendship with Ahashuerosh Let Men bâ—â—st of their accompanying with this and that great Man their Friendship and Acquaintance with this or that noble Person it is enough if I can say I am acquainted with God I have Friendship and Fellowship with God and his Son Jesus Christ. Acquainted with God Communion with Christ Brave Company That Man can never be alone never want excellent Company Ah! poor Paul how dost thou do for Company in a dark lonely Prison Daniel how solitary art thou in a Den of Lions when thou hast no Company but those cruel Creatures Oh! nunquam minus solus quam cum solus I have God and Christ with me they keep me Company and I can have no better And so God himself hath promised When thou goest thro' the Waters I will be with thee Observe that Promise Matth. xxviii ult I will be with you always even unto the end of the World Alas we shall be in Prisons in Stocks Ay but then ye shall not be alone for I will be with you to the end of the World What mean such Expressions but that God is present near to his own People in an extraordinary manner different from common Providence That Expression Walking with God doth hint special Intercourse and Converse 'twixt God and the Saint as 'twixt two Friends walking together Observe a feeling Exposition of it Psal. lxxiii 23 24 c. Nevertheless I am continually with thee thou hast holden me by thy Right Hand Thou shalt guide me with thy Counsel and afterward receive me to Glory Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth I desire besides thee Here let us stay and we may stand amazed that poor sinful Men may have the Honour and Happiness of Communion with God Will God dwell upon Earth It was Solomon's Wonder So may we wonder at this that God should Converse be in Fellowship and in Familiarity with Men. If God should take Advantage of that Be not unequally yoked how far may this speak contrary to such Communion For what infinite Inequality is thâ—â—e 'twixt God and Man Creator and Creature Dust and Glory An Expression of this Communion you have Rev. iii. 20 If any Man hear my Voice and open the Door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me And another Es. lxvi 1 2. Thus saith the Lord The Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my Footstool Where is the House that ye build unto me And where is the Place of my Rest For all those things hath mine Hand made and all those things have been saith the Lord. But to this Man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite
it You know the hot Disputes that have been about this And for the Divisions of Reuben there are great Thoughts of Heart Hence mainly are our Separations and Divisions in Religion As in Jephtha's Case his dear Daughter was his greatest Trouble Judg. xi 35 Alas my Daughter thou hast brought me very low and thou art one of them that trouble me So this precious Sacrament of Communion is unhappily proved the great Occâ—sion of Division but in the same Notion that Christ was a Stumbling-block Which was not of any Fault of his but of Men in faultering about him 'T is true receiving of this Sacrament is a Communion but it is most especially external in the Profession of the same Faith and Doctrine of the Gospel And the Communion of Saints in this Article aimeth further I have formerly observed to you the Phrase This is the New Testament in my Blood 1 Cor. xi 25 Not only My Blood of the New Testament nor only A Seal and Sanction of the New Testament but the New Testament That is A new Administration of the New Covenant terminating Judaism and binding over Receivers to the Profession of the Evangelical Doctrine and Religion So this properly is the Communion that Receivers have in this Sacrament one with another viz. That they join in the Profession of the same Christian Doctrine and that not only among themselves but even with the whole Church that professeth the same Truth And hence it was that in the Infancy of the Church they received the Sacrament almost daily that those new Professors might thereby be held to constant Profession against revolting to their Judaism So that in this there is indeed something of the Communion of Saints all professing the same Truth and Religion but we must still look further for a Communion among Saints to take up the full meaning of the Article before us For the Inquiry after which we are first to consider that Christ's Mystical Body the Church consists of all the Saints that are or shall be in the World from the beginning to the end of it And so it includes the Saints in Glory jointly with these that are yet on Earth Those in Glory Members already above Water as their Head also is yet in the Waves of this troublesome World and not got above them As it is said of Christ himself Luke ii ult That he grew in Stature so is the Mystical Body of Christ growing in Stature till it shall be consumate at the last Day Observe that Eph. iv 13 Till we all come in the unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect Man unto the measure of the Stature of the fulness of Christ or the measure of the full Stature of Christ. Some fondly hence conclude that all Saints shall be raised as at the very Age and Stature of Christ when he was raised which was at his very Prime viz. Two and Thirty years and an half of Age. That Elect Infants shall not be raised Infants but as of that Age and Stature That the Aged shall not be raised as Aged but as at their Prime of that Age and Stature Which as it breeds confusion in the understanding of the Article of the Resurrection of the Body so it is clean besides the Apostles intent there He speaks not of our Bodies but of Christ's Mystical Body viz That God had given Apostles and Teachers for the building up that Body the Church by degrees till it came to its full Stature and Perfection in the Salvation of all that belong to it So Saints are building up daily and those that are gone to Glory so much of that Body is compleated and the rest growing on to the same Perfecting till all be Compleated and the whole Body Perfected So that those compleated in Glory and these compleating toward Glory here are the same Body though at present of a different condition The Church Militant and Triumphant are not two Churches not two Bodies but one whole Church and Body of Christ consisting of Members some already Perfected and some Perfecting As Israel at the Temple in the two Courts were not two Congregations and Churches but one Congregation in two divers places two Companies of one Congregation The Apostle in Heb. xi ult saith God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect When some say the Saints under the Law are not perfected in Glory till Christ's coming but in Limbo Whereas the Apostle speaks in the sense we are upon viz. That those Holy Ones without us under the Gospel are not the perfect Body of Christ but the Body was to consist of Gentiles as well as Jews Of some yet to be saved as well as of them that are saved already Now is there any Communion 'twixt these two parts of the same Body Saints on Earth and Saints in Glory I mean is there any imparting of the one to the other as there is 'twixt two Parties in Communion Some will tell you Yes We are to Pray to them and they Pray for us As he in the Prophet makes a God and then falls down to it So it is common in the Church of Rome to make whom they think good Saints and then to Pray to them that they would Pray for them to God Whereas they can never clear the Praying to Creatures from Idolatry and can never prove that it is possible for a Saint in Heaven to hear one Speaking and Praying on Earth much less to know the Heart with which he Prays So can they ever prove that there is Praying in Heaven at all The Church here is called the House of Prayer but it is hard to prove that Heaven is so There is Praising and Thanksgiving and Glorifying God and Adoring the Lamb But where do we ever read of Praying in Heaven Nay Can any prove that Christ Prayeth there for his People But he exerciseth his Mediation some other way He offereth up the Prayers of his Saints Rev. viii 3 And another Angel came and stood at the Altar having a Golden Censer and there was given unto him much Incense that he should offer it with the Prayers of all Saints upon the Golden Altar which was before the Throne But that he offers them he Praying also cannot be cleared But I shall not insist on this The Article aims at the Communion of Saints upon Earth according to David's Style Psal. xvi 3 To the Saints that are in the Earth Saints scattered in the Earth and yet have they Communion We may think of that Ezek. xxxvii 3 Can these dry scattered Bones come together and Live Yes ver 7. Bone came to his Bone and Lived So Son of Man can Men dispersed in Europe Asia Africa and America have Communion They know not one another never saw one another and they have Communion Yes There is an invisible Vein of Communion runs betwixt all Saints on Earth Which we consider in these