Love to unite Christians and to make them one since divisions strike at Christ himself and harden the World in its infidelity 5. Love enlarges the Heart and frees it from the bonds of selfishness and makes its desire others welfare as well as our own Love to our Neighbour breaths forth in servent wishes that it may be well with him both in Time and to Eternity We are in every respect to consider our Brethren and true love will make us long that every way they may be benefited that they may not want any needful fecular comfort and encouragement especially that they may be blessed with all Spiritual blessings And above all that they may attain Eternal Happiness and Salvation The Apostles love vents it self in a Prayer for the Corinthians temporal prosperity and increase 2. Cor. 9. 10. Now he that mimistereth seed to the Sower both Minister brend for your food and multiply your seed sown and increase the fruits of your Righteousness So St. John writing to his beloved Gaius wishes him health and prosperity 3 Joh. 2. Beloved I wish above all things that thou mayst prosper and be in health even as thy Soul prospereth But the Apostles wishes that Souls might be sanctified and saved were most vehement and most pathetically expressed Rom. 10. 1. Brethren my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved Phil. 1. 8. God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ Gal. 4. 19. My little Children of whom I travel in birth again until Christ be formed in you Behold how the Apostle loved Souls I don't wonder that he wishes his love as a blessing to the Church 1 Cor. 16. 24. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus Amen 6. Love is the fulfilling of the Law the doing of which is so much for our Neighbours benefit Rom. 13. 8. He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law As love to God includes the whole first table of the Law so love to our Neighbour includes the second with reason 't is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fulfilling of the Law for it causes an affectionate and obediential respect unto every Commandment of the second table and there is not one of these precepts but 't is hugely for the good of Mankind 1. Love has a regard â—o the Honour and Authority of Others That honour which is due to Natural Parents love is ready to yield They that were instrumental in giving us our very Being and that nourished us with such tenderness and care when we were not ablâ— to shift for our selves may rightfully challenge obedience from us Upon a supposition that Parents are fallen into decay that piety that Children shew them in relieving them is called a Requiting them 1 Tim. 5. 4. so that Childrens disobedience as 't is unnatural so it has a great deal of ingratitude in it Love ascends higher than our Natural Parents and reaches the very Thrones where Kings and Princes are placed Kings are Patriae Patres Fathers of their Countrey all the inhabitants of a Kingdom are the Children of the King and as a Common Father their very hearts should love and reverence him It was not a Court complement or a strain of Rhetorick but an expression of religious Loyalty when the Prophet call'd the Anointed of the Lord the breath of the peoples nostrils Lam. 4. 20. and signifies how dear his life should be unto them all Love will cause tribute and custom to be willingly paid fear and honour to be rendred Rom. 13. 7. Christian Princes according as it was prophetically promised Isa 49. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are Ecclesiae Nutritij the Churches Nursing Fathers The Church of Christ in this world is not arrived to such matâ—uity but it stands in need of nursing the Magistrates care is needful and his Authority is a good fence unto the Christian faith And if the Doctrine of the Gospel has a legal establishment how should this endear the Supream Magistrate unto all inferiours Where Christian love reigns in the hearts of Subjects there Christian Kings will reign with greater security Love and rightly informed Conscience wherever found will do more than Rods and Axes though these are also necessary to support and defend the Civil Government 2. Love has a regard to the Lives of Others The guilt of blood is great the cry of blood is loud Murther how does it wound the Murtherers Conscience and defile the very land which receives the blood of him that is murthered Love utterly abhorrs cruelty and slaughter It considers the meekness and gentleness of Christ When James and John would by miraculous fire have consumed a Samaritan village that would not receive their Lord He rebukes them and sayes ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of for the Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them Luk. 9. 55 56. Love is so far from thirsting after blood that it will not allow of malice in the heart nay rash and causelefs anger it dislikes for that will make a man in danger of the judgment Mat. 5. 22. Were but love every where revived it would put an end to the Iron one and cause the Golden age to return Swords would be beaten into Plough-shares and Spears into Prâ—ning-Hooks and Nations would not learn Warr any more 3. Love will not violate others chastity Lust is strongly inclined to such a violation but the grace of love is of an holy and clean nature and abhorrs all obsceneness It is so far from consenting to defile anothers body that it will not allow the heart where 't is by a filthy thought or desire to be defiled for our Lord sayes Whosoever looketh on a Woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart Mat. 5. 28. Love looks upon the bodies of Christians as Members of Christ as temples of the Spirit now the Members of Christ are not to be polluted the temples of the Spirit are not to be profaned How little of true love is there in this lustful Age in this adulterous generation An affection that is indeed Christian is rarely to be found but a reprobate and brutish concupiscence is very rise both in City and Countrey though hereby both are ripening apace for vengeance Jer. 5. 7 8 9. They assembled themselves by troops in the harlots houses they were as fed Horses in the morning every one neighed after his Neighbours Wife Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nature as this 4. Love will not steal away the substance of another It abhors to be injurious to any it is for following that which is altogether just It is ready to distribute willing to communicate to the poor according to that charge 1 Tim. 6. 18. and the poorer any are it is so much the more communicative Love is liberal for he that
12. He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life They that by faith receive the Lord Jesus are purified are regenerated and shall live for ever but as many as through unbelief reject him remain dead in sin and doom'd to Hell Union with Christ is a most necessary a most happy union The Churches life from this has its beginning and continuance unto consummation 2. The Head has a mighty influence upon the Body There is a powerful influence from Christ upon his Church and what good it does is done by vertue of this influence He is said to be exalted far above all Heavens that he might fill all things Eph. 4. 10. Whatever grace and strength and comfort is communicated to believers it is really and all from Christ He fills Ordinances with efficacy mercies with sweetness afflictions with light and usefulness and Souls with greater degrees of Grace and Holiness out of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all-fulness it has pleased the Father should dwell in him Col. 1. 19. Our Lord tells his Disciples they must abide in him for separated from him they can do nothing Joh. 15. 5. No wonder the Apostle professes That Christ is all and in all Col. 3. 11. Though the Body the Church should be never so much increased a deficiency in the Head Christ need not be feared neither is it indeed possible for in him there is all the fulness of the Godhead And consequently his Rightousness and Grace must needs be sufficient for the whole 3. The Body has many Members and these members have different Offices The Church likewise has various members and their different stations relations callings diversify their work and duties and yet the doing of these duties is both comely and advantageous and the more every one does his own work the more all are benefited Rom. 12. 45. the Apostle tells us That as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office so we being many are one body in Christ And from thence infers that All should use the gifts they have received which are differing according to the grace and good pleasure of God the Giver It would be unreasonable for the Ear to attempt to speak like the Tongue or the Hand to see like the Eye The several members have their uses and work proper to them All are not Apostles all are not Prophets all are not Teachers all are not Governours 1 Cor. 12. 29. There are many indeed most in the Church that have need to be taught and governed and those that think themselves wise enough to instruct and govern themselves and so despise their spiritual Guides usually are the most ignorant and unruly and hugely need the help and conduct of others The members must abide in their place and calling Masters Servants Parents Children Husbands Wives Magistrates Subjects Pastors People doing their duties which the Scripture in their several stations and relations calls for 4. The Body is fitly joyned and thus fitly joyned is the Church of Christ The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies that there is a congruous order among the members of Christ Without Order an Army would be a Rout and not an Army a Kingdom would become a confused self-destroying multitude The Churches God is the God of Order and not of confusion 1 Cor. 14. 33. There is a rule for Order and Government and a subordination in the Church 't is not a body of levellers if there were a perfect parity all would affect to rule none would care to be ruled The reproof of two or three is more than the reproof of one the Churches admonition and censure is still with greater authority The flock is to submit themselves â—o their Pastors who are over them in the Lord. Heb. 13. 17. and both Pastors and people are to submit especially unto Christian Magistrates who are prophetically promised in the Old Testament that they should be Nursing Fathers to the Church under the New A right Order in Churches and Families will have a mighty influence to make believers stedfast against temptations both to Error and Wickedness The Apostle rejoyced in the Colossians chap. 2. 5. when he beheld their order and the stedfastness of of their faith in Christ 5. The Body is compact together so is the Church of Christ the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shews that the Church is firmly knit unto Christ the Head and the members one unto another The hypostatical Vnion between the Natures of Christ shall never be dissolved neither shall the mystical union between him and his members and if so then his true members must needs remain closely knit together There are ligaments joynts bands whereby the Body of Christ is held together The Spirit of Grace and Love unites the body to Christ and members to members The Ministers of Christ are subservient unto this union and ought to be preaching and commending love which is a grace of an uniting nature The Apostle had a concernedness for the Colossians which he expresses by a great conflict and that which he wisht so vehemently for was this that their hearts might be comforted beingknit together in love Col. 2. 1 2. Where is the member of the natural Body that grows weary of its fellowship and is willing to be cut off The Arms the Hands the Leggs the Feet are desirous to keep their places and and nature makes them abhor to be severed True grace makes the members of the Church to dislike separation As they believe so they very well like and are desirous of the communion of Saints A very black mark is set upon them who are of a contrary inclination 1 Joh. 2. 19. They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest they were not all of us 6. God hath set the Members in the body as it pleased him the different gifts and graces which are in the Church of Christ and the members of it are according to Gods will and pleasure He bestowes larger gifts upon some and less upon others and yet those that have less are not unuseful Some Saints receive greater measures of Grace others smaller but all have that grace which is true and which at last will end in glory Some members of the Church are higher others lower and yet they should not envy or despise one another for God has assigned their place unto both the higher may direct the lower the lower may serve the higher The eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of thee nor the head to the feet I Have no need of you and those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary 1 Cor. 12. 21 22. By the grace of God the members of Christ are what they are They have nothing but what they have received and the more
shall be remembred Surely the Worlds hard usage of his members shall not be forgotten shall not pass unpunished If at the great day the not feeding and cloathing of hungry and naked Saints will be punished with everlasting fire oh what a sin will it be found to take away their food and rayment from them if Christ will be so angry with those who visited not believers in Prison Mat. 25. 42 43. where shall they appear that were the Imprisoners of them The World should not be cruel to Christians since Christ will quickly appear to judge the World in Righteousness So much for the first Proposition That the Church of Christ is compared to a Body Proposit II. The second Proposition is this That this Body of Christ is imperfect in this World and therefore continually should be encreasing Hence it is that Christians are exhorted to grow in Grace and in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ 2. Pet. 3. 18. and not only to be stedfast and unmoveable but always to abound in the work of the Lord 1 Cor. 15. 58. In the handling of this Proposition I shall first shew in what respects the Church of Christ here on earth is imperfect Secondly In what sense the Church should be continually increasing Thirdly I shall produce several Reasons for this Increase of the Church Lastly I shall give you the Vses that may be made of it I begin with the first of these and shall shew in what respects the Church of Christ here on Earth is imperfect Two things are here to be considered First The number of the Churches Members is not yet compleated Secondly Those Members which actually are of the Church are imperfect the very best of them as long as they remain in this World 1. The number of the Churches Members is not yet compleated There are more still to be called out of the World and brought home to Jesus All are not gathered which the Father has designed to give him Joh. 10. 16. And other sheep I have who are not of this Fold them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall he one Fold and one Shepherd 1. Many 't is to be hoped who have heard the Gospel shall be converted though as yet they are not Though they have hitherto resisted the Holy Ghost yet at last they shall yield unto his Call and striving When once the day of power and the time of love is come they shall be made willing to receive a Saviour to be the Lords and to serve the Lord though now never so great an obstinacy and unwillingness is discovered Psal 110. 3. 2. Many who are in the loyns both of Believers and Unbelievers shall in due time be born and born again The Church shall never quite discontinue it may indeed sometimes be less visible but it always has a Being God will have a Seed to serve him in every future Generation Psal 22. 30. 3. The Natural Branches are to be graffed in again to their own Olive-tree Rom. 11. 24. For if thou wer 't cut out of the Olive-tree which is wild by nature and wer 't graffed contrary to nature into a good Olive-tree how much more shall these that is the Israelites which be the natural branches be graffed into their own Olive-tree Blindness in part is happened to Israel but they are still beloved for their Fathers sake and at length the veil which is upon their Hearts shall be taken away and they shall look unto him whom their Fathers crucified and be saved by him For he is the Messiah the deliverer that is come out of Sion and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob Rom. 11. 26. Now when Israel shall be added to the Christian Church how will this Church be encreased it will be a very glorious augmentation like a Resurrection from the dead Rom. 11. 15. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the World what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead 4. The Kingdoms of the world are to become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Rev. 11. 15. I grant this is in part already the Gentiles have been preached to and have obeyed the Gospel Christ according to the Fathers Promise has had the Heathen given to him for his Inheritance and some of the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession but we may rationally conclude after the destruction of Antichrist and the utter overthrow of his power and usurpation that many more Kingdoms of the world will submit unto the Lord Jesus and his Church hereby will have a vast increase We find Rev. 18. Babylon destroyed the Kings of the earth and the Merchants that committed Fornication with her crying Alas alas and lamenting her sudden and utter downfall The Heavens and the holy Apostles and Prophets rejoycing over her because God had avenged them upon her And then it follows Rev. 19. 12. that upon the head of Christ were many Crowns which shews the subjection of many Kings to him and v. 6. there is a voice of a great multitude as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thundrings as if all the World did joyn together in saying Alleluia for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth From all this it appears that the Church as yet is incompleat and that greater numbers of Converts are to be expected and how should the Promises of the Churches enlargement in the latter dayes be thought upon with joy and how earnestly should we pray that those Promises may be accomplished 2. Those Members which actually are of the Church are imperfect the very best of them as long as they remain in this World How plainly does the Wise man speak Eccl. 7. 20. There is not a just man upon Earth that doeth good and sinneth not There is many a just man upon earth and every just man his practice is to do good but there is not one that so does good as not to be chargeable with the least evil The Apostle James that is so much for joyning good works with faith yet acknowledges in many things we offend all Jam. 3. 2. And the Apostle Paul that great Saint and Preacher speaks thus of himself and surely he would not tell a lye through abundance of humility Phil. 3. 12 13. Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect but forgetting the things which are behind and reaeching forth to those things which are before I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God The imperfection of the Saints and Members of the Church on Earth will be evident in several respects 1. The Knowledge of the Saints is imperfect He that knew as much as any sayes We know in part and prophesy in part and now we see through a glass darkly 1 Cor. 13. 9. 12. David who was wiser than his enemies who had more understanding than all his Teachers than the Ancients yet prays still