he by his blessed Sacrifice in offering up of himself did thereby purchase our Right to all the Promises relating to Life and God liness so by his Intercession he powerfully prevails with his Father that the Good of them might come down upon us 3dly And whereas you read That the living Bird with the Scarlet the Cedar-wood and the Hyssop all which was to be dipt into the Blood of the slain Bird this being done it made the Scarlet the Cedar-wood and the Hyssop so effectual in the Cleansing of the Leper This great Mystery signifies thus much to us when applied to its Anti-type That what Benefit upon a saving account there is in Christ or of Christ which any do receive in order to their effectual Redemption and Soul-cleansing it doth all originate in or originally proceed from the Vertue Worth and Merit of the Sufferings and Blood of Christ as the procuring cause of all Have we any Benefit by any Office of Christ or Righteousness in Christ Grace from Christ or relation to Christ All this flows from the Spring and Fountain of a Christ crucified and flain for Sin for you plainly see that all the Means which was used in the Cleansing of the corporal Leper took its Efficacy from the Bloud of the slain Bird the Scarlet the Cedar-wood and the Hyssop were all dipt in the Bloud of the slain Bird. From whence we may note this Observation Doct. That the Bloud of Christ shed for Sin is the only Procuring-cause of all the Grace Mercy and Favour which the Elect of God are capable to receive both in the Life that now is and that which is to come This is a Truth which doth abundantly evidence itself from the Scriptures Have we Grace and Sanctification in this Life This the Scripture attributes to the Bloud of Christ as the Procuring-cause of it Heb. 9. 14. The Bloud of Christ purgeth our Consciences from dead Works to serve the Living God Have we Peace with God This he hath procured by the Bloud of his Cross Col. 1. 20. Have we Power and Strength to overcome our spiritual Enemies Satan and the Lusts of the Flesh This is done by the Bloud of the Lamb Rev. 12. 11. In a word There is not a good Action done or performed by us but the Grace which enables us thereunto is the Fruit of Christ's Bloud Heb. 13. 20 21. The God that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ the great Bishop of our Souls through the Bloud of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. Is it Assurance Joy Peace in believing the Bloud of Jesus Christ have procured this also Col. 1. 11 12 13 14 Verses And so for Heaven and Glory to come this is the Fruit of Christ's Purchasing-bloud which hath accomplished all this Ephes 1. 14. And so we come the Reason of the Point Reason This must be so because what Good the Elect of God partake from him either in this World or in the World to come let it be to their Sanctification here or their Glorification hereafter all this must flow forth to them from the Love of God as the grand Cause of it Ephes 2. 4 5 6 Verses But God who is rich in Mercy for his great Love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in Sins hath quickned us together with Christ by Grace are ye saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit together with Christ Jesus in heavenly Places So that you plainly see to be quickned from a Death in Sin and to be graciously Saved that is from the Curse and Condemnation of the Law Gal. 3. 13. with Rom. 8. 1. and from the Dominion of Sin Rom. 6. 14. and from the Captivating-power of the Devil 1 John 3. 8. and from the Wrath of God Thess 1. 10. And after all this to be dignified and exalted to that hight of Honour so as to be made to sit with Christ yea together with him in heavenly Places The Apostle tells you in the fourth Verse That the great Love of God is the Foundation of all this to the Elect Now it cannot be that God should deal with his Elect in such a way of Love until he be-first reconciled to them and becomes their Friend now he cannot become their Friend until a Reconciliation be made for them which was done wrought out and brought about by the Blood of Christ Rom. 5. 8. In that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us So Verse 10. When we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son So Col. 1. 20. And having made Peace by the Bloud of his Cross by him to reconcile all things to himself Thus you see how through the Bloud of Christ the innocent Bird and Lamb of God the way is abundantly opened to God the Father's letting forth of his Grace and Love to the Elect whom he had ordained thereunto before the World began Ephes 1. 4. And so we come to make some Application of the whole 1st Vse Is to teach us Thankfulness to the ever-blessed God for this special Benefit which he hath so graciously afforded us in order to our spiritual Cleansing Oh! Brethren this was the highest Act of God's Love and Good-will to the lost Children of Adam that could be manifested from Heaven itself Rom. 5. 8. but God commended his Love towards us in that while we were Sinners Christ died for us The meaning is That there was nothing beyond this that could afford a higher Evidence of the Grace and Good-will of God to the lost World For God to create us Creatures was a wonderful Expression of his Power and Wisdom it being a bringing of something out of nothing a most adorable Act but to save them when lost the Fruit of which is their being made new Creatures 2 Cor. 5. 17. Created in Christ Jesus unto good Works which God before ordained that we should walk in them Ephes 2. 10. This was the highest Expression of God's Wisdom Power Love and Grace that possibly could be manifested in the Face of Men and Angels What could Abraham give to God of all he did possess beyond the Life of his Son Isaac And What could God give more to Sinners than the Life of his Son John 3. 16. God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not Perish buâ— have everlasting Life This was the most costliest Means for a Cure that Heaven and Earth could procure Oh Christians and shall we not be Thankful for this and rejoyce in the Lord for this How unsuitable to a David-like Spirit would this be in us Psal 103. 2 3. O bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his Benefits who forgiveth all thine Iniquities and healeth all thy Diseases Oh Brethren this special Bloud calls for special Thankfulness
from Father to Son a Disease which hath spread itself over the face of the Earth leaving neither Man Woman or Child untouch'd with the Venom of it saith 1 John 5. 19. The whole World lieth in Wickedness This spiritual Leprosie is a Disease that no Man in the World can possibly escape this taketh hold of the highest King upon the Throne as well as the Beggar upon the Dunghil I do not say That every Man is a Leper in a corporal Sense no but yet the Anti-type of that corporal Leprosie which the Jews were so subject unto which shadowed forth this spiritual Leprosie which I am speaking of which is a thousand times more distructive than the former This is a Leprosie which cleaves to every Man in the World and as it cleaves to every Man so it cleaves to every Part in Man it is a Corruption and Disorder so universal that the whole Soul is bound under it without any supply of its own to rescue itself because the whole Faculties of the Soul are corrupted with this unclean leprous Pollution therefore it is called The Dominion of Sin Rom. 6. 12. A Body of Death Rom. 7. 24. and a Law of Sin bringing the Soul into Captivity Rom. 7. 23. For first of all this Leprosie darkens the Understanding Ephes 4. 18. Having the Vnderstanding darkned being alienated from the Life of God through the Ignorance which is in them because of the Blindness of their Heart And from hence the Imaginations of the Heart become Vain Rom. 1. 21. and not only Vain but continually Evil Gen. 6. 5. pursuing unprofitable Curiosities Acts 19. 19. and impertinent Questions Titus 3. 9. vain Deceir Col. 2. 8. it wants a Capacity to discern things of the greatest Concernment 1 Cor. 2. 14. so that the best Habits of the Understanding are corrupted by this leprous Disease the Wisdom of the World is not only Foolishness 1 Cor. 3. 19. but Enmity against God yea earthly sensual and devilish James 3. 15. These and the like doth this spiritual Leprosie produce in the Understanding the Light being either quite out or dim the Actings of the Understanding become irregular and it is one of the great Works of Christ in our Regeneration to give us the Spirit of Power and a sound Mind 2 Tim. 1. 7. 1st So for the Will this Leprosie hath as much perverted that as it hath darkened the Understanding and that upon a double account First By reason of that Corruption which is in the Understanding for the Prosecution or Aversation of the Will is much qualified and ruled according to the Light that is in the Understanding and if that Light be Darkness then there must necessarily follow a great miscarriage in the Will 2dly By reason of that Captivity that the Will lieth under to the Law of Sin and the Flesh God gave to Man a righteous Law which was to be a Law and Rule to his Mind planted in him to direct and guide him in all things answerable to the revealed Will of God but by reason of this Leprosie's corrupting the Will it is now not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can it be Rom. 8. 7. nay the Will is so much mastered and pressed down by being possessed of this Leprosie through this powerfull Law of Sin which it wher 's into the Soul insomuch when it meets with the Law of God coming into the Heart it takes an occasion thereby to work in the Soul all manner of Concupiscence Rom. 7. 6. and all this meerly out of Malice and Policy to make the Law of God which should restrain the Soul from Sin and rescue the Soul more odious to the Soul and the Soul to it as Conquerers use to do who introduce Laws Customs and Languages of their own the more to estrange the Conquered from any Memory of their former Duty and Freedoms but now when Christ comes into the Soul he rescues the Soul from the Dominion though not from the being of Sin Rom. 6. 14. Sin shall not have Dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace 3dly This Leprosie hath not only darkned our Understandings and corrupted our Wills but it hath poisoned our Affections also The great and Master-piece of our Affections is Love and the prime Object of it is God and in our original Creation our Love was rightly placed upon God the only Discerner of our Love and when our Love was rightly qualified it was most intense Love according to the Law and Command of God Deut. 6. 5. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart with all thy Soul and withal thy Might But now this Leprosie though we have lost the proper Object of this Affection yet not the Affection itself but in as much as our Love hath lost its Guide hence it is that it wanders after something else like Noah's Dove seeking rest amongst the Creatures and Pleasures of the Flesh but findeth none and at last takes up in ourselves making them the sole Objects of our Love and Affection so that as our Love is misplaced with respect to its Object so it mistakes in the pursuit of that Object for no Man doth truly love himself who doth not truly love God because the true Effect of Love is to do all the good we can to the Thing we Love Now the chiefest Good to ourselves lieth in our Conformity unto the Will of God wherein indeed lieth the beauty happiness and blessedness of the Soul Thus when a Man hath lost the true Object of his Love no wonder he wanders up and down in a Wilderness of Mistakes and so at last makes himself the sole Object of his Affection Rom. 1. 25. Who hath changed the Truth of God into a Lie and worshipped and served the Creature more than the Creator who is blessed for ever Amen So that that Man who terminates his Love upon himself Serves and Worships himself Thus the Order and Beauty which God at first planted in Man it being corrupted and turned into so much Disorder in the Soul by this Leprosie this makes that Confusion in all the other Affections and Passions of the Mind But this is not all But 4thly As Paul speaks to Titus Tit. 1. 15. This Leprosie hath defiled the Consciences of Men it hath first darkned the divine Light of God in the Soul in a great measure which hath much weakned the Evidence that Conscience should give in for God and made it so much the more uncertain in its Testimony so also hath it weakned it in its Power that it stirs not as otherwise it would do like a Man over-powered and benumbed with much heaviness to Sleep Hence in some Men 't is said to be feared as with a hot Iron as seared Flesh is dead Flesh so are the Consciences of some Men in their Breasts dead powerless unable to act or speak Therefore this spiritual Leprosie is very lively shadowed out by the Jewish corporal Leprosie
did it by a voluntary Dedication and Consecration of himself as an unblemished Sacrifice for his People But the Scripture further tells us That Christ's being Sanctified for his People is meant his receiving a Fulness of Grace for them that with that Fulness they might be made Gracious also John 1. 14 with 16 Ver. The Word was made Flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his Glory as the Glory of the only Begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth that of his Fulness we might receive and Grace for Grace Now who is it that the Scripture calls the Head of every spiritual cleansed Leper Is it not Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 11. 3. The Head of every Man is Christ. Col. 1. 18. And he is the Head of the Body the Church Ephes 5. 23. Even as Christ is the Head of the Church and he is the Saviour of the Body Now the Oil which was to be applied to the Head of the cleansed Leper that was not to be given out in a few Drops with the tip of the Priest's Finger as it was to the Leper's Ear Thumb and great Toe as before no but when the Oil comes to be applied unto the Head of him that was to be Cleansed here it was to be poured out without measure And the Remnant of the Oil in the Priest's Hand he shall pour it upon the Head of him that is to be Cleansed Ver. 18. Hence the Scripture speaking of Christ the Head of his cleansed Lepers tells you That he received not the Spirit by Measure John 3. 34. And that it pleased the Father that in him should all Fulness dwell Col. 1. 19. And that he was full of Grace and Truth John 1. 14. And he was anointed with the Oil of Gladness above his Fellows Psal 45. 7. And that Grace was poured into his Lips Ver. 2. So that this Fulness of the Oil of Grace which was poured out upon Christ the Head of Believers this dwells in Christ for them upon a double account First That the Fruit of it which was his Obedience might be imputed to them for their Justification Secondly That the Grace of it might be imparted to them for their Sanctification as far as they need it and he sees good to impart it First of all That Christ's Obedience unto Righteousness which was the Fruit of his Anointing might be imputed to Believers for their Justification Rom. 5. 18. Even so by the Righteousness of one the Free-gift came upon all Men unto Justification of Life Secondly That it might be imparted unto Believers for their Sanctification John 1. 16. Of his Fulness we have all received and Grace for Grace Both of these two Benefits Paul sums up together in one Verse 1 Cor. 1. 30. Who of God is made unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption And Paul supposing that the Colossians were invested with these two saving Benefits now saith Paul Ye are Compleat in him Col. 2. 10. Thus you see where a Believer's Perfection lieth as to his Sanctification it lieth and liveth in Christ their Head hence then when Satan shall raise Objections against thee labouring thereby to discourage thy Soul from the lowness and littleness of thy Sanctification then reply to him as a Man would do to those who upbraid him with the course Clothes which he wears on his Back he is ready to answer them O ye Despisers did you know the rich and costly Rayment which I have at Home you would never despise me as you do for the Clothes I now wear So poor drooping Soul reply to Satan in like manner What though the Sanctification which dwells in me be both low and little yet I have better Clothes than these laid up in Christ for me Look not so much upon the Habit which I wear my self but look upon the glorious Robes of Christ my Head and behold the rich Clothing he appears in at the Father's right hand for me all this is mine and for my Use to be put on by me when the fulness of Time is come for then Phil. 3. 21. He changes our vile Body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself This was it which caused the Spouse to hold up Heart and Head above Water in opposition to all the Discouragements that the Malice of Hell could cast into her about the littleness of her Sanctification Cant 1. 5. Though I am black yet comely O ye Daughters of Jerusalem as the Tents of Kedar and the Curtains of Solomon That is though she were black with Affliction and Persecution for which the World derided her and though she were black in her self with Corruption for which the Devil objected against her yet she still comforted her self with what she was in Christ there she was more comely than the Curtains of Solomon And the same Testimony Christ gives of all his cleansed Lepers Cant. 4. 7. Thou art all Fair my Love there is no Spot in thee In a word as little as that Grace is which seems to be in thee yet the Scripture calls it glorious Grace Psal 45. 13. The King's Daughter is all glorious within her Clothing is of wrought Gold PART VII Lastly when all the foregoing Particulars were applied to the Leper in order to his Cleansing then was the Lâ—per by orders from the Priest to shave off the Hair of his Head Beard and Eye-brows Levit. 14. 9. because in the Hair of the Head Beard and Eye-brows might much of the Filth and Scurf of the Distemper lie and might prove Hiding-places to the same whcih might much anticipate and hinder the Cure and grèatly hazard the breaking out of the old Distemper upon the Leper again THerefore the Leper was to shave the Hair wholly off from his Head Beard and Eye-brows Ver. 9. the Mystery of which is to shew us what his Duty is who is Cleansed from the Guilt and Filth of Sin by Jesus Christ namely to endeavour ever afterward the Mortification of the same which is called the Cutting off or Circumcising the Fore-skin of your Hearts Deut. 30. 6. which the Apostle makes to agree with the Work of mortifying the Lusts of the Flesh Col. 3. 5. Mortifie therefore your Members which are upon the Earth Fornication Vncleanness inordinate Affection evil Concupiscence and Covetousness which is Idolatry The Words thus opened afford us this profitable Observation Doct. That as Jesus Christ in love to the Souls of his People hath washed them in his own Bloud from the Guilt of Sin and by the Oil of his Grace removed the dominion of Sin from them so it is the Duty of every Christian to endeavour ever afterwards the Mortification of the remains of Sin in their Hearts and Lives continually This is so clear a Truth that nothing shines with more brightness in all the Scripture Rom. 8. 13. If ye Sin after the Flesh ye shall Die but
if through the Spirit ye mortifie the Deeds of the Body ye shall Live Ephes 4. 22. That ye put off concerning the former Conversation the Old Man which is Corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts Col. 3. 5. Mortifie therefore your Members which are upon the Earth Fornication Vncleanness inordinate Affection evil Concupiscence and Covetousness which is Idolatry Tit. 2. 11 12. The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all Men teaching them to deny Vngodliness and wordly Lusts to live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World 1st Reason The Reason of the Point lieth here because this was one special Purpose of Christ in satisfying the Law for us and thereby in reconciling of his Father to us it was that Sin might be destroyed in us Rom. 5. 10. with Rom 6. 6. For when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son Knowing that our Old Man is Crucified with him that the Body of Sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve Sin 2d Reason It must be so because our Lord Jesus Christ designed and intended that every one of his Redeemed and Cleansed Lepers should hold a holy Communion with himself both in the Life that now is and in the Life which is to come John 14. 20 21. At that Day ye shall know that I am in the Father and you in me and I in you and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and I will manifest my self to him Tit. 2. 14. Who gave himself for us that he might Redeem us from all Iniquity and Purifie to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works Christ is the Prince of Purity his Eyes are Eyes of Purity that cannot look upon Iniquity his Nature is a Nature of Purity he is called the Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts whose Glory filleth the whole Earth Isa 6. 3. therefore he cannot live in an impure Heart nor have communion with impure Souls that are no way washed from their Iniquities Surely then this makes it highly the Duty of every Christian to be Cleansing of himself from all filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit and to be perfecting of Holinâ—ss in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7. 1. Thus having given you the Reasons of the Point we next come to the Application of what hath been said upon it Vse If this be so let it serve then for Matter of Examination to every Christian whether we are of the number of Christ's Cleansed and Healed Lepers Oh! what a blessed thing would it be if upon trial and search we might appear to be such not in shew but in substance not in appearance only but in reality also an Israelite in deed and in truth as Nathanael was in whom was no Guile There be not a few but would fain perswade themselves that they are the Men in whom the Leprosie is cured they hope that the Bloud of the Lamb Christ hath been applied to the Ear Thumb and Toe of their Souls but let me ask such Men whether the Priâ—st's Razor have yet been upon them Oh! bethink your selves and remember that those which were healed Lepers were shaved Lepers the Hair of their Heads Beards and Eye-brows is all shaved off which were the parts and places in which the Scurf and Filth of the Disease lay and hid it self before The same is spiritually true of thee if thou art a healed Leper indeed the Scurf of thy Corruption which hath lain hid in thy Heart as to the Dominion of it is shaved off and â—emoved out of thy Soul Rom. 6. 14. Sin shall not have Dominion over you Christ will have clean Work made in the Heart wherein he begins to Work Rev. 21. 5. Behold I make all things new saith Christ and so saith Paul 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any Man he in Christ he is a new Creature all old things are dâ—ne away and all things become new So that there is a univeâ—sal Change made in the whole Man of every one that are the cleansed Leâ—ers of Jesus Christ the Judgment Will and Affections are all new and renewed by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. â— 5. Now Soul what Shaving-work hath there been upon thy Heart and Life Reflect upon thy former Conversation Hast thou not been a loose Liver a Swearer a Blasphemer an unclean Person a Sabbath-breaker a Harer of Godliness a wicked Scoffer and cruel Persecutor of those which have truly feared God But is this shaved off from thee Is this filthy Scurf gone and removed from thy Heart within and thy Life without Thou knowest that thou hast been a common Drunkard an unjust Dealer a known Lyer a wretched Worldling a greedy covetous Oppressor thy whole Life hath been a prayerless Life an irreligious Life casting the Word Worship and Ordinances of God behind thy Back spending of thy precious Time which should have been spent in the Service of thy God Oh! this precious Time which thou canst never recal more hast thou laid out in the satisfying of thy Lusts and sensual Appetite Oh! but hath the Razor oâ— thy High-Priest shaved all this away and canst thou now say in the Words of Paul to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 6. 11. Such were some of you but ye are Washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Be not deceived there was never a healed Leper came out of Christ's Hands but he was a shaved mortified and sanctified Leper the Bloud the Oil and the shaving Razor always went together the Bloud to justice the Oil to sanctifie and the Razor to mortifie the Affections and Lusts Redemption from the Guilt of Sin is only proved by our Mortification to the love and power of Sin in our Natures Rom. 8. 1. There is therefore no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Mark There is therefore no Condemnation there is Guilt removed who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit there is the Truth of it proved the shaving of the Head Beard and Eye-brows were evident Signs what the Man had been and with whom he had been they were Signs that the Man had been a Leper and secondly That he had been with the Priest for a Cure and is now come off healed and cleansed of his Distemper So likewise if thou hast been with Jesus Christ indeed he hath fixed these visible Signs upon thy Soul 2 Cor. 5. 17. Thou art come of a new Creature all old things are done away and all things are become new in thee but if the Signs of thy Cleansing be not upon thee thou hast still cause with the Leper Lev. 13. 45. to rent thy Clothes and to go with thy Head bare and to put a Covering upon thy Upper-lip crying out to every one which thou meetest Vnclean unclean PART VIII
to this day Here is one thing more to be observed That this Levitical Rubbish must be carried without the City which City was a Type of Christ's reformed Churches on Earth in Gospel-times for so are the Churches of Christ compar'd Psal 122. 3. Jerusalem is builded as a City compact together which sheweth us thus much That such Churches as are left and forsaken by Jesus Christ ought to be abandoned by the whole City of God What though such Churches with Sardis may have a Name to live and may vainly glory in their ancient Title of being once named a Church of Christ yet in as much as they have lost the vital Spirit of a Church in ceasing to hold Union with Christ the true Head they thereby forfeit their right of Fellowship to the true Churches of Christ also Hosea 4. 17. Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone Thus you see the Point proved and so we come to shew you what kind of Polution it is which if Churches persist in will endanger their being unchurched again First of all a universal decay in their Love to Christ and one another so saith Diodate in his Annotations upon Rev. 2. 4. Indeed there may be an abatement of Love to Christ in some particular Persons in a Church and yet no danger of the whole Churches be in unchurched God is so just and righteous that he will not lay the Stroke upon the whole Church when the Guilt is only chargable upon the lesser number Ezek. 18. 20. The Soul that sinneth it shall die But if it be the Sin of the Church in general to fall back in their Love to Christ and one another this is a dangerous step to the unchurching of such a Church Read the threatning of Christ in this case Rev. 2. 4 5. Because thou hast left thy first Love remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first Works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy Candlestick out of his place except thou repent 2. An allowed Spirit of Formality and Lukewarmness is another Sin which may endanger the unchurching of a Church of Christ this frame of Spirit is very dangerous if it be found in a particular Soul a formal indifferent frame of Heart in a Christian is not only a bad sign but a bad distemper it 's like the Plague-spots appearing before death and the distemper is like an Ague in the Body which proves the foundation sometimes of many other mortal Diseases which succeed afterwards The like is as true of a prevailing formal lukewarm Spirit in a Christian it ushers into the Soul several other spiritual Maladies when Ephraim became like a Cake not turned Hosea 7. 8. that is as we use to say halfbaked viz. formal and luke-warm then suddenly it became proud idolatrous treacherous and rebellious against God Hosea 8. 11. with chap. 9 10. So that if this evil frame of Heart in a particular Christian be so detestable to God how much more disrelishing to God must a whole Society of Christians be where this evil spirit reigns in the power of it especially when this Disease in a whole Church is become so malignant that it expels the Virtue of all good Means that shall be applied for the recovery of it This greatly endangers the pulling down of such a Church Rev. 3. 16. So then because thou art luke-warm neither hot nor cold I will spue thee out of my Mouth 3. The third Sin which endangers the unchurching of a Church of Christ is the sin of professed Idolatry Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone Idolatry is a violating of the Marriage-Covenant betwixt a Church and Christ and a defiling of the Marriage-Bed which sin in a Wife called for a Bill of Divorce to divorce the Wife from her Husband Matth. 5. 32. So that in Scripture Idolatry also is called Whoredom Ezek. 16. 20. And it is called playing the Harlot Jer. 2. 20. Now as the Law allowed a Man to put away his Wife for the sin of Whoredom so for the sin of Idolatry which is a spiritual Whoredom will Jesus Christ put away a whole Church from him unless it repents Hosea 1. 6. with 8 and 9th verses 4. A fourth Sin which helps forward the unchurching of a Church of Christ is the Loosness and Profaneness of it this kind of sinning was charged upon the ten Tribes as the ground of Christ's unchurching of them and casting them out of his sight though once a People in Covenant with him Hos 7. 3 4 5. They make the King glad with their wickedness and the Princes with their lies they are all adulterers as an Oven heated by the Baker who ceaseth from rising after he hath kneaded the Dough until it be leavened So Vers 2. They consider not in their Hearts that I remember all their wickedness now their doings have beset them about they are before my face but because of the unreclaimable looseness and profaneness of this Church Christ at last utterly renounceth them Hos 1. 9. Then said God call his name Loamini for ye are not my People and I will not be your God The great reason why Christ takes a People into a Covenant-relation with himself is upon Terms of their Holiness Levit 19. 1 2. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying speak unto all the Congregation of the Children of Israel and say unto them ye shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy If ever Christ chuseth any to be his peculiar People it shall be upon the same Terms which he redeemed them by his Bloud and that was to be a peculiar People to him zealous of good Works Tit. 2. 14. But then when that visible Holiness ceaseth to be in a Church which was the ground of that visible Union which was betwixt Christ and them at first the Union betwixt them is dissolved Jer. 7. 9. with the 15th Verse Will you steal murder and commit adultery and swear falsly and burn incense unto Baal and walk after other gods whom ye know not and come and stand before me in this house which is called by my Name and say We are delivered to do all these abominations So 15 vers I will cast you out of my sight as I cast out all your Brethren even the whole Seed of Ephraim Thus you see what the Sins are which do so pollute and defile the Churches of Christ as do greatly endanger their being unchurched again therefore where we find such Pollution reigning in Churches it 's good to avoid them and so we come to the Reasons of the Point The first Reason why Christ will unchurch Leprous Churches which will not be healed is because he will thereby admonish all other Churches that they may hear and fear and do no more so wickedly Rev. 2. 21 with 23. I gave her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not I will kill her Children 〈◊〉 death and all the Churches shall