when they called the Blackmoors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 silver white Thou art a Saint in that sense he said Auri sacri fames indeed thou art most accursed and art but a mockery in respect of God and man As it is a shame so it is an horrible reproach even as Revel 2. there is the blasphemy of some who said they were Jews and were not Thus it is a blasphemy in thee to be externally a Saint and not really as the Apostle Rom. 2. 24. speaking of such saith The Name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you The mischief of the scandalous prophane lifes in the Church hath been the cause not only of Gods eminent judgements upon it even at last to unchurch them but also hath been like winds in the bowels of the earth making a dreadfull earthquake Heresies in Doctrine have not more molested the Church than prophaneness in life The troubles of the Donatists made in the Church for many years together was it not because of the prophaneness of Christians lives In our dayes What is the great argument against our Churches that they are no true Churches that they are the Synagogue of Satan Doth not this arise wholly from the ungodliness of most mens lives Call such Saints you may as well name darkness light Yea what is the cause that the bringing in of any good Order in a Church the purging out of the old leaven is such a grievous tormenting matter Why do generally people dislike and rage at it Is not all this because though men are contented with the name of a Saint yet they cannot endure the practical power of it So that we may say the real ungodliness of such who are in the Church is the cause of all the evil that comes in the Church Thou blamest this and that way of Government thou sayest Such or such a thing is the cause of all our evil No it 's the love to mens lust men would be of the Church and yet live the life of beasts and Devils And it is for this general impiety that even Heaven and Earth may be astonished Thou cavillest How can this or that Practice or Order be proved Jure Divino But where canst thou prove thy oaths thy lusts thy drunkennesse thy contempt of Godlinesse to be Jure Divino 2. Real Saintship is so acceptable unto God in his Church that let men have 〈…〉 eminent places and esteem therein yet if they walk contrary to this Rule of sanctity and that obstinately Christ hath commanded such to be cast out as utterly unfit to be of such a Society The incestuous person in this Church of Corinth is thought by Chrysostome to be a man of chiefest place and note amongst them yet for all that till he repent and humble himself they are commanded to cast him out from amongst them As the Apostle to this Church saith What communion is there between light and darknesse Christ and Belial The Pythagoreans were so strict about the manners of those who were in their sect that as Origen against Celsus relates when any of their society had fallen into a foul sin they did cast him out of their company and commanded a Coffin to be placed by him as being a dead man But the Lord Christ hath commanded That such who live in the Church obstinately against the manners of a Saint should be thrown out from his people and so delivered up to Satan as being more properly of him and his way But because more may in time be said of the nature of this Church-Saintship I passe it by for the present concluding with a severe Reproof even like thunder and lightning against all such who deride at sanctity and purity Are there not too many sonnes of Belial who make a scoff at such glorious names of a Saint of a Christian of a Brother of a Believer Wherein canst thou demonstrate thy self to be of the Devil more than in this one thing Thy heart rageth thy tongue foameth at sanctity and purity What is this but to blaspheme the Scripture yea God and Christ himself Why do not such cast off their Christianity and live with Pagans and Heathens SERM. XXI Wherefore 't is a Christians Duty to joyn himself to Church-society And in what cases he may be excused What are the false Grounds why some neglect this Duty The Soul of the poorest Saint is to be regarded as well as of the richest 2 COR. 1. 1. With all the Saints that are in all Achaia IT is now full time to conclude this Text. There remain two things more which deserve some consideration The first is occasioned by Calvin's Question upon the place How is it saith he that he distinguished Saints from the Church Did not these Saints imbody themselves that lived in the Province of Achais Was it lawfull for them to live dispersed and single lives not entring into Churchcommunnion To which he answers That the times might be then so turbulent and persecution so hot that they could not gather into a Church nor have any such publick meetings Now this Interpretation is not necessary For the Apostle writing to the Church at Ephesus and Colosse yet doth not use that name but speaks in the general To the Saints and faithfull Brethren when yet without question they were in a Church-state there Yea in his Epistle to the Romans he makes no mention of them as a Church but styleth them Saints which puts Salmeron upon his guesses Why he doth not give the name of a Church to them As also Why he doth not salute Peter their supposed Bishop Neither may we think that when James and Peter inscribe their Epistles to the Believers scattered in several Regions but that they might have occasionally their publick meetings to worship God in Yet though this Exposition be not necessary we may well receive Calvins conjecture as probable For there have been times when the Saints have been forced to hide themselves in Dens and Caves not having opportunity to meet together though even that was an heavy burden and trouble to them This being granted we may observe That although it be a Duty for Saints to joyne themselves in a Church-way yet there may sometimes fall out such just reasons that may excuse them Indeed voluntarily to keep off from the Assemblies and to think a private worshipping of God is enough and that he requireth no more is both against Scripture-command and the example of primitive Christians but when there is some unavoidable necessity than there is a lawfull excuse That it is a duty for Saints to joyn themselves in a Church-way may be made evident from these Grounds briefly First From the name Church ordinarily given to â—olievers Now a Church is a Society or Company met together and therefore it is not lawfull for thee to live alone or be a Minister of Sacraments and all things to thy self Even as Aristotle said of him that would live alone not joyning
He may justly expect Gods assisting of him with such qualifications of zeal and courage as are necessary to that work Thus the Apostle speaking of all the Ministers of the Gospel saith We have not received the spirit of fear but of power and love and a sound mind 2 Tim. 1. 7. It 's God that giveth us such a spirit where God calleth to an Office there he giveth suitable assistance For as it is with the general Call of Christians because God calleth them to holiness therefore he furnisheth every one with grace without which happiness cannot be enjoyed So it is in peculiar special Offices if in civil he gives Saul another spirit and much more in holy functions Hence he Isaiah's lips with a coal of fire from the altar Though Jeremiah pleaded he was a child yet God promised to enable him And when Moses did again and again excuse his inability to the Office God put upon him The wrath of God was kindled against him Exod. 4. 11. saying Who hath made mans mouth who maketh the dumb or deaf c Have not I the Lord If then God calleth he can give wisdom mouth and spirit such as none shall be able to withstand Oh then what a comfortable support is here When thou art dejected under the thoughts of thy insufficiency and weakness thinking thou shalt fail under the burden and prove a reproach to the Office Yet because God hath called thee thou mayest imbolden thy self thou mayest say Lord I cam not hither of my own will I am not in this place and Office by my own seeking but all is of thy will and ordering and therefore do thou own thy own servant Though I am weak thou art not who is the Father of Spirits but thou alone Therefore under all imperfections do thou runne unto God who hath set thee in that Office 2. As he may expect assistance so also Protection and Defence in all the dangers they are assaulted with For it cannot be but he that is called of God if he do the work of God zealously and impartially but he will raise up many enemies and find great opposition in his work Now as our Saviour told his Disciples of their danger That they should be haled before Rulers thrown into prisons and cast out of Synagogues yet he bids them Take no thought what they should say viz. not in a sinfull distrustfull manner because at that very time it should be given them what to speak Mark 13. 11. He doth not forbid a lawfull premeditating but that which is accompanied with slavish worldly fears and humane distrust as if the Spirit of God would not be ready to assist Doth not Paul reckon up the several dangers that he was every day in insomuch that his safety was every day miraculous Yet God delivered him out of all He prayed to be delivered from absurd and unreasonable men and God heard him Thus Jeremiah likewise he did undertake a very difficult Province he was to deal with Scorpions and tygers yet Jer. 1. 17 18 19. God bids him Not be dismayed at their faces for he had made him a defenced City an iron pillar and a brazen wall c. They might fight against him but never prevail This then is a blessed reviving when in the midst of all thy assaults all the troubles thou dost conflict with this man reproacheth thee that man revileth thee thou canst appeal to God O Lord Is not all this because I do the work commanded Is not all this because thou hast sent me and because I am an Embassadour in thy Name Certainly if David did so severely avenge himself upon the Ammonites for the injury done to his Embassadours No lesse wiâ—l God reward those who despise those he sends And therefore it 's one of the great wonders in the world That Christ hath maintained a Ministry in his Church for so many hundred years when all the malice and policy that could be devised hath been imployed to overthrow it Yea God hath in most ages still stirred up some with admirable zeal and courage to withstand the deluge of corruptions that were in those daies and though many have been violently put to death yet some have been wonderfully protected as John the Evangelist Athanasius and Luther 3. They may expect wonderfull success and fruitfulness in their labour For seeing God hath sent them and they come in his Name their labour shall not be in vain The Apostles though few were made salt enough to season the whole world At one Sermon Peter converted three thousand Rom. 15. 19. Paul tels us The Gospel did spread it self by his preaching yea some of Caesars own houshold became converts Thus doth the Lord wonderfully cooperate with his own instruments insomuch that Divines have a Rule Qualis vocatio talis successus yet this must be wisely understood for as in the Scripture many precious godly women went barren and had the reproach of not bearing children as Sarah and Hannah So many eminent servants of God though called by him and owned as it were by name yet have not had such success in converting of souls as others had Yea Christ himself did not convert so many as the Apostles Isa 49. 2. Christ speaks notably to this of this protection by God yet the little success he had So that it 's the Scriptures complaint of stretching out the hands in vain all the day long to a gain-saying people Therefore we are to distinguish of people for they are either such as never had the Word of God preached to them or such who though enjoying of it for many years yet have so universally apostatized that a Reformation is like a new plantation of the Gospel Now to such a people as these commonly the Word hath been successefull and multitudes have been caught in the Net of the Gospel Commonly at such seasons there hath been a preparedness made for the Gospel to run and to be glorified Thus you see the Romans Corinthians and many Heathenish places were converted from their Idols to serve the living God Thus also among the Jews when Christ came as a reformer to that apostate people he saith That the harvest was great but the labourers were few Luk. 10. 2. There were more to be converted but no instruments to do it and therefore he bids them Pray unto God to send labourers into his harvest As with ground new broken up there the labourer hath the greater hopes But in the second place There are a people that have long lived under the means of grace and have often resisted the Spirit of God in the Ministry Now for the most part there is very little conversion wrought on such Not but that Gods arm is as strong as ever and the Word is as powerfull an instrument and God doth approve of his Officers only the unworthiness and unprofitableness of the people have deserved that God should give them up to spiritual judgements and that no
's very necessary to distinguish this Catholick invisible Church from a visible particular one The Papists confounding these and making their Roman particular Church a Catholick one and applying such Texts of Scripture as are spoken of the Universal invisible Church to their particular do thereby grosly mistake in pleading for the infallibility and perpetuity of their Church But Secondly The Scripture doth use the word Church for a visible company of persons professing faith in Christ and then it hath several acceptions For sometimes it is used for the general Company of believers Act. 8. 3. Thus Paul is said to persecute the Church Or else more particularly and for a Church at such a place as the Church at Jerusalem the Church at Corinth Again the word Church is sometimes used more strictly for the People onely as distinct from Pastors Thus the Epistles of John are directed To the Angels of the seven Churches Thus the Elders are exhorted Act. 20. 28. To feed the Church of God over which they were set And in this sense the Remonstrants speak confidently That the word Church is most commonly used and that never or very seldom it comprehends the Officers also But this is not so for Mat. 18. Tell the Church by the Church must needs be meant Officers at least with the Church for they are said to bind and lose which power is given to Officers only It 's true they and so Grotius by Church understand a multitude or more in opposition to those two or three witnesses that were required before But the Context may easily be improved to overthrow that 1 Cor. 12. 28. God is there said to set in his Church some Pastors and Teachers that is as part but the chief part of the Church Even as the Starres are set in the firmament but as parts of the Heavens though the more noble and fulgent parts Again when the Apostle here writeth to the Church of Corinth he must needs comprehend the Officers as well as the People because he writeth about such duties wherein the Officers were interested as the censuring of the incestuous person he speaks also of Prophets which were extraordinary Officers in that Church and they are blamed for male-administration about the Sacrament of the Lords-Supper So that although Grotius thinketh that abuse was because they had no constituted Officers yet it 's plain they had some because they had the administration of the Sacraments Lastly The word Church is applied sometimes to an essential Church as it is called for a company of believers simply as such believing in Christ of which often in Scripture sometimes for an organized Church that is formed and stated in that godly order by a Ministry Government and Discipline conjoyned together So that they make a particular flock being bound to submit to their Pastors as their peculiar Pastors and Pastors bound to watch over them as their peculiar flock Whether indeed this Church of Corinth was one Congregational Church or one Church aggregated of several Congregations is disputed But of this in its time This Church of Corinth was formed and stated in some order though there were great abuses in it As for our common use of the word Church taking it for a place or the material building that is an improper speech but allowable by a Synecdoche as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth both the place and persons therein convened And although one or two learned men from 1 Cor. 11. would have the word used there for a place yet the arguments are not cogent for the people are properly the Church it 's they that Christ hath redeemed they are to be built up by Pastors and Teachers whereas the material Church is built by manual Artificers not needing an Apostle but a Carpenter This may suffice for Explication only let this be added that the Greek word relates to Gods calling it signifieth a Society called by God So that the Apostle directs his Epistle to that Society or company of persons that did come our from the Heathenish Idolatries and abominations that the other Corinthians lived in and did profess their faith in Christ with obedience to him From whence observe That a Church is a company called of God by the preaching of the Word to the profession of faith in Christ and an observation of all that solemn worship and Ordinances which Christ hath appointed with a life in external conformity thereunto This is a Church When you read of a Church at Jerusalem a Church at Corinth the seven Churches of Asia you are to understand such a company And this Doctrine about a Church is much to be insisted on People are generally carnal ignorant and prophane And although they would think it an high reproach to have the name of a Church denied them or to be cast out of the Church as so many Heathens yet they do not attend to the nature of a Church nor to the properties of those who are to be members thereof It is true there are vast and infinite Disputes about a Church and every sect or party is ready to monopolize and appropriate that name to them That they are only the Church But these great Disputes about it argue we should be more carefull to distinguish lest we take Babylon for Jerusalem lest we take that for Gods Temple which is indeed a den of thieves Doth not the Popish party glory in the name of a Church Do they not make it necessary to salvation to come into communion with it and yet it is the place that Gods people are called to come out of lest they partake both of her sins and punishments But let us examine the chief particulars in the Doctrine which is a popular deseription of a Church And First We say It is a Society or Company So that one man cannot be called a Church It 's absurd in the Papists that when they have lifted up the name of a Church like a Gorgons head to turn all men into stones that they must not mutter a word against it when you come to examine what this Church is at last it is but one man and that is the Pope What number goeth to make a Church is not defined To a formed organized Church there must be so many at least that Church duties which are essential may be performed and a distinction between Governours and governed maintained otherwise where two or three are there is a Church said Tertullian Again In that it is a Company we see That it is not lawfull for a man to think of serving God alone by himself when there is an opportunity of joyning to a Church You read Act. 3. and 4. as any persons were converted presently they joyned themselves to the Church It is true there may be such persecutions or other impediments that Christians have wandered up and down and could not enjoy publick or private meetings but this absence from Church-communion was an heavy burden on their spirits And
are said not to be all Israel who are of Israel In the Old Testament we read of many who outwardly submitted to the profession of Gods commands who yet were not found at heart and therefore our Saviour in the course of his Ministry did not direct his preaching more to any subject almost then this viz. to have the internals of grace as well as externals so that we may say There is a called and elected Church and a called Church only not elected and this is to take off all Churches from idolizing and doting upon the Ordinances and external administrations which are in a Church as the Jews did and as most Christians do We are to go further and to see whether we be indeed and really Christs body as well as seemingly For if we do compare a Church called only with the Church called and elected and to the spiritual priviledges that are promised so our Divines use to say That it is but equivocally a Church they have no true acceptance with God If there should be a Society professing faith in Christ and have pure administrations but not one in the Society having true real sanctifying grace this Society in respect of God and Christ hath no true communion with them They have but the name not the nature and so are equivocally not univocally a true Church For why should it be otherwise with a Society then every member of it taken singly Now it 's certain in such a supposed Society where all are professors but not one member truly godly there every individual person notwithstanding all Church enjoyments yet hath no lively interest in Christ he is but as a glass eye or wooden leg in the body that hath no vivifical nourishment or is animated by the soul and therefore such are said to be De corpore Ecclesiae but not de animâ if then this be true of every member of that Church it must be also true of the Church taken collectively Only this is true if we consider such a company relatively to God But then if we consider them quoad nos in respect of men who cannot judge the hearts nor know when true grace is in any mans soul then such a Church or a Society may be called truly a Church For it is the external profession and outward submission to Christs order that doth make a Church visible to us and therefore in such a Church there are true Ordinances true Administrations And this is the rule we must go by in joyning our selves to a Church and keeping external communion with it if it be a called Church though not elected and be so farre orthodox and pure that we may have communion with them without sinne This is a Church to us howsoever God may look upon them as having a name to live but were dead as God said of Sardis Rev. 3. 1. which yet was a Church This distinction is of a two-fold use to prevent two mistakes First Of such who confound an external Church with an elected making Gods call and his election in an equal latitude thinking that because none but predestinated and truly sanctified men are of the invisible Church therefore none but such are also of the visible And then Secondly Of those who if they be of a Church especially cleansed from superstitions and prophaneness if the Church be a Reformed Church they rest in those external administrations and never attend to the work of grace indeed For if among Papists though so greatly polluted yet the Church is made an Idol to them no wonder if the Reformed Churches are prone to put confidence in Church-reformations without attending to internal sanctification But the Apostle tells us Gal. 6. 15. That in Christ Jesus neither circumcision or uncircumcision availeth any thing but a new creature that is no externals in the Church of God though of his own institution avail any thing without regeneration Therefore rest not in this that you are called of God that ye are his Church for many taken out of his Church shall be damned as well as out of the world yea more in the Church that is the visible Society professing of Christ will be damned then saved as appeareth by that expression twice repeated by our Saviour as being of so great concernment being worthy to be heard again and again Many are called but few are saved Mat. 22. 14. and 20. 16. And thus much of the Efficient Cause with the manner Called of God In the next place There is the Instrumental Cause and that is by the preaching of the Word For so we read upon Christs giving his Apostles commission to teach and preach to all Nations there were Churches gathered in every place And this is to be understood of the ordinary way For whether the Word even as read may not in some extraordinary cases be a means to bring some one person or more to the Church of God is not here to be disputed for we speak of the solemn ordinary instituted means of God and so there is no other way but the preaching of the Word Hence Rom. 10. 14 15. you see there a concatenation and chaining of calling upon God and believing together of beliving and hearing together and of hearing and the Ministry together But it 's objected by the Socinians That if the preaching of the Word be an instrument to gather a Church then it cannot be a note of the Church For that which is antecedent to a Church and is before the Church is cannot be a note of it To this we may answer That it is both an instrument to gather a Church and then a note of it when gathered neither is there any absurdity therein It 's true that very numerical preaching which at first made the Church cannot be a mark or note of it but the same specifical preaching or that which is like it that doth truly declare where the true Church is So that by this we may see the dignity and usefulness of the Ministry for by that God is pleased to raise up all the Churches that are in the world God who did immediatly create the world and used no instruments yet in planting of his Church doth and therefore they are workers with him 2 Cor. 6. 1. Neither is the Ministry only necessary to constitute a Church and then afterwards useless as Episcopius saith Where people have the Scriptures there the Ministry is of no necessity Yea the Socinians make it only a matter of order and conveniency For Ministers are not only appointed to gather Churches at first but when they are planted continually to water them Therefore Ephes 4. their usefulness is shewed even to constituted Churches For the further building them up even till they come to a full stature in Christ. And therefore the Apostles thought it not enough to make Churches to erect new spiritual Societies that should profess Christ but Elders were to be ordained in every Church that were to have constant residence amongst
useth in his Church not in respect of the Lordship and Dominion it self Christ shall never cease to be the King and Lord of his people only that manner of Government which now Christ exerciseth shall cease all Ordinances and administrations the Ministry and Sacraments yea all Magistracy and Civil Power that God might be all in all fot then we shall not mediately by Christ approach unto God as we do here but immediately yet so as all glory and honour will redound to Christ Thirdly Christ was thus a Lord in the state of his humiliation even in his very Infancy as well as after his exaltation and resurrection And here again the Socinians blaspheme denying That Christ was thus a Lord till his resurrection But although indeed the Scripture doth often attribute this glory and great name to him after his sufferings and upon his resurrection yet that is not because he was not so before but partly because then there was a glorious manifestation of his Dominion The Sunne did not appear so admirable in his eclipse Christ in the state of his humiliation did not so fully and palpably discover this his greatness yet for all that he was endowed with it and Christ doth acknowledg himself to have a Kingdom to Pilate even before his sufferings Yea at his birth the Wisemen came to worship him as Lord and King and when he rode in triumph into Jerusalem that Prophecy was fulfilled Behold thy King cometh to thee And certainly if then he was a Saviour and the Messias he must needs be also Lord and King Yea in the greatest expressions of his humane weaknesses as in his birth and death there was also powerfull demonstrations of his Divine Majesty Neither is Vorstius his Objection of any value That because Christ in his Infancy had not that wisdom required to govern which afterwards he did grow up into therefore he could not be Lord For in Christ while an Infant were hidden the treasures of all wisdom though these were not actually to be put forth but when there was an occasion to do so There was no defect in Christ to be Head of his Church while a child because even then he could put forth whatsoever was required at that time to govern the Church with And indeed to argue that he was not Lordor King because he did not actually put forth himself in that way is absurd for kingly or lordly actions did not make him to be a King or Lord but because he was Lord and King therefore he did as he pleased put forth such actions Certainly the Apostle cals him the Lord of glory even while they crucified him 1 Cor. 2. 8. And the Socinians themselves acknowledge him upon his ascension to be Lord of glory when yet the greatest instance of his lordly power is still to be accomplished which is the judging of all mankind at that dreadfull Day of Judgment Christ then was always Lord both in his state of humiliation and also of his exaltation Fourthly This lordly power which Christ hath extends to all things in the world he is Lord over the whole world He is the universal Monarch for God hath given him all the kingdoms of the world Rev. 11. 15. The kingdoms of this world are there said to become the Lords and of his Christ Yea in some sense this great Dominion is given to every Saint Revel 2. 26. To have power over all Nations even as he hath received of the Father Hence it is said John 5. 22. That the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to the Sonne not that the Father hath wholly abdicated himself from the government of the world as the Socinians say but because Christ as Mediator is subordinate unto him in this administration Christ therefore hath an universal power over the whole world And whereas learned men say One man cannot be universal Governour over the whole world much lesse over the Church because no man can have those qualifications fit for to discharge that Government yet in Christ this doth not hold because he is God as well as man but this Dominion of Christ in respect of his Church is of another nature than that of the world for he rules the world with a rod of iron breaking every thing to pieces that shall prejudice his Church So that this power over them is wholly coactive as they do not willingly own or submit to him as a Lord so he doth by his omnipotent power keep them under and makes them servants and vassals for his work and to bring about such glorious ends which they never intended or shall have any benefit by as those that built Noah's Ark were not preserved in it But to his Church there he holdeth out a Scepter of grace For as they do willingly own him as their King submitting to his order and laws so he taketh special care over them and they may more safely lay themselves down under his protection than under the greatest Potentate in the world More might be said Doctrinally about this Dominion of Christ but let us consider what comfortable and usefull improvement is to be made of it And 1. Is Christ thus a Lord and that above all Lords Then what ground is here for our faith under all discouragements and affections How little doest thou posfess thy heart with this Lord of glory Doest thou doubt about the pardon of sinne conquering of corruptions preservation under temptations Is not all this because thou doest not remember Christ is Lord of Lords Will not he bear thee up Doth he want either knowledge or power Especially this should encourage us in any work for him Thou fearest the frowns of man the oppositions of man thou doubtest thy cause will sink and is not all this because thou lookest upon earthly power as greater than Christs power Was ever any temporal lord able to do such things as the Lord Christ Never than saint or be discouraged under his work Use 2. If he be our Lord then here is ground for duty as well as for comfort Joh. 13. 13. Ye call me Master and Lord ye do well saith Christ but from that consideration he puts them upon duty And certainly iâ— Christ be our Lord where then is our honour our obedience to him May not he impose what duties injoyn the Church what Laws and order to walk by he pleaseth Shall we be our own lords Our tongues our hearts are not our own but our Lords Take heed of being in the number of those who shall deny the Lord that bought them 2 Pet. 2. 1. for such as do so bring upon themselves swift destruction if he be not thy Lord in grace and favour he will be thy Lord in wrath and in thy confusion They that said Psal 12. 4. Who is Lord over us found that God would be above them SERM. XXIX Of the Duty of Thankefulness Blessing and Praising God for all his Mercies 2 COR. 1. 3. Blessed be God even the
godly goe bowed downe not able to lift up their heads Now this Question will never be fully answered till that great day and therefore it is called The day of restoring of all things Acts 3. 21. which word signifieth that here in this world many things seeme to be out of order it is ill with a godly man well with a wicked man but then God will put every one in his proper place The wicked shall be where he ought to be and the godly where he is to be Then we shall no longer cry out How unsearchable are his wayes and past finding out For then God will cleare all his proceedings which have been in this world Then we shall know why this was so and that so Why God did help at such a time and not before Then all the proceedings of God whether in a way of judgement or mercy that doe astonish us shall be opened all the wisdome goodnesse and righteousnesse of God shall then be manifested to the whole world Thue we shall see a wonderfull alteration The next Proposition and last shall be this At that day there will be a vast and unspeakable change made upon some sinners especially Though we told you all sinners would have other thoughts and looke upon themselves in another manner than they doe now yet to some sinners this day will bring a remarkable but a terrible alteration As First The rich and jolly sinner who liveth in all manner of pleasures without any molestation at all Here will be a dreadfull change to him to goe from his down-bed to the flames in Hell To be fetched from his merry companions to be for ever tormented by the Devils The Parable of Dives and Lazarus Luke 16. 20. doth egregiously demonstrate this Dives is taken from his delicate fare and great abundance plunged in such a want of all mercies that he cannot have one drop of water to asswage his torment Abraham also telleth of his change vers 25. Remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things but now thou art tormented What thunder and lightning should this be to every such jolly sinner Why doest thou not say to thy self now thou art jolly and merry but will this hold alwayes will there never be any change Secondly The secret close sinner he who carrieth himself in all plausible wayes of piety but then continueth in private secret sinnes Now this day will especially be for the bringing to light all such hidden wayes of dishonesty Solomon concludeth his Booke with this Eccles 12. 14. God will bring every secret thing to light whether good or evil This day will be a terrible day for all such as hide and keep close their sinnes There is nothing done in secret but will then be made manifest to the whole world How terrible will this day be to the secret uncleane person to the secret thies to the secret unjust man Know to thy terrour at that day they will be no more secret As they say of letters written with some juyce they cannot be read till they be brought to the fire and then what was hardly discernable is very legible Thus it will be at that day The sinnes no man knoweth by thee those evil wayes the world cannot charge upon thee will then be made known to all Lastly All Pharisaical and self-righteous persons all those who are strongly perswaded of their good condition but upon false grounds This will be very terrible to such Many men live so prophanely and die so wickedly that they cannot but expect damnation they must looke for no other but there is a generation of persons Oh how many of them that doe applaud themselves in their own good hearts They doubt not of Gods favour they conclude whensoever they die it shall be well with them To such as these there will be a dreadfull change What thou that didst not doubt or feare thy condition no not to the last gaspe to fall from these great hopes into eternal despair What a change is here made Our Saviour did most fully represent such persons in the Parable of the foolish Virgins Matth. 25. 11 12. Did not they goe out confidently to meet the bridegroome Did not they cry boldly Lord Lord open to us And yet when they came to the last they wanted oile Oh the multitude of those persons who want oil yet live confidently and die confidently making no question but that the Lord will open to let them in So in another Parable in the same Chapter vers 44. Those persons whom the â—udge shall bid Depart into everlasting fire for the omission of such duties as were required of them They stand and plead with the Judge they will not believe themselves such sinners They will not grant they ever offended so When saw we thee an hungry and fed thee not c Oh take heed of this selfe-fulnesse of living and dying in such strong presumptions of Gods love for hell and damnation will be so much the more terrible by how much thou didst make sure of Heaven in thy owne expectation The Use from this Doctrine must needs be full of power and efficacy to move us Imagine a wicked man sentenced at that Tribunal taking his leave of all comforts wishing he had never been borne crying out to the mountaines and hils to cover him and then say Did this man once believe it would be thus with him Did this man ever thinke there would be such a change Now is it not Gods mercy to fore-warne thee of this day Neither Devil or the world neither God or man can be accused but thy owne wilfulnesse in sinning When thou art commanded to depart into everlasting fire never to enjoy a drop of comfort more How must thou justifie God the Ministers and thy owne godly friends taking confusion to thy self Shall we not heare thee speaking to God O glorious and infinite God thou hast beene mercifull and patient to me Thou gavest me time to repent Thou didst fore-warne of this torment I must justifie thee Then we shall heare him speaking to Christ Oh blessed and glorious Mediatour though not so to me How great was thy love in dying for sinners How much was I convinced that it was my duty to depart from my sinnes but my lusts would not let me Afterwards he shall justifie the Ministers and godly friends How often was I admonished I remember what you said to me I was convinced I had no reason to doe as I did it was my owne rebellious heart that hath undone me Lastly He speaketh to the glorified Saints Oh happy and thrice happy are ye How unspeakably glorious and comfortable is your condition I remember the holy life the godly examples you gave me but my wretched lusts would not let me follow you and now I must see your faces no more Farewell all joy all comfort brimstone fire torments and hell flames are to be my portion for ever Where is thy reason Where is
blessed for evermore And indeed he that hath the Titles of Jehovah the Properties of Jevovah that doth those works only which Jehovah can do he must needs be so the Son of God that also he is God himself And had not Christ been truly God it be hoved him to have denyed it when it was attributed to him But Phil. 2. He thought it no robbery to be equal with God Such was Christs Humility such was his love to his Fathers glory such was his care to instruct his Disciples in that which was necessary to Salvation that above all things he would have forewarned them not to have taken him for the true High God if he had not been so How solicitous was John Baptist that he might not be thought the Christ How passionately affected were Paul and Barnabas when the Heathens called them Gods and would have attributed divine worship to him Would not Christ have much more disclaimed these things had it not been his due belonging to him That he should be acknowledged the true God equal with the Father For though indeed at sometimes he saith The Father is greater than I and he maketh himself as sent from God to do his will yet then he speaks that in respect of his Office as Mediator and so he is the Servant of God appointed to do his will in reference to the Salvation of Mankinde 2. Hence he is not the son of God in those Respects which others are called so in the Scripture as First Some are called The sons of God in respect of creation because they had their being immediately from God Thus Adam is called the Son of God 2. Some are called the sons of God because of Regeneration and Adoption as all the godly are neither is thus Christ called the son of God Lastly some are called the sons of God because of their excellent Dignity and Priviledg in which sense the Angels are called the sons of God But Christ is called in such a sense the Son of God that it cannot be attributed to any but him and therefore sometimes is called the Onely son of God some imes the Onely begotten son of God And therefore none else may be called the Son of God in that respect he is 3. He is therefore called the son of God because begotten from Eternity of the Father He is not called a Son in a metaphorical but proper sense and that by Generation Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Psal 27. which though applied in the New Testament Act. 13. 33. to Christs Resurrection when God raised him from the Grave yet that is to be understood in respect of Manifestation and Declaration only then he was powerfully manifested to be indeed the only begotten Son of God That this begetting of him was from Eternity appeareth Mich. 5. 2. Whose goings forth have been from of old from everlasting He is not then called the Son of God in the several senses the Socinians Assigne as because inaugrated to be a Prophet of his Church nor because of that miraculous Conception and Nativity nor because upon his Resurrection he was invested with Lordly Dignity and Dominion but because he was from all Eternity begotten of the Father As for that Passage in Luke 1. 3. where the Angel speaking of the overshadowing by the Holy Ghost addeth Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God which hath prevailed with some though Orthodox so far as to make that miraculous birth a ground of his Sonship to God The best answer is That it is an Argument from the signe not from the cause because he had such a miraculous conception this did declare that he was the Son of God This must needs be so because he was called the Son of Man from that birth now he could not be called the son of man and the Son of God from the same fundamental respect It is necessary then to inform your selves in this fundamental Article that Christ is the Son of God and in what sense he is so For the Socinians acknowledg him a God but an appointed one a made and constituted one Therefore Smalâ—ius the Socinian inscribeth his Book de Divinitate Jesu Christi not Deitate he confesseth the Divinity of Christ but not the Deity Now they were called Divi amongst the Heathens who were made Gods after their death 4. When he is called the Son of God and that properly this doth necessarily imply that he was begotten of the Father And in this Consideration the humane thoughts of men would be much scandalized if they did not submit to Scripture How many Hereticks blasphemously have derided at this because we say God had a Son and that he is begotten of the Father But we must know there is a threefold Generation First Physical of man begetting a man and this is accomplished with manifold Imperfections 2. Metaphorical in which sense Philosophers do often speak of the Conceptus mentis that the minde doth degignere verbum which instance some learned Divines delight to use in the Illustration of this Mysterious point 3. There is an hyperphysical or supernatural Generation above the way and course of nature and in this sense the father is said to beget the son so that we are to remove all those Imperfections which adhere to humane Generation especially that of Separation and Multiplication For amongst men when the Father begets the Son there is a multiplication of a new Essence and then a Division or Separation of the Sons Essence from the Father so that although the Son hath the same specifical Essence with the Father yet not the same numerical Essence whereas in this supernatural Mystery there is no division or distinction of the Essence but of the Person 5. Because these Mysteries seem very difficult to flesh and blood therefore under all temptations we must adhere immoveably to the Word of God believing the testimony thereof and not attend to what humane Arguments suggest Thou must no more regard the Socinian Cavils than Hezekiah was to do the railing Language of Rabshaketh and we are the more solemnly ingaged hereunto by our Baptisme for that is a Dedication of us to the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Though there is a Distinction in Order first the Father then the Son yet none in Dignity and therefore it s the name not the names That place also of John howsoever Socinians would wrest it stands like Mount Zion yea firmer than that 1 John 5. 7. There are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one When a man taketh off his heart from the Scripture and beginneth to think How can the Infinite Majesty of God have a Son how can he have the same Essence and yet be a distinct Person whether did he beget this Son naturally or freely whether from Eternity or in time and if he