iii. 3 Thou shalt be for me and not another and I will be for thee saith the Lord. Observe that Expression 1 Cor. vi 17 He that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit Here is Union and Communion Joined to the Lord Beza renders it Agglutinatus There is Union And Communion One Spirit He takes some Comparison before from a married Couple But this is nearer there must be an Union betwixt Man and Wife nay there is betwixt Man and Whore Know ye not that he which is joined to an Harlot is one Body For two saith he shall be one Flesh. But it may be no Communion of Hearts and Affections But he that is joined to God is one Spirit II. Observe this Communion by the Expression of the Members of his Body Which the Apostle follows in 1 Cor. xii especially see ver 27. Now ye are the Body of Christ and Members in particular Ye are the Body in gross and every particular Christian a particular Member Now the Body and Members relate to the Head which is Christ. Eph. iv 15 That ye may grow into him in all things which is the Head even Christ. From whom the whole Body fitly joined together And Col. i. 18 He is the Head of the Body the Church So that here you may first see the Union 'twixt Christ and his Members and then the Communion The Union as the Head to the Body the Communion as betwixt Head and Members So what nearer Union or Communion can be in the World And this asserts what I said that Communion with God and Christ is founded in Union with God No Member if not in Union with the Head and if a Member so in Union it cannot but have Communion Members cannot but derive Virtue from the Head and cannot again but be serviceable all they can to it Such a Communion is there 'twixt a Saint and God And what the particular Nature or Virtue of it is learn by observing how it comes and how a Saint comes by it For the Discovery of which we will take up this Question to speak to Quest. How should I do to come in Communion with God I know it is good and happy but how shall I come by it Ans. Learn this from civil Converse 'twixt Friend and Friend Abraham was the Friend of God and he came into that Nearness after the manner as Friend doth with Friend Observe two Expressions in Scripture Knowing of God 1 Chro. xxviii 9 Thou Solomon my Son know the God of thy Father And Acquainting one's self with God Job xxii 21 Acquaint now thy self with him So is the Case with two that come to converse as Friends I know such a Person and I make my self acquainted with him I. So that the first Step to Communion with God is to know him But under what Notion or what Knowledge 1. Not a distant Knowledge As wicked Men know there is a God This is far from bringing into Acquaintance Every one of us know there is a Turk and Pope but this is far from being in Converse with them Nay nearer we all know the King is our Soveraign and own him so yet this is far from conversing with him It is said God beholds the Wicked afar off So they tho' they knew him they knew but afar off As he that was newly cured of his Blindness in the Gospel saw Men walk but they seemed to him like Trees As Balaam saith of his seeing of God Num. xxiv 17 I shall see him but not now I shall behold him but not nigh 2. Nor is it barely to know God in his Attributes That he is terrible glorious just The Devils know all this but as far from Communion with God as Hell is from Heaven 3. But so to know God is to love and desire him and his Communion He that would be acquainted with one looks not on him barely as one he knows nor barely as one worthy to be acquainted with but as by whose Acquaintance to have Comfort Benefit and Delight and which he cannot comfortably be without Such is that Knowledge of God that begins Communion with God To make it our Work to know God as without Knowledge of whom and acquaintance with whom we are undone To desire his Knowledge and Acquaintance above all things in the World and to account nothing in the World worth our Study Knowledge and Acquaintance but himself So the Apostle professeth over and over 1 Cor. ii 2 For I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified For nothing else in comparison of him is worth the Study and Labour to know And Phil. iii. 8 Yea doubtless without any dispute and I count all things but Loss for the Excellency of the Knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord. This is that that makes me justly to move the Question Do you seriously ask how I may come in Communion with God Because that requires the Preparative of the most affectionate Desires to come into Communion with him Such a Desire breathes the Heart of a true Saint Esai xxvi 8 9. The Desire of our Souls is to thy Name and to the Remembrance of thee With my Soul have I desired thee in the Night yea with my Spirit within me will I seek thee early II. The second Means to come into Communion with God is to be acquainted with him Now to make your selves acquainted with God be not strange to him The Wicked are estranged from the Womb. Not only not knowing God but not making himself known to God The Word in Job xxii 21 which we translate Acquaint is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Accustom thy self to God The Word is used elsewhere Num. xxii 30 The Ass said unto Balaam Am not I thine Ass upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this Day Was I ever wont or accustomed to do so unto thee So that the Word signifies Accustoming Frequenting A Saint acquaints himself with God by frequent coming to his Presence in Prayer and hearing and attending on him As Acts iii. 10 All knew the poor Creeple which sat for Alms at the beautiful Gate of the Temple because there he constantly sat so God knows the Face of a Saint he is ever and anon in the Presence of God Oh! I know thee by Name thou art always at my Footstool thou art always in my School I know thee Moses by Name saith God And very good Reason for it he was always in his Presence Ps. lxxxiii 23 I am continually with thee Was it possible then but that God should know him God at the Judgment will say to the Wicked I know you not And no wonder for he never saw their Faces in his Family You are none of my Children I never saw you owning your Dependance upon me knowing me as the Father None of my Servants I never saw you doing my Work None of my Scholars I never saw you in my School studious and taking out your Lesson Your Faces
it You know the hot Disputes that have been about this And for the Divisions of Reuben there are great Thoughts of Heart Hence mainly are our Separations and Divisions in Religion As in Jephtha's Case his dear Daughter was his greatest Trouble Judg. xi 35 Alas my Daughter thou hast brought me very low and thou art one of them that trouble me So this precious Sacrament of Communion is unhappily proved the great Occâ—sion of Division but in the same Notion that Christ was a Stumbling-block Which was not of any Fault of his but of Men in faultering about him 'T is true receiving of this Sacrament is a Communion but it is most especially external in the Profession of the same Faith and Doctrine of the Gospel And the Communion of Saints in this Article aimeth further I have formerly observed to you the Phrase This is the New Testament in my Blood 1 Cor. xi 25 Not only My Blood of the New Testament nor only A Seal and Sanction of the New Testament but the New Testament That is A new Administration of the New Covenant terminating Judaism and binding over Receivers to the Profession of the Evangelical Doctrine and Religion So this properly is the Communion that Receivers have in this Sacrament one with another viz. That they join in the Profession of the same Christian Doctrine and that not only among themselves but even with the whole Church that professeth the same Truth And hence it was that in the Infancy of the Church they received the Sacrament almost daily that those new Professors might thereby be held to constant Profession against revolting to their Judaism So that in this there is indeed something of the Communion of Saints all professing the same Truth and Religion but we must still look further for a Communion among Saints to take up the full meaning of the Article before us For the Inquiry after which we are first to consider that Christ's Mystical Body the Church consists of all the Saints that are or shall be in the World from the beginning to the end of it And so it includes the Saints in Glory jointly with these that are yet on Earth Those in Glory Members already above Water as their Head also is yet in the Waves of this troublesome World and not got above them As it is said of Christ himself Luke ii ult That he grew in Stature so is the Mystical Body of Christ growing in Stature till it shall be consumate at the last Day Observe that Eph. iv 13 Till we all come in the unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect Man unto the measure of the Stature of the fulness of Christ or the measure of the full Stature of Christ. Some fondly hence conclude that all Saints shall be raised as at the very Age and Stature of Christ when he was raised which was at his very Prime viz. Two and Thirty years and an half of Age. That Elect Infants shall not be raised Infants but as of that Age and Stature That the Aged shall not be raised as Aged but as at their Prime of that Age and Stature Which as it breeds confusion in the understanding of the Article of the Resurrection of the Body so it is clean besides the Apostles intent there He speaks not of our Bodies but of Christ's Mystical Body viz That God had given Apostles and Teachers for the building up that Body the Church by degrees till it came to its full Stature and Perfection in the Salvation of all that belong to it So Saints are building up daily and those that are gone to Glory so much of that Body is compleated and the rest growing on to the same Perfecting till all be Compleated and the whole Body Perfected So that those compleated in Glory and these compleating toward Glory here are the same Body though at present of a different condition The Church Militant and Triumphant are not two Churches not two Bodies but one whole Church and Body of Christ consisting of Members some already Perfected and some Perfecting As Israel at the Temple in the two Courts were not two Congregations and Churches but one Congregation in two divers places two Companies of one Congregation The Apostle in Heb. xi ult saith God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect When some say the Saints under the Law are not perfected in Glory till Christ's coming but in Limbo Whereas the Apostle speaks in the sense we are upon viz. That those Holy Ones without us under the Gospel are not the perfect Body of Christ but the Body was to consist of Gentiles as well as Jews Of some yet to be saved as well as of them that are saved already Now is there any Communion 'twixt these two parts of the same Body Saints on Earth and Saints in Glory I mean is there any imparting of the one to the other as there is 'twixt two Parties in Communion Some will tell you Yes We are to Pray to them and they Pray for us As he in the Prophet makes a God and then falls down to it So it is common in the Church of Rome to make whom they think good Saints and then to Pray to them that they would Pray for them to God Whereas they can never clear the Praying to Creatures from Idolatry and can never prove that it is possible for a Saint in Heaven to hear one Speaking and Praying on Earth much less to know the Heart with which he Prays So can they ever prove that there is Praying in Heaven at all The Church here is called the House of Prayer but it is hard to prove that Heaven is so There is Praising and Thanksgiving and Glorifying God and Adoring the Lamb But where do we ever read of Praying in Heaven Nay Can any prove that Christ Prayeth there for his People But he exerciseth his Mediation some other way He offereth up the Prayers of his Saints Rev. viii 3 And another Angel came and stood at the Altar having a Golden Censer and there was given unto him much Incense that he should offer it with the Prayers of all Saints upon the Golden Altar which was before the Throne But that he offers them he Praying also cannot be cleared But I shall not insist on this The Article aims at the Communion of Saints upon Earth according to David's Style Psal. xvi 3 To the Saints that are in the Earth Saints scattered in the Earth and yet have they Communion We may think of that Ezek. xxxvii 3 Can these dry scattered Bones come together and Live Yes ver 7. Bone came to his Bone and Lived So Son of Man can Men dispersed in Europe Asia Africa and America have Communion They know not one another never saw one another and they have Communion Yes There is an invisible Vein of Communion runs betwixt all Saints on Earth Which we consider in these
As in Gen. xiii 8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We are MEN BRETHREN In fine so well did our Divine acquit himself in this Assembly and such was the General Opinion of his Learning and Integrity that when Much Munden in Hertfordshire was under Sequestration and Mr. Sedgwick moved that some one of the Assembly might be recommended to that Place Lightfoot was Nominated and it was ordered with Universal Consent that he should be recommended to the Committee for that purpose which happened in Jan. 1643. 'T is true this Learned Man was noted for certain peculiar Opinions differing therein from such as were commonly received and believed and thereupon was disliked by some Nor will I deny it but yet I must add that they were such Notions as were innocent and did no harm such as had no bad influence upon Religion nor tended in the least to the Breach of the Churches Peace which he ever held very sacred nor lastly Such as abated the necessity of a Vertuous and good Life And for evidence hereof I will mention some if not the chief of them First That the Jews shall not be called but are utterly rejected And that the Time of their Rejection happened before the Times of Christ and that it so happened to them for their fond and impious Traditions rather than as it is commonly asserted after Christ for their Wickedness in Murthering their Messiah and persecuting the Gospel how grievous a Crime soever that was And that their last and only Calling was in the Times of Christ and his Apostles when some few of them viz. A Remnant were brought in to the Faith of Christ. But that neither then there was nor ever shall be any Universal Calling of them And that that pâ—ace in the Epistle to the Romans Chap. xi 5 At this present time there is a Remnant c. was very unfit to prove this Calling of the Jews to be either Universal or after a great many Ages Secondly His mean Opinion of the Greek Translation of the Bible by the Seventy that it was hammered out by the Jews with more Caution than Conscience more Craft than Sincerity and that it was done out of Political Ends to themselves As that the Bible might be represented after that manner to the Heathen among whom the Jews dwelt that they might have no occasion from any Passages therein to revile or cavil with them and that the Jewish Nation might live the more securely concealing in the mean time as much as they could the Mysteries and Truths contained therein Thirdly His Opinion concerning the Keys that they were given to Peter alone And this he openly hâ—ld in the Assembly of Divines When a long Debate happenning whether the Keys were given to all the Church or to the Apostles only our Divine stood up and granted that in all Ages the Learned hâ—ld that the Keys meant the Government of the Church but that for his part he held that the Keys were only given to Peter according as Christ spake only to him To THEE will I give the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven But mark in what sense he meant it That is to open the Gospel to the Gentiles which was meant he said by the Kingdom of Heaven And that it was to this purpose Peter spake Acts xv 7 in an Assembly of the Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem Ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles by my Mouth should hear c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is from this Promise of Christ given to him And Fourthly He did not allow that Binding and Loosing related to Discipline but to Doctrine And that because the Phrases to Bind and to Loose were Jewish and most frequent in their Writers and that it belonged only to the Teachers among the Jews to Bind and to Loose And that when the Jews set any apart to be a Preacher they used these Words Take thou Liberty to Teach what is Bound and what is Loose To which I might add Fifthly His peculiar Interpretation of those Words of God to Cain If thou dost not well Sin lyeth at the Door SIN that is not Punishment to take hold of thee but a Sin-offering to make Attonement for thee and that that was the common Acceptation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e Sin in the Books of Moses And that God did not intend to terrifie Cain by those Words but rather to keep him from Despair These and perhaps other Notions and Expositions of Scripture however Novel they seemed to be yet as they were not without probability so they never made any Assaults upon Fundamental Doctrines or true Christian Holiness and Peace And thus we have seen somewhat of his Learning and Divinity But that which made it the more valuable was his Integrity and Goodness Which opens to us a second Scene of the Man and brings us to the Consideration of him II. As a Good Christian. And for the the better evidencing of this I shall use the same Method for the most part as I have done before to shew his Learning Namely by looking into his Behaviour while he sat a Member of the Assembly of Divines 1. He was an earnest Promoter of the Peace of the Church And because the breaking of the Communion of Christians by Schisms and Separations and withdrawing from the National Church into distinct Churches did effectually tend to kindle the Fire of Contention and Uncharitableness and to beget Estrangements in the Family of Câ—rist where Love ought to be the great Badge therefore he always set himself to oppose those Practices And for this purpose he would often urge how our great Master and Lord kept up constant Communion with the Jewish Church whereof he was Born a Member and came up duly to the Temple at the Set Feasts and observed the Churches Rites and Customs however corrupt they were in many respects and the Officers and Prime Professors of it very Degenerate and Hypocritical Which Argument he hath managed well in his Discourse upon the Widow's Mite in this Book as well as in other Places of his Printed Sermons extant in his Works To which I might add that when in his Discourse upon one of the Select Articles of the Creed now published he had occasionally said that it might so happen that a Man might be excommunicate out of a true Protestant Church and yet it were hard to doom such an one to Perdition he presently put in this Caution That he spake not this to animate any to separate or withdraw from the visible Church wherein we live Adding withal his Grief at the Separations among us That for such Divisions of Reuben there were great Thoughts of Heart And it is remarkable that when once in the Assembly some began to move whether the Church of England were a true Church and the Ministry of the Church of England a true Ministry some would have waved it lest it might have brought on the Business of
even all the next Month Elul which consisteth of Twenty-nine Days EXOD. XXXIV to the end of the Book 30 ¶ And on the Tenth of Tisri ¶ Moses cometh down from his third Fast. And now God is reconciled to Israel and the Case is well with them He brings down two new Tables hath Commission to begin with the making of the Tabernacle The Cloud of Glory is restored to the Camp again And because all these good Tidings came to Israel upon the Tenth of the Month Tisri for this that Day is set apart to be observed every Year for the Feast of Expiation When the High Priest entred into the most Holy Place with Blood an exquisite Type of Christ if it be searched to the Quick Because Moses had told Israel at his coming down from the Mountain of the making of the Sanctuary by which they conclude it will be long before their Removal from Sinai therefore on the Fifteenth of Tisri they begin to make themselves Mansions and Booths to lodge in till their Removal For this that Day is appointed for the Feast of Tabernacles to Posterity And now they begin to fall in Hand with the Work in the same Month that the World began And in it are Six special Works like those of the Creation All the Men from Twenty Years old and upward contribute each one half a Shekel for the Silver Foundation Some gave something else And the Women bestow their Pains of spinning and sewing and their Looking Glasses These Six Months current are they busie Against the first Month of the next Year all is ready So on the First of Nisan Anno Mundi MMDXIV they begin to set the Tabernacle up Which was Six Days in doing When it is finished the Cloud descends on it Thus ends Exodus in a Cloud under which we are to look for a more perfect Tabernacle not made with Hands In which the Godhead should dwell bodily as the Cloud here SECT V. LEVITICUS OUT of the Tabernacle newly erected God giveth Ordinances for the Service of it in Sacrifice of all Kinds the Office of the Priest c. CHAP. I II III IV c. even all the Book For these things were delivered to Moses in the beginning of the Month Nisan On the Fourteenth Day they keep the Passover Therefore read next Numb Ch. ix all the Chapter and Ch. x. to ver 11. Which his Sons missing in dye by Fire as also Shelomith's Son by Stones These Ceremonies of Moses some were Doctrines of Faith some of Manners and some of both Study them presly for they are of infinite Sweetness and Satisfaction Measure the rest by the one Law of Clean and Unclean Which among other things ground us in these Doctrines I. That nothing is unclean to be touch'd while it is alive but Man See Mat. xv 11 II. There are degrees of Uncleanness Leprosie the greatest III. Every one that came to be judged of by the Priest was unclean tho' not Leprous IV. The Priests could not make but only pronounce clean and unclean The Power of the Keys is spoken of from this Place and in this Phrase V. Every Priest had this Priviledge as well as the High Priest Hence must we understand that Peter's Power of the Keys was not singular VI. He that was Leprous all over was to be pronounced clean For it appeared that all the Poyson was come forth But he that had any live Flesh that shewed not Leprous was unclean A Doctrine against Merit and the Power of Man to Good VII No final Excommunication but for Leprosie VIII The Priests that were to be Judges of Leprosie could not be tainted with it Hence when Aaron and Miriam are both in the same fault of murmuring against Moses Miriam is struck with Leprosie but Aaron is not So when King Uzziah would be meddling with the Priests Office God useth no other way to chastize him and to shew him his Error than by striking him with Leprosie with which the true Priests could not be tainted SECT VI. NUMBERS IN the beginning of the last Month the Sanctuary was pitched CHAP. I II III IV. And so is their Camp in the beginning of this second Month. All Israel numbred from Twenty Yeaâ—â— old and upward None of this number are to enter Canaan Levi was exempt from this Curse and therefore they are numbred by themselves Their Camp is pitched The Sanctuary in the middle for Religion is the Heart of a State The Levites at a distancâ— pitch next it in a Quadrangular Body clean about it At a greater distance even about them Two Thousand Cubits from the Tabernacle pitcheth the Body of the Army in the same Form Every side of the Square carrying its several Colours Judah the Picture of a Lion Ephraim a Bullock Reuben a Man Dan an Eagle Compare this with God's dwelling in the Church of the Christians Rev. iv The Law concerning the Unclean and the suspected Wife that their new pitched Camp might be pure NUM V VI. And of Nazarites the only Votaries of the Laity The Prince's Offer to the Sanctuary More Ordinances about it About this time comes Jethro to Moses NUM VII VIII His long Absence had been because of Distaste he took at Moses Then should you go to Chap. x. ver 11. But take in Exod. xviii before Then read Num. x. from ver 11. to the end of the Chapter for sending Zipporah back when he went for Egypt Israel removes from Sinai having pitched there a whole Year within some few Days The Peoples murmuring causeth a Plague Aaron's and Miriam's murmuring against Moses his Heathenish Wife NUM XI XII which was but newly come among them The Decree of their wandring in the Wilderness Eight and Thirty Years longer NUM XIII XIV and that all that were numbred at Sinai should not enter Canaan Read here Psal. xc which was made upon this Decree cometh forth irrevocable Some Laws given to those NUM XV. that should enter the Land Korah Dathan and Abiram murmur against the Function of Moses and the Priesthood of Aaron NUM XVI They are punished alike in kind but not in degree Korah's Sin was not altogether so heavy as the other He was of the Priestly Tribe Levi therefore for him to affect the Priesthood was not so heinous as for Dathan and Abiram who were meerly Laymen Answerably Korah's Punishment was not so heavy as theirs For all their Children were swallowed up with them but Korah's were not Samuel came of Korah and some Psalmists that made divers Psalms Aaron's Priesthood is justified by the budding of his withered Rod as a Priesthood should bud NUM XVII when Aaron's was withered Upon this Approval special Services for the Priests are appointed Miriam dieth in their last wandring Year NUM XVIII XIX XX. Moses and Aaron excluded out of Canaan for being more angry at Israel than God himself This shewed that the Promise aimed at better
Holy Men that truly fear God Sursum corda then lift up your Hearts First To be affected with the Goodness and good Providence of God that picketh out and preserveth such a Company to himself Not to think of the Church on Earth but to have such a thought also towards Heaven hereat to observe admire and be affected with God's wonderful Goodness in that regard Such are the Apostle's Thoughts upon the Thoughts of the Church He looks on the Church of Corinth once such a People as he describes 1 Cor. vi 9 10. Fornicators Idolaters Adulterers Effeminate Abusers of themselves with Mankind Thieves Covetous Drunkards Revilers Extortioners But now Washed Sanctified Justified And where are his Thoughts Up toward God 1 Cor. i. 4 I thank God always on your Behalf for the Grace of God which is given you So he looks on the Church of the Ephesians Chap. i. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all Spiritual Blessings c. So on that of the Philippians Ch. i. 3 I thank my God upon every Remembrance of you And so to the Thessalonians 2 Thess. i. 2 We give Thanks to God always for you all And so should a Christian presly thinking of the Church of God have his Heart in Heaven blessing the infinite Goodness for chusing and preserving such a People to himself In the Inundation of Sin and Damnation to pick out a Number for himself to escape Sin and Damnation and in all the Tumblings and Storms of the World to keep a Church undrowned and unoverwhelmed an Handful in Noah's Ark in the midst of the Deluge of Sin and Troubles Secondly To be affected with the Condition and Estate of the Members of the Church He that truly knows that and them cannot but take up that of the Psalmist Psal. cxliv. 15 Happy are the People that are in such a case yea happy is that People who have the Lord for their God When you rehearse this The Holy Catholick Church in the Creed let your Thoughts first recoyl to your Bibles and see how the Holy Ghost pictures them there Lam. iv 2 The precious Sons of Zion comparable to fine Gold Mal. iii. 17 And they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in the Day when I make up my Jewels Then that Psal. lxxxiii 3 They have consulted against thy hidden ones They are the Treasure of the Lord's Cabinet laid up with him tho' not minded of Men. Nay yet the Divine Limner lays on more precious Colours Joh. xv 15 I have called you Friends Nay 2 Pet. i. 4 Partakers of the Divine Nature Nay further 1 John iii. 4 We are the Sons of God And that is not all but more if more may be We shall be like to himself Now Christian when thou repeatest this Article write this Exposition of the Word Church in the Margin These are the Lord 's precious Ones His Jewels His Friends His Sons His own Similitude These are His Delight His Portion His Chosen and the very Apple of his own Eye Deut. xxxii 10 And art thou not affected with their happy Condition And affected for thine own Soul's Interest I believe the Holy Catholick Church that is such a Happy Blessed Glorious Company and dost thou not stir O my Soul No Life no Holy Emulation no striving to be like to these A poor miserable Beggar sees the Wealth and Bravery of the great Ones and he may haply envy it but he cannot emulate or hope to equal it But God hath shewn thee a Way that thou mayest be like to these and Partaker of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light and art thou not moved Alexander weeps because He was not so famous as Achilles Julius Caesar because not so famous as Alexander And hast thou not a holy Emulation in thee O Christian Such and such Holy Blessed Dear to God and hast thou no Emulation to be so too Ponder but that Title Friend of Christ and that Title Child of God and do we profess Christ and God And are we not moved at it To be a Child of God carried in the Bosom of his dearest Affections To be a Friend of Christ always in his tender Affections and Remembrances and smiled on by him at the great Day and Heart art thou so lumpish as not to be warmed with such Thoughts This very Hint may answer the Question before us viz. Is every one to believe that he is of the true Church Answer Every Heart here is he not to believe that he should be of this Church that it is not well if he be not so Nay further that he is to strive with all his Endeavour to be of it or else he is not what he should be Set this Church before you in the Picture of it Mat. xxv 33 standing on the Right Hand and Christ smiling upon it Do you not believe you should be of that number Do you not believe you ought to give all Diligence to be of it This it the thing the Article calls to you for when you repeat it And let me be a little further its Interpreter to shew you yet this Church its Meaning I. It would mind you that that is the Church that is a Church for ever The Church of God is that that shall be the Church of God when the World shall be no more I may compare the Church visible and invisible to the Body and the Soul The Body is visible and at last shall come to Dust. But the Soul is invisible and is immortal Visible Churches have died Generation after Generation Where are the visible Churches of Asia Judea c. and time will come when all the visible Churches of Europe must come to nothing But still there was an immortal Soul in those Churches a Company of Holy Ones that go to be a Church of God in another World to praise glorifie and have Communion with God for ever This Church in the World is like the Heart in the Body of Man Primum vivens ultimum moriens The first that lives and the last that dies It began to live in Adam and Eve when they embraced Christ and when it dies the World must die with it When the last Saint is gathered then even the Soul of the World and of the visible Church is gone and they die too The Life of the visible Church is the Word and Sacraments and Ordinances Wheresoever these are there the Church is alive But if these are not rightly administred the Candlestick is removed it hath but a Name that it liveth but is dead And how hath God or may God remove these But the Life of the invisible Church is the Word and Spirit and neither of these are ever to be removed For both are settled in Heaven Observable is that Phrase Jam. i. 21 The ingrafted Word It is fast joyned and growing in the Heart In the visible Church it is in the Hands but to the true Flock of