that maintaines for matters of Faith and walks for matters of manners according to the Scriptures Now if a Church hath no better mark then Antiquity it is a false Church Another mark of a false Church is universality when they have no other 2. Universality mark to shew but that the most are of their side they can shew the greatest bulk if you go and count there is most of their number a great deal this is a sure mark of a false Church yet the Church of Rome makes use of this mark for they consute our marks of a true Church and will have multitudes to be their mark and by this we may see they are Antichrist Rev. 13. 12. so Rev. 13. 8. All that dwell upon the earth whose names were not written in the book of the Lamb worshipped the beast the reprobate are the greatest part of the world now here he saith all that dwell upon the earth almost shall worship the Beast if this were the mark of a true Church Christ had miscounted himself when he counted his flock a little flock Luke 12. 32. Fear not little flock c. And again he saith Strive to enter in at the straight gate c. He describes a true Church by the fewness and not by the universality of it therefore what a madness is this to make universality a note of a true Church Thirdly Another is succession of Pastors from the Apostles times to this 3. Succession of Pastors very day this they make a mark of a true Church O say they we can shew succession down from Peter here at Rome even to this day The Protestants are not able to shew this this is a poor mark Caiâ—phas that condemned Christ could shew succession from Aaron so a Church may be a Church that renounceth Christ and is an Antichristian Church and yet may shew succession and other Churches as Alexandria and others can shew succession as well as Rome so that succession of Pastors is nothing unless they can shew succession of Doctrine Fourthly Unity They make that to be a mark of the true Church and 4. Unity this is a false mark too others say they have not unity among them but we have unity thus you may as well prove the Divels in Hell to be a Church for there is unity as our Saviour saith If Satan be divided against Satan how can his Kingdom stand so Acts 4. 27. you may see what an unity was there they were all of one knot and one mind there was a marvellous great unity among them all to condemn Christ the Church must be proved to be a true Church before unity can be brought to be any sign of it for the more unity is in a wicked way the more hellish is the conspiracy Fifthly Miracles is a note of a false Church now the Papists say We 5. Miracles can shew miracles for our Religion where can you shew miracles Christ saith we may know Antichrist and his adherents by this Mat. 24. 24. there shall arise false Christs c. False Christs and such as make as though they were Christians and the people of God and come to you in the name of the Lord and they may shew you signs and wonders to make you believe them but they are the Divels signs and they shall be very strong to delude the world so 2 Thes 2. 9. the Apostle shews us that the coming of Antichrist shall be after this manner therefore no marvel that they plead signs and wonders and apparitions of the dead from their doctrine of the Mass and Purgatory and prayers for the dead c. this is an argument that their Church is Antichristian that which is a true Church according to the Scripture needs no new miracles therefore Calvin and Luther that propounded nothing but the truth of the Scripture they need bring no miracles to confirm it if indeed they had brought any new doctrines of their own heads they had need to have brought miracles to confirm them but when they brought nothing but what they could prove out of the Scripture Scripture-miracles were enough to prove this Sixthly Another mark is pompe and stateliness a Church may come to 6. Pompe and stateliness have no other mark but this that it is a goodly and stately Church a pompous kind of serving God things are set ouâ— pompously this is rather an argument of an Antichristian Church for the Kingdom of Christ is not of this world and that which is highly esteemed amongst men is abonimable in the sight of God Lastly They make outward prosperity and happiness to be a mark of 7. Outward happiness and prosperity the true Church of God but this is rather a mark of a Synagogue of Satan For all that live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution 2 Tim. 3. 12. And if any man will be my Disciple saith Christ let him take up his cross and follow me I say the Kingdom of Christ is not of this world therefore prosperity and felicity is not a sign of a Church of God thus we see that a Church that was once a true Church of God may come to be no true Church they may lose all the true notes of a Church of God and have no other notes but such as prove it to be no true Church but rather a Church of Infidels and unbelievers The first reason is because the Church of God is Catholique that is Reas 1. Because the Church is Catholique it is not tied and pent up in any place God may carry it where he will he may set up his Church in what Country and Town and Family he will and choose what particular person in the whole world he will God is not tied to any therefore when the Jews bore themselves upon this that they were the Church and Gods Ordinances and Oracles were appropâ—iated to them they came at the first hour of the day at the first hand but if the Gentiles were a Church it was but at the second hand they came but at the eleventh hour he takes up a parable Mat. 20. and saith they that are last shall be first c. and he gives a reason shall I not do what I will with mine own so God may do with his Ordinances and gifts and graces of his spirit he may bestow them where he will he may give his Gospel to a Kingdom and take it away at his pleasure and he may stay as long as he will and be gone when he will Secondly God doth not need any place any people though a place be 2. God needs no place or persons never so glorious and stately and though it be never so admirable a Church God doth not need that Nation but if it grow maleâ—ert and stiffe and stubborn against him the Lord will make them know he hath no need of them and cares not for them as the Jews when they bore themselves upon this that they were
they let into their soul they know not what they have lost till God give them an heart to cast up their accounts and then they may see that they have lost almost all that they have who knows what God may do it is a fearful thing you see a child of God may not only fall into foul and fearful sins but he may lie in them Then Thirdly To go further when a child of God is come hither then you 3. A child of God may be long in sin will say certainly this man must rise up again quickly grace will not let him lie dead 't is true God will not for ever let him lie dead but for how long he shall lie dead no man nor Angel can tâ—ll as the Church speaks concerning her misery there is never a Prophet never an ordinance of God all is gone to wrack and there is none among us can tell us how long Psal 74. 9. so when a man hath fallen into sin and hath pulled distempers into his soul there is none among us can tell us how long 't is true Peter got up again within a few hours but David got not up again till after ten months and may be another not till after ten years may be twenty forty nay who can tell how long grace is free therefore no man can prescribe any time the wind blows where it listeth and how long it listeth and how long it will John 3. Reasons of the point 1. Reas be ere it blow again who knoweth The Reasons of thâ— first in regard of Satan he fights most of all against the children of God his â—ingers itch to be at them and at them most his greatest spight is against them the very bowels of the enmity is between him and them the children of God come to take his place that he once had in heaven the children of God are set up against Satan as David was put in the room of Saul therefore I say all the strength of hell is still a working against the Church of God and the Saints of God and every one of them from that very moment that the woman was delivered of a Rev. 12. 13. man child he sought to destroy it Simon Simon saith Christ Satan desires to winnow thee c. Lukâ— 22 31. he is the god of this world and his temptations are welcome enough with any body but the children of God none resist his dominion but they he is the Gaoler and hath all the world in close prison but only them they are the only ones that have broken loose that have gotten away out of the power of Satan therefore all his malice and all the gates of heâ—l they are up to send hue and cry after them to hook them in again if they can he is â—ust like a Pyrate a Pyrate will rather set upon one rich ship then upon a thousand beggarly barks because there he may have a rich prize so the Divel knows he can advantage his Kingdom if but onâ— fall that is a Saint more then by the falls and the notoriouseâ—t falls of millions of others therefore no wonder that a child of God should grow remiss and careleâ—s at any time that he may have a mischief for it is all the Divels business he hath nothing else to do but do mischief to be busie to get a child of God down and if he have him down to hold him down if he can Secondly Another reason is in regard of the children of God themselves 2. Reas they carry flesh about them as well as other men they have a Traitor in their own bosomes that liâ—s in scout every moment to work them woe as Paul saith I find another law in my members c. Rom. 7. 23. though a child of God hath wounded all his lusts nay though he hath given them their deaths wound yet there is never a one but may revive and make head again if he take not heed and that in a woful degree as the Lord saith of the Caldeans Jer. 37. I quote it only for a similitude ver 10. though you had smitten all the whole army of the Caldeans yet they shall come and fire the City when Judah had provoked God though they had wounded all the Caldeans yet those wounded men should come and fire the City so let a man take heed he doth not give way to sin for though his lusts be mortified and he hath given them their deaths wound yet these wounded Caldeans may come and fire all his soul if he take not heed Thirdly In regard of God himself God is pleased to try his people to 3. Reas withdraw himself now and then from them to leave them to themselves and the grace they have received to let them alone with that and when he doth thus no wonder though they fall for every man hath some vileness and rottenness in his heart the wholest simplest heart in the world hath a deal of rottenness in it I say the Lord doth sometimâ—s leave his children to themselves as he did Hezekiah in the business of the Ambassadors 2 Chro. 32. 31. as the Church saith Cant. 5 6. my beloved had withdrawn himself the lovingest mothers may sometimes let their little child go alone though they know he will fall they provide may be a rouler about his head that whither they fall backward or forward or any way they may not break their skull and do themselves a mischief to undo themselves but when they have done thus they will sometimes leave them to themselves to go though they know they will fall so the Lord doth put a rouler upon his people that when they fall they may not fall totally and finally as the wicked men do they shall never strike into a wicked course as the ungodly of the earth do that he takes order for but he doth many times leave them not out of any ill will to them but he leaves them to themselves though he knows they will fall and that for divers reasons First That they might be patterns to others of Gods people that if they should fall as they may do when they are down they may have wherewithal to get up again I say the Lord leaves the eminentest of his people to themselves to fall into lamentable miscarriages that they may help inferiour people and they may have something to encourage them that God will recover them and relieve them again and that God will not cast them off for ever as Paul shews 1 Tim. 1. 16. saith he for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long suffering for a pattern to them who shall hereafter believe as who should say there may be a persecutor a blasphemer smitten a vile wretch a fighter against God and Jesus Christ such a one may be smitten and come to see his damned estate a thousand to one but this man will be overwhelmed and drowned in despair
understood of the Catholique Church or any part of it as if the Catholique Church or any members thereof could dye for there is no true believer that believes in Christ by a true and a lively faith can possibly perish or be destroyed for evermore John 3. 16. this Church is a Church that Christ hath undertaken for to defend unto the end Mat. 16. 18. lo I am with you to the end of the world Mat. 28. 20. So that this Catholique Church of Christ in all the members of it it is a safe Church and though all particular Churches should fail yet shall not one member of this Catholique Church the Church is the first born whose names are written in Heaven Heb. 12. 2â— 23. and if this Church cannot be in one Town it will be in another if it cannot be in one Kingdom it will be among another people the woman in the Revelation hath the Wilderness to flye unto in the most desperate times God prepares a place for her in one corner or other it is impossible that the Catholique Church should dye in any members or branches of it God will have some to know his name and if it cannot have particular meetings and congregations God will have it subsist in some particulars but a particular Church a local Church as it is taken for a company of people in such a place any such Church may fail and dye and come to nothing you see it here in the Church of Sardis at this time it had only a name to live but was dead and what did remain they were but the last throws as it were they did go out at last they were ready to dye Now that any particular Church in the whole world may dye and cease to be a Church may be proved out of many places of Scripture Christ speaking of the Jews that had as great priviledges as any people upon the earth he tells them that they might not only cease to be a Church but should cease to be a Church as you may see Mat. 21. 43. The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you c. here he tells them that he will quite and clean depart from them and take away all signs and marks of a true Church of God from among them so the Apostle speaks of the Church of Corinth he tells them they may come to be no Church and that he doth greatly fear that such an evil shall come upon them 2 Cor. 11. 3. he doth not speak to the particular persons that were truly converted for they were members of the Catholique Church but he speaks to the particular Church of Corinth they did warp and decline though many particular members should be preserved yet he supposeth that particular Church might fail so he tells the Galatians that he did much fear them you observe dayes and years I am afraid lest I have bestowed my labour in vain so likewise he gives the Church of Rome to understand though it were an excellent Church at that time for he saith their faith was spoken of abroad and they were beloved of God yet he tells them they have need to take heed that they do not lose their Crown that they do not suffer Satan or the world or any other means to draw them away from their profession as goodly a Church as themselves had come to warpe and decline and come to nothing Rom. 11. 20 21 22. As who should say Thou hast no priviledge of immortality of being an immortal Church that thou shouldst ever be a Church that Gods Gospel and Ordinances and his name should ever be within thy dwellings you have no such prerogative take heed therefore you walk worthy the Gospel take heed you grow not high-minded and secure it may be your case as well as any other so the Church of Israel the Ten Tribes they were a Church but in the end they came to be no Church they provoked God to give them over Hos 1. 9. it is a parabolical kind of speech that the Prophet should marry an whore and have a son and call his name c. and that was one degree of removing and the second should be called c. which was the utter renouncing of his people Now there are four several marks and notes infallible of a true Church 4. Notes of a true Church and there is no particular Church but had them once and may lose them every one The first is the sincere preaching of the Gospel is an infallible and inseparable mark of a true Church of God wheresoever there is the true 1. Sincere preaching the Gospel Church in any Parish or Kingdom there must be a sincere Preaching of the Word of God therefore a Church is described by the Preaching of the Word and Oracles of God Rom. 3. 2. that is they were a Church of God the Oracles of God were among them and were to be heard opened and declared among them so Psal 147. 19. He sheweth his word unto Jacob and his statutes unto Israel that is he makes it a Church he explains his word and makes it known there so Acts 14. 23. it is said that Paul and Barnabas went up and down and ordained Elders in every Church if there were a Church there must be Elders in it there must be Elders Pastors and Ministers that may not only preach the Word but open it aright for the Scripture may be in an Antichristian Church but if they in their preaching make the Scriptures doctrines of Divels and expound them in that fashion they are no Church but the Elders must speak the word of God as the word of God at least in the fundamentals now there is no Parish or Kingdom can be said to be a Church of God that have not true Ministers able to preach the word of God soundly to teach the Doctrine of faith and repentance so as people may believe and turn from their sins to God and this is a grand mark of all other where the voice of Christ sounds it is a sign he hath a Church there now I say this sincere preaching of the word of God it is not tied to any place there is no place but may be deprived of it if they do not walk worthy of it it is free and hath all the whole wide world before it the Lord hath not limited his Gospel to any Town or Kingdom he may send it where he please and continue it as long as he list and may remove it when he thinks fit therefore when the Corinths were something sawcy and impudent and bore themselves upon this that they had the word and Gospel of Christ 1 Cor. 14. 36. saith the Apostle What came the word of God out from you c. As who should say be humble down with your pride receive instruction as the word of God is come to you so you are not the only men in the world that the word can come to the word may be taken from
should sâ—â—rch us oâ—t is it good for us to leave all this wâ—â—â— to him to neglâ—â—t 〈◊〉 soules to lay aside our lives and consciences and bosâ—mâ—s and never to â—ansick thâ—m from â—ay to day never to enquire into our owne bosomes that we may reforâ—â— our selves but leave all to God to search us doe you think this â—ill doe will saith Job Then when afflictions and death and judgement shall come that then God should search you and lay before you your works therefore as you desire when God shall search you you may be found upright be careful to search your selves FINIS 2 TIM 1. 9. Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began IN this verse the Apostle declares what God hath done for him and for Timothy he hath saved us that is he hath redeemed us with the blood of his Son and freed us from sin and from Satan and from hell and hath given us title to eternal life he hath saved us 2. He hath called us that is he hath given us a pledge of this that we shall be saved that we shall The reasons of Gods mercies to Paul and Timothy certainly have salvation compleatly and fully for he hath called us Now he illustrates this two wayes first by shewing what kinde of calling it is which he here means and that is an holy calling he hath called us with an holy calling and then 2ly By shewing the reason why God would do these things for him and for Timothy these are great things what to save them and make them heirs of his Kingdome and to call them to the fellowship of Jesus Christ and give them interest in all Gods goodness and mercy what should be the reason that should move God to do so much for Paul and for Timothy he doth here expresse this three wayes First by removing all false causes not according to our works as who The removing of false causes should say it is not for any thing in us there was nothing in us that moved God to do this 2ly He layes down the true cause of it in the next words but according to The true cause of it his own purpose and grace that is he hath done it freely out of his own mercy and love and according to his own purpose Lastly He proves this and that by three arguments that this must be the Proved by three arguments cause and no other the first is this it was a gift that was given us therefore it must needs be free 2ly It was given in Jesus Christ as who should say he did not look at any thing in us there was nothing in us that was in his eyes no it was meerly for the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ Lastly Another argument is taken from the time when and that is from all eternity before the world began The point that I will handle out of these words is this that it is an excellent Doctrine thing for a man to be able to say that God hath effectually called him the Apostle here speaks it as a great comfort to his soul and the soul of Timothy and as a pledge of Gods everlasting love and salvation to them both that the Lord had called them and had been pleased to take them out of the world and to make them partakers of his Kingdome and glory Now for the opening of the point I will here first shew you what kinde of For the opening of the point calling it is that is here spoken of and it is not that calling whereby God doth call people to an office as of a Magistrate or a Minister but he speaks of a general calling of a calling out of the Kingdome of sinne and Satan into the Kingdome of his dear Son to be made partakers of eternal communion with himself 2ly It is not an outward call whereby wicked men that go on in their sins are called for so a reprobate may be called he may be called out of his own sinful courses and wretched estate and condition to the participation of Jesus Christ thus every man is called all men are called by Gods Ministers as Mat. 22. 9. the King sent out his servants to bid all that they found to the marriage Secondly A reprobate may be called inwardly by Gods Spirit I mean the How a reprobate may be called Spirit of God may go along with Gods Ministers to strive and wrestle with the soul and conscience of a man that remains in his sins Prov. 1. 24. because I called and ye refused therefore will I laugh at your destruction and mâ—â—ke when your fear cometh Thirdly A wicked man may be called not only with an outward call of How a wicked man may be called the Minister and with an inward call of the Spirit but with some efficacy it may go a great way so far forth as to make a man come in some kindâ— as it was with the man Mat. 22. 12. He was called together with the râ—sâ—â—â— come to the wedding and he came but he came without a wedding garment nâ—w one of these callings are meant here for in this sence many are called but 〈…〉 sâ—n Mat. 22. 14. But the calling here meant is a different calling from them and that in three things First It is a call according to Gods own purpose when God calls a man and hath a purpose to make a man come in deed and to come home this is A calling to Gods purposes the calling here spoken of Rom. 8. 28. We know that all things worke together for the best to Gods children that are called according to his purpose as God calls them so he doth purpose to make them come to himself and make them partakers of everlasting mercy God hath no such purpose when he calls the reprobate he hath a purpose indeed to do them good if it be not through their own default but yet notwithstanding he hath no such purpose and absolute intention to do them good he hath no such purpose to bring them to his Kingdome and carry them quite through in the business Secondly This is a secret in Gods own bosome and that is another difference How one calling differs from another wherein this calling differs from the other it is such a calling wherein God puts forth his power and the greatness of his power too God called the light and it came God called the Heavens and they came when as they were not God calling of them they were made to come so when God doth call a man by his Spirit he calls a man powerfully he doth powre in divine instincts of grace and faith and all other holy vertues whereby the soul is made able to come to God the Lord gives the heart a kinde of touch that being touched by his Spirit it must and