The preaching of this truth is to take off those prejudices that doe too closely adhere even to such who are come out of that spiritual Babylon There is a causlesse and sinfull suspition in people that if the faithfull Pastours in Gods Church do indeavour a Reformation from the accustomed superstitions or evil and prophane disorders that through length of time have taken full and quiet possession they presently attribute this to carnal and corrupt ends they will not believe that these things are undertaken from pure and holy ends they will not be perswaded that the motive to these things is pure respect to Gods glory but that the Ministers of God have their carnal and sinister respects in all this either to get dominion or to advance themselves in one way or other Now although it may not be denied but that in perusing of Ecclesiastical History we may observe that carnal interest and humane respects were eminently dominative in Church-affairs yet God forbid that any should be given up to such a temptation as to think that there is no truth or fidelity in any When Lot did but courteously and civilly reprove the Sodomites for their high impieties see how wickedly they interpret this Genes 19. 9. He will needs be a judge over us They construed his endeavour against sinne to be nothing but usurpation Thus also Corah and his complices accounted all that Moses and Aaron did tyranny and pride Numb 16. 5. Ye take too much upon you seeing all the Congregation is holy c. Wherefore doe ye lift up your selves above the Congregation of the Lord. And we may see by many Apologies that Paul maketh the Galatians and other Churches could hardly be perswaded of his sincerity and love to them If then thou shalt once satisfie thy self with this that those Ministers of God who endeavour to bring a people out of their disorders and to make them conformable to Scripture-directions dare not look to themselves herein yea they goe against themselves and shew no fleshly wisdome at all but rather if they consulted with that they would let people goe quietly in the broad way to perdition as they have done If I say this be once believed by thee it will make thee with all alacrity and chearfulnesse to go along with them and encourage them in their work But it is the Devil that moveth upon that unruly sea of thy heart he putteth thee into many vexations and commotions whereas if the Spirit of God should rebuke both Satan and thy own corruptions thou wouldst with clamnesse reflect upon thy self yea reprove thy selfe saying Why should I be offended at those wayes which are for the good of my soule which make to the getting of knowledge and to the overcoming of those former lusts I have been intangled with which would have done mee no good but have destroyed my soul These things premised let us instance in some principles of fleshly wisdome that men have used and doe use in the matters of Religion And First This is the Proprium quarto modo as it were of all heretical persons To cover their falshoods with pretended Authority from the Scripture Now this is meerly fleshly wisdome to regard the Scripture no further then by the words and phrases thereof thou canst protect thy errours Not to go to the word of God as that Rule by which thou wilt stand or fall to give up thy heart and soul and all thy thoughts to be moulded and framed by that but having afore-hand swallowed down thy corrupt tenets then to go to Scripture to wrest and compell it as it were to speak for thee There is a great deal of fleshly wisdome in managing of false wayes but it is never more hainous yea and sacrilegious then when it doth thus prophanely and irreverently handle Scripture If we expostulate with the Socinian he will grant the Scripture words he will tell you he holdeth Christ to be a God that by Christs blood we have remission of sinnes but then come to ask him In what sense Christ is a God and in what manner we have remission of sinnes by Christs death then the poison of the Viper doth break forth So if we contend with the Pelagian Arminian and others about the injury they doe to the Grace of Christ they will tell you they are for Christ they doe owne all the Texts of Scripture that speak of grace But then ask what they mean by grace And how farre they extend the efficacy of grace then their deceit will appear So that it it is true of most Hereticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They speake the same words but doe not thinke the same things Let then all fleshly wisdom be abhorred whereby we goe to the Scripture onely to apply the words thereof to our lies and so would father them upon the Spirit of God not that we love the purity and holinesse of the Scriptures but because we cannot be received with any approbation unlesse we bring our authority pretended at least from that Therefore it falleth out many times as Tertullian observeth When such erroneous persons can no longer hide themselves by Scripture-words that they directly fall to accuse the Scripture either to deny it to be the word of God or debasing of it as but a dead letter that so their corrupt hearts may be more believed than the Scripture it self Secondly A second principle of fleshly wisdome is To hide and conceale those monstrous births we have brought forth or else secretly and in a clandestine manner to acquaint others with them that so many weake persons may be infected before those who are able and skilfull had any opportunity to gain-say them 2 Pet. 2. 1. The Apostle Peter speaketh of some Who should privily bring in damnable heresies Privily because as the thief hateth the light seeing he onely comes to steale so do those who vent their false errours delight in secresie because the light will quickly manifest their falshoods As it is with Moles all the while they are under ground you can hardly take them but if once above ground then they are presently destroyed Thus all the while errours and falshoods creep under ground will not come to the light they are hardly discovered and stopped but when once found out then they are easily overcome Now all this is but fleshly wisdome to appear no where but in the dark to be alwayes hiding our selves under ground Therefore they are said 2 Tim. 3. 6. To creep into houses as thieves do by night they doe all things closely and secretly not willing to be brought to the light Whereas we have our Saviour professing the clean contrary concerning himself John 18. 20. I spake openly to the world I ever taught in the Synagogue and in the Temple whither the Jewes resort and in secret have I said nothing Thus the Ministers of Christ imitate him in an open publick way Not but that in times of persecution the Disciples of
from Christ and that having begun in the Spirit they would end in the flesh We might instance also in several other Churches But as the Father said elegantly We need not drink up the whole Sea to know whether the water be saltish a drop or two will suffice Secondly This may be demonstrated from the relation and comparison the Church is adorned with in reference to Christ It 's often compared to Christs wife now the wife continueth a true wife and is not to be deserted unless for Adultery which breaketh the conjugal knot otherwise though she have many sad infirmities which may make the relation bitter and uncomfortable yet it doth not unwise her The Church is also Christs body now a body is not forsaken by the soul though it be a sore body a leprous body a leper is a man though a leper It 's Christs â—arden now this may have many weeds in it and many things defile it yet it is not presently made a waste wilderness Thus it is with the Church of God she may have many failings in Doctrine and manners yet not be quite unchurched Thirdly From a godly man A true child of God may have sad falls as we see in Peter and David yet for all this not be quite excluded out of the Covenant of grace they did not lose their sonship even in those sad transgressions and will God be more severe to a whole Church than to one person Use of Instruction what a deal of prudence and wisdome is required in every godly man under Church-pollutions To know what to do to understand how to deport himself for this he must be guided by the Word and the advise of those that are faithfull on the one hand not to be stupid or careless much less complying and communicating with the Church defilements and on the other side not to be so transported with misguided zeal and impatiency against evil as there by to rend the Church causlesly and to sin our selves because others sin SERM XVIII The Preheminence of the Church of God above all Civil Societies As likewise concerning Paul's writing this second Epistle to the Corinthians how hard a thing it is for Churches to keep within their proper bounds and what great care Ministers ought to have to use all means lawfull to promote the Churches which they have relation to 2 COR. 1. 1. To the Church of God which is at Corinth THis clause hath been fruitfull for much spiritual and edifying matter I shall conclude it at this time There are three things more which are to be deduced from this subject And First Whereas you see that the Epistle is not directed to the Magiâ—â—â— or Civil Governours of the City neither is the least notice taken of their wealth oâ— external pomp We may observe That the Church of God as it is a Church doth farre surpass all Civil Societies and temporal Dignities The Apostle owneth nothing in this famous City but their faith their profession of Christ and subjection to him A Church is a supernatural Society for supernatural and spiritual ends where God is in a more special manner present and therefore though the civil Magistrate be also of God and civil Societies they are of him yet not in that peculiar relation as a Church is Thus the Psalmist saith Psal 87. 2. The Lord loveth the 〈◊〉 of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jerusalem that is the Assemblies of his people met together in holy Ordinances above all other their civil meetings though never so pompouâ— and magnificent Therefore it 's good to consider that in all the inscriptions which the Apostle 〈◊〉 to any Churches he doth not at all speak of any civil or temporal Dignities that the places where the Churches were had but only â—…on of their spiritual titles as a Church Saints Believers Beloved of God And certainly if we do truly consider things these Titles do as farre transâ—â—nd all civil glory as the Heavens do the Earth The Apostle writing to the 〈◊〉 in all that Epistle takes no notice of the glory of that City which was the Orbis Domina and which they usually called aeterna Urbs he mentioneth their faith which was known to the whole world Rom. 1. 8. not the Roman and warlike power whereby they were so terrible to all Nations It is good to consider this for how few Churches do esteem of or judge themselves by their Church consideration but by their civil respects As they are such a City such a Corporation glorying in their Liberties and Charters whereas the consideration of themselves as a Church should far more possess their hearts Briefly to understand this consider First That the Church and Commonwealth or any civil Society are two distinct things the Church is one thing and the State another thing In the times of Heathen Magistrates and while there was outward persecution by the civil Powers which then ruled it 's plain for the City of Rome and the Church of Rome in Paul's time were wholly different So at Corinth the civil Magistracy of the Town did not seem to be Christians the Corporation of the Town was not as I may say made a Church The Christian Religion was not at this time established in Corinth by the City-Laws and Government only many in Corinth were become believers So that it 's plain The same Corinthians as they were a Church lived by other Laws and by different principles then as members of the City of Corinth As he was a Citizen so he met in their civil Judicatories so he acted according to the Laws of the City provided nothing was against Gods command but as a member of the Church there so they meet with others in spiritual communion for holy and spiritual ends Thus it is in a State while they are generally Heathenish But some have doubted Whether if a Commonwealth become Christian then there is any difference there between the Church and such a Christian State Whether then they are not all one But certainly by the first Institution and plantation of Churches by Christ and the Apostles Churches were founded and imbodied their Officers imploiment and the end of their Society appointed without any relation to the civil State and Government where they lived And therefore a Christian State doth not civilly govern nor bear the Sword punishing with death neither are there supream Governours Lords or Noblemen in it as a Church for then these should be Church-officers and instituted by Christ a Justice of Peace is not of Christ as a Pastor in the Church Neither on the other side are the preaching of the Word the administration of Sacraments the exercising of Church-censures the effects of a Christian State but as a Church So that it 's necessary by Scripture to acknowledge these two a Church and the State as two distinct Societies though the same men may be members of the same Secondly It 's a most blessed thing when the civil State and Church are
especially when we speake of spirituall mercies such as justification and reconciliation with God Aegid Coninck de arteb supernat de spe a Popish Writer maketh a threefold hope or trusting in God One he calleth Pelagian and that is when we rest upon God only because of our own merits and our own strength and this he doth reject as well he may for this is not to trust in God but in our selves A second hope he calleth Lutheran and that is when he trusteth only in the grace of God excluding all merits this also he rejects and thereby also the only hope the Scripture commends to us The third hope he cals the Catholick trusting in God and that is partly upon the grace of God and partly upon our own merits yet wrought also by the grace of God But to think of merits or to speak of merits when we come into the presence of so great and holy a God whose Law we break daily and in all our best duties faile exceedingly is to play the Pharisee and not the Publican who yet only was accepted with God The second way of trusting therefore viz. only in the grace of God excluding all our own strength is that which is approved of by the Word of God So that till we be sound in our judgement about this Point we cannot rightly trust in God In the next place a second main particular to cleare the Doctrine about this trusting is to consider the excellency of their grace that so we may thereby be the more exercised therein For 1. It is many times put for the whole worship of God because he that doth trust in God he will be sure to performe all those other duties God doth require Thus Psal 115. 9 10. when the house of Israel and Aaron are exhorted to trust in the Lord by that is meant the whole worship of God even as to fear God is sometimes also put for the whole service of God The excellency and dignity of the grace appeareth herein 2. It is therefore excellent because the Lord so delighteth to put us upon the daily practice of it Insomuch that whatsoever he doth for his people either in spirituall or temporall mercies they do obtaine it wholely by trusting What is that great way whereby we are justified before God how come we to obtain this blessed priviledge It is only by faith And what is this faith but a trusting and resting upon Christ alone So that the most noble and essentiall consideration in justifying faith is that it doth make the soul rest and depend on the Lord Jesus God would not justifie us by any other way by working by doing but by trusting which doth greatly demonstrate the acceptableness of this grace to God So also for temporall mercies that assertion twice or thrice used The just shall live by faith doth in part relate to those temporall promises which God maketh for the preservation and support of his people and now God will have these performed to such who wait on him who trust on him It is not the just shall live by love by repentance but by faith God therefore would have us wholly depend upon him for every mercy we have hence we are commanded to pray for our daily bread trust not in thy store or treasure trust not in thy labour and skill but be every day at the Throne of grace begging for every mercy thou desirest Oh but what dishonour is there to God in this respect Doth not the rich man look more to his revennues then Gods promise Doth not the Tradesman look more to his custome and his gaines then Gods power yea the labouring man is apt to trust in his health and strength as if he needed not to depend upon God all the while he hath that Sanitas pauperis est patrimonium a poore mans health is his patrimony his freehold and he is apt to make it his god to trust in What excellency then is in this grace when no mercy either spirituall or temporall can be obtained but by the exrecise thereof For the soul you must trust God and the mercies thereof for the body you must trust God and the mercies thereof And observe the deceitfullness of thy heart herein who trusteth in Christ for thy justification and salvation but art full of disquieting cares and feares about thy externall preservation and maintenance Oh foolish and unwise which is greater salvation then rayment and food and yet thou art perswaded God will do the greater but doubteth about the lesser 3. It is excellent because it doth indeare God to us and in a peculiar manner obligeth God to look to us For when the soul can say O Lord I renounce all other helps I trust not in any other support I leave all things to adhere to thee this doth in particular manner ingage God to look upon us as his own and so to defend us Thus David argueth Psal 16. 1. Preserve me O Lord for I trust in thee Psal 7. 1. In thee O Lord I put my trust save me so 1 Chron. 5. 20. it is said of the Sons of Reuben when they were in great distress yet the Hagarens were delivered into their hands because they did put their trust in God It is also attributed unto Hezekiah as a great and glorious honour to him 2 Kings 18. 5. That he trusted in the Lord God of Israel and Verse 7. The Lord was with him and he prospered Therefore the committing of our selves into Gods hands is a speciall way to secure us 4. The excellency of this grace is seen in the difficulty of it and transcendency to flesh and blood for if Aristotle could say homo was magis sensus quam intellectus more sense then understanding putting forth the acts thereof more then of reason we may say much rather he is more reason then faith The difficulty of it maketh the People of God oftner in distracting feares and carking cares then in any other sinnes David who professeth his trust in God yet how often tempted to difidence Asa a good man 2 Chron. 16. 12. is blamed that in his disease he sought not to God but to the Physicians It was lawfull for him to seek to them but because he rested wholly on them and not on God therefore is he thus taken notice of seeing then it s our duty to use meanes and not to expect that God will in a miraculous and immediate manner work all things for us Hence is the great difficulty in this matter so to use them as not to put confidence in them Alas all the Creatures all the second causes by their own power without Gods blessing could do us no good our cloathes would not warme us our food nourish us unless God command it Hence our Saviour saith Man doth not live by bread alone but by every word proceeding out of Gods mouth Matth. 4. 4. It is not then the Creatures it is not the conditions and