A GOSPEL-CHURCH OR GOD'S Holy TEMPLE OPENED Wherein is shewed from the Scriptures 1. What a Gospel-Church is 2. That such a Church is of Divine Institution 3. With what Materials such a Church should be formed 4. The Form of such a Church and how it should be built 5. The several Officers and Offices in the said Church and their respective Works and Dutys there 6. The Duties of Church-Members to their Officers 7. Their Duties to one another 8. Their Church-Priviledges and several other matters and concernments which may not here be mentioned but may be found in the Epistle all intended for the spiritual profit of Church-Members By Stephen Ford Preacher of the Gospel in London These things I write unto thee that thou may'st know how thou oughtest to behave thy self in the House of God 1 Tim. 3 14 15. Blessed are they that dwell in thy House they will be still praising thee They go from strength to strength every one appearing before God in Zion Psal 84.4.7 London Printed in the Year 1675. THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY To my entirely beloved the Elders Deacons and to the rest of the Church of Christ over whom the Holy Ghost hath made me an Overseer Friends I Am yours and I hope you are Christ's 1 Cor. 3.22 23. You are exceeding dear to me and ly deep in my heart 1 Thes 2.8 Phil. 1.7 and you are my joy and crown of rejoycing especially some of you 1 Thes 2.19 20. Phil. 4.1 Your welfare and happiness is mine your thriving and growing in Grace and in the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3.18 is mine and your standing fast in the Lord and bearing much fruit is my comfort 1. Thes 3.7 8 9. your Tryals and Afflictions are mine and your witherings and languishings are my great afflictions and sorrows 2 Cor. 11.29 Rom. 12.15 whatever some of you may think or say of me yet I can boldly say if I know any thing of my heart that God is my Record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ Phil. 1.8 how thoughtful and studious I am to serve you and to promote your present and eternal Blessedness and that by all the wayes and means I can And if I am not succesful in my designs and endeavours it is my burden and I cannot help it I know that Ministers may and ought to plant and water but 't is God that giveth the increase 1 Cor. 3.7 I know that I am weak and I know also that the happy success of good mens labours lies not in or proceeds not from their Abilities but from the Power of God and his Spirit working with and by them or else even a great Prophet Isaiah may say I have laboured in vain Isa 49.4 yet I say my Conscience is my witness that it is my desire aim and endeavour to be faithful to Christ and you and to give all diligence to my work and your service to Preach the word in season and out of season 2 Tim. 4.2 to feed you with the Bread of sound Doctrine and to give to every one their portion of meat in due season I know and believe that the all-seeing-eye of my great Lord and Master is still on me and that I must shortly give unto him an account of my Stewardship Luk. 16.2 how I have performed my work and discharged my Trust to you and therefore I dare not but endeavour to be faithful in my Duty to Him and You. Should any of you suffer loss by any neglect or unfaithfulness of mine the sight and conviction of it would exceedingly afflict me for I do greatly love you I would be eminently Instrumental in nursing educating and building you up in Christ in knowledge faith love peace joy holiness and spiritual consolation unto eternal life and am really afflicted that I can do no more towards the attainment of it and that I am no more successful in what I do I hope you have some clear proofs and evidences of what I have said of my self and endeavours from my practises among you For what other ends can I have in all my labours and spendings but to serve Christ and your Souls especially in and by those that are extraordinary what should I aim at and design in the Monthly Lecture to and with you onely in my Lords dayes fortnights Lecture and in writing this and some other books but your good you know that I have spent my strength in a more than ordinary manner to convince regenerate and educate your Families your Children Servants and other Relations of yours For as I have told you It was for their sakes that I set it up and have continued it many years but how you have esteemed and encouraged it and how your Relations have improved it I leave to all your Consciences to judge But however I have given you a sufficient proof of my love to you and care of them by spending my strength and spirits with and for their good and all unprejudiced persons cannot but acknowledge it I could have sit down as others do with Preachi g to you twice every Lords day and one Lecture in the week-days had I not seen a necessity of doing more and had not my cordial Love to your Souls constrained me to the taking of extraordinary pains with you and for you My ends and designs in the said Monthly Lecture were 1 To acquaint you with and convince you of your duties in the Church and that every one of you might know how to behave your selves in the house of God 1 Tim. 3.15 and what duties were or are incumbent on you there 2 To acquaint you with your Church-priviledges and spiritual advantages that you might value and esteem them own and imbrace them improve and walk worthy of them and that you might be thankful for them 3 That you might know on what bottom you stand in your Church-state and that you might stand there unmovably 4 That you might know your miscarriages in your Church-state and Relation and be humbled for and repent of them in Dust and Ashes 5 That you might know the Evils and Temptations you are lyable to in a Church-state and that you might watch against and avoid them 6 That you might be enabled to answer Gain-sayers and refell their objections 7 That you might look for and expect all the promised good in your Church-state and endeavour the obtainment of it 8 To quicken and provoke you to move and perswade you to all possible diligence care and faithfulness to and in your own Jesus Christ's and one anothers concerns in your Church-state That you might be pleasing to God and profitable to your own and each others Souls in the Ordinances of Christ and in your Vnion and Communion one with another These were some of my ends in setting up that Lecture and which I have with some measure of sincerity of heart carried on though under no small discouragements from within and without And in
as they do for their own Souls and that not as Believers only but as their Teachers and spiritual Fathers also Certainly this is one great part of their work and business and therefore they may not neglect it but are bound to be diligent in it in secret and in publick when present with them they must bless them and the word and seals ministerially and that by virtue of their place office and power in the Church 1 Cor. 10.16 Numb 6.23 24 25 26. Thus blessed Paul was much in the practice of namely in presenting the Churches cases to God and wrestling with God for them Phil. 1.9 Col. 1.9 2 Thes 1.11 Wherefore we pray alwayes for you So Col. 1.3 1 Thes 3.10 Seventhly Resolve doubts and cases that trouble any of the Members of the Church when they are presented to them if they are matters worthy consideration They must study cases of Conscience and such doubts and scruples as may arise in the hearts or heads of their people that they may be ready to apply some satisfying Medicine unto them They are to study persons and their cases and maladies as well as the Scriptures for they must alwayes be able to apply and rightly to use a word in season to weary troubled burthened Souls as well as to Preach publickly and promiscuously to all from a studied composed subject This work of Teachers in the Church is no light ordinary matter it will shew what they are and try their learning and abilities for their work more than any thing else It is a special gift of God and an evidence of an able spiritual Physician indeed who can find out spiritual Diseases of mens Souls and readily apply proper Remedies to them that can rightly speak a word in season to him that is weary Esa 50.4 and comfort the feeble-minded 1 Thes 5.14 The Lord Jesus and Paul were much exercised and imployed in this work and so should Teachers now as occasion is offered For the Priests lips should preserve knowledge and the people should seek the Law at their mouths Mal. 2.7 They are given to the Churches to be their spiritual Nurses and Physicians for the cure and health of their Souls and therefore they must administer Physick and Cordials unto sick and pained Souls in private as well as in publick Eighthly That they may discharge their Ministerial work as becomes the Ministers of Christ They must exercise themselves in reading and studying They must give themselves to reading and studying the Scriptures the works and providences of God as also their own experiences and they must read search and endeavour all they can to know the states cases conditions and wants of their own particular flocks that they may make full proof of their Ministry 2 Tim. 4.5 Divide the word of Truth aright 2 Tim. 2.15 Speak words in season to all sorts especially to weary and burthened Souls Esa 50.4 And that they may both save themselves and those that hear them 1 Tim. 4.16 Ministers of the Gospel must be continually lying in as well as lying out they must furnish themselves with Grace Truth and Experiences that they may Communicate unto others out of the good Treasure of their hearts Their hearts heads and lips must be filled with varieties of Divine and Heavenly matters that they may freely and readily impart of their receivings to every ones needs Mal. 2.7 Their Lord and Master charges them to give attendance to reading 1 Tim. 4.13 To Meditation 1 Tim. 4.15 And to study 2 Tim. 2.15 They must search the Scriptures Joh. 5.39 Hold fast the form of sound words 2 Tim. 1.13 And inspect their people Pro. 27.23 2 Tim. 4.5 Acts 20.28 They must not look for immediate Inspirations nor to be furnished with all needful supplyes from Heaven for the discharge of their office and Ministerial work in the Churches of Christ by the spirit but in and by their diligent use of Gods means God that appoints and promises the end appoints and directs us to and in the use of the means leading to the obtainment of that end The end directed to in and by the said means is the supply of Grace Gifts and all necessary and profitable ministerial abilities for such as Christ puts into the work and office of teaching and ruling in his Churches Therefore they may not divert to or take up with any other Imployments that may any way impede or hinder them in or of the aforesaid duties But in case of necessity Ob. But did not Paul work with his hands and labour in other businesses and exercise himself in worldly and secular matters after he was engaged in the work of the Ministry And if so why may not other men do the same as well as he 1. You saw before what ordinary Elders ought to do and are bound to attend unto in their places and offices namely to give themselves wholly to the work of the Ministry which they had received in the Lord Col. 4.17 That they fulfill it that they attend to Study Reading Meditation Exhortation Doctrine 1 Tim. 4.13 15. 2 Tim. 2.15 2 Tim. 4.5 And that they wait on the Altar 1 Cor. 9.13 2. Examples must not be taken and advanced against precepts Paul was an extraordinary Officer or Minister his work and power was every where where the Lord called him to Preach he was not a particular fixed Elder or Pastour to one single Church neither was he bound or necessitated to attend to reading studying c. as ordinary Ministers are Moreover Paul and other Apostles had their office power their abilities and furnitures for their work immediately from Christ in an extraordinary way and manner which ordinary officers now have not 3. Paul laboured not with his hands or neglected his Ministerial work but when necessitated thereunto and the Apostles at Jerusalem Act. 6. tells us That it was unreasonable that they should leave the word of God and serve Tables 4. Ordinary Pastours or Elders of Churches do find that their so attending to their work in their Studies as commanded absolutely necessary for the discharge and well performance of the work their Lord hath given them to do and experience shews beyond all contradiction that the most studious holy Ministers are the most powerful and profitable in their Ministry 5. The great and rich provisions that God hath made for them in their faithful attendance to their work in the Churches fully proves and declares what they should do and attend unto God hath commanded their Hearers to provide carnal things for them yea to Communicate to them in all good things that they may attend on their work and wait at the Altar without distraction Gal. 6.6 1 Cor. 9.6.15 Rom. 15.27 Ninthly They must be eminently holy and righteous in all manner of Conversation They are Lights and therefore they must shine as such in the World They are the Salt of the Earth and therefore they must be of savory Spirits and practices Matth. 5.13
power 2. Pray for me Heb. 13.18 and that with all possible importunity and constancy For the more you do so pray to God for me the more profitable he will make my labours to your Souls Pray for me in your Closets and wrestle with God for me for you especially you who walk with God may do much for me in your Closets I do remember you in mine Oh! let me be remembred by you in our Closets also For a stock of Prayers of hearty believing fervent Prayers kept a-running one for another will bring in a great Revenue of grace from Heaven to us You cannot expect that I should Preach warmly profitably and powerfully to you unless you so Pray for me Therefore in obedience to the will of God and for your own profit do you continue in fervent Prayer unto God for me Entreat him to pour out much of the Spirit of grace and the grace of the Spirit upon me fill me with Ministerial gifts and make me an able Minister of the New Testament That God may give me the door of utterance and enable me to speak as I ought to speak Eph. 6.20 That God may work in me whatever is wel-pleasing in his sight Heb. 13.21 fulfill in me all the good Counsel of his will and the work of faith with power 2 Thes 1.11 that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in me and by me Oh! Pray for me that I may be kept faithful to Christ and you that I may labour and not faint run and not be weary that I may be able to bear up under all Burdens and Temptations and be able to overcome and conquer them all That I may rightly divide the word of Truth and administer the holy Ordinances of Christ according to his will so as that he may be magnified and your Souls profited That my heart may stand clear off the World and that I may not be taken and entangled with any snares and that I may perfect holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 and for whatever else you may rationally judge I may stand in need of as your Minister 3. I do request you that if at any time you do certainly see and undoubtedly know any failing or miscarriage in or by me that you will speedily seriously meekly humbly and as you ought to do enform me of it It is your duty to do so if you do it as you ought and may do it I shall through grace assisting receive it thank you and bless God for it and account it my mercy But I shall desire you to take heed and beware of these three evils towards me in this matter 1 That you do not fancy and make evils or miscarriages for me and then charge them on me as mine when in truth they are not so It is a very dangerous thing to condemn the Righteous and justifie the wicked as you know Prov. 17.15 and it is most dangerous and abominable in the sight of the Righteous God to condemn or falsly to charge his Embassadours because they stand in his stead bear his Image of Authority and do his Ministerial work in his Churches And yet how common is this evil among Professors as I can testifie 2 Do not take up a Report from others against me and take it for granted because you hear some Professors of the good wayes of God tell you so For the World yea and the Churches also are too full of slanderous and back biting Tongues They are not aware of this evil but hug and embrace it in their bosoms practise it without fear and commit this abomination with both hands as the Prophet speaks Remember that Jesus Christ hath strictly charged you in 1 Tim. 5.19 that you do not so much as receive an Accusation against an Elder under two or three witnesses and that on their certain knowledge of the Fact not upon their conjectures and feigned Circumstances For God is very curious and tender of their good Names Credit and Reputations and he knows and all wise and holy men do know that they are more obnoxious to the Envy and that they lye more open to the wrath and hatred of men than other men do Therefore I say God hath set a higher mound about their good Name for their security than about others 3 Do not take up my real or supposed miscarriages and spread them before others Oh! my Brethren let not this filthy devilish wickedness be found in you let not others hear of my faults before I do my self be not you Back-biters and Whisperers against him who loves you so much as that he could spend and be spent in the service of your Souls and who seeks your good all he can Requite not his love to you with such mischief and wickedness against him for the Lord's sake You may do him much wrong thereby but you will much more wrong Christ and your own Souls And let none of you think that Jesus Christ is an idle Spectator of what you do herein that he observes you not or that because you imagine you intend him no hurt in what you say of him that therefore he will hold you guiltless No no be not deceived for God will not be mocked what a man soweth that shall he reap Gal. 6.7 God doth not say you may speak evil of his Ministers or other men if you intend not to hurt them thereby no but he deth expresly forbid you to back bite or speak of their evils though real at all behind their backs until they prove incorrigible and have rejected your reproofs and endeavours to convince and convert them Levit. 19.16 17. Jam. 4.11 Tit. 3.2 Rom. 1.30 31. Psal 15.3 2 Cor. 12.20 But in truth this excuse or pretence is but a carnal blind and diabolical delusion to shut the eyes of men and harden their hearts against the evils of it that they may commit it with the more peace and satisfaction that neither men nor their own Consciences may reprove or controul them and cry shame on them for their sins and that they may not be obstructed or any way impeded in their doing of that wherein they find pleasure Neither indeed can they prove that they do not hate them or intend their hurt For it is infallibly certain that they do not really love such and that they are prejudiced against them and do not in truth seek their good For can I perswade any reasonable man by the rules of Reason that I love him and seek his good in the dark as to him by doing or speaking that which experience shews will inevitably tend to his hurt to his shame and reproach and to the alienating of others affections from him Well then tell me of my real faults to my face that I may mend and do so no more for that is the Will of Christ Matth. 18.15 4. I do request you to Visit me and let me have your good Company as often as conveniently you can and
when we meet let our coming together be for the better and not for the worse Surely I think it is your Duty to give me loving Visits as well as I you and that when you come you shew a readiness to spend our Time and improve our Visits to the profit of our Souls unless the meeting be designed for other business The strangeness of some is no small burden to my spirit and I know not how their Consciences do dispence with such Omissions How can we think that such do really Love one another who regard not each others Company nor though they live near together will vouchsafe to give them a Visit in a whole year together For true Love inclines to Communion free and open-hearted Society together and it is so far from being burdensome to true Lovers so to do as that it is their delight Church-members are bound in duty to give their Teachers friendly Visits to encourage them in their Works and to get some good from them to their own Souls They should come and propound Cases to them that concern their Faith Practise Peace and Comfort and declare to them their Soul troubles and temptations and likewise their profit and gettings by their Ministry They should open unto them their Soul-wants and Spiritual diseases that so they may know the better how to suit their Ministry to them and apply words in season to their Conviction Instruction and Comfort For the Priests Lips should preserve knowledge and the People should seek the Law at his mouth for he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts Mal. 2.7 Mark it It is not said that they should always or mostly go to their People but that the People should seek to them Thus the Disciples came to the Lord Jesus with their Cases And truly Friends you would greatly rejoyce my heart if I might see the same practised by you in a holy and serious manner I do assure you that you should be very welcome to me and I shall most freely afford you my help and give you what assistance I can And I do further request and entreat you that when I come to visit you that then I may find you ready to entertain me with some profitable discourse that may better us in the Inner man for that is the best Entertainment I desire or expect from you and it is that which I am sure will turn to the best account now and at the last day These are some of my reasonable requests to you for my self which I hope you will not deny me 2. I have a few requests to you for God and your Head and King the Lord Jesus Christ 1. That you would still remember how you have received him as your Lord Jesus Christ and so walk ye in him Col. 2.6 Examine the Foundation you stand upon and take not up with Reformation without Regeneration and real Vnion with Christ by Faith It is to be feared that too too many Church-members sit down short of Christ a new State and a thorow change of heart that they content themselves with their being in the Churches of Christ the use of Ordinances and with their Church-priviledges We read of five Foolish Virgins in fellowship with five Wise Virgins and we read of bad Fishes in the Nets with the good of Tares growing amongst the good Wheat and of Hypocrits in the Kingdom of Heaven the Churches which Christ shall gather out and cast into the fire Matth. 25.2 Matth. 13.47 48 49 50. Isa 33.14 Take good heed that none of you be such You have past the Test of mens judgments and they take you for true Saints in their Char table judgments but you may be notorious Hypocrites for all that and you must pass under the Infallible Tryal and Judgment of God too who can and will make a true Judgment of you Therefore do you endeavour to know your own States by serious and diligent search 2 Cor. 13.5 2 Pet. 1.10 You may be Members of a true Church of Christ and yet not be true Members of Christ you may be Vnited to his People in Church-fellowship whilst you are Strangers to Christ And know that if you are Hypocrites in the Churches you are an Abomination to him you defile his holy Temple and his Soul abhors you But I say if upon your serious tryal of your selves you find indeed that you are new Creatures and have really received Christ the Lord on his own terms then do you walk in him and worthy of him Col. 1.10 Own him Trust him Love him Obey him Subject and Live to him as to your Head Lord and King Receive and walk by his Laws and Rules only and give him the Honour and Glory of his Headship and Authority over you in and by your so doing Luk. 6.46 Remember that you are the Servants of Christ bought with a price even the price of Christ's Blood that you should be his Servants and Subjects therefore be you not the Servants of men in his matters and concernments 1 Cor. 7.23 2. Do you stand up and be Zealous for and in the cause of your Lord and King Rev. 3.19 You are redeemed to it Tit. 2.14 and your Head expects it from you Keep your hearts with him and for him and suffer no Stranger no Lust Self or any Creature to Vsurp and Possess his Throne in you Shew your Zeal against all Intruders and fight them off when ever they assault you or attempt to get possession of your hearts Be you Zealous for and in his pure Gospel-worship and Ordinances for and in upholding sanctifying and celebrating of them in the Church 3. Encourage and promote the Interest of Christ in each others hearts and to enrich one another with the Truths and Grace of Christ as much as you can for it is your duty so to do and you will thereby please and glorifie him 1 Thes 5.11 Jude 20. You should labour to augment encrease and nourish the Graces Comforts and Experiences provoke strengthen and stir up one another to Love Trust Fear Honour and Serve Christ more and better For this is the Will of God concerning you 1 Thes 5.18 4. Honour Christ by reproving your sinning-Brethren and endeavouring all you can to hide it from the knowledge of others and to restore them with a spirit of meekness not suffering sin to rest upon them Gal. 6.1 Lev. 19.17 Lift them out of the ditch of Sin whereinto Temptation hath cast them and that with all possible secrecy and privacy for the honour of Christ and your Brethren and for the good of their Souls who have sinned Sin especially in Church-members carries Reproach in its mouth on Christ his Ways and Temples and therefore by the same Argument and Reason and for the self-same cause that we are to honour Christ and prevent all Reproach to his Name Gospel and People we should hide each others sins as long as possible and there is hope and endeavour privately to heal offences and
much is given much is required and expected and you know how to apply it to your selves 8 Consider what you shall be hereafter and what is now preparing for you in Heaven You have your Race to run and you have a great prize to win 1 Cor. 9. You have a Wilderenss to go thorow and a Heavenly Canaan to possess You are now to fight the good Fight of Faith 1 Tim. 6.12 and you shall be Crowned in the end 2 Tim. 4.7 8. Now you are to Sow in Tears that you may Reap in Joy and now you are to sow and gather Fruit unto Eternal Life Joh. 4.36 and hereafter you shall Reap Life everlasting Gal. 6.8 Your Head and King is gone to Heaven to take possession for you and make ready Mansions of Glory for your Reception and Entertainment Joh. 14.2 3. He will not fail to come again in glorious State and Triumph to fetch you home unto himself and to present you spotless and glorious before his Father with exceeding joy Because he lives namely at his Fathers right hand in eternal glory you shall live there also and you shall be ever with the Lord Joh. 14.3 19. Math. 25.32 33 34. 1 Thes 4.16 17. Eph. 5. Jude 24. You are now of the Church Militant shortly you shall be of and with the Church Triumphant You are intitled to an Eternal Inheritance and shortly you shall be put into the peaceable and joyful possession of it as soon as you are of full Age. Your Names are now enroled among the general Assembly of Believers and Church of the First-born written in Heaven Heb. 12.23 But it will not be long e're you shall be taken in among that Heavenly and Glorious Society where you shall see and know as you are known 1 Cor. 13. 1 Joh. 3. Oh that you would now apply these things unto your selves and rejoyce in the faith and hope of them 1 Pet. 1.8 Oh that you would be looking for and hastening to that blessed Hope and glorious Appearance of your great God and Saviour Jesus Christ Tit. 2.13 2 Pet. 3.12 Oh that you would be stedfast and unmovable and always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15. ult Now is your working-time hereafter you shall have a rewarding and resting time The one is very short the other Eternal Oh consider how fast your glass is running out and how near you may be at your Journeys end how gray hairs are coming on you and what a great change Death will shortly make among you The Lord Jesus is at work for you in Heaven and you lye deep in his heart and dearest Affections He will send you many Love-Letters by the holy Spirit that shall ravish and greatly rejoyce your hearts if you carry your selves dutifully to and walk pleasantly before him He will open the richest Treasures of his Love and Grace unto you and cause his fountain of pleasures to flow in upon your Souls and after a little while he will instate you into and give you an Eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Oh that I might so run as to obtain so Preach Walk and Minister unto you as to make you fat and flourishing in the House of God and approve my self a faithful Steward of the mysteries of God to you Oh that you who are Ruling Elders and Deacons and are honoured with noble Works and Offices in his House would carefully diligently faithfully and profitably mind your work and do your duty there and that all the Members would mind and practise their works and duties also O what a happy and renowned Church would you then be and what peace you might obtain to your selves thereby Oh! what advantages and opportunities have you all to honour Christ convince the World profit your own Souls and be useful to one another which I do once more entreat you to consider and lay to heart and so walk as to obtain the ends of your Church-state and priviledges And in order thereunto pray read this Book over and over again and that with a single eye and unprejudicate minds Read and ponder welâ— what you read Read and pray for a Blessing from Heaven on your hearts and Read that you may know and practise your Duties therein held forth not that you may find matters to cavil at and except against Receive and use this Book as a Pledge and Testimony of my true and unfeigned Love Respects to you an evidence of my Cordial desires and intentions to promote the everlasting welfare of your Souls Brethren I call Heaven and Earth to witness That in all my ministrations to you in all my writings and doings for and with you I do heartily earnestly and unfainedly seek and design your present and eternal Good your Peace and Vnity your Comfort and Holiness your Growth and Stability in the Grace and Truths of Christ and that you may be a Glorious Temple of God and a Church of Renown for Fruitfulness and Spirituality for Peace Concord and true Holiness Oh! how do I desire it and long to see it And know that what is wanting in my Ability to do you Service shall be made up in Diligence Love and Faithfulness while I live And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an Inheritance among all them that are Sanctified And shall remain for ever Yours in the Lord Jesus to Love and Serve to his power S. F. ERRATA Candid Reader Thou wilt find many faults committed by the Press which I do entreat thy Wisdom to Correct and thy Charity to pardon seeing they are not the Authors The chief are these PAge 17. line 2. read suffragia p. 20. l. 19. f. either r. other p. 29. l. 34. f. now r. own p. 41. l. 17. r. rooted p. 44. l. 9. f. that r. yet p. 45. l. 5. f. if r. that p. 63. l. 12. put out with p. 64. r. Chapt. 4. p. 88. l. 35. r. gravity p. 121. l. 18. r. and p. 124. l. 34. f. them r. you p. 145. l. 31. r. back-bite p. 150. l. 32. after in r. and p. 177. l 8. r. have p. 201. l. 1. r. handed p. 226. put cause out of l. 7. and r. it in l. 9. p. 236. l. 14. f. in r. about before to r. is p. 238. l. 6. f. and r. as p. 243. l. 2. r. and p. 249. l. 7. r. careless p. 258. l. 1. r. and p. 270. l. 1. f. to r. for p. 271. l. 35. f. but r. for p. 308. l. 10. f. of r. and p. 310. l. 11. after and put in that p. 314. l. 23. r. the l. 35. f. continued r. confirmed p. 315. l. 19. r. to p. 320. l. 9. r. smell A GOSPEL-CHVRCH OR GOD'S Holy Temple A brief Discourse of A New-Testament CHURCH from Ephes 2.19 20 21 22. Now therefore ye are
his Gospel-Ordinances in Obedience to his Holy Will for his Glory and their own Spiritual profit Rom. 1.5 6. 2 Cor. 8.5 Heb. 3.1 1 Pet. 2.5 Eph. 2.21 22. 2 Cor. 4.6 1 Pet. 2.9 Eph. 2.1.5 Col. 2.6 2 Thes 1.5 This Church so united and built is called a Church a House a Temple Habitation of God and Jesus Christ and they own it as their own call it by their own Names and confirm it with their Presence in it And as such a Church it is the proper seat and subject of all the Gospel-worship and ordinances of Christ in the world as will appear in the other Chapters and therefore I shall not insist on it here Onely take these sew hints of this Church along with you 1. It is an Instituted Church of Jesus Christ namely a Church of his own appointment and erection of his own making and forming according to his own will and pleasure by his own Authority and Approbation 2. The materials or persons constituting this Church are said to be holy persons called out of their old worldly state of death blindness and unbelief unto the knowledg that is the saving knowledg of Christ and his will and unto the Obedience of Faith 3. The Instruments that call them and work them for this state and that is the Word and Spirit of Christ 4. The form of this Church namely their own free special and voluntary agreement among themselves giving themselves to the Lord before each other and then to one another by the will of God entering into a holy band or Engagement to live and walk together through divine assistance in Love peace and in the celebration and practice of all the Laws worship and ordinances of Christ in the Church in obedience to his holy Will 5. The ends of their so doing namely the Glory of Christ and their own spiritual profit These are some of the chiefest things to be observed in this definition of an Instituted Gospel-Church All which I shall through God's help prove and demonstrate hereafter under several heads 2. Quest Of what Extent should an Instituted Gospel-Church be or how many persons should it consist of Answ It should be formed of so many persons as may capacitate them to perform all necessary-Church Acts in pursuance of Christ's Laws and Rules by which the Society ought to walk Mat. 18.15 16 17. and of no more than may conveniently meet together in one place for the celebration of all Gospel-Ordinances and the Edification of the whole Church Now How many persons precisely are requisite to make and constitute such a formal Church I cannot determine but undoubtedly there ought to be such a number as may orderly and regularly deal with and proceed against a delinquent-member according to that Rule in Mat. 18. And as the Church should consist of so many so it should have no more persons in it then as was said may comfortably and conveniently meet or assemble together for the worship of God and profit of the whole Church in one place and that 1. because they are one congregation by their own consent and agreement and so ought not to devide and separate themselves one from another in the worship and ordinances of God but there at the same times with one heart and one mouth glorify God Rom. 15.6 2 Because the whole Church is bound at all times excepting extraordinary cases to wait and attend on the administration of their own Officers by virtue of Christs Law Heb. 13.17 enjoyning them so to do and also by virtue of their own engagement and relation they stand in to them 3 For their own comfort and edification in the Church and ordinances of God This is one of the great ends of Churches and the worship and ordinances of God there namely the profit and edification of all 1 Cor. 14.3 31. But how can it be unless they can all hear and joyn one with another in the ordinances 4 Because a Church ought to observe ordinances and worship God as a Church and not as or under the notion of single and individual Believers but as an united Body and society they must all at once and in the same numerical duties and ordinances in one place joyn together as with one Heart Mouth Mind and Judgment designing aiming at and carrying on the same holy Ends in all the worship of God Therefore a Church of Christ may not exceed such a number of members as may conveniently meet altogether in one place 1 Cor. 5.4 But I shall not enlarge on this head CHAP. II. Shewing that a particular Church of Believers is of divine Institution 3. QUestion Whether particular Churches of Believers be of divine Institution or whether they be of God Answ They are appointed and Instituted of God by Jesus Christ which will appear in or by these particulars First The Scripture tells us that the Spirit is the former and builder of them The Text is clear for it in whom you also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit vers 22. These are the words of Christ by Paul unto the particular congregational Church of the believing Ephesians as is clear in the 20 Chapter of the Acts 27 28. Rev. 2.1 Where the Lord Jesus calls them a distinct Houshold Church or Body of Saints gathered or joyned together in his name for his glory the celebration of his worship ordinances and appointments I say Christ stiles them a Church and speaks to them as a Church and distinct Body or house of Saints from all other persons or Churches whatsoever and this Church was not formed and built by man but by the will power light and direction of the holy Ghost therefore the particular congregational Church of Ephesus is called the House of God 1 Tim. 3.15 and the Church of the living God in the same vers and the distinct particular Churches are called the Churches of God 1 Cor. 11.16 2 Thes 1.4 2 Cor. 1.1 and the Churches of Christ Rom. 16.16 Act. 20.28 And the Lord added to the particular Church at Jerusalem such as should be saved Act. 2. vlt. The holy Spirit by the appointment and with the consent and Authority of God the Father and Christ his Son who is also God blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 prepares materials for a Church and then he joyns them together and makes them a holy and glorious Temple or Church of God Eph. 2.21 22. and Chap. 5.27 So that we have enough to confirm this Truth viz. that particular Churches of Believers are of God in this one particular namely Because God himself is the former and builder of them Mat. 16.18 Isa 43.21 Secondly It further appears by the Lord 's owning of them promising and vouchsafing his presence with them which he would never do if they were not of his Institution and appointment But now the Lord declares his owning of and promises his presence and abode with them as his Churches Jesus Christ doth not only by
understand receive love and rightly obey the Laws and Ordinances of Christ without The Laws says Paul is Spiritual Rom. 7. and a real sound Believer is called a Spiritual Man 1 Cor. 2. Their Laws are Holy and Spiritual their works and businesses in a Church are so likewise John 4.23 24 Eph. 5 19. Col. 3.16 and a particular congregated Church is called a Holy-Temple and Spiritual House Eph. 2.21 1 Pet. 2.5 They have a Holy God who is a Spirit to Serve and Worship a Spiritual head to believe in and obey and Holy and Spiritual Work to do in their Church-state and therefore they had need be Holy and Spiritual Persons not without in profession only but within in Truth Almost all the Laws and Ordinances of Christ are committed to them and God expects his principal and choicest Worship from his Churches and they are all above and beyond the reach of carnal Men. God first makes Spiritual Men and then with them he formes Spiritual Houses and then as such he gives them Holy Laws and Ordinances and spiritual work to do and requires them to do it as spiritual Persons and Churches Christ doth not form them into Churches as reasonable men but as good Holy and Spiritual men and suits his Laws to their Capacities and States as at first he framed and suited them to his Laws Christ calls his People into Churches and incorporated congregated Bodies that they may as such receive and practice his spiritual and Holy Church Laws and Ordinances for his Glory and their good and they are spiritual Laws and Ordinances for spiritual men and therefore only such should be Members of Christ's Churches For what shall Hypocrites do in the Holy spiritual Temples and Churches of God and what use will they make of Christ's Laws and Holy Ordinances but to defile and polute them and eat and drink their own Damnation 1 Cor. 11. Sixthly Because the separation between Saints and Sinners begun here in this Life by the Lords calling men out of the World and forming them up into Holy Temples for himself is the beginning of that everlasting separation that shall be in the great day of Christ his appearing between the Sheep and the Goats Matth. 25.31 32 41. or at least a shadow and resemblance of it for the comfort of the Saints and terror of the wicked Says Christ hereafter I will come in Glory set upon my Throne before me shall be gathered all nations and then will I seperate them on from another as a Shepherd divideth this Sheep from the Goats 31 32. and then I will say to the Sheep come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you and to the other go ye Cursed into everlasting sire 34.41 Now because you wil not believe me nor what I say in this matter see what I have begun already in it you see a few seperated from you in this world before your eyes and formed up into Holy-Temples for me and this is not their own Work or done of themselves or of their own minds and carnal apprehensions or singular proud notions and Opinions as you falsly charge them no but this thing is done of me I will own it as my own Work for I have commanded them to separate and have called them out from amongst you who continue still in your Infidelity and unregenerate States John 15.19 2 Cor. 6.14 15 16 17. 2 Tim. 3.5 and bid them congregate together as my peculiar People and become my Spiritual Houses and Churches and I have by my Spirit made them willing and moved their hearts to do so as you see them do I own them and will stand by them in it for it is not so much they that have separated themselves as it is I my self that have done it and what they have done therein is in obedience unto me and that to convince you of the Truth of my Word for as certainly as you see these my People now separated from you so I will at the last day make an eternal seperation between them and you unless you repent and become my People in Season And as it is intended for the conviction and terror of the wicked so also for the comfort and confirmation of Believers for by the Lords separating them from the World and building them up into Holy-Temples he gives them a notable pledge and earnest of the assured and promised difference of that great and everlasting discrimination seperation that shall be between them and the wicked Now good men are apt to think that because all things seems to happen alike to all as Solomon speaks that there is no difference or very little between the wicked and them although there is indeed a vast difference upon many accounts between them now and so are apt to be discouraged in their duties and walkings but to chear them up and support their Spirits here says God is a very great distinguishing difference and a pledge of a greater between you and the World I have called you out of the World and brought you near unto my Self I have seperated you already from the Lions and Goats and made you my formal and publique habitations and Holy-Temples which is your honour priviledg and dignity I do not say that all that are not of such or such particular Churches are Goats or unbelievers no I cannot entertain such a thought in my Heart for as I think and fear that there are many hypocrites crept into Churches so I believe that there are many gracious Persons which to their own losse and Gods dishonour do live out of Church-fellowship so their are others that would joyn with them but cannot and others can but will not But I say that Jesus Christ will have his Churches made up of Saints only and not of such as shall be everlastingly seperated but of such as shall live and reign with Jesus Christ for evermore in the Church triumphant and that for this reason among others because it may comfort and confirm the Saints in their hope and walking with God and convince and terrify the wicked Seventhly The Churches ought to be built of Believers and regenerate persons because they may continue and stand fast in all Storms and Tempests and hold out unto the end as being built upon the Rock Jesus Christ For whatever Church is builded upon the Sand and not upon the Lord Jesus and by the Authority and help of his Word and Spirit will not stand long because it wants a bottome to bear up its weight They must all be built upon the Rock and chief corner-Stone the foundation that God hath laid Matth. 7.24 25. 1 Cor. 3.11 Matth. 16.18 the Lord Jesus tells us that upon this Rock that was himself and the Truths that Peter had confessed will I build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Now Hypocrites are not built upon Christ for if they were that great promise of perseverance would belong to them and
joyn together into a Church-state ought to know as well as they can and be satisfied of the fitnesse and meetnesse of each other as well as each person of himself for these and other Reasons that might be named Secondly When a competent number of Believers are well satisfied in and of each others sitnesse to build a holy Temple for God they should meet together and solemnly present themselves before God humble themselves and acknowledge their own weaknesse ignorance and unworthynesse for although they may be in a sense meet and worthy yet because of their indwelling Lusts and actual Trangressions they may see matter enough in and by themselves to cry out as Isaiah did we are unclean and unworthy and to ask pardon and forgiveness of God so also to tell God what they are about to do and entreat him to send forth his Light and Truth into their hearts and by his holy Spirit to lead assist and guide them in the right way according to this promise Psal 25.12 Psa 61.8 Joh. 16.13 For although they may have as they have a plain and perfect Rule before them to guide them in this weighty matter yet they may want light in their hearts to walk by it clearly and exactly as they ought to do which the holy Spirit that hath made them willing by his power Psal 110.3 will supply with his light upon importunate asking it Thus Ezra did when concerned in Temple-work chapt 8.21 and it is prophefied by David that when God should build up his Church he would do it upon his peoples prayers Psal 102. And as they should pray for light and counsel in their hearts from the holy Ghost who is and will be owned and accounted the chief Agent in the work of building Gospel-Churches as in preparing Materials making them willing guiding and directing them in the work so that God would vouchsafe them his presence own and blesse them in their Church-state ratifie and confirm the labour of their hands and prosper them to his Glory their own edification comfort 3. When this is done and their hearts are warmed with the presence of God and their minds enlightned with the Spirits Beams of Light shining in upon them in answer to their Prayers and their hearts thereby faster knit to each other in Love as to the living Members of Christ then they should declare to each other their free full and cordial acceptance of and satisfaction in one another expresse to one another their real hearty and joynt Resolutions purposes and Intentions by the help of God to live and walk together as a Church of Christ in the celebration of all the ordinances of Christ in the Church and engage covenant and promise to take upon themselves the practice and observation of all the Laws of Christ and duties one to another in that state and Relation taking hold of the Covenant of Grace accepting the Lord Jesus for their Lord Head and Saviour resigning up themselves unto him and professing their unfained subjection to him and all his Rules Laws and Orders and that they will submit themselves one to another in the fear of God Eph. 5.21 as he hath commanded them And which may be confirmed to one another by giving each other the right hands of fellowship Gal. 2 9. This I take to be the formal constituting cause of a Church or Temple of God and I know no other but some there must be and I think to this agree several Scripture-instances that if rightly understood amounts to as much as aforesaid Thus the Israelites became a Church God propounded to them what he would have them observe and do and accordingly the whole congregation received what was said and engaged to do and observe what God required of them Exod. 24.3 And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the people answered with one voice and said All the words which the Lord hath said will we do so Deut. 5.27 Exod. 20.19 Deut. 29.9 14. This was freely and voluntarily done by them and thereby they became a Church and were solemnly admitted unto all the worship and priviledges thereof and God accepted and approved of what they had done Deut. 5.27 28. Go thou near and hear all that the Lord our God shall say c. and we will hear it and do it And the Lord heard the voice of your words when ye spake unto me and the Lord said unto me I have heard the voice of the words of this People which they have spoken unto thee They have well said all that they have spoken And the like proceedure we find amongst them after they had corrupted themselves and their Church-state broken their solemn engagement and departed from God and upon conviction of their so doing and of their duty to God and one another they return to God and renew their Church-engagement Ioshua 24.16 to 27. vers So in Asa his daies 2 Chron. 15.10 to 16. v. and Ezra 10. and Neh. 9. and 10. chapt And somewhat like to this we find in the New Testament 2 Cor. 8.5 And this they did not as we hoped but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God And the Apostle minds the Church at Corinth of their professed Subjection unto the Gospel of Christ 2 Cor. 9.13 which it seems was solemnly done at their congregating and enchurching for then is the time of doing it solemnly and publiquely for the satisfaction of one another when they openly and avowedly take upon themselves by mutual consent and agreement as an incorporated body the observation of all the Laws and Ordinances of Christ together To the same purpose also is that passage in Col. 2.6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him The Apostle writes to them as a particular congregated Church and tells them that they had received Jesus Christ the Lord which was solemnly done in all probability at their embodying And this seems to be spoken of in Psal 50.5 Gather my Saints together unto me those that have made a Covenant with me by Sacrifice And to the same purpose in Jer. 50.4 5. And indeed it is clear to me that the nature of the thing requires it were there no Scriptures to countenance it For they are as hath been said called and compared to Houses Temples Corporations Cities Families and to voluntary not meer natural Relations they must of necessity be knit and formed into such a State and Relation by their own free choice and engagement to live and walk together as such And this action of Believers is of and by the Lord in Act. 2.41 it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were added and in vers 47. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord added namely to the particular congregational Church at Jerusalem So that upon the whole I infer that Believers ought so to joyn themselves together into Churches as hath been shewed which I
evil spoken of 13. Be sure to make good and perform all your peremptory promises to men and take heed and beware of breaking them or failing and disappointing men of their just expectations from you for that also will be scandalous and offensive 14. Take heed of taking into a marriage-bond such as are apparently in an unbelieving and carnal state and condition For that also is very offensive to holy serious men although some make light of it 15. Take heed of idleness and slothfulness in your Callings For that will prove a pernitious and scandalous sin to others and your own souls too 16. Take not up a Report against one another that is scandalous nor give an ear unto Tatlers and busie-bodies nor be you busie-bodies in other mens matters your selves For if you do you will give great offence These are some and but some of the scandalous evils that you must carefully avoid as a duty that you owe to God to your Brethren and to your own souls I could have named many more but I find these the most common amongst Professors Now as you must avoid these and other evils mind and practise the said Duties as Church-Members one to another so you must seriously mind the manner reasons and ends of doing them also The reason of your so doing must be the will of Christ your Head and King because he hath so commanded you And the principle of all you do must be love to him and to the souls of your Brethren The ends must be to please honour and exalt the Lord Jesus and to profit and benefit your Brethrens souls and maintain the Credit and Reputation of the Church and the Worship and Ordinances of God therein and to preserve Peace and Purity among your selves The manner must be thus namely wisely dutifully chearfully obediently freely willingly humbly holily seriously diligently sincerely and perseveringly For you should be as careful of doing your Duties to men in a right manner as you are of performing your Duties immediately to God so I can but mention these things because I have exceeded my intentions in others The Lord God bless them to you all CHAP. VIII Of the Ordinances and Worship of God in a Gospel-Church Quest WHat Ordinances of Divine Worship hath God given to and appointed for a Gospel-Church to be observed by them Answ First walking together in constant Cordial Communion and Gospel Order in a Church-state in Brotherly love peace and oneness of spirit in the frequent and joynt Celebration of all the worship and appointments of Christ is certainly an Ordinance of Christ and their Indispensâ—ble Duty as hath been already shewed Believers may not enter their names among Christ's Disciples and then take liberty to do what they please omit or neglect their place and duty there when and how they will and content themselves with having their names enrolled in a Church come among them and go from them at their own will and pleasure No but it is the will and Ordinance of our Lord Jesus that they should constantly and conscientiously in obedience to his holy will abide and continue there holding Communion or Fellowship together as a united and entire body or spiritual Corporation and joyntly with one mind heart and soul observe and celebrate his Ordinances and Worship Heb. 10.24 25. Acts 2.42 44 46 47. Rom. 15.6 1 Cor. 1.10 Secondly Preaching and hearing the Gospel It is true that this is not a special Church-Ordinance or an Ordinance appointed for and given to Churches or to Believers exclusive of all others For it is the great Ordinance of God for the converting quickning and bringing sinners to Christ Rom 1.16 1 Thes 1.5 By this Ordinance God conveys his special Grace and the spirit of Grace into sinners hearts By it he opens blind eyes unstops deaf cars enlivens dead Souls and convinces carnal men of sin Righteousness and Judgments Acts 26.18 Joh. 5.25 Joh. 16.7 8. And by it he turns them from the power of Satan unto God and works them to and for his own use makes them Vessels of Honour and translates them out of the Kingdom of darkness and the Devil into his own Kingdom Col. 1.13 The great Ordinance of Preaching and hearing the Law and Gospel is given and appointed to make fit and prepare sinful men for Membership with Christ his holy Gospel-Churches For until they are moulded and qualified by the word and spirit they are no way capable of either considering what condition all men are in by sinful nature namely dead blind filthy vile hateful enemies to God Children of Satan under the Law the curse and wrath of God strangers to and ignorant of God Christ Grace Duty and Gospel-holiness But although hearing and preaching the word of God be an Ordinance of God to others namely such as are not en-Churched to prepare them for that State and the Duties and Priviledges thereof yet I think it may be called a Church-Ordinance also For the Lord Jesus hath by his soveraign Authority set this Ordinance in his Gospel-Churches and committed the Preaching of it unto men there namely to such as he is said to impower and send to give unto and set among them for the work of the Ministry 1 Cor. 12.28 Acts 20.28 Eph. 4.10 18. Act. 14.23 1 Tim. 5.17 The Ministry of their Pastors and Teachers is their own Ministry and these Officers being given to them by Christ and set in his Churches for their sakes they may call the Ordinance their Ordinance such Officers theirs and their Ministry theirs as having a peculiar Relation to them which is one of the Churches peculiar priviledges and which they ought highly to prize and bless God for Now as some men are gifted impowered and sent out by Christ to convert and turn men to Christ who may not have any Relation to Churches as their Pastors or Teachers so there is the special and peculiar Ministry of Pastors and Teachers given to and set in the Churches whose work and business lyes there and but occasionally else-where to other men Take heed sayes the Apostle to the Flock over which the holy Ghost hath made you Overseers to feed the Church of God Act. 20.28 The ends of these Officers and their Ministry in the Church is not intended for the calling and regenerating of Church-Members for as was shewed they must be effectually called and regenerated before they can be meet Members of a Holy Temple of God but to build up and carry on the work of Grace in their hearts holiness and fruitfulness in their lives and walkings towards God and men To confirm and establish them in the Truth and Faith of Christ which they have received and to instruct and enlighten them further in all Christ's and their own souls concernments This Ordinance of God is intended and designed by the Lord Jesus and it should be so used and managed by all Teachers and Hearers continually to carry on the work of Grace to convey
them in some good measure And for your satisfaction therein I refer you unto the third Chapter of this Book beginning at page the 47th and ending at page the 55. where you will find ten qualifications requisite for Church-membership and helps to make a judgment of your selves if they be in you Therefore read them and try your selves by them and know that if you are so qualified or if you can find these signs of grace in you that then you are in a meet condition for Church membership and to partake of all the Ordinances of God's House what ever else you may want 2. But there is another sort of Neglecters of Church-fellowship and they are such whose neglects arise from their carelesness indifferency cold-heartedness stupidity and woful insensibility and not from scruples of Conscience or fears of their unworthiness They see not feel not their need of God's means and spiritual provisions they know not the worth neither do they see any transcendent excellency in them wherefore they should desire them And hence it is that they regard and desire them not they have back-slidden from God and He is departed from them shines not on their souls to keep them soft and tender nor waters them with Divine dews to make them compliant with his Will So that when they are called upon to consider their ways put themselves under all the Ordinances of Gods House and joyn in the nearest band of Communion with his People they turn a deaf ear to all that is said unto them and yet these will pretend strange things for their neglects also They will have their scruples and objections too and they cannot do so because of such and such things in the Churches They have their weaknesses miscarriages and defects and therefore they cannot joyn with them They have the sight of Beams or they see great Faults among such Congregations as otherwise they would congregate withal but they see none at home or at best but some little Motes in themselves They are too good for such Churches and the Churches are too bad for their Communion They see all the faults abroad none or very few at home in themselves and they think that this will excuse their Neglects but they are mistaken for if themselves are so good and faultless and the Churches faulty in this or that they should the rather joyn with them and by their goodness and abilities endeavour to better and mend them by their wise Counsels and holy Conversations as knowing that all Churches as Churches have their Buts as well as particular Believers their own personal Buts This is the careless Generation of Men who have lost their God and hearts in Earthly things and buried themselves and graces under the clods of worldly cares profits and pleasures and so are regardless of their own souls and indifferent what becomes of them This together with carnal self-love and sond affections to the good things of this world eager desires after the getting and keeping them and indulged fears of losing them lays at the bottom of all their neglects although other pretences there are or other obstructions are pretended for them to set a fair face on a foul matter This Conscience will tell them if they will hearken to it and give it leave to speak out all it hath to say in the cases against them Let me then exhort you in the Prophet's words Hag. 1.5.7 Lam. 3.40 Consider your ways and search and try your ways Ask the question in good earnest and put it home to your own Consciences and desire them to speak out plainly and tell you clearly what obstructions or matters they are that keep you from helping to build the Lord's House or Houses that hinder you from going up to the Mountain of the Lord's House from appearing before God in Zion and paying your Vows in the Mountain of his Holiness And see if that doth not hinder you which did hinder the Jews in Haggai's days what their hinderances were you may read in that Book at large And are they not the evils that hinder you from joyning your selves to the Churches of Christ and celebrating his worship and partaking of his holy Ordinances there Are not the greatest lets and impediments within you and some from a worldly concern without you Do you not consult flesh and blood and the will of the flesh in the case and not the will of God and do you not find a contest somtimes in you between Conscience and Self Conscience and the World Doth not Conscience somtimes bid you go and joyn your selves to the People and Ordinances of God and then you think of doing so and then appears Self and the World and forbids you calls you back again and puts you into another mood because you hearken to their voyce and not to Conscience which spake to you from God for God and your own Souls Well then do not stand any longer in your Neglects on vain and groundless objections and pretended scruples but stick to your duty Give your selves to the Lord and to his People by the will of God 2 Cor. 8.5 Acts 2.41 42 43. ult Fifthly You ought to joyn your selves to God's People and walk in the fellowship of the Gospel with them in the celebration of divine Ordinances of worship for the Lord Jesus Christ his sake for his Name Authority Interest and Glory's sake for that his Honour and Glory is concerned in your so doing as well as your own good You heard before that Gospel-Churches are his Temples Walks Palaces Delights and Habitations that they are his Golden Candlesticks the Seats and Subjects of his Gospel-Institutions the Beauties of his Holiness and that they are his great and living Witnesses in the World Now as a stately and well-built House affords much more honour and renown to a great man than ten thousand times as many materials whereof the said House is built whilst they lay scattered up and down in the world so a company of holy persons formed up into a holy Temple by the Word and Spirit do more honour and glorifie the Lord Christ than ten thousands of Saints can do whilst they walk up and down as scattered stones among others Christ accounts himself much exalted by his People when they do it together with one heare and mouth Rom. 15.6 We ought to cause our light to shine as clearly as possible before the World that they may see our good works adâ— glorifie God Matth. 5.16 The world knows not what to make of Professors whilst they wall promiscuously and confusedly in and with the world They cannot so well discern them from other men neither know they what to think of them and conclude them to be what they are who they are for and what they intend when they are as so many individuals as when they are knit together in fixed Congregations and walk live and converse worship God and serve one another together as a Family and Houshold of God As
to Christ and one to another in a Church-relation that they might live to God and be useful to men 2 Cor. 5.15 Gal. 6.10 Do good to all men especially to the Houshold of Faith Barren Church-members are Incumbrances in the world and are dead while they live they live undesired and dye unlamented they are like withered Trees in an Orchard good for nothing but to be out down and cast into the fire Joh. 15.6 Heb. 6.7 8. They must follow every good work 1 Tim. 5.10 in the Churches Families and places where they live They must not sâ—ck their own things but every one anothers wealth 1 Cor. 10.24 Phil. 2.4 Theya re indispensibly bound to promote the welfare holiness and happiness of their Churches Families Relations and all other Persons so far as they can and that zealously diligently faithfully and constantly They are Created in Christ Jesus unto good works Eph. 2.10 and they are set in the Church for the same 8. Churches should shine in and with courteous and affable spirits words and carriages too For they should be like their Head and Husband in this excellency also Church-members must not be of harsh sowre crabbed churlish spirits and behavior towards men for that will render them odious and contemptible but they must imitate and conform to the Lord Jesus in a holy sweetness kindness courteousness and affability towards Saints and Sinners that they may adorn the Gospel of Christ in all things Tit. 2.10 1 Pet. 3.8 A kind courteous and affable carriage and behaviour is a very comely and beautiful Garment for all such to wear about them for it commends their Persons and Religion unto men and makes them exceeding lovely desirable and acceptable in all Societies as also the good ways of God which they do profess to love and in which they walk 9. They should shine with sympathizing and forgiving spirits and practices Their fallen Brethren or Neighbours who have sinned by wrenging them may stand in need of their Pitty Pardon and Sympathy and then they should vouchsafe it to them and not be rash and severe unto them They must not lay on another load on their backs pursue them with rash Censures shews of Cruelty and Vengeance in words or deeds in wrath and displeasure but pitty them pray for them and give them the hand to raise them up again and bring them to Conviction and Repentance until they appear obstinate and stubborn in their sin The Servant that took his fellow Servant by the throat saying unto him pay me my dues is branded for a wicked man Math. 18.28.35 It is such a kind of cruelty as God abhors and all holy men hate and the world are stumbled at Persons as soon as they sin against us or any way wrong us are not presently to be the objects of our Contempt and Cruelty or of our Wrath Fury no but they ought to be the objects of our Pitty and Compassion of our Sympathy and Assistance and when they do seriously repent of any wrong they have done us although they cannot make any other restitution or satisfaction we ought to forgive them help and comfort them Eph. 4. ult Col. 3.13 Math. 18 ult 2 Cor. 2.7.10 10. Churches should shine in their orderly and dutiful Walkings in the Churches as also in the Families where they live and in and towards their several Relations Next to that mysterious and glorious Union and Relation that is between the Lord Jesus and his people that which is between his People in Church-fellowship and Relation is the nearest and greatest because 1. It is a spiritual Relation and Union 2. Because it is a Union and Relation on Christs account and with respect to him as their Head and King 3. Because it is an everlasting Union and Relation Therefore in this Communion and Relation we should be most precise and exact in our walkings and performing all the duties of it They must keep their places in the Church and constantly attend unto all the duties therein They should never neglect their Church-meetings excepting in extraordinary cases but be present at the Celebration of all divine Worship observation of all the Ordinances of Christ in the Church and demean themselves before God and Men as becomes the Gospel of Christ They must endeavour so to walk in the Church in their Families among and towards their Relations as that they may be blameless giving no offence Phil. 2.15 16. Col. 2.5 2 Cor. 6.3 11. Church-members must shine in Diligence and Faithfulness Slothfulness Unfaithfulness are scandalous sins but Diligence and Faithfulness in our trusts and businesses are Ornaments to our persons and professions and to the Gospel and Holy Name of Christ which we do profess to love and believe Church members are eyed and much observed and therefore they had need walk circumspectly Eph. 5.15 and beg of God to lead them in plain paths as David did because of their Enemies as or 't is in the Margin those which observe me Psal 27.11 They should be diligent in their work and business and what their hands find to do to do it with all their might Eccle. 9.10 2 Pet. 3.14 Heb. 6.12 And as they should be diligent so likewise faithful and trusty to all that are concerned with them so as to answer every ones reasonable expectation from them they must be faithful and true to one another in buying and selling in borrowing and lending in work and business and in counsel and friendship Whatever Trusts they commit to one another or is by any committed to them they are indispensibly bound to be as faithful and true to such as to themselves They must render to all their Dues Rom. 13.7 8. and not in any thing purloyn Tit. 2.10 Are they Buyers or Sellers Lenders or Borrowers or such as are intrusted by any men in any thing they must be faithful to their Trusts or they will reproach the Lord Jesus scandalize men and greatly dishonour their Profession These are some of the many good things wherein they should be as so many burning and shining Lights in the world and in the Churches Secondly They must design aim at and prosecute all the ends of God in appointing such a state and condition for them their cleaving to joyning with and walking therein God and they must joyn Issues and carry on the same ends and interests I have shewed you what ends persons should have in their eye in joyning themselves to the Churches of Christ or in walking in Church-fellowship and now I say that in this State they must practically pursue them and that with all possible diligence seriousness and faithfulness The Honour and Glory of God the Father and Jesus Christ their Head and King the happiness and salvation of their own souls are the two or rather as free grace hath laid it the one great end of their so doing for these ends are no more two but one and so to be believed and
respected by us This General includes many particular and subordinate ends which in pursuance and obtaining of the General we must have in our eyes and hearts in our walking in this state and relation I shall not mention them here but refer you to the next foregoing Chapter where you may find several of them Onely I shall add that you must sincerely and unfainedly keep these and all other Gods holy Ends in your eyes and hearts and pursue them with all your might until you have obtained them to the highest degree you may You must hold Communion together for these ends and you must discourse one with another hear the Word Preached Pray Sing and receive the Lords Supper together for these ends You must wrestle with God in secret quicken and provoke one another and prepare your hearts that you may so enjoy Ordinances and worship God together as to obtain them in the House of God Thirdly Church-members must walk humbly with God Micah 6.8 They must have a watchful eye against Heart-pride and being great in their own eyes because of their greatr Piviledges high Dignities their nearness to God and the distinguishing Character that is upon them All your glorying must be in God not in your selves or Priviledges 1 Cor. 1. ult for all you have is but lent you A humble heart and lowly spirit is a Jewel of great account in Heaven To such a person God looks with delight and complacency Isa 66.2 To him he gives more grace and fills his soul with good things 1 Pet. 5.5 Luk. 1.53 The meek and humble-hearted he will teach Psal 25.9 The lower any are in their own eyes the higher is God there The more humble-hearted any man is the more excellent and glorious he is the more like the most renowned Worthies in Scripture yea the more like Christ himself Matth. 11.29 The more humble and lowly any man is the more capable he is of Communion with God and of being enriched with his Grace and Truth If you indulge the Pride of your hearts or countenance Self-conceitedness in your selves you will grieve the holy Spirit and cause him to forsake you For as a humble heart gives God his due so a proud heart robs him of it and takes it to himself A humble heart is a growing thriving and profiting heart it will make happy earnings of all Gods Dispensations He that is of a meek and humble spirit is a gainer by all Providences is bettered by all Occurrences He gains by the Rod and also by the Word he gains by Losses Crosses Tryals Temptations Poverty Reproaches so likewise by Prosperity Honour Riches and all other smiling Providences If he loose without he gains within therefore you ought to put on as the Elect of God holy and beloved humbleness of mind towards God 1 Col. 3.12 as well as humble carriages towards men as you heard before For God loves to keep company with humble persons Fourthly Live by Faith on your God and Father on your Head and King and expect in the way of your duty and obedience to his Commands all the fulness of Christ and blessings of the Covenant Do not give place to distrusts doubts and fears or imagine that God will forget you or deny you that which he hath promised because of your personal unworthiness Consider that he hath called you into fellowship and formed you into holy Corporations put you under his Ordinances and made you his Housholds brought you into Order and set you near unto himself that he might visit you and walk with you that he might impart his Counsels to you distribute his Covenant-favours to your souls perform his Promises and fill you with all the fulness of himself Therefore do you hang about him and cleave to him for he is faithful that hath promised Heb. 10.23 and is able to perform all his Promises Rom. 4.21 yea and he is most freely willing to do it also Micah 7. ult Remember that God hath not brought you into his House to famish you or deal severely with you No but to nourish and feed you to strengthen and sanctifie you to comfort and refresh you to teach you build you up care for you and prepare you for eternal life God is ever mindful of his Covenant therefore do you remember to make him your stay and trust live upon him and expect all promised good from him He would have you do so he hath commanded it and therefore do it in obedience to his will Psal 37.3.5.7 Rom. 1.17 Heb. 11.38 1 Pet. 5.7 His hand and heart will be open to you and from his Fountain of Love Graces shall flow Rivers of living waters into your souls Zach. 13.1 He will always care for and watch over you for good he will water you every moment he will keep you night and day Isa 27. 3. Oh! then trust in him at all times and in all your ways acknowledge him and he will not fail to direct your steps Prov. 3.6 cast all your care on him for he careth for you and the peace of God shall keep you Phil. 4. Expect and look for your purchased and promised portions in your Fathers House in walking in his Family-order and under the Government thereof under the Laws and inspection of the great and gracious Lord thereof In all your waitings on him in every Ordinance of his be sure to believe hope and wait for his Presence and Blessings When-ever you ascend the Mountain of the Lords House to meet the God of Jacob and to present your King with a Thank-offering be sure to carry Faith with you go with much Faith and Hope unto him and do as Children do whilst in their Fathers House they live on their Father for Food Raiment and all other bodily supplys So do you in your Fathers spiritual House live on him for all provisions mind your duty and trust him with your promised all Fifthly Let your Praise wait for your God and King in Zion Psal 65.1 and do not neglect to go up to his Temples with your Sacrifices when the Tribes go or are called up thither then I say do you be sure to go up with them stay not behind nor tarry at home when others go up go with your Brethren when they go that it may be said as in Psal 84.7 Every one namely of the Church appeareth before God in Zion and be sure that when you go you go not empty-handed Exod. 23.15 Exod. 34.20 If you cannot present your King with a Lamb for a Thank-offering carry him two Turtle Doves with you if not able to carry two Doves then carry with thee two Mites as the Widdow the poor Widdow did Mark 12.42 43 44. But if thou hast not two Mites to carry with thee to present to thy God for a Free-will or Thank-offering then go abegging to him for one but in any wise go to your Church-meetings with your Brethren tarry not behind them For if you do neglect to
it is a Spiritual Gospel-Ordinance for and respecting spiritual things 3. The Institutor of it and that is Jesus Christ him to whom the Father had committed all power and Authority and into whose hand he had given all things Joh. 3.35 Matth 11.27 Matth. 28.18 I say it is an Ordinance instituted by Jesus Christ himself Matth. 26.26 27. 1 Cor. 11.23 For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same Night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he brake it and said Take eat this is my body which is broken for you this do ye in remembrance of me And mark it it is an instituted and a positive Ordinance and duty not a natural or moral one It is not founded on or put in and among the moral precepts or natural Laws of God but it is meerly an Institution of Christ appointed for and given to his inchurched members and none else And therefore it is not an Ordinance for and the use of it a duty incumbent on Unbelievers and persons dead in sins while they remain in that condition but 't is only appointed and intended for Believers in their orderly walkings with God All men as they are reasonable Creatures are bound to pray to God and to hear his Word preached because they are though not meerly and only so Ordinances and duties of moral worship and not meerly of divine Institution as Baptism and the Lords Supper are but all men are not so bound to participate of the Lords Supper and water Baptism 4. It is said that this Ordinance is appointed for and given to inchurched Saints that is that persons in Christ may and they only can partake of it in the way and order of the Gospel For although their relation to Christ and interest in the Covenant of Grace gives them a fundamental right unto it yet it is their orderly walking together in Church-fellowship under the discipline of Christ the care inspection and government of his Church-Ministers that gives them an immediate and orderly right unto it For we never read of any of the Apostles or other Ministers in their days that did or were allowed to receive it but such as were inchurched That it was by the Apostles direction administred and received in the Churches we often find but never that it was so else-where or by Believers out of a Church-state Acts 2.42 ult Acts 20.6 7. 1 Cor. 11.23 24. compared with 1 Cor. 1 2. And Paul tell the Church at Corinth That the Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ the Bread that we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread 1 Cor. 10.16 17. 5. The Matter of this Ordinance is Bread and Wine Luk. 22.19 Matth. 26.26 1 Cor. 11.23.24 Mark 14.25 Matth. 26.29 It is true that it is but carnal matter and that which is common food among men but it is more than Bread and Wine by Christ's Authority and Appointment when they are set apart by the word of Prayer and by Faith dedicated and sanctified to this use and service in the name and by the Authority of Jesus Christ Quest Why is this Ordinance called the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 10.20 Ans 1. It is called a Supper because it was instituted and celebrated at or about Supper-time The Lord Jesus chose that time rather than another as of his Soveraign Authority will and pleasure who may make appoint and change times and seasons as he will so likewise with respect to the Paschal Lamb or the Passover and the time of the Israelites eating thereof which was done in the Night Exod. 12.8 and also that he might abolish and put an end to that Ordinance at that time of its observation by setting this up in the place and room thereof 2. It is called the Lords Supper 1. Because he did personally and immediately institute it administer and eat it himself Matth. 26.26.27.29 2. Because it is appointed and ordained by him to be a constant memorial pledge of his Death and Sufferings Luk. 22.20 But more of this anon 3. Because it is to be received and celebrated in his Name and to his Glory 1 Cor. 11 2â— We read of several things called by his Name as his Day or the Christian Sabbath Rev. 1.10 The Laws and Commands of Christ are so called Joh. 15.10 So likewise we read of the Table and Cup of the Lord 1 Cor. 10.21 So are the Churches and the Teachers of them called by his Name for the reasons before mentioned Quest What is the nature use and end of the Lords Supper or wherefore is it instituted and given to inchurched Saints as it appears it is Ans I shall answer this question in many particulars only in the general I may say that it is instituted ordained and given to the Churches for Christs glory and their spiritual profit 1. But more particularly 1. To be to them a constant sign and memorial of Christs Death and Sufferings for them We are exceeding prone and very apt to forget the Love of Christ and what he hath done and suffered for us which should be matter of shame and sorrow to us But the Lord Jesus in his great love and care to and of his Churches hath provided proper Remedies for these Maladies and hath appointed his Gospel and the Preaching thereof and also Baptism and the Supper to keep alive in their minds and hearts his Death and Sufferings and to be continual signs tokens and memorials of them unto their Souls Rom. 4.11 Luk. 22.19 1 Cor. 11.24 25 26. And as God told Noah Gen. 9.11 17. This is the Token of the Covenant which I have made between me and you I do set my Bow in the Cloud and it shall be for a Token of the Covenant So says Jesus Christ I have entered into Covenant with God in your behalf and in your names to dye and suffer the shameful Death of the Cross for you to redeem you from all Iniquity Tit. 2.14 to wash and cleanse you from the guilt and filth of sin to reconcile you unto God and make you acceptable to him Eph. 5.25 26. 2 Cor. 5.18 19. Eph. 1. This I have done for you I took your sins and guilt your death and punishment on my self by assuming your Nature and substituting my self in your stead and I have paid your Debts made you Righteousness 2 Cor. 5. ult have brought you nigh to God by the Sacrifice of my Life And you may not forget it but have it still in your eyes and hearts Behold I have given you this sign token and memorial thereof Here you shall see by Faith your great high Priest sacrificing and offering up himself to attone divine Justice to appease the wrath of God and here you may see how I was
things and actions love and lovely objects irritates and drawes forth love to them and the more lovely beautiful and glorious they are the more forceably and powerfuly they draw as experiences shews and we all know But then are such objects and things most attractive and powerful when they are our own or when we know that we have a right unto and an interest in them Now in the Lord's Supper you have these glorious objects and things handed out to you and sealed to you in particular Take cat this is my body that was broken and this is my blood that was shed for you 1 Cor. 11.23 24 25. It speaks to sound-hearted Believers thus Here is your glorious Head and King your Redeemer and Saviour Here is the body that was broken and the blood that was shed for you Here is your Covenant and here are your promises sealed ratified and confirmed and here is free eternal and distinguishing love and grace shewed and given to you Oh! how strongly must this draw their love and how powerfully must this enflame their affections to Jesus Christ For this end it is appointed and this it doth in measure effect in holy hearts 6. It is instituted and appointed to strengthen and nourish inchurched Believers and to make them fat and flourishing in the house of God Psal 92.13 14. Psal 132.13 14 15. Psal 84.4 7. Believers have many grace-weakning and heart-wasting-lusts Snares and Temptations and therefore they have need of such strengthning heart-chearing and grace-nourishing means that they languish not but thrive and prosper in the inner man I have spoken somewhat of this before when I shewed you the priviledges of the Churches and the end for which all Believers should walk in Church fellowship and therefore shall not insist on it here Only let me add that you may find in this Ordinance both Food and Physick Here is as in the hand of an Ordinance food for your Souls and nourishment for your Graces and here is Physick for them also Here is the bread of Life and here is the water and wine of Life to feed and comfort you to fatten and nourish you to build you up and establish you and to make you strong men in Christ to encourage and help you and to make you fruitful in every good work Joh. 6. Col. 1.10 And here is not only food but Heavenly and spiritual Physick too Here you may have Purging and cleansing-Physick and here you may have comforting and refreshing Physick also And you do and still you will need both You need Lusts-purging and Heart-purifying Physick and behold here it is for you Christ gave himself and shed his blood that it might purge cleanse and heal us and that it might in and by his own means be conveyed to us I mean the vertue and efficacy of it for that end Eph. 5.25 26 27. Tit. 2.14 1 Joh. 1.7 9. Now in this Ordinance the purging cleansing and heart-purifying virtue of this blood is handed out and conveyed to the Faith of Believers which the Spirit in Christ's behalf applys and which we for our selves are to apply also The Spirit doth it powerfully and efficasiously and we by Faith are to do it dutifully and so it obtains its Ends on us And as it is purging cleansing and heart-purifying Physick to our Souls so it is Cordial Physick also to refresh and comfort to revive and chear our drooping sad and disconsolate Souls Of this Blood and for this End we may drink freely and constantly Here we may have our fill and drink abundantly according to our needs Here you may Augment your Light Faith Peace Hope Joy Courage Zeal Meekness Love and Patience and here you may obtain a measure of all spiritual good Here you may enrich your Souls with Christ Grace Assurance Experiences and Consolations and here you may obtain the destruction of your Lusts Here you will have the Spirit to feed you with the Bread of Life and here you may grow like a Cedar in Lebanon Psal 92.12 13. Therefore make use of this Ordinance for this blessed End also 7. It is appointed to shew and represent unto us the evil of sin also The great God represents sin to us in many glasses and shews it in and by several means He assures us that it is the Evil of Evils the Plague of Plagues and that it is the root and fountain the sink and sum of all Mischiefs that it is unexpressibly and transcendantly evil Rom. 7.13 That it is the object of his loathing abhorrence and hatred as being that which hath turned glorious Angels into hateful Devils and thrown them out of Heaven into Hell as that which hath defaced and marr'd his Image in men and made them Enemies unto and Rebels against God This he declares to us in and by his Word his Law and Gospel as also by the Judgments he executeth in the Earth on Sinners yea the whole Creation here below do loudly proclaim it But the clearest glass wherein God opens and manifests the odiousness and exceeding sinfulness of sin is Christ's Death and Sufferings which the Lords Supper plainly declares unto us and where we may see it displayed in all its most hateful and abominable colours Here you may by Faith see the exceeding great Evil of it and be provoked and stirred up to Hate and abhor it to eschew and avoyd it For by beholding the Curse and Wrath of God poured out on the Soul and Body of his dear Son Gal. 3.13 and by seeing him Reproached Buffetted Contemned Despised Crucified Hanged Nailed to the Cross Cruelly handled Tortured Tormented Pierced Murdered and above all the weight of divine Vengance pressing his precious Soul and wringing out Bloody Sweats and he pouring out his Soul to Death and all for and under the weight of our Sins and Guilt Surely the sight of this by Faith will greatly raise our hatred of all sin and disswade us from it 8. It is appointed and given to encrease and strengthen our Gospel-Repentance too Here we may look on Him whom we by sin have pierced and mourn and be in bitterness of Soul Zach. 12.10 for here is the Blood of the Scape Goat that is able to break the most stony hearts in the world And we stand in daily need of it for we are in danger every day of being hardened through the deceitfulness of sin and the world Heb. 3.13 But the Lord's Supper presents to us a heart-melting Object yea many such Objects There we may see heart-melting Love and there we may behold heart-breaking Grace There we may perceive the Lamb of God making Attonement for our sins and there we may understand that the Lord of Glory hath taken off from us our Sins Guilt and Punishment There we may discern him standing in our stead and between the living God and us Condemned dead men with the Censor of the Sanctuary full of his precious Blood making satisfaction for us to divine Justice There we