body as may be seen in the primitive Churches Now Discipline is appointed by Christ to heal and cure them and without it the body cannot be healthful and continue in a good condition but botches and plague-sores will break forth 2 Cor. 10.8 Mat. 18.15 16 17 18 19. Rom. 12.6 7 8. 1 Cor. 5.4 5 7 13. Gal. 6.1 2. These are some of the principal Institutions or Ordinances of Christ in his Gospel-Churches which they should seriously mind diligently and faithfully observe continually to the glory of Christ and their Souls profit CHAP. IX Of the priviledges of a Gospel-Church or the singular priviledges and spiritual advantages Believers have or may enjoy in a Church-state and Relation Quest WHat are Believers priviledges and spiritual advantages in a Church-state or as enchurched and embodied together Answ There are many and great priviledges and Soul-advantages for Believers in a Church-state which they may enjoy and improve to the promoting of their present and eternal happiness Solomon tells us That two are better than one Eccles 4.9 10 11 12. So many knit together in a holy Band for mutual profit are in a far better condition than when they walk singly and alone In Gen. 2.18 it is said that it is not good for man to be alone I will says God make him a help meet for him So God knowing our frame Psal 103.14 and what need we have of spiritual Union and Communion one with another he hath in love and mercy in his great pity tenderness and compassion to us appointed and ordained a Church-state and Relation for us that we might walk together in holy Brotherly love and oneness of heart serve him with one consent Eph. 3.9 and carry on a common mutual interest together in his fear First Believers in a Church-state shall have much more of the presence of Christ with them than while they walk in a single capacity as so many individual persons without a near Church Union and Communion without their holy Band and perfect joyning together in the same mind heart and affection 1 Cor. 1.10 How often doth the word of God inform us of this pray read and mind consider and lay to heart these Texts Rev. 2.1 unto the Angel of the Church of Ephesus write these things saith he that holdeth the Seven Stars in his right hand who walketh in the midst of the Seven Golden Candlesticks Mark it he doth not say that he calleth and looketh into them noâ— but he walketh in his Churches in their walking with him And Paul tells us in 2. Cor. 6.16 That God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them namely in the particular gospel-Gospel-Church at Corinth formed of Saints and Sanctified in Christ Jesus 1 Cor. 1.2 2 Cor. 1.1 which is undoubtedly the priviledge of all other Gospel-Churches of the Saints Psal 9.11 Sing praises to the Lord which dwelleth in Sion And in Psal 132.13 14. says David for the Lord hath chosen Sion he hath desired it for his Habitation This is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it To which last recited Texts with many other of like import the Apostle alludes Eph. 2. ult In whom you also are builded for a Habitation of God For what end are they built up together why it is for God to dwell in These are a few of the many Texts that speak of and plainly declare this to be one of the great priviledges of Gospel-Churches And it is no small one but very great and full of inviting and encouraging force and efficacy to draw and perswade all true hearted Nathaniels to joyn themselves to them and walk in and with them and to provoke and stir up all Church-members to walk and carry themselves so towards God Christ their head and towards one another as to enjoy and experience the good and sweetness of it and cause not to obstruct and hinder God and by unworthy carriages to God to withdraw himself from them and deprive themselves of so great and glorious a priviledge 2 Chron. 15.2 It is not enough that you are in a true Gospel-Church to possess you of this priviledge but you must walk and demean your selves in that state according to his will you must walk therein as becomes the Gospel of Christ and in heart and practise Conform unto his Laws and appointments that your Father head and King may delight to dwell with and walk among you as in his holy Temple For he is in his holy Temple Psal 11.4 Eph. 2.21 Oh! remember that God is great and greatly to be feared in the Assembly of his Saints and to be had in reverence of all that are about him Psal 89.7 and consider how great a priviledge this is Secondly A true Gospel-Church or Believers inchurched are and shall be priviledged with more of Christ his Graces Spirit and benefits than others Christ will impart and distribute more fully and richly to them of his riches of love and grace when they carry themselves obediently to him in a Church-state than when they walk as individual and single persons His hand and heart shall be opened wider to them and he will abundantly bless them when orderly walking in his holy Temples They may hope expect and wait for great things from him in his holy walkes Gardens and Galleries And that First because he dwells there There he dwells and walks as you heard before and be sure where the King of glory keeps his Court and place of residence where he makes his abode and that with greatest delight and complacency as he doth in his Gospel-Churches there he will communicate and impart most of his riches and choicest loves and favours The consideration of which made David so earnest and importunate in his desires and prayers to be in the house of God which he preferred much above and beyond all other good in the world Psal 63.1 2 3 5. Psal 84.1 11. Psal 27.4 There he knew that God would meet him and he should meet God There he expected to find the fullest clearest comfortablest and the most constant presence of God and there he expected to obtain and enjoy his love and favours also for God is great in Zion Psal 99.2 namely great in glory praise renown and in the distributions of his favours 2. Because they ly in the way of them and wait at wisdoms gate and at Bethefda's-Pool Believers in a Church-state are waiting on and for their Lord and King and for his favours and blessings in the way and ways he hath commanded them and appointed to bless them in And therefore their receivings must needs be more abundant from him Psal 133. ult As the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the Mountains of Zion for there the Lord commanded the blessing even life for evermore Every Ordinance of Christ is as a full Brest golden Pipe and Honey-Comb which conveys and yields abundance of Milk and Honey of Cordials and water of life
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
dreadfull end of the Tares Matth. 13.38 39 40 41 42 43. which were the Hypocrites that by the Devils instigation crept into the Churches as in the 2. to the Galatians 4. c. Matth. 13.38 39. It is true that such were and will be in the best Churches let their Guides do all they can to prevent it because they cannot make an infallible Judgment of persons states as was said and it is as certain that they are Vsurpers and ought not to be there For although they are by Gods providence permitted to creep in yet be sure they are not there with his approbation and allowance they are not all Israel that are of Israel Rom. 9.6 for saith God to all the uncircumcized What have you to do to take my Covenant into your mouth seeing you hate Instruction and cast my words behind your Back as all Hypocrites do Psal 50.16 17. and Christ says that such as will not have him to reign over them and Hypocrites be sure will not shall be destroyed Luke 19.27 Now either the Churches of God should consist of Saints and sincere hearted Believers or of formal hypocritical professours as all are that are not prophane men or real Saints for all sober men will confesse that open prophane and debauched persons ought not to be accounted Church Members while they continue such not of Hypocrites because they are the most loathsome and abominable persons in the sight of God as may be seen at large-in the 23 chapt of Matth. from the 13. vers to the 35. and Christ tells us that publicans and harlots should go into the Kingdome of God before them Matth. 21.31 And therefore they should and ought to be sincere-hearted Believers and none else I do not say that Churches should account such for Hypocrites and reject them as such because they do not certainly know them to be sincere Saints who offer to joyn in fellowship with them but I only say that Hypocrites have no right unto neither ought they to presse into the Holy Churches of Christ for all the New-Testament Churches should consist onely of New Creatures and real Members of Jesus Christ 2. That all Church-members ought to be sincere hearted Believers appears by the high Titles that the Lord Jesus gives unto the Members of his Churches in the Scripture He calls them not his Copper but his Golden Candlesticks Rev. 1.20 So David describes the Spouse of Christ Psal 45.13 The Kings Daughter is all glorious within her cloathing is of wrought Gold So they are called Saints holy Brethren and Beloved elect and called dear Children of God and called into the fellowship of his Son Rom. 1.7 Col. 3.12 2 Thes 2.13 Eph. 5.1 Heb. 3.1 And the Apostle Paul tells the Church of the Thessalonians that they were such to whom the Gospel came not in word only but also in power and in the holy Ghost and in much assurance and hence he concludes that they were the Elect of God 1 Thes 1.4 5. and he tells the Philippians that God had begun a good work in them and would perfect it and that not in a few but in all of them chap. 1.5 6. And the Church at Corinth is called the Spouse of Christ 2 Cor. 11.2 and the Temple of God 1 Cor. 3.16 17. 2 Cor. 6.16 as also the Holy Churches of God and of Christ as you heard before and that the Church of Ephesus was formed into a Holy Temple of God and made his Habitation by the Spirit Eph. 2.21 22. And the Church at Rome wer the Children of God and joynt heirs with Christ Rom. 8. And Peter says that they were lively stones built up a Spiritual House and a Holy Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.5 and Paul tells the Ephesians that they were the Lords Sealed ones that they had the Spirit of God which had Sealed them up unto the Day of Redemption Eph. 1.13.4.30 Now these glorious things that are spoken of the Cities or Churches of God Psal 87.3 such honourable Titles belong not unto meer formal professours but only unto the real members of Christ not unto those that have a name only but to such as are so indeed and in Truth 3. A third Reason is taken from the ends of Churches or the ends of God in Instituting and appointing them I 'le name a few 1. They are said to be built by the Spirit for God Eph. 2.21 22. that is for God to dwell in them and walk in them to rest and repose himself in them as in his holy Walkes Gardens houses and Temples 2 Cor. 6.16 Rev 2.1 Psal 132.13 14. For the Lord hath chisen Zion he hath desired it for his Habitation this is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it Oh! that all Church-members would seriously mind this and in Zeph. 3.16 17. it is said In that day speaking of Gospel-times it shall be said to Jerusalem fear thou not and unto Zion let not thine hands be slack The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will save he will rejoyce over thee with Joy he will rest in his Love he will Joy over thee with Singing As men refresh themselves and delight to be in the House of their dear and hearty Friends and Relations so doth God in his Churches and as the Bridegroom rejoyceth over his Bride so doth God over in his own Churches Isa 62.5 Now then if this be one of the holy ends of God then surely they must be Churches of holy persons not of Hypocrites for God hates and abhors their presence and services Isa 1.13 16. Isa 66.3 Prov. 15.8 2. They are intended and erected by his Spirit and Authority for his Glory in the World When great Men build stetely Houses it is for their honour and Glory and to distinguish themselves from others so when God builds himself a Spiritual House it is for his Honour and Glory to distinguish his People from others Solomon tells God that he had built God a House to dwell in and also for his name 1 Kings 8 13 19. which he did by the Lords appointment and direction so God appoints and sets up particular Holy Temples by his Spirit for his name and Glory that they should be to the praise of his glorious Grace and be the living Witnesses to his Name Truths and Ways that they should be the Habitations of beauty and Glory of fame and renown in the World and be the lights therefore and that with one heart and mouth they should glorify God Rom. 15.6 Golden Candlesticks in Princes Courts are set up for their glory as suitable to their state and dignity so doth God erect and set up his Golden Candlesticks the Churches of Believers for his glory as having a resemblance of his state and dignity and it is Gospel holinesse that becomes his House fore ver Psal 93.5 The Messengers of the Churches are said to be the Glory of Christ 2 Cor. 8.23 God calls the Church of the Jews
at all for if they are as a Common without any bounds or property as they must be if not fixed and tyed some where how many absurdities will unavoidably follow As first while they are in this moving and wandering condition they are not a House or Temple of God but scattered Stones and Timber and so cannot bear the name and honour of a Holy Temple and Church of God 2. They cannot whilest in such a condition be called owned or accounted a Holy Church and Temple of God either by God or Men. 3. Neither shall they have neither indeed can they expect or look for Church-blessings and priviledges or claim the Good of the promises made to Saints as a formed fixed Temple or House of God as that God should dwell walk with amongst them as he hath promised to do in his Churches and Temples 2 Cor. 6.16 Rev. 2.1 Eph. 2.22 Neither can they orderly participate of the Lords Supper for that Ordinance belongs to the fixed housholds of God not to scattered Saints occasionally meeting together as Saints only without any tye or obligation one to another and to their Ministers that should Minister it unto them these and other priviledges they cannot claim while they walk irregularly and disorderly 4. They make the ordinance Institution of particular Churches null and void and of no force and vertue at all and so Christ hath Instituted and appointed them in vain that they are of no use profit or concernment unto Saints For it will inevitably follow I think that in case their loose walkings without any fixed order or obligation on each other to live together as a distinct houshold or Family of God be the condition wherein they should live and walk that then they have found out a better way to live and walk in for the glory of God and their own profit than Jesus Christ hath done and so they do practically controul him and in effect say that they are wiser than Christ the Wisdom of God for they have found out a more pleasing and profitable way for themselves than Christ appointed and instituted for them so that Jesus Christ and the holy Ghost might have spared their pains in that matter so the Institution and the Love Wisdome care and Authority of Christ in that case are all thrown down to the ground 5. There can be no Discipline orderly or profitably exercised amongst Believers while in an unchurched state and condition For how can offended persons after the first Second Admonition tell the Church of an offending person his Sin and obstinacy and of their dealings with him to bring him to Repentance as commanded Matth. 18.15 16 17. if there be no fixed Church to which they do belong and how can the cause be heard and the offender dealt withall according to that charge by the Church when there is none What power have any Believers one over another but by their mutual consent and engagement one to another to give and take Reproofs and Admonitions to and of one another or how can they call Offenders to an account and require their attendance and subjection to their executing the Laws of Christ upon them unlesse they are a formed Body and by virtue of their joynt Relation not as Believers only but as united and engaged Believers to one another in that Society The Rulers of a Corporation may not exercise Authority or execute their Corporation Laws on such persons as have no Relation to them although they are the Kings subjects as well as those that are incorporated Neither may a thousand persons in a place exercise Jurisdiction over each other because they live and often converse together Neither have many Believers such power over each other while they walk as so many single individual persons without a Church-relation to one another as they might have in a Church-relation as the forementioned Text evinces Besides 6. The officers or Ministers of Christ will not be able to discharge their work and duty unto them while they walk loosely and disorderly For how can they watch and feed them as their own particular Flocks and charge unless there be a fixed Relation between them and they know where to find them which they cannot do unlesse their flocks be tyed to them and have mutually chosen each other as was said before the officers are to administer in the name of Christ unto them in an especial manner and they are to wait on and submit to their regular ministration Church-Officers must officiate in the Church and all must know and work within their own bounds and to their own charge So the Elders of the particular congregated Church at Ephesus were charged to feed and watch over that particular Church as their own peculiar flock and charge Acts 20.17 28. and so were the several Angels or Officers of these other Churches mentioned in the Revelations all which are called Churches which had matter and form And besides these evil consequences there are many other that I could name if it were needful and time would permit which would sufficiently evince the Truth pleaded for Now I shall proceed to shew how Believers should by the Holy Ghost form up themselves into a Church-state or Temple of God for his Glory and their own profit and Spiritual welfare or what the form of a Church is and wherein it lies Shew them the form of the House and the fashion of it and the goings out thereof and the comings in thereof and all the forms thereof and all the Laws thereof and all the Ordinances thereof Ezek. 43.11 First the persons intending to joyn themselves together to become a Church or Temple of God for his Name and Glory and the Spiritual good of their own Souls and for the orderly celebration of all the Lords appointments and worship in a Church they should be satisfied in each others fitnesse that they are such as Jesus Christ hath received Rom. 15.16 and Regenerated Joh. 3.3 wrought and made ready for it 2 Cor. 5.5 that they are united to Christ by Faith and sanctified to his use Members of Christ and heirs of the Kingdom I say they should be satisfied in a charitable Judgment that they are such that so they may take each other and have their hearts kint to one another in Spiritual real Love as such and so have confidence in and of each other that they will live together as such in their Church-state God would not have an Oxe and an Asse draw together in ore Yoke neither will he have visible Saints and Sinners joyn together and build him a Gospel-Church or holy Temple to dwell in What have the uncircumcized to do in the Lords Holy Temple with the circumcized If Gods house must be a holy Temple yea holynesse to God Isa 63.15 then it must consist of and be formed of holy persons for unclean and unholy persons cannot make a holy spiritual house for his glorious presence Therefore such as
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
found fault withal for their being inchurched and incorporated into distinct congregations but they are often Commended for it Act. 2. Col. 2.5 For men to set up Churches Temples and Houses to be the seats and subjects of Gods Ordinances and Worship and then to entile the name Authority of Jesus Christ to them had been a most high and presumptuous wickedness indeed and such as he would never have wincked at but abhorred and rejected them as mens works Therefore particular congregated Churches of Believers are of God for if they had not he would undoubted have severely reproved them for their so walking Tenthly These congregational Churches must needs be of God because without such the worship and ordinances of God cannot regularly orderly be observed and performed by men in a solemn fixed and publique stated way and manner neither can the pastors overseers of them rightly and comfortably perform their work and administer the ordinances of Christ to men For all that are priviledged with Christ his Institutes and profess to own him for their Lord and Saviour ought to live under his Government and discipline and to subject themselves to all the orders and Appointments of Christ and to own and give up themselves to the guidance and Rule of such as he hath set over them and their Teachers and Elders are to take care of watch over and duely administer to such as Christ hath committed to their care inspection and charge Now how can they do it unless they are fixed formed and known Churches or Congregations unless they have mutually chosen each either to walk together in their several places and capacities as a stated Church or Family of God How can they be overseers of Churches and take care of them as such as Christ commands them Act. 20.17 28. unless they are first Churches and declare themselves to be such unto their Guides that they may take the care and charge of and administer to them as Churches of Christ If their officers are stated fixed officers to them then they must be stated fixed Churches to their officers How else shall they know who are their flocks their care and charge and who are not who they are bound to over-see and minister too as their own peculiar flocks what they are to do give or receive to or from them or how to discharge their ministerial work unto them and give an account of them unto their Lord and Master unless they are incorporated Societys who have engaged to walk together as Churches in all Christs-Ordinances and chosen them to administer to them in the name of Christ and by his Authority And how can they administer Church-Ordinances unto them as Church-Officers unless they are and they own and approve of them as the Churches of Christ and believe that they are set there by Christ as Church-Officers to officiate for him as such to his Churches as Churches what Authority can they claim over them unless with their own mutual consent they acknowledge and own each other as Churches and Officers of Christ to and in them How can they administer the Lords Supper to them authoritatively require their attendance on their administrations and reprove their neglects and how can their Teachers preach to them with all Authority How can they watch over and feed them and expect their Love Duty and Subjection and how can they exercise the power of the Keys and administer censures to and amongst them unless they are related to one another as Officers and Churches Ministers are charged to take care of their own flocks Act. 20.17 28. and to behave themselves so and so in the House of God committed to their Trust 1 Tim. 3.5 15. and such are pronounced Blessed Mat. 24 25 26 27. Who then says Christ is a Faithful and Wise Steward or Servant whom his Lord hath made Ruler over his Houshold to give them meat in due Season Blessed is that Servant c. These are some of the many Reasons and demonstrations that might be given to shew that particular congregated Churches of Believers are of God and not of men I might have added as many more to evince and confirm it but these may be sufficient to satisfy the Faith and Consciences of and encourage Believers in their walking in Church fellowship or congregating into distinct Churches and particular Societies CHAP. III. Of the matter of a Gospel-Church or the materials of Gods Holy Temple 4. QUestion What are the Materials of a House of God or how should persons be qualified for Church-fellowship or who ought to be Church-Members Ans Onely regenerate and converted Persons such as are married to and have put on Christ such as are savingly and powerfully enlightned and enlivened quickened and convinced of Sin Righteousnesse and Judgment Joh. 16.8 9. 2 Cor. 5.5 Eph. 2.1 5. Such as have choven Christ for their Lord and Saviour and resigned and made over themselves to Christ received him upon his own Terms Col. 2.6 1 Cor. 6.19 20. Such onely as are reconciled unto and are in favour with God as are justifyed by Faith sanctified by the Spirit and set a part for Holyness and unto Living to God and no more unto themselves Such as are the beloved of God called effectually to be Saints and have really and sincerely taken upon them the Yoke of Christ Jesus I say such persons and only such doth Jesus Christ account meet to be partakers of this priviledge and dignity Col. 1.12 and to make Heavenly Places Eph. 1.3 although men do not certainly know them to be such and by reason of their darknesse and fallable Judgments they may receive and admit others into Churches and unto their priviledges and immunities yet in truth they have no right unto them and ought not to be there For these Spiritual-Holy things are for and only for Spiritual and Holy Men Heavenly places are for Heavenly Persons and Spiritual works for Spiritual Men. Now the Churches of Christ are the only Holy Spiritual and Heavenly places and the Seats and Subjects of Holy and Heavenly things Christ prepares men by his Grace Word and Spirit to make them fit and meet materials and then he calls them to joyn together and become a Spiritual House for his Delight Service and Glory 1 Pet. 2.5 And therefore such and only such persons ought to be Members of a Church of Christ as will appear by these following particulars 1. Because God threatens and often declares his detestation and abhorrence of others being there and manifests his Indignation against them As to the man that came to the supper without the Wedding Garment Matth. 22.11 12 13. Then said the King to his Servants bind him hand and foot and cast him into outer Darknesse Isa 33.14 The Sinners in Zion are afraid fearfulness hath surprized the Hypocrites who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting Burnings And the five foolish Virgins Mat. 25. and the
Brethren dwelling together in Vnity Psal 133.1 2. and united in a holy Band. I have spoken somewhat of this else-where under another head And therefore shall only at present say that if it be so that Believers may more honour Christ by walking together in Gospel or Church-fellowship than otherwise that then they are bound in duty so to walk For if it be their duty to exalt and honour Christ all they can as certainly it is then they are bound to use the means whereby they may be enabled to do it Now Christ hath given to and set in his Churches many Ordinances of worship and out of every one of them he expects a Revenue of Glory by his people therefore the more of his Ordinances you have in your hand and spiritually observe the more is Christ glorified by you Besides this you are in a better capacity to provoke one another to love and to good works Heb. 10.24.25 and to inflame one anothers love to Christ to preserve each other from sinning against him and reproaching his holy Name and ways by sin in a Church-state than out of it You will likewise be capacitated to honour the Lord Jesus more in a Church-state than otherwise by growing in grace and getting more Talents into your hands to Trade withall and employ for him in the Church and world as you heard before Therefore do you no longer stand off but joyn your selves to some Gospel-Church for the Lord Jesus sake Sixthly You that are true Believers ought to joyn your selves to some true Church of Christ for your fellow-Members and Brethren's sakes too You know that we are bound to do all the good we can to one another Gal. 6.10 to further each other in the way of holiness to eternal happiness We need each others helping hand and are set in this World to be useful and helpful one to another Now by joyning our selves one to another and walking together in mutual love peace and concord and in the same judgment though not so in all things way and order in the same Communion Ordinances and Worship we do greatly strengthen the hands chear and quicken the hearts of one another in our duties under our burdens and Temptations and help to make our yoke â—asie We animate and stir up one another and put as it were new courage life and spirit into each other But by our neglect to joyn in fellowship with our Brethren by being strange to and keeping at a distance from them we do very much weaken their hands sadden grieve and discourage their hearts and lay them under many Temptations troubles and disquietments as experience shews We ought to bear each others burdens and so fulfill the Law of Christ Gal. 6 2. But we may not burden one another either by Omission or Commission We are debtors to one another by vertue of Christ's Command and our spiritual Relation to each other we live not from or by our selves therefore must not live for and to our selves I am my Brother's and he is mine as to help comfort service and usefulness one to another Such as carelesly or wilfully abide out of Church-fellowship do in a sense condemn those who walk in it We ought to know and be acquainted with one another that we may be thereby the more serviceable to each other I am my Brother's Keeper Teacher Comforter Reprover and Admonisher and he is mine I cannot well live nor ordinarily live well without his help and assistance nor he without mine We have our work and business to do for one another as well as for our selves The nearer and faster Brethren are link't and knit together the warmer and stronger their love will be to and the more care and tenderness they will have for and towards one another Now though Church-fellowship be not the ground of Brethrens love and service one to another but their oneness with Christ and fellow-membership in him their head as also his revealed will yet it is certain in experience that their near and close Communion together in Church-fellowship doth greatly provoke irritate strengthen and draw forth their love one to another Distance and strangeness weakens love but nearness and intimacy strengthens it Church Communion is a spiritual bond that tyes spiritual men together and greatly knits them into one when otherwise in their walkings they are divided and like bones out of joynt Therefore let all true-hearted Brethren joyn in Church-fellowship with their Brethren and declare their oneness in Christ in spirit faith and love by their so doing Let them strengthen each others hands and encourage one anothers heart in their work and duty in their priviledges and mercies and know that you are indispensibly bound so to do You have Christ himself and his spirit calling you you have your own and your Brethrens Souls calling you you have the practice of the Apostles and Primitive Saints calling you and in a sense you have the World calling you into Church-fellowship Why then do it and make no longer delay for while you neglect to do it you neglect your duties to God to your Brethren and to your own Souls yea you do practically slight your purchased priviledges and dear-bought mercies do it speedily for Christ's sake and for your own peace comfort growth and security Seventhly You that are true Believers ought to walk in Church-fellowship that you may be and live under Church promises You heard before that there are many promises made and given to Churches or to Believers in that capacity which they cannot claim to themselves while they walk alone as individuals and strangers to one another God told Solomon that his eyes and heart should be perpetually in his Temple 2 Chron. 7.16 But David's Gold Silver Brass and other Materials that he had provided to build it had not such a promise until they were formed up into a house for God So it is now with living or lively materials that are hewn and pollished for to build him Gospel-Temples They may not expect the good of all the promises but in the wayes of God's Appointments and their own duties Although their being in Christ united and married to him by faith be the ground and foundation of their right to the promises and all the good of them yet the Great God gives out and imparts the Juice and fatness of them unto their Souls in the wayes of his Gospel precepts and appointments that such as expect to be partakers of them may seek all in those wayes I have in the last chapter instanced in several promises that belong unto Churches or unto Believers walking with God in that state and capacity As that in Rev. 2.1 2 Cor. 6.16 Psal 92.12 13. Psal 132.12 13 14. Eph. 2. the three last verses with several others of like import Now then if you will partake of the good of Church-promises you must become holy and orderly Church-members Surely it is your duty to look after and earnestly to seek for
handled by God and Men for you Here you may see how I was Tortured Reproached Buffetted Scourged Crowned with Thorns Spit upon Hanged Nailed and Crucified Here you may see by Faith my Blood gushing out my Groans Sighs and Tears my Agonies and bloody Sweats and my soul made an Offering for your Sins Here you may see what a horrible and an exceeding great evil Sin is how infinitely God hates it And here you may see my Travels and Torments my Griefs unexpressible Sorrows for you I Dyed that you might Live I was made a Curse that you might be for ever blessed and I was put to Shame that you might be honoured I was made a Man of Sorrows that you might rejoyce and I was punished that you might be released I was debased that you might be exalted and I was scourged that you might be crowned I was condemned that you might be justified and I was slain that you might be saved In this Ordinance you may see a Righteous Man dying and yet under more guilt and punishment than ever man was here you may see a holy man dying as a great yea the greatest of Sinners Here you may as in a glass behold one put to the worst of Deaths for Sin and yet never sinned and here you may see the Lord of Glory murdered by the hands of wicked men In this Ordinance you may see by Faith as in a glass amazing and astonishing wonders the offended Person the Sufferer and the Offender set free The Innocent Surety taken and cast into Prison and the Necent released and set at liberty In a word here you may see the Prison doers sâ—t open for Prisoners to come forth freely Isa 61.1 2. and here you may see all Debts discharged Here you may see Divine Justice satisfied and God reconciled Isa 53. And here you may see sins pardoned and the Book crossed Here you may see the fountain of eternal Love opened to Sinners and God well pleased and here you may hear God saying Deliver them for I have found a Ransom Here you may see Truth and Mercy Justice and free Grace meet in that one Glorious Mediatour and here you may see God and Men in perfect peace and friendship Here you may see the everlasting Love of God streaming forth to you and here you may see the Grace of Christ flowing out to you Here you have a Token Sign and Memorial of it before your eyes that you may look on these things with great delight with joy and rejoycing and with admiration and thanksgiving Here you will read heart-ravishing matters and here you may see adorable objects This Ordinance sets forth the Love of God the Misery of Man the Grace of Christ and a Crucified Jesus to the life In it you may be even swallowed and lost for it holds out to you heights depths breadths and lengths of infinite free and adorable Love and Grace 2. The Lords Supper is a seal and pledge to inchurched Believers also It is not appointed for and given to them to be a sign token and memorial of God's Love and of the Grace and Death of Christ only but to be a seal and pledge to them too So the Apostle Paul tells us that the Ordinance of Circumcision was a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith that is of Christ the great object of Faith Rom. 4.11 Circumcision and the Passoever were the Isralites Seals and Baptisme and the Lords Supper are the believing Gentiles Seals Seals are appointed and made use of among men to ratifie and confirm their Contracts Covenants and Promises to men whereby they are made firm and irreversible Now the great God in allusion to the practises of men is pleased in his abundant Grace and Mercy not only to covenant and promise his greatest mercies to men but for their satisfaction and encouragement to seal them and thereby to ratifie and confirm them He need not to have done so upon his own account but he doth it only for our sakes Now I judge the Lords Supper Seals thus 1. First to the truth and reality of the Covenant and to the Blood of it namely Christ's which is called the Blood of the everlasting Covenant Heb. 13.20 and 2. To the Faith and Consciences of particular Saints That is it seals to them their right unto and interest in the Covenant of Grace the Blood of Christ and to all the benefits of his mediation and mercies of the Covenant But the first thing or matter it seals to is the truth and reality of the Covenant on God's part if I may so express it It pleased God to determinate and chuse to save men by Covenant or in a Covenant-way And this good pleasure of his took place in the bosom of his eternal Counsels before all time which Covenant of Grace was made with Jesus Christ in Eternity Tit. 1.2 2 Tim. 1.9 Prov. 8. Eph. 1.4 but was made manifest in time unto men 2 Tim. 1.10 To them he gave Copies and Transcripts of it at first to Adam in Paradise Gen. 3.17 and afterwards to Noah Abraham and others until the promised Seed came when the whole of it was opened and unfolded In this Covenant God promised to give his Son Jesus Christ to and for men Isa 42.1.6 to make his Soul an offering for sin that he should see his Seed and of the travail of his Soul and that the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand Isa 53.10 11. And the Lord Jesus he engaged to come and fulfil all the will of his Father for them that were given to him For so David and Paul bring him in speaking of himself in Psal 40.6.7 8. Heb. 10.6 7 8 9. In Burnt-offerings and Sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure then said I Lo I come to do thy Will O God and a Body hast thou prepared me c. David spake of him as to come but Paul as already come and all in pursuance of the old Contract and Agreement in Heaven but I cannot inlarge on this But I say that Christ came and did the Will of his Father by virtue of the eternal Covenant between the Father and Him as I could shew at large had I room and time to do it Hence he tells us by Solomon in Prov. 8. that his delights were with the Sons of men from the beginning That he came down from Heaven to do the Will of him that sent him Joh. 6.38 That he kept his Fathers Commandments Joh. 15.10 That He finished the work the Father gave him to do Joh. 17.4 And appeals to his Father in the case yea to his Righteousness and demands of him his promised Reward Joh. 17.4 5 24. God the Father promises to be well pleased with him and his Offerings and in him with those he mediated for That they should be pardoned healed justified washed and sanctified and that they should be accepted Eph. 1.6 That if Christ would be made sin for them they should be made