may know in measure how dearly He loved us and how dear we have cost There we may see our sins Pardoned persons Accepted God Reconciled and Well-pleased there we may hear him saying Deliver them out of Prison for I have found and accepted a Ransom Surely there is not a more powerful means in the World to produce and provoke to Repentance yea pure Gospel-Repentance in Believers than the Lord's Supper is For here are presented to us all the greatest and strongest Gospel-motives to unfained Spiritual and Gospel-Repentance to melt soften the heart It is Love Grace the hopes of Pardon and Acceptance and of being sanctified and saved that provokes and produces Repentance unto Life not Fear and Dread of Divine Wrath and Vengeance Not the bare sight and Conviction of Sin and the Apprehension of future punishment no but 't is the sense or hope at least of our persons being loved and accepted into favour with God and of our being acquitted and justified through the blood of the Covenant that doth it 9. To stir us up to Admire Adore and Praise the great and free Love and Grace of God and Jesus Christ our Lord. They do in and by this Ordinance set off and commend their free eternal and distinguishing Love and Grace unto Believers and thereby give them occasion of Praising Admiring and Adoring it These are some of God's Holy and Gracious Ends in appointing this Ordinance for and giving it unto them and these and what-ever other uses and ends there are of it should be diligently sought out and understood by all Believers And being sound out they should be carefully diligently and faithfully aimed at and pursued by them Well then do you joyn Issues with God aim at and carry on the holy Ends of Jesus Christ in this Gospel Ordinance and by your so doing you will please and honour him and greatly profit your own Souls Quest What are the necessary qualifications and preparations of all worthy Receivers of the Lords Supper or what is required of and ought to be found in them Ans There qualifications and preparations are two-fold 1. A State qualification or worthiness 2. A habitual and practical or actual fitness 1. A State-worthiness or qualification which in brief is this or consists of these two things 1. Regeneration 2. Vnion with Christ by Faith 1. Regeneration or a New Creature 2 Cor. 5.17 This is absolutely necessary as to Salvation Joh. 3.3 5. so to fit and qualifie men to and for every good work Without Regeneration or being Born again we cannot Believe Repent or Obey the Gospel in a right and acceptable manner Without this change of Nature we cannot love God nor fear God we cannot know him rightly nor worship him Spiritually Joh. 4.23 24. Phil. 3.3 for we cannot Worship him with Reverence and Godly fear until we are partakers of the Divine Nature and of his special Grace to do it withal 2 Pet. 1.4 Heb. 12 28. In our Unregenerate States we are blind and dark Eph. 5.8 Dead in sins Eph. 2.1.5 Enemies to God and Strangers to the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 5.10 Eph. 2.12 We are Carnal and Vain Hard-hearted and Impenitent Sinners and are shut up in Unbelief Yea we are Haters of God and the power of Godliness and excessive Lovers of Sin and the World and altogether voyd of the Love of God and of real love and pitty to our own Souls Now then it is absolutely necessary that we be Regenerated and Created in Christ Jesus unto good Works Eph. 2.10 for till then we are utterly uncapable of doing them according to the Will of God How then can we receive and partake of the Lords Supper worthily until we are Regenerated and made New Creatures How can we discern the Lords Body 1 Cor. 11.29 and how can we understand the mystery and take in the profit of Christ his Death to our Souls until we are taught of God How can we receive it in Faith and in Obedience to his Will until the Grace of Faith be formed in our hearts and until our hearts are bowed and melted by Grace into the Holy Will of God How can we Worship God and Celebrate this Ordinance with lively hearts whilst we are dead in sins And how can we apply the Seal to that Grace which we have not Therefore I say it is absolutely necessary that all that receive this holy Seal be Regenerated and made New Creatures For how can that Ordinance feed and nourish that which is not in Being namely the New Creature 2. They must be Vnited to Jesus Christ by Faith also They must be in him and have relation to him as living Members to their Head 2 Cor. 5.17 Col. 2.6 Christ must be theirs and they must be his by Faith or they cannot claim him as theirs nor receive any benefit by his Death for else how can they joyn with Christ in his saying Take eat this is my Body which is broken for you 1 Cor. 11.23 24. But I must hasten 2. They must have an habitual worthiness or meetness for the right Receiving and due Celebration of this Ordinance likewise I mean a holy and spiritual ready and accurate frame and disposition of heart to for it they must have their Sight Faith and Love ready in act and exercise or they are not cannot be meet partakers of the Lord's Table It is not only necessary that they be in a State of Justification and Regeneration but they must be also in or qualified with a habitual frame posture and disposition of heart to receive and celebrate it to the Glory of Christ and profit of their own Souls Tit. 3.1 Their Hearts and Graces must be ready fixed and tuned for the work that they be not to seek of them or at a loss concerning them when they should honour Christ with and get the Seal of the Spirit to them Psal 57.7 Psal 108.1 Psal 112.7 This habitual meetness or worthiness qualification or preparation call it which you will is a matter of great weight and moment especially in this matter and therefore you must labour all you can to obtain it 2. There is a practical and actual meetness and preparedness for the worthy and acceptable receiving of the Lords Supper also That is there is something more than ordinary to be done by them in order to their worthy participating of it This practical preparation I shall briefly present to you in some particulars 1. You must examine your selves 1 Cor. 11.28 But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the Bread and drink of the Cup. And here 1. You must examine your States and try if you be in the Faith or no If you are indeed at least in a well grounded hope and perswasion in a justified and regenerate state and condition 2 Cor. 13.5 2 Pet. 1.10 and to know whether the Lord Jesus and his special Grace be formed in your hearts Gal. 4.19 This must be effectually done
to nourish strengthen and refresh the City of God by which they are or may be made fat and fruitful The Springs Treasures and Fountain of love and grace is opened in and to the Churches and there Christ Jesus causes the Horn of his Davids to flourish Psal 132.17 In a Church-state Believers live in the streams of all Gospel-Ordinances and therefore they may grow there as Willows by the Water-courses Esa 44.4 for there they may with joy draw water out of these Wells of Salvation Esa 12.3 The more obedient Believers are to the will of their King the more he will bless them and communicate of himself and his Grace to them Joh 14.13 14 15 16 21 23. Joh. 15.7 10. Now in a Church-state they do give up themselves in Universal professed and avowed obedience to the whole will of Christ and put themselves under all the Ordinances of Christ and so under all the blessings of the Covenant of Grace which are to be communicated to their Souls by them 3. God hath promised to impart his loves and favours to his people in their walking with him in a Church-state and Relation in a especial manner Cant. 7.12 Let us get up early to the Vineyards the Churches and Ordinances of God in them there will I give thee my loves Psal 92.12 13 14. The righteous shall flourish like the Palm-Tree he shall grow like a Cedar 〈◊〉 Lebanon But where shall they thus grow and flourish see the 13.14 verses Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God They shall still bring forth fruit in old age they shall be fat and flourishing Well might David say Blessed are they that dwell in thy house Psal 84.4 For great and glorious are their provisions priviledges and advantages to help and encourage them in their journey towards Heaven God hath also promised to bless yea abundantly to bless his Churches provisions and to satisfie their poor with Bread that is to fill and impower his Ordinances and their Ministry with his Presence Grace and Spirit that they may greatly profit their Souls and nourish them up to eternal life Psal 132.15 16. 4. God loves delights most in his Churches or in Believers walking together in the faith and order of the Gospel in an inchurched state Psal 87.2 3. The Lord loveth the Gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee O City of God Selah Eph. 3.17 The Lord thy God in the midst of thee viz Zion vers 16. â—is mighty he will save he will rejoyce over thee with joy he will rest in his love he will rejoyce over thee with singing Where men love and delight most there they are most free and liberal to such they are most bountiful and open handed so is God to his Churches because they are in their holy walking the greatest objects of his love and delight of his joy and rejoycing therefore I say they are the subjects of his abundant grace and favours 5. Churches or Believers in a Church-state do Christ more service than when they walk singly and out of that Gospel-way and order They are now his living publick witnesses his Candlesticks that hold up his burning Candles and they are his shining lights in the World They are the seats and subjects of all his Gospel-Ordinances and the ground and pillars of truth They do publickly and openly own and profess him to be their Lord and King and to be subject to his Laws and Authority and declare themselves his true and loyal friends and subjects and that before all men They manifest in the face of the Sun that they are not ashamed of his yoke nor his so much despised word and ways but own them cleave to them and walk in them as the only good holy and safe ways Many spiritual Diamonds orderly set in one gold Ring Church form do cast their lustre and reflect their glittering light and beauty on each other and so make a more lovely and glorious sight to Beholders There they do or may wait on God their Father and Christ their Head and King with their praises and melodious Harps and that with one heart and soul Psal 65.1 Their harmonious consent in breathing forth their oneness love faith hope and delight into one anothers hearts doth greatly raise heat and animate one another in powring out their joynt love affections and praises into the ears and heart of Christ which is most lovely and pleasant unto him Cant. 2.14 6. They expose themselves to greater trouble from the World in a Church-state than in walking singly A Church is as a Beacon set on a Hill which is visible to all beholders and by their publick practical and avowed separation from the World and walking by themselves they lay themselves open thereby to their adversaries wrath and vengeance They are the Buts of their invenomed Arrows of Reproach Scorn and Contempt of their Malice Hatred and Persecution The World takes more notice of a hundred Saints walking in close and intimate communion in a Church-state than of five thousands of others who walk singly This is so obvious to all as that it needs no further proof to confirm it Now then the more Believers expose themselves to sufferings in the Lords ways and for his sake the more of his presence and blessings they shall have Esa 43.1 2. Esa 41.10 Joh. 14.15 16. chapters 1 Pet. 3.14 1 Pet. 4.12 13 14. Thirdly As Believers inchurched are priviledged with more of the presence of God and the Communications of his love and favours so likewise with mutual help and assistance from one another Their nearness in Union Fellowship and Communion their knowledge of and acquaintance with each other together with the Laws of Christ among them enjoyning them thereunto and brotherly love resulting from all capacitates enables quickens and encourages them to more and constant usefulness to one another than otherwise they could or would be Their holy and spiritual Intimacy and Communion begets and preserves warm hearty and strong love and affection one to another which inclines their hearts to mind and do their external duties to each other It prompts and puts them upon sympathising one with another on watching over one another on exhorting comforting and provoking one another to love and to good works Heb. 10.24 25. to reprove admonish and endeavour to heal each other when need requires Gal. 6.1 2. to edifie one another warn the unruly and support the weak 1 Thes 5.11 14. And is not this a great priviledge and advantage to our Souls to have such seasonable assistance one from another Is it not a great priviledge when I am tempted and burdened to have my Brethrens hands under me to support and strengthen me when by my heedlesness I have fallen and broken my bones wounded and weakned my Soul to have such a spiritual Physician to give me Physick such a good Samaritan at
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
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
then the stony Ground would be in as good and safe a condition as the good Ground but the contrary is apparent Matth. 13. and Matth. 7. But it is certain that they are not built on Christ by faith but are vocted in themselves and build their vain hopes on a sandy Foundation Job 8. Matth. 7. and in many other Scriptures is manifest Therefore if there persons are not built on Christ their church-Church-state is not but upon the Sand. Hence then it follows that only sound Believers are built on Christ and so they are the persons only that Christ will have built up into Holy-Temples because the Churches that Christ builds he himself says he will build upon himself that they may stand inpregnably in all weathers and that is only of such as are united unto him by Faith and have chosen him for their only Rock and Foundation by a lively Faith and not of such as do secretly reject him Obj. If it be said that the Text in Matth. 16. speaks of the invisible Catholick Church I Answer And I am speaking too of the Members of the Catholick Church and say that all particular congregated Churches of Believers are or ought to be such as are united unto and built upon Christ by Faith and that these ought to congregate and become Churches of God and none else and that according unto the directions of the Gospel of Christ and then if they be indeed such that promise in Matth. belongs to them and they shall be secured by it as well as the Catholick Church although they be formed up according to Christs his Institution into particular congregational Churches And although after they are thus formed they may be broken in a Sense and scattered as the Church at Jerusalem was Act. 8.1 yet they are still secured by that promise and have communion with each other in Faith Love tears and Prayers in Judgment and affection The Lord Jesus suffers in name and Glory by the fall of his Churches or such as pretend to be so as he that built his house on the sand is called a foolish man by Spectators Matth. 7. and if Churches should be so built either for want of a good Foundation or good matter or wise and carefull cementing and forming up the materials how greatly will the Wisdom and care of Christ suffer by the Tongues of his Enemies because such Churches took upon themselves the name of Christ and pretended to be his people and to walk by his Laws And as the fall of them will be a Reproach to Christ so it will be matter of grief and scandal to the weak Members of Christ also whether they were in or out of those Churches thus fallen and it will greatly harden the hearts of Sinners against the good ways of God and cause them to think that there is no reality in his Gospel Religion and therefore Christ cannot endure to see his houses fall to the ground but takes care that all that he builds by his Word and Spirit be so built and secured as that the Gates of Hell shall not overthrow them nor by any means prevail against them to destroy them and that because they are founded secured supported by his promise and Spirit I might produce many other Reasons for the proof and confirmation of this Truth that none but real Believers ought to be formed up into a Church of Christ As concerning the priviledges and promises that belong to a Church of Christ There are many of them which may be spoken of on an other head which are two high and glorious for the Inglorious professing Hypocrities and therefore they must be entayled only on the true heirs of them viz. the living Members of Christ and Children of God Hypocrites who refuse to have Christ on his own Terms and who preferr their Lusts before him and their own Righteousnesse before Christs and daily make him a Lyar 1 John 5. have nothing to do with them There is a little Remnant called out of the World to whom they do onely belong and they and only they may claim them as their own Again because only Believers are Christs willing subjects such as have freely put their necks under his Yoke and given up themselves in universal obedience to him and that have heartily chosen him for their Lord and Governour and his Laws for their Rule and practice But it is well known that all other men do reject him and yeild obedience unto the Devil and their Lusts They will have the Lord Jesus bow down to their Terms but they will not come up to his They say as those in Joh. 6.60 this is a hard Yoke who can bear it and therefore although we will professe him that we will not have him rule over us And therefore he doth not call them to partake of the Children of the Kingdomes Bread or to his true Subjects priviledges and Blessings whilest they continue such Moreover only true Believers are Clean and Pure all others are unclean They are strangers to him and his People unwashed and uncircumcized in Ears and Hearts They are not Justifyed nor Sanctifyed nor purged from their uncleannesse by the blood of the Lamb and therefore they may not come near to or touch the holy things of his Church which are holy pure things and sanctifyed unto the holy use of his enchurched-members I would not be tedious and therefore shall wave all further consideration of this matter although I could multiply Reasons to prove that only real true Believers should be Church-Members But I shall speak a few words for the removing of an objection advanced against this Truth which is this But we read of Tares in the field amongst the good wheat good and bad fishes caught in the neet of the Gospel and brought into the Kingdome which is the Church of God as also many evil members in several of the Congregational Churches mentioned in the Scripture and therefore Churches may consist of good and bad men All this may be true and yet the Truth insisted on not at all touched or weakened thereby It is true if there were evil members in those Gospel Churches and they proved evil Members indeed and great afflictions to blessed Paul and the good Members of them But what then ought they to have been there or were they known to be such indeed to the Apostles and other good men when they admitted them were they there by Christs call and with his approbation and allowance although he permitted them to creep in among his People Now unlesse it can be proved that they ought to be there that they were admitted when known to be such as afterward they appeared to be that it was their duty and priviledge while such and that Christ approved there being there I say until that be proved by the word of God we must conclude that they were Vsurpers and had nothing to do in the Churches of Christ I do not discourse of who were in the
holy ends of God in desiring Communion with them As 1 To enjoy God and hold communion with him in all his ordinances and appointments 2 To worship God there in Spirit and Truth and give him your homage and service in his house 3 To shew and declare your subjection and obedience unto him and to make a publique and open profession of him before men 4 To receive of his Grace to enrich your Souls with his fulnesse and to be sealed by his Spirit unto the day of your Redemption 5 That you may walk orderly and beautifully and shine as Lights in the Churches and in the world before Saints and Sinners 6 That you may be established in the Truth live under the watch and care of Christs Ministers and of fellow Members that by their inspection and faithful dealings with you you may be kept from and brought back from sin to God by their wise Reproofs and holy Instructions 7 That you may yield up your selves in Universal obedience unto Christ and do all things whatsoever he commands you that you may have the right use and enjoyment of all your purchased priviledges and be secured against the Gates of Hell Are these and such like ends in your minds and hearts in your walking in Church-fellowship and can you find the forementioned mark or signs of Grace in you in measure though not so clearly and fully as you would Why then I may boldly and humbly tell you that you are fitted and qualified for Church membership that you are called and invited into the house and Temple of God and that you are indispensibly bound to answer to the call of God and say behold Lord we come unto thee and will freely without delay thankfully without grudying humbly without pride with mourning and rejoycing enter into thy Courts joyn with thy Churches and grow into a holy Temple to thy Praise and Honour We will no longer slight our great priviledges neglect our great and indispensible Duties or walk disorderly as we have done but we do now willingly come and offer our selves unto thee and to enter into a solemn engagement to be thine to walk in all thy ways and do the things that please thee I say that Church priviledges are yours the doors of Gods house stand open for you Christ stands at the door and waites for you he invites you to come in sit down at his Table and you shall be most freely and heartily welcome to your Lord and his people And know that it is your unavoidable and indispensible duty to enter into his house 5. Quest Ought a Church of Christ especially the Guides thereof to let in any that professe the name and waies of Jesus Christ and offer themselves unto them or ought they not to try and prove them first whether they are rightly qualified by the grace of Christ for full membership with his people if so then what are the qualifications they should look for and find in them for their own satisfaction which they admit into the holy Temple of God Answ 1. It is certain that all that professe the name of Christ and his waies ought not may not be admitted into the Lords holy Temples because many if not the most of them are very Ignorant of Christ and his ways and notorious scandalous in their Lives as sad and wofull experience shews 2. It hath been I think sufficiently proved before that not any but real-hearted sound Believers are fit materials for a house and holy Temple of God and if so then a Church or the Guides thereof may not admit any into it but such only as they judge by the word of God and their own charitable discretion are such indeed although 't is possible they may be Hypocrites but they may not admit them if they groundedly know or think them to be such For if they should admit such against their knowledge they betray their Trusts and defile Christs holy Temple by taking in such persons as they know or ought to know Christ would not have there And that they ought to try and prove persons that they may know their worthinesse and fitnesse before they admit them in is clear in Acts 9.26 and because Christ hath committed the keys of his Temple unto them to take in and put out according to his will and Appointment Moreover he blames Some for suffering Tares if meant of persons to be sowen in his Kingdome and not endeavouring to prevent and keep them out Matth. 13.25 says he while men Slept the Enemy came and sowed Tares that is while such as should have kept the Temple Gates shut against them to have kept them out were negligent and carelesse of their duty for they should have done all they could to have kept out the Devils seed for what agreement hath the Seed of the Serpent with the Seed of the Woman the Rebells with the true Subjects of Christ or as Paul saith what concord hath Christ with Belial 2 Cor. 6.14 3. As to satisfying qualifications in persons desiring admission into Churches I say that when they have been well tryed and are found in the Judgment of Charity such as Christ hath received and competently qualifyed for Church membership they ought to receive them in the Lord Rom. 14.1 Rom. 15.7 1. If they can make forth and declare unto the Church their at least seemingly Regeneration Conversion Repentance and Faith in Christ their knowledge of Christ and his ways Laws and Ordinances of their lost and perishing state in Sin and by reason of it and their sincere desires and Resolutions to become the Lords and to walk with him unto all well-pleasing in all his ways 2. If they are sound in the Faith of the Gospel I mean in the chief and principal Doctrines and Truths thereof although they may be ignorant of or err in lesser matters If they have some distinct knowledge and Faith concerning these and other such Truths and matters contained in the word of God As of the state and condition wherein man was first created How he lost that holy and blessed State and the misery he brought himself and all his posterity into thereby Concerning themselves that they are by nature Children of wrath dead in Sins and Trespasses and condemned to eternal Death That they are Enemies to and at enmity with God That they have neither will nor power by nature either to will or do that which they ought and is pleasing to God That they have forsaken God and are under the Curse of the Law and that they are the Children Subjects and Servants of the Devil World and their own Lusts That God left not all men in this State and condition but provided an all-sufficient Remedy namely Jesus Christ and that by an Everlasting Covenant entered into with Christ in the behalf of men before the Foundation of the World Tit. 1.2 2 Tim. 1.9 Prov. 8. and that in pursuance thereof he elected and gave some to Christ that he might
by the Apostle Peter in his first Sermon after the coming of the Holy Ghost on him and other of the Apostles in Act. 2.39 when he was about the setting up of Churches and Church-Order Laws and Ordinances among them sayes he Repent yee and be Baptized why for the promise is unto you and to your Children and to all that are a far off even as many as the Lord our God shall call which is the same for substance given before to Abraham And Paul told the Galatians Chapt. 3.14 That the blessing of Abraham is come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ This Ordinance of Baptism is of meer Institution and made known to us in and by the Gospel The Light and Law of nature knows nothing of it neither are we bound to observe it but upon the command and appointment of Christ which is sufficient for us and we need no further warrant for our observation of it Fifthly The Lords Supper is clearly another Church-Ordinance And indeed it cannot be rightly and orderly administred and received but in a regular Church-state we never read of any Believers that received it or any Officers that administred it after Christ's ascension but as they were congregated en-Churched em-bodied and formed into a holy Temple but we read of Churches celebrating it as at Jerusalem Acts 2. Corinth 1 Epistle 11. and elsewhere We find the Institution of this Ordinance in Matth. 26.26 27 28. Mark 14.22 23 24. Luk. 22.17 18 19 20. 1 Cor. 11.23 to the end In this last Scripture we have many weighty things of and concerning this great Ordinance 1 The Institution its self 2 The time when the same night in the which he was betrayed 3 The Institutor namely the Lord Jesus 4 The manner of it 1. The Lord Jesus's own practise He took blessed brake and gave the Bread and said take eat this is my Body 2. By commandment this do ye in remembrance of me 5 Who should received it and how persons should be qualified and prepared for the reception of it 1. With light and faith They must be able to discern the Lords body the ends and use of the Ordinance and to make suitable and pertinent application of all to themselves 2. They must be able to examine themselves and actually to do it and be in a state and practical fitness and readiness to meet Christ in it to thank and praise him and to shew forth his death until he come 6 The danger and peril they are in who eat and drink and use this holy Ordinance unworthily 1. They are guilty of his Body and Blood 2. Of their own damnation 7 We are informed of some of the sad effects their unworthy receiving of this holy Ordinance had on some of them for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep Sixthly Singing of Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs is another Church-Ordinance or Institution of Christ Eph. 5.18 19 20. Col. 3.16 Mat. 26.30 Mark 14.26 This is a spiritual Ordinance and Duty yea it is a heart-warming Soul-refreshing Spirit-raising and grace-quickning Ordinance To the well performance of it much special grace and diligent exercise of it as also the spirit of grace is necessary Much wisdom and spiritual understanding life and vigor care and watchfulness is requisite sincerity and faithfulness spirituality and heavenly-mindedness is needful for our acceptable observance of it to God through Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 14.15 Col. 3.16 Eph. 5.18 19 20. It is true that all men ought to sing praises and thanksgivings unto God for it is a natural and moral duty and it is as true that none can rightly holily and acceptably do it but such as are partakers of the grace and spirit of Christ and that the Lord Jesus hath instituted it and made it a Church-Ordinance And as or because he hath instituted and made it one of his Gospel-Ordinances for his Churches that therefore they ought so to observe it Sevently Holy discourses and heavenly conferences among the members of the Church is another Church Ordinance which all are bound to mind and practise as they have ability and opportunity for the observation and celebrating of which they should seek for occasions and seasons to meet together and endeavour to promote it and when they have them in their hands to use and improve them to the glory of God and their own mutual profit and that because it is their Lords Ordinance for their good The neglect of which is doubtless one of the procuring causes of those witherings languishings and most dreadful decays in grace and woful back-slidings which are so notoriously evident among Church-members This useful profitable Ordinance was once in esteem much accounted of by Believers but it is now almost laid aside forgotten by them it was their delight but now their burden They made happy earnings of it to their Souls but now they fancy that they have no need of it that there is neither duty nor priviledge in it But however it is and shall ever be an Ordinance of God and their observation of it their priviledge and duty Jude 20. Building up your selves in your most holy faith 1 Thes 5.11 Wherefore comfort your selves together and edifie one another even as also ye do See also vers 14. and Heb. 3.13 Heb. 10.24 25. Mal. 3.16 17. Church-members must take heed that they meet together for the better and not for the worser as the Apostle told the Corinthians 1 Cor. 11.17 that they so improve their occasional and determined meetings as to profit and better one another This holy Ordinance of Jesus Christ should be seriously frequently diligently spiritually and sincerely observed of all Church-members And if they shall so observe and practise it in obedience to his will and with holy designs and aims namely to please and honour God and to profit and better their own and each others Souls they will find it an exceeding profitable Ordinance to them for the promoting and carrying on the grace and interest of Christ in their hearts and it will be an effectual means to encrease love one to another unite their hearts and endear affections God will bless and empower it in your dependence on Christ and his free grace to keep your Consciences awake your Affections warm and your hearts ready to every good work Eightly Church-Discipline This Ordinance is instituted and appointed for the Churches regular and orderly walking for the preventing and curing disorders in them and there is as much need of this Ordinance and Institution as of any other as experience shews And it should be seriously minded and considered wisely and diligently observed and practised in the Church as much as any other Ordinance of God therein There is no Church in the world but is subject to disorders and too many irregularities because the Lusts Temptations and carnal Interests of some of the Member are strong and impetuous which causes many distempers and disturbances in the