OBSERVATION. I.

The Lord Jesus Christ hath Built a 〈◊〉 in the World, and this most exactly and ••• fully, according to the Mind of God.

Good old Noah was one of the most consi ••• able Men that ever was in the World. The •• cient Heathen themselves had some broken •• membrances and Traditions of him. Their •• chus has the very Name of Noah in it, with •• ery little variation of the Letters. And 〈◊〉 Janus too, was our Noah, having a Name •• ved from the Hebrew word [Jajin] for 〈◊〉 , which Noah was the maker of: and as 〈◊〉 was with them, a man of two Faces, it intimated that Noah had the double prospe • of the Old and the New World before him. 〈◊〉 for nothing was Noah more notable, than 〈◊〉 being a Type of our Lord J • sus Chris • through whom, a R • st remains for the people 〈◊〉 God. And among all the Instances in whic • Noah was Typical, there is none more obvio •• and visible than this; That as Noah built 〈◊〉 Ark, so Jesus has built a Church in the wor •• But how? when that Noah had received th •• Orders, Go build an Ark; it follows in Gen. 6 • 22. according • o all that God had commanded did he. Tis the Honour of the Ship-wright that God himself was the first Master-Builde • I suppose Noah to be directed and inspired 〈◊〉 God, for the Building of an ARK; an • surely he so much as drove every Pin, accor •• ing to the advice of God. Well, our Lor • Jesus Christ, in the Building of his Churc • has thus done all, according to the Will of Go • It is said in Heb. 3.2. He was faithful to 〈◊〉 that appointed Him. The Will of God is th • according to which, all things are square • and ordered by the Lord Jesus, in the Chur •• of God.

APPLICATION.

Let not Us then introduce any thing 〈◊〉 • he Church of God, of which we have no • His Allomance and Countenance for its being here. We are most, or all of us, Vnder- • uilders about the Ark of God; we have • ome work assigned us, in the Edification of • he Church. But let us keep close to the • ord of God, in our Building. Are there any • aterials which we would build the Church 〈◊〉 the Admission of? Let them all be of • ods Constitution. Let us not willingly lay 〈◊〉 Rotten Timber of either Hereticks or Hy •• crites in the sides of our Ark, nor allow •• urch-priviledges with us to evidently un • odly men. We are admonished in Heb. 12. • 6. Look diligently, lest there be any profane ••• son among you. Even so, we are to Look • iligently, that the Church which we more •• mediately belong un • o, be not filled with 〈◊〉 ungodly Company. Some Great Men 〈◊〉 God, have professed, That they would •• oner Loose their Hands, than with those Hands • dminister the Sacraments to a visibly ungodly 〈◊〉 ; and it is a Golden Sentence, which •• opt from the Pen of that Learned Scotch- • an; I believe (saith Mr Gilespy) no Con •• ientious Minister, would Baptise a man, whose • orks and words manifestly declare him to be 〈◊〉 Unregen • rated, an unconverted man; and 〈◊〉 shall we then bring such an one unto the Table of the Lord? No, they will be a sort o • Barnacles, growing to the sides of the Ark, with not a little prejudice to its Interest. Again, are there any Exercises which we would Build the Church, by our attendance on? Let all them too be of Gods Institution. Let us not perform any Worship, or Service, about our Ark, but such as God calleth for. Our Lord saith in Mat. 15.9. In vain do they worship me, teaching the Commandments of men. The Commandments of men, must not be our Guide, in What we do in and for the Church. We should not fetch a stroke there, of which God has not said, This do▪ Luther judciously reckoned This, one of the three things which the Church would be fatally Endangered by, Sapientia mundi, quae vult omnia redigere in Ordinem, & impjis med • is Ecclesiae paci consulere; To follow the Dictates of Worldly Wisdom for the maintaining of it. There are uninstituted Caeremonies brought into the House of God; the bold Inventors whereof, resemble them to Pins in the Building; and that of Pins, is a Name great enough truly to be bestowed upon them But I assure you, They are Pins that produce Cracks and Leaks where they come; they are dangerous to the Ark of God.

OBSERVATION. II.

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, is most •• timately Concerned and Embarked, in • he Church of God. When the Ark was • uilt, Noah the Builder Shipp'd himself up • n it; if the Ark had sunk, or Split Noah • imself must have perished with it. But 〈◊〉 was well secured by the presence of No • h there; tho' it seems to have drawn a • ove sixteen foot of Water, as may be ga • hered from its resting on an Hill when the Waters were above it, at least eleven cu •• ts. Thus, our Lord Jesus Christ, having • uilt the Church, He is now Himself aboard, • nd will be so, To the end of the World. It 〈◊〉 His promise in Isa 43.3. When thou pas • est thro' the Waters, I will be with thee. And • t is His pitty in Isa. 63.9. In all their Af • lictions, He is Afflicted. If the Church mis • arry our Lord Jesus Christ Himself will do 〈◊〉 too; but there is no Fear of That!

APPLICATION.

Be not then Discouraged at the Dangers, the Tempests, which the Church of God may meet withal. 'Tis the Name of the Church, in Isa. 54.11. O thou Tossed with Tempests! and so it may have this Appellation, O thou Threatned with Dangers! But be of good chear. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is exposed unto all the perils which bear a terrible Aspect on the Church of God. Hence the Great Reformer, in very perplexing Distresses would so comfort himself Si nos Ruimus, Ruit & Christus; Christ Himself will Fare like us, and Fall with us: And this may be our comfort, The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, must founder in the Quicksands of that Corruption, or Oppression, in which the whole Church of God shall be ever swallowed up. This was the Triumph of the Church, in Psal 46.3, 5. We will not fear, though the Waters Roar, and be Troubled Why so? It follows, God is in the midst of Her! Let never such Roaring, Dashing, Horrible Huricanes arise, the Church cannot be cast away; the Reason is, God is in the midst of her. When Caesar was in a little Boat at Sea, hattered and battered by a violent Storm, which made the Marriners afraid, he merrily said unto them, Come, Courage, brave Hearts, you carry Caesar, and the • nterests of Caesar here! Why, a better Fraighted Vessel is the Church of God: It has our • lessed Noah aboard; It carries Jesus, and • he Interests of Jesus in the Bottom of it.

Niteris in c • ssum Christi submergere Navem; Fluctuat, at nunquam Mergitur illa Ratis.

But before I pass to the next Stage, Be • old, an Advice here, which Marriners are 〈◊〉 be mindful of! You see the way to be • ife in all your Voyages, Get the Gracious • resence of of the Lord Jesus, the true No • h, with you in your Vessels, and you are • rovided for a Storm. 'Tis likely that the • rk, had no Storms to Encounter with; • or the Dry Land which may generate them • as covered; nor could the Flat Bottom of • he Ark well bear too ruffling Tumults, • nd swelling Billows, in the Waters under

But you must expect many a severe and • ustring Storm in your Adventures; where • n you will scarce be as many Inches from • eath as the Thickness of your Ships, but, • am prope Mors urget, quam prope cernis aquam • gainst which you now see how to secure • our selves. We have a Narrative, in Mat. 4.37, 38, 39. That once arose a great •• orm of Wind, and the Waves beat into the Ship; and He arose and rebuked the Wind, and said unto the Sea, peace, be still; and the Wind ceased, and there was a great Calm. Such a Friend, such a Guard at hand, you will have, if you have the Presence of the Lord Jesus with you. Now, to obtain That, Let your Prayers, be together every Day made unto God in Him; therewithal joyning your Cares, that no Vice be any more allowed there, than in the purest Church in the World. If it was Enjoyned on Masters of Houses to Pray without ceasing: how much more ought Masters of Vessels to do the same? Let me say, Masters, your Companies are your Families; you ought every day to see Prayer attended with them. How can you Neglect Prayer in a Calm, without expecting that when you Employ Prayer in a Storm, the Lord Jesus will be deaf unto your Crier, and Reply upon them, I know you not? 'Twill be too late then to begin your Prayers; Quid Juvat Errores mersa jam puppe fateri? It hath been said, Let him that would Learn to Pray, go to Sea; Alas, that so many persons who go to Sea, are so impiously Prayerless there! and so like the Marriners whom the Philosopher once with a sharp scoff, did advise to forbear their Prayers! It was a seasonable Alarum once •• ven aboard a Ship, Arise, and call upon thy God. For indeed, The Lord is with you, while you are with Him.

OBSERVATION. III.

It should be Good Stuff which the Church • onsisteth of. The Church Mystical will • ertainly do so, and they that make pre •• nces to the Church Visible are to be solicit •• s hereabout. It was prescribed unto No •• , in Gen. 6.14. Make thee an Ark of Go •• er wood. What Wood is that? Critics take 〈◊〉 the Cudgel about it and agree no bet •• r than to insist upon 6 or 7 various Inter • retations of it: But it is abundantly clear t • at Cypress Wood is meant by Gopher Wood, 〈◊〉 very Names have something of affinity. 〈◊〉 Ship-Timber else grew so plentifully • ereabouts; and this was the main Ship-Timber among all the Ancients. Which • lexanders Navy alone, of this Wood, may •• nder evident. Hence were 〈◊〉 Boards • ostly used for Coffins of 〈◊〉 in commemoration of the ARK, no doubt, where all Mankind was once coffin'd up. Now the Cypress Wood was good Stuff: it would • old and keep, and last sound, and breed no Worms, for a most incredible while▪ Perpetual, was the Epithite which the ancient Poets put upon it. Hence Epiphanius affirms, that in his dayes, which was near three thousand years after the Flood, there were parts of the ARK still to be seen▪ This is an Emblem of the Soundness which all Church-Members ought to be studious of: a Prayer fitted for their Lips▪ is that in Psal. 119.80. Lord, Make my heart sound in thy Statutes.

APPLICATION.

Let those who desire to joyn unto the Church of God, then Examine themselves. There are some, and it procures the anger of the great God, that there are no more, seeking after Church fellowship among us. To you in a peculiar manner belongs that counsel in 1 Cor. 11.28. Let a man Examine himself, and so let him Come. O make this enquiry into your own estate, Am I good Stuff or no? ask and see, whether you have a Good Grain, or a True Grace? whether you are sound at heart? whether you have the Root of the matter in you? Yea, and more than this, is needful to be enquired; it • hould be try'd, whether you are well He ••• • nd well Bow'd, by the Word of God? whe • her the Word of God has had such an In • luence upon you as to fit you for a standing • n the Building of the Lord.

Many dejected Souls are terrifying them • elves with a, May •• venture? Now to pu •• out of Question, do but put these three Que • tions to your own Souls.

Q. 1. Is there no Lust that I do nourish a •• • ndulge in my self? But do I count every Sin my • urden, wretchedness and misery?

Q. 2. Is there no Duty which I allow my self • n the Omission of? but have I respect unto al • • he Commands of God?

Q· 3. Is there no Office of the Lord Jesus Christ, which I am under the power of prejudic • • gainst? but am I willing that he should be • o me, all of that which He is to any of his chosen ones?

If you can give a good Answer to these Questions, you may then venture to come. Come and be compacted, and united, and • ncorporated into the Church of God, ac • ording to the Order of the Gospel.

OBSERVATION. IV.

Many persons instrumental about Building the Church of God, are yet Lost and Damned for ever. There were many Carpenters no doubt, that wrought with Noah, upon the Ark, which yet were Drown'd among those doleful Creatures, whose Foundation was overflown with a Flood. Even so, there are multitudes of persons, whose Talents and Labours are Employ'd about Church Work, all their Days; and yet these very Sersons go down to the congregation of them that Roar under the Waters for ever. It is true, that the Ministry of a wicked Clergy-Man, is not so frequently and so certainly blessed by God, as the Ministry of a serious, Gracious, Heavenly Man, that can Pray as well as Preach. Usually they are the Wise, the Good, who Turn many to Righteousness. Nevertheless God may improve the Ministry of a Judas and a Demas, for the advantage of His Church. 'Tis not the Instrument, but the Appointment, that gives Efficacy to the Ordinance. We are told in 1 Cor· 9.27. A man that has Preached to others, may himself be cast away.

APPLICATION.

How much ought all Church-Officers then 〈◊〉 Work out their own Salvation with Fear and • rembling! As on the one side, No True • hristian, should Despair of his own Since •• ty, because the Minister that was the In •• rument of his Conversion, has proved a • icked man: so on the other side, No • hurch-Officer should Presume his Condition 〈◊〉 be good, because of a sacred Function • ertaining to him▪ We that are at work • pon the Ark, had need to make sure of 〈◊〉 , that we be not shut out, when the Floods 〈◊〉 great Water do come nigh unto us. Know 〈◊〉 , that Men of Renown in the Congregation, may go down into the horrible Pits, the • iery Vaults, of the lowest Hell. We shall • e worse than those that are already there, 〈◊〉 we do not at this awful Intimation, Be • ieve and Tremble. It is a Lamentable con •• sion which is instanced unto us in Mat. • ·22. Many will say, Lord, have we not Pro • hesied in thy Name? Then will I profess unto • hem, I never knew you; Depart from me! Thus in the Dreadful Day of God, we may • ome to plead, Lord, Had not I the Office of Serving thy Table, and Keeping thy Treasure in thy House? We may come to plead, Lord Did not I go before thy People in singing of thy Praises? Yea, we may come to plead, Lord was not I a Pastor, and a Preacher to a Flock 〈◊〉 thine? Yet may he pass that Ireful Direfu • Sentence on us, Depart from me, I know yo • not! O take heed of Incurring such • Doom: Let us all carefully make our Calling and Election sure.

OBSERVATION V.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Door, by which we are to pass into the Church of God. It was said in Gen. 6.16. And the Door of the Ark shalt thou set in the side thereof. There was a Door by which the Ark was entered; which Door, if it were in the lower part of the Ark, and not by Scaffolds ascended unto, required an exquisite carefulness in the close and fast shutting of it; and it seems Angelical Assistance, was afforded thereunto: for we read, God shut it. Well, The Church of God has a Door too; but what kind of one? Our Lord Jesus hath said unto us, in John 17.9. I am the Door, by me if any man enter in, he shall •• saved. The Lord Jesus must be profes • d and obeyed by all that would be Lodg • here.

APPLICATION.

If therefore we would have any Room 〈◊〉 the Church of God, Let us own ourselves • holden to the Lord Jesus for it. In the • hurch 'tis eminently so, that Christ is All! • is by Confessing the Truth of Christ Je •• s, that we come to Challenge a Room in 〈◊〉 Church Visible. We must confe • s unto • im, Thou art the Son, of the Living God; • id we must hold the Truth as it is in Jesus, 〈◊〉 we would not be excluded from all Inte •• st in the Church. A knot of men, that • e not sound in the Fundamentals of the • hristian Faith, are not a Church, but a • asps-Nest, as Tertullian expresses it, or, a •• nagogue of Satan, as 'tis called in the Sa •• ed Pages.

Again, It is by Receiving the Grace of • hrist Jesus, that we come to enjoy a room 〈◊〉 the Church Mystical. This Church is 〈◊〉 this regard as it shall be, when it shall • rive to its New-Jerusalem condition here, • othing enters into it that Defiles. 'Tis by having of Christ Jesus formed in us, tha • we get into this Holy Body; it is, The Body of Christ, and our Union with Him, by Faith, brings us to belong unto it.

Once more, A Call from Christ Jesus, the Door, by which we are to enter upo • any special Employment in the 〈◊〉 of God. They are but Intruders, who pre • tend to be Overseers to the Church, an • have no commission from the Lord Jesus fo • it; Our Lord hath truly said, in John 17. • The same is a Thief and a Robber. Let th • Word of the Lord Jesus invite us, and in • duce us, to whatever Office we expect abo •• the Church of the most High; through th • want of this, the Son of God has a Qu • Warranto for a great part of them, tha • have made themselves Rulers of the Chur •• at this day in the world.

OBSERVATION VI.

The Church of God has the means o • Light afforded unto it. The Ark had 〈◊〉 Window or a Casement in it; as we read i • Gen. 6.16. Which was probably in th • Upper Story of the Ark; just below 〈◊〉 Roof, which by the Declivity of a 〈◊〉 •• rried off the Rain that fell upon it. It • as made Strait without, and Broad with •• , that the Light might thereby the better 〈◊〉 diffused. No doubt Noah by Cranes and ••• pes and proper Engines pulling up the 〈◊〉 Quantity of Excrements in the Lower •• ories of the Ark, did here turn them out. • nd it is besides probable, that there were • ere and there, Little port-holes in the sides 〈◊〉 the Ark, which conveyed Breath as • ell as Light, unto the Animals in the • old. Well, The church of God is like • ise a place of Light; and a twofold Light 〈◊〉 find shining there. It is the Name of 〈◊〉 Lord Jesus Christ, in John 1 9. He is 〈◊〉 Light of the World. Now 'tis in the 〈◊〉 of the Church, that the Sun of Righte •• sness is moving from Day to Day. It is • oreover the Singular Quality and Excel •• nce of the Scripture, which is noted in • sal. 119.105. Thy Word is a Light unto my 〈◊〉 . Now 'tis the Church that is the Can •• stick, in which this Candle • s exhibited • nto us; upon which account it is also cal •• d, The pillar of Truth.

APPLICATION.

For shame then, let none of us that are 〈◊〉 the Church continue Ignorant of the Thing which we ought to be Instructed in. Th • Ordinances of the Lord Jesus, are so man • Windows or Casements, at which a Divine Light may come into our Souls. O let u • not then be in the Dark about our own work, or in the Dark about our own state▪ or in the Dark about the Things which are eternal, and are indeed out of sight. Indee • the Apostatical Church of Antichrist, may have Doctors declared and promoted as Most sufficient, though they never had read a chapter in their Bibles; and it may have Preacher, who being asked whether they taugh • their People the Decalogue, discreetly answered, They never saw the Book so called ▪ But the sincere Church of Christ canno • nourish any such Barbarity▪ Let us endeavou • the fulfilment of that word, Thy people shal • all be taught. It was said in 1 Cor. 15.34. Some have not the knowledg of God, I speak this to your shame. What! for them in the C • urch to want the knowledg of God! that is a burning shame indeed! It will be a shameful • hing, if any of Us have not the Knowledge 〈◊〉 those things, which to know is Life Eter •• l. The Church in which we Lodge, is •• uminated; yea, it is a Light-House to the • orld about us. We shut our Eyes against 〈◊〉 Light, if we remain a people of no know ••• ge; and then He that made us, will not •• ve mercy on us, He that formed us, will shew 〈◊〉 no Favour.

OBSERRVATION VII.

One Catholick Church has in it, many •• rticular Congregations and Societies, that •• ree to worship God in Christ, according 〈◊〉 His Gospel. There were many particu ••• Mansions, and Chambers in the Ark of •• ah; yet they all made but One Ark. 'Tis 〈◊〉 in the Church of God; Onely with this ••• ference, That I look upon the Church ra •• r as a Genus, than an Integrum. There 〈◊〉 many particular Churches, and yet they 〈◊〉 make up One Church Catholick, which is 〈◊〉 Mystical Body of Christ. Hence our •• rd says in Cant. 6.9. My Undefiled is but 〈◊〉 . A particular Church is that Associati •• of Believers, which Assemble together 〈◊〉 one place, with Engagements and Endeavours to carry on, The Worship of the Gospel. I do not know, that the Word of God ever mentioned any particular Church of another Species or Dimension.

Such a Church has in it the whole Essence of the Church, and it is it self a compleat Ark, before the Lord But all these Churches being together considered, the Result will be one Church Catholick in the World.

APPLICATION.

This may Encourage us, both in Lovi •• and in Serving of the Church.

Our Loving of the Church, is not to 〈◊〉 confined unto this or that particular Assembly. Indeed there is a peculiar Love du • to that Assembly, which we are in Covenant withal; and even in the Matters 〈◊〉 Business, as well as of Charity, this Lov • may show it self. There are some Church • es in England, where the Members are a • greed, That if there be any One of their ow • communion which can furnish them with such 〈◊〉 such a commodity, they will go to him, befor • they go to any other. 'Tis a Loving practice▪ But our Love must extend it self to th • • hole Houshold of Faith ▪ And in ou • Serv •• g of the Church, we should Remember, •• at when we do a Service for this or that •• rticular Assembly, we do it for all the • hole Community. Every Believer fa • es 〈◊〉 better, for every Prayer, every Sermon, 〈◊〉 Book, which God helps us to Edifie 〈◊〉 one Church withal. Wherefore, Let •• ere be in us, What was in Paul, in 2 Cor. •• :28. The care of all the Churches.

OBSERVATION. VIII.

There are very Different and Various • egrees in the Church of God. It was En ••• ned concerning the Ark, in Gen. 6.16. • ith Lower, Second, and Third Stories, thou •• alt make it. Thus after some sort, there 〈◊〉 Three Stories in the Church of God; •• ere is the Visible Church, there is the My •• cal Church on Earth, and there is the •• iumphant Church in Heaven. These three 〈◊〉 so many Ascending Stories in the Ark 〈◊〉 the Lord.

APPLICATION

Let not a Room in the Lower Story of th • Church content any of us. Count it not e • nough to be in the Church Visible; that 〈◊〉 a part of the Ark, which any sorts 〈◊〉 Creatures a •• often Crouding and Herdi • together in. Doubtless, Noahs Quarter▪ wer • Above •• st under the Roof of th • Ark. Let us •• pire to be in the Church My • stical ▪ the Ch • rch of which 'tis said in M •• 16.18. The gates of Hell shall not prevail •• gainst it. Ye • Let us desire to be in th • Chvrch Triumphant; the Church describe • in Heb. 12.22. The Innumerable Company 〈◊〉 Angels, the Spirits of Just men made perfe •• and Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenan • Get first into the middle Story of Gra •• and so you shall step up into the upper Sto • ry of Glory, at the Last.

OBSERVATION. IX.

There are in the Church of God, Creature • of all Natures, both good and bad. We fin • Gen. 6.19, 20. Some of every Beast & some 〈◊〉 • owl, were admitted into the Ark. The • istinction of Clean and Unclean, was it • eems, then taken up; and the Clean, which • ight be Sacrificed, were by Sevens [Behold 〈◊〉 Odd One for a Sacrifice] The Unclean, which • ight not be Sacrificed, were by Couples • ere▪ A very signal, special, and miracu •• us Providence it was, that assisted Noah in 〈◊〉 gathering together all sorts of Ani • als.

But there are two very Difficult Enqui •• es, which my Concern to prevent the A •• eism of many that think the History of the • rk incredible and impossible, will cause 〈◊〉 a little to insist upon.

APPLICATION.

But let all Church Members among us, look to it, that they be not wild Ravenous or Venemous creatures in the ARK of God. It seems probable, that the fiercest Creatures were miraculously so Cicurated at their Entrance into the Ark, that they expressed no Antipathies or Dissensions there: 'Tis credibly Reported, That 〈◊〉 sudden Flood in Somersetshire in England, produced such an Agreement between the most quarlelsome Creatures, the Dogs and Hares, the Cats and Mice that were driven into the Top of an Hill together. It should be thus in the Church of God; even according to that in Isa. 11.6. The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb, and the Leopard shall lye down with the Kid. The Character which the Lord would have Church-Members • o wear, What is it? It is that in Joh. 10.14. My Sheep. Or it is that in Cant. 6.9. My Dove. I beseech you, Let us not have the Qualities of more Noxious Creatures in us. O let us not be Crafty, like the Fox; nor cruel as the Bear, nor bloody as the Tyger. Let us not be Blind like the Bat, or Owl; nor let us be Revengful, as the Crane, and let us not like the Serpent, sting those that are about us. The Ark of the Lord Jesus will not be opened unto us, until we have put off those cursed Qualities.

OBSERVATION. X.

Our Salvation depends upon our getting into the Church of God. They that were in the Ark were in a safe and a brave Con • dition, when Desolation overwhelmed the whole World besides; there sat good old Noah, Medjis Tranquillus in undis. But what became of them that were not then sheltered in the Ark? Alas, they fell into the Perdition of Ungodly Men. Of such concernment it is, to get into the Church of God! When the Jews were the Church, our Lord said in Joh. 4.22. Salvation is of the Jews. And it is a faithful Saying still, that Extra Ecclesiam non est Salus. If a man be not a Member of the Mystical Church, he is excluded from all Hope of Salvation for ever; he must for ever Ly and cry, and be abhorred among them that are without. And whoever is a Member of the Mystical Church, that man will be desirous and studious to join himself unto one that is Visible • oo; 'tis against his Will, against his Choice, if he belong not unto some Society that profess the Truths, and practise the wayes, of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is a considerable Remark, in Acts 2.47. There were added unto the Church, daily such as shall be Saved. They that are in a State of Salvation, will they not endeavour to be Added unto some particular Church, in which the Son of God is Worshiped? See whether it be not so.

APPLICATION.

I pray, Why then do so many of you Stand without, and stay away, from the Ark of the Lord Jesus? It was a smart Expostulation of the Apostle, in 1 Cor. 11.22▪ Despise ye the Church of God? O 'tis a fearful Impiety to despise a place in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ; and yet this is to be charged upon multitudes of you, that every month turn your Backs upon the Table of the Lord. Ye Inconsiderate people! Will you make your Minister complain to the God of Heaven of you? O Lord I mourn. But shall I indeed go and say before the Great God, Lord, I have spent some Hundreds of Sermons, to bespeak the Hearts of these people for thee; and yet they have never so Repented of sin, they have never so Believed on Christ, they have never so Covenanted with thy self, as that they dare come unto thy Table in the full communion of any Church of thine. Alas, what a complaint were this? But I beseech you to give no occasion for it.

Consider 1. If you are not continually Preparing for, and perpetually Desiring o • a Room in the Ark of the Lord Jesus, there is no likelihood of Everlasting Salvation for you. Many a good man is afraid o • coming into Church-communion; but the man who sincerely and earnestly takes pains to get himself ready for it, it may be hop'd will soon overcome those Fears. If you can go on contentedly, without any comfortable and well-grounded perswasions of your Interest in the Favour of God; if you can go on quietly, leaving the matters between God and your own Souls at peradventures, I am to tell you, That you are yet in the gall of Bitterness, and in the Bond of iniquity. Have you entred into Covenant with God, or no? If you have done it secretly, then you may come and do it openly, If you have not, then your Salvation lies at Stake; You may be horribly astonisht a • the Hourly perils of your Immortal Souls, That man is not in a State of Salvation who may not say, as in Psal. 26.8. Lord, I have Loved the Habitation of thy House. But how can you Love it, if you Do Nothing to get into it?

Consider▪ 2. Tho' you may be Born again, yet the Affairs of your Everlasting Salvation will meet with much obstruction and impediment by your not getting far enough into the Ark of the Lord Jesus. If you come not unto a Church-communion, with some company of Inchurched Believers, the least you do is miserably to retard the progress of your own Salvation ▪ We read it spoken of some, in Psal. 106.15. God sent leanness into their Soul. Alas, a Lean Soul, a Lean Grace, a Lean Joy, is the Fruit of This Omission. You do but famish your own Souls, while you thus deny to yourselves the Helps of your Salvation. What can you Look for, but a Blast upon your unhappy Souls, while you practically say, There are Ordinances of Jesus Christ, which I can do well enough without?

Consider 3. The Floods of Death, will shortly Roar and Roll upon you. It was once an Out-cry in Psal. 69.1, 2. O God, The waters come into my Soul, the Floods overflow me. That, That will be your Cry in the Dying Hour, which you are now near unto; The Sorrows of Death (you'l say) compass me, and the Floods which terrify the Ungodly, make me afraid! But O what a sad thing, will it then be, to be found out of an Ark? I have seen and Heard, more than once, this bitter Anguish in Dying people, O that I had joyn'd my self unto some Church of the Lord Jesus! 'Tis a Load like a mountain of Lead upon me, that I kept out of the Ark so long. If God will spare me, that I may recover Strength before I go hence and be no more, the first thing I'll do, shall be to Reform the Omission, which I now Repent. But as God was near killing of Moses for omitting of a Sacrament; so 'tis possible, thy Omission may provoke Him to Kill thee without Pity, (because not without Warning) When thou shalt pour out these Groans before Him.

Consider of This, and make no Heedless Needless Delays in the matter.

OBSERVATION XI.

'Tis an Ill Bird that goes from the Church • f God, without returning again unto it • ny more. We read in Gen▪ 8.6. Noah o • ened a Window of the Ark, & sent forth a Raven, which went to and fro, till the Waters were • ried up: the Raven it seems found Carcases • loating here & there to live upon. But a Dove being sent forth 'tis said it found no rest • or the sole of her foot, but returned into the Ark; of which the ancient Heathen have some ve • y pretty Foot-steps. Their Xisuthrus and their Deucalion have such a Remark upon them in their Histories. Now the Raven is an unclean Bird, a Bird of an ill Note,, and an ill Fame in the common account. Why, there are many that thus go out from the Ark of the Lord Jesus: they go out from His Church, and out from His People, and out from His Institutions there; and this without Returning any more. Many Professors become Apostates; and Finally, incurably, irrecoverably so. Whither do these go? but unto that place whereof the Prophet sayes in Isai. 34.9, 10, 11. The Land shall become burning Pitch, the smoke thereof shall go up for ever, and the RAVEN shall dwell in it.

APPLICATION.

Tremble, Every Soul, Tremble at Apostacy from the Ways of God. You that have gone out from the Societies of them which together call'd upon God in Christ; you that instead of your old Entertainments in the House of God, are now Gormandising upon the Carrions of the world; O come back; do not play the Raven so. You show what you are, if you can so satisfie your selves. Ill Birds indeed! We shall say of you, They went out from us, because they were not of us. 'Tis the Complexion and Character belonging to the Church of Rome, in a peculiar manner. 'Tis a Raven: unless you will say, that the Bird which once made such a Disturbance in one of their Councils, afford a fitter Name for it. It has gone from our Glorious Noah, and never will Return unto Him. But let all Apostates take that Advice, in Isa. 60.9. Return to your Rest as DOVES to the Windows. O be those Doves, that cannot find a Rest for their Foot, any where but in the Church of the Living God.

OBSERVATION. XII.

In the Church of God, a Sabbath will be kept Holy to the Lord. It is a Remarkable passage in Gen. 8.8, 10, 12. Noah sent forth a Dove; and he staid yet other Seven Days; and again he sent forth the Dove; and he staid yet other Seven Days, and sent forth the Dove. Why did Noah keep a period of Seven Days in this matter? Learned Men conceive that he had Respect unto a Sabbath in • t; and a Sabbath too, say some Critical Enquirers, on that very Day of the Week which we count the First. It is thought, • hat on the morrow after the Sabbath he still sent out the Dove. And why not? We are • ssured in Gen. 2.3. That from the very Creation of the Wo • ld, God sanctified the Seventh Day; that is, He Commanded it to be • eparated and Dedicated unto Sacred Servi • es among the Children of Men. To say, That at the Creation, God Sanctify'd the Se • enth Day, by ordering that it should be • ept Holy by a little people four & twenty • undred years afterward, is an unaccounta • le Anticipation, and a cruel Hardship on the Text. No, 'Tis but R •••• nable to think, That the Patriarchs ▪ long before Israel w • s Encamped at Marah, did use to keep an Holy Sabbath, in the Hebdomadal Revolution. Hence the Apostle at Heb. 4.11. speaking of a Rest, which Unbelievers are excluded from, he plainly enough says, They were not excluded from the Rest (or Sabbath) which was from the Foundations of the world; so that such a Rest (or Sabbath) men then had an Interest in. Indeed the Sacredness of the Number, Seven, together with the Acknowledgment of it, as the measure of Time, among all Nations, except a few barbarous Indians whose Time is denominated only by Sleeps and Moons and Winters, cannot easily be ascribed unto any other Original, but the mark which God at the Beginning did put upon One Day in Seven, as Holy to Himself. A Seventh Day is to be kept as a Sabbath Day, in the Ark of God; tho' it seems to be not THE Seventh Day, but the First which our Sabbath is now tran • slated into. Our Saviour Himself requires even the Church of the New Testament to be solicitous, that nothing may hinder 〈◊〉 , from keeping a Sabbath to the Lord. 〈◊〉 Lord advised his Disciples, about the Distresses which even after His Resurrection and Ascension, they should be exposed unto, • n Mat. 24 20. Pra • ▪ that your 〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sabbath Day. VVhy so? The Jewish C • remonies were then Abrogated and Abo • ished; and our Lord refers to a Time, when the Laws which made Sabbath-breaking fall under a civil penalty, would be silent altogether; yet have we a Sabbath still, which • tis a grivous and a bitter thing to be disturbed in▪

APPLICATION.

Remember now the Sabbath-day, to keep it Holy. If a Christian in the Primitive Times were asked Dominicum serva • ti? Do you keep the Lord • s-day? He would answer, Christianus sum, Intermittere non possum, I am a Christian, and I dare do no other! Some Churches have had but poor Sabbaths, and such Sabbaths have made but poor Churches. The Churches of God in Forreign Nations, have indulged themselve • in Loose Principles and Loose practices, about the Sabbath; and what has come of 〈…〉 withered among them very miserably; and then Destruction has followed thereupon; as They have broken G • ds Rest, so God has broken Theirs; and • stonishing plagues have made them very desolate. The Churches of God in our own Nation, were once Defiled, with an Allowance for Sports on the Sabbath; and what 〈◊〉 , but heavy speedy confusion upon the Invaders of this glorious Day? Even some of themselves have made their considerate Reflections on it! Know That our Churches will flourish, as our Sabbath • do; and we shall not be made Joyful in the House of Prayer, if we regard not the Sabbaths of the Eternal God. Our Churches ▪ yea, so will our Estates, and our Houses too It is said in Isa. 58 13, 14. If thou call the Sabbath a Delight, and the Holy of the Lord, 〈◊〉 will cause thee to Ride upon the High places 〈◊〉 the Earth. It has been by some eminent & Judicious Observers noted; That their Success usually is, as their Sabbath is; that by their carriage on the Sabbath, they have bin able to make a conjecture at their Success • n their whole Business all the Ensuing Week. And a mean Trades-man, obliging himself to those Two Things; First, To keep the Sabbath with a wonderful exactness; Secondly, To set apart a Tenth of his Income for pious uses; has quickly come to Live upon his Rents. Let us devote our Sabbaths to the Blessed God, with all our might; and believe His Word in Isa. 56.2. Blessed is the man, who keeps my Sabbath from polluting of it▪ But, wo, and wo ten thousand times unto us, if we do not so. It was a speech to some, in Neh. 13.19. Ye bring fierce Wrath upon Israel, by profaning the Sabbath. Man, The fierce wrath of God upon thy Person, and on thy Family, and all thy Neighbourhood, wilt thou pull down by this Abomination; but above all, it will fetch down a fierce fiery wrath upon thy own unhappy Soul. It will provoke the Almighty to Swear in his wrath, that thou shalt never enter into his Rest. The modern Jews have their Fable and Nonsence of a Sabbath in Hell; but certainly they that would not have a Sabbath on Earth, shall have none in Hell; no, they shall not Rest Day nor Night, but the Smoak with the Groans of their Torments must ascend for ever and ever. We are plainly forewarned of it, in Jer 17 27. If you will not hallow the Sabbath-day, then will I kindle a Fire, that shall not be Quenched. The Day of the Lord wil be a fiery Day to them that shall Dishonour the Lords-Day.

OBSERVATION XIII.

The Church of God is Raised and lifted up towards Heaven, by the Baptism which is used there. This is that which the Apostle here teaches us; as Water carried up the Ark, so Baptism carries up the Church, towards the Heaven of the Blessed. It is thus upon other Accounts; as now, the Water of Affliction, often serves only to drown many ungodly Souls; they grow thereby more Angry at God, more Fixed in sin; and as 'twas said of him, In the Time of their Distresses, they Trespass yet more against the Lord ▪ Thus at last, They perish in Affliction. But this Water serves to Raise and Lift the serious Christian, up to greater Degrees of Acquaintance with Heaven, and Communion with Him, whose Voice is in the Rod. In like sort, The Water of Baptism, it Ruines many foolish people, by Encouraging their Hopes of Salva • ion, while they Leave not the Ways of Transgression before the Lord; they think, this Water will put out the Fire that never shall be quenched; Whereas their unsuitable Hearts and Lives do but turn it into the Water of Jealousie unto them. But by th • Water a Good man is Raised and Lifted up to such an Heavenly Fellowship with the Eternal One, that one step more carrie • him into Heaven it self. Hence in Rom. •• • ,A Baptised man, is called a Raised man.

APPLICATION.

Let this be the Happy Effect of our Holy Baptism. Are we Baptized? if we are not ▪ we are very criminal; and the Advice proper to us, is that Arise and be baptized. But if we are, let our Baptism raise our Souls, with no common elevations.

Let our Baptism elevate us to all heavenly Graces; and let us be very sensible of the Obligatione which it la • es upon us; for tis said in Rom. 6.2, 3. Shall we live any longer in sin? so * many of us as were baptized. Let it raise our Holiness; for tis said in Gal. 3.27. As many of you as have been baptized, have put on Christ. Let it raise our Obedience; for tis said in Mat. 28.19, 20. Baptize persons, teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I command you.

And let our Baptism elevate us to all heavenly Comforts too, and let us be joyful at the Obsignations which it makes unto us. Look on it as, The mark of the Lamb, and rejoyce. Tis said in Rom. 6.3, 4. As many of us as were baptized are buried with Ch • ist, that like as Christ was raised from the dead, so we should walk in newness of life. Reckon it a sign of your Interest in, and Union with the Lord Christ; and so let it raise us to a Triumph over Death and Hell for ever. We may lay hold on Heaven it self, by the help of this Raising Ordinance, if with • t we give the complying and conforming Answer of a good Conscience, to all the proposals of the Gospel. In the Gospel tis demanded, Dost thou renounce the World, the Flesh, and the Devil? and Dost thou accept the Lard Jesus, as the Lord-Redeemer of thy Soul? Now make such an Answer as a good Conscience would give hereunto; uprightly say, Lord, I do, I will! Then this Water will raise thee up into life eternal.

OBSERVATION XIV.

The great God will with a Fiery Flood one day take vengeance on a Wicked World. It was thus when the ARK was made, a Watry Flood then swept a populous World away: which unless we should rather admit the Learned Burnets Theory • I conceive was principally caused by the Earths changing of, and starting from its Center; so that the unequal pressure of the Atmosphere caused the Ocean of the Antipodes to send up vast inundations into the opposite H • m • spheres: Now the Eternal has given us assurance that such a Flood shall never happen any more. The Rain-bow, which doubtless existed before the Flood, is now consecrated by God as a Token of that Covenant; and it is indeed a very proper Token, for th • it appear in a cloud which argues a pluvious disposition of the Air, yet the Sun must then also shine▪ which argues that there shall be no more universal Showers. Hence a Rain-bow is never to be beheld without an Hallelujah.

But yet, as terrible a Desolation is there still to come upon the World, by a fiery Flood ▪ celebrated by the Name of Diluvium Ignis, in the Writings of the Ancients. The old Heathen themselves were not without Notice of this dismal Event. Hence the Poets tell of Pyrrha (which Name carries Fire in it) the Wife of their Deucalion; and the Philosophers not rarely speak of an 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a Conflagration with which the World shall be devoured. Josephus relate • that Adam himself left some predictions of it. But the Sacred Scripturess favour us with fuller Accounts of this awful Thing. Tis a solemn Passage, in 2 Pet. 3.7. The Heavens and Earth which are now, be reserved unto Fire against the day of Judgment, and the perdition of ungodly men. Many curious Questions might indeed be moved here about. It is one question, When this Conflagration is to be? To this the Answer is, At the Day of Judgment: If any ask, whether it shall be at the beginning, or the middle, or the ending of that Day? it is most like to be before the ending of of it. Yea the final Destruction of Antichrist seems the period at which it shall commence. It is also an other Question, How far this Conflagration is to reach? To this the Answer is, I suppose it will reach no further than this lower World: this lower Heaven, and all the Armies of Birds, or of Devils in it; this lower Earth, and all the Works of Art or of Nature in it, shall be concerned in this horrible Fiery Flood. Yet the World shall not be Annihilated; it shall only be Refined and Purified, that it may be serviceable unto some glorious ends, yet to be pursu'd upon it. But let our Enquiring of be turn'd into preparing for this Day of the Lord, that shall burn lik • • n Oven.

APPLICATION.

There are two or three things now in cumbent on us.

First, Let our Thoughts be much set upon the Burnings of the World. Realize the circumstances of the dreadful Day, whe • all these things shall be dissolved. Think much of the Time, when our G • d shall come and a Fire shall devour, before him, and it shall be very Tempestuous round about him. Think much of the Time, when a Fire shall go before the Lord, that shall burn up his Enemies round about, and lightnings will enlighten the Wo • ld, and the Earth shall Tremble, and the Hills melt like Wax, at the Presence of the Lord. Think much of the Time when the Lord shall come with Fire to render His Anger with Fi •• ry, and His Rebukes with Flames of Fire. For we are told in Isa. 66.16. By Fire will the Lord plead with all Flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many. Let us blow up this direful Fire, in our daily Meditations on it· O warm your Hearts often, at this amazing Fire of the Lord.

Secondly, Let our Hearts be not set upon the Comforts of the world. The Day will come, when an hideous Fire will sieze upon them all. Now let that Fire cool our Love to all things here below. Our Lord said in Mat. 6.19. Lay not up for your selves Treasures upon Earth, where Moth and Rust doth corrupt. Even so, promise not your selves Comforts upon Earth where the Fire shall carry all away. One saith well, The World shall one one Day be burned for a Witch. Let not our Souls now be Bewitched with what shall one Day be Burned; and this the rather, because as I am verily perswaded, this Burning is unspeakably nearer than Mankind is well aware. I may say of it, It is Near, it is Near, and it hastens greatly!

OBSERVATION. XV

There are but Few that shall be Saved. Says the Apostle here, In the Ark, Few, That is, Eight Souls were saved. He that ponders the Longevity of the Antediluvian Patriarchs, will not wonder at them, who affirm it probable. That more people perished in the Flood, than are now alive in the world. For let us make a Computation with as much Disadvantage to our own Assertion, as can Reasonably be desired. We'l abate two or three of the first Centuries, by which time the world might be supply'd with people not a few; and we'l suppose a man to have Children at sixty, and in the Next Forty years, to have Twenty Children. Now single out the shortest Liver of any mentioned (except Enoch) before the Flood; and from that one Stock of seven hundred years, multiplying still by Twenty, we shall find the product to be more than One Thousand, Three Hundred, and Forty seven Millions; thus that One Family would long before the Flood have afforded, it may be as many people as are now Living on the Earth. Moreover, if we consider that within a very few Centuries of years after the Flood, Histories tell us of one Army, in which were, Thirteen Hundred Thousand Foot, Five Hundred Thousand Horse, One Hundred Thousand Chariots, and as many Camels; and this Army Encountred by a greater Force; it may facilitate our Belief of the wonderful populosity which might be before. But what became of all that Mighty People? Truly, all were Drown'd but Eight Souls! And though it be not for us to Censure too far upon the Eternal Condition of that miserable people: it being possible that more ▪ than we know of might be Happy for ever, notwithstanding their Drowning here; yet the Scripture speaks very sadly about the Generality of them, whom the Waters did exterminate. We read in Job 22.15, 16, 17. That they were wicked men. Compare Mat▪ 24.38, 39. And we are told in 1 Pet. 3:19, 20. Their Spirits are now in Prison. The Jews themselves therefore pass that Sentence on them, That they were punished with the • calding Waters of Gehinnom. Even so, They that shall be Saved, How many are they? They are as we are informed in Luke 12.32. A Little, Little Flock! Divide all the World at this Day into Thirty One parts, Nineteen are Idolaters, Seven are Mahometans, and scarce Five are so much as called Christians. But of them that are called Christians, how few have that Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord? how few have true Faith? Yet he that Believeth no • shall be Damned. It is indeed a principle in the Turkish Alcoran, That Let a mans Religion be what it will, he shall be saved, if he Conscienciously Live up to the Rules of it. And they are Mahometans rather than Christians, who shall defend a principle so derogatory to the vertue of the Gospel. The Articles of the Church of England, very justly tell us, They are to be held Accursed, who presume 〈◊〉 say, That every man shall be saved by the Law or Sest which he professeth; so that he be Diligent to frame his Life according to that Law, and Light of Nature. For Holy Scripture doth set out unto us, only the Name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be Saved. But alas, how few are there that savingly Believe, Profess, Obey, that Lord of Glory! This Gate of Life has that Motto on it in Mat. 7.14. Few th • re be that find it.

APPLICATION.

Let us all make the Use which our Savi • ur made, of this astonishing Truth, in Luk. • 3 24. Strive to enter in at the strait Gate. Be • ery anxious, I beseech you, about your own • alvation. When it was of old said, That 〈◊〉 among twelve should be a child of Perdition, • hey all became inquisitive, Lord is it I? Be • old, you are told now, That more than • welve to one shall be the Children of Perdition: O how should this make us to be solicitous, • est We be some of them! Remember, that 〈◊〉 is a no less common than dreadful thing, 〈◊〉 be deceived in this matter. We are admonished in Prov. 12.14. There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the wayes of Death. The biggest part of them • hat go down to the Sulphureous Lakes of Hell make that one of their first Shrieks at • heir coming there, We little thought of this!

O let every one of Us get into the ARK, • nd be extreamly careful that we be not among those who are Deceivers of their own S • uls. May the God of all Grace, awaken us from our Lethargic Security, and to an extraordinary Sedulity, in matters▪ of ou • Eternal Salvation; may He help is to give all diligence in making our Calling and Election sure; and to work out our own Salvation with Fear and Trembling.

At the North Meeting-House in Boston, Nov. 17. 1689. Afternoon.