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If we would indeed be fo much as fcriptural profeffors of Christianity, let us every one feek to be conformed to the scripture-description of a Chriftian, without cutting or carving upon it, or feeking to bring it down to us, but to have ourselves brought up to it, without adding to it or taking from it. And let as many as are thus minded feparate themselves to the law of God, from thefe that fhew no fuch purpose of heart, but are willing to reft in the form of godlinefs, denying the power of it, or denying the ancient work of faith, labour of love, and patience of hope, which is the power of godliness. And herein alfo we may ftudy the example of the typical Ifrael, in their reformation when they returned, from typical Babylon. They not only refused the Samaritans, offering to incorporate with them and build the temple, though that refufal brought no fmall trouble upon them, but long after that they found, in reading the law of God, that the feed of Ifrael fhould not be mingled with ftrangers; and particularly they found it written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever; and when they had heard the law, they separated from Ifrael all the mixed multitude. They trembled at the words of God, and were not afraid to depart from the prac tice of their fathers, that had departed from the law of God on that head, though they themselves had been before follow. ing them in that departure: for they separated themselves from all ftrangers, and stood and confeffed their fins, and the iniquities of their fathers. If Chriftians had trembled as much at the word of God on this head, as they did at feparation, when the form of godliness without the power of it was taking place, Chriftianity had never been so much corrupted in the profeffion of it as it has manifeftly been. And there has not been one true step of reformation from that corruption taken at any time, but by them that were more afraid of the word of God, and fhunned a departure from it, more than separation or departure from their former courses, and the courses of their fathers, or from the fellowship of any fort of men in the world. Let them, therefore, that seek to be conformed to the fcripture-defcription of a Chriftian, be separated to the law of their Lord, confeffing their fin, and the iniquity of their fathers, in having fellowship in that form of godliness with them that denied the power of it. And whereas they and their fathers in this nation have been zealous contenders for fuch a form; and have fworn to it, and for the fake of that exprefsly abjured Chrift's own inftitution,

tution, under an odious name, let them confess the iniquity of that alfo; and fo ftudy reformation according to the New Teftament in Chrift's blood, which can both direct and enable them to all the reformation that God requires of them, and is the only everlasting covenant that shall never be forgotten.

Let them affemble themselves together, in the confeffion of the faith that is in Chrift the Son of God the Mediator of that covenant, and in obedience to his law in that covenant, to obferve all his inftitutions of worship, continuing stedfast in the doctrine and in the fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers, praifing God, and to obey his new commandment in all the branches of it, and to obferve all things whatsoever he commands, as they find them written in his law. And while they are thus feparated to the law of God, let them be in the diligent ufe of every mean there pre scribed for keeping up the study of conformity to the scripture-character of a Christian among them, as these mentioned Matth. xviii. and I Cor. v. Heb. iii. 12. 13. & x. 23. 24. 25. & xii. 15. Left they again fwerve from the work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope, and return to a form of godlinefs, denying the power of it.

And when the Chriftian people thus feparate themselves to the law of God, let none be acknowledged as ministers of the word or elders but according to their conformity to the fcripture-defcription of a minifter; even as, among the captives returned from typical Babylon, these were put from the priesthood as profane, whofe defçent from Aaron did not appear.

3. Let the connection betwixt Chriftianity and the cross, of which Paul speaks to Timothy when forewarning him of the perilous times, be carefully obferved. When the Apoftle fets his doctrine and manner of life, in oppofition to them that have a form of godliness, denying the power of it, he infifts on his patience, and fets forth his fufferings; and, lest any should imagine this was peculiar to him, or the time wherein he lived, he fays, "yea, and all that will live godly "in Chrift Jefus fhall fuffer perfecution." Men may have the form of godliness of which he speaks without perfecution; yea, it was the proper fruit of an endeavour to separate Chriftianity from the cross; but live godly in Chrift Jefus without the cross, they cannot. This living godly in Chrift is not a manner of life utterly bid from the world's view, as they that are gainers by the form of godlinefs without the power of it would

would have its power to lie unobserved, left, being as light fet on a candlestick, or as a city on a hill, it should create them disturbance; and fo they tell the deluded people pretty tales of this fort, that it is the beft way of going to heaven, to go with the found of their feet unheard. But the godly living that the Apostle speaks of, is a manner of life that provokes the hatred of the ungodly, and brings on persecution from the world.

It is true, the firft Chriftians had fometimes reft from public perfecution, as Acts ix. 31.; and Paul himself was not always in the hands of the magiftrate; yea, our Lord, the great pattern of fuffering, did not fuffer publicly from the powers of the earth till the end; but he has foretold, that a man's foes fhall be they of his own houfe, and private perfecution from friends and neighbours, and all forts of men that we live among in the world, for the fake of Chrift and his word, is no fuch light thing as they that look on it at a distance may be ready to imagine; yea, the trial of cruel mockings for his fake cannot be made eafy but by that fame grace that acted in Chrift when he patiently endured the cross, defpifing the fhame. The Pfalmift, in his name, complains of hypocritical mockers in feasts, gnashing upon him with their teeth, and of his becoming a stranger unto his brethren, and an alien to mother's children, and of the men that fit in the gate speaking against him, and his being the fong of the drunkards, &c. Different parties of worldly men, contending for pre-eminence in this world, will be ridiculing and reproaching one another; but it is another thing, and requires more felf denial, to be suffering from all forts of men for the word of God, than to be enduring for the fake of a man's felf, in pursuing and hoping to attain the honour, gain, or ease of a prefent world. The clergy have endured much to raise themselves in the world, and maintain what they have gained; but the fufferings of the first Christians were not attended with any worldly hope, and they were fupported under them with no hope but that which is propofed in the gospel. Paul declares his difpofition in this matter, and his expectation of the concurrence of every confirmed Christian, when he says, " Yea, doubtless and I count all things but lofs, "that I may know him, and the power of his refurrection, "and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conform. "able unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto "the refurrection of the dead.-Let us therefore as many as "be perfect be thus minded."- Phil. iii.

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As he there states an oppofition betwixt his way and that of the Judaizers who minded earthly things, fo here he states an oppofition between living godly in Chrift with fuffering, and the way of the men contending for the form of godliness without the power of it: for he says," But evil men and "feducers fhall wax worse and worfe, deceiving and being de «ceived." He tells the Galatians how fuch men were shunning the cross by corrupting the gospel, reconciling it some way to its enemies, especially in points whereat they were moft enraged. And, in after ages, the defire of conformity to the world, and of friendship with it, worked in that fame way, and produced the form of godlinefs with a denial of the power of it; and fo men went farther and farther from the old purpose of conformity to a humbled Chrift, and from the Christian patience of hope, till they began to think not only of escaping perfecution themselves, but even of perfecuting others; fo that at length the form of godlinefs became an engine of perfecution against the power of godliness, as well as a proper mean of ftrife and bloodshed among themselves, differing about the feveral parts of that form as their interests led them. And all this was carried on with the fairest tences of zeal for the honour of Chrift and Christian prudence; yea, it became a principle of Christianity to perfecute; and the ancient doctrine of love to enemies, and patient bearing of wrongs, and the like, came to be as an old almanack calculated only for the time of Chrift and his apostles. Therefore fays the Apostle, "All that will live godly in Chrift Je"fus fhall fuffer; but evil men and feducers fhall wax worfe "and worse, deceiving and being deceived."

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Let them, therefore, that have reformation indeed at heart, fhew the fame temper of mind that the Apostle oppo. fes to that of the Antichriftian generation. Let them fepa rate themselves to live godly in Chrift Jefus, defiring confor mity to him in his humiliation, and fhewing the hope of con formity to him in his glory. And let not these men fpeak of their fuffering as Chriftians, who are at the same time fhewing the hope of large contributions for their life in this world, from an enraged multitude, and boasting in this, and in the hope of a numerous following, and a strong party to make head against another faction, yea, and profef fing the principle of perfecution, and of the extirpation of all fects but their own out of the nation, as foon as it shall be in their power, and that, they hope, will be after this evil day is over. For fuch men will have a form of godlinefs

fuited unto these things wherein they boast, and shun every confeffion and practice in religion that appears inconfiftent with these things, let it be never fo clear in the New Testament. So their feparation cannot be a turning away from them that have a form of godlinefs denying the power of it, but a divifion from that form in one shape to establish it in another.

Let fuch as want to fee gofpel-reformation look on every opportunity of feparating the cross and Christianity, by abating a very little of its rigour, as a strong temptation and guard against it. Let them treat every occafion of rifing in this world, and being avenged on their enemies, as our Lord treated the vogue of the multitude, and their purposes of making him a king. And while they give the ftricteft obedience, and pay the greatest deference to magiftrates, as the New Teftament commands, and reject all them that are not afraid to speak evil of dignities, let them beware of all the tricks the clergy have been playing with the magistrate from the days of Conftantine. But let them reckon them. felves, as every first church of the faints did, complete in Chrift, the head of all principality and power, head over all the heavenly hofts, powers of heaven, powers of hell, and powers of the earth, unto the church which is his body, unto whom therefore every member of that body has a readier and more immediate access than to any of his vaffals, on whom they must not depend, but hold that head under whom they are all working together for the good of his body the church; and whatever way they behave under the conduct of his providence, they are working together to bring the nations of them that are faved into the new Jerufalem, who have their dependence on none but their head; and all the powers in the creation, good or bad, are ferving them, while they hold that head.

These three directions, given by the Apostle against the perils of the last times, are thus laid before the confciences of them, especially that fhew any defire to escape these perils; and, however these may treat them now, their consciences will one way or other answer upon them before the judgments feat of Chrift.

VOL. I.

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