2.76 Doëfr. Mifery to be out of the Church. Rsafon r. z. r Tim. r. to. 3. Pte I. See former mifery,and re- Iaplenur. r Job. 0.19. 2. Honor Chrill for our cófort and hope of glory. And happy times ofbirth. 2. 3 Epheliant, Chap0z.. V E R.I L, Strangersfrom theCommon wealth of tfrael;] thiit is, filchas had no communion with the Church : So that we fee a fecond degree ofmi. fery ú this, to be barredfrom communion andfellowfhip with the churchof God. As it is a moft excellent priviledge to have fcllowfhip with the Saints, and is that heaven on earth : So to be fecluded from this, is no fmall mifery. For firft, they that are without, can have no fcllowf1aipwith God; Where two or three are in his Name, there is he, Mat. r8.2o. He walketh among the candlefficks, Revel. r. t 3. he dwelleth with the Saints. Secondly, they muff needs be under the effe luall tyrannie of' Sa- tan; therefore when one is cart out of the Church of God, he is deli- vered up to Satan. Thirdly, he is without all means : for who fo will have God his Father, muff have the Church his Mother. And the net of-God, whichmuff draw us out of our wofull condition , is not fpread but in his Ifrael. This fhould make us recount how miferable we have been in our predeceffors, and (till to look that we be not fuch, who though they are bodilyramongft the people of God , yet are not of them : They went outfrom we, becaufe they were not of tu; if they hadbeen of we, they would have continued with tee. This muff alto make us acknowledge the bounty of Chrift , who hath made us be born the Ifraelites of God , even amongft the Churches of God, fo that we have the means of Doetrine, and go- vernment , attained communion With Chtift , and communion one with another. The Lord commandedof the Gentiles, they fhould notcome into the congregation ofhis people ; the vile and precious could not be mingled. How fhould we bleffeGod for his goodneffe in this regard e What flayed the omnipotentarm ofGod, from creating us in that vafl com. paffe of time, I mean that almoft 4oco. years between the Creation and Chrifts coming ; and from planting us without the pale of the Church, where we fhould have hadno means, or ordinary poffibi- lity of falvation, but have lived and dyed in turfed Paganifme, and heathenifh Idolatry It was nothing but his meet mercie, refpiting and referving our being upon earth, unto thefe more bleffed andglo- rious dayes of the Gofpel. Let us for ever put this point as aperfume into our daily facrificeof Thankfgiving and Praife; with addition of further thankfull acknowledgement, that we have been born and brought tip in that golden knot of time (as it were) and the very Dia- mond of the Ring of all that happier revolutionfnce Chrifts fuffer- ings : I mean,in theglorious breaking out of the Gofpel, from under the clouds ofPopery; whereas if we had fprung up in thofe darkfome times, we had a thoufand to one been choakt, and for ever perifhed in the miffs and fogs of their comfortleffeDodirines. Nay and yet further , (that whereas for all the happinefl'e of the times) our lot of living in this world, might have light among the Turks
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