292 / 808
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
of
birth.
2.
3
Epheliant, Chap0z..
V
E
R.I
L,
Strangersfrom
the
Common
wealth
of t
frael
;]
thiit is, filch
as
had
no
communion with the
Church
:
So
that
we
fee a
fecond
degree
of
mi.
fery
ú this,
to
be
barred
from
communion
and
fellow
fhip with
the
church
of
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
fcllowf1aip
with God;
Where
two or
three are
in
his
Name, there
is
he,
Mat.
r
8.2o.
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,
which
muff
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 out
from
we,
becaufe they were
not
of tu;
if
they
had
been
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
commanded
of
the Gentiles,
they
fhould
notcome
into the congregation
of
his
people ; the
vile and precious
could not be mingled.
How
fhould we bleffe
God
for
his
goodneffe
in
this regard
e
What
flayed
the omnipotent
arm
of
God,
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 had
no
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
and
glo-
rious dayes
of
the Gofpel. Let
us
for
ever
put
this point
as
a
perfume
into
our
daily facrifice
of
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 revolution
fnce
Chrifts
fuffer-
ings
:
I mean,
in
the
glorious breaking out
of
the
Gofpel,
from under
the
clouds
of
Popery;
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 comfortleffe
Dodirines.
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