gain boating of being borne :within the Church. nail ufe ofGods Ordinances, continuingunder the power of finfull (offs, becaufe remaining under the ccmmand and po- wer of (inne, he is an alien to the Church, even whiles ha lives within the Church ; bleffe not therefore your felves in this, build not your falvation upon fuch fandy ground. There was in Abrahams horde a childe ofthe bond-woman as well as of the free, they are not all m children (faith Saint Paul) be- in Ram.9. carafe they are Abrahams feed, There are within thehoufeof the vifible Church, children of Hagar as well as of Sarah; they who are the bondmeu of corruption, as well as they who are the Lords free-men. Mansoutward participation of Gods Ordinances is noaffured evidenceof his inward par- ticipation of Chrift Jefus : The hearts of Eteki;lshearers nEzek.33.31 went after their ° covetoufnefe ; Herod lived in°inceff when o Mar 6. he attended the minifteryof the Baptift ; the Sadduces were Dlat a very generation of p vipers, when they came to theBap- P tifineof John; the very City of2erufalem, even whiles it had the glorious nameand title ofGods Church, was become an IC; z. q harlot, her filver was become droffe, and her wine mixt q with water. It is an eafier thing to wait onGods Ordinan- ces, then it is to lay afide our corruptions. Mens outward profefïïon is not alwayes feconded with a fpirituall change Iodg 8. ::. and reformation. tether hada r fiord, but hehad no ftrength, , no courage to draw it, to flay Zeba andZalmunna with it. Many have the Word andSacrament, the Oracles of God, the Swordof the Spirit ; but they have noheart to ufe them, they doe not apply them to the mortificationoftheir corrup- tions. It is not the having, but the gracious working ofthe word ofGod, which proves man to be thechilde of God. The lame man lay many yeares at t Bethesda, his lamefhip (john 5.4,5. not cured ;:many live many yeares within the paleof the Church, under the powerfullminiflery ofthe word ,pndyet no fpirituall cure wrought upon their foules ; the difeafe of finne (till continues and increafes upon them: Docnot there- fore boaft and glory that you are the.children of the Church, as the Tharifees fomctimes boafted, that they were the t chi!- t Iohn 8. benof e4braham ; for as Chrift faid to them,if you were the childrenofAbraham you would doe the workes of Abraham: Thus 373
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