'MINISTER'S COMPARED TO BUILDERS. Book IV• .that precious, living, and fruitful One, Chritl: J efus! Carrft thou enough admire and pnze tillS Grace and Favor I 'I!. It fhews what wonderful Union, and blelfed Nearnefs there is between Chrift and every fincere Chriftian ' Ill. It fhews us, that all our good Fruit ·is from Jefus Chrift, and by means of that b!elfed, myfterious, and glorious Union with ·him. IV. Minifters ought to be Men of Wifdom, fuch as are faithful, able, and willing to labor, Men that are not idle. V. lt reproves not only fuch Saints, that take up-wi1h ·theName of Plants in God's Vineyard, and bring not ionh Fruit; but alfo Churches, that fee not, or will not fee, nor learn their Duty to their painful and faithful Minifters. VI. It fi1ews the Folly and Mad nefs of all thofe that go about to hinder or fpoil the Work of thele Ipi ritual Planters, God's Minifters: For what would Men think of fuch , that fi10uld fulfer none to plant, nor any Plant or Tree to grow, nay, deftror, in as much as in them lieth, all the Vineyards, Orchards, and Gardens in the Place or Country where they dwell? Such like Work .do all rhofe that perfeCL>te God's faithfttl .M iniftcrs and Peopk • M' IN I ST ER s CO!v!P ARED TO BuILDERs. According to the Grace of Cod which is given me, as a wife M-fler-Builder, I have laid tbe F~u~tdation, &c. 1 Cor. iii. 10. A Builder is a Metaphor taken from Carpenters and Mafons, &c. that build Houfes; the Hebrew Word by which Building is exprelfrd, is derived from the Roor, m :l to build or rear an Houfe or City. God in Chrift is the chief Mafter-t$uilder : He that built ,all 'I hings, is Cod, 1 Kings x. 4· and he is the .great Builder of his · Temple:. Upo;J this Rock wilt I build my Church, &c. And yet Minifters under him are likewife.Mafter-Builders, &c. M ETA ·P H OR. I.A WifeMafrer-BuildergivesDireCl:ion to others, how the Houfe, &c. mufi be built; and to this Purpofe fhews the Figure or rrue· Form of it, that fo other Un· der-Builders may know how to go .en with their Work. Il. A Mafter-Builder takes fpe– cial care rightly to lay the Foun-, thtion, upon which the whole Fa– bric or StruCture is to be .built, , &c. IlL A Builder hath fometimes much Rubbi01 to remove, before he can go on with his .\\'ork ; as the poor Jews had, who built the . Temple, & c. PARALLEL. I. so St. Paul, and other great and wife MafterBuilders, the Apoftles have given plain Di– reCtions 'to us, and all inferior Builders, how the Houfe of God muft he built, and with what Ma– terials; and they have left in the holy Gofpel a plain Scheme or Figure of it, that io all fpi ritual Builders may knm• how to proceed in Lheir \'York . 11. So the Apoiiles have, as lnftruments in God's Hand, laid the-Foundation of the true. Re· ligion, the, Foundation of Faith and Sa.lvation, the Foundation of the true Church, &c. A11other Foundation can 110 M~n lay, than, that which is fait!, 'l;:bicb is Jefv.s Chrijt, 1 Cor. iii. 1 t. Il l. So have Minifters much Rubbi01 to remove out of their own and Sinners Way, befure they can proceed in their blelfed \ Vork. There is the R ubbifh of. Falfe-DoCl rine about Jufrificarion; this was in the J\poftle's vVay, as well as it is in ours: The Jews were hardly taken off from their r.wn Riohteoufncfs, <and leg"! Ceremonies; they would need build upon a legal Foun– dation : 0 'Theyjlumbled (lt thej/umbling Stone, &c. We have much. Popifh Rubbifh to remove, the.RubbiOvof Mens Inventions, andfuperftitious Ceremonies, &c. befides the R ubbifh of other Heretics and Deceivers. . IV. A Uuilder.oftentimes meets IV. So Minifters find fame Sinners are very fmb– with hard 'Work, in hewincr and born and obftinate, like knotty Timber, fcragged fquaring his T 'imber and S~ones, a·nd ru~ged Sto~nes, which, without much La?or fome being vtry r.ugged and knot- ~no Pams,. are not hewed and fitted for the Bmld- ·ty,. &c. w.g. .V. So
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