Owen - BX5085 O84x 1681

(i6)' Glory, whichGoddefigns untohimfelf therein, (things that the Light ofNaturecan give no Guidance unto, nor direr i- on about;) And moreover fo different and diftant from all that was before ordained inany other ChurchState, arethe Ways, Means and Duties ofDivine Worship prefcribed in it, that it muff have a peculiar, Divine Inflitution of its own, to evidence that it is from Heaven, andnot from Men. The prefent State ofthe Church, under the New Teftament,the Apoflie calls TEA.e'&i -z , Heb. y. x x. Its Perfellion, its Confummdtion, that perfeä State which God defigned unto it in this World. And he denies that it could bebrought in- to that State by the Law, or any of the Divine Inflitutions that belonged thereunto. H.eb. 17.19. chap. 9. 9. chap. x o. x. And we need go no farther, we need no other Argu- ment to prove, that the Gofpel-Church State, as unto its efpecial nature, is founded in a peculiar Divine Inflitution. For it bath aTmeícoo s, a perfe6t confummate State which the Law couldnot bring it unto, though itfelf, its Ordinances ofWoríhip, its Rule and Policy, were all of Divine Inflitu- tion. And herein doth its Excellency and Preference above thelegal Church-State confift, as the Apoflle proves at large. To fuppofe that this fhould be given unto it, anyother way but by .`Divine Authority in its Inflitution, is to advance the Wifdom and Authority of men above thofe of God, and to render the Gofpel-Church-State a Machin to be moved up and down at pleafure, tobe newmoulded or fhaped accord- ing unto Occafions, or to be turned unto any Intereft like the Wings of a Mill unto the Wind. All the Dignity, Honour, and Perfe&ion of the Stateof the Church under the Old Teftament,depended folely here- on, that it was in the whole and all the particulars of it, of Divine Inflitution. Hence it was Glorious, that is, very ex- cellent, as the Apoflle declares, z. Cor. 3. And ifthe Church- State of the New Teftament, have not thefame Original, it muff

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