· · Opened and Applied. do; for th~y tell us they bdi~ve ana r~pent , and IV~ b~Iieve them, prner tlritf inquiry we make not; Oh but faith he, Look_ dilt~~wly to it; it 's ill counfel to the Gardner.to tay, have a care to weed your Garden; but 'us no matter, God looks not rhat you. thou Id re c~reful of your feed , fo long as it be feed; nay,rhe Lord rh•t !orbtds me to fufter weeds ro grow, forb:ds my carelefienefs in [owing what feerls I pleafe. • his the judgement of fome Divines, That the firfllin of Adttm and his ' wif<', w.1s in fuft"cring the Serpem ro emer into rhe Garden uncall'd for; rhe ruine of a Church may be the le t ring in <?ffomeone tll member. ObjeCtion 2. But they that art innocent , and f.1J thn believe, are , in ·he h11 Jl dr,~r<C of prob~tbdi~l' convt rted ; and t_he be/f, we are but certain of their Cm7J erficn in the h1ghejf degree of f'Obabd,ty ; and theref<re 17111) b?th (ortrb et~;lmit• ed? ' ' A njw<7, No; P .<U! may .f,ear <! wirh a godly je1lou!i<! fomeof the. Cwinthi~ an Church , 2 C~r. r 2 . 20 1 2 r. and may know fome to b~ chiJdifh, and / carna l, and weak, yer d uld':en; yet he c.1lls them all Sltnts , and dares not mince his fpeeches with fuch mtions of probabilicy; and Het. 6. 9 . We ••re perf wa:id ~erru thin<(' ofyo:< ; Amoral certainty a. man may have, and thould have of all Church-members; a cerramty of fmh, conditional , rhou;,;h_not abfolure ;_as if ic ?~thus as they fay, and I cannot, ought not to fay otherwtfe of them, 'm well with rhem. . . Obj~t1ion 3· But th, Trirnit ive Church never received in any wjth fuch Jlric1 confejfi,m, and /;zrge examinations; three th~Hfand ,:, a day weu admitted. Anffller, .I remember agodly Divine in anfwering an Objettion of lare repentance from the example of the Thief; having vvhipt it with many :Jther Rods, at la(t lafheth it with this, it'; an extraordinary cafe; and hence nor robe brought in for an ordinary example ; hence he fpeaks thus, When therefore the time comes that Chritt fhall come and be crucified again, and thou one of the Thi:;,-es to be crucified with him, and it fall out that thou be the beG of the two , then fhalt thou be faved by Chrifi ; that defpiiing Chrifl now, puts off thy repentance till then ; So I fay here , there is fomewhat imitable and ordinary in the Apo!Hes example, in admining three thoufand in a aay., but fomething unufual, and far re different from OUi: condition now; and therefore this ,I would flJ. whe~ the time comes , th~t th~ Spirit is po\tted out o 1 all fk01; and th,Jt t:me ts known to be the Spnng-ud~, and large n:eafure of th~ Sptm , when Mtmlters are fo honoped as to convert 1 many thoufands at a Sermon ; and fo God and reafon call for quicknefs; when Elders of Churches are as fharp-!ighted as the Apo!Hes; when theconverlion of men alfo lhlll b~ moll eminent, and that in fuch places where 'tis death, or half hanz·n_; , to profcfs rbe Lord Jefus, as that tbey lhall be prickt at their hearts , gladly receive the Word , by down their necks on the block , cafi doiVlloall their e!hres at the Churches feet, out of love to Gods Ordinances; when men tl1all not have Chri(tian education, the ex~mple and crowd of Chri!ti.1ns from rhe teeth outwardly to prefs them to the door of the Cht~rch, as thole times had not ; · then for my plrt, if three hundr~d thoufand were converted, I fhould receive them as gladly and as manife(lly as they receive Cllfitt; bm tru ly, th~re is iuch little takings now, that we have leifure enough to look upon o~tr mon~y, and the Hypocri!ie of the world give-s us good reafon to flay and fee'; yer we grant Simon believes alfo ; and if be cloth cleceiye the Apoltlesexes for a time, let him come in, . and tell him of his ~all of hi rrernefs afterward ; and if he be nor obflinate , but imrears : Prayer~, Charity hopes the be(! , and lets him flay in , VUatthew 3·7• · ob-
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