[Page] Work upon the Ark.
Meditations upon the ARK As a Type of the CHURCH; Delivered in a SERMON at Boston, And now Dedicated unto the Service of All, but especially of those whose Concerns Lye in Ships.
By Cotton Mather.
Boston Printed by Samuel Green, and Sold by Joseph Browning at the corner of the Prison Lane. 1689.
INgens illa Arca Noae, cui totius Orbis Homines, & Opes, inclusae fuerunt. Nota hic TYPUM universae Ecclesia,—in quam nos aggregemus, ut tuti simus à venturo Irae Dei diluvio, Nam extrà hanc Nulla salus: &
Non Deus huic Pater est cui non Ecclesia Mater.
THE Introduction
SECT. I.
AMong all the many Subjects which a Preacher of the Gospel has to insist upon, I know not whether any would carry a greater mixture of pleasure and Profit, than that of the Types which exhibited Evangelical Mysteries unto Israel of old; in treating upon which, the Advantage that we Now have to compare the Shadow and Substance, will afford unto us a rich variety of Observations thereupon, which none but one that shall come and see, can imagine the value of. The Learned Rothwel, being advised by a Clergy-man more Great than Wise, to forbear medling with the Types, as Themes not convenient for him to study upon, made that very prohibition, but as an Invitation to expect, something of a more than common Import [Page] in them; and accordingly falling upon the Meditation of them, he found (I suppose) no part of his Ministry more satisfactory to himself, or Savoury to others, than what he there Employ'd. It was not upon any Apprehensions which I have yet seen cause to change, that I did my self, divers months ago, single out the Types for one of my Two or Three or Four Weekly Sermons ordinarily to be taken up nithal; but having on Lords-Dayes in the Afternoons, discoursed more than a few Times thereupon, I find them like the Waters in Ezekiels Vision, Growing and Rising still, the further we wade into them. I am convinced that the gracious Valerius Herber, gwho hath writ a Book to prove, that in every Chapter of the Bible, there is to be found something of our Blessed Jesus, might easily prove his Assertion, with a very great Redundancy of Demonstration; and that every paragraph of the Bible is a spot of Ground, where before we dig far, we shall find the Pearl of Great Price.
SECT II.
It was in This Course of Treating on the Types, That Noans ARK was one of them, which fell under my consideration: and more than a score of persons professing a Trade not altogether unaccommodated in the Thoughts then delivered, One of whom namely Mr. Gill, is a person to whose plous expences, not a few of the Books published among us, owe so much of the Light the [...] [Page] enjoy, that His desire alone ought to have been gratify'd, though there had been no more; These, before the week was out, sent me their Desires that I would give them a Copy of the Sermon; which I now entertain them with: Imploring the God of Heaven, That His Truths may have a due Impression upon them and their Families; that they may never make Shipwrack of the Faith; but, that they may for ever have a Room in the Ark of the Lord Jesus. It should be the care of every Pastor, to lay Truth as much as he can in the way of his People; and when we have an opportunity to PRINT as well as to Preach, it is an increase of our Talents, to be humbly Received and Improved. Let none blame it, that so many Books come abroad continually; for as Austin long since wished, That by many Books the same Truth, not in the same Style, might arrive to the minds of many men; so 'tis as reasonable for Husbandmen to complain of too much Corn, as for Christians to complain of too many Books, which may bring the Food of Truth unto them; the main thing Amiss is, that my Homely Composures trouble the Press, while there are so many more Elaborate, Judicious, Useful Ones, of my Fathers and Brethren, throughout this Countrey, that are suppressed by a modesty as large as the measure under which men should not put a lighted Candle: But it will often happen so, That the Best Work makes the Least Noise, about the Ark of God.
SECT. III.
As the greatest Changes in the World have had a Rise from Engines that seemed no less Trivial than Casual: Printing invented by a Souldier, Powder invented by a Scholar, and the Load-stone, that common and almost contemptible Stone, found out (I know not how) in these latter Ages, have in a manner turn'd the World upside down, and inverted all the affairs of it; So the Great God who forme I all things, has the Interest of His Church, lying at the bottom of all these Mutations. Tis from the encouragement of the Load-stone that we have our Shipping, and by the advantage of our Shipping it is that the Gospel is now arrived unto these Ends of the Earth. The Indians which this Land was once filled with, use to pay no little Respect unto the Crow, because they report that by this Bird the first Corn that ever they had was brought unto them; though now the Crow be among the greatest plunderers of their Fields. There is as much cause for us to bestow some great Regards upon a Ship; for by a Ship [Page] it is that the Bread of Life is brought over to the American Strand. Behold, an English Native of America, here making some reflections upon the first SHIP no doubt that ever was in the World; a SHIP to which the biggest Spanish Carrack which carries not above 12 hundred German Lasts, is not to be compared; a SHIP out-vying that of Archimedes, which contain'd twelve thousand Tuns, or that of Philopater, which was two hundred and forty Holy Cubits in Length, with a Breadth and Depth not unproportionable. And we hope it bodes no Ill to America, that in the howling Deserts of it we begin to be thus employed! May the Lord Jesus have an Ark in these thus long unhappy Territories. God forbid the Ark should float back again, and leave this vast Continent again in the entire possession of its late Landlords, the Devils, to make a Gog and Magog of it, in the latter Dayes.
SECT. IV.
It may justly be thought, that the Flood which Noahs ARK was provided against, reached unto America; though at that very point [Page] of Time when t'other Hemisphere was drown'd, there seems to have been a Failure of the Waters here; and now the ARK is also arrived hither, with Invitations unto us, to secure our own Eternal Salvation, by a Lodging in the Antitype thereof. They that have written (as Laet and Lerius) concerning the Original of the Americans, do inform us, that they had some knowledge of the Old Flood, before any Europeans gave a visit unto them yea, and of the Last Fire too, if Acosta deceive us not; but we Europaeans that are become Americans, have by our Sacred Histories, both more certain and more useful Notions of it, than could be found in the sorry Traditions, of them that were here before us. Hence 'tis that we can publish a little Sermon, of Work upon the Ark; and we can send word unto our Friends in the other Haemisphaere, that the people whom they esteem under the Earth, even those that are their Antipodes, are bowing their Knees in the Name of the Lord Jesus, who has built an Ark, a Church, for the Reception of them here. There is a Country in America, that has perhaps more than an Hundred Congregations in it, all which, I have cause to think instructed with better Sermons every Week, than that which is here put into the Readers Hands; a Country fill'd with pure Churches, every one of which is an Ark, not [Page] on the same Account that Pope Benedict was by the Messengers of a famous Council minded of, when he had Challenged unto his own vile Breast, that Honour, Hic est Arca Noae; but for the Salvation of them that with a due sincerity, repair thereunto. May none of Us, want a place in such an Ark of the Lord Jesus, when the Floods of Great Water come nigh unto us.
SECT. V.
You that are concerned in SHIPS, whether the Building or the Sailing of them, have this Little Treatise offered unto you, with a very particular, and most affectionate Application. Work upon the Ark, is what you may count your selves concerned in; and O that the Truths here tendred unto you, may Find you, and prove the Power of God unto your Salvation!
My Wishes for you are, That Goodness and Mercy may follow you all the Days of your Lives, and that you may dwell in the Ark of the Lord, unto Length of Days. That None of you may be a Cham about the Ark, but that All of you may be bound up in the Bundle of Life. Have I found any thing in Cham, to Deprecate on your behalf? I have so in Noah too, in good old Noah himself. You know what Sin it [Page] was that Noah was overtaken with. One of the Ethnic Names, by which Noah was distinguished, was that of Saturn; whom the Ancient Pagans made the Praesident of Drunkenness; and hence they had their Saturnalia, or Drunken Bouts, dedicated unto his Memory. 'Tis not a thing which never happens, that they whose Concerns Ly in Ships, have had more to do with Cups than has been for their Good; and they plead for themselves, as in Salvians complaint, they did of old, Si Noah, our non & Ego? Why mayn't I Drink to Excess, as well as Noah? As well! Why it was not well in Noah; and tho' he had his Ignorance, which you have not, for an excuse, yet this Drunkenness, has issued in a Black Curse upon a great part of his miserable Family. But, blessed be God, the most of you, that are personally known unto my self, are persons exemplary for Sobriety. The Lord make you so, for every other vertue; and grant, That Denying Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts, you may Live Soberly, Righteously, and Godlily in this present World.
Work upon the ARK.
The Ark was Building, wherein few, that is Eight Souls were saved by Water.
The Like Figure whereunto, even Baptism doth now also Save us.
THe Wise Men that of old were Travelling and Enquiring after the Lord Jesus Christ, found Him a Babe in Swadling Cloaths and paid Respect unto Him, as unto the King of the World, As many of us [Page 2] as are, and God forbid that any should not be Inquisitive after the Holy Child Jesus, may behold Him in the Swadling Cloaths, which the Types of the Old Testament Enwrapped Him in. When we there Behold, let us there Admire, there Adore our Blessed Lord, and offer the best of our Devotions to Him. 'Tis Remarked by the great Apostle of the Gentiles, in Heb. 4. 2. Unto us was the Gospel Preached as well as unto them. Those Christians, for 'tis hardly a proletsis to call them so, that Lived before the Incarnation of our Lord, had glorious Gospel, in Shadows of good Things to come. A Type is in short, An instituted Resemblance of Gospel Mysteries. The things which the Gospel gives us a naked Representation of, were veiled under many Signs and Seals, which God made unto his Ancient People as it were, Sacraments of Good Things to come. And not only the Person of the Messiah but his Conditions, His Endowments, His Benefits, and His Ordinances too, yea, and the Miseries, and the Enemies, from which we are by Him delivered; all of these were Preached in and by those Types of old. Now this Good-speech have we as well as They, by the Entertainment which the Types are every day giving to our serious Contemplations.
It was the Observation of the Apostle, concerning the memorable Events which in the [Page 3] By-past Ages had happened in the Church of God, 1 Cor. 10. 11. All these things happened unto them, for Types, they are written for our Admonition.
As there were many Typical Men, to be found among the Saints of the Old Testament; both Typical Persons, and Typical Orders; thus there were Typical Things, then likewise to be animadverted on. And those Typical Things are to be divided into two sorts; they were either more Occasional, or more Perpetual. For the more Occasional Typical Things, we may distribute Them into Typical Objects, and Typical Actions. In the Fleet of Occasional Typical Objects, methinks Noahs ARK may ride Admiral; 'tis the first; & behold how the Apostle here declares the Typical Nature & Import of it. The Apostle here justly and fitly introduces a Discourse upon the Ark built by Noah long ago: in which Eight Souls were Saved by Water; that is, Noah, and his Wife, and his Three Sons, and their Wives being aboard, the Water of the Flood lifted up the Ark in which they were, so that they perished not. The History of the Flood, and so of Ark, is too well known to need any distinct Repetition in this Discourse. But upon this he adds, in express terms, We have the ANTITYPE thereof. And what is that Antitype? Why, as Water buoy'd up those that were in the Ark, so Baptism does those that are in the [Page 4] Church towards Heaven; there is a blessed Help of Salvation in it.
Hence there is this Doctrine for us,
That Noahs ARK was Type of Gods CHURCH.
As a Ship is by Humane Ingenuity, often made a Resemblance of the Church; so the Ark which was a sort of a Ship, is by Divine Authority, exhibited as a Figure or a Shadow of it. They compare the Pump in a Ship to Repentance, which fetches out the Corruption that endangers our Souls. They compare the Sails, to our Affections; in which when the Wind of the holy Spirit blows, we are carried swiftly on to the Harbour of Eternal Blessedness. The Rudder, that is compared unto the Tongue of man; the Compass, that may be compared unto the Word of God. But these comparisons are inhumerable; as they that have read Navigation Spiritualized, by some Worthy English Writers, must needs be sensible; and I hope every Gracious Marriner does accustome himself to such Reflections.
Well, that famous ARK which is counted the first SHIP that ever was, will afford then, a rich variety of Observations to us; and I suppose, you that follow the Employments of Ship-Carpenters, will give a very particular and profitable attention thereunto. The fairest Method in handling of the Types, is to Raise and Prove proper Observations, with agreeable Applications annexed unto them. Behold, that Illustrious and Renowned Ship-Carpenter, our Father Noah, ha's in his Ark provided these Observations for you.
OBSERVATION. I.
The Lord Jesus Christ hath Built a Church in the World, and this most exactly and faithfully, according to the Mind of God.
Good old Noah was one of the most considerable Men that ever was in the World. The ancient Heathen themselves had some broken Remembrances and Traditions of him. Their Bacchus has the very Name of Noah in it, with a very little variation of the Letters. And their Janus too, was our Noah, having a Name derived from the Hebrew word [Jajin] for Wine, which Noah was the maker of: and as Janus was with them, a man of two Faces, it [Page 6] intimated that Noah had the double prospec [...] of the Old and the New World before him. Bu [...] for nothing was Noah more notable, than h [...] being a Type of our Lord Jesus Christ through whom, a R [...]st remains for the people o [...] God. And among all the Instances in which Noah was Typical, there is none more obviou [...] and visible than this; That as Noah built a [...] Ark, so Jesus has built a Church in the world But how? when that Noah had received thos [...] Orders, Go build an Ark; it follows in Gen. 6. 22. according io all that God had commanded s [...] did he. Tis the Honour of the Ship-wright, that God himself was the first Master-Builder I suppose Noah to be directed and inspired b [...] God, for the Building of an ARK; an [...] surely he so much as drove every Pin, according to the advice of God. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Building of his Church has thus done all, according to the Will of Go [...] It is said in Heb. 3. 2. He was faithful to Hi [...] that appointed Him. The Will of God is tha [...] according to which, all things are squared and ordered by the Lord Jesus, in the Churc [...] of God.
APPLICATION.
Let not Us then introduce any thing into [Page 7] the Church of God, of which we have not His Allomance and Countenance for its being there. We are most, or all of us, Ʋnder-Builders about the Ark of God; we have some work assigned us, in the Edification of the Church. But let us keep close to the Word of God, in our Building Are there any Materials which we would build the Church by the Admission of? Let them all be of Gods Constitution. Let us not willingly lay the Rotten Timber of either Hereticks or Hypocrites in the sides of our Ark, nor allow Church-priviledges with us to evidently ungodly men. We are admonished in Heb. 12. 16. Look diligently, lest there be any profane person among you. Even so, we are to Look Diligently, that the Church which we more immediately belong unto, be not filled with an ungodly Company. Some Great Men of God, have professed, That they would sooner Loose their Hands, than with those Hands administer the Sacraments to a visibly ungodly man; and it is a Golden Sentence, which dropt from the Pen of that Learned Scotchman; I believe (saith Mr Gilespy) no Conscientious Minister, would Baptise a man, whose works and words manifestly declare him to be an Unr [...]gen [...]rated, an unconverted man; and how shall we then bring such an one unto the Table [Page 8] of the Lord? No, they will be a sort of Barnacles, growing to the sides of the Ark, with not a little prejudice to its Interest. Again, are there any Exercises which we would Build the Church, by our attendance on? Let all them too be of Gods Institution. Let us not perform any Worship, or Service, about our Ark, but such as God calleth for. Our Lord saith in Mat. 15. 9. In vain do they worship me, teaching the Commandments of men. The Commandments of men, must not be our Guide, in What we do in and for the Church. We should not fetch astroke there, of which God has not said, This do! Luther judciously reckoned This, one of the three things which the Church would be fatally End angered by, Sapientia mundi, quae vult omnia redigere in Ordinem, & impjis med [...]is Ecclesiae paci consulere; To follow the Dictates of Worldly Wisdom for the maintaining of it. There are uninstituted Coeremonies brought into the House of God; the bold Inventors whereof, resemble them to Pins in the Building; and that of Pins, is a Name great enough truly to be bestowed upon them: But I assure you, They are Pins that produce Cracks and Leaks where they come; they are dangerous to the Ark of God.
OBSERVATION. II.
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, is most intimately Concerned and Embarked, in the Church of God. When the Ark was built, Noah the Builder Shipp'd himself upon it; if the Ark had sunk, or Split Noah himself must have perished with it. But it was well secured by the presence of Noah there; tho' it seems to have drawn above sixteen foot of Water, as may be gathered from its resting on an Hill when the Waters were above it, at least eleven cubits. Thus, our Lord Jesus Christ; having built the Church, He is now Himself aboard, and will be so, To the end of the World. It is His promise in Isa 43. 3. When thou passest thro' the Waters, I will be with thee. And it is His pitty in Isa. 63. 9. In all their Afflictions, He is Afflicted. If the Church miscarry our Lord Jesus Christ Himself will do so too; but there is no Fear of That!
APPLICATION.
Be not then Discouraged at the Dangers, [Page 10] the Tempests, which the Church of God may meet withal. 'Tis the Name of the Church, in Isa. 54. 11. O thou Tossed with Tempests! and so it may have this Appellation, O thou Threatned with Dangers! But be of good chear. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is exposed unto all the perils which bear a terrible Aspect on the Church of God. Hence the Great Reformer, in very perplexing Distresses would so comfort himself Si nos Ruimus, Ruit & Christus; Christ Himself will Fare like us, and Fall with us: And this may be our comfort, The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, must founder in the Quicksands of that Corruption, or Oppression, in which the whole Church of God shall be ever swallowed up. This was the Triumph of the Church, in Psal 46. 3, 5. We will not fear, though the Waters Roar, and be Troubled Why so? It follows, God is in the midst of Her! Let never such Roaring, Dashing, Horrible Hu [...] ricanes arise, the Church cannot be cast away, the Reason is, God is in the midst of her. When Caesar was in a little Boat at Sea, hattered and battered by a violent Storm, which made the Marriners afraid, he merrily said unto them, Come, Courage, brave Hearts, you carry Caesar, and the Interests of Caesar bere! Why, a better Fraighted [Page 11] Vessel is the Church of God: It has our blessed Noah aboard; It carries Jesus, and the Interests of Jesus in the Bottom of it.
But before I pass to the next Stage, Behold, an Advice here, which Marriners are to be mindful of! You see the way to be safe in all your Voyages; Get the Gracious Presence of of the Lord Jesus, the true Noah, with you in your Vessels, and you are provided for a Storm. 'Tis likely that the Ark, had no Storms to Encounter with; for the Dry Land which may generate them was covered; nor could the Flat Bottom of the Ark well bear too ruffling Tumults, and swelling Billows, in the Waters under it. But you must expect many a severe and blustring Storm in your Adventures; wherein you will scarce be as many Inches from Death as the Thickness of your Ships, but, Tam prope Mors urget, quam prope cernis aquom against which you now see how to secure your selves. We have a Narrative, in Mat. 4. 37, 38, 39. That once arose a great storm of Wind, and the Waves beat into the [Page 12] Ship; and He arose and rebuked the Wind, and said unto the Sea, peace, be still; and the Wind ceased, and there was a great Calm. Such a Friend, such a Guard at hand, you will have, if you have the Presence of the Lord Jesus with you. Now, to obtain That, Let your Prayers, be together every Day made unto God in Him; therewithal joyning your Cares, that no Vice be any more allowed there, than in the purest Church in the World. If it was Enjoyned on Masters of Houses to Pray without ceasing: how much more ought Masters of Vessels to do the same? Let me say, Masters, your Companies are your Families; you ought every day to see Prayer attended with them. How can you Neglect Prayer in a Calm, without expecting that when you Employ Prayer in a Storm, the Lord Jesus will be deaf unto your Cries, and Reply upon them, I know you not? 'Twill be too late then to begin your Prayers; Quid Juvat Errores mersa jam puppe fateri? It hath been said, Let him that would Learn to Pray, go to Sea; Alas, that so many persons who go to Sea, are so impiously Prayerless there! and so like the Marriners whom the Philosopher once with a sharp scoff, did advise to forbear their Prayers! It was a seasonable Alarum once [Page 13] given aboard a Ship, Arise, and call upon thy God. For indeed, The Lord is with you, while you are with Him.
OBSERVATION. III.
It should be Good Stuff which the Church consisteth of. The Church Mystical will certainly do so, and they that make pretences to the Church Visible are to be folicitous hereabout. It was prescribed unto Noah, in Gen. 6. 14. Make thee an Ark of Gopher wood. What Wood is that? Crities take up the Cudgel about it and agree no better than to insist upon 6 or 7 various Interpretations of it: But it is abundantly clear that Cypress Wood is meant by Gopher Wood, the very Names have something of affinity. No Ship-Timber else grew so plentifully thereabouts; and this was the main Ship-Timber among all the Ancients. Which Alexanders Navy alone, of this Wood, may render evident. Hence were Cypress Boards mostly used for Coffins of old; in commemoration of the ARK, no doubt, where all Mankind was once coffin'd up. Now the Cypress Wood was good Stuff: it would hold and keep, and last sound, and breed no [Page 14] Worms, for a most incredible while Perpetual, was the Epithite which the ancient Poets put upon it. Hence Epiphanius affirms, that in his dayes, which was near three thousand years after the Flood, there were parts of the ARK still to be seen. This is an Emblem of the Soundness which all Church-Members ought to be studious of: a Prayer fitted for their Lips, is that in Psal. 119. 80. Lord, Make my heart sound in thy Statutes.
APPLICATION.
Let those who desire to joyn unto the Church of God, then Examine themselves. There are some, and it procures the anger of the great God, that there are no more, seeking after Church-fellowship among us. To you in a peculiar manner belongs that counsel in 1 Cor. 11. 28. Let a man Examine himself, and so let him Come. O make this enquiry into your own estate, Am I good Stuff or no? ask and see, whether you have a Good Grain, or a True Grace? whether you are sound at heart? whether you have the Root of the matter in you? Yea, and more than this, is needful to be enquired; it [Page] should be try'd, whether you are well Hew [...] and well Bow'd, by the Word of God? whether the Word of God has had such an Influence upon you as to fit you for a standin [...] in the Building of the Lord.
Many dejected Souls are terrifying themselves with a, May I venture? Now to pu [...] it out of Question, do but put these three Questions to your own Souls.
Q. 1. Is there no Lust that I do nourish an [...] indulge in my self? But do I count every Sin my burden, wretchedness and misery?
Q. 2. Is there no Duty which I allow my self in the Omission of? but have I respect unto all the Commands of God?
Q. 3. Is there no Office of the Lord Jesus Christ, which I am under the power of prejudice against? but am I willing that he should be to me, all of that which He is to any of his chosen ones?
If you can give a good Answer to these Questions, you may then venture to come. Come and be compacted, and united, and incorporated into the Church of God, according to the Order of the Gospel.
OBSERVATION. IV.
Many persons instrumental about Building the Church of God, are yet Lost and Damned for ever. There were many Carpenters no doubt, that wrought with Noah, upon the Ark, which yet were Drown'd among those doleful Creatures, whose Foundation was overflown with a Flood. Even so, there are multitudes of persons, whose Talents and Labours are Employ'd about Church Work, all their Days; and yet these very persons go down to the congregation of them that Roar under the Waters for ever. It is true, that the Ministry of a wicked Clergy-Man, is not so frequently and so certainly blessed by God, as the Ministry of a serious, Gracious, Heavenly Man, that can Pray as well as Preach. Usually they are the Wise, the Good, who Turn many to Righteousness. Nevertheless God may improve the Ministry of a Judas and a Demas, for the advantage of His Church. 'Tis not the Instrument, but the Appointment, that gives Efficacy to the Ordinance. We are told in 1 Cor. 9. 27. A man that has Preached to others, may himself be cast away.
APPLICATION.
How much ought all Church-Officers then to Work out their own Salvation with Fear and Trembling! As on the one side, No True Christian, should Despair of his own Sincerity, because the Minister that was the Instrument of his Conversion, has proved a wicked man: so on the other side, No Church-Officer should Presume his Condition to be good, because of a sacred Function pertaining to him. We that are at work upon the Ark, had need to make sure of it, that we be not shut out, when the Floods of great Water do come nigh unto us. Know it, that Men of Renown in the Congregation, may go down into the horrible Pits, the Fiery Vaults, of the lowest Hell. We shall be worse than those that are already there, if we do not at this awful Intimation, Believe and Tremble. It is a Lamentable confusion which is instanced unto us in Mat. 7. 22. Many will say, Lord, have we not Prophesied in thy Name? Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; Depart from me! Thus in the Dreadful Day of God, we may come to plead, Lord, Had not I the Office of [Page 18] Serving thy Table, and Keeping thy Treasure in thy House? We may come to plead, Lord, Did not I go before thy People in singing of thy Praises? Yea, we may come to plead, Lord, was not I a Pastor, and a Preacher to a Flock of thine? Yet may he pass that Ireful Direful Sentence on us, Depart from me, I know you not! O take heed of Incurring such a Doom: Let us all carefully make our Calling and Election sure.
OBSERVATION V.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Door, by which we are to pass into the Church of God. It was said in Gen. 6. 16. And the Door of the Ark shalt thou set in the side thereof. There was a Door by which the Ark was entered; which Door, if it were in the lower part of the Ark, and not by Seaffolds ascended unto, required an exquisite carefulness in the close and fast shutting of it; and it seems Angelical Assistance, was afforded thereunto: for we read, God shut it. Well, The Church of God has a Door too; but what kind of one? Our Lord Jesus hath said unto us, in John 17. 9. I am the Door, by me if any man enter in, he shall [Page 19] be saved. The Lord Jesus must be professed and obeyed by all that would be Lodged here.
APPLICATION.
If therefore we would have any Room in the Church of God, Let us own ourselves beholden to the Lord Jesus for it. In the Church 'tis eminently so, that Christ is All! It is by Confessing the Truth of Christ Jesus, that we come to Challenge a Room in the Church Visible. We must confe [...]s unto Him, Thou art the Son, of the Living God; and we must hold the Truth as it is in Jesus, if we would not be excluded from all Interest in the Church. A knot of men, that are not sound in the Fundamentals of the Christian Faith, are not a Church, but a Wasps-Nest, as Tertullian, expresses it, or, a Synagogue of Satan, as 'tis called in the Sacred Pages.
Again, It is by Receiving the Grace of Christ Jesus, that we come to enjoy a room in the Church Mystical. This Church is in this regard as it shall be, when it shall arrive to its New-Jerusalem condition here, Nothing enters into it that Defiles. 'Tis by [Page 20] having of Christ Jesus formed in us, that we get into this Holy Body; it is, The Body of Christ, and our Union with Him, by Faith, brings us to belong unto it.
Once more, A Call from Christ Jesus, is the Door, by which we are to enter upon any special Employment in the church of God. They are but Intruders, who pretend to be Overseers to the Church, and have no commission from the Lord Jesus for it; Our Lord hath truly said, in John 17. 1. The same is a Thief and a Robber. Let the Word of the Lord Jesus invite us, and induce us, to whatever Office we expect about the Church of the most High; through the want of this, the Son of God has a Quo Warranto for a great part of them, that have made themselves Rulers of the Church at this day in the world.
OBSERVATION VI.
The Church of God has the means of Light afforded unto it. The Ark had a Window or a Casement in it; as we read in Gen. 6. 16. Which was probably in the Upper Story of the Ark; just below the Roof, which by the Declivity of a cubit, [Page 21] carried off the Rain that fell upon it. It was made Strait without, and Broad within, that the Light might thereby the better be diffused. No doubt Noah by Cranes and Ropes and proper Engines pulling up the vast Quantity of Excrements in the Lower Stories of the Ark, did here turn them out. And it is besides probable, that there were here and there, Little port-holes in the sides of the Ark, which conveyed Breath as well as Light, unto the Animals in the Hold. Well, The church of God is likewise a place of Light; and a twofold Light we find shining there. It is the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, in John 1 9. He is the Light of the World. Now 'tis in the Orb of the Church, that the Sun of Righteousness is moving from Day to Day. It is moreover the Singular Quality and Excellence of the Scripture, which is noted in Psal. 119. 105. Thy Word is a Light unto my path. Now 'tis the Church that is the Candlestick, in which this Candle is exhibited unto us; upon which account it is also called, The pillar of Truth.
APPLICATION.
For shame then, let none of us that are in the Church continue Ignorant of the Things which we ought to be Instructed in. The Ordinances of the Lord Jesus, are so many Windows or Casements, at which a Divine Light may come into our Souls. O let us not then be in the Dark about our own work, or in the Dark about our own state, or in the Dark about the Things which are eternal, and are indeed out of sight. Indeed the Apostatical Church of Antichrist, may have Doctors declared and promoted as Most sufficient, though they never had read a chapter in their Bibles; and it may have Preachers who being asked whether they taught their People the Decalogue, discreetly answered, They never saw the Book so called. But the sincere Church of Christ cannot nourish any such Barbarity▪ Let us endeavour the fulfilment of that word, Thy people shall all be taught. It was said in 1 Cor. 15. 34. Some have not the knowledg of God, I speak this to your shame. What! for them in the C [...]urch to want the knowledg of God! that is a burning shame indeed! It will be a shameful [Page 23] thing, if any of Us have not the Knowledge of those things, which to know is Life Eternal. The Church in which we Lodge, is Illuminated; yea, it is a Light-House to the World about us. We shut our Eyes against the Light, if we remain a people of no knowledge; and then He that made us, will not have mercy on us, He that formed us, will shew us no Favour.
OBSERRVATION VII.
One Catholick Church has in it, many particular Congregations and Societies, that agree to worship God in Christ, according to His Gospel. There were many particular Mansions, and Chambers in the Ark of Noah; yet they all made but One Ark. 'Tis thus in the Church of God; Onely with this difference, That I look upon the Church rather as a Genus, than an Integrum. There are many particular Churches, and yet they all make up One Church Catholick, which is the Mystical Body of Christ. Hence our Lord says in Cant. 6. 9. My Undefiled is but One. A particular Church is that Association of Believers, which Assemble together in one place, with Engagements and Endeavours [Page 24] to carry on, The Worship of the Gospel. I do not know, that the Word of God ever mentioned any particular Church of another Species or Dimension.
Such a Church has in it the whole Essence of the Church, and it is it self a compleat Ark, before the Lord. But all these Churches being together considered, the Result will be one Church Catholick in the World.
APPLICATION.
This may Encourage us, both in Loving and in Serving of the Church.
Our Loving of the Church, is not to be confined unto this or that particular Assembly. Indeed there is a peculiar Love due to that Assembly, which we are in Covenant withal; and even in the Matters of Business, as well as of Charity, this Love may show it self. There are some Churches in England, where the Members are agreed, That if there be any One of their own communion which can furnish them with such or such a commodity, they will go to him, before they go to any other. 'Tis a Loving practice. But our Love must extend it self to the [Page 25] whole Houshold of Faith: And in our Serving of the Church, we should Remember, that when we do a Service for this or that particular Assembly, we do it for all the whole community. Every Believer fares the better, for every Prayer, every Sermon, every Book, which God helps us to Edifie any one Church withal. Wherefore, Let there be in us, What was in Paul, in 2 Cor. 11▪ 28. The care of all the Churches.
OBSERVATION. VIII.
There are very Different and Various Degrees in the Church of God. It was Enjoyned concerning the Ark, in Gen. 6. 16. With Lower, Second, and Third Stories, thou shalt make it. Thus after fome sort, there are Three Stories in the Church of God; there is the Visible Church, there is the Mystical Church on Earth, and there is the Triumphant Church in Heaven. These three are so many Ascending Stories in the Ark of the Lord.
APPLICATION
Let not a Room in the Lower Story of the Church content any of us. Count it not enough to be in the Church Visible; that is a part of the Ark, which any sorts of Creatures are often Crouding and Herding together in. Doubtless, Noahs Quarters were Above, just under the Roof of the Ark. Let us Aspire to be in the Church Mystical; the Church of which 'tis said in Mat▪ 16. 18. The gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. Yea, Let us desire to be in the Church Triumphant; the Church described in Heb. 12. 22. The Iunumerable Company of Angels, the Spirits of Just men made perfect, and Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant. Get first into the middle Story of Grace, and so you shall step up into the upper Story of Glory, at the Last.
OBSERVATION. IX.
There are in the Church of god, Creatures of all Natures, both good and bad. We find Gen. 6. 19, 20. Some of every Beast & some of every [Page 27] Fowl, were admitted into the Ark. The Distinction of Clean and Unclean, was it seems, then taken up; and the Clean, which might be Sacrificed, were by Sevens [Behold an Odd One for a Sacrifice] The Unclean, which might not be Sacrificed, were by Couples there. A very signal, special, and miraculous Providence it was, that assisted Noah in thus gathering together all sorts of Animals.
But there are two very Difficult Enquiries, which my Concern to prevent the Atheism of many that think the Histoty of the Ark incredible and impossible, will cause me a little to insist upon.
Question 1.
How were the Creatures all Stow'd in the Ark?
Answer.
You do not forget, that the Ark was Three Hundred Cubits Long, fifty cubits Broad, and thirty cubits High; (the proportion found in the Exact Body of a MAN) and so it contained 450000 Square Cubits within the Walls of it, if we don't abate [Page 28] what was taken away in the Sloping of the Roof. Suppose the cubits to be the Holy, which were Seven Hands Breadth, where as the Vulgar was but six, and you behold here a Vessel which might carry more than Forty Two Thousand Tuns, allowing two thousand Weight unto the Tun.
Nor do you forget, that the Ark had Three Stories in it; each of them Fifteen Foot High apiece, abating the Sloping of one foot and an half at the Top, and (it may be) some place for Ballast under a Floor at the Bottom.
You must allow, that the Lowest Story of the Ark, might be alotted unto Beasts; as for Insects and Reptiles, they needed no considerable Habitations; there were a thousand Corners for them.
You must allow, That the Highest Story of the Ark was alotted unto Birds; and Noah with his Family might be Nested among them there. You may allow that the middle Story of the Ark was allowed for the Food needful to maintain these Creatures. Now they that are well Studied in Natural History, will easily find Stables enough in the Lower Story, for all the Beasts, and Cages enough in the Upper Story for all the Birds, yet known unto us, and a great deal [Page 29] of Room to spare. They that reckon 150 Species of Quadrupeds, 150 of Volatiles, and 25 of Reptiles, have perhaps over done in their Account.
Question 2.
How were the Creatures all Fed in the Ark?
Answer.
You may allow the whole Middle Story to contain their Food; besides a deal of spare room in both of the other Stories for the purpose. Now, for the Birds none will be scrupulous, where to supply them with Granaries: the same Floor that held their Coops would also hold more than enough to feed them all. But for the Beasts, the way is to bring them unto a certain Proportion. I say then, all the Beasts in the Ark, that feed on Grass or Hay, would not require a greater proportion than 92 Oxen; all the Beasts that fed on Roots or Fruits, would not require a greater proportion than twenty one Sheep; all the Beasts which devour Flesh, exceeded not the proportion of twenty seven Wolves; tho' it be question'd whether any Bruits before the Flood (or at least within [Page 30] the Ark) were carnivorous at all. Now you may lay in, at the rate of forty weight of Provender a Day, for every Ox, and a whole Sheep a Day for every Wolf, besides a sufficient quantity of Provision for all that fed on other things; and yet by computatation, I find the Ark affords room enough and enough to hold far more than thus would serve the turn, for the 375 Dayes that they were under their confinement.
You will grow weary, if I descend into particulars. All that remains is to observe, not, what Jerom absurdly enough, in his comparison for Caelibacy against Matrimony here, but that which Tertullian elegantly did reflect upon: to wit, That creatures of all Tempers were in the ARK, and are in the Church. There are in the House of our Lord Virgins both wise and foolish, and Servants both wise and slothful. There are in the Field ef our Lord, both Tares and Wheat. And tho' there were no Fishes in the ARK, yet there are in the Church; but of what kind we are told in Matth. 13. 48. Both good and bad are in the Net.
APPLICATION.
But let all Church Members among us, look to it, that they be not wild Ravenous or Venemous creatures in the ARK of God. It seems probable, that the fiercest Creatures were miraculously so Cicurated at their Entrance into the Ark, that they expressed no Antipathies or Dissensions there: 'Tis credibly Reported, That a sudden Flood in Somersetshire in England, produced such an Agreement between the most quarlelsome Creatures, the Dogs and Hares, the Cats and Mice that were driven into the Top of an Hill together. It should be thus in the Church of God; even according to that in Isa. 11. 6. The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb, and the Leopard shall lye down with the Kid. The Character which the Lord would have Church-Members to wear, What is it? It is that in Joh. 10. 14. My Sheep. Or it is that in Cant. 6. 9. My Dove. I beseech you, Let us not have the Qualities of more Noxious Creatures in us. O let us not be Crafty, like the Fox; nor cruel as the Bear, nor bloody as the Tyger. Let us not be Blind like the Bat, or [Page 32] Owl; nor let us be Revengful, as the Crane; and let us not like the Serpent, sting those that are about us. The Ark of the Lord Jesus will not be opened unto us, until we have put off those cursed Qualities.
OBSERVATION. X.
Our Salvation depends upon our getting into the Church of God. They that were in the Ark were in a safe and a brave Condition, when Desolation overwhelmed the whole World besides; there sat good old Noah, Medjis Tranquillus in undis. But what became of them that were not then sheltered in the Ark? Alas, they fell into the Perdition of Ungodly Men. Of such concernment it is, to get into the Church of God! When the Jews were the Church, our Lord said in Joh. 4. 22. Salvation is of the Jews. And it is a faithful Saying still, that Extra Ecclesiam non est Salus. If a man be not a Member of the Mystical Church, he is excluded from all Hope of Salvation for ever; he must for ever Ly and cry, and be abhorred among them that are without. And whoever is a Member of the Mystical Church, that man will be desirous and studious [Page 33] to join himself unto one that is Visible too; 'tis against his Will, against his Choice, if he belong not unto some Society that profess the Truths, and practise the wayes, of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is a considerable Remark, in Acts 2. 47. There were added unto the Church, daily such as shall be Saved. They that are in a State of Salvation, will they not endeavour to be Added unto some particular Church, in which the Son of God is Worshiped? See whether it be not so.
APPLICATION.
I pray, Why then do so many of you Stand without, and stay away, from the Ark of the Lord Jesus? It was a smart Expostulation of the Apostle, in 1 Cor. 11. 22. Despise ye the Church of God? O 'tis a fearful Impiety to despise a place in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ; and yet this is to be charged upon multitudes of you, that every month turn your Backs upon the Table of the Lord. Ye Inconsiderate people! Will you make your Minister complain to the God of Heaven of you? O Lord I mourn. But shall I indeed go and say before the Great God, Lord, I have [Page 34] spent some Hundreds of Sermons, to bespeak the Hearts of these people for thee; and yet they have never so Repented of sin, they have never so Believed on Christ, they have never so Covenanted with thy self, as that they dare come unto thy Table in the full communion of any Church of thine. Alas, what a complaint were this? But I beseech you to give no occasion for it.
Consider 1. If you are not continually Preparing for, and perpetually Desiring of a Room in the Ark of the Lord Jesus, there is no likelihood of Everlasting Salvation for you. Many a good man is afraid of coming into Church-communion; but the man who sincerely and earnestly takes pains to get himself ready for it, it may be [...]op'd will soon overcome those Fears. If you can go on contentedly, without any comfortable and well-grounded perswasions of your Interest in the Favour of God; if you can go on quietly, leaving the matters between God and your own Souls at peradventures, I am to tell you, That you are yet in the gall of Bitterness, and in the Bond of iniquity. Have you entred into Covenant with God, or no? If you have done it secretly, then you may come and do it openly, If you have not, then your Salvation lies at [Page 35] Stake; You may be horribly astonisht at the Hourly perils of your Immortal Souls, That man is not in a State of Salvation who may not say, as in Psal. 26. 8. Lord, I have Loved the Habitation of thy House. But how can you Love it, if you Do Nothing to get into it?
Consider. 2. Tho' you may be Born again, yet the Affairs of your Everlasting Salvation will meet with much obstruction and impediment by your not getting far enough into the Ark of the Lord Jesus. If you come not unto a Church-communion, with some company of Inchurched Believers, the least you do is miserably to retard the progress of your own Salvation. We read it spoken of some, in Psal. 106. 15. God sent leanness into their Soul. Alas, a Lean Soul, a Lean Grace, a Lean Joy, is the Fruit of This Omission. You do but famish your own Souls, while you thus deny to yourselves the Helps of your Salvation▪ What can you Look for, but a Blast upon your unhappy Souls, while you practically say, There are Ordinances of Jesus Christ, which I can do well enough without?
Consider 3. The Floods of Death, will shortly Roar and Roll upon you. It was once an Out-cry in Psal. 69. 1, 2. O God, [Page 36] The waters come into my Soul, the Floods overflow me. That, That will be your Cry in the Dying Hour, which you are now near unto; The Sorrows of Death (you'l say) compass me, and the Floods which terrify the Ungodly, make me afraid! But O what a sad thing, will it then be, to be found out of an Ark? I have seen and Heard, more than once, this bitter Anguish in Dying people, O that I had joyn'd my self unto some Church of the Lord Jesus! 'Tis a Load like a mountain of Lead upon me, that I kept out of the Ark so long. If God will spare me, that I may recover Strength before I go hence and be no more, the first thing I'll do, shall be to Reform the Omission, which I now Repent. But as God was near killing of Moses for omitting of a Sacrament; so 'tis possible, thy Omission may provoke Him to Kill thee without Pity, (because not without Warning) When thou shalt pour out these Groans before Him.
Consider of This, and make no Heedless Needless Delays in the matter.
OBSERVATION XI.
'Tis an Ill Bird that goes from the Church [Page 37] of God, without returning again unto it any more. We read in Gen 8. 6. Noah opened a Window of the Ark, & sent forth a Raven, which went to and fro, till the Waters were dried up: the Raven it seems found Carcases floating here & there to live upon. But a Dove being sent forth 'tis said it found no rest for the sole of her foot, but returned into the Ark; of which the ancient Heathen have some very pretty Foot-steps. Their Xisuthrus and their Deucalion have such a Remark upon them in their Histories. Now the Raven is an unclean Bird, a Bird of an ill Note,, and an ill Fame in the common account. Why, there are many that thus go out from the Ark of the Lord Jesus: they go out from His Church, and out from His People, and out from His Institutions there; and this without Returning any more. Many Professors become Apostates; and Finally, incurably, irrecoverably so. Whither do these go? but unto that place whereof the Prophet sayes in Isai. 34. 9, 10, 11. The Land shall become hurning Pitch, the smoke thereof shall go up for ever, and the RAVEN shall dwell in it.
APPLICATION.
Tremble, Every Soul, Tremble at Apostacy from the Wys of God. You that have gone out from the Societies of them which together call'd upon God in Christ; you that instead of your old Entertainments in the House of God, are now Gormandising upon the Carrions of the world; O come back; do not play the Raven so. You show what you are, if you can so satisfie your selves. Ill Birds indeed! We shall say of you, They went out from us, because they were not of us. 'Tis the Complexion and Character belonging to the Church of Rome, in a peculiar manner. 'Tis a Raven: unless you will say, that the Bird which once made such a Disturbance in one of their Councils, afford a fitter Name for it. It has gone from our Glorious Noah, and never will Return unto Him. But let all Apostates take that Advice, in Isa. 60. 9. Return to your Rest as DOVES to the Windows. O be those Doves, that cannot find a Rest for their Foot, any where but in the Church of the Living God.
OBSERVATION. XII.
In the Church of God, a Sabbath will be kept Holy to the Lord. It is a Remarkable passage in Gen. 8. 8, 10, 12. Noah sent forth a Dove; and he staid yet other Seven Days; and again he sent forth the Dove; and he staid yet other Seven Days, and sent forth the Dove. Why did Noah keep a period of Seven Days in this matter? Learned Men conceive that he had Respect unto a Sabbath in it; and a Sabbath too, say some Critical Enquirers, on that very Day of the Week which we count the First. It is thought, that on the morrow after the Sabbath he still sent out the Dove. And why not? We are assured in Gen. 2. 3. That from the very Creation of the World, God sanctified the Seventh Day; that is, He Commanded it to be Separated and Dedicated unto Sacred Services among the Children of Men. To say, That at the Creation, God Sanctify'd the Seventh Day, by ordering that it should be kept Holy by a little people four & twenty hundred years afterward, is an unaccountable Anticipation, and a cruel Hardship on the Text. No, 'Tis but R [...]nable to think, [Page 40] That the Patriarchs, long before Israel was Encamped at Marah, did use to keep an Holy Sabbath, in the Hebdomadal Revolution. Hence the Apostle at Heb. 4. 11. speaking of a Rest, which Unbelievers are excluded from, he plainly enough says, They were not excluded from the Rest (or Sabbath) which was from the Foundations of the world; so that such a Rest (or Sabbath) men then had an Interest in. Indeed the Sacrednes; of the Number, Seven, together with the Acknowledgment of it, as the measure of Time, among all Nations, except a few barbarous Indians whose Time is denominated only by Sleeps and Moons and Winters, cannot easily be ascribed unto any other Original, but the mark which God at the Beginning did put upon One Day in Seven, as Holy to Himself. A Seventh Day is to be kept as a Sabbath Day, in the Ark of God; tho' it seems to be not THE Seventh Day, but the First which our Sabbath is now translated into. Our Saviour Himself requires even the Church of the New Testament, to be solicitous, that nothing may hinder us, from keeping a Sabbath to the Lord. Our Lord advised his Disciples, about the Distresses which even after His Resurrection and Ascension, they should be exposed unto, in Mat. 24. 20. Pray, that your Flight be not [Page 41] on the Sabbath Day. VVhy so? The Jewish Coeremonies were then Abrogated and Abolished; and our Lord refers to a Time, when the Laws which made Sabbath-breaking fall under a civil penalty, would be silent altogether; yet have we a Sabbath still, which 'tis grivous and a bitter thing to be disturbed in.
APPLICATION.
Remember now the Sabbath-day, to keep it Holy. If a Christian in the Primitive Times were asked Dominicum servasti? Do you keep the Lords-day? He would answer, Christianus sum, Intermittere non possum, I am a Christian, and I dare do no other! Some Churches have had but poor Sabbaths, and such Sabbaths have made but poor Churches. The Churches of God in Forreign Nations, have indulged themselves in Loose Principles and Loose practices, about the Sabbath; and what has come of it? Religion withered among them very miserably; and then Distruction has followed thereupon; as They have broken Gods Rest, so God has broken Theirs; and astonishing plagues have made them [Page 42] very desolate. The Churches of God in our own Nation, were once Defiled, with an Allowance for Sports on the Sabbath; and what ensued, but heavy speedy confusion upon the Invaders of this glorious Day? Even some of themselves have made their considerate Reflections on it! Know That our Churches will flourish, as our Sabbaths do; and we shall not be made Joyful in the House of Prayer, if we regard not the Sabbaths of the Eternal God. Our Churches! yea, so will our Estates, and our Houses too. It is said in Isa. 58 13, 14. If thou call the Sabbath a Delight, and the Holy of the Lord, I will cause thee to Ride upon the High places of the Earth. It has been by some eminent & Judicious Observers noted; That their Success usually is, as their Sabbath is; that by their carriage on the Sabbath, they have bin able to make a conjecture at their Success in their whole Business all the Ensuing Week. And a mean Trades-man, obliging himself to those Two Things; First, To keep the Sabbath with a wonderful exactness; Secondly, To set apart a Tenth of his Income for pious uses; has quickly come to Live upon his Rents. Let us devote our Sabbaths to the Blessed God, with all our might; and believe His Word in Isa. 56. 2. Blessed is the [Page 43] man, who keeps my Sabbath from polluting of it. But, wo, and wo ten thousand times unto us, if we do not so. It was a speech to some, in Neh. 13. 19. Ye bring fierce Wrath upon Israel, by profaning the Sabbath. Man, The fierce wrath of God upon thy Person, and on thy Family, and all thy Neighbourhood, wilt thou pull down by this Abomination; but above all, it will fetch down a fierce fiery wrath upon thy own unhappy Soul. It will provoke the Almighty to Swear in his wrath, that thou shalt never enter into his Rest. The modern Jews have their Fable and Nonsence of a Sabbath in Hell; but certainly they that would not have a Sabbath on Earth, shall have none in Hell; no, they shall not Rest Day nor Night, but the Smoak with the Groans of their Torments must ascend for ever and ever. We are plainly forewarned of it, in Jer 17 27. If you will not hallow the Sabbath-day, then will I kindle a Fire, that shall not be Quenched. The Day of the Lord wil be a fiery Day to them that shall Dishonour the Lords-Day.
OBSERVATION XIII.
The Church of God is Raised and lifted up [Page 44] towards Heaven, by the Baptism which is used there. This is that which the Apostle here teaches us; as Water carried up the Ark, so Baptism carries up the Church, towards the Heaven of the Blessed. It is thus upon other Accounts; as now, the Water of Affliction, often serves only to drown many ungodly Souls; they grow thereby more Angry at God, more Fixed in sin; and as 'twas said of him, In the Time of their Distresses, they Trespass yet more against the Lord. Thus at last, They perish in Affliction. But this Water serves to Raise and Lift the serious Christian, up to greater Degrees of Acquaintance with Heaven, and Communion with Him, whose Voice is in the Rod. In like sort, The Water of Baptism, it Ruines many foolish people, by Encouraging their Hopes of Salvation, while they Leave not the Ways of Transgression before the Lord; they think, this Water will put out the Fire that never shall be quenched; Whereas their unsuitable Hearts and Lives do but turn it into the Water of Jealousie unto them. But by this Water a Good man is Raised and Lifted up to such an Heavenly Fellowship with the Eternal One, that one step more carries him into Heaven it self. Hence in Rom. 6: 4. A Baptised man, is called a Raised man.
APPLICATION.
Let this be the Happy Effect of our Holy Baptism. Are we Baptized? if we are note we are very criminal; and the Advice proper to us, is that Arise and be baptized. But if we are, let our Baptism raise our Souls with no common elevations.
Let our Baptism elevate us to all heavenly Graces; and let us be very sensible of the Obligatione which it laves upon us; for tis said in Rom. 6. 2, 3. Shall we live any longer in sin? so many of us as were baptized. Let it raise our Holiness; for tis said in Gal. 3. 27. As many of you as have been baptized, have put on Christ. Let it raise our Obedience; for tis said in Mat. 28. 19, 20. Baptize persons, teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I command you.
And let our Baptism elevate us to all heavenly Comforts too, and let us be joyful at the Obsignations which it makes unto us. Look on it as, The mark of the Lamb, and rejoyce. Tis said in Rom. 6. 3, 4. As many of us as were baptized are buried with Ch [...]ist, that like as Christ was raised from the dead, so we should walk in newness of life. Reckon [Page 44] [...] [Page 45] [...] [Page 46] it a sign of your Interest in, and Union with the Lord Christ; and so let it raise us to a Triumph over Death and Hell for ever. We may lay hold on Heaven it self, by the help of this Raising Ordinance, if with it we give the complying and conforming Answer of a good Conscience, to all the proposals of the Gospel. In the Gospel tis demanded, Dost thou renounce the World, the Flesh, and the Devil? and Dost thou accept the Lard Jesus, as the Lord-Redeemer of thy Soul? Now make such an Answer as a good Conscience would give hereunto; uprightly say, Lord, I do, I will! Then this Water will raise thee up into life eternal.
OBSERVATION XIV.
The great God will with a Fiery Flood one day take vengeance on a Wicked World. It was thus when the ARK was made, a Watry Flood then swept a populous World away: which unless we should rather admit the Learned Burnets Theory) I conceive was principally caused by the Earths changing of, and starting from its Center; so that the unequal pressure of the Atmosphere caused the Ocean of the Antipodes to send up vast inundations into the opposite Homespheres: Now the [Page 47] Eternal has given us assurance that such a Flood shall never happen any more. The Rain-bow, which doubtless existed before the Flood, is now consecrated by God as a Token of that Covenant; and it is indeed a very proper Token, for tho it appear in a cloud which argues a pluvious disposition of the Air, yet the Sun must then also shine, which argues that there shall be no more universal Showers. Hence a Rain-bow is never to be beheld without an Hallelujah.
But yet, as terrible a Desolation is there still to come upon the World, by a fiery Flood, celebrated by the Name of Diluvium Ignis, in the Writings of the Ancients. The old Heathen themselves were not without Notice of this dismal Event. Hence the Poets tell of Pyrrha (which Name carries Fire in it) the Wife of their Deucalion; and the Philosophers not rarely speak of an [...], a Conflagration with which the World shall be devoured. Josephus relates that Adam himself left some predictions of it. But the Sacred Scripturess favour us with fuller Accounts of this awful Thing. Tis a solemn Passage, in 2 Pet. 3. 7. The Heavens and Earth which are now, be reserved unto Fire against the day of Judgment, and the perdition of ungodly men. Many curious [Page 48] Questions might indeed be moved here about. It is one question, When this Conflagration is to be? To this the Answer is, At the Day of Judgment: If any ask, whether it shall be at the beginning, or the middle, or the ending of that Day? it is most like to be before the ending of of it. Yea the final Destruction of Antichrist seems the period at which it shall commence. It is also an other Question, How far this Conflagration is to reach? To this the Answer is, I suppose it will reach no further than this lower World: this lower Heaven, and all the Armies of Birds, or of Devils in it; this lower Earth, and all the Works of Art or of Nature in it, shall be concerned in this horrible Fiery Flood. Yet the World shall not be Annihilated; it shall only be Refined and Purified, that it may be serviceable unto some glorious ends, yet to be pursu'd upon it. But let our Enquiring of be turn'd into preparing for this Day of the Lord, that shall burn like an Oven.
APPLICATION.
There are two or three things now in cumbent on us.
First, Let our Thoughts be much set upon the Barnings of the World, Realize the [Page 49] circumstances of the dreadful Day, when all these things shall be dissolved. Think much of the Time, when our God shall come and a Fire shall devour, before him, and it shall be very Tempestuous round about him. Think much of the Time, when a Fire shall go before the Lord, that shall burn up his Enemies round about, and lightnings will enlighten the World, and the Earth shall Tremble, and the Hills melt like Wax, at the Presence of the Lord. Think much of the Time when the Lord shall come with Fire to render His Anger with Fury, and His Rebukes with Flames of Fire. For we are told in Isa. 66. 16. By Fire will the Lord plead with all Flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many. Let us blow up this direful Fire, in our daily Meditations on it. O warm your Hearts often, at this amazing Fire of the Lord.
Secondly, Let our Hearts be not set upon the Comforts of the world. The Day will come, when an hideous Fire will sieze upon them all. Now let that Fire cool our Love to all things here below. Our Lord said in Mat. 6. 19. Lay not up for your selves Treasures upon Earth, where Moth and Rust doth corrupt. Even so, promise not your selves Comforts upon Earth where the Fire shall carry all away. One saith well, The World shall one [Page 50] one Day be burned for a Witch. Let not our Souls now be Bewitched with what shall one Day be Burned; and this the rather, because as I am verily perswaded, this Burning is unspeakably nearer than Mankind is well aware. I may say of it, It is Near, it is Near, and it hastens greatly!
OBSERVATION. XV
There are but Few that shall be Saved. Says the Apostle here, In the Ark, Few, That is, Eight Souls were saved. He that ponders the Longevity of the Antediluvian Patriarchs, will not wonder at them, who affirm it probable. That more people perished in the Flood, than are now alive in the world. For let us make a Computation with as much Disadvantage to our own Assertion, as can Reasonably be desired. We'l abate two or three of the first Centuries, by which time the world might be supply'd with people not a few; and we'l suppose a man to have Children at sixty, and in the Next Forty years, to have Twenty Children. Now single out the shortest Liver of any mentioned (except Enoch) before the Flood; and from that one Stock of seven hundred years, multiplying still by Twenty, we shall find the product to be more than One Thousand, Three Hundred, and Forty seven Millions; thus [Page 51] that One Family would long before the Flood have afforded, it may be as many people as are now Living on the Earth. Moreover, if we consider that within a very few Centuries of years after the Flood, Histories tell us of one, Army, in which were, Thirteen Hundred Thousand Foot, Five Hundred Thousand Horse, One Hundred Thousand Chariots, and as many Camels; and this Army Encountred by a greater Force; it may facilitate our Belief, of the wonderful populosity which might be before. But what became of all that Mighty People? Truly, all were Drown'd but Eight Souls! And though it be not for us to Censure too far upon the Eternal Condition of that miserable people: it being possible that more than we know of might be Happy for ever, notwithstanding their Drowning here; yet the Scripture speaks very sadly about the Generality of them, whom the Waters did exterminate. We read in Job 22. 15, 16, 17. That they were wicked men. Compare Mat. 24. 38, 39. And we are told in 1 Pet. 3: 19, 20. Their Spirits are now in Prison. The Jews themselves therefore pass that Sentence on them, That they were punished with the scalding Waters of Gehinnom. Even so, They that shall be Saved, How many are they? [Page 52] They are as we are informed in Luke 12. 32. A Little, Little Flock! Divide all the World at this Day into Thirty One parts, Nineteen are Idolaters, Seven are Mahometans, and scarce Five are so much as called Christians. But of them that are called Christians, how few have that Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord? how few have true Faith? Yet he that Believeth not shall be Damned. It is indeed a principle in the Turkish Alcoran, That Let a mans Religion be what it will, he shall be saved, if he Conscienciously Live up to the Rules of it. And they are Mahometans rather than Christians, who shall defend a principle so derogatory to the vertue of the Gospel. The Articles of the Church of England, very justly tell us, They are to be held Accursed, who presume to say, That every man shall be saved by the Law or Sest which he professeth; so that he be Diligent to frame his Life according to that Law, and Light of Nature. For Holy Scripture doth set out unto us, only the Name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be Saved. But alas, how few are there that savingly Believe, Profess, Obey, that Lord of Glory! This Gate of Life has that Motto on it in Mat. 7. 14. Few there be that find it.
APPLICATION.
Let us all make that Use which our Saviour made, of this astonishing Truth, in Luk. 13 24. Strive to enter in at the strait Gate. Be very anxious, I beseech you, about your own Salvation. When it was of old said, That one among twelve should be a child of Perdition, they all became inquisitive, Lord is it I? Behold, you are told now, That more than twelve to one shall be the Children of Perdition: O how should this make us to be solicitous, lest We be some of them! Remember, that it is a no less common than dreadful thing, to be deceived in this matter. We are admonished in Prov. 12. 14. There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the wayes of Death. The biggest part of them that go down to the Sulphureous Lakes of Hell make that one of their first Shrieks at their coming there, We little thought of this!
O let every one of Us get into the ARK, and be extreamly careful that we be not among those who are Deceivers of their own Souls. May the God of all Grace, awaken us from our Lethargic Security, and to an [Page 54] extraordinary Sedulity, in matters▪ of our Eternal Salvation; may He help us to give all diligence in making our Calling and Election sure; and to work out our own Salvation with Fear and Trembling.
At the North Meeting-House in Boston, Nov. 17. 1689. Afternoon.