Part 24 (1/2)

_Quest_. What qualifications should believers find in themselves for their own satisfaction, before they enter into full communion with the visible Church of Christ?

_Ans_. They should be able to answer the following questions in the affirmative.

I. Can you say indeed that you do seriously and heartily desire to see, and to be more deeply and powerfully convinced of your own vileness and sinfulness, of your own weakness and wretchedness, and of your wants and unworthiness? and that, in order to your deep and spiritual humiliation and self-debasing, that you may be more vile in your own eyes, and Jesus Christ and free grace more precious and excellent, more high and honorable, and more sweet and desirable, that your hearts may be melted into G.o.dly sorrow, and that you may be moved thereby to abhor yourselves, and to repent in dust and ashes? Job xlii. 5, 6.

II. Can you say that you do seriously and heartily desire and endeavor to believe in Christ, and to receive and accept of him in the gospel way, such as you find in Mark viii. 34; Luke xiv. 26-28, and elsewhere?

Do you thus desire and choose to have him with his yoke and cross? Matt.

xi. 28, 29. And do you so deny yourselves, and your sinful self, righteous self, worldly self, supposed able, powerful self, and every other carnal and spiritual self, that Christ only may be exalted, that you may be nothing in your justification and salvation, but that Jesus Christ and free grace may be all, and in all things? Col. iii. 11; Phil.

iii. 7, 8. Do you desire, choose, and endeavor to have Christ on the hardest terms; and do you desire, that all may go for Christ's person, blood, and righteousness, his grace, love, life, and Spirit, for the pardon of your sins, and the justification of your persons, that you may be found in him, not having your own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ by faith? Phil. iii. 9. And do you go and present yourselves as dest.i.tute condemned sinners to him, and to G.o.d the Father in and by him, that you may be clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and that G.o.d may pardon, justify, and accept you for his sake only?

III. Do you seriously and heartily desire and choose to have Christ Jesus for your Lord and Ruler too, Col. ii. 6; that he may rule in you, and over you, and that your l.u.s.ts and yourselves, your interests, and your all, may be subject unto him, and be wholly at his command and disposal continually? Is Christ the Lord as acceptable to you as Christ Jesus the Saviour? and are you willing to obey him, and to be subject to his authority and dominion, as well as to be saved by him? Would you have him to destroy your l.u.s.ts, to make an end of sin, and to bring all under his obedience?

IV. Do you seriously and heartily desire and endeavor never to sin more; but to walk with G.o.d unto all well-pleasing continually? Col. i. 10. And do you pray earnestly that G.o.d would work in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, Heb. xiii. 21, that you may in all your ways honor and glorify him, as the end of your living in this world? 2 Cor.

v. 15. Would you indeed live to the praise of his glorious grace, be an ornament unto his name and gospel, and be fruitful in every good word and work? Are these things the scope, aim, and intent of your hearts and souls (in some good measure and degree) daily, in duties and ordinances, and at other times?

V. Do you seriously and heartily choose and desire communion with Christ, and in truth endeavor to obtain and keep it? Do you so seek for it in the way of gospel obedience, and in observing your duty in keeping Christ's commandments? And do you prefer it to all earthly, carnal things? Do your hearts breathe and pant after it, and are you willing to deny self, and all self-interests to get it? Are you glad when you find it, and sad when by your own carelessness you lose it? Doth it when obtained quicken your love to and zeal for Christ? Doth it warm your hearts, and cause them for a time to run your race in gospel obedience cheerfully? Doth it lead you unto, and cause your hearts to centre in Christ? and doth it oblige and bind them faster unto him and stir you up to thankfulness?

VI. Do you sincerely and heartily desire, seriously choose, and earnestly endeavor, to be filled with gospel sincerity towards G.o.d and man, and would you rather be true-hearted towards G.o.d than seem to be so towards man? Would you much rather have the praise of G.o.d, and be approved of by him, than the praise of men, and be extolled by them? Is it the great thing you aim at, in your profession and practice, to attain sincerity and uprightness in heart? Is all hypocrisy hateful and abominable unto you? Are you afraid of it, and do you watch and strive against it, as against an enemy to G.o.d and your own souls, and are you grieved indeed when you find it in you?

VII. Do you desire and choose Jesus Christ for the great object of your love, delight, and joy? and do you find him to be so in some measure? Do you desire and endeavor to make him the object of your warmest affections, and to love him sincerely, heartily, spiritually, fervently, and constantly; and do you express your love to him by keeping his commandments? Are you grieved in spirit, because you can love him no more? and do you earnestly pray unto him to shed abroad his love into your hearts by the Holy Ghost, that you may love him as ye ought? Rom.

v. 5. Doth his love and loveliness attract your hearts to him, and cause you to yield the obedience of faith to his holy laws?

VIII. Is it the desire, choice, and endeavor of your souls to have all sins purged out of them, and to have them filled with Christ's grace, truth, and holiness; and do you hate your sin, watch and fight against it, and endeavor to keep it under? Do you indeed aim at, desire, labor, and strive, to be holy in heart and life, and conformable unto Jesus Christ in all things possible? Are your l.u.s.ts your heaviest burdens and your greatest afflictions, and do you intend and endeavor their utter ruin and destruction? Will no degree of grace satisfy you until you be perfect to the utmost as Christ is? Are you so much concerned for Christ's honor, and your soul's holiness and happiness, that you dare not knowingly sin against them for a world; or do, in word or deed, by omission or commission, that which may dishonor, grieve, or wound them?

Are these things so indeed?

IX. Have you a measure of spiritual knowledge and discerning of spiritual things? Do you understand the nature and concerns of the house of G.o.d, and the work and duties, the privileges and enjoyments thereof, and what you have to do there; together with the ends of G.o.d in inst.i.tuting and erecting gospel churches?

X. Do you intend and resolve, in the light, life, and power of Christ, to seek for, and endeavor unfeignedly to obtain, and prosecute the ends of church fellows.h.i.+p, when you shall he accepted among them? and do you desire and aim at the holy ends appointed by G.o.d in desiring communion with them? as, 1. To enjoy G.o.d and communion with him in all his ordinances. 2. To wors.h.i.+p G.o.d there in spirit and truth, and to give him your homage and service in his house. 3. To show your subjection and obedience to him, and to make a public and open profession of him, and of his truths before men. 4. To receive of his grace, to enrich your souls with his fulness, and to be sealed by his Spirit unto the day of your redemption. 5. That you may walk orderly and beautifully, and s.h.i.+ne as lights in the Church, and in the world, before saints and sinners. 6.

That you may be established in the truth, live under the watch and care of Christ's ministers, and of fellow-members; that by their inspection and faithful dealings with you you may be kept, or brought back from sin to G.o.d, by their wise reproofs and holy instructions. 7. That you may yield up yourselves in holy obedience to Christ, and do all things whatsoever he commands you, that you may have the right use and enjoyment of all your purchased privileges, and be secured against the gates of h.e.l.l. Are these and such like ends in your hearts and minds, in your walk and in church fellows.h.i.+p, and can you find the forementioned signs of grace in you in some suitable measure, though not so clearly and fully as you would wish? Then I may venture to a.s.sure you, that you are qualified for being actual members of the Church of Christ, that you are called and invited into his house, and that you are indispensably bound to answer to the call of G.o.d, and to enter into his holy temple.

I say that church privileges are yours, the doors of G.o.d's house stand open for you, Christ stands at the door and waits for you, he invites you to come in and to sit down at his table, and you shall be most freely and heartily welcome to your Lord, and to his people.

_Quest_. What are those qualifications, which the rulers of a church, for their own satisfaction, should look for, and find in such persons, as they admit into full communion with the Church of Christ?

_Ans_. It is certain that all that profess the name of Christ and his ways, ought not, and may not be admitted into the Lord's holy temple, because many, if not the most of them, are very ignorant of Christ and his ways, and notoriously scandalous in their lives, as sad and woful experience shows. If church rulers should admit known hypocrites, they betray their trust, and defile Christ's holy temple, by taking in such persons as they know, or ought to know, he would not have there: and that they ought to try and prove persons, that they may know their fitness, before they admit them in, is clear in Acts ix. 26, 27, and because Christ hath committed the keys of his house to take in and exclude according to his will and appointment.

As to satisfying qualifications in persons desiring admission into the church, when they appear to be real sound-hearted believers, according to the judgment of charity, by the rules of the word, the church ought to receive them in the Lord.

I. If they can satisfy the church, by giving Scripture evidence of their regeneration, conversion, repentance, and faith in Christ; of their knowledge of Christ, his laws and ordinances; of their lost and peris.h.i.+ng state by reason of sin, and of their sincere desires and resolutions to become the Lord's, and to walk with him unto all well-pleasing in all his ways.

II. If they are sound in the faith of the gospel; I mean in the chief and princ.i.p.al doctrines thereof, although they may be ignorant of, or mistaken in matters of less importance. If they have some distinct knowledge and faith concerning these, and other such truths and matters contained in the word of G.o.d; as of the state and condition in which man was at first created; how he lost that holy and blessed estate, and the misery into which he brought himself and all his posterity thereby.

Concerning themselves, that they are by nature children of wrath, dead in trespa.s.ses and sins, and condemned to eternal death; that they are enemies to, and at enmity with, G.o.d; that they have neither will nor power by nature to will and to do that which they ought, and which is well-pleasing to G.o.d; that they have forsaken G.o.d, and are under the curse of the law; and that they are the children, subjects, and servants of the devil, the world, and their own l.u.s.ts; that G.o.d left not all men in this lost state and condition, but provided an all-sufficient remedy, namely, Jesus Christ, and that by an everlasting covenant, entered into with him, in the behalf of men, before the foundation of the world, t.i.t.

i. 2; 2 Tim. i. 9; Prov. viii.: and that, in pursuance thereof, he elected and gave some to Christ, that he might save them out of his mere grace and love. John vi. 37, 40:--That G.o.d the Father gave and sent his Son, the second person of the Trinity, to mediate peace between G.o.d and man, and to reconcile them to G.o.d, by his active and pa.s.sive obedience;--that Jesus Christ gave himself, and became a propitiation for their sins;--that he a.s.sumed our nature into a personal union with himself, whereby there are two natures in one person, by which he was made capable of his mediators.h.i.+p;--that he, being G.o.d and man in one person, took upon himself our guilt and punishment, obeyed the whole law of G.o.d, that men had broke, and did always the things that pleased G.o.d;--that, when he had finished his active obedience, he became obedient unto the death of the cross, to the wrath of G.o.d, and to the curse of the law, Gal. iii. 13; Phil. ii. 8;--that he really died and was buried, lay in the grave, and rose again the third day; and after forty days he ascended into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of G.o.d; and that he will come again to judge the quick and the dead;--that he is king, priest, and prophet; a king to give laws unto men, and to command their obedience to him, to rule and govern his subjects, and to reward the obedient, and to punish the disobedient;--that all power in heaven and earth is committed unto him; and that he is coequally and coeternally G.o.d with the Father and Holy Spirit;--that as a High Priest he died and made atonement for the sins of his people, and sits in heaven to make intercession, and to appear in the presence of G.o.d for them, Heb. vii. 25, and ix. 24;--that there are three persons in the G.o.dhead, yet but one G.o.d;--that the Holy Ghost is eternally G.o.d, was sent into the world, and came from the Father and Son, for the elect's sake;--that it is he that regenerates persons, works effectually in their hearts, applies Jesus Christ and all his benefits to men, and savingly convinces his elect of sin, righteousness, and judgment. That all that rightly believe in Christ shall be saved, but those that believe not shall be d.a.m.ned; and that all that believe in him must be careful to perform good works. That believers are made righteous, through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and that they have none of their own to commend them unto G.o.d. That G.o.d hath made Jesus Christ unto his chosen, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; and that they are made the righteousness of G.o.d in him. That G.o.d imputed their sins to Christ, and imputes the blood and righteousness of Christ to them; and that they are justified thereby, and not by inherent holiness and righteousness. That G.o.d loves, pardons, justifies, and saves men _freely_, without any respect unto their good works, as any cause thereof; but that all the moving cause (without himself) is Jesus Christ in his mediation. That the ground and reason of their obedience, in performing good works, is the revealed will and pleasure of Christ commanding them, and the ends of them are to express their thankfulness to G.o.d for his grace and love, to please and honor him, to meet with G.o.d, and to enjoy communion with him, to receive of his grace and the good of many promises; to s.h.i.+ne as lights in the world, and to be useful unto men; to declare whose and what they are, and to lay up a reward in another world; to keep their l.u.s.ts under, and their graces in use and exercise; and to manifest their respect and subjection to Jesus Christ, his authority, and law. That the law, for the matter of it, as in the hand of Christ, is the rule of all obedience; and that all are bound to yield subjection to it. That there shall be a resurrection of the just and unjust. That regeneration is absolutely necessary to salvation, and that without it none can enter into the kingdom of heaven. That the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments contain, and exhibit unto men, the whole revealed will of G.o.d, and are sufficient to make the man of G.o.d perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every good work; and that whatsoever they are to believe and do is contained therein; and that it is the ground of their faith, hope, and practice. That Jesus Christ hath inst.i.tuted and appointed many ordinances of wors.h.i.+p, for his own glory and his people's good, and that all are bound to observe and to wait on G.o.d in them. That all persons are indispensably bound to mind, and carefully to observe the princ.i.p.al manner and end of all their duties, and to see that they be right, holy, and spiritual indeed, and not to please themselves with the matter of them alone. That no man can serve G.o.d, or do any work acceptable unto him, until he be regenerated, and brought into a state of grace.

These are some of the matters of faith that they should in some measure be acquainted with and believe, that are admitted into full communion with the Church of Christ. And these and other truths must not be known and believed in a general, notional, light, and speculative manner; but heartily, powerfully, and particularly: not for others, but for themselves; otherwise their faith and knowledge will no way profit their souls to salvation.

III. They must be qualified also with a blameless conversation. Their conversation must be as becometh the gospel, otherwise they are not meet for communion with the gospel church. Carnal walking will not suit spiritual temples: for they will greatly pollute and defile them, and stain and obscure their beauty and glory. Therefore they must not be brawlers and contentious persons, covetous and worldly-minded, vain and frothy. They must not be froward and peevish, nor defraud others of their right. Nor must they neglect the wors.h.i.+p of G.o.d in their families, nor be careless in governing and educating them in good manners, and in the things of G.o.d. They must not be such as are known to omit the duties and ordinances of religion in their proper seasons, or to have vicious families through their neglect: nor to have any other kind of conversation hateful to G.o.d and to his people. And therefore, whatever their profession be, they may not be admitted into the Church of G.o.d, until they have repented of these, or any other scandal in their life and conduct.

IV. They ought to be such as have chosen the Lord Jesus Christ for their king and head, and dedicated and devoted themselves to him, to live in him and for him: such as have singled him out, and set him apart, (as it were,) to be the object of their love, trust, and delight, of their service and obedience. They must have chosen and closed with him upon his own terms, (i.e. _freely_,) renouncing and rejecting all their own righteousness, worthiness, interest, and sufficiency, and choosing and appropriating him to themselves, for their righteousness, worthiness, portion, and sufficiency, under a sight and conviction of their own emptiness and deformity; and with a heart-satisfied persuasion of the loveliness and fulness of Christ.

V. All this must be done seriously, humbly, and heartily, so far as men can judge. If persons declare their knowledge of G.o.d and faith in Christ in such a manner, and apparently by such a spirit as evidences some sense and feeling of what they do declare, church rulers may be much helped in forming a right judgment of them, that they are fitted by G.o.d for church-members.h.i.+p. If they do seriously profess, that what they do is in obedience to the will, and, as they judge, to the call of Christ as their indispensable duty;--that they join in church fellows.h.i.+p to meet with and enjoy G.o.d, to receive out of his fulness to enable them to perform all duties, and to conform their hearts and lives in his will to all things;--such persons may undoubtedly be accounted worthy members, and admitted as such.