1. Sometimes the church of God in the Scripture hath its name /row the commixtlon of good and had in it. So it is called a field where there is a mixture of good and bad seed, Mat. xiii. 19, 20 ; so it is called a house wherein there are vessels of honour and vessels of dishonour, 2 Tim. ii. 20 ; because there is such a mixture in the visible churchJ
2. Sometimes the church hath the name from the better part, and so it is the spouse of Christ, the love of Christ, ' a peculiar people,' ' an holy nation,' 1 Pet. ii. 9, and ' saints,' as it is here. Not that all are so, but it hath the denomination from the better part ; all should be so, and the best are so, and it is sufficient that the denomination of a company be from the better part. As we say of gold ore : though there be much earth mixed with it, yet in regard of the better part we call it gold, we give it that name ; so, in regard that the best are saints, and that all should be so, therefore he calls them Jill saints.
Quest. , Should all in the visible church be saints by profession, and by sacrament ? Should all that are baptized, and receive the communion, enter into a profession of sanctity ? What say you then to a profane, atheistical generation, that, forsooth, make a show of holiness, and therefore we must look for none of them ?
Ans. I say all profane persons are gross hypocrites. Why ? for are yon members of the church or no ? Yes, will every one say ; will you make me an infidel ? will you make me a pagan ? Well, take your own word then. What is it to be a member of the church but to be a saint ? Must thou be a saint ? Doth not thy profession, as thou art a member, bind thee to be a saint ? In baptism, was not thy promise to ' renounce the devil, the world, and the flesh ? ' In renewing thy covenant in the communion, dost not thou purpose to cleave to God in all things ? Thou that takest liberty, therefore, in the church of God, under the profession of religion, to ii-'^e as a libertine, thou art a gross hypocrite, and this aggravates thy sin, and makes it worse than a pagan 'sJ Thou which art in the bosom of the church, in the kingdom of saints, as it is in Dan. vii. 18, ' the people of the saints of the Most High,' the people of God in the church wherein thou art a professed member ; and yet dost thou take liberty grossly to ofiend God ?
Quest. What doth make a saint ?
Ans. In a word, to the constitution of a true saint, there is * That is, ' professed.' ' avowed.' — G.
2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. I, VER. 1. 18
A separation, dedication, qualification, conversation.
1. There is a separation presently. When a man is a saint, he is separate from the confused company of the world, from the kingdom of Satan. Therefore those that have all companies alike, that carry themselves in- differently in all companies, as men that profess a kind of civility, that are taken up with the complement* of the times, men that learn the language of the times, that are for all sorts, they know not what belongs to the high profession of Christianity.
There is a due to all, I confess ; there is a benevolence and a beneficence to all ; but there is a kind of complacency, a sweet familiarity, and amity which should be reserved to a few, only to those in whom we see the evi- dences and signs of grace. If there be not a separation in respect of grace, there is no holiness at all ; a saint must be separated. Not locally, but in regard of amity, in regard of intimate friendship. As we see it is in out- ward things, in some of our houses. There is a court where all come, poor and rich ; and there is the house where those of nearer acquaintance come ; and then there is the innermost room, the closet, where only ourselves and those which are nearest to us come. So it is in the passages of the soul. There are some remote courtesies that come from us, as men, to all, be they what they will ; there are other respects to others that are nearer, that we admit nearer, that are of better quality ; and there are other that are nearest of all, that we admit even into the closet of our hearts : and those are they with whom we hope to have communion for ever in heaven, the blessed people of God, termed here ' saints.' It is an evidence of our translation from a cursed estate to a better when we love such. ' Hereby we know,' saith St John, ' that we are translated from death to life, because we love the brethren,' 1 John iii. 14. There must be a separation.
2. And withal there must be a dedication of ourselves to the senice of God. A Christian, when he knows himself by the word of truth and by the work of the Spirit, to be God's child, he dedicates himself to better services than before. He thinks himself too good, he thinks too highly of himself to be a base blasphemer, or swearer, to be a filthy person. He considers himself as ' the temple of the Holy Ghost,' 1 Cor. iii. 16, and he useth himself to better purposes, to better studies, to do good.