An ESSAY on NATURAL

and REVEAL'D RELIGION,

in Two DISCOURSES On

Pfal. CXLVII. 20.

The First Difcourfe showing the Ad-

vantages that the Law gave the

Few above the Gentile. p. 293.

The Second showing the Advantages

that the Gospel has given Us

Chriftians above both few and

Gentile.

P. 361.

ERRA-

Therefore Judge nothing before the
Time, until the Lord come,

T

HE Church of Corinth
was of St. Paul's own
Planting, which at. the
First took Root fo well,
and gave fuch Hopes of
its Growth and Proficien-

cy, that we find the Apoftle (Ch. 1.)
thought he had reafon to glory in them,
giving Thanks to God on their behalf for v.4.5.7.
the Grace of God that was given them by
Jefus Chrift; that they were enriched by him
in every thing;

B

and came behind in no

Gift.

Gift. But afterwards, when Apollos and
Cephas, (that is, St. Peter,) had been a-

Ch.3.6. mongst them, to Water what St. Paul had Planted there, the Church became Divided into several Factions; each Profelyte feverally retaining too particular a Refpect and Veneration for the Perfon from whom they had received their Baptifm; as if they had Preached their own Gofpel, or Baptifed in their own Names? So St. Paul is by his Converts fet up against Apollos, and St. Peter by his against them Both; One faith I am of Paul, and another I am of Apollos,&c. And their Divisions, (as it usually happens,) inflam'd their Zeal; which, (as Zeal never fails to do, when it outruns its Guides Knowledge and Charity,) pufft them up with SpiritualPride: And when once they were come to be Proud of their own Knowledge and Purity, they became, in Confequence, more fenfible of the Intereft of a Party, than tender of the Unity and Peace of the Church.

Therefore the Apostles firft Care is, to bind up the Church's Wounds, by removing their Publick Diffentions; and afterwards their Uncharitable private Cenfures, their Unchriftian Judging and Condemning each other; and that with Reflections upon each other's Future

State.

As for his own Particular, (for

he

He also was fallen under their Judgment,) he appeals to Him to whom it belongs to Judge, v. 4.- He that judgeth me is the Lord; concluding with this general Aphorifm, Therefore Judge nothing before the

Time until the Lord come.

I fhall not make it any Part of my Business to affert the Lawfulness and Authority of Publick Judicatures, whither Ecclefiaftical or Civil, though Anabaptifts and fome other Sectaries have taken Occafion to cry down Both, as utterly Unlawful, from their unreafonable Interpretation of this Prohibition in the Text, and fome other parallel Places: But becaufe 'tis plain from the Context, that the Words ought to be understood of Private Judgments, and chiefly of fuch as reflect Uncharitably upon Mens Future Eftates; I fhall confider all fuch Judging,

I. As Uncharitable towards Men: And
II. As Prefumptuous towards God.

I. As Uncharitable towards Men.

There is nothing does fo much commend the admirable Oeconomy of the Christian Institution,as that Divine Goodnefs which does every where discover itself throughout the whole Defign of

B 2

the