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Show at the appearing of 1he Tares. Sir, didjl mtthou fow good feed in thy field l from whmce then hath it Taret J ver. 27. Did ever any of the fervams of Chrill wonder, or faw any caufe to wonder, that the world !hould be full of Fornicators, Idolaters, Murderers, Rob· bers, &c l Was it ever otherwife fince the world wa1 repleni!hed with Inhabitants? F.ea(.2. What calling had the Minillers,orProphetsofChrill to offer to pluck up all fuch notorious vicious perfom out of th= world~ Did e~er any Minifiers of Chrill demand fuch a Qyeftion of Chnll; Wtlt thou have us goe,and gather up all notorious vici· ous Perfonsout of the world? As they doc. indeed demand the like concerning thefe Tares in Chrifl:s field, ver. 2 8. Re•f. 3. The Difcuffer himfelfe reckoneth up Goats and Sh.eep as parallell with Wheat, and Tares, as generally Inter(lreters doe~ Now evid~n&it is, that Goatswerecleane Beafl:a,ae well as Sheep· deane for food, yea and deane alfo for f~crifice; and yet they wer; tolerated not onely to liTe in the fame world, but in the fame Church. For after the defiru&ion of Antlchrifl:, when purell times of the Church !hall come, the Members of the Church !hall all of them be Virgins, (none Idolaters) though fame wife and fame fooli!h; all of them fervams, though fame thrifrie, ro:Oe unprofitable: all of th~m deane, though fame Goats, fame Sheep. And t~erefore the Kingdome of.Heaven (that is, the Church) iutthat orne reltmbled to fuch a mrxt !tate (after the mine of Antichrifi, and converfion of the ]ewes )untill the coming of Chrifi to Judge· lnent,Mat.25· 1. &c. ~nfw. 2. If the Field lhould be the world,and the Tares Anti· chnfl:tans and falfe Chrifl:ians ; it is true Satan fowed them in Gods Field, but he fowed them in the Church. The my fiery of their Iniquitie did fecredy work in the very bofome of the Church, till in proceffi: of time, it grew fo ranck and groffe, as transformed t~e C::hurches that drunke it up,into fpirituall Babylon. But if An· uchrrft be an Apoftate,and Aotichrifiianitie·Apofiafie then io was firfi fowen in the field of the Church, and not of the wlde world. ~n{w. 3· It is not the will of Chrifi, that Antichrifi and Anti• chr~fttans, and Antichrifiianitie !hould be tolerated in the world, u~ull the e~d of the world. For God will put it into the hearts of fa~thfull Pnnces, (as they have given their Kingdomes to the Beall, k>) {o) in fulne!le of time to hate the whore, to leave her defolate and nakecl, and to burne her fle!h with fire, Rev. 17. 16, 17. And after this we reade of avilible fiate of anew Hierufalem,which!hall flou· ri!h many yeares upon Earth, before the end of the world, &vel. Chap. 2o.Cbap.21.Chap. 22. Nevertheletf•, I willirigly grant,that the t!rfr fruits of Antichrifiians, and falfe Chrifiians may be reckontd up amongfi the Tares, which Satan fowed in the field of the Church, which afterwards grew to be Briars and Thorne&, and fo deftruCI:lve to the wheate, that the wheat could not be fulfered (if difcerned) to live amongft them. · ' Difcuffer. flut Chrifl ( tbe •iftlome of the F athtr) wou!J never in opening thw Par!Wie,fofarre obfcure it, tH to cdUtheCburch, the wMld: Nor doth it agr-. rrnth the natttre of the Church, or Gpden o[Chrijl, to be JIJied the world. Defender. It is no impeachment to the wifdome of Chrifi to call his Elell: Churches and Saints throughout the world, by the Name of the •world; Elfe Paul fpake not by the wifdome ofChrifr, when he faid, God was in Chrlfi, reconciling the world unto himfelfe, '2Cor.;.19. And though the Church within it felfe be a Garden ,and fevered from the world;yet all the Churches being fcattered and difperfed throughout the world , it is no more an improper fpeech; to call the Church the world, ·chen to fpeake of Chrift as dyiog for the world, when he dyed for his.Chnrch. ' CHAp. 22. .A Reply to his :n. Chapter: more of T11.res. Difcuffer. In the former P arable,the LordJe[IH compared the k,!;ngdome o[Heaven to the [owing of fied.'fbe trut Mejfengers ofCbrijl are fowers,who cajl the fted oft be wordof the King dome upon 4· (ortJ of ground; which 4·forts •f gro.11nds, or beam of men, cannot be [upp•fed to be of th• Chmcb; 11or G 2 wi/J |