A30242:54
The Scripture directory for church-officers and people, or, A practical commentary upon the whole…
The Scripture directory for church-officers and people, or, A practical commentary upon the whole third chapter of the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians to which is annexed The godly and the natural mans choice, upon Psal. 4, vers. 6, 7, 8 / by Anthony Burgess ...The Scripture directory for church-officers and people, or, A practical commentary upon the whole third chapter of the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians to which is annexed The godly and the natural mans choice, upon Psal. 4, vers. 6, 7, 8 / by Anthony Burgesse ...
London: printed by Abraham Miller for T.U., 1659
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
As unto carnal] He useth the word [As] for mitigation sake; and then explains his meaning, calling them babes in Christ. Observe,
That even among those who are truly, and indeed of the visible Church of God, there is a vast difference, some are spiritual, some are carnal, some are men, some are babes.
Though God created Adam and Eve in their full perfection, yet he doth not regenerate us into a full stature in Christ. Though it be the opinion of some Divines, That at the Resurrection, all the godly shall rise in their complete perfection, children, in that stature, they might have grown up unto; yet it is not so here; we are spiritually begotten babes in Christ, and so have several degrees into which we are to grow; yea one Christian may so far exceed another both in ⟨p. 6⟩parts and graces, that one would wonder, that the same Heaven should ever receive them at last. Yea one Christian in time may exceedingly differ from himself: As the Apostles, how rude and evil at first, but how admirable and wonderful, when they had received the Spirit from above in a fuller measure? Thus as one star differeth from another in glory; There is a vast difference between the Sun and any of the less stars; so it is many times in the visible Church.
Though God created Adam and Eve in their full perfection, yet he doth not regenerate us into a full stature in Christ. Though it be the opinion of some Divines, That at the Resurrection, all the godly shall rise in their compleat perfection, children, in that stature, they might have grown up unto; yet it is not so here; we are spiritually begotten babes in Christ, and so have several degrees into which we are to grow; yea one Christian may so far exceed another both in ⟨p. 6⟩