other is to be pleased with one that was an Enemy before one that was against me that is now received to favour So I have told you briefly some Scriptures to shew you that the flesh is taken in this sense Now the main Reason of it why I believe this to be the chief meaning of it is because that I see clearly that this is the chief drift and scope of this Epistle and if I may speak without disparagement there is nothing more methodically laid down and this is spoken to bring them from the way of works to the way of faith But I hasten Why doth the holy Ghost call walking after the Covenant of Works and after the law walking after the flesh and the other walking after the Spirit The Reason is Because there is so great affinity and nearness between walking legally and walking sinfully that they are promiscuously in Scripture taken one for another For let a man walk and endeavour and do his best according to the Law and not by the Gospel he shall be sure to walk sinfully and carnally there is no help for it If he be under the law sin will have dominion over him and if he go after the flesh the motions of the flesh will bring forth fruit unto death Sin and the law are as it were of so near a kin that the law makes sin more sinful and the more a man strives to keep the law the more he sins The Apostle brought it so near that people were ready to speak non-sense that the law was sin He prevents the objection Is the law sin O no faith he sin is the transgression of the law So that a man that walks according to the law and not according to the way of the Gospel in spight of his heart he shall walk according to the flesh that is according to the lusts of nature he can never walk holily let him do what he can A second Reason why it is called flesh is in allusion to the two Sons of Abraham as we see in Gal. 4. 21. The Apostle there speaking of these two Covenants he saith Abraham had two sons the one by a bond-maid the other by a free woman but he who was of the bond-woman was born after the flesh but he of the free woman was by promise which things are an allegory or a comparison for these are the two Covenants the one from mount Sinai which gendereth to bondage which is Agar for this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answereth to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children but Jerusalem which is above is free which is the mother of us all He is proving that the old Covenant was to be done away Agar was to be thrown out with her children He proves that those two Sons of Abraham Ishmael and Isaac were types of the two Covenants that God made with mankinde the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace Now the Covenant of Works he compares to Ishmael that was born after the flesh as other children were Abraham went in to Hagar and she conceived and bare a childe as other women but Isaac was not born after the flesh all fleshly wayes could not produce Isaac he was a childe of Promise and the Spirit of God breathing in the promise and working mightily in Abraham and Sarah Isaac was produced This is an Allegory there is a great Mysterie that you think not of when you reade of Ishmael and Isaac By Ishmael is meant the Covenant of Works and the principles of it and the practitioners of it and they walk according to the flesh as Ishmael did and by Isaac is meant the Covenant of Grace and those that go that way are children of the promise as Isaac was So God hath set this Comparison and I conceive the Apostle alludes to it and calls it a walking according to the flesh As if he had said Thou shalt never have this righteousness by walking in the way of thy father Ishmael by Mount Sinai in Arabia by walking in the law to turn away the wrath of God but if thou wilt get this righteousness thou must walk according to the Spirit thou must get the Spirit and be a childe of promise The third and last Reason that I shall give why it is called walking according to the Flesh is because of weakness for flesh is put for weakness as the Scripture saith They are Flesh and not Spirit that is they are poor weak things so those that walk in that way in the way of the law they are weak creatures there is nothing but wishing and woulding and covenanting and promising and protesting and vexing and fretting but there is no strength Now one Saint that is truly planted in Christ and the Gospel hath truly taken place in his heart he hath more strength then five hundred of the other Saith Paul I can do all things I can want and I can abound I can go to prison freely I can rejoyce with them that rejoyce and mourn with them that mourn Because the same Spirit that dwells in Christ and works effectually the same Spirit dwells in us and works in us Therefore that is the meaning of it They that walk after the flesh that is they that go after the law they are weak they tug and are never the nearer Heaven and if they should live a thousand years they would be no better but wishers and woulders and say I have a good desire to do as the Preacher saith but I have no power Vse Let me conclude with one word of Use from all this that hath been said which I hope you will consider of From this Doctrine thus opened you may hence see the saying of our Lord Jesus Christ verified and made good that few shall enter into the kingdome of Heaven Doubtless Paul did not look on sinners and Saints as we do we account every Professor let his principles be what they will either from the first or second Adam if he begin to leave sin and to perform duties we account him a good man But when the Lord comes to judge he will look further and examine us and will I fear finde abundance that shall never enter into the kingdome of Heaven even of those that follow good old Adam I mean there are abundance of Professors that have left corrupt Adam in his grossness and follow good old Adam that is a sprig from that they will abstain from sins and they will perform duties and they will do no wrong and all is but old Adam still Therefore you that are Professors look to your selves for the Lords sake I am mistaken if there be not many hundreds of us that will be found the Sons of Ishmael at the last day many that make a great Profession and many that make a greater Profession then others that are honest spiritual Saints before the world before men for when a man goes to keep the law every light that comes into his
instruments to sin Shall we turn all this into speculation No certainly there is some eminent reall holiness and power against sin that they had not before therefore saith he What pleasure had you in those things whereof ye are now ashamed those sins that you committed before you are now ashamed of them And let me look a little upon my own soul or appeal to you Take any man or woman that understands what it is to be under the law what it is to walk according to the Covenant of works and according to the flesh and what covenants and resolutions and promises and fastings he had and let him look upon himself what he is now since he hath known a little of Christ and hath known that he is a justified person and that he is dead to the law and the like I appeal to you whether you do not feel a strange power in your souls killing and subduing sin that you never imagined before or almost hoped to have There are some Saints that I know that when they came to know a little of Jesus Christ they have found a power to subdue their sins that they did not hope for in their other condition they were so strong it is an eminent power A poor Saint that sees another tugging and striving and wrastling and bustling with his corruptions he knows that there is a sweet power in his soul that pulls down the highest and proudest imaginations As a godly man saith There is as much difference between a man thaâ— walks after the flesh according to the law and he that walks according to the Spirit as between a man that is in a great Lyter or in a great Boat that is fast upon the Sand and there are it may be a dozen or twenty men tugging and striving to get it off and yet it sticks and another man that is in a Boat upon the water and needs onely to hoist sail and sit down and it is gone he goes with wind and tide So a man that walks according to grace he can go as a childe and speak loving and plain words to his Father and get power over his sins that all the howling and roaring and crying of another a whole year together cannot do It is so and all you that know what grace is know it That is one thing therefore consider this if thou walk according to the Spirit thou art dead to sin that is in respect of the condemnation and guilt of it thou hearest that Christ hath fulfilled the law and that sin is done away And secondly in respect of the power of it thou canst look upon it as a dying gasping thing that must die and thou canst tread on it through the death of Christ Thirdly thou findest no lust so strong in thy soul but thou canst ordinarily bring it down thou canst bring it to the obedience of Jesus Christ another man may throw his cap at his sins and be wishing and woulding all the year long but there are strong lusts in his soul that will not out Therefore saith the Apostle when you walked according to the law the motions of sin brought forth fruit unto death inevitably it will be so Then further you shall find the fruits of walking according to the Spirit I will but name them to you and wish you to consider of them You have many set down in this 8th to the Romans When a man walks according to the Spirit you shall see this is one fruit of it A Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God for ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father That is one fruit of it as soon as a man comes to walk according to the Spirit he hath not a spirit of bondage any more What is that It is nothing but this a temper of soul like a slave just as you may conceive of a man that is taken Prisoner in Turkie what temper he is of he is glad of a Crust of bread and he fears whipping and beating and it may be killing such is the temper of a mans soul in a spirit of bondage when one is in such a temper that he is alwayes in fear of being whipped and scourged and he hath hard thoughts of God and he fears that he shall prove an hypocrite and the like Now saith the Apostle we have not that spirit but we have the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father that is there is a sweet temper such as is in a loving childe to his dear Father there is a boldness a love and delight and rejoycing and a sweetness c. This is one fruit of it therefore as far as thou art under horrour and moping and howling and crying thou comest short of walking according to the Spirit for thy soul would be alway full of sweetness in the greatest affliction if there were a Spirit of Adoption and under the worst sins thou doest commit though there would be sorrow yet thou wouldest be full of sweetness and joy That is one thing Again another fruit and consequent of it is that the Spirit of God bears witness with our Spirits that we are the children of God If thou wilt be led by the Spirit and walk after the Spirit the Spirit of God will witness with thy spirit that thou art the childe of God What is that the meaning of it is this as I understand the Spirit of God will raise up my spirit to be able to see and know that I am the childe of God for the spirit of a man knows the natural things of a man and no more but the Spirit of God witnesseth with my spirit that I am the childe of God that is he raiseth up my spirit whereby I may see and know that I am the childe of God that as before by my own spirit I was able to know whether I were poor or rich whether I were sick or well whether I were beloved or hated so now my spirit is raised up by the Spirit of God I am able to reflect upon my self spiritually and look upon my self as beloved and chosen and holy and called and justified and this is a spiritual way Thirdly here is another expression of it and that is an earnest hope or expectation of the glory that is to be revealed I finde and observe little of that to be in Professors and I have oft marvelled at it and the reason is Because they have not the Spirit of Adoption and walk not fully according to the Spirit therefore they are not filled with those expectations and those earnest desires that the Saints were ordinarily in the Primitive times Saith the Apostle in this Chapter The creature groaneth and desires to be delivered and not onely they but we our selves which have the first-fruits of the Spirit we groan within our selves
or sword Nay in all these things we are more then conquerors through Christ that loved us Indeed tribulation and hunger and famine they are sad things but these are the least troubles of a Christian these outward miseries Over these we are more then Conquerors saith Paul I can tie my right hand at my back and with my left hand beat all these back I can beat them with a finger Nay I say more Neither death nor life that is more nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. See there how he dares all the Enemies to come upon the Stage and tramples them under feet As in Malachi it is said that in the time of the Gospel they shall tread their enemies as ashes under their feet So there is a place also in 1 Cor. 15. Death is swallowed up in victory As if he had said You that have received Jesus Christ I will tell you news Death is swallowed up in victory O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory He jeers the grave and death and triumphs over them O death where is thy sting thou thoughtest to overcome me but where is thy sting The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but thanks be unto God who hath given us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. He doth not say which will give us victory when we are dead and then we shall be perfect in Heaven it is true then we shall be more perfect but he saith which hath given us victory for the present I have already over come Hell and Death and the Devil for all hangs on the law the law is Gods Writ and the Devil is Gods Sergeant that executes that Writ and Hell is the Prison Therefore if the law be satisfied if the righteousness of the law be fulfilled Death and Hell and the Devil have nothing to do with me So in Rom. 4. 25. Who was delivered for our offences and was raised for our justification And then it follows Chap. 5. 1. Being justified by faith we have peace with God See where the Apostle layes justification And we glory in tribulation knowing that it worketh patience c. We rejoice in tribulation and affliction Why because we are justified by Christs death and resurrection O what kinde of spirits should we have How full of joy and comfort should we be in the greatest tribulation How should we tread all this world under our feet the evils of this world and the comforts of the world How should we insult and triumph over the Devil and over Death and Hell for all their power as I said is from the law and if the righteousness of the law be fulfilled then all our enemies are subdued and all is clear Heaven is open and God is mine and the favour of God is to me For know this that there is no natural inbred hatred in God to his creature there is nothing that keeps the creature from the full enjoyment of God but the law not being satisfied God made a law and we made the breach of it and there falls out the distance between the Creatures and God whether Men or Devils Now then if I can say though I be a sinful man yet Jesus Christ hath fulfilled the law the law hath a full righteousness to a farthing then I know I am one with God he is wholly for me and I for him and all the enemies of my Salvation are conquered Now if the Lord would open your eyes to understand the hope of your calling the glorious condition you are brought into you would not walk so weakly and poorly and sadly and dejectedly that every thing should cast you down but you would go on and trample all the world under your feet we should be above men and Devils and the world and every thing if we did but understand to what a glorious estate God hath called us in this world through Jesus Christ Therefore a man reflecting upon his justification as he may look upon himself and account himself something so he may account Death and Hell and all subdued and he may account that the law cannot demand a farthing of him That whereas the breach of the law kept us from communion with God that being taken away we are as righteous as if we had never fallen O glorious condition There Paul Eph. 1. he prayes that they might know the riches and hope of their calling that is that they might understand what this glorious calling is that God hath called us to That is a second Lesson we should learn hence First seeing the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us we should learn how to build our Justification aright how to lay the foundation of it And secondly we should endeavour to get our spirits raised like people that are freed from the law Vse 3. Thirdly and there I shall end for this time being freely and fully justified by the grace of Jesus Christ this should follow to any one that understands it that therefore we should study and learn to conform our selves in our hearts and lives out of love to the will of God There comes in holiness and there it comes in amain and never before all before is nothing but bungling but then it comes rightly We should I say conform our selves to the Example and to the Rule of Jesus Christ in his Gospel And that you may understand that you must know that every man in this world hath a rule to walk by And there are but three great Rules and all men do and must conform to one of these three for there is no man that doth an action but it is in reference to a Rule 1. Now you have one Rule in 1 Pet. 1. 14. As obedient children not fashioning your selves according to the lusts of your former ignorance which shews that once they did conform themselves they did fashion themselves unto their lusts but saith he now God hath justified you you must not conform your selves to your lusts Most of mankinde make their lusts their rule which the Prophet calls in Scripture to do that which is right in their own eyes to do what is their minde what they like in their own minde and as that worthy Dr. Preston saith they think when they are in their beds what place they shall go to and where they shall spend their time and when they are up they do that which is right in their own eyes what they have a lust to when they have a lust to be drunk they will be drunk when they have a lust to be filthy they will be filthy when they have a lust to be idle or a lust to be malicious against their neighbours they will be so So that the stirrings of their lusts are their rule and their whole life
waiting for the Adoption to wit the redemption of our body The meaning is there is no man knows what that glory is that is to be revealed nor no man what it is to look for it and expect it The word in the Original is as one saith as a woman looks for deliverance when her pains are on her Oh! she would fain be delivered or as a man in Prison that looks for his Friend out of a window he puts out his head and looks but he cannot get out though he fain would Such an earnest hope and expectation and desire there is in the Saints that walk according to the Spirit to see Jesus Christ come and to enjoy that glory that is to be revealed There are many more expressions there that are the fruits of it as the spirit of supplication ver 26. and there is also a triumphing over all our spiritual enemies ver 31. What shall we say 〈…〉 God be with us who can be against us c And then there is an absolute dependance upon God for all things He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him give us all things And then there is also a patient suffering of all afflictions saith the Apostle ver 18. I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed And then there is lastly an absolute eternal union with Jesus Christ in respect of his love I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor any thing shall ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. These are the expressions of the fruits of the Spirit of God in the Soul when men walk according to the Spirit when they walk according to grace Take a man that walks according to the flesh or according to the law you shall finde none of these kinde of things in his soul So much concerning that Use Vse 3. In the next place as this Doctrine is a Touchstone whereby you may try and judge of mens persons so hereby also you may try your services and actions I say this is a rule whereby you may come to know what your services are what worth is in them For as they onely are Saints who walk according to the Spirit let the world judge how they will and those that walk carnally according to the flesh according to the law are not Saints so I say those actions or services of ours that proceed from the spirit of God they are only pleasing to God and those that proceed from the flesh from Old Adam they are not pleasing to him Now I say by this we may try our services and actions as well as our persons for there is the same reason for both in all my actions all that I expect from them is that they be pleasing to God that is the end of all that we do for they cannot justifie us that is done already or if it be not they cannot do it but all is to be pleasing to God Now then the main Rule by which I am to judge of my actions it is this not to judge of them according as they are plausible to men or according as they have affection or enlargement in them as we call it but we are to judge of our actions chiefly if not principally by the principle that they flow from if it be the weakest and meanest action if it be the least sigh or prayer if it proceed from the New Adam the Lord Jesus it is sweet and pleasing to God it is an acceptable sacrifice But if it be the most glorious thing in the world if it proceed from Old Adam not only from sinful Adam but from naturall Adam as he is called the naturall man 1 Cor. 15. I say that that riseth from natural wisdome and invention and understanding and memory c it is but flesh and whatsoever is born of flesh is flesh and as we say Pepper is Pepper that is it is dear so flesh is flesh that is it is a filthy abominable thing to God as it is in this Chapter They that walk according to the flesh cannot please God So that that is born of the flesh that service that ariseth from the flesh that is done from the flesh cannot please God Quest But you will say Cannot the actions that proceed from the principles of natural Adam be pleasing to God Every man knows that of corrupt Adam cannot but cannot that of natural Adam As a man may pray meerly by a naturall wit and bravely to please man and to please himself and he may Preach by a natural wit and do other Exercises and do them finely cannot they be pleasing to God Answ No this is a certain rule that there is nothing that comes from flesh from a principle of Old Adam whether it be naturally good or evil there is nothing whether from pure Adam or from corrupt Adam that is pleasing to God The reason is this Because as it is Gen. 3. 5. that when Adam sinned against God you know his punishment was that he should die he was not to eat or touch the forbidden fruit lest he should die Now when Adam eat of that fruit you know the Curse came upon him and in reference to this you shall finde those phrases in this Epistle Whosoever walks according to the flesh shall die whosoever walks as Old Adam is in the state of the old Curse He shall die and O miserable man who shall deliver me from this body of death He calls it a body of death alluding to the main Curse of Old Adam which was that he should die Now when the Lord said that Adam should die for sin conceive not that the meaning is onely that he should die personally that his person now should be subject to the wrath of God to damnation of soul and body for ever in Hell that is not the onely meaning of it it is true he fell under that but the meaning is this also that whole Adam Adam as thou art a publick person thou shalt die that whereas I made and appointed thee to be the Spring and Foundation of all Mankinde and every man in the world is to have thy Image on him and I have filled thee with righteousness and wisdome and good things that may tend much to thy happiness and thy posterity that thou mayest derive a principle to them to be like thee in good and to be pleasing to me But when Adam sinned now saith God thou shalt die I made thee a happy Creature and put abundance of excellencies in thee for thy self and thy posterity as a publick person but now thou hast sinned and extinguished all that good Now I will blast them all thy wisdome and thy righteousness thy soul and thy body thy very being Adam shall die Thy person as thou art a private man and as
God Now the natural man is not able to judge of things above the principles of Nature The Apostle tells us No man knows the things of a man but the spirit of man which is in him 1 Cor. 2. 11. The things of man are all created things man is therefore said to be as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little world or an Epitome or Compendium wherein all created things are described as in a Map or short Abridgement Now the principle of reason in mans heart is able to search out the hidden things of nature But this large principle of man is too narrow to search into the things of the Spirit so saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. 11 12 14 15. The things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God The Spirit searcheth the deep things of God And again he saith The wisdome of the Spirit is but foolishness to the naturall man And why so because saith he Spiritual things are spiritually discerned that is they are to be understood in a spiritual sense to which mans carnal reason cannot reach But now saith he the spirituall man discerneth all things so that divine things are onely known by the Spirit 't is the Spirit of all Truth that leads into all Truth Then 't is not all Maximes and Rules 't is not Sy 〈…〉 gistical Reasonings and Disputes 't is not Books an◠Treatises 't is not all Systems and Bodies of Divinity that can reveal the secret mysteries of Truth but it is the work of the Spirit for the mystery of Christ is not meerly letter and form without but a quickning Spirit within us Yet 6. We are taught that there is a most profound spiritual reasoning in godliness and that it is the highest act of the minde which is the highest faculty of the soul The minde of a Saint is Gods Throne and the motions of the minde or the reasonings thereof is nothing but Christ swaying the soul according to his good pleasure It 's true that reason as 't is in man is a most imperfect and weak light and falls short of the light of God being depraved and mixt with much darkness and so is unsuitable to judge divine things but reason considered in its height and excellency is no other then Jesus Christ and the Spirit then so much as reason hath of the light of God so much it hath of Jesus Christ Then the most excellent the most supreme and the sublimest reason is in godliness because in it is the greatest clearness certainty and light The Apostle calls it Demonstration now divine reason is demonstration which is an evidencing of things by the clearest surest and most irresistible light that can be Now Christ is this spiritual reason for saith the Apostle that which manifests is light Eph. 5. 13. And what is that light but Christ and his Spirit Thus I have given thee a taste of things to set an edge to thy appetite that thou mayest make a fuller meal of Divine Dainties by reading the ensuing Treatise where thou hast a Table richly spread Now if thou art one of Christs Friends then come and eat of this honey and drink of this wine yea eat and drink abundantly O beloved Here thou mayest eat and not 〈…〉 et here thou mayest drink and not be drunken the more thou earest the stronger will thy appetite be and the more thou drinkest the more wilt thou thirst and yet with the greatest saturation and content To conclude Thou mayest finde much of Christ in this Book but see whether thou canst finde much of him also in thine own heart Now that these things which are here written with Paper and Ink may be written upon the Table of thy soul by the finger of the Spirit is the prayer of him who is Thine in the Service of Christ John Robotham Octob. 24. 1650. SERMON I. Rom. 8. 4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit THe main drift of the Apostle in this Epistle is to hold forth Justification by Faith or by Free-grace without the works of the Law And in Chap. 7. the Apostle doth answer an Objection for they might say What then shall we do with the Law if it cannot justifie us There the Apostle tells us that though the Law cannot justifie us yet there are many blessed uses both for Sinners and Saints to make of the Law of which I shall not now speak Now in this eighth Chapter the Apostle draws this conclusion from what he had said before There is therefore from what I have said it is evident that there is no condemnation there is no damnation there is no danger of Hell to them which are in Christ Jesus Now he opens who those are he saith they are those who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit And he gives a reason of it in ver 2. why there is no damnation to those people For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the law of sin and of death Now he amplifies that in ver 3. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh As if he should have said Thus it comes about that we are now free from the law and that there is no damnation to us because saith he that God hath sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh like one of us and he hath fulfilled the law of God and condemned sin therefore there is no sin to condemn us nor no jot of the law that is not fulfilled therefore we are just and righteous and clear There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus for God hath sent his Son to condemn sin c. Now in the fourth Verse it is more particularly expressed That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit I shall not orderly go over to shew the Coherence distinctly as I might but briefly as I can come to those Lessons that the Lord is to teach us That the Righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us c. There are in the words two things Here is a great Priviledge as any can be to have the righteousness of the law fulfilled in us And here are secondly the parties that have the benefit of this Priviledge Those that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Concerning the Priviledge to understand the words a little That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us That the law might be fully satisfied in point of righteousness that the law might have such a righteousness which indeed the law requires that it might have a full and compleat righteousness in us So that briefly these are the Lessons which I shall open from hence which I desire
of God he faith not by the mercy of God though that be true there is infinite mercy but saith he that God might declare his righteousness in Christ to save us It is a merciful thing for God to give us Christ and to give us hearts to know that Christ and to believe in that Christ it is infinite mercy but now that we are in Christ and united in him as there was mercy so it is righteous and just with God to save us because we are righteous persons Mistake me not I say every poor Saint through Christ is a righteous person a just man I say in and through Christ he hath taken away all our sins and forgiven all our iniquities Coloss 2. So that when God saves believers he doth not onely save them out of mercy but out of righteousness he can do no otherwise therefore it is three times over his righteousness his righteousness his righteousness Rom. 3. And that is a blessed word in Heb. 12. Ye are come to the spirits of just men made perfect I do not conceive that it is spoken of the spirits of men in heaven as many do and no wonder they mistake for I did so for many years That place it looks so like heaven that I took it for heaven it self Ye are come unto mount Sion to the general assembly and Church of the first-born and to the spirits of just men made perfect A man would think it were heaven it self it is called heaven but it is nothing in the world but the glorious estate of the Saints in Jesus Christ under the New-Testament as you may see afterwards Therefore as Christ saith let this word sink into your hearts that if thou be a right believer thou art perfectly just and righteous through Jesus Christ as if thou hadst never sinned against the law of God not by thy own righteousness but by the righteousness of Jesus Christ For what can be said more faith the Apostle The righteousness of the law is fulfilled He doth not say we have a piece of it but it is fulfilled that is to an Iota or tittle the law cannot say Black is thine eye because Christ hath paid and done all that it can demand Now to give you a word or two of the grounds or Reasons to help you to believe this truth to shew you how it comes about It comes about three wayes I mean it will be clear to you three wayes if you consider three things Reas 1. First You must consider that Jesus Christ which is our Surety he was sent of the Father out of his love as a publick person to fulfil the law of God by doing and suffering as a publick person There is much comfort in that Beloved you can never throughly understand your justification unless you study the first Adam what kinde of person Adam was as you may see in Rom. 5. Now the Lord Jesus he came a publick person and he was delivered for our offences as it is said Rom. 4. 25. he did die for our sins That 's one thing Reas 2. Now the second thing that demonstrates this to us is besides his dying as a publick person there is a union made between every poor believer and Christ as really as between Christ and his Father Indeed it is called in Scripture a Marriage because as in a Marriage all the wealth of the Husband is the Wives it becomes hers and she hath a right to it after Marriage so all that is in Christ becomes ours by this union But it is a more real union a closer union by far then that of Marriage it is compared to the union between the Members and the Head now by this union that you may reade of in Joh. 17. all that is ours becomes Christs and all that is Christs becomes ours There are two things Reas 3. Then thirdly we finde that God the Father to whom the debt was owing and whose law this was that we must satisfie he acknowledgeth satisfaction And what can we have more God the Father acknowledgeth that his Son hath satisfied the law and therefore we are freed Now he doth acknowledge it three wayes First You shall have it Mat. 17. compared with 2 Pet. 1. for Peter is much in it We follow not devised fables but we come to speak of the voice in the Mount This is my beloved Son As if he had said This is one main piece of the Gospel we heard a voice when we were with our Master in the Mount saying This is my beloved Son in whom my soul is well pleased That for his person Then a second thing that did shew that he was satisfied was by suffering Jesus Christ after he was arrested and in prison for our debt for Christ was in prison for our debt he was arrested and that according to law he was brought into prison and all our Suits were clapped on his back all our Executions and Outlaries were laid on his shoulders and then the Father let him out of prison being our Surety if he had not paid our debt he had not come out of prison but now the Father lets him out that is the Father suffered him to rise from the dead Therefore we find that our justification is laid more upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ then upon his death as we see in Rom. 4. 25. Who was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification that is he did die for our sins and was raised again for our justification And in Rom. 8. He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him give us all things Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us that is his dying for us did satisfie the law but that did not justifie us untill we see that he was risen again and then we see that all the debt is paid because our Surety is gotten out of prison Therefore justification I mean the knowledge of it at least principally ariseth from Christs resurrection Now when I see Christ is risen and gone abroad he is gone out of the grave and gone to heaven I know that the law is fulfilled and the Father is satisfied and the Sergeant the Devil hath nothing to arrest me for all is satisfied all is clear Thirdly and lastly I know God the Father is satisfied for the law it is God the Fathers Writ that he had against us and now we see that all is paid not onely because our Surety is got out of prison for so a man may do that hath not paid a debt but because when he was out of prison he ascended to his Father and the Father made him sit at the right hand of God in the glory of Majesty on high and he hath given him power and authority to rule the world till the day of Judgement Now in
that the Father hath given the Son that honour and respect in heaven as to come and sit at his right hand we may see it was not a breaking of prison but a real paying of the debt and a fulfilling the law before he could come there This may give a little light how the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us through Jesus Christ Now the use of it I named in the morning I was not able to express it neither can I now fully utter it I beseech you consider the more of it Vse 1. The first Use we may make of it is this that you should learn from what I have said where your justification doth lye your justification doth not lye or is not built upon any thing that is in you or that is done by you or that you may hope to do hereafter you are not justified by your own personal good or unjustified by your own personal evils you are not one jot the more just when you have done all the good you can in the world and you are not one jot the less just when you have committed all the weaknesses and fallen into all the frailties that a Saint can fall into because your justification is built onely upon Christ and upon what he did and suffered My justification is built upon the death of Christ and his resurrection he hath fulfilled the law he hath paid the debt and he is out of prison the Father is satisfied here is my justification and I believing this I am happy Now you shall finde that you lay a great part of your justification upon something in your selves therefore when you are enlarged in good then you think you are more justified and when you fall into sin you think you are more unjust then you were before and you look strangely upon God Now the Lord hath put it out of our hands Adam should have been justified by that that was in him and that should have been done by him but blessed be God he would not trust us with that good any more but hath put all in the hands of Jesus Christ and there is the whole foundation of our justification Therefore it is not for a Christian to come and say Sir I fear I am no childe of God I fear I shall prove an hypocrite why so because I finde so much sin and so many lusts in me It is very well that you finde and feel sin and that you mourn for and strive against sin but that therefore you should think there is a flaw in your justification that you should make any good that is in you a prop to support your justification or any evil in you a thing that might crack your justification this is Popery My justification depends not on this that I am justified the more when I am strong or less justified when I am weak but whether I be weak or strong whether I do much or little for God whether I give thanks or be humbled seeing Christ is dead and risen again I am justified that is still intire because it is not built upon me but wholly upon the death and resurrection of Christ In Rom. 4. Abraham is laid down as a pattern of believing Abraham had the word of faith So shall thy seed be and without hope or reason or any thing he believed that is he cast himself on that word so it is said he was justified without works What a strange thing is that for it is impossible there should be true faith but that all good works should in some measure follow after but if we speak properly and look to the thing as it is in it self how a man is justified he is justified wholly without works Abraham did many good things he offered his son Isaac and he relieved his Kinsman when he was in misery and did teach his Family and relieved the King of Sodom he did many good works though these good works did justifie his faith to the world that they knew he was a believer by it and he himself did know it by it yet never a one of these were an ingredient into the justification of his person that was by the righteousness of God without works We must get good works after This is the rule of the word Charge them that believe to maintain good works that is after they believe charge them to avoid the evil and do the good and to abound But for the point of justification which is the main thing for your Soul and mine to feed on that is built on another foundation upon the grave of Christ and upon the death of Christ Therefore you shall finde those speeches of the Apostle Paul when he speaks of this glorious condition he speaks alway of his union with Christ I am crucified with Christ and I am buried 〈◊〉 Christ and I am dead but Christ lives in me Learn this lesson that you may come to this for if you had learned it spiritually when you had done the most for God if you could do ten times more then Abraham or Paul and yet Paul preached from Jerusalem to Illyricum yet then thou wouldest say I am an unprofitable servant there is not one grain that I have done that is an ingredient into the death and resurrection of Christ to help to make me a just man or to procure the favour and love of God And when you had done evil and it may be failed in carelesness and committed sin O what a glorious thing were it to go home and fall upon thy knees and say Lord I have sinned grievously but yet I am not one jot the less just before thee because my justice and my righteousness is not depending upon my sinning or my unsinning upon my holiness or my unholiness but upon Jesus Christ Then you would finde by experience your hearts melt in pieces you would be able to look upon sin in the vastness and unkindness of it against a dear Father then you would see your selves the vilest objects you would not so think or speak of any man in the world as of your selves even for the least frailty For then the love of God as oyl working with iron would press your hearts then you shall know and not before what it is to be truly humbled and then you shall have power to reform then you would be able to say My soul is truly humbled I can mourn for sin till I am weary of weeping then you will be able though you make not those covenants and resolutions there will be such an impression upon the soul that you cannot chuse but mourn and loath your selves and avoid the occasions of sin seeing your selves just men in Jesus Christ for when a man sees himself unjust he can never mourn kindly for sin if he see God on Sinai as a Judge there will be but untoward mourning for sin But when a man sees the coast clear then he can say I have been the greatest sinner in
Lessons that the Lord did teach us from these words The first is implied in the beginning of the Verse That every man is bound to get him a righteousness to fulfill the law of God And Secondly That all those that rightly believe in Christ have in them a righteousness perfectly to fulfull it And Thirdly That those that thus believe and have this great priviledge for it is the foundation of all others they are known or described by this They walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit The two former I have finished I entred upon the third the last day I opened it at large and proved it to you and came to make one Use of it Vse 1. That from hence we may learn how to judge of persons how to judge of those that are Saints and those that are not Saints not according to some kinde of holiness they may come up to but according to the principles they walk by either as they walk according to the flesh or according to the Spirit For I told you there be divers Professors among us that it may be are eminent in the eye of the world before men yet when all comes to all their fasting and praying and preaching and repeating c. will be found to be nothing in the world but a walking according to the flesh that is according to the refined well educated principles of Old Adam But I shall go on a little further Vse 2. Therefore in the next place the Question will be How shall I know whether I walk according to the flesh or according to the Spirit How shall I know whether I be one of those that walk according to the Spirit I will onely give you a few Expressions of it I will not say signs for it may be you could not all bear that word and these expressions are most of them laid down in this Chapter and hereabout whereby you may have a guess of it whether you be the men that walk according to the Spirit or no. First you shall finde in Rom. 6. that those that are under grace or that walk according to the Spirit sin is destroyed in them they are dead to sin and alive to righteousness And there are many expressions of the same thing in divers phrases as in ver 6. Knowing this that our old man is crucified that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin If thou be a man that walkest according to the Spirit thou canst say the body of sin is destroyed and thou dost not serve sin Then it is said in ver 11. that those that are under grace they are dead indeed to sin and alive to God that is another expression And in ver 12. Sin shall not reign in their mortal bodies that they should obey it in the lusts thereof And in ver 13. Yield not your members as instruments of unrighteousness And in ver 14. Sin shall not have dominion over them So there are divers expressions of one and the same thing Now from all for I cannot open them particularly how much is held forth in each of these expressions but to help thee to see a little the state of thy Soul I would gather these three things from all these expressions there is I say meant by them these three things The first thing is this That those that walk according to grace and according to the Spirit sin is dead in them that is they are dead in respect of the guilt of sin they do see and understand in some measure that Jesus Christ by his death hath abolished and destroyed and done away all their sins in respect of the guilt of them they are not under the law in that respect They see that there is a full righteousness in Jesus Christ that hath satisfied the law and so their sins are done away that they shall never condemn them This is one thing Now a man that walks according to the flesh he sees not that neither can see it for these things are spiritual Now take a man that walks according to the flesh that is according to the most refined principles of Old Adam and he alway carries guilt upon his Conscience he will alway be as a man that is rolling of a Snow-ball the more he goes on in his service the more guilt and horrour But a man that walks according to the Spirit let him be weak or strong he sees this in some measure and probably for the most part that his sins are done away and that there is no condemnation to him because he is in Christ and believes in him therefore as it is Rom. 5. 7. He that is dead is freed from sin or justified from sin That is one thing Secondly in all these phrases this is held forth to us as I understand that a believer being planted into Christ for so he looks upon himself and ingrafted and united to Christ in respect of the power of sin he accounts it as dead that is when he sees any sin stirring in him he considers I am one with Christ I am planted with him in his death and resurrection and this sin was condemned when Christ was condemned and as sure as Christ did die this sin must die therefore he looks upon all his sins and lusts as things that are gasping for life as things that are ready to die and that will surely die as surely as Christ did die Another man that walks according to the law when he sees sin in him and findes lusts to rise in his soul he saith as David in another case Surely I shall one day fall by the hand of Saul Surely I shall prove an Hypocrite one time or other this sin will break my neck and so he is discouraged and his heart is hardened But a man that is under grace that walks according to the Gospel let sin be never so strong and prevalent he looks on it as a condemned thing he can triumph over it when it is strongest and can say I know thou must be laid in the grave with Jesus Christ he reckons himself dead to sin That is another thing Thirdly and lastly from all these expressions here in Rom. 6. we gather this That surely all those that are under grace or that walk according to the Spirit in some eminent way are more holy and more freed from sin then once they were and then all those are that walk under the law in some eminent way I say they are more holy though I do not say there is no sin in them for then we should lie as John saith but certainly there is a power in their souls against sin that is exceedingly transcendent in respect of the best moral men in respect of the exactest men in the world that walk according to the law what else is the meaning of all this Ye are dead to sin and Sin shall not reign and have dominion over you and you shall not yield your members as