wrought and revealed within us by the Spirit and therefore as Christ saith we may be bold to say after him The flesh profits nothing if you only know Christ as dying and rising without you it wil profit you nothing unles you know him as dying rising within you Error in this is the root of the dead faith wherof the world is full This is the root of that formall profession of that form of godliness which men doe advance soe far in and glory so much of and shroud themselves under unto the persecuting of the power of godliness to the persecuting of the Spirit This setting up of the History of Christ being ignorant of the Mystery Any man is capable of remembring the story of Christ and telling and rehearsing it if he hath but common reason and can say as wel as another that Christ dyed for him and can throw himself upon Christ and hang upon Christ This is not Faith this is not Salvation We have not known how to put a difference between the precious and the vile We know not how to shake off the pretenders and knock off their fingers that would pretend to eternall life Through the ignorance of this truth we have counted it enough if a man hath had the knowledg of the Story of Christ and hath said he casts himselfe upon Christ for salvation But harken what James saith Faith without works is dead Harken what Paul saith Rom. 8. 3. The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death He doth not say that such a proposition of the Gospell did set him free He doth not say that the hearing that Christ dyed for the sins of men doth set him free No there was the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus as well as there was the Law or Letter the outward Covenant is it that entailes life upon Jesus Christand his seed There is an outward Covenant and there is an inward Spirit The outward Covenant is this I wil be thy God and the God of thy seed This is the Covenant that God made with Christ that he made with Abraham of old I wil be thy God and the God of thy seed Now then they that are of the seed of Christ are in this Covenant as al that were Abrahams seed were in that outward Covenant but may not any man pretend to be of the seed of Christ and to be of the generation of Christ And do not thousands profess themselves so to be Do not thousands in the world say Lord Lord and press to enter into Heaven We cannot put a difference between one or other except we know this truth for they say they are in the Covenant they say they are of Christs seed and what hold they forth for this They hold forth the confession of Christ and say that he dyed for their sins and rose for their Justification and this they beleeve and upon this they lay their souls for salvation May not the veryest Hypocrite do so as wel as the truest Saint But here is that which puts a difference when the Spirit of Jesus Christ brings this Covenant to the heart of a poore creature when the Spirit of Adoption the Spirit of Son-ship revealing God as our Father revealing God in Union with us our Righteousness and our Strength he doth indeed seal us to the day of Redemption he sets apart Christs sheep This distinguishes them from the other So that if you lay your salvation upon an historicall Christ you wil be deceived If you would have that in which you may confide you must have Christ revealed in you in the Spirit you must have the same spirit of Faith that was in Christ and the same Spirit of Power that wrought in him you must have the same eternall Spirit by which you must offer up your bodies offer up your flesh to God as a Sacrifice yea your selves and your own Righteousness This is true salvation Here is salvation manifested unto life But you wil say to me Is not this a wronging of Jesus Christ Is it not a giving away from Christ And a giving it to grace and Sanctification within us Solu To this I answer that it is no giving away from Christ at all for we make Christ to be all in all in this only we distinguish of Christ There is Christ in the Flesh and Christ in the Spirit Christ in the Flesh is the witness the Covenant the common Person in whom our salvation is transacted as in a figure Christ in the Spirit is the real Truth and Principle of Righteousness and of Life he is the reall salvation within us For what is Christ Jesus in the Spirit but the Manifestation of God the coming forth of God and unto this must we attribute and in this we must fix and pitch our salvation this is the Savour of life unto life Of his own wil begat he us Doth not the Apostle there take away from Christ And yet elsewhere Christ is said to be the everlasting Father This same Will of God brought forth is nothing else but Christ Jesus in Spirit Christ Iesus is the outgoing of the Fathers Wil the Manifestation of the Fathers good Pleasure Therefore he is said to dwell in the heart of every Beleever If you confine Christs dwelling to a locall Heaven you are ignorant of that which is the greatest joy that can be Christ dwels in thy heart if the Will of God be revealed in thee by the Spirit Christ is in thee for he is nothing else but the outgoing of the Fathers Will and the Manifestation tion of the Fathers good pleasure this is Christ So that if we give to Sanctification we give to Christ For this is the Will of God even our Sanctification Christ is made unto us Righteousness and Sanctification But I desire a little further to examine that same before I let it pass it is said it is a giving to Sanctification and not to the blood of Christ I say no. For 1. I do not here take Sanctification as it is commonly taken as to be such and such particular acts of the Spirit I know that our life lyes not in this or the other act or in any particular act Our life lies in union with God through the Spirit 2. I give it not only to the Sanctification of the Spirit but to the Revelation of the Spirit There is the Revelation of the Spirit as wel as the Sanctification of the Spirit as the Apostle speaks Ephes 1. 17. That God would give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and Revelation c. 3. There is the Spirit of grace as well as the grace of the Spirit and to this I give all and the Spirit of grace is Christ Jesus and so to him I give al and what do I give to the Spirit I give the Manifestation of salvation to life and that 's all 4. This is the sum of all I desire to commend
it may be they are fallen into a form of Communion with Christians others are such as are only state Reformers and the time-Reformers Now both of them although there may be graduall difference yet both of them discover themselves that they are of the earth by this they are to be known by their conceits of themselves by their magnifying their duties and their forms they are in As a Christian ceaseth to be soe doe all things cease to be anything to him and he doth no more admire an high form in Religion then he doth admire himself all things are crucified to him as wel as he is crucified to them But many are like the multitude that Christ spake to in the 5. of Mat. They wil be very Zealous Jealous lest others should destroy the Law who preach the Gospel purely in the spirit and why are They zealous of the Law but because they think they can keep the Law they know only some lower formes of the Law but if they knew the Highest formes of the Law it were all one for they are censorious of others and wil persecute others if they will not come up to their form whereas you shall hear a broken-hearted Paul say that Circumcision it nothing c. Paul saw that a man might be a circumcised Jew yet ly down in hel with an uncircumcised Gentile but others by their censoriousnes of others manifest that they are not ceased to be in the flesh the truth is he that doth know God and doth worship God in spirit hath such low thoughts of all manner of outward forms that he doth neither judg himself nor others in the least kind by them for he sees that which is so much beyond and he is pressing towards that stil he takes heed how he riseth up in the morning and blesseth himself or his neighbour in his form for he sees much uncircumcision of heart in the best form The next is a Use of direction to poore creatures that see and subscribe to the truth That true Christianity begins in self-denyall and are saying what may we do that we may be after this manner that we may not be in our selves that the next word wil tell you God took him Enoch had been as other men but that God took him he had been in the flesh and had confidence in the flesh and had been some body in his owne eyes if so be God had not tooke him so that this you are to wait for till God take you up you cannot bring down the spirit a man cannot make an hair of his head white or black a man cannot make a thought a man cannot mould one desire or affection in him it is beyond his power this is according to that I spake in the opening of the point somewhat toward this namely that it is God revealing himself and his owne glory to the soule that engageth the soule to forget his owne kindred and his fathers house Come faith God thou shalt be marryed honorably I wil marry thee my self forget thy self forget thy sins so indeed the death of a Christian is a sweet death and as the Psalmist saith Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints God comes and takes that place that before Self had and therefore you have the death of a Saint expressed in this manner Into thy hands O Lord I commend my spirit God is there to receive the soul or else the soul would never be content to go out of the body and so it is here spiritually And the 3. and last Use is this A Hint or Discovery to what end death is ordained that formall death that we looke upon with so much fear and with such a sad reflection upon our selves when we think of our selves I must ere long dye and be among the dead This is our Ignorance what is death What is it for It is but an outward forme and signification of that work that God in the spirit of a Saint doth every day for what is the life of a Saint but a continual dying into the hands of God his Righteousness expires into the Righteousness of God God increaseth in him and himself decreaseth he hath less thoughts of himself and his own strength and hath higher thoughts of God he doth less know himself after the flesh and according to outward appearances and he more judgeth of himself as he is in God and as in Christ Jesus so that a Beleever dyes dayly and when God hath finished his whole worke upon Mount Sion then he will withdraw the form of death when he hath brought his people to dye to themselves and to the world as he wil in the latter days then death shal be swallowed up for as we see how men are when they are dead they mind no more relations a Child no longer observes his Father when he is dead ceaseth to act to the relation and ceaseth to act to the objects of this world strew fine sweet flowers before a dead corps the corps smels them not and bring good chear before dead corps the corps tasts it not so shal Saints be to sin and this world And thus I am perswaded God would not have continued death in the world since he hath reconciled the world but to teach the world And what are all these changes when a soul is gone to God before is it any terrible thing for such an one to dye It was the speech of one of precious memory in this City when he was dying saith he I shal but change my place not my company he walked as Enoch did So it is with us in all our changes that befal us they are but the outward formes and significations of that which is doing every day therefore we are not to judge according to the sight of our eyes not reckon our selves by our duties and our graces and performances not reckon by that power we see in our selves to resist sin or act in duties but look to an invisible presence of the spirit in oursouls that can never be taken from us which Mothes cannot corrupt and where Thieves cannot break through and steal SOMETHING OF THE MYSTERY OF THE FATHER AND OF CHRIST JOHN 16. 25. Hitherto have I spoken to you in Parables the time cometh when I wil speak to you no more in Parables but I wil shew you plainly of the Father THese are the words of our Saviour a little before his suffering when he spake not upon his own life but upon the life and comfort of his Disciples whose hearts were ful of heaviness and much ado he had to keep them up from sinking therefore no question but Jesus Christ did grone in Spirit and did go down deep that he might bring up something from the bottom to refresh their hearts tobear them up against that houre that was coming upon him their Lord and Master and upon them in being deprived of him therefore we finde him here very
till we come to him What went yee out for to see A reed shaken with the winde This is all that we see in Ordinances and our owne performances till we see Christ and Christ in the flesh r Joh. 14. 2. beares witnesse to himselfe in the Spirit What goe yee out for to see Christ crucified at Jerusalem ſ Psal 68. 12. She that tarried at home divided the spoile It is power over that that is evill and unto that that is good that is in the desires of us all and without which religion is but a Bawble and as the Apostle Paul sayes t 1 Cor. 15. 32. what advantageth it me to have fought with beasts at Ephesus if the dead rise not So may I assume If the principles of the Gospel are not to rise in our hearts they are not worth the contending for Who would goe against the streame and expose himselfe to lose his friends and all to vindicate or to get a Notion onely Men and their Opinions shall perish but the word of the Lord endures for ever and he that doth the will of God abides for ever Behold I shew you a mystery the death of Christ is but one and the resurrection of Christ is but one the death of Christ is in us and the resurrection of Christ is within us It is without us and Objectively propoūded to us that it may awaken and work within us That blood of Iesus Christ that cleanseth us from all sinne is shedding in us day by day For so as that place given in to me u 1 Joh. 1. If we walke in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of his Sonne Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin i. What is not this light we die to it we judge it and so are cleansed from it And who is he that thus dyes to evill and darknesse Surely none but he in whom the Son of God is come And he in whom the Sonne of God is come his death is the death of the Son and so pretious as it is written vv Psalm 116. 15. Preticious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints This is that Sacrifice of God even a x Psa 51. 17. broken heart which is by no other than the appearance of the sonne of God in us For if it be not upon this Altar and by this y Heb. 9. 14. eternall Spirit it is but as the z Isa 66. 3 cutting off a dog's neck We are ignorant of one of the main points of the Gospel while we know not that Christ is in us as wel as we in him We were in him in his flesh upō the Crosse he is in us in the Spirit and so is the Scripture verified a Joh. 15. I am in you and you in me This mighty One was shut up in us long before we knew him and b Gal. 3 23. we are shut up in weaknesse and bondage unto the revelation of him and when we know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made comformable to his death then are we c Eph 1. 13. sealed by the holy Spirit of promise then doe we beare in our bodies the Markes and the dying of the Lord Jesus and his life is manifest in our mortall flesh This sealing of the Spirit hath been the longing expectation of Christians of old though we have had a wrong conception of it as the Disciples had of Christ's Kingdom thinking the sealing of the Spirit to consist onely in a ravishment of heart and extasie of joy but rising we know not whence nor how When as this joy in the holy Ghost full of glory and this riches of assurance is no other than the pleasant d Heb. 12. 11. fruits of righteousnesse springing from the death of the Lord Jesus and the perfect work thereof in us or from our suffering in the flesh For e 1 Pet. 4. 1. he that hath suffered in the flesh a text that I open in this book hath ceased from sin saith the Apostle Peter And f Rom. 6. 5. if we hvae been planted in the likenesse of his death saith the Apostle Paul to the Romans wee shall be in the likenesse of his resurrection And g Heb. 9. 28. Christ was once offered to beare the sins of many sayes the Authour to the Hebrewes and to them that look for him shall he appear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the second time without sin unto salvation To conclude this poynt what God hath joyned we have severed and pul'd asunder the links of that glorious Chain Rom. 8. 29. 30. God multiplies not acts vainly and superfluously In every act of God as it is in him is all but not as it comes forth from him and is apprehended by us All is done in Christ to God and it appeares in Christ first to faith but not fully to enjoyment though in order to it till Christ be revealed in us All was done to God from the foundations of the world And in all those acts the Scriptures attribute to God the higher we goe into the greater infinitenesse and comprehensivenesse doe we ravell Election contains h 1 Pet. 1. 2. sanctification of the Spirit faith in it but in the manifestation and bringing down of things to us the latter act still gathers up and comprehends the former yea swallowes it up as the Rationall life containes the Sensitive in it selfe eminently so the Spirit comprehends the Letter and the Mystery comprehends the History Those that know Christ in them onely immediatione virtutis not suppositi know not so full and glorious a proportion in him to their ende It is and must be confest that God is and subsists otherwise in Himselfe or in the blessed Trinity than in men But this hinders not the immediatenesse of his presence and dwelling in men But this shall suffice to be spoken to the first point to cōvince that many desire the end in terms but in deed deny it and to hold forth some light that they may doe otherwise As God hath not left himselfe without witnesse to his glorious Truths in all Ages so neither in the present Age as in the assertions before instanced may appeare though by quarrelling Truths that stand upon the same foundation the Assertors themselves make it manifest that either they know not what they hold in the premises as it may fall out with Disciples for Christs Disciples l John 14. 4 5. knew whether he went and knew the way as the Lord himselfe tells them though they knew not that they knew so much or else they let it slip again which is that the Apostle warns the Hebrewes of Chap. 2. 1. saying Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time wee should let them slip Both which proceed from the receiving these
freehold of sin and when a man is once gone out of the flesh he is gone out of sins Territories out of sins Dominions and he loseth his sin by this means and that in a two-fold sense First sin cannot be charged upon him as you shall see the Apostle for it in the 7. Rom. So then it is no more I but sin that dwelleth in me Pray marke it Why not I But because I am gone out of the flesh I am gone out of the fleshly principle I do not own my self I have a being out of my self I have a being in the spirit and there can no guilt or sin follow me the avenger of blood cannot pursue him further then flesh for being in the spirit he hath got hold of the Horns of the Altar Wil you condemn the Son of God The heir of Glory Is Christ a Sinner Can the Son of God be under the wrath of God Why he is ceased to be in himself he is in Christ And then secondly Sin it cannot rule over him he loseth his sin that way He that is born of God keeps himself that the evil one toucheth him not he that abideth in him sinneth not and divers such places in the 1. Epistle of John for it is only the flesh that the Divill hath a title unto and that sinne hath a title unto sin hath title indeed to the Old Adam and to all the Sons of Old Adam as they are natural and as they are flesh and blood they are the slaves and vassals of Sin and Satan but the new creature he hath nothing to do withall It is written Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God You may understand it this way also when the Devill comes to tempt a Saint that lives in the Spirit he doth as good as come and bid the Son of God to fall down and Worship him 2. As he loseth his sin by this means so he is set free from death by this means set free from condemnation the wrath of God cannot seize upon him This is my well beloved Son in whom I am wel pleased God cannot be displeased with his wel beloved Son When a man is once in Christ there is nothing issues out from God but love nothing but smiles and good words and good wishes this is the benefit of a man being in Christ of a man not being in himself of a man ceasing to be in the flesh he loseth his sin and doth escape death and judgment And therefore it is that this same Enoch here as a pledg to all other that walk in his steps he was translated that he should not see death it self because death is as it were an Emblem of the punishment of sin an Emblem I say for if the damned had no worse punishment then the death of the body it were no punishment but death hath a form of punishment therefore Enoch was translated that he should not see death because he was not that is he was not himself he was in Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life Yea a 3. benefit whatsoever tribulation a Christian is in he may rejoyce in it if he be not this is indeed the very sum of his comfort the summe of his happiness that whatsoever estate and condition he seems to be in outwardly yet he hath a retreating place in which he can look upon all these things that befall his flesh and can rejoyce in them and be above them when a man shal see that these afflictions that are upon him are for physick not for punishment he can withdraw from them all and he can be a Spectator of them and not suffer at all he is active in all he doth withdraw himself from under all it is true saith he this is upon my flesh but yet he doth possess and enjoy an other state and another life and another personallity in the Spirit he is in Christ and as I am in Christ there is no condemnation towards me I am sure there is nothing but love towards me this is the highest comfort that can be for a man to be able to withdraw himself from all sin and misery as if he had no part in it though it be upon him this is that the Holy Ghost speaks in the 91. Psalm 1. 2. it is spoken expresly there He that dwelleth in the secret place of the mosthigh shal abide under the shadow of the Almighty and that is he that dwells in the spirit this is fulfilled many times in the literall understanding of it that the Saints do escape when Common Calamities are in the world but there is a fulfilling this in the Spirit when the spiritual Being of a Beleever can stand and look upon his fleshly Being as if the sufferings thereof were not upon him but upon another person and this is the Experience of the Saints I am perswaded I speake to the Experience of some Saints And thus a Christian evades all shifts all charge sin upon him he shakes it off it doth not belong to him Lay afflictions upon him he escapes them all is indempnified not that a beleever doth therfore take boldness to sin because of this No there is none doth more abhorre Sin then this person I now speak of the discovery that God makes to such persons is directly contrary destructive to Sin Now the next thing is to shew The Meant you by what means God makes a Christian not to be himself and in himself and that is by God revealing another self within a Christian by this doth God put a Christian out of himself by substituting and revealing another self in that Christian What is that A Spiritual self that is God himself in Jesus Christ he becomes a new Principle in that same soul a Principle of life and of action a Principle of righteousness and of strength It may be thought to be done otherwise but we shall find though God carry the worke under another form and appearance yet this is indeed the vertue and power that doth the deed turns a man out of himself it is Gods discovery of himself to the soul we may think that God doth it by the Terrors of the Law as there when the Commandment came I died I through the Law am dead unto the Law c. Rom. 7. 9. we may think God doth it by discovering the vanity of our hearts and the weakness of our Principles for that they cannot make their party good with Sin but notwithstanding we are overcome all this is true but the soul is not carryed forth powerfully and effectually to part with it owne self till God doe pawn himself to the soul to be instead of himself till God say to the soul forsake thy self and I will be unto thee instead of thy self I will be thy Righteousness and thy strength I will be instead of the Law til then it is impossible that the soul should part with self and should not be So that it is
unto you That we are not justified we are not sanctified by Christs dving by Christs suffering in the flesh only that is not the compleat Ministration of our salvation There indeed we see our salvation as in a glass and it is transacted as in a figure as in the history but then are we actually sanctified when as God doth send that same Spirit of Adoption into our hearts revealing unto us the Love of the Father and revealing unto us our Reconciliation that Reconciliation that was held forth to us on the Cross but which is dispensed unto us by our being offered up upon the Cross as Christ was For the Apostle Rom. 8. doth in two places speak so expresly to this purpose that no man can wave it or put it by verse 10. If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin and the spirit is life because of righteousness Here is the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ If Christ be in you and there is no salvation without it then the body is dead the body of your own Righteousness and your own Strength and wisdom is crucified in conformity to the death of Christ Christs death was but the figure of the death that must pass upon the flesh of every Beleever and therefore though we may say I am crucified with Christ c. We cannot take any comfort till the body be dead in us And the other place is the 4. verse of Rom. 8. That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us c. Pray mark it You dream of a Righteousness of the Law fulfilled for you that is true too Christ fulfilled it for you perfectly but there is a fulfilling of the Righteousness of the Law in you And the Apostle shews what that is when you are crucified to the fleshly principle and walk in the spiritual principle though you walk not in perfect obedience yet spiritually it is done in you The Righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit So then look after this that you be sanctified through the Truth that is that you in very deed be sanctified according to the pattern of Sanctification in Christ Jesus Let me minde you again of that Scripture Ephes 4. 21. If so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the Truth is in Jesus that ye put off the old man and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that ye put on the new man c. Look that this be done Object But you will say unto me is not this to bring us again into Bondage To charge this upon us when as we are bid look that it should be so and so with us Solution I answer it is your great interest that these things should be done in you but it is not expected that they should be done by you According to the working saith the Apostle of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ Jesus when he raised him from the dead and set him c. It is Gods mighty power that works in you it is God that crucifies you it is God that quickens you Christ offered up himself by the eternall Spirit it was not by the resolution of his flesh that he gave himself to dye as many a Valiant Roman hath done for his Country but it was through the eternal Spirit and therefore that which you are to do is to wait upon God And herein comes the use of the doing of these things in the man Christ Jesus before your eyes It is to strengthen your faith and expectation of having these things done in you by the same power and spirit And therefore if you ask me what use you should make of Christs Death and Resurrection and these things I say look upon them as the earnest of your salvation look upon them as the very sealing of the Covenant between God and you God reads over as it were all the Covenant before us and seals it in our presence and this is the scope of the Manifestation of Jesus Christ It is but to manifest the life to us to shew what God will do upon your flesh So what God did to Christ Jesus and so how he carryed him to glory so how he was tempted and be not you discouraged though it be so with you See how the Disciples were dismayed when Christ wrapt up himself for a Moment in the grave as in a cloud of darkness They said we thought this bad bin he that should have redeemed Israel See what an end the Lord made with him the same end will the Lord make with you also THE TRUTH as it is in JESUS JOHN 17. Sanctifie them through thy Truth thy word is Truth Verse 19. And for their sakes I sanctifie my self that they might be sanctified through the Truth THis same Portion of Scripture that is read to you is an Enforcement or part of an Enforcement of one of those savory Petitions which Jesus Christ put up at his departure out of this world for his Disciples and in them for all his elect The Petition is this Sanctifie them through thy Truth This Petition he doth in part explain and he doth enforce and urge it with Arguments 1. He explains it in part that part thy Truth he explains it thus thy word is Truth Now before I go any further By the word here we are not to understand this same Letter for we know this same Letter of the word is taken up by every one to defend his opinion and therefore this is not the meaning of thy word is Truth But the meaning is this That that word that was with God and that was God that word is Truth I conceive this same truth being a relative notion is here to be taken in opposition to form Thy word is Truth The meaning is this That thy word it is not only a form and an appearance in which thou dost make out thy self unto the world but thy word indeed is the very Truth that is it is thy self and so Christ desires that his Disciples may be sanctified not by planting the knowledg of the literal word in their minds but by ingraffing the nature of the Divine word in their hearts that is by ingraffing God himself by God himself becoming one with them This is the only means of Sanctification This is the true Sanctification by the word The ingraffed word which is able to save our souls Now having explained his request he enforces it and the first Enforcement of it is this from the title and the reason that may be pleaded why they should be sanctified why the Members of Christ should be sanctified Why saith he There is as much reason why they should be sanctified as there is why I should be sanctifyed For as thou-hast sent me into the world so have I sent them into the world Mark it I pray and you will see that it is not such a wringing of the nose
them all in the Unity of the Spirit and of the appearance and breaking forth of God But so much shall serve for that Use and that Point Now I come to the next Point and that 's the difference between men in their forms or rather the amount of their difference what it amounts to We have it in these words Whether we live or whether we dye Who is he that dyes It is he that is in bondage to outward observances that depends upon fleshly forms Who is he that lives Why it is he that is free You know ye often meet with these distinctions in Scripture Circumcision and uncircumcision Jew and Gentile bond and free quick and dead Liberty is the next thing to life What good doth a mans life do him if he be not a free man I mean spirituall Liberty or Liberty in the Spirit and Bondage it is next to death But upon other Considerations is it here called living and dying But it may be said is not the Text abused to interpret it thus allegorically or to make a Metaphor of it should it not be taken literally Whether we live that is in the body we live to the Lord or whether we dye that is go out of this body we dye to the Lord I answer besides that such an interpretation is to make the Apostle here speak impertinently as being quite from the business he hath in hand You shall find also it is cross to the Letter of the Scripture for that is not death that men call death and that is not life that men call life For God is the God of the living and not of the dead in that sense Abraham is alive though dead The Scripture calls not them dead nor God the God of the dead in that sense but the living and all things live to God Again he saith not they dye in the Lord though that be to be taken spiritually but they dye to the Lord. And if you ask why should they be called dying Christians dying Saints The Apostle will tell you when he saith To be carnally minded is death Rom. 8. 6. That which is translated carnally minded signifies to savour carnally to savour God and our life carnally this is death but he that is in bondage to forms savours God and life carnally ergo it is death and he is a dying man That he savours carnally appears from hence That he doth relish better and savour more the weakness of God in an Ordinance then the strength and excellency and glory of God in the Spirit and in his own proper appearance He is more taken his heart goes out more after a sight of God in flesh then to see him in Spirit is not this to savour life carnally For to think that a mans life is bound up in any form or in flesh is it not a carnall savour And yet do not many Christians do so Do not they think that God and an Ordinance do nourish and feed and administer strength to you but not God without an Ordinance The Apostle saith We have this treasure in earthen vessels Now if a man counts not this to be treasure except it be in an earthen vessell is not this carnall It is true while we do receive God in any form it is mercy but to say God cannot be meat or nourishment without a form this is to savour our life carnally How many Christians are troubled and assaulted with doubts concerning their good estate that have a load lying upon them and Clouds of darkness before them that hanker after an Ordinance to come dispell these Clouds O if I could receive such an Ordinance a Sacrament in such a manner This would solve all objections and give them full assurance when as they have God they have his Promises The word is nigh thee saith the Apostle in this Epistle Chap. 10. even in thy heart But behold except this God will come to them in flesh they can make no use of him they cannot see how God should do it in Spirit without a form this is to savour life carnally therefore they linger in their desertions and temptations and are not help't out of them because they stay for God to come to them in such a way and see no salvation for them in himself for then they would depend upon him Agreeable to this Scripture is another viz. Rom. 8. If we live after the flesh we shall dye Now there are many sorts of flesh saith the Apostle There is one kind of flesh of men another of beasts another of birds another of fishes There is flesh of fishes that will carry a man swimmingly like the Spirit and there is flesh of birds that wil soar aloft like the Spirit there is high-raised flesh but if we live after the motion or principle of any thing below God we live after the flesh Even if we live after the motion of Graces themselves not resolving our graces into God If the sparkling and turning of our graces themselves be the wine that doth chear and refresh us yea the flesh of Christ if we stick in that vail and stand not in the naked Spirit of Christ before God passing through Christs flesh both in him and in our selves as he hath past through it we are not yet past out of the flesh I say not that they that have the use of forms are dying Christians but they that depend upon them they that cannot have life from God unless he present himself to them in the flesh Reas 2 The second Reason They that fall short of God are in a dying condition but those whose life is bound up in any form they fall short of God He that attains not God loses the Race He that attains not the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus loses the Race and he dyes He that is in bondage to outward observanâ—es and depends upon them fals short of God that is of the glory of God He hath God under a vail in his form but not God in his glory He sees God vailed not his open face not as he is He hears of God in a Parable he sees him not plainly even the flesh of Christ is a vail and till we are past through that through the Mediatorship and through the fleshly state in our selves we appear not in the open presence of God Reas 2 The end of forms is death The end of Christs fleshly state and appearance was death either we must lye and dye in form I mean not eternally or we must dye to form There 's no coming to a higher state but by dying to the former state Christ was Crucified in flesh before Justified in Spirit He that endures to the end shall be saved He that passes through all things forgets and dyes to imperfect discoveries to fleshly appearances let them be never such spirituall flesh he only is in the way of this salvation here meant The fleshly form as it is in Saints hath in it the