of Gods love he wil interpret every thing wel that God doth to him and he will then trust him and then fear him when he is but perswaded of his love and therefore learn this Lesson here is love indeed here is love the like was never heard of that the Lord should rear poor Worms and let such a work pass upon them to make them the Sons of God That is one collection that therefore the love of God is wonderful great unto those that do beleeve in him And Secondly I have but one Collection more that I will give you at this time and that is this 2. Hence it follows That they who beleeve in Jesus Christ are exalted to the highest dignity that any Creature is capable of that as here is a magnifyng of Gods love to them so here is a magnifying of their State That I hence collect that there are no People under the Heavens Nay let me ad not in the Heavens there are no Creatures so highly exalted as Beleevers and why Because they are the Sons and Daughters of God not in a name only not metaphorically as all the Creatures are but really God hath the heart the Bowels of a Father to them and they the hearts of Children Yea the State Adoption of Children the greatest exaltation that is in this world I remember what David said when some of his Courtiers came to him told him of Sauls good opinion of him to give him his Daughter and wished him to be thankful for it Oh! but saith he is it a smal thing in your eyes for a man of so mean a stock as I am to be made the Son in law of a King So if there be any Beleever here that thy heart tels thee that thou acceptest of Christ to be thy Savior that his Spirit hath laid hold upon thee Is it a smal thing in thy eyes that thou art really the Child of God Is there any thing in Heaven and Earth to compare with it I remember David in 1 Chron. 17. when he had Nathan came to him with a message from God and told him to this purpose saith he I wil raise up thy Child after thee and I will set him upon thy Throne and I wil be his Father and he shal be my Son and thus I wil do to thee David could not hold but runs and sits him down reverently before the Lord Oh Lord saith he who am I What comparison is there Wilt thou be my Father and the Father of my Child Is it true Lord Can this be Oh! it so amazed him that God should be his Father Oh! could we think of it I beseech you tel me to which of the Angels said God at any time thou art my Son he saith to the poorest Beleever in the world thou art my Son It is not only a name that expresseth good wil but a state and condition that the Lord hath set him in so that I dare boldly say I will draw to a Conclusion with it but I would have you study it when you are at home I dare boldly affirm that the meanest Beleever though as we say in the Country he go with his Flail or a Rake or as you wil say in the City he carries the Tankard the meanest Beleever that hath Christ for his Lord and Savior he is exalted to a higher condition than Ahasuerus was when he was made the Emperor of a hundred twenty seven Provinces for let them take al the Pomp Wealth State that is in this world let them have it all if they have not Christ God looks upon them as Satans slaves and over a few daies they wil perish among the Dogs I mean among the Devils be base and be miserable for ever wheras the poorest servant of God that believeth in Christ the Lord tenders him as his first born O! I would fain if it were Gods wil that Gods People would lay this to heart it would comfort them against all the Scorns and Reproaches of the world It is with many of Gods People as it was with Christ when he was upon Earth when he was called King How was he jeered for it Art thou a King saith Pilat when he had a seamless Coat on and bound with Halters belike you are a King So they are ready to jeer the Children of God belike you are the Childrdren of God I let them scorn I have read of Princes that when for some ends they could be strangers from their own Countries a while they could bear the Scorns and Jeers of People but when I am at home I am known what I am So a poor Child of God may say I go in a russet Coat and have never a penny of Mony in my purse and undergo many afflictions and troubles Wel but God is my Father and the very thought of the dignity that God hath exalted him to will make him quietly and contentedly undergo all the afflictions of this world These are but general Collections had I time to enter into the Particulars to shew what Gods Children by Adoption are delivered from Sin and the Law and what they are instated into under his Family under his Provision Protection and the like truly I might set that before you that if a man could hold to it by Faith and the Lords spirit help him to apply it to his heart he would live comfortably here al his daies FINIS FAITH THE ONLY MEANS Spiritually to FEED on CHRIST Opened in a Sermon at Mary le Bow November 12. 1654. JOHN 6.53 54 55 56. Then said Jesus unto them Verily verily I say unto you Except ye Eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood ye have no Life in you Whoso eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood hath eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last day For my Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in me and I in Him I Read all these verses because they all hold out one and the same Doctrine though in a little different phrases That you may the better understand the scope of our blessed Savior in these words know that the occasion of it was this Christ having the day before fed the Bodies of many thousands who attended upon his ministry The rumor of this flying abroad the next day great multitudes thronged after him again and Christ knowing what lay at the bottom of the heart told them plainly they sought him for carnal ends because they had eat of the Loaves and were filled but that was not the end of his coming into the world to fil their Bellies No there was better food that he was willing to give all that had an appetite after it and thereupon that I may not stay you fals into a most divine discourse of his own being sent out of the bosome of his Father to be the Bread of life to al who did thirst
know not how often in this one Chapter eating drinking is interpreted by Beleeving and Beleeving in a Metaphor is nothing but Eating Drinking therefore my work shal be God willing to explain this know then in general that this great Grace of Faith whereby Souls partake of Christ it is in the true nature of it nothing but an accepting or receiving of Jesus Christ to be that unto us which God sent him to be for poor sinners the Scripture is most cleer in 1 John 12. As many as received him he gave them power to become the Sons God even they that beleeved in him So that to receive Christ is to believe in him now the receiving of Christ being a spiritual act of the soul wherin the understanding and the wil must both have a share it hath pleased the Lord I beseech you mark it it hath pleased the Lord to set out this one act of Beleeving by abundance of Metaphors in the Scripture similitudes taken from the Body and every one of them being rightly interpreted wil cleerly set out the nature of Faith and what the Soul doth when it beleeveth in Christ as I wil give you but a tast because it is but one only that I mean to open and that is in my Text Somtimes 1. Beleeving it is very often set forth by Coming Come unto me He that cometh unto me I will not cast him out that is to Beleeveâ— Now Coming therein is a figure an expression taken from an act of our Body of our Feet wherein there are alwaies these three things 1. There is the place from which we go 2. There is the place to which we go 3. There is the way and means in which and by which we go Now these interpreted would cleerly shew you what the Soul doth in Beleeving So likewise 2. To look up to Christ that as Moses lift up the Serpent in the Wilderness that whosoever looked upon it was cured so Christ is lifted up that we may look upon him Now that very act of the eye to look to an Object for such an end being rightly interpreted would cleerly shew you what the Soul of man doth when it beleeveth in Christ. And so 3. To stay upon him or to lean upon him which is a Metaphor taken from the Body that reposeth it self upon somewhat to uphold it when it wants strength of its own now this being discovered would cleerly shew you what the Soul of man doth when it believeth in Christ. 4. Now among many of these Metaphors this Text of John's pitcheth upon this especially of eating Christ and drinking which is the action of our mouth and stomach wherby our life comes to be maintained by our Food and there is in this of eating and drinking so cleer a demonstration what the Soul of man doth when it beleeveth in Christ and how it may discover whether men do beleeve or no that you cannot desire a cleerer than this is if God do but vouchsafe the ful understanding of it That then which I have laid out for a part of this afternoon's work is to shew you wherin the eating drinking of our food doth shadow out Beleeving in Jesus Christ to eternal life though I have but now brought you to that which I would endeavor a little more fully to discover to you Would you know then wherein the Holy Ghost maketh the comparison to stand for I dare not go to ad the study of our own brains but wherein the Scripture makes these to answer one another eating and drinking food for bodily life and Beleeving in Christ for spiritual life wherein do they answer I answer in these six things some of them I shall not need to stay upon for if I should stay upon all I should not have time to cleer the rest but in six things do the eating and drinking of our food answer our laying hold upon Jesus Christ by Faith and I wil desire you to mark them because it is the foundation of a great tryal of your spiritual estate The first 1. That the Lord when he first created man with a living Soul with a life this life of man is not able to nourish it self to preserve it self in being nor to strengthen it self when it is any waies impaired but God hath appointed that which is food such creatures as have suitable spirits in them to the life of man that mans life under God lies in these and cannot be preserved without them but it is the meat and drink as the ordinary expression is it is the food and the nourishment the means wherby the life of man is preserved in a man and give him all other things in the world let Angels attend him Princes wait upon him let all that God hath given to the whole Creation be bestowed upon him keep food from him and the man dies he doth not live though it is true we live not by Bread only but God can preserve it otherwise but in the ordinary proceedings of God take away food and you take away life you need no other weapon mans life the nourishment of mans life is food that is one Now answerable to this for our spiritual life it is laid up and to be found wholly in the Lord Jesus Christ in his flesh and his blood but you must know it is his flesh and blood prepared that look as other meat Bread must be broken and ground and baked and so made fit for mans use before he partakes of it so the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ was ground was broken by the passion and sufferings he underwent for our sins and by vertue of his dying communicated it to us his flesh and blood hath merited life satisfied wrath and in Christ and Christ alone lies all the spiritual life of his people and can be had no where else Give him all the obedience that ever mortal man had give him the righteousness of the Holy Angels in Heaven give him all that a mans Tongue can speak of or his Pen write down he is a dead man if he have not the Lord Jesus Christ to be his life it self Our life is hid in Christ as the Apostle saith there is the treasury of it There is the first that as our humane life lies in Gods disposing I mean by his so ordering it in our food so our spiritual life lies only in Jesus Christ. That is one Secondly these three first I wil be very brief in The second branch is this 2. That look as God in nature hath planted in every man because his life is the most excellent thing skin for skin and all that a man hath he wil give for his life therfore God hath planted in man a more vehement appetite and desire after food then after any thing else in the world and if he be put to it that the choyce must be made it may be he would not part with any thing that he thinkes is sutable to him but if
should all joyne together to put out their utmost skil they could not make such a conjunction between Christ and the soul as beleeving doth but yet I wil tell you thus far not by any virtue that God hath put in faith but as it is the hand whereby we receive the holy Spirit for by the Spirit we receive faith and this holy Spirit that takes Christ and gives him to us and takes us and gives us to Christ this holy Spirit in a way utterly unknown to us and no waies to be understood in this world makes us one with Christ. There is the fifth And then the sixth and last is this 6. That look as in our food when the food is prepared and we have an appetite to it and the stomach receives it and works upon it and it becomes one with us then by vertue of that by the strength of that food are we enabled to live as men if we have wasted our spirits if our healths are decayed here is strength to be added if we have work to do we are thereby enabled to do it to go through what belongs to us by the power that comes in Gods way of ordering it by the power that comes and is added to us So it is here in our spiritual life that when once the Lord brings the Soul to value Christ as that wherein his life lies to have a desire after him above all goods in the world to come to have Christ incorporated into us by the power of the Spirit then do we come from hence by the Covenant of Grace the operation of â—he Holy Ghost according to Gods dispensation to his People to receive such a supply of his Spirit as we are enabled to walk as those that are alive unto God through Jesus Christ only add this difference for I wil shew you how the preheminence lies in our spiritual eating with this difference that whereas our outward food never gives life to those that want it but by the blessing of God only repairs it in those that have it now this spiritual eating of Christ doth not only maintain life in those that are alive but it raiseth them up from the very dead it gives life and that moment that the Lord enables the soul to hunger after him and rest upon him in that moment is the life of Jesus Christ conveyed to him And this is the first part to let you see that eating and drinking it is nothing but beleeving in Christ and the resemblance of them stands in these things as I have opened to you and now the second which I wil be but brief in because I would not stay you long nor be hindred from the Application of it the second thing I promised is 2. A little to discover what the benefit is that we partake of by eating and drinking the flesh and the blood of Jesus Christ What do we get by it For answer We can easily say when men are extolling the good cheer they have been at at any Feast or Banquet where luxury is set out What get you by it a feeding of our Bodies that wil return to clay is al that a man gets by it Now what is gotten by this eating and drinking of Jesus Christ Oh! could I but in a few words open to you what our Lord hath said of it saith he 1. He that eateth and drinketh my flesh and blood he shal have everlasting life There is the first benefit What means he by that life That is not this poor frail momentary life that we live though this be the purchase of Christ to Beleevers but he shall have First 1. The life of pardon that whereas all of us are dead under the guilt of sin dead in Law liable to wrath they are pardoned men if once they beleeve in Christ. 2. Whereas they were dead likewise under the dominion of sin and were strangers to the life of God the Lord Jesus infuseth a principle of a new spirituall life into them and such inward qualities and holiness that enables them to live the life of God that life that is of the same kind that Christ himself lives his life a holy spiritual life that alas if I could open it to you and you understand it it would make you conclude that there is no such life in any creature to be found as the life that every soul lives that laies hold upon Christ I and then he adds 3. This life is an everlasting life that is as our Savior expresses it saith he Your Fathers did eat Manna that is as the Scripture saith Angels Food not that Angels eat any meat but if they did eat any food it would be Manna Your Fathers did eat Manna and are dead but he that eateth upon me lives for ever It is not such a poor momentary life as this is but a life that wil last to all eternity this is the Benefit Nay mark some other expressions that come in here together 2. He shal never hunger nor thirst more That wil explain wel what the Lord means by saying an everlasting life they shal never hunger nor thirst What is that He means not that they shal never desire more of Christ No there is a two fold hunger and thirst 1. There is such a hunger and thirst as riseth out of sweetness that because the honey is good they would have more of it because the Wine is good therefore the Drunkard saith I wil sip again where the content of it makes them desire more of it This hunger all the People of God have because they find contentment in Christ therefore they desire more of him But then 2. There is another hunger and thirst which is deadly which will kill a man unless it be supplied which our Savior explains in his discourse with the Woman of Samaria He that drinketh of that Water shall thirst again that is if he have not a supply he will be in as dead a condition as he was in before if he be not supplied But now he that eateth and drinketh of the meat and drink that he prepares though there wil be a sweet hunger to make him desire more yet there wil be such a life and stock of life within that til eternity have end they shal never be destitute of meat So here is a benefit a life everlasting that they shal never hunger nor thirst Nay he explains it yet a little higher in the words I have read the one is saith he 3. Whosoever doth thus eat and drink and thus cometh to me I wil in no wise cast off What is that though it may be he may think himself the most unworthy and say Lord here is meat indeed Lord ever more give us of this meat But who am I that I should come I am the unworthiest wretchedest vilest of all Nay let him be never so unworthy in himself never so vile I wil in no wise cast him out if he come to me for God my Fathers
choyce be made all shal goe so he may have food the strongest appetite after any thing in the world is after food insomuch as therefore the Lord uses ordinarily to expresse the highest desires of the soule that man can put out in any kind he uses to expresse them by hungering and thirsting which is nothing but the appetite that men have after food so that living men out of a desire of that which is sutable to their life have a vehementer desire after that then they have after any thing else in the world So the Lord plants in any soul to whom Christ is life for I speak not of those who are meerly dead though I shall have occasion afterwards to shew you that Christ gives life to the dead but I say to those to whom Christ is life there is nothing in the world found in them after which their desires are so mighty so vehement so constant so unsatisfied with any thing else in the world no such appetite is in the soul of a man as the party that partakes of spiritual life hath after Jesus Christ as the heart after the rivers of waters as the hungry man after his food all kind of such things are expressed in the longing desires that the soul of a man that hath an interest in Christ hath after Jesus Christ lay up these by you till I come to apply them but yet I am not come to the main things wherein the comparison holds thirdly There is a third thing which is between eating and drinking and beleeving and that is this 3. That look as it is in our bodily life our natural life that as there is no such vehement appetite after any thing as after food when we want it so there is no such satisfaction in any thing as there is to be had in sutable things that when a hungry man is satisfied with food there is the quiet of his outward life then all vehemency all pains all angers all longings till he hath more need doth cease for you know such is our life that one meales meat will not serve it but for a little while but when hunger is raised and food administred then is the desire quieted So now when the Lord Christ hath life prepared in him and raised up in the soul a desire after him when that soul findeth him when he can find that Christ owneth him or intimates to it that he accepts it it is satisfied as with marrow and fatness no joy no delight no content in the world pleaseth the Soul so as to say this one thing I have found Christ Jesus and have an interest in him All these are main but the three last are most ful to my purpose and therefore I hasten to them Fourthly then and that which I think is one of the greatest of all the rest thus it is 4. That look as it is in our food pray mark it look as it is in our food for the body let the food be never so excellent never so wel Cooked never so freely conferred we never so freely invited let al be set out that is imaginable that food never nourisheth me or any other until it come to be incorporated within me that when a man his food come to be made one one mass I wil not say transubstantiated but translated and changed into the same substance with himself never doth it become food to him til then Take a man set him before all the dainties let him smel to them put them in his mouth nay if you can imagine it he may swallow them down and they pass through him if they be not incorporated into him that the flesh of the beast he eateth turns to his flesh or to be made fit for his blood it is no food to him though all the delicates of the world be set upon a Table and say here is enough to satisfie a thousand men not one bit of them is fit for me except it be so changed that it becometh one mass with me this we all know in our natural food Now herein lies the answerableness so it is with Christ it is Jesus Christ that is prepared the Lord hath prepared and put the vertue into him that it is enough to serve all the world if the Lord be pleased to bestow it upon the world but no man ever comes to have spiritual life from Christ till Christ become one with him and he become one with Christ It is Christ in you that is the hope of Glory and this our Savior expresseth in the very Text saith he He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood I dwel in him and he dwels in me that they are made one really only with this difference it remember it indeed our food for our body we and our food are made of one substance but there the food is turned into our substance that if it were not the flesh of a Beast turned into my flesh if it were not the blood of a Bird that is turned into my blood and so it leaves its own nature and is changed into my nature but this is different in our spiritual eating for here instead of Jesus Christ being changed into our nature we by feeding upon him are changed into his nature made partakers of the divine nature and there is a mystica I spiritual union betwixt the Lord Jesus Christ and us whereby we cease to be what we were in regard of our corrupt being and now come to be changed into his spiritual being but notwithstanding a union and conjunction there must be or else the Lord Christ never profits This is so plain that I hope I need say no more about it that is the fourth Lay up these for these wil be for tryal before I dismiss you Then fifthly the fifth thing wherein the comparison lies is this 5. That look as the Lord in his infinite wisdom hath in nature given such a Power to our stomach our appetite to receive it and our stomach to digest it that all the art in the world hath not the power or skil to come and make the food that is an extraneous thing another thing from it to fit it so and prepare it so that it shal be fit to become one with me no art in the world can do it like that of the stomach the power that God hath given to nature we know if we should take our meat and boyl it upon the hottest fire it can never prepare it so as the heat of a mans stomach can do it God hath given this peculiar faculty and power to the stomach thus to make our meat sutable for us so it is with the grace of God beyond all other graces and works of all the creatures yea of the Angels he hath given that power to the souls acepting of Christ and consenting to Christ that power to unite Christ and the soul together that is not elsewhere found in all the world for all Gods creatures if they
after him and would but accept of him and tels them more particularly that they must eat and drink his flesh and his blood as the only Food that would do good to their Souls hereupon these carnal People were extreamly offended at him and at his Doctrine for they interpret all this in a carnal manner as if Christ did mean that they must eat his very flesh and drink his very blood as they did eat and drink other food and truly it was ever thus and it wil be ever thus that nothing can act above its own Sphere and they who have carnall minds can never judg right of spiritual things thereupon our blessed Savior in the words that I have read and in many other in this latter end of the Chapter inculcates this Doctrine further Assuredly no man could ever live that did not eat and drink his flesh and blood and he that did eat him and drink him eat his flesh and drink his blood would receive such invaluable nourishment as he would think it the best meal that ever he was at And that is the scope of these words which before I come to handle give me leave very briefly to vindicate them from the gross erronious interpretation that the Papists put upon them for you all know that there is a monster in their Doctrine that is called transubstantiation which in their conceit is the turning of the Bread and the Wine in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper into the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and whosoever doth not beleeve it in their conceit is certainly damned And this Doctrine of theirs hath been the occasion of the murdering and martyrdome of many thousands of Saints and among all the Arguments that they alledg to prove it this Scripture is the prime of all the rest except only that of This is my Body But in the next place to that comes this discourse wherein Christ speaks so Positively and punctually of eating his flesh and drinking his Blood and the necessity of it to salvation that they think every man out of his wits that is not convinced by these Texts to grant their transubstantiation yea one of them and one of the learnedst of them hath left it in Print that if ever the Lord Christ should say to him at the day of judgment Why didst thou beleeve that the Bread and Wine was my very Body and Blood he would make no other Answer than this Thou spakest it so plain in such a place that it could not be denied my sense and reason could not deny it Now I wil a little cleer this Text from them and I hope to such an understanding Auditory as I think I preach to a very few words wil serve the turn There are three things which whosoever doth but weigh will be easily convinced that the eating and drinking that is here spoke of hath no relation in the world to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper The first is 1. This Sermon was preached a whole year before there was any word of the institution of the Sacrament the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was at the Passover immediately before his Death this was a whole year before it Now how can it be imaginable that Christs speech here should be meant of a Sacramental eating when no Sacrament was instituted Who can imagine such a thing Secondly 2. This Text and all this discourse in John 6. if it should be interpreted literally for that is the thing they stand for the literal sense I say interpret it literally and it is quite against their transubstantiation for they say that the Bread and Wine are transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Christ but if here be any transubstantiation at all it is that the Body and blood of Christ are transubstantiated into bread and drink for he doth not say the bread is my body the drink is my blood but my body my flesh is meat and my blood is drink so that if you will have any transsubstantiation it is quite contrary And Thirdly 3. The eating and drinking of Christ that my Text speaks of it is very plain by our Lords words that whosoever eats him and drinks him as this Text holds out shal certainly live another life for ever and they themselves grant that you may eat that very Body and Blood of Christ as it is in the Sacrament and never partake of his Grace but go to Hell with the Sacrament in their bellies I hope that this is enough to shew you that this Text proves it not I tel you in a word that the eating and drinking that my Text speaks of is the same thing that the people of God enjoy in the Sacrament and out of the Sacrament for there do we partake of the Body and Blood of Christ spiritually by faith whosoever receives it preparedly but the discourse here is nothing at all to that But now I come to the matter and in the words there are two things which the Lord assisting me I wil open to you the first is 1. The duty required of every one that would partake of Jesus Christ and that is to eat his flesh and drink his blood that is the duty pressed over and over and so heavily that the Lord saith expressly that whosoever doth not do it can never live The duty required to eate and drink the body and blood of Jesus Christ the second is 2 The benefits which every soul doth receive who doth eate Christs flesh and drink Christs blood and that is set down in many various expressions but all tending to the same thing that is they shall live for ever they shall never hunger nor thirst they shall in no wise be cast out they shall be raised up at the last day they shall live to eternity these are the benefits or rather the benefit for all is one that every soul partakes of who eates the flesh of Christ and who drinks his blood wel now for the meaning of it that I may make it plain for my intent is to preach but a short Sermon I will God willing open both the parts that is the duty required and the benefit received I will open them distinctly and give you the application of them both together for the first 1. What is meant by our Lord when he doth thus positively say that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood his flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed this we must eat this we must drink What doth he mean I answer plainly that his meaning is we must beleeve Beleeving is eating and drinking and eating and drinking in this sense is beleeving that is the general meaning and that it is so any of you may prove it your selves if you wil but read the Scriptures over for where he saith My flesh is meat indeed in one place He that beleeveth in me shall never hunger nor thirst by and by He that eateth of this Bread shal live for ever So that I
had a little Oyl in the bottom of a Cruse and a handful of meal in the bottom of a Barrel and she and her Son did live upon it for as many years as the Famine lasted I warrant you that poor Woman would not have taken a hundred pound for it So that poor soul that can say I bless God he hath raised me up from my low condition and I have abundance of the world about me but I know Christ is more dear to me than all the world I know my prayers are to him for life and I hang upon him as wel as I can for life and look for it no where else and I dayly apply my heart to him in that poor measure his Spirit enables me I tel thee poor soul he hath given thee Jehoiakims portion and the richest food for manna was Angels meat this the Angels nay pardon me God never created any creature in the world to tast of this but every poor soul how wretched soever that lives upon Christ feeds upon â—t I pray meditate upon this at home and the Lord help you to ruminate upon this in secret Is it so Lord that the poor soul that casts himself upon Christ is thus made one with him Surely I wil never take care how it is in the world with me God hath provided wel for me my Lot is fallen in a very good place And Lastly USE 3. For Exhortation I shal make but one Use and that shal be in the very words of our blessed Savior when he begins this Doctrine in this John 6. ver 27. when they came and flocked after him for the Loaves saith Christ to them Labor not for the meat that perisheth but for the meat that endures to eternal life This Counsel of Christ I would a little press to you though I borrow half a quarter of an hour forgive me for it is for your good First saith Christ 1. You seek me for the loaves labor not for that Friends we are all cumbred as our Saviour said to Martha in Luke 10. the latter end Martha Martha thou art carefull and cumbred about many things So we are cumbred all of us about many things some of us are cumbred how to get more wealth some of us cumbred how to dispose of the wealth we have got we are cumbred about our places offices and these worldly things hurry us up and down we can hardly come into any place but all the peoples talk is no body is at leisure but full of business and what is it for the meat that perisheth all that thou laborest for is perishing perishing money pershing wealth perishing honor perishing profit alas Freind in a very few daies all that thou laborest for wil not be worth one penny at least to thee and but over a little time to no body else perishing things not worth your seeking the Lord knows they are not they that the world comes in most upon and all that their hearts can wish comes in with ease it is not one hours content it is but meat that perisheth but now labour saith he for the meat that endures to eternall life here is meat worth your labouring for I appeal to all your consciences that have heard the Sermon whether this meat be not worth the labouring for whether to get an interest in Christ to hunger after him to long for him to rely upon him Is not this worth the seeking Oh! seek it and to encourage you 2. I wil tel you what our Savior adds in verse 27. Labor for that meat that endures to everlasting life saith he the Son of man he gives it you that is you have no promise if you labor for the things of this world How many are those that toyl and moyl and cark and care most for the world and it wil not come upon them many a man sits up late and riseth early and manages his business discreetly and yet it wil not come but God hath engaged himself by a Promise that he that seeks the bread of life shal have it that if thou canst but pour out thy soul Lord leave me not destitute of Christ he wil not deny the Son of man to thee But lest some-body should further add Give it me Why should he give it me What is there in me that the Son of man should be given me Why should I think the Lord Christ would give me this food If I ask that he ads For him hath God the Father Sealed that is I came into the world under a sealed Office to do the wil of my Father and the work that my Father hath sealed to me made my work to do is To give eternal life to those that seek it He can as wel deny himself and deny that he is sent from God and his Office as to deny the bread of life to a soul that unfainedly labors for it Wil not this do it The Lord bless it and give you to consider what I have said and win all our hearts to study that Jesus Christ may be more in our thoughts FINIS SELF-DENIAL Opened in a SERMON At St. Mary Spittal March 26. 1649. Matth. 16 14 and so forward Then said Jesus unto his Disciples if any Man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me For whosoever will save his Life shal lose it And whosever will lose his Life for my sake shall find it For what is a Man profited if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Or what shall a Man give in Exchange for his Soul THe occasion of this speech of our Savior was this he had a little before told his Disciples what great things he was shortly to suffer at Jerusalem whereupon Simon Peter begins to rebuke his Master for admitting of such a Melancholly thought Far be it from thee to imagine that God will ever suffer thee to undergo such sad things as these are Master pitty thy self if there be any danger take a course to avoid it Our Savior therefore replies to Peter get thee behind me Satan thou art an offence to me this is nothing but the savor of the things of the world that makes thee give me this wicked counsel having rebuked Peter he turns to al his Disciples and utters this speech that I have read wherein our Lord strikes at the Root of that which made Peter give him that carnal counsel for the Lord knew it was nothing but unmortified self in Peter and he wel saw that it would bring the like bitter fruits in all in whom it was not Crucified and therupon gives them that counsel that is contained in those three verses that I have read to you wherein there are these two things First 1. Here is a Lesson necessarily to be practised by all Christs Disciples in these words If any man wil be my Disciple Let him deny himself Take up his Cross And follow me that is the Lesson Secondly 2. Here is
I note to prevent a discouragement if any soul should not be able to go along with a man in every thing nor understand every thing it may be an argument to humble thee but not to discourage thee only I shal ad this in the last place They that live this Life the poorest weakest simplest of al that are numbred amongst the Lords people though others may be able to dispute of it better than they and to speak of it to the edification of others better than they yet they that live this life know more of it than al the world besides I only give you these little things beforehand Now I come to the Two things that I promised to treat of The one is I will first prove it cleerly to you out of the Scripture that there is such a Life a spiritual Life a Life of Christ which al who receive Christ live while they are in this world demonstrate the truth of it that there is such a Life Secondly I wil then a little more fully endeavor to discover to you what this Life is and wherein it stands and I do not doubt but if the Lord help me in it the things I shal deliver wil be not only useful in some kind but very comfortable to the Lords people First then The thing that I promised to endeavor the demonstration of it is That there is such a Life besides the Life of eating and drinking and putting on of Apparel and buying and selling and enjoyment of these corporal things there is a Life that is a higher degree of living wherein men are taken up above the life that other people live that there is such a Life and I wil tel you why I undertake to prove this Because as natural men do not understand it so out of the pride of their hearts disdaining that there should be any happiness that the poor creatures enjoy which they themselves cannot understand thereupon they beleeve that there is no such thing and I am confident that most people that live when they hear men talk of the Life of God and the Life of Christ and a new Life a supernatural Life a spiritual Life they look upon it as a meer juggle partly in the Ministers to make the world beleeve that they know more than others do and the simple people that follow them that they may have somwhat to cloke their fantasticalness they give it out but for the thing there is no such matter this men beleeve and the rather because it is a hidden life and hidden both under the poverty and weakness of those that have it and many times hidden under their Infirmities and corruptions that break out which maketh them look like other men and so men force upon themselves and nourish in themselves a conceit that though some it may be may be honester men than others and stricter and devouter and the like yet this is but a little chipping and he wing of the life that other men live and can live as they do if they had a mind to it but as for a life by another principle and Rule and to have other manner of operations than the Life of the rest of the world they abominate the admitting of it into their understandings and I am perswaded this is that that hardens abundance of people that they never look after nor suspect their own condition therefore I say I would now prove to you that there is such a life which the Saints do live and instead of turning you to many particular Scriptures to prove it I wil give you these Four Arguments out of the Scripture which you shal in reading the Scripture find frequently proved to your observation Four Arguments to prove that there is such a Life that is a higher degree of living and another kind of Life than the rest of the world live The one is The comparison between the two Adams Jesus Christ is to al those to whom he is a Root as Adam was to al to whom he was a Root For it is worth your observing that the Scripture speaks but of two Adams from the beginning of the world to the end of it two Men the First Man and the Second Man because they two only were Roots that others do partake of either which they spring from or are grafted into Now the first Man Adam God made him a living soul and of a living soul is he the Root of all us that is that natural rational life that all men in the world have the first Adam he was the Root of it which communicates it Now Jesus Christ is to al us the Second Adam and the Lord made him not only the Lord from Heaven to rule all that should be under him but to be a quickning spirit that as the natural men follow their stock so al that partake of Jesus Christ must follow their Stock and consequently must partake of his Life as the branches of the first Adam do of his Life That is one Argument and pray weigh it for if it please God anon I shal come to examine whether you have that Life or no. Secondly The second Argument I give is this The Scripture holds it out as the proper end of Jesus Christs undertaking his work to give life to al that come to him that upon their coming to him he should give them life I am come that my sheep might have life that they might have it in abundance and herein appeared the love of God that he gave his only begotten Son that we might live by him He that hath the Son hath life he that hath not the Son hath not life Now were there no other life than what all natural men live this were an absurd argument and a poor I may speak it with reverence undertaking Suppose I should go visit and ride a Journey of many hundred miles and lay down my life and part with my estate For what end That the party for whom I do it might have have a house that hath a house already why should I do this if there were not another house than that which he dwels in Or why should I go that he might have health that is well without my undertaking if there were not another health besides that So were there not another life to what end should Jesus Christ make that the undertaking of his life and death and burial and communicate life if there were not another Life than the rest of the world live Thirdly Cleerly you wil find this and very frequent in the Scripture that all the world are said to be dead til they come to Jesus Christ all the world are said to be dead rich or poor sickly or healthful yong or old they are al dead Now it is apparent that they are not dead as to their natural life that needeth no confutation to say of this Assembly that they are dead men when they live and move and breath and talk and do all the actions
of men when therefore the Lord saith that al are dead til Christ cometh certainly there is another Life besides that life that natural men enjoy Fourthly and lastly Abundantly in the Scripture wil you find this proved that upon the souls accepting of Christ they are said to be quickned They who were dead in sins and trespasses he hath quickned Read but the ten first verses of the 2d of the Ephesians and I know not how many other places there are Ye were dead ye were such but he hath quickned you and he that beleeveth in me saith Christ to Martha in John 11.25 though he were dead he shall live and living once he shal never die Doest thou beleeve this Then Christ being the Root of a Life it being the end of his undertaking that his people might have life and all men being dead before they come to him and quickned to life upon the receiving of him certainly then there is a life that they who have any interest in Christ do live which others are strangers from And let this suffice for the first And beloved though I shal not apply this alone yet I would count it a great fruit of this daies meeting if the very notion of it might but stick upon your hearts it would be of admirable consequence that if al of you would go home and say Certainly whatsoever I may think of my self if I be in Christ there is another life than that which I live yet and as you will hear if it please God a better life another manner of life than this is But that for the first The Second which it may be you wil more long for for I suspect not that you wil doubt the truth of the first is What is this Life what is it Now remember I taught you in one of my Preparatory Conclusions That it is not to be understood of this world and therefore pray expect not any cleer opening of it what it is but only so far as the Lord hath taught me out of his Word I shal communicate to you I wil give you this Description of it and then I will open it more expresly as I go along The Life that al Beleevers have from Christ it is a participation of Christs righteousness upon their union with him Pray mark it I shall make this plainer by and by I say That the Life of Christ that al the Saints partake of it is a participation of Christs righteousness upon the souls union with him Where there are these two things a little to be cleered First That all who do receive Christ are united to him and that is the foundation of their Life The Second is That upon their union they partake of his Righteousness and the participation of this righteousness is their life That is that I mainly intend to cleer That they are al united to him the Scripture is abundant in the proof of it It is Christ in us that is the hope of glory and we are one with him and he with us and he dwells in us by his spirit c. therefore it is cleer that we are united to him made one and this union it is nothing but the Lord Jesus sending his spirit into the soul as a band to knit him and them together that he be made their Root and Stock Now that I will not treat of because the very handling of it it is not only a great Mystery but it would take up more time than is to be allowed for the Sermon But Secondly Upon their Union with Christ they partake of his Righteousness and the participation of his Righteousness is our Life Mark I pray this because I hope it will give you some Light into this great Work for if you be Gods People I am only making you to see what your spirits are what your blood is what your pulse is and I shal speak of nothing but the things that are in you if you be the Lords I say The participation of Christs Righteousness that is our Life To this purpose be pleased to observe this one rule and mark it in your reading of the Scriptures of the new Testament especially How that Righteousness and Death are the two things that are opposed one to another Death and Righteousness That look as soon as ever man was a sinner he was a dead man presently he was dead under the sentence of Death In the day thou eatest thou shalt die and not dead only under the Sentence but dead as his sin deprived him of Gods Image Now as it is sin that is our Death so it is Righteousness that is our Life not our own which the Scripture disclaims but the Righteousness of Christ and you shal find several times in Rom. 5. where the Apostle compares the Death by Adam and the Life by Christ ordinarily he useth this expression That As sin reigned unto Death so righteousness by Christ unto Life stil opposing them our Death is sin our Life is righteousness I know the time will prevent me if I should stay upon that But therefore I wil proceed to that that I aim at the Righteousness of Christ the participation of Christs Righteousness You wil say What mean you by that I mean plainly this That our spiritual Death it hath two Branches that Tree of Death that deadly Stock hath two Branches and we are said to be spiritually dead in a two-fold respect The one is We are dead as we are under the sentence of Condemnation and that is our death of guilt being bound over by the righteous Judgment of God to make him amends for the injury we have done him and that sentence of condemnation is our death that is one branch in regard of our guilt The other branch of our spiritual death is Our state of death we are in as being deprived of the image of God wherein we were made and not only deprived of it but have contrary principles in al the faculties of the soul carrying us constantly to the things that are opposite to him In these two respects are all men and women in the world dead til Christ finds them Now Jesus Christ answerable to this hath a two-fold righteousness the participation whereof is our life First He hath a Righteousness of his Obedience which is inherent only in himself but is bestowed upon us imputed to us reckoned to us and by that righteousness performed by Christ and inherent in him and reckoned to us by the righteous sentence of God he delivereth us from the death that we are under the death of our condemnation under the sentence of death and so the Apostle expresseth it cleerly in Col. 2.12 13. Ye saith he who were dead in sins and trespasses hath he quickened How forgiving you your trespasses In that place the pardoning and removing of our trespasses is the chief thing that is the quickning there intended So there is one a righteousness of Christ performed in our name accepted by God
valuing of this spiritual Life wil appear in these three things just as it is in the other life The one is A natural propensity and inclination and appetite towards those things that are the nourishment of their Life Look what God in Nature hath made the means to preserve life those things living man so far as he is living hath the greatest inclination and disposition to and therefore of al desires that man is subject to none so vehement as those of hunger and thirst a man may love Gold or Silver or Lands but there is nothing so vehemently carries him out of himself as the satisfying hunger and thirst So it is with all those that have this spiritual Life Look whatsoever God hath placed their life in as David had learned God had placed it in his Word O Lord saith he give me thy Word my life lies in it and new born Christians if ever you tast how sweet the Lord is desire the sincere Milk of the Word that you may grow by it be longing after a high and reverent esteem and an appetite after those things wherein the Lord hath placed thy nourishment though they be but the channels the vessels whereby his spirit is administred to you the supplies of the spirit comes in them to you of al things in the world these are the most desired Others that are painted Christians may for their reputation and that others may think well of them and to get knowledg c. and for such carnal ends but with an inward savor no man is mightily and eagerly carried out after the means of spiritual Life but he that lives it That is one A Second thing that manifests the high value of that spiritual Life is A most vehement declining of what they know to be destructive to life Let a man that is thirsty come in and give you all his money in his purse for a cup of Beer but let one come and tel him Sir that Beer in that cup is poyson that man wil drink his own Piss rather than that shal go down Oh! it wil destroy Life God hath put it into the bruit beasts as put a Sheep into a pasture he carries that discerning tast he wil not eat the poysonous Weeds that are there the Tree it will shoot no Root that way it will decline it So those that are the Lords People that live the life of Christ what their souls are convinced of to be destructive to their spiritual life that they decline shun and hate and turn from and of all things under Heaven nothing so hateful to them as the waies of sin And thirdly it wil appear in this That look as it is in the natural life every Creature as it longs after that which would nourish it and declines that which would destroy it so if they must come to the parting they wil part with al other good things in this world actually part with them to save their lives It was a speech of Esau and had his Birthright been nothing but a Civil Priviledg it would have been justified If I die for hunger what good would my Birthright do me he sels his Birthright for to preserve his life Skin for skin and al that a man hath he wil part with rather than his life Take me a man that is alive to Christ if he must part with his Christ or with his wealth with his Christ or with his outward life though it be the best thing that is to be enjoyed under the name of all worldly things yet to a man that lives the life of Christ that is a poor thing to him in comparison of his spiritual life you shal rather strip him of al. I know when we come to practice our weaknesses ignorances temptations reliques of corruption often over power us which may cause matter of self abhorrence but no man that hath this life of Christ but in the bent of his soul doth these things nothing so lovely as that that preserves his life nothing so abominable as that that wil destroy it and if he must part with any they must go before Christ. Pray lay up these things The Second and other Note whereby this Spiritual Life of Christ may be judged of is this That look as it is in al other Lives there are some vital operations some kind of motions or operations that are properly vital that where they are found you may say and swear it too that there is life and where these are not found there is no life or that life is in a swound As now take the Life of a Tree we know the natural operations of it are al those of vegetation to draw nourishment to expel superfluous moisture to put out their seed in the sap and bark and seed and the fruit according to its kind where you see these things if the sap run if the buds be if there be vegetation the Tree is alive if it appear there be none of these in their season though they may be dead in Winter it is a dead Tree So likewise in the life of man the sensual life of a Beast if there want the pulse that there be not those beatings that there are not such motions of the heart we conclude there is no life there if there be a beating of the pulse though never so weak life is there Now in this Spiritual Life there are some things that you shal find in the Scripture that are the proper beatings of the pulse some operations that though the things the acting of them abroad may be counterfeit as to others yet to a mans own soul that studies his own heart and the motions and operations of his own inward man he cannot be cozened in it and therefore you may by them be able to discern whether the pulse of this spiritual life beateth Now they are many but I thought but of these three and I think most of the rest wil fall under them The one is The proper genuine and as I may so say the natural motion of this Spiritual Life is to enjoy God in Jesus Christ as their chiefest good that I say is the great thing wherein their pulse beats because Jesus Christ is not only the fountain of it and so it must flow back to him but he is the supream good of the soul God in Christ is the supream good and to be carried to that that we fancy to be our supream good it is not in our choyce we do it necessarily Nature compels every man to follow that that he looks upon as his chief good therefore we use to say that of the chief end there is no deliberation a man is not of choyce but is carried to it Now God in Christ being the chief good of the soul the aiming after him the braying breathing after him the mourning for the want of him the joying in the presence of him and all those things that would argue Christ to be the souls chief good are never
found in any but those that have the Life of Christ there is no man else in this world but if Christ be Twelve to him there is somthing else that is Thirteen therefore ask your souls that find you that by some operations it may be you know not whence they come nor how they come in you but there is this fixed upon you there is no good to your souls but Christ let you enjoy God in Christ for your portion and that is that good your souls aims after you may tel others and I tel you that I do this and my heart may deceive me but if I examine my soul I can never say I do this truly unless the Life of Christ be in me Secondly Another Pulse wherein this Life constantly puts out is this That the things of Holiness they are connatural to him Holiness Righteousness to be gracious to be freed from sin to be filled with love and kindness and mercy and pity and these things there is a kind of natural making out of the heart towards these because look as it is in our outward man you know that the actions of eating and drinking and of a man no man shall need to learn them he may have arts that shall make him do them mannerly but to do the things they are natural they were born with him So now to be holy with God to be righteous in our conversation with men freed from sin to walk as the Lords redeemed ones to practice these things this is your life and therefore the Apostle Peter useth this very expression That we were redeemed by Christ that we should live to righteousness live to righteousness Now as a worldly man lives to his money another man to his wrath another man to his lusts these are the things his heart runs its circle in A gracious man the things of holiness and righteousness are the things that suit his spirit And then thirdly and lastly I wil name no more but bring it a little closer to you a third thing is That the Lord having made his Will to be the Rule of our Life and revealed this Will in his Word thereupon the soul that is alive unto Christ eyes the Word looks at the Word is guided by the Word the Will of God revealed in his Word that is his Card that is his Compass that is his Square that is his Meet-wand his eye looking to the Word as his only guide No man I dare affirm it though other things may come neer it but I dare affirm it that whosoever will study it shall find in this world doth any of these three things but he that hath the Life of Christ upon a serious debate to make Christ the good of his life to make the acts of holiness the things that his soul naturally makes after and for the directing of him in all to live as the Apostle saith not to the will of man or the will of the flesh but to the will of God that is to the Word of God to make Gods Word the Rule of all our actions in our bent and purpose here is the discovery of the Life of Christ and this is now to have Christ in you Now I beseech you Brethren tell me for I shall by and by dismiss you when I have made but one Use more I will leave the third what say your souls to these things Really leave al self conceitedness and apprehensions that you may have out of the Pride of your hearts of your own conditions what say your souls to these things I have opened have you now the Life of Christ I wil tel you Brethren if I had time to press it I had here a large Field to enter in and to shew you what worlds of people that go for Christians are yet utter strangers to the Life of Christ. I will name you a few that you may enlarge your thoughts of them when you are alone All they that know not Christ it is impossible that there should be a making of Christ their chief good where there is no knowledg of him There is no valuing of an unknown thing All ignorant persons are strangers to this life as the Apostle saith the Gentiles were strangers to the Life of God because of the ignorance that was in them If you know not Christ and his Excellencies you can never live in him Then al those that live to their lusts whose life is to be wanton unclean drunken prophane these live to the Devil the Devil lives in them they may say I live not I but the Devil lives in me And so thirdly All they that live to the world whose work that the genious of their heart carries them to from morning to night his wealth purchases buying trading c. there their soul fixes on them there they rest to the world they live And again All that live to their pleasures whose vivâ—re is bibere and the rest they eat and drink and sport and play and give them these and these are the things that make a happy life to them All these and abundance of others which I fear I should presume upon your patience if I should stand to innumerate but al these are cleerly proved to be destitute of this Life of Christ think of it Brethren think of it It is an easie thing let me tel you to be Christians as we cal it they are cheap things to hear Sermons cheap things to profess Religion in our daies wherein I think a long time there have not been fewer that mind it heartily yet abundance now pretend to it but to be alive to Christ to be able to say in this Life I have other business than what I have here below I have a Trade a Wife a Husband and Children but the Lord knows my Conversation is in Heaven my life is in Heaven it is Christ that lives in me they are few can say it and the Lord help you that you are not deceived about it And then the other Use that I will make of it is That this Lesson is a most comfortable Lesson for I do not doubt but the clearer any man speaks about these things of Gods Kingdom the more will the hearts of Gods people be able to joyn with him I fear not but many of you can say it is thus with you the Lord witnesseth that with you doth he not That there is nothing you have such an appetite after as the means of Grace and Salvation that you might live and that your hearts dread at the waies of sin and that if God put you to it you beg of God to be stripped of all rather than God should not be set up and that al your prayer is let God give me Christ God in Christ for my portion and that reverently not in a ranting way as if a lewd life could honor God as some rude people pretend to now but that I might be holy in this perverse generation especially in my
lived by loading themselves with thick clay good store of Gold and Silver and Houses and Lands but saith he the just live by faith every godly man lives by faith Now this Text of the Prophet Habakkuk it is three or four times in the new Testament alledged by the holy Ghost to prove the very self same Doctrine as for example Rom. 1 17. I wil rather name that first because it proves both these Doctrines I have propounded saith he in verse 16. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation to every one that beleeveth the Gospel for saith he in verse 17. therein is the righteousness of Christ manifested from faith to faith There now is my former Doctrine that our Life to Salvation it is nothing but the righteousness of God manifested to us and communicated to us yea from one degree of faith to another according as we get more faith so we have more life and as Righteousness is further revealed so we have more faith and consequently more life as it is written the just shal live by faith mark it The manifestation and communication of the Righteousness of Christ it is held out in the Gospel but received by Faith and every Beleever lives by Faith The just shall live by faith So in the Epist. Gal. 3.11 the holy Ghost repeats the very same expression again speaking of the Life of the Saints as it is written The just shall live by faith Again the very same phrase in Heb. 10.38 where the Apostle there is pressing of Beleevers to a holy Life in difficult and troublesom times that are coming upon them and shews what wil become of Apostates and Back-sliders but saith he The just shall live by faith The whol life of al holy men while they are going through the world and get into Heaven all their life is transacted by faith this is clear And I wil ad but another Text that which you find in 2 Cor. 5.7 the Apostle saith expresly We live by faith we live not by sence if you wil take sence there for carnal sence things that are sensible to our outward man we live not to sence or if you wil take it in the more elevated interpretation spiritual sence that is the immediate enjoyment of the light of Gods countenance to ravish us though it is a Treasury to be desired rather than ten thousand worlds yet we live not by it but by faith the Life of Gods people it lies al in the grace of Faith But I wil add two Proofs more that are not particular Scriptures but conclusions that are fit for you to study and wil give a wonderful conviction to your hearts of the truth of this Doctrine That the Life of al Gods people while they are in this world is lived by Faith You shall have this demonstration First That the holy Ghost when he compares spiritual life and natural life together he useth to compare the grace of faith to al those faculties or members which are the whol livelihood of our natural lives those members or faculties which contribute the most to the livelihood of our natural life the holy Ghost makes faith to be al these in our spiritual life pray remember my meaning is thus You know while we are in this world while we live we must be fed take away food appetite eating digesting drinking concocting of it and you destroy a mans life presently Faith is our mouth by which we feed al the food that the soul hath it is by a spiritual mouth and it is faith whereby we feed ordinarily it is compared to our mouth appetite and stomach but then before the food cometh to our mouth the hand receives it and conveys it to the mouth Faith is our hand compared to the hand whereby we do our work and receive our food and carry it Faith is our eye whereby we behold the things we are to act and work upon for the maintaining of our life Faith is the foot whereby the soul is carried both to its business and food hands eyes mouth tast the Spirit of God sets it out by them all thereby signifying to us that what the eye mouth hand and tast contribute to our natural life that doth the grace of faith to our spiritual life while we are in this world That is one Conclusion that I think is a cleered demonstration that while Gods People live in this world it is faith that is their Life The Second which is yet more ful is this That you shal find cleerly in the Scriptures that not only our life in general is attributed to Faith but every thing concerning our life is in Scripture made the work of faith Oh! that we could understand this but you that are spiritual must needs be versed in the truth of this Doctrine I say that not only the bulk of our life in general is said to be the work of Faith but every thing that concerns our spiritual life the holy Ghost doth impute it to the grace of Faith as now I will instance in some things that wil comprehend al the rest All the Life of a Christian is reducible either 1. To the beginning of it Or 2. To the preservation of it and carrying of it on First The Beginning of it We have our spiritual Life begun in us by Faith it is on our part the principle whereby the very spiritual life is received or if you will have it more plainly All those things that are the real principles of our Spiritual Life they are all received by Faith As Jesus Christ who is our Life and is the fountain of our life we recive Christ by faith As many as received him that is as many as beleeved And in Ephes. 3.17 whether Jesus Christ dwels in our hearts by faith That Lord Jesus that remains in us constantly we have him by faith Then The Spirit of Jesus Christ who doth take from Christ and communicate to the Saints for so Christ said when he promised him to his Apostles and Church that shall be his Office to take of mine and give to you saith he How received you the Spirit was it not by faith So that by faith we receive the Spirit as it is the very principle of our life I confess this is a great mystery for Faith it self is the work of the Spirit and yet the Spirit is received by faith but the holy Ghost saith it is so Somwhat I would say to witness that but the time wil not allow it me So that our very beginning of our spiritual life is by faith while we are meerly passive the Spirit of God works alone without us but when we come to be active the very first and al the acts of our lives they are by Faith Well when this life is begun Then Secondly The Preservation the Maintainance of it the acting of it wholly the Spirit of God acts by the grace of Faith as thus All