to be a law in regard of his mighty operation in the Soule it brings downe light and truth and life and power into the soule and workes exceeding strongly in the soule and when it comes what is able to withstand the Spirit What is greater then the Spirit What is stronger then the Spirit If the spirit comes it bears down all opposition Though the flesh lust against the spirit yet the spirit is two strong for the flesh so that it divides the very jonts and marrow So that the Spirit is a law above the law the law is weake and cannot take place in the hearts of men But when the spirit comes with its law it prevails against all and takes place The flesh profiteth nothing saith our Saviour it is the Spirit that quickneth If the spirit quickneth it hath life in it and where life is it is full of activity for life is manifested in this in that it is full of motion quicknesse and agilitie and in beating off every thing that doeth offende it or anoy it So the spirit being a spirit of life it hath a mighty power in it Although the soule be filled with sin and guilt and in that condition cloathed also with ignorance which doth so inviron the foule as it cannot stir in any other way nor hath the least motion of good in it yet when the spirit comes he beares downe all he destroyes all and therefore it is called the spirit of burning in the scripture And when Christ comes to Baptise he is said to Baptise with the holy Ghost and with fire so that when the spirit comes nothing can stand before him and he brings both light and heate and motion in him and is most powerfull in operation But then 3. The spirit may be saide to be a law or to have a law in it as it is a sure and true guide and as it leades every soule in a right and true way And therefore our Saviour tells vs The spirit of truth shall leade you into all truth And indeed the Spirit guides securely and guides safely guides surely and guides Purely for the spirit cannot erre and he that hath the spirit knowes the minde of God and is guided to fullfill the minde of God as farr as he hath the spirit for the spirit is a blessed guide and a blessed rule and about the law for although the law it s true is righteous holy and good yet alas it Cannot bring forth power to inable the Creature to walke suteable to its selfe It is onely the Spirit hath that power and not the law Therefore the Spirit he is the law of the Saints he shews them the truth teaches them the truth and leades them in the truth and gives them power to walke according to the truth for its the spirit that guides the Saints to Christ who is the truth its selfe and so The spirit guides the Saints in the waies of holynesse through the Spirit they mortifie the deeds of the body and live through the spirit they are guided to denie themselves to abandon their owne parts and their own indowments and their owne righteousnesse and to see all in and to fetch all from a Christ Through the Spirit the Saints put away the garment spotted by the flesh and forsake their vaine conversation wherein in times past they walked through the spirit the Saints are guided to deny all vngodlynesse and worldly lusts and to live soberly and holy and Godly in the present evill world through the spirit they are taught to love with an vnfained love the houshold of faith puting away malice and envie and the leaven of discention and wickednesse through the spirit the Saints are guided so to walke as to shine as lights amidst a crooked and perverse generation In a word through the spirit the Saints are guided having discliamed all their owne righteousnesse to doe that which the Jewes could not doe by the light of the law even to submit to the righteousnesse of Christ that is to cloath themselves through faith with the glorious robes of the righteousnesse of the Lord Jesus whereby they see themselves compleat in him and thus the spirit is a pure and a sure guide and in these three respects the Spirit may be said to have a law and so much may suffice for answer to the first queree But 2. Queree 2 In that the Apostle here tells us of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus and doth not say the spirit of life in us but the spirit of life in Christ The queree will be how the spirit of life is said to be in Christ Answer To which I answer The spirit of life is said to be in Christ under two considerations 1. As hee is the Fountaine of life 2. As he communicates the spirit of life unto all his people 1. As the Lord lesus Christ is the fountaine of life as the fulnesse of all life dwells in him for so sayes the Apostle It pleased the Father that in him should all fulnesse dwell 1 Cor. 15.47 45. and the same Apostle also saies he is the Lord from Heaven and that the first Adam was made a living soule but the second Adam was made a quickning spirit and therefore our Saviour tells us the flesh profiteth nothing but it is the spirit that quickens and the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life There is such a fulnesse of the spirit in Christ that whatsoever Christ speakes is spirituall and carries a spirituall signification along with it for indeed the spirit was in him without measure so that in him is life originally or he is the fountaine of Life but then 2. The Spirit of life is in him by way of communication all that of the spirit that is communicated unto us is communicated unto us in and by the Lord Iesus Have wee any life any strength any beautie upon us any grace conveyed unto us It is all conveyed in and through the Lord Iesus Christ And therefore our Saviour tells the Jewes that he was the bread of life the bread of Heaven that came down from Heaven And whosoever did eate of his flesh and drink of his blood should live for ever he breathed the Holy Ghost on his disciples and poures upon every one that beleeves on him rivers of living water rivers of his spirit for he conveies fulnesse of spirituallitie and divine strength into them That man therefore that hath the spirit of life in Christ conveyed into him through the spirit of life in Christ living in him is the most beautifull creature in the world for he carries divine sweetnesse and beautie upon his spirit And he that hath this spirit derived from Christ hath true life in him other men may be alive and yet dead but that man that hath the life of Christ through his spirit that works in him such a soul shall live for ever such a soule shall never die but it shall
be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life It is impossible that such a man should die for this reason He that receives the life of Christ through the spirit of Christ he receives a true being a divine nature and it is unpossible that one drop of the divine nature should perish 〈◊〉 very person that hath the divine nature he hath the spirit of Christ he hath Christ as he raises persons from the dead and as hee delivers them from the power of sin and as hee quickens them as himself is a quickning spirit And so much for answer of the second querie but 3. Queree What doth the Apostle meane heere by the law of sinne and death from which the spirit of life in Christ sets us free T Answ o which I answer His meaning is either one or both of these two things either 1. By the law of sin and death he must meane the power of sin or 2. By the law of sin and death he means that law which gives sinne a being and gives it power to destroy Now though the first of these may be heere included yet hee mainly intends the second in this place as I shall shew by and by but if he doe here any thing ayme at the first in this place it is as sin is a law and sin may be said to be a law under these two significations 1. As it hath a mighty power in 〈◊〉 or 2. As it hath a certaine kinde of confused rule 1. It hath a mighty power for so saies the Scripture the flesh lusteth against the spirit and where there is lust there is love and love is as strong as death either in good things or in evill and so sin hath its power but 2. It hath a kinde of uncertaine rule and method for there is a method in pleasure and lust and sinfull joy after a carnall manner and so sinne is a law but that which the Apostle here means is 2. The law which is the Law that occasions sinne which the law of the spirit freeth us from to this purpose observe but the 23. verse of the 7th Chapter which runs thus But I see another law in my membrs warring against the law of my minde and bringing me into captivity unto the law of sin Where we see the Apostle speakes of three lawes 1. The law of the spirit which he calls the law of his minde 2. The law of Concupiscence which he calls the law in his members which he saies brings him into Captivitie to the third law Which he calls the Law of sinne and is the law which occasions sinne For here is law against law bringing into Captivitie to law The law of sin in his members rebelling against the law of the spirit in his minde or his inward man for saies Paul I doe see another law in my members and this law in his members was the power of sin working through concupiscence and lust carrying him contrary to God rebelling saies he against the law of my minde meaning against the law of the spirit in his heart or the spirit in his heart as a law And so as he saies in another place The flesh lusteth against the Spirit leading me captive to the law of sinne Meaning by the law of sin here in the last place that law of which he speakes in the Text. The law of sinne and death which is the Law that occasions sinne and death or the Law of Commandments and this appears in the verse following the Text For the Apostle having said in the Text that the saints are free from the Law of sinne and death in the next verse hee shewes what that law is in these Words For what the law could not do in that it was weake through the flesh God sending his owne Sonne c. What was that which the law could not do that the Sonne of God did for us Answer 1. the Law could not make us holy 2. The Law could not free us from sinne 3. The law could not free us from condemnation But one the contrary it brought under guilt brought us under the curse Now what law did this The law of Comandments which saies the Apostle was weake through the flesh And it may bee said to bee weake through the flesh thus 1. In that wee are weake and through the fleshare not able to walk exactly to the law nor to come up to the Rule of it in our conversation And so are not able to obtain life by it Therefore God hath given us life in another way even through his Son or 2 In that the law as it is written upon tables of Stone though it be holy just and good hath no power as it is in the Letter to convay its selfe into us to inable us to walke according to the rule it prescribes unto us And this law is stiled the law of sinne and death in these three respect which the Scripture holds forth unto us 1. In that it discovers sinne 2. In that it is the strength of sinne 3. In that it brings men under the curse and so lyable to death 1. It discovers sinne For the Apostle tells us Rom. 7.7 I had not known sin but by the law For I had not knowne lust except the law had said Thou shalt not covet and he tells us further that where no law is there is no transgression The law is holy and therefore it discouers unto men their unholinesse And 2. As the law discovers sinne and makes sin to be exceeding sinfull so it is the strength of sin The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sin is the law 1 Cor. 15.56 where were the strength of sin were in not for the Law and 3 It brings men under the curse and under death For so saves the Apostle it is written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that is written in the Book of the Law to do them And so being under the curse the effect of the curse is death and therefore saies the Apostle if you walke after the flesh ye shall dye and it is the very title that 's giuen to the law as though there were nothing else in it The ministeration of condemnation and the ministeration of death 2. Cor. 3.7.9 In the 7 verse the Apostle cales it the ministeration of death ingraven in stones and in the 9. verse the ministeration of condemnation Thus you see how the lawis held forh in scripture to be the law of sinne and death now what this law being weake through the flesh could not doe God hath sent Iesus Christ to doe for us and in us and therefore he hath freed us from that law and given us another law even the law of the Spirit that the righteousnesse of the law might be fullfilled by the spirit in us as apears verse 4th And now being freed from this law sinne shall not have dominion over us for we are not vnder the law but under
or the new man is holy and pure and senceare Ye the Apostle tells us verse 24. it is Created according to the Image of God in Righteousnesse and true holinesse Let those therefore that thus despise the law and therefore take libertie to walke after the flesh to fulfill the deceitfull lusts of the old man know that they deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ and if they so continue they have no part in him Therefore I would beseech these persons seriously to consider and deeply to pensitrate in their thoughts 1. That the Law is an expresse character of the Glory of God It had such a glory in it as made Meses the minister thereof his face to shine even by reason of that glory that is in it and can you have low thoughts of it 2. The law is Holy Just and and good and dare you slightly to esteeme of it 3. It was the delight of all the Saints since God gave it by the hand of Moses It was their meditation day and night and sweete as honey unto them yee sweeter then the hony combe and how then can you undervalue it And Lastly it is that that shines gloriously in the Lord Jesus and that which he fulfilled in every tittle of it For he came not to destroy the Law but to perfect it to fulfill it perfectly that in his Righteousnesse who fulfilled the Righteous law all those that doe belong unto him and are drawne by a supernaturall worke of God in their spirits to beleeve in him may be presented without spot and wrincle before God! O therefore have high thoughts of it and set it up in your hearts and let it be the sweet subject of your meditations day and night as it is in the Lord Iesus as it is in him fulfilled for you if you doe belong unto him and as it shall be satissied also by the Spirit who are his And though you cannot now attaine to walke in the puritie of it and the perfection of it here yet you shall be perfect in the spirit when you are unclothed of this earthly house and cloathed upon with the house which is from heaven when that which is perfect is come and that which is in part shall bee done away So leaving these men in these contemplations I come to the next use And 2. Vse To discover the sad condition of all that walâ—e after the flesh Vse 2 IT serves to discover and lay open the sad condition of those that walk after the flesh that spend their daies in vanity their yeers in folly I say in folly for so I may call the best actions greatest wisdome and accutest parts of naturall men For it is all foolishnesse with God This point I say informes them of their sad condition and truely it is very sad and dolefull of what degrees soever they are but before I declare it let me Characterize some few particular degrees of them that they may behold their owne image and be afraid that so if it may be they may bee wonne to come to the Lord Jesus that they may walke after the Spirit The severall degrees are these 1. Art thou such a one as walkest in such practises as these adultery fornication uncleannesse laciviousnesse idolatrie witchcraft hatred variance emulation wrath strife sedition heresies envyings murder Drunkennesse revellings such like and wallowest in these practises as Swine wallowes in the mire with a kinde of pleasing contentment Then thou art one that walkest after the flesh But 2. Some may please themselves and think that because they are not notoriously such persons therefore they are not such as walk after the flesh but again Dost thou minde the things of the flesh Art thou taken up with carnal contentments and carnall pleasures And though thou scornest the vile and filthy practises of some and dost not walk in those wayas that are notoriously evill and base in the eyes of men yet if thou delightest altogether in carnall things and when thou hast thy honours and a high esteem amongst men and delicious fare and pompous apparell and fleshly pleasures and things succeed according to thy minde then thou art where thou wouldest be and art like a worm alwayes crawâ—ing upon the earth and creeping upon dunghils never mounting up higher nor having all thy delights and thy joyes nor placing thy affections on the things above nor dost by faiths Eagle-eye pierce the heavens and see him that is invisible as Moses did and dost not behold the Lord Jesus as thy treasure there that there thine heart might be also dost not behold him there as having taken thy nature upon him and having in it by crucifying of it and shedding his blood washed away thy sins and is raised up again that thou mightest be raised also unto newnesse of life and to live together with him in glory Now I say if this be thy condition that thou dost not behold these glories to the joy of thy soul and placest not thy delights here but mindest the things of the flesh only then thou still walkest after the flesh Rom. 8.5 For they sayes the Apostle that are after the flesh do minde the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit But then 3. But dost thou go yet further And dost not onely despise fouler and grosser sinnes But dost in some sort see a vanitie in all the creatures under heaven and canst finde no contentment in them and therefore labourest and seekest by thine own strength to finde out a way to please God that so thou mayest obtain the favour of God and therefore endeavourest to walk innocently towards all men and though thou failest in many things yet thou thinkest by thy good meanings to please God so though thou canst not do as others do yet thou pleasest thy self in this estate and thinkest it is good But this is still to walk after the flesh for here 's no Christ no spirit in all this Again 4. Although thou goest further then all this and dost not onely mean well but as thou mayest think do well too and art strict in observing the Law to thy power and art frequent in performing of duties and observing fasts and in giving largely to the poore yet all these things and many more mayest thou do and that out of a zeale toward God and yet thou still walkest after the flesh For Matth. 5 20. our Saviour tels them That except their righteousnesse exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees they should not enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Though the Pharisees did strictly observe the law were frequent in performance of duties made long prayers fasted twice a weeke and were liberall to the poore c. And the Apostle Paul Rom. 10.4 tells us of the of the Iewes that hee could beare them record and they had a zeall of of God Though not according to knowledge for saies he they being ingnorant of the
Righteousnesse of God and going about to set up their owne righteousnesse which is by the Law have not submitted to to the righteousnesse of God c. And so though they had a zeale of God in the fulfilling of the Law Yet being without a Christ they are without a spirit and walke after the flesh Thus you have seene the Caracters of the men that walke after the flesh and they are next to be informed of their wofull and miserable condition from this point and the first word it speakes to them is no lesse then this They shall die die Eternally it is the direct word of the Apostle Rom 8.13 for if yee live after the flesh yee shall die eternally for they that walke after the flesh shall not inherite the Kingdome of God and of Christ Gal 5.2 so that your condition is deplorable and the reason is because you are vnder the law and all the curses thereof so that fearfull is your condition for you are gone no further being but after the flesh then Agar then mount Sinai then mount Ebal you are no further then Agar which is in bondage with her children you are still in bondage and if their be any spirit in you it is a spirit of bondage a spirit vnder which you may lie bound till you drop into hell Againe you are no further then mount Sinai the mount of feare and trembling and you heare nothing but a fearfull noyse so that horrour and trembling lights upon you and fearfullnesse surprises you and no wonder you are no further then mount Ebal all the curses of the law are thundering against you for what saies it Cursed is every one that continueth not in all that is written in the Booke of the law to doe them So that Dredfull fearfull and lamentable is thy condition whoever thou art and wherever thou art that walkest after the flesh To be carnally minded is death death while alive for thou art but as a dead carkase while thou walkest up and downe thou haste no spirituall life in thee no spirituall joy in thee no spirituall peace no true contentment nor joy in the holy Ghost thy pleasures are dead pleasures thy comforts are dead comforts thy life is a dead life for if thou looke upon thoy best comforts and pleasures thou shalt find bitternesse and sorrow in them a secret inward anguish in them so that they are not to be compared with those living pleasures and that glorious sweetnesse and peace that Saints have in the spirits And so may I say of all that thou inioyest Ah poore creature hâ—w sad is thy condition If it be bitternesse in the be gining it will much more be bitter in the latter end And how searfull will that wait of vergence be when it shall fully seâ—â—e upon thee And now I cannot but bewaile and pity thy condition and thy deplorable estate nor can I leave thee heere in it But 3. Vse To invite poore sinners to come to Jesus Christ Vse 3 IN the next use with yerning bowels and melting affections being so deeply affected with thy miserable condition desire to fall a wooing of thee to come over unto the Lord Iesus Christ that through his spirit thou mayest be freed from this condition and a beseeching of thee to be marryed to the Lord Iesus that thou Mayest be dead to the law What canst thou object against him that thou shouldest not imbrace him I know that thou wilt answer that thou canst not object against him but against thy selfe thou art a great sinner But what though thou art 2. Cor. 5.20 Yet he woes thee and sends his messengers to wee thee And wilt thou not be wood And why O hearken to his voice and thy soule shall live Why what saies he Truly faithfull sayings and thus I am come into the world to save sinners dyed for the ungodly What canst thou now say Though thou art a sinner yet thou art not exempted from him Nay though thou art the chiefest of sinners and thy sinns be of the deepest dye though they bee Scarlet and red like Crimson yet is the Blood of the LORD JESUS able to make thee as white as Wooll ye whiter then the Snow Isa 1.18 And now why wilt thou not accept of the LORD JESUS O imbrace him for thy Saviour But thou sayest How shall I dare to come to Christ since I have nothing to bring him norighteousnesse nor holy performances nor good actions But hee will not be put off so but continues still to woe thee and answers that Objection too and saies Let him that is a thirst come and take of the Water of life freely Revel 22.17 Yea without money and without price Isa 55.1 So that he tells thee plainly he expects nothing from thee hee resolves to be free and tâ— shew the riches of his free gracâ— unto thee And now behold he stands at the doore and knockes and waites to be Gracious and now what canst thou say that thou dost not hearken unto his sweete voice And why is not thine heart ravished with his love and overcome with his sweetnesse Canst thou yet refuse to be married to the Lord Jesus And to receive him into thy bosome that he may free thee out of thy miserable condition and adorne thee with glory O receive the Lord Jesus that he may take thee out of thy ragges and filthynesse and aray thee with royall robes and put a crowne upon thine head But me thinkes I should heare thee say How is it that I must receive him that so I may become his Spouse and may bee married unto him and be his for ever I Answer Doth his sweetnesse prevaile upon thine heartt and doth his love constraine thee indeed and art thou so inamored with his beauteous excellencie that now thy heart doth thirst for him And art thou as it were cast into pangs of love for him and longest thou to enjoy him above any besides him Then be leeve that he is the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the World Beleeve he came to save the ciefest of sinners and that he came to save thee and to free thee from under the Law beleeve that he hath washed away thy sinns in his blood and beleeve that hee loves thee and delights in thee for his owne sake And this is all he desires For if thou canst but thus beleeve thou art in a most glorious and a most happie condition for thou hast formerly had nothing that is good in thee yet in belleving if thou dost by the sweet workings of the Spirit in thy soul truely beleeve thou hast put on the Lord Iesus Christ and hast the Spirit of Christ powred into into thee as the Lord Iesus himselfe hath saide Iohn 7.38 39. Hee that beleeveth one me one of his belly shall flow rivers of livig waters And this saith the Text he spake of the Spirit and indeede he that beleeveth on the Son is at once possest of the