by the glory of God appearing in the soul that the soul is crucified and turned out of it self even as it was with Christ he knew if he dyed and went away in the flesh he should come again in the spirit and that he saith himself and discourseth of it in the Gospel according to St. John 12. 24. If the seed fall into the ground c. He that loveth this life shal lose it but he that hateth this life shal have life eternal Upon this accompt did Christ yield up himself cheerfully to death Therefore it is said that Jesus Christ by the eternal spirit offered up himself it was by the eternal spirit that reveals the glorious design of the Father in his death that Christ was brought to yield himself unto death Now the degrees by which this death of self is accomplished are these three First God doth make a discovery to the soul of the rotteness of old self and of the bitterness of that self that is tendered to us of Gods self this discovery is made to us and God doth together therewith reveal himself in us he reveals himself in us and shews himself to be our Righteousness and our Strength The soul sees it self possessed of God and sees God dwelling in him now the soul knows it cannot be found naked Now saith the soul I may part with my self when I will for I have a better self And secondly Hereupon the soul hath all its life in God and his heart is set upon God he sees God within him and now his eyes are turned to this Emanuell God dwelling in his flesh and now he admires not the things he did before he did admire other men and their enlargements and abilities he admired their affections and expressions in prayer he admired such and such acts of piety and charity which a man may do and seek himself all this while he admired the flesh but now he hath no confidence or delight in the flesh he looks wholly upon God and admires him and admires that ever God should dwel with man that God whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain that he should take up such an heart that he should become the righteousness of such a creature 3. Hereupon follows passion action 1. The soul hereupon hath all its comforts from God and directs all his courses to God and he saith now Ashur shal not save us we will not ride upon Horses we have made mention of other names and other Lords but now by thee only we will make mention of thy name even thine so he hath sweet delight and acquiescence in God 2. The soul doth all to the glory of God if a man live in the flesh he will be acting in the flesh but if a man live in God and live in the spirit and live in that unseen righteousness and upon that invisible strength then all his application of himself is unto God and so he walks not after the flesh but after the spirit and all his waiting will be for this God if at any time he is insensible of his presence he waits upon God he saith not if it werethus withme I should behappy as Martha said if thou hadst â—â—n here my Brother had not dyed she considered not that Christ in the spirit had power now to recover from death as well as keep from death but the soule saith if God wil shine upon me I shal be comforted if he hide his face I am troubled it is not I will do this and I will do that but God wil do this and that and it is not if I had such means I should have power and get ground over my corruptions but if God arise his enemies shall be scattered And such a soul is dead to the Law and the Righteousness of the Law and dead to the workings of it and sees that the Law cannot give strength it is God that of his grace is strength to the poor soul and thus the soul hath entertained God as his guest and let the Sodomites come and compass about Lots House he minds them not the soul sees nothing in comparison but his soule pants as the Hart after the water brook and this is the condition of a soule that is not Now if you ask me the reason of this why a true Christian is one that is not I answer this is the reason of it because God is all and he will be known to be all he will have his people to know so and will have it held forth that he is all and therefore there must be a dying thus and a withering and decaying and a going out of a mans self I know no other reason but this why God did ordaine that same state of nature before the state of grace why he revealed Adam before Christ but only this that so God might make it knwon to us that he is all in all For howsoever God was all in all and would have been all in all and could not be otherwise for was there any thing before God or is there any thing whereof it may be said it is besides God But yet God had not been manifested to be all in all so as he is by causing the Creature to dye to its self as if God had created light and never created darkness light had been light but light is known by darkness So God would have been all howsoever but he is known to be all by this same forme of the creature dying in himself dying in those abilities which are Gods for we have nothing but what is Gods and what he gives us and is to us but God hereby holds forth himself to be all to us after lower and darker forms when removed and corrupted we see still another and higher blessedness in God and it is likewise for to give us our taste he that hath tasted the sower is fit to taste the sweet he that hath seen the fading of the flower is better prepared to see a living activity so we have known God in nature we are hereby prepared to admire Gods discovery in the Gospel Now before the Use of this point there is only one thing more I will mention and that is this That the death of a Beleever is into God as I may so say even as the seed that dyes as a seed but it dyes into a flower that is better then the seed so doth a Beleever do that is the tearm of his death So now I have explained all that I think of to you now the Use is this 1. It serves to discover and disgrace the Religion of most men that are not acquainted with this same dying to themselves you have many especially in these times that do come under this search and tryall and will be found too light and there are two sorts some who have advanced a Reformation from that same knowledg which is come abroad in these times they have set up a form of Religion in their Families and
them all in the Unity of the Spirit and of the appearance and breaking forth of God But so much shall serve for that Use and that Point Now I come to the next Point and that 's the difference between men in their forms or rather the amount of their difference what it amounts to We have it in these words Whether we live or whether we dye Who is he that dyes It is he that is in bondage to outward observances that depends upon fleshly forms Who is he that lives Why it is he that is free You know ye often meet with these distinctions in Scripture Circumcision and uncircumcision Jew and Gentile bond and free quick and dead Liberty is the next thing to life What good doth a mans life do him if he be not a free man I mean spirituall Liberty or Liberty in the Spirit and Bondage it is next to death But upon other Considerations is it here called living and dying But it may be said is not the Text abused to interpret it thus allegorically or to make a Metaphor of it should it not be taken literally Whether we live that is in the body we live to the Lord or whether we dye that is go out of this body we dye to the Lord I answer besides that such an interpretation is to make the Apostle here speak impertinently as being quite from the business he hath in hand You shall find also it is cross to the Letter of the Scripture for that is not death that men call death and that is not life that men call life For God is the God of the living and not of the dead in that sense Abraham is alive though dead The Scripture calls not them dead nor God the God of the dead in that sense but the living and all things live to God Again he saith not they dye in the Lord though that be to be taken spiritually but they dye to the Lord. And if you ask why should they be called dying Christians dying Saints The Apostle will tell you when he saith To be carnally minded is death Rom. 8. 6. That which is translated carnally minded signifies to savour carnally to savour God and our life carnally this is death but he that is in bondage to forms savours God and life carnally ergo it is death and he is a dying man That he savours carnally appears from hence That he doth relish better and savour more the weakness of God in an Ordinance then the strength and excellency and glory of God in the Spirit and in his own proper appearance He is more taken his heart goes out more after a sight of God in flesh then to see him in Spirit is not this to savour life carnally For to think that a mans life is bound up in any form or in flesh is it not a carnall savour And yet do not many Christians do so Do not they think that God and an Ordinance do nourish and feed and administer strength to you but not God without an Ordinance The Apostle saith We have this treasure in earthen vessels Now if a man counts not this to be treasure except it be in an earthen vessell is not this carnall It is true while we do receive God in any form it is mercy but to say God cannot be meat or nourishment without a form this is to savour our life carnally How many Christians are troubled and assaulted with doubts concerning their good estate that have a load lying upon them and Clouds of darkness before them that hanker after an Ordinance to come dispell these Clouds O if I could receive such an Ordinance a Sacrament in such a manner This would solve all objections and give them full assurance when as they have God they have his Promises The word is nigh thee saith the Apostle in this Epistle Chap. 10. even in thy heart But behold except this God will come to them in flesh they can make no use of him they cannot see how God should do it in Spirit without a form this is to savour life carnally therefore they linger in their desertions and temptations and are not help't out of them because they stay for God to come to them in such a way and see no salvation for them in himself for then they would depend upon him Agreeable to this Scripture is another viz. Rom. 8. If we live after the flesh we shall dye Now there are many sorts of flesh saith the Apostle There is one kind of flesh of men another of beasts another of birds another of fishes There is flesh of fishes that will carry a man swimmingly like the Spirit and there is flesh of birds that wil soar aloft like the Spirit there is high-raised flesh but if we live after the motion or principle of any thing below God we live after the flesh Even if we live after the motion of Graces themselves not resolving our graces into God If the sparkling and turning of our graces themselves be the wine that doth chear and refresh us yea the flesh of Christ if we stick in that vail and stand not in the naked Spirit of Christ before God passing through Christs flesh both in him and in our selves as he hath past through it we are not yet past out of the flesh I say not that they that have the use of forms are dying Christians but they that depend upon them they that cannot have life from God unless he present himself to them in the flesh Reas 2 The second Reason They that fall short of God are in a dying condition but those whose life is bound up in any form they fall short of God He that attains not God loses the Race He that attains not the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus loses the Race and he dyes He that is in bondage to outward observanâ—es and depends upon them fals short of God that is of the glory of God He hath God under a vail in his form but not God in his glory He sees God vailed not his open face not as he is He hears of God in a Parable he sees him not plainly even the flesh of Christ is a vail and till we are past through that through the Mediatorship and through the fleshly state in our selves we appear not in the open presence of God Reas 2 The end of forms is death The end of Christs fleshly state and appearance was death either we must lye and dye in form I mean not eternally or we must dye to form There 's no coming to a higher state but by dying to the former state Christ was Crucified in flesh before Justified in Spirit He that endures to the end shall be saved He that passes through all things forgets and dyes to imperfect discoveries to fleshly appearances let them be never such spirituall flesh he only is in the way of this salvation here meant The fleshly form as it is in Saints hath in it the
Clouds you have a Chapter before and after this that you are ready to say when you read it What profit is it nothing but a Chronologie and a Genealogie a descent of persons but here is that which is enough to take up the meditation of a whole Chapter Enoch walked with God c. Of all the rest it is said that they lived so long and begat so many sons and daughters but when the Holy Ghost comes to Enoch he saith first of him in the 22 verse and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah c. and not contented to give such a touch the Holy Ghost records again and moreover that he walked with God and was not for God took him That which I do design and which I hope if the Spirit of God so design may be for good unto your hearts out of these words is this viz. to hold forth unto you a chief Character of a Christian if so be that they were Christians from the beginning as they were for they all dyed in the Faith as it is said in the 11. Hebrews and that is this that he is one that is not it is a strange Character to shew you what a man is by telling you he is not This is the very main thing of a Christian the most essential thing that can be affirmed of him that he is not Enoch walked with God and was not c. First for the meaning of the words there is no great difficulty in them the Phrase is common of walking that walk not after the flesh but after the spirit but what is the meaning of this he was not It is one thing in the Letter another in the Spirit it hath both a literal and mystical meaning he was not that is he was translated so we find in the 11. Heb. 5. where it is said By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found and so it follows in the Text he was nor for God took him But there is also a Spirituall meaning of it and that is this Enoch was not that is he in himself was not but his own being excellency and glory was past away he was nothing but what he was he was in Christ Christ was to him his life his person and his all in the Original it runs thus Enoch walked with God and was not he according as the Apostle saith in the Epistle to the Galathians Nevertheless I live yet not I c. So it is said here Enoch walked with God and not he for God translated him in the Spirit translated him into Jesus Christ and so a Beleever is one in Jesus Christ he is nothing in himself his self is past away he hath got a new self God is his self Christ is his self Now that same former sence of God translating him literally that was but an outward signification to the world as it were of that which was Enochs real glory Enoch was past out of the flesh into the spirit out of himself into God when he was upon earth and God to signifie this to the world takes him from the sight of men and translates him locally This was a Figure of that which was done in the spirit before and it is far the greatest to be translated in the spirit If a man were carryed into heaven if he were not translated inspirit he would have no joy in heaven for flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God and therefore we are said to be translated out of darkness into light and out of the Kingdom of Sathan into the Kingdome of his dear Son And thus having made way I shall come to observe something out of the words First here is the translation of a Saint and then here is the Author and Principle of that translation The translation of a Saint the point that I would observe from thence is this Observ That every true Christian he is translated out of his owne being into a being in God and this is the death of a Christian Enoch walked with God and he was not he is dead unto the world and he is dead unto the Law he is dead unto his own righteousnes and unto all created glory and excellency but he is alive unto God a true Christian he is not that is he is not in himself his self is past away he hath got another self a new self and that is God instead of his old self instead of his rotten self you shal see this in the 7. Rom. the latter end So then with my mind I my self serve the Law of God but with the flesh the law of sin Mark you there The flesh a Believer counts none of himself as it is in Rom. 8. 9. You are not in the flesh but in the spirit if the spirit of God dwel in you and so in the 6. Chap. of that Epistle How can we that are dead to sin live any longer therein Sin is said to be condemned in the flesh in the 8. Chap. 3 v. That which I desire chiefly to bind my self unto is this to shew unto Beleevers that if so be they be true Beleevers they have a being in God and in the Spirit yea an intire being they are to have no being at all in the flesh I say if so be they are true Beleevers they have an intire being in God and the Spirit and are to account themselves to have no being no interest at all in the flesh There are they that speak of a fleshly and a spirituall part in Beleevers and this same spiritual part they look upon as that which should be encouraged that to which all the promises belong but many times they cannot find this same spiritual part and so can have no comfort as in time of tentation and I beseech you consider that for it will be a sufficient argument against the going on in such a kind of apprehension as that is of a spirituall part and a fleshly and the like taking this spirituall part to be grace in the act for when they finde not grace in the act they cannot take any comfort at all then they â—ake up themselves in the same heap and dunghill with the world but if God made out this to you that you have an intire being in the spirit and that it is possible for a Saint to retreate into the spirit so wholy as to gather himself intirely and to gather up all his interest into the spirit this would be much to the relief comfort of a poor soul Now I must shew you what are the fruits and consequences of this and then come to shew you the way that God brings his people to this First I wil shew you the benefit of a Christians losing himself in the flesh this is the benefit of it he loseth sin by losing that being in the flesh pray mark it he doth lose his sin and the reason is this because it is only flesh that is the
mark it in the 5. of John The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son that men might honor the Son as they honor the Father He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father that hath sent him God is he that must inherit all honor and glory to eternity but he hath for the present set up Christ Jesus to make himself known unto the world It was not that Christ should make himself known or that we should lye down in the Discovery of Christ but that by Christ the Father might be known and discovered to us and his love and therefore it is said That this is life eternal to know thee to be the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent The meaning is not as if it were not enough to know the Father but that there is no knowing of the Father but by Jesus Christ whom he hath sent for that end So that Jesus Christ hath fulfilled his Ministration when he hath made known the Father and then is the Kingdom delivered up by the Son yea by all the Sons of God when once they come to know God by Christ they deliver up the Kingdom from Christ unto God even unto the Father This is the first thing that is hid under this same Parable Christ bears the name but God doth the thing Christ saith I came to do the work of him that sent me God saith unto Christ thou shalt make me known unto the world But the second thing that is hid under this Parable is the doing of the like works in the Saints as were done in Christ Jesus This is that which they onely see and receive that are delivered from the delusions of Antichrist Antichrist cryes up Christ in the flesh cries up that same man Christ Jesus that dyed for our sins and rose again for our Justification but he knows not Christ in the Spirit he knows not Christ and him crucified in the Saints He knows not the power of his Resurrection in Beleevers He knows not the exceeding greatness of that power which wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead working in us in both these respects is Christs Ministration in the flesh a speaking in Parables First because the Gospell seems to run thus as that Christ hath done this and that for us whereas indeed it was God in Christ God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself 2 Cor. 5. before end And whereas the Gospell seems to deliver to us a History only of what Christ Jesus hath done for us in the flesh It doth indeed hold forth the Model and Platform of that salvation that is carryed on in the spirit and is revealed in the breasts of the Saints I say that is wrought and revealed there sutably and agreably to all those steps and stages to all those points and periods you shal find in the Letter The same things are done in the Saints in the Spirit that were done in and upon Christ in the flesh And now I have opened this point unto you if you require any reason for it why God did speak to us in a Parable and why he shews us things as in a glasse why he shews us rather the Image of things then the things themselves Reason it is because of our weaknesse it is because of our childishnesse It was the manner of the Heathen to put wisdom into Parables to put their wise Observations into fables into pleasant tales and stories for these two reasons First that they might hide wisdom from the Vulgar 2. That they might the better insinuate it into their Children and those that were ingenuous And these two Reasons may be given why God teaches the world by Parables It is for their weaknesse sake It is to take them and lead them by the hand to speak to them in childish things in things within their own sphere and understanding So God hath done to us in the flesh of Christ You will beleeve a man loves you if he wil dye for you you wil beleeve a Creditor wil be reconciled to you if he pay the debt himself Why behold thus doth God satisfie man 2. Rea. God doth this to hide these things from the prophane of the world I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise and hast revealed them unto babes c. And therefore if you observe it Christ did commonly speak to the Multitude in Parables they had Parable upon Parable they had rind upon rind one shel upon another that they could not easily come to the kernell And the Reason is this that wicked and prophane men may scoff and jeer at the Letter and Parable but God doth keep the truth from that contempt and obloquie The outward Court is given to the Gentiles to be trodden down God makes it not much matter men may tread down outward forms and God may let them prophane them but there is a place where none come that defile and that is the Spirit the truth as it is in Jesus Gods Truth is Himself We know that precious things have covering upon covering they have lappings one upon anotherâ— Iewels have Caskets to put them in though the Casket fall into the dirt yet the Iewells will be kept clean So prophane and wicked men may preach and receive the Gospell in a Parable in the outward Letter But what hast thou to do to take my word in thy mouth the word in the Spirit for it is that hidden wisdome that is prepared for our glory as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 2. Vse Now all the Use of this point I shal make to you is this to desire you to look into your selves whether you know any more then Parables whether you can doe any more then say over Parables Examine your selves by those two things spoken of before Do you discerne God under the forme of the man Christ Jesus Do you see God coming forth unto you in Christ And then do you find the Gospel to be realized in your hearts and spirits Do you find these transactions to be transacted over again in you The death of Christ in you The life of Christ in you The Resurrection of Christ in you Now a further thing I aime at is this and this specially The plain shewing of the Father by the Spirit Hitherto have I spoken to you in Parables the time cometh when I will speak no mâ—re to you in parables but will shew you plainly of the Father I shal only speak at this time of the Object of Divine Discoveries and that is the Father The time cometh that I will shew you plainly of the Father So that the point is this Doctr. That the adequate Object or the whole and intire Object of the Discovery of Christ and the Gospel is the Discovery of the Father unto us This our Saviour plainly intimates here in saying The time comes that I wil shew you plainly of the
unto you That we are not justified we are not sanctified by Christs dving by Christs suffering in the flesh only that is not the compleat Ministration of our salvation There indeed we see our salvation as in a glass and it is transacted as in a figure as in the history but then are we actually sanctified when as God doth send that same Spirit of Adoption into our hearts revealing unto us the Love of the Father and revealing unto us our Reconciliation that Reconciliation that was held forth to us on the Cross but which is dispensed unto us by our being offered up upon the Cross as Christ was For the Apostle Rom. 8. doth in two places speak so expresly to this purpose that no man can wave it or put it by verse 10. If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin and the spirit is life because of righteousness Here is the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ If Christ be in you and there is no salvation without it then the body is dead the body of your own Righteousness and your own Strength and wisdom is crucified in conformity to the death of Christ Christs death was but the figure of the death that must pass upon the flesh of every Beleever and therefore though we may say I am crucified with Christ c. We cannot take any comfort till the body be dead in us And the other place is the 4. verse of Rom. 8. That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us c. Pray mark it You dream of a Righteousness of the Law fulfilled for you that is true too Christ fulfilled it for you perfectly but there is a fulfilling of the Righteousness of the Law in you And the Apostle shews what that is when you are crucified to the fleshly principle and walk in the spiritual principle though you walk not in perfect obedience yet spiritually it is done in you The Righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit So then look after this that you be sanctified through the Truth that is that you in very deed be sanctified according to the pattern of Sanctification in Christ Jesus Let me minde you again of that Scripture Ephes 4. 21. If so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the Truth is in Jesus that ye put off the old man and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that ye put on the new man c. Look that this be done Object But you will say unto me is not this to bring us again into Bondage To charge this upon us when as we are bid look that it should be so and so with us Solution I answer it is your great interest that these things should be done in you but it is not expected that they should be done by you According to the working saith the Apostle of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ Jesus when he raised him from the dead and set him c. It is Gods mighty power that works in you it is God that crucifies you it is God that quickens you Christ offered up himself by the eternall Spirit it was not by the resolution of his flesh that he gave himself to dye as many a Valiant Roman hath done for his Country but it was through the eternal Spirit and therefore that which you are to do is to wait upon God And herein comes the use of the doing of these things in the man Christ Jesus before your eyes It is to strengthen your faith and expectation of having these things done in you by the same power and spirit And therefore if you ask me what use you should make of Christs Death and Resurrection and these things I say look upon them as the earnest of your salvation look upon them as the very sealing of the Covenant between God and you God reads over as it were all the Covenant before us and seals it in our presence and this is the scope of the Manifestation of Jesus Christ It is but to manifest the life to us to shew what God will do upon your flesh So what God did to Christ Jesus and so how he carryed him to glory so how he was tempted and be not you discouraged though it be so with you See how the Disciples were dismayed when Christ wrapt up himself for a Moment in the grave as in a cloud of darkness They said we thought this bad bin he that should have redeemed Israel See what an end the Lord made with him the same end will the Lord make with you also THE TRUTH as it is in JESUS JOHN 17. Sanctifie them through thy Truth thy word is Truth Verse 19. And for their sakes I sanctifie my self that they might be sanctified through the Truth THis same Portion of Scripture that is read to you is an Enforcement or part of an Enforcement of one of those savory Petitions which Jesus Christ put up at his departure out of this world for his Disciples and in them for all his elect The Petition is this Sanctifie them through thy Truth This Petition he doth in part explain and he doth enforce and urge it with Arguments 1. He explains it in part that part thy Truth he explains it thus thy word is Truth Now before I go any further By the word here we are not to understand this same Letter for we know this same Letter of the word is taken up by every one to defend his opinion and therefore this is not the meaning of thy word is Truth But the meaning is this That that word that was with God and that was God that word is Truth I conceive this same truth being a relative notion is here to be taken in opposition to form Thy word is Truth The meaning is this That thy word it is not only a form and an appearance in which thou dost make out thy self unto the world but thy word indeed is the very Truth that is it is thy self and so Christ desires that his Disciples may be sanctified not by planting the knowledg of the literal word in their minds but by ingraffing the nature of the Divine word in their hearts that is by ingraffing God himself by God himself becoming one with them This is the only means of Sanctification This is the true Sanctification by the word The ingraffed word which is able to save our souls Now having explained his request he enforces it and the first Enforcement of it is this from the title and the reason that may be pleaded why they should be sanctified why the Members of Christ should be sanctified Why saith he There is as much reason why they should be sanctified as there is why I should be sanctifyed For as thou-hast sent me into the world so have I sent them into the world Mark it I pray and you will see that it is not such a wringing of the nose
seed and principle of the spirituall appearance and genders it by dying God that commanded light to shine out of darkness God brings forth glory to his people by affliction tribulation and dying Their comforts go away in the flesh ere they come in the Spirit While the flesh lasts upon them the Spirit is not broken forth While the form or fleshly appearance is any thing to us and we promise our selves any thing from it God is not all in all while God is not all in all our comforts are not brought forth in the Spirit and so are not made perfect In all fleshly appearances there is Enmity to God therefore God is Enmity to them and is the death of them This Enmity is discovered in the disputes that we have about faith Whether it justify as a Condition or as an Instrument only and about the Spirit whether the Spirit be in us by presence or by influence only which are mists that arise out of the bottomless pit and argue God is not all in all there and so that soul is not perfected The Scripture in 1 Zeph. 2. c. paralels the dispensation Christians are under I wil utterly consume all things from off the Land saith the Lord. I will consume man and beast I will consume the fowls of the Heaven and the fishes of the Sea and the stumbling blocks with the wicked and I will cut off man c. and v. 4. I will stretch my hand upon the Inhabitants of Jerusalem c. upon Professors And I will cut off ver 5. them that worship and swear by the Lord and Malcham This is the condition of our times light is broken in upon us and we see that Ordinances are nothing without the Lord every one will confess that that the Letter is a dead Letter without the Spirit and the Ordinances are meer forms without Gods Appearance in them and therefore our design is to couple the Lord and Ordinances together and we cannot endure to hear of the parting of them Swear by the Lord and by Malcham even as you see men now adays do so we may have but Ordinances we are well This is that which I was speaking of before that we do promise our selves something from the fleshly form and appearance and so like the Israelites we are hankering after the flesh-pots of Aegypt though they had as good meat in the Wilderness yet the flesh-pots ran in their minds So though God offer himself and though Christians tell you for what they tell you God tells you they tell you they cannot find God in such and such forms but find him abundantly good in the Spirit and they find that he recompences the want of all forms in the Spirit though he be gone out of the Temple yet they find him in their hearts they press you to wait till God appear to you in the Spirit Oh say you I can never beleeve it that God should do it without an Ordinance or that God should strengthen you without an Ordinance God think you with an Ordinance can strengthen me and deliver me and save me out of a temptation not otherwise this is to say that the Ordinance or fleshly form doth add something to God If you will confess God to be all in an Ordinance you must confess him to be all without an Ordinance to be sufficient of himself I desire not to be mistaken I do not judg those that find God in Ordinances and outward forms Let them wait upon God and let them receive and partake of the benefit of the Ordinance and let them bless God for it and be faithfull to their own principles and let them be sweet to others but when we do find God in a form and in an Ordinance to say he is not to be found and enjoyed any other way this is not a right Spirit Nay when we find not God in an Ordinance yet we will keep to it as if God were not to be enjoyed any other way This is the greatest unreasonableness that can be to put no worse a name upon it Now I have done with the Reason of the point I should shew now who are the living Christians and how they are in a more living condition that are free from the bondage of outward observances that do not depend upon any fleshly appearance or administration but see a fulness and sufficiency of God in the Spirit and enjoy the same for else for men to have a notion and principle of it and not to enjoy God in the Spirit they may come from a sad outward Religion and forms to no Religion nay to Atheism and God will judg the free as well as the bond They may be free from Ordinances and yet may be as fleshly to God as if they were under the Jewish observances But the Use that I would make of what hath bin delivered is first a Use of Admonition unto those that are still in forms and secondly a word of Instruction to us all 1. It is for Admonition to those that are in forms We say not that the Lord is not within you nor that which you do you do not to the Lord but the holy Ghost saith of you you are dying Christians While thou canst only see God in a fleshy Image and Representation thou art in a dying condition For it is a sign thou seest not God in his glorious and Spirituall Appearance for if thou didst thou wouldst say as they in the Mount at Christs transfiâ—uration Oh it is good for us to be here Let us look no more for God in forms and fleshly administrations at least you would desire to have your portion in fleshly Representations not but that that man who hath God broken forth in him in spirit and power may suffer others in those forms and not lose his own enjoyments You are Christs and you are Christians but you are in a fleshly and dying estate and you may be put shrewdly to it that do depend upon a form and fleshly administration When it cannot be had what wilt thou do Thy case is much as a mans that is kept up by Cordials and by means that the Physitian uses to him and not to be compared with him that is in a way of recovery that is past the danger of his disease in whom nature is growing strong and is overcoming the malignity of the disease by little and little When the other wants the Physitian it is as much as his life is worth and the Cordiall if it be long a fetching the man begins to faint he hath not his strength within him but without in Cordials So is the cases between him that lives upon Ordinances and him that lives upon Christ in the Spirit Christ is never in a journey or to fetch a great way off therefore I say you are in a dying condition that depend upon forms 2. Use is of Instruction to give us light in what the Lord is now doing and in the consequence thereof
that he doth and is in Heaven in all he doth he wants no command to tell him he must do thus and thus he would naturally do those things whereby he might shew forth the vertues and praises of him that hath called him for he is a living man who needs stir up life to live in a living man Life wil shew it self If you be living Christians the Spirit of God will work in you and it will be like fire consuming your flesh and every day carrying you forth to the honor and praise of God This is a living man and this is he in whom Christ is risen But one Question more and that is of what part or principle in a man are these things spoken Doth this life break forth in the flesh or is it a life in the Spirit only I answer that this life is not in any part or principle in a man It is not in the soul it is not in the body it is not in the Spirit but a a man is taken up into this life It is when we are removed from our selves that we are in the Spirit Enoch was not for God took him The Lord takes us into this life we take not the Lord into our principle we are not comprehenders of this life but we are comprehended Here is the mistake we see men that hold forth such a doctrine and principle as this and we see flesh it may be in them still and they see flesh in themselves still Do but consider therefore that same place 1 John 3. beginning compared with the 6. verse Now are ye the Sons of God but it doth not yet appear what ye shall be but when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Compare but this with the 6. verse Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not We are the Sons of God but it doth not yet appear our flesh is a vail and while we are in the flesh let us act never so spiritually yet we fall short of this life Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God But if at any time we are taken up into the communion of this life it is by being taken out of our selves therefore saith Paul Whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell I conceive God gave Paul an earnest of that which he will make known to his people in the latter days and made it known to Paul in a visible and sensible rapture and whosoever in the latter days is taken into the communion of this life must be spiritually dissolved as Paul was for as Christ crucified in the flesh is but a fleshly pattern of our being crucified in the Spirit So Paul being taken out of the body fleshly is but an Image of the Beleevers being taken out of the body into the Spirit and so when we are taken up into him He that abides in him sinneth not But when we go to make out God in our flesh behold we cannot make out the glory of this appearance in us when we come to live in a fleshly principle I say we find shortness and death and darkness and make out the things of God in visible and audible shapes as it were but God makes out himself to us when he takes us out of our selves into himself without any form Did you see any shape saith the Lord to the Israelites when the Lord talked with you So when the Lord takes a man into this communion with himself he takes him out of the flesh off from Ordinances administers not to him in the flesh and thus indeed it is that only when we are taken out of our selves can we apprehend or speak of this same life in God A Beleever when he is taken up into God and Christ he sees that which he cannot make out by all his parts and all the helps that he hath he sees that freedom from sin he sees as it were that omnipotency with him when he is taken up he sees himself perfect as God said to Abraham walk before me and be perfect Here is that which he cannot make out to the world Well may men say Do not we see that you are a man I am so but you cannot see what I am when I am taken up into God God is the subject and recipient that comprehends us we cannot comprehend him Use Now all that I would infer from hence is thus much I beseech you that you would know the things that concern your peace O what a sad thing is it that men should run away from life This is an evill heart with a witness to depart from the living God This is darkness with a witness when the Creature will comprehend God and will not be comprehended by God when we will say There is no other enjoyment of God then what we can make out in the flesh No other state then what may be visible to men Oh take heed of this and take heed of despising those that bring you the glad tydings of peace How beautifull rather should even the feet of those be though upon the Mountains that bring these glad tydings that say unto Sion thy God raigneth Christ hath been long in a Sepulchre he is now rising and you have the Testimony hereof brought to you by men like your selves and we are not able to make out the glory of it to you This flesh is not the subject and recipient of this glory this flesh is laid by But what we have seen and heard we declare unto you And therefore we beseech you not to depart from the living Lord. Every man would be a living man in his health Every man would be a living man in his trade would drive a free trade and will you only be content to be dead creatures in respect of communion with God I beseech you gird up the loyns of your minds be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is yet to be brought unto you by the Revelation of Jesus Christ in Spirit as well as beleeve that grace that is already brought by the Manifestation of Jesus Christ in the flesh Do but consider that God hath always entertained his people with a long expectation of things ere he hath given them It was but in the Apostles days that the first fruits of the Spirit were given The Israelites were in Aegypt 400 years before they came to the Land of Canaan This was but a typicall Canaan and not worth the waiting so long for as the spirituall Canaan Then again consider Gods promises have been first sown and dead in the earth of mans unbelief before they have been performed witness Sarahs womb barren witness the children of Israel in Egypt made slaves and bondmen what likelyhood was thereof their being a Kingdom of Priests unto God Nay from the beginning of the performance there is usually an Apostacy that comes before the ful accomplishment was it not so when God began to perform his promise to Israel of
it may be they are fallen into a form of Communion with Christians others are such as are only state Reformers and the time-Reformers Now both of them although there may be graduall difference yet both of them discover themselves that they are of the earth by this they are to be known by their conceits of themselves by their magnifying their duties and their forms they are in As a Christian ceaseth to be soe doe all things cease to be anything to him and he doth no more admire an high form in Religion then he doth admire himself all things are crucified to him as wel as he is crucified to them But many are like the multitude that Christ spake to in the 5. of Mat. They wil be very Zealous Jealous lest others should destroy the Law who preach the Gospel purely in the spirit and why are They zealous of the Law but because they think they can keep the Law they know only some lower formes of the Law but if they knew the Highest formes of the Law it were all one for they are censorious of others and wil persecute others if they will not come up to their form whereas you shall hear a broken-hearted Paul say that Circumcision it nothing c. Paul saw that a man might be a circumcised Jew yet ly down in hel with an uncircumcised Gentile but others by their censoriousnes of others manifest that they are not ceased to be in the flesh the truth is he that doth know God and doth worship God in spirit hath such low thoughts of all manner of outward forms that he doth neither judg himself nor others in the least kind by them for he sees that which is so much beyond and he is pressing towards that stil he takes heed how he riseth up in the morning and blesseth himself or his neighbour in his form for he sees much uncircumcision of heart in the best form The next is a Use of direction to poore creatures that see and subscribe to the truth That true Christianity begins in self-denyall and are saying what may we do that we may be after this manner that we may not be in our selves that the next word wil tell you God took him Enoch had been as other men but that God took him he had been in the flesh and had confidence in the flesh and had been some body in his owne eyes if so be God had not tooke him so that this you are to wait for till God take you up you cannot bring down the spirit a man cannot make an hair of his head white or black a man cannot make a thought a man cannot mould one desire or affection in him it is beyond his power this is according to that I spake in the opening of the point somewhat toward this namely that it is God revealing himself and his owne glory to the soule that engageth the soule to forget his owne kindred and his fathers house Come faith God thou shalt be marryed honorably I wil marry thee my self forget thy self forget thy sins so indeed the death of a Christian is a sweet death and as the Psalmist saith Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints God comes and takes that place that before Self had and therefore you have the death of a Saint expressed in this manner Into thy hands O Lord I commend my spirit God is there to receive the soul or else the soul would never be content to go out of the body and so it is here spiritually And the 3. and last Use is this A Hint or Discovery to what end death is ordained that formall death that we looke upon with so much fear and with such a sad reflection upon our selves when we think of our selves I must ere long dye and be among the dead This is our Ignorance what is death What is it for It is but an outward forme and signification of that work that God in the spirit of a Saint doth every day for what is the life of a Saint but a continual dying into the hands of God his Righteousness expires into the Righteousness of God God increaseth in him and himself decreaseth he hath less thoughts of himself and his own strength and hath higher thoughts of God he doth less know himself after the flesh and according to outward appearances and he more judgeth of himself as he is in God and as in Christ Jesus so that a Beleever dyes dayly and when God hath finished his whole worke upon Mount Sion then he will withdraw the form of death when he hath brought his people to dye to themselves and to the world as he wil in the latter days then death shal be swallowed up for as we see how men are when they are dead they mind no more relations a Child no longer observes his Father when he is dead ceaseth to act to the relation and ceaseth to act to the objects of this world strew fine sweet flowers before a dead corps the corps smels them not and bring good chear before dead corps the corps tasts it not so shal Saints be to sin and this world And thus I am perswaded God would not have continued death in the world since he hath reconciled the world but to teach the world And what are all these changes when a soul is gone to God before is it any terrible thing for such an one to dye It was the speech of one of precious memory in this City when he was dying saith he I shal but change my place not my company he walked as Enoch did So it is with us in all our changes that befal us they are but the outward formes and significations of that which is doing every day therefore we are not to judge according to the sight of our eyes not reckon our selves by our duties and our graces and performances not reckon by that power we see in our selves to resist sin or act in duties but look to an invisible presence of the spirit in oursouls that can never be taken from us which Mothes cannot corrupt and where Thieves cannot break through and steal SOMETHING OF THE MYSTERY OF THE FATHER AND OF CHRIST JOHN 16. 25. Hitherto have I spoken to you in Parables the time cometh when I wil speak to you no more in Parables but I wil shew you plainly of the Father THese are the words of our Saviour a little before his suffering when he spake not upon his own life but upon the life and comfort of his Disciples whose hearts were ful of heaviness and much ado he had to keep them up from sinking therefore no question but Jesus Christ did grone in Spirit and did go down deep that he might bring up something from the bottom to refresh their hearts tobear them up against that houre that was coming upon him their Lord and Master and upon them in being deprived of him therefore we finde him here very
wrought and revealed within us by the Spirit and therefore as Christ saith we may be bold to say after him The flesh profits nothing if you only know Christ as dying and rising without you it wil profit you nothing unles you know him as dying rising within you Error in this is the root of the dead faith wherof the world is full This is the root of that formall profession of that form of godliness which men doe advance soe far in and glory so much of and shroud themselves under unto the persecuting of the power of godliness to the persecuting of the Spirit This setting up of the History of Christ being ignorant of the Mystery Any man is capable of remembring the story of Christ and telling and rehearsing it if he hath but common reason and can say as wel as another that Christ dyed for him and can throw himself upon Christ and hang upon Christ This is not Faith this is not Salvation We have not known how to put a difference between the precious and the vile We know not how to shake off the pretenders and knock off their fingers that would pretend to eternall life Through the ignorance of this truth we have counted it enough if a man hath had the knowledg of the Story of Christ and hath said he casts himselfe upon Christ for salvation But harken what James saith Faith without works is dead Harken what Paul saith Rom. 8. 3. The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death He doth not say that such a proposition of the Gospell did set him free He doth not say that the hearing that Christ dyed for the sins of men doth set him free No there was the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus as well as there was the Law or Letter the outward Covenant is it that entailes life upon Jesus Christand his seed There is an outward Covenant and there is an inward Spirit The outward Covenant is this I wil be thy God and the God of thy seed This is the Covenant that God made with Christ that he made with Abraham of old I wil be thy God and the God of thy seed Now then they that are of the seed of Christ are in this Covenant as al that were Abrahams seed were in that outward Covenant but may not any man pretend to be of the seed of Christ and to be of the generation of Christ And do not thousands profess themselves so to be Do not thousands in the world say Lord Lord and press to enter into Heaven We cannot put a difference between one or other except we know this truth for they say they are in the Covenant they say they are of Christs seed and what hold they forth for this They hold forth the confession of Christ and say that he dyed for their sins and rose for their Justification and this they beleeve and upon this they lay their souls for salvation May not the veryest Hypocrite do so as wel as the truest Saint But here is that which puts a difference when the Spirit of Jesus Christ brings this Covenant to the heart of a poore creature when the Spirit of Adoption the Spirit of Son-ship revealing God as our Father revealing God in Union with us our Righteousness and our Strength he doth indeed seal us to the day of Redemption he sets apart Christs sheep This distinguishes them from the other So that if you lay your salvation upon an historicall Christ you wil be deceived If you would have that in which you may confide you must have Christ revealed in you in the Spirit you must have the same spirit of Faith that was in Christ and the same Spirit of Power that wrought in him you must have the same eternall Spirit by which you must offer up your bodies offer up your flesh to God as a Sacrifice yea your selves and your own Righteousness This is true salvation Here is salvation manifested unto life But you wil say to me Is not this a wronging of Jesus Christ Is it not a giving away from Christ And a giving it to grace and Sanctification within us Solu To this I answer that it is no giving away from Christ at all for we make Christ to be all in all in this only we distinguish of Christ There is Christ in the Flesh and Christ in the Spirit Christ in the Flesh is the witness the Covenant the common Person in whom our salvation is transacted as in a figure Christ in the Spirit is the real Truth and Principle of Righteousness and of Life he is the reall salvation within us For what is Christ Jesus in the Spirit but the Manifestation of God the coming forth of God and unto this must we attribute and in this we must fix and pitch our salvation this is the Savour of life unto life Of his own wil begat he us Doth not the Apostle there take away from Christ And yet elsewhere Christ is said to be the everlasting Father This same Will of God brought forth is nothing else but Christ Jesus in Spirit Christ Iesus is the outgoing of the Fathers Wil the Manifestation of the Fathers good Pleasure Therefore he is said to dwell in the heart of every Beleever If you confine Christs dwelling to a locall Heaven you are ignorant of that which is the greatest joy that can be Christ dwels in thy heart if the Will of God be revealed in thee by the Spirit Christ is in thee for he is nothing else but the outgoing of the Fathers Will and the Manifestation tion of the Fathers good pleasure this is Christ So that if we give to Sanctification we give to Christ For this is the Will of God even our Sanctification Christ is made unto us Righteousness and Sanctification But I desire a little further to examine that same before I let it pass it is said it is a giving to Sanctification and not to the blood of Christ I say no. For 1. I do not here take Sanctification as it is commonly taken as to be such and such particular acts of the Spirit I know that our life lyes not in this or the other act or in any particular act Our life lies in union with God through the Spirit 2. I give it not only to the Sanctification of the Spirit but to the Revelation of the Spirit There is the Revelation of the Spirit as wel as the Sanctification of the Spirit as the Apostle speaks Ephes 1. 17. That God would give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and Revelation c. 3. There is the Spirit of grace as well as the grace of the Spirit and to this I give all and the Spirit of grace is Christ Jesus and so to him I give al and what do I give to the Spirit I give the Manifestation of salvation to life and that 's all 4. This is the sum of all I desire to commend
that will cause blood when we make a necessity of the same things to be wrought in us as were wrought in Christ Iesus For as God hath sent Christ into the world so did Christ send these his Disciples into the world that is as God did send Christ into the world to make known himself so Christ Iesus when he hath fulfilled his Ministration in the flesh he sends out Beleevers I say he sends out Beleevers upon the same design to make out God and his glory to the world So that then this is a sure and satisfying ground why the same glory of the Father must work in Beleevers that wrought in Christ because that Beleevers are sent out upon the same errand and design that Christ was sent about As thou hast sent me into the world so have I sent these into c. Beleevers hold forth God in a spiritual discovery to the world that is they hold forth that glory of the Fathers working and discovering it self in them in a spirituall way which Christ held forth in a fleshly way My meaning is Beleevers are not lift up upon a material Cross as Christ was and do not suffer without the gate as Christ did but their Old man is crucified spiritually and they are raised and quickond by a lively hope spiritually This is the Reason that Christ saith As thou hast sent me into the world so have I sent them into the world Therefore sanctifie them with thy Truth thy word is Truth And for their sakes saith he I sanctifie my self This is as it were the making up of the Reason and the meaning of it is this saith Christ Herein doth thy design come to its period and perfection even in the Sanctification of my Members Herein thy design Oh Father is come to the birth and is brought forth for while this design works only in my person it is not at its term and period till it come to work in their persons for I am but as it were an intermediate forme and person in whom thou dost discover thy self for the present with relation to the like discovery in them through the spirit afterwards And therefore saith he For their sakes I sanctifie my self that c. As who should say If it were not in relation to them there should be no such thing as my dying and suffering and rising again It is but in relation to their Sanctification that the same glory may work in them in the Spirit conformable to this pattern of mine in the flesh And thus you have the meaning of the words For their sakes I sanctifie my self c. That which I shal insist upon at this time is the last word of the Text Through thy Truth So that the Observation that I would ground thereupon is this Doctr. That that Glory of the Father which works in the body of Christ the Saints is the Truth of that same Image that did appear in the head of that body Christ Jesus It is called an Image in 2 Cor. 3. ult we all as in a glass behold the Glory of the Lord there it is equivalently called an Image for your face in a glass is but an Image of your face but it follows more expresly And are changed into the same Image from glory to glory But stil I desire you to carry that along that a Beleevers crucifying is not a fleshly crucifying as Christs was but his Old man is crucified by spiritually discoveries This is the Truth and the other is but the form Now I must explain my self here You wil ask me whether that same work of God that is wrought in the hearts of Beleevers be their eternal life their happiness and salvation Whether that be their Righteousness for there is a great prejudice against Doctrines of this kind as if we did take away from Christ and give to that work of God within us that honour that is due to Jesus Christ Answ Now I conceive that neither the Actions of God in Christ I mean of Christ dying and rising nor the like Actions of the Spirit in us conforming us unto Christ are our salvation or eternall life but the making out of eternal life they are only the Manifestation of that grace that was given us before the world began If you ask me then what is our happiness and our life I conceive that God alone is our happiness God in union with us Mark it not only God loving us for love is but an expression to us Love is a sweet thing among the creatures and we know what love is from one to another but the Love of God to us is but the making out of a kind of spiritual Union that is between God and a Beleever So that to say that the Love of God placed upon us is our happiness is too weak and too low an expression but this is our happiness that we are in God and in Jesus Christ and that the Father and the Son is in us and is our Righteousness and our Strength in Union with us This is our happiness and eternall Life Now I say all the Dispensations of God are but to make out these things unto us Give me leave to illustrate it to you by going a little about This was our Lot and Portion from the beginning God was our Portion and God did maintain our Lot as Psa 16. And God was become in Union with the creature This was in the beginning of the Creation and this was in the Person of Christ Iesus as an Earnest of the whole but this same Union and this great happiness that the creature might be sensible of it and that it might come home with the greater advantage as it were and we might have the more lively taste of it therefore did God ordain all those intervening administrations therefore he makes the first Adam as a figure of Christ and therefore he bestows but a little grace on Adam or makes him mutable that he might fall that the Love of the Father might be the more manifested to us which we could never have seen nor admired so much if we had not been thus led about unto it And this is the end of Christ in the Flesh and Christ in the Spirit and so I shal come to shew you the difference betweene Christ in the Flesh and Christ in the Saints for if we give glory to any other then unto Christ we shoot beside the mark we give it to Christ stil but there is Christ in the Flesh and Christ in the Spirit both these agree to make out the Father and here is the difference of that work of God within us from that work of God in Christ This latter is the Truth of the former Sanctifie them through thy Truth that is do thou act those things really in them which are done in a figure for them upon me There is the Truth I desire to cleer up this to you by some famiâ—â—ar experience You know that Jesus Christ is said
You have heard that forms cannot dispense to us the spirituall Discoveries of God but by their going away in themselves then God hath sent out the Spirit of Elijah among us and God is contending with flesh and God is come into his Temple to sit there as a Refiners fire and he is bringing down all our forms But how He is destroying them in the flesh that he may give us them again in the Spirit This is that account upon which we may converse together and speak together informs as yet not in the oldness of the Letter but in the newness of the Spirit not accounting the form any thing Ministers not reckoning themselves to be anointed above their fellows and so making themselves Lords over Gods Heritage No it was only Christ Jesus was anointed above his fellows in that Administration wherein he was to be of publique use to the body but the anointing runs down from the head to the skirts of his garment c. The anointing is upon you all Christians it is the divine appearance within us anoints us above the world The Lord hath a quarrell with all flesh and we shall hear God speaking in one another more purely and he will turn to us a pure language when he hath made us a poor people Poverty and Pureness shall go together And then we will go no more forth to Malcham and when God hath silenced and stopt the mouth of all flesh and he alone is exalted then he will give you Judges as at the first and Counsellors as at the beginning and we shall all know the Lord and be able to speak to one another as at the beginning Think not your Religion will not be if the flesh of it be destroyed we shall know it more in the Spirit and see the anointing discovering it self upon the Body of Christ THE Dying and the living CHRISTIAN ROM 14. 8. For whether we live we live unto the Lord or whether we dye we dye unto the Lord. SUch is the Nature of Man such our darkness and blindness such our unacquaintedness with spirituall things that we are even shie and startle at that that is our great interest The Disciples when Jesus Christ came walking unto them on the Sea after he had bin a while absent from them took him for a Spirit and cryed out for fear Jesus Christ the Lord that Spirit that quickning Spirit He hath bin absent from us a while namely during the Apostacy during the raign of Antichrist and he is now visiting us and is comming to us in his own appearance When Christ who is our life shall appear When he shall break forth from under the Vail Now we know him not and are exceedingly afraid yea we cry out for fear we cry out of destroying Religion pulling down Ordinances This is the very case in the Text here There were some in the Apostles days that were still in the flesh I mean that were in that gross flesh that were under that same thick Vail of the Jewish Paedagogy and they were offended at others from whom God had taken that Vail and that did not walk in those Observances they did judg them very like they judged them to be irreligious men What not observe a day that God himself hath instituted Not observe distinction of meats that God himself hath founded What audaciousness is this to throw down the Ordinances of God On the other hand those that did see ground perhaps in the Letter for what they did for the casting off the yoke of these outward Observances yet not walking spiritually in this liberty despised them that were still under these When any thing of a form is received by our nature by our flesh there is a miscarriage in it If God appear in our forms we judg those that are above them If God lead us above them we are ready to despise those that are under them remaining all this while in deed and in truth under a form our selves though we appeare in this distinction from others for uncircumcision is a form as well as Circumcision and it shews it self so to be by this uncircumcised despising of others for forms sake in whom there may be as much or more power then in our selves In this Chapter the Apostle states the Controversie and gives us a Rule to administer towards the one and the other Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not and let not him that eateth not judg him that eateth for the Lord hath received him Peradventure the one of them is in a better state then the other yet they are both of them in the Lord they are the Lords The one is a Living Christian the other a Dying Christian yet they are both the Lords For saith he Whether we live we live unto the Lord or whether we dye we dye unto the Lord. And so we come to the words whence we have observed That God is not only in different forms but in opposite forms such as are regarding a day and not regarding it We have observed likewise what the difference of Christians doth amount unto those that are in bondage to Forms and those that are set free from those forms the one is a living and the other a dying man For whether we live we live unto the Lord or whether we dye we dye unto the Lord. I spake of the dying Christian the last day and shewed you in what respect he is a dying Christian that is under Ordinances or that depends upon them for every conversing in Ordinances is not a depending upon Ordinances First It is a dying condition for he savours life Carnally they savour their life according to the weakness of the flesh and not according to the power of the spirit according to the carnality of the forme and not according to the spirituality of God Therefore 't is that men do put the Ordinances with God as those that swore by the Lord and Malcham they left not out the Lord but would joyn Malcham with him too they savour life carnally and secondly they fall short of God they fal short of the glory of God ergo they are dying Christians They see God in his weakness but they see him not in his strength and thirdly they must passe through death for every form is raised up that it may dye and not that it should live for ever it is raised up for a Ministration to Minister to some other thing and therefore must have its period Every form is but a way yea the body of Christ is but a way Through the new and living way that is his flesh And I might have added another Reason and that is this That Jesus Christ the end of his appearance in the flesh was death He was manifested in the flesh and brought down the love of God and the glory of God in his flesh he spake the things of God to us in fleshly signs and parables and the end of that State was death and so