instruments to sin Shall we turn all this into speculation No certainly there is some eminent reall holiness and power against sin that they had not before therefore saith he What pleasure had you in those things whereof ye are now ashamed those sins that you committed before you are now ashamed of them And let me look a little upon my own soul or appeal to you Take any man or woman that understands what it is to be under the law what it is to walk according to the Covenant of works and according to the flesh and what covenants and resolutions and promises and fastings he had and let him look upon himself what he is now since he hath known a little of Christ and hath known that he is a justified person and that he is dead to the law and the like I appeal to you whether you do not feel a strange power in your souls killing and subduing sin that you never imagined before or almost hoped to have There are some Saints that I know that when they came to know a little of Jesus Christ they have found a power to subdue their sins that they did not hope for in their other condition they were so strong it is an eminent power A poor Saint that sees another tugging and striving and wrastling and bustling with his corruptions he knows that there is a sweet power in his soul that pulls down the highest and proudest imaginations As a godly man saith There is as much difference between a man thaâ— walks after the flesh according to the law and he that walks according to the Spirit as between a man that is in a great Lyter or in a great Boat that is fast upon the Sand and there are it may be a dozen or twenty men tugging and striving to get it off and yet it sticks and another man that is in a Boat upon the water and needs onely to hoist sail and sit down and it is gone he goes with wind and tide So a man that walks according to grace he can go as a childe and speak loving and plain words to his Father and get power over his sins that all the howling and roaring and crying of another a whole year together cannot do It is so and all you that know what grace is know it That is one thing therefore consider this if thou walk according to the Spirit thou art dead to sin that is in respect of the condemnation and guilt of it thou hearest that Christ hath fulfilled the law and that sin is done away And secondly in respect of the power of it thou canst look upon it as a dying gasping thing that must die and thou canst tread on it through the death of Christ Thirdly thou findest no lust so strong in thy soul but thou canst ordinarily bring it down thou canst bring it to the obedience of Jesus Christ another man may throw his cap at his sins and be wishing and woulding all the year long but there are strong lusts in his soul that will not out Therefore saith the Apostle when you walked according to the law the motions of sin brought forth fruit unto death inevitably it will be so Then further you shall find the fruits of walking according to the Spirit I will but name them to you and wish you to consider of them You have many set down in this 8th to the Romans When a man walks according to the Spirit you shall see this is one fruit of it A Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God for ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father That is one fruit of it as soon as a man comes to walk according to the Spirit he hath not a spirit of bondage any more What is that It is nothing but this a temper of soul like a slave just as you may conceive of a man that is taken Prisoner in Turkie what temper he is of he is glad of a Crust of bread and he fears whipping and beating and it may be killing such is the temper of a mans soul in a spirit of bondage when one is in such a temper that he is alwayes in fear of being whipped and scourged and he hath hard thoughts of God and he fears that he shall prove an hypocrite and the like Now saith the Apostle we have not that spirit but we have the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father that is there is a sweet temper such as is in a loving childe to his dear Father there is a boldness a love and delight and rejoycing and a sweetness c. This is one fruit of it therefore as far as thou art under horrour and moping and howling and crying thou comest short of walking according to the Spirit for thy soul would be alway full of sweetness in the greatest affliction if there were a Spirit of Adoption and under the worst sins thou doest commit though there would be sorrow yet thou wouldest be full of sweetness and joy That is one thing Again another fruit and consequent of it is that the Spirit of God bears witness with our Spirits that we are the children of God If thou wilt be led by the Spirit and walk after the Spirit the Spirit of God will witness with thy spirit that thou art the childe of God What is that the meaning of it is this as I understand the Spirit of God will raise up my spirit to be able to see and know that I am the childe of God for the spirit of a man knows the natural things of a man and no more but the Spirit of God witnesseth with my spirit that I am the childe of God that is he raiseth up my spirit whereby I may see and know that I am the childe of God that as before by my own spirit I was able to know whether I were poor or rich whether I were sick or well whether I were beloved or hated so now my spirit is raised up by the Spirit of God I am able to reflect upon my self spiritually and look upon my self as beloved and chosen and holy and called and justified and this is a spiritual way Thirdly here is another expression of it and that is an earnest hope or expectation of the glory that is to be revealed I finde and observe little of that to be in Professors and I have oft marvelled at it and the reason is Because they have not the Spirit of Adoption and walk not fully according to the Spirit therefore they are not filled with those expectations and those earnest desires that the Saints were ordinarily in the Primitive times Saith the Apostle in this Chapter The creature groaneth and desires to be delivered and not onely they but we our selves which have the first-fruits of the Spirit we groan within our selves
with Scripture that you may come to know the mind of Christ Shall I name one thing more If you would come to be spirituall Gospel-Saints you must be born again you must be born from above A Gospell profession is Jerusalem from above and there are none that can come into Jerusalem that is from above but those that are borne from above Therefore marke our Saviours reasoning Jehn 3. Nicodemus asks Christ which was the way to Heaven And he tells him Verily thou must be born again or thou must be born from above or else thou canst not see it Nicodemus wonders why he must be born from above saith he Shall I go into my Mothers belly c. Saith Christ marvell not wonder not why should he not wonder at such a strange speech Here is the reason That which is born of flesh is flesh therefore think it not strange that I say thou must be born again So I say whatsoever you do by the power of nature by your own wisedome by your own righteousness or your own strength all comes but to this but to flesh and whatsoever comes of flesh is flesh flesh cannot bring out the spirit no more then a thorn can bring out grapes as Christ speaks Therefore wonder not that thou must be born from above that is thou must have the Lord from above to beget thee again You have every one been born once you must be born once more you must have a new creation in you the Lord must create new strange properties and dispositions that no flesh and blood is able to comprehend Lastly take the counsell of the Holy Ghost and that is in Ephes 1. 16. As Paul prayed for them so do thou pray for thy self and there is all the reason in the world that thou shouldest I cease not saith he to give thanks for you making mention of you in my Prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory would give to you the spirit of wisdome and revelation in the knowledge of him Pray for the spirit of wisedome and revelation in the knowledge of Christ Slight not these words because some wicked men abuse them and others reproach them but because Paul saith so pray that the Lord would give the spirit of wisdome and revelation So much concerning the Directions I had to give you Vse 6. There is one word of Information and with that I will conclude From what I have said before concerning the flesh and the Spirit learn this Instruction more hence to see what is the true ground of all Persecutions nay even of all the Divisions that are among us men may pretend what they will and deceive themselves but all the strife and persecution in the world is meerly between the Flesh and the Spirit between the Old and the New Adam There are two Princes in this World and these are contrary the one to the other The flesh lusteth against the Spirit Old Adam seeks to get up the New Adam will have him down Therefore you shall have these two in every Town in one Church in one Family in one Soul and wheresoever they are the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these two are contrary Are contrary what is that that is there is no true contrariety between any things in the world but between the Old Adam and the New between the flesh and the Spirit Now by Flesh I mean not onely corruption but whole flesh fleshly wisdome The wisdome of the Old Adam is enmity against the New the righteousness of Old Adam is quite contrary to the righteousness of the New this is the cause of persecution Let people pretend what they will you shall see godly men persecuted you may see Christ in their Souls as clearly as the Sun and people keep a coyle about Independency and Presbytery but the truth is it is Old Adam in those that persecute and the New Adam in the other a man with one eye may see it There are many pretences but all the strife is between the Old Adam and the New For to give a little illustration take Gospel godly Saints that have the Spirit of God in them they agree well enough they will not strive sometimes they may differ a little but for the generality they live well enough together nay take some Gospel Saints that are filled with the Spirit of God and the knowledge of Jesus Christ in these times and in this City which is the Centre of all Division and they cannot attest divisions they cannot make a Party and give railing for railing and strife for strife they cannot but love their enemies and bless them that blaspheme them As James saith Whence come all wars You think they come from your zeal for your Way and yours for your Way but it is from your lusts The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh it is from Old Adam And I was going to say but I will but name it This is the cause also of the weakness generally that is among you It is not wickedness that troubles a Saint but weakness it is not positive ills but weakness And whence is this weakness because he walks after the flesh the Spirit is powerful but the flesh is weak As the Scripture faith Their horses are flesh and not spirit so I may say Your Prayers are flesh and not spirit and it may be my Preaching and it may be our endeavours to resist sin But as far as they are flesh they are weak enough but where the Spirit is there is power I can do all things saith Paul I can preach the Gospel from Jerusalem to Illyricum and I shall come to you in the fulness of Christ A man would think he had been mad but it was the strength of his spirit A poor weak Christian he doth nothing but wish and would and confesseth his sins to day and falls into it again to morrow and then confesseth again and When will it once be O Jerusalem but the Gospel is the power of God to salvation and all the principles of it are powerful and all the precepts of it have a power through the spirit for a man to keep and observe them Men talk that the learning of Christ and the knowledge of the Gospel is to make men loose and licentious It is true carnal vain hearts the better any thing is the worse they be but assure your selves concerning true Saints it is false for the onely way to be lively and lusty and fruitful in good is to know Christ more according to the Gospel Let men please themselves and say so as long as they will they shall be but poor old barren creatures you will be wishing but you shall never overcome your sins I have known some Saints that by the knowledge of Jesus Christ have had power to subdue those sins and to bring them under that before they never so much as hoped to bring under
Mount Sion OR The Priviledge and Practice OF THE SAINTS Opened and Applied By that faithful Dispenser of the Mysteries of Christ WALTER CRADOCK late Preacher at Alhaâ—â—ws the Great in London Heb. 12. 22. But ye are come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the living God c. Gal. 4. 26. But Jerusalem which is above is free which is the Mother of us all CAMBRIDGE Printed by M. J. 1673. To the Reader THese Sermons being exactly penned from the Authors own mouth are now brought to publick view though when he preached them had not the least thought to suffer them to be Printed but since they were thus prepared to come abroad into the world the pious Author finding so much of the sweetness of Christ in viewing of them could not turn his back upon them As for this godly Author his worth and excellency is so eminently known it would be vanity in me to speak any thing in relation to his praise let this and other of his own works praise him Yet thus much I shall say That I do verily believe that he preached these choyce Lectures from the bosome of Jesus Christ that these things were the very experiments of his own soul and the lively actings of the Spirit of God within him What he hath seen and heard he hath declared that we might have fellowship with him whose fellowship is with the Eather and the Son 1 Joh. 1. 3. and therein shall our joy be full These Sermons are not clothed with humane Art quaint expressions eloquent Speculations but choose rather to come forth in the nakedness of truth not with the enticing words of mans wisdome but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power Here is nothing to fill thy head with barren notions fruitless opinions or meer speculations but here is that to fill thy heart with the glory of God the life of Christ and light of his Spirit I shall in a few words hint out what thou shalt finde in these ensuing Discourses 1. Mans fleshly righteousness is the great Idol of the world every one is ready to fall down unto it and call it blessed This is Antichrist coming forth in the habit of Christ being arrayed and decked with gold precious stones and pearls whereby the Nations are deceived but when we know the righteousness of the Lord we shall cast away our own righteousness and as the Prophet speaks say unto iâ— Get ye hence Isa 30. 22. 2. Formality is in no less esteem among us then the former What is the Religion of most people but a meer form without any life or power at all Astronomers tell us that the upper Planets have their Stations and Retrogradations as well as their direct Motions So 't is with most in their Religion sometimes they move forwards sometimes backward sometimes stand at a stay and thus they tread alwayes in one circle or round turning like a door upon the hinges but never from off the place where they were As for most mens hearing praying fasting what is it but as a task performed so coldly that there is no principle of divine life in it and thus they go on but are never at their journeys end Men commonly use what they should enjoy and enjoy that they should use they will use the Lord whom they should enjoy and they will enjoy their duties and performances that they should onely use thus they starve their souls by formality in Religion 3. The third thing we may take notice of is the righteousness of Christ commended to us before the righteousness of Adam Most of the worlds righteousness proceeds from the principles of the old Adam which is corrupt and fleshly what is this but to be born of Ishmael the son of the bond-woman to come unto Mount Sinai in Arabia viz. the Covenant of Works but Jerusalem which is above is free which is the Mother of all the first-born of God viz. the Covenant of Grace Vain man thinks to climb to heaven by his own righteousness when alas it is but of the first Adam natural weak and fleshly All the wisdome knowledge in 〈…〉 tion of man as Tongues Arts and Sciences as Philosophy Logick Rhetorick c. all these are but to repair those reliques of the first Adams corrupted principles of reason and understanding therefore if we go to patch up a righteousness of these we do but build what the Lord will have destroyed But that which is able to restore us is an establishment of the righteousness of Christ upon our hearts by the participation of the divine Nature Christ performs all righteousness for his Saints and then works all righteousness in them The divine Will of God is righteousness now Christ is that divine Will brought forth in a Saint working after the Lords own pleasure The Civil Law doth account Elephants and Camels to have the nature of wilde Beasts though they do the work of tame beasts So Adams righteousness commends not to God we are onely accepted in the beloved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or ingratiated through that beloved The divine treasures of righteousness are first in Christ and by our union with him we come to enjoy them by way of participation 4. Substantial and reall Holiness set out to be farre more excellent then all empty Forms or meer Professions Holiness is God stamped and printed upon the soul 't is Christ formed in the heart 't is the very image frame and disposition of the holy Spirit within us The Philosopher could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That God was but an empty name without vertue so are all our professions of Christ without holiness that being the very marrow and quintessence of all Religion Holiness is something of God in us it proceeds from him it lives in him God can no more be separated from it then the beams from the Sun Holiness is happiness and the more of it we have the more we have of the life and image of God upon us Holiness is nothing but our conformity to God and our being like him to be as he is Holiness is the new frame the new creation the wormanship of the Lord in our hearts it is the Lord building and setting up his own Temple Tabernacle and new Jerusalem within us filling of us with his own glory writing his name in our foreheads by imprinting his own divine image upon us Oh what happiness what sweet delight and harmony of heart what Soul-musick and spiritual joy is there in having our soul wrapt up in the divine life light and beauty of the Lords holiness 5. Thou hast a discovery of the inability of mans carnal principles or reason to judge of spiritual things or the things of God every truth is discovered by principles of light suitable to it self Hence it is that the Apostle tells us of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an animate sensuall or naturall man and of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spiritual man one enlightned by the Spirit of
God Now the natural man is not able to judge of things above the principles of Nature The Apostle tells us No man knows the things of a man but the spirit of man which is in him 1 Cor. 2. 11. The things of man are all created things man is therefore said to be as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little world or an Epitome or Compendium wherein all created things are described as in a Map or short Abridgement Now the principle of reason in mans heart is able to search out the hidden things of nature But this large principle of man is too narrow to search into the things of the Spirit so saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. 11 12 14 15. The things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God The Spirit searcheth the deep things of God And again he saith The wisdome of the Spirit is but foolishness to the naturall man And why so because saith he Spiritual things are spiritually discerned that is they are to be understood in a spiritual sense to which mans carnal reason cannot reach But now saith he the spirituall man discerneth all things so that divine things are onely known by the Spirit 't is the Spirit of all Truth that leads into all Truth Then 't is not all Maximes and Rules 't is not Sy 〈…〉 gistical Reasonings and Disputes 't is not Books an◠Treatises 't is not all Systems and Bodies of Divinity that can reveal the secret mysteries of Truth but it is the work of the Spirit for the mystery of Christ is not meerly letter and form without but a quickning Spirit within us Yet 6. We are taught that there is a most profound spiritual reasoning in godliness and that it is the highest act of the minde which is the highest faculty of the soul The minde of a Saint is Gods Throne and the motions of the minde or the reasonings thereof is nothing but Christ swaying the soul according to his good pleasure It 's true that reason as 't is in man is a most imperfect and weak light and falls short of the light of God being depraved and mixt with much darkness and so is unsuitable to judge divine things but reason considered in its height and excellency is no other then Jesus Christ and the Spirit then so much as reason hath of the light of God so much it hath of Jesus Christ Then the most excellent the most supreme and the sublimest reason is in godliness because in it is the greatest clearness certainty and light The Apostle calls it Demonstration now divine reason is demonstration which is an evidencing of things by the clearest surest and most irresistible light that can be Now Christ is this spiritual reason for saith the Apostle that which manifests is light Eph. 5. 13. And what is that light but Christ and his Spirit Thus I have given thee a taste of things to set an edge to thy appetite that thou mayest make a fuller meal of Divine Dainties by reading the ensuing Treatise where thou hast a Table richly spread Now if thou art one of Christs Friends then come and eat of this honey and drink of this wine yea eat and drink abundantly O beloved Here thou mayest eat and not 〈…〉 et here thou mayest drink and not be drunken the more thou earest the stronger will thy appetite be and the more thou drinkest the more wilt thou thirst and yet with the greatest saturation and content To conclude Thou mayest finde much of Christ in this Book but see whether thou canst finde much of him also in thine own heart Now that these things which are here written with Paper and Ink may be written upon the Table of thy soul by the finger of the Spirit is the prayer of him who is Thine in the Service of Christ John Robotham Octob. 24. 1650. SERMON I. Rom. 8. 4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit THe main drift of the Apostle in this Epistle is to hold forth Justification by Faith or by Free-grace without the works of the Law And in Chap. 7. the Apostle doth answer an Objection for they might say What then shall we do with the Law if it cannot justifie us There the Apostle tells us that though the Law cannot justifie us yet there are many blessed uses both for Sinners and Saints to make of the Law of which I shall not now speak Now in this eighth Chapter the Apostle draws this conclusion from what he had said before There is therefore from what I have said it is evident that there is no condemnation there is no damnation there is no danger of Hell to them which are in Christ Jesus Now he opens who those are he saith they are those who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit And he gives a reason of it in ver 2. why there is no damnation to those people For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the law of sin and of death Now he amplifies that in ver 3. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh As if he should have said Thus it comes about that we are now free from the law and that there is no damnation to us because saith he that God hath sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh like one of us and he hath fulfilled the law of God and condemned sin therefore there is no sin to condemn us nor no jot of the law that is not fulfilled therefore we are just and righteous and clear There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus for God hath sent his Son to condemn sin c. Now in the fourth Verse it is more particularly expressed That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit I shall not orderly go over to shew the Coherence distinctly as I might but briefly as I can come to those Lessons that the Lord is to teach us That the Righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us c. There are in the words two things Here is a great Priviledge as any can be to have the righteousness of the law fulfilled in us And here are secondly the parties that have the benefit of this Priviledge Those that walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Concerning the Priviledge to understand the words a little That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us That the law might be fully satisfied in point of righteousness that the law might have such a righteousness which indeed the law requires that it might have a full and compleat righteousness in us So that briefly these are the Lessons which I shall open from hence which I desire
other is to be pleased with one that was an Enemy before one that was against me that is now received to favour So I have told you briefly some Scriptures to shew you that the flesh is taken in this sense Now the main Reason of it why I believe this to be the chief meaning of it is because that I see clearly that this is the chief drift and scope of this Epistle and if I may speak without disparagement there is nothing more methodically laid down and this is spoken to bring them from the way of works to the way of faith But I hasten Why doth the holy Ghost call walking after the Covenant of Works and after the law walking after the flesh and the other walking after the Spirit The Reason is Because there is so great affinity and nearness between walking legally and walking sinfully that they are promiscuously in Scripture taken one for another For let a man walk and endeavour and do his best according to the Law and not by the Gospel he shall be sure to walk sinfully and carnally there is no help for it If he be under the law sin will have dominion over him and if he go after the flesh the motions of the flesh will bring forth fruit unto death Sin and the law are as it were of so near a kin that the law makes sin more sinful and the more a man strives to keep the law the more he sins The Apostle brought it so near that people were ready to speak non-sense that the law was sin He prevents the objection Is the law sin O no faith he sin is the transgression of the law So that a man that walks according to the law and not according to the way of the Gospel in spight of his heart he shall walk according to the flesh that is according to the lusts of nature he can never walk holily let him do what he can A second Reason why it is called flesh is in allusion to the two Sons of Abraham as we see in Gal. 4. 21. The Apostle there speaking of these two Covenants he saith Abraham had two sons the one by a bond-maid the other by a free woman but he who was of the bond-woman was born after the flesh but he of the free woman was by promise which things are an allegory or a comparison for these are the two Covenants the one from mount Sinai which gendereth to bondage which is Agar for this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answereth to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children but Jerusalem which is above is free which is the mother of us all He is proving that the old Covenant was to be done away Agar was to be thrown out with her children He proves that those two Sons of Abraham Ishmael and Isaac were types of the two Covenants that God made with mankinde the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace Now the Covenant of Works he compares to Ishmael that was born after the flesh as other children were Abraham went in to Hagar and she conceived and bare a childe as other women but Isaac was not born after the flesh all fleshly wayes could not produce Isaac he was a childe of Promise and the Spirit of God breathing in the promise and working mightily in Abraham and Sarah Isaac was produced This is an Allegory there is a great Mysterie that you think not of when you reade of Ishmael and Isaac By Ishmael is meant the Covenant of Works and the principles of it and the practitioners of it and they walk according to the flesh as Ishmael did and by Isaac is meant the Covenant of Grace and those that go that way are children of the promise as Isaac was So God hath set this Comparison and I conceive the Apostle alludes to it and calls it a walking according to the flesh As if he had said Thou shalt never have this righteousness by walking in the way of thy father Ishmael by Mount Sinai in Arabia by walking in the law to turn away the wrath of God but if thou wilt get this righteousness thou must walk according to the Spirit thou must get the Spirit and be a childe of promise The third and last Reason that I shall give why it is called walking according to the Flesh is because of weakness for flesh is put for weakness as the Scripture saith They are Flesh and not Spirit that is they are poor weak things so those that walk in that way in the way of the law they are weak creatures there is nothing but wishing and woulding and covenanting and promising and protesting and vexing and fretting but there is no strength Now one Saint that is truly planted in Christ and the Gospel hath truly taken place in his heart he hath more strength then five hundred of the other Saith Paul I can do all things I can want and I can abound I can go to prison freely I can rejoyce with them that rejoyce and mourn with them that mourn Because the same Spirit that dwells in Christ and works effectually the same Spirit dwells in us and works in us Therefore that is the meaning of it They that walk after the flesh that is they that go after the law they are weak they tug and are never the nearer Heaven and if they should live a thousand years they would be no better but wishers and woulders and say I have a good desire to do as the Preacher saith but I have no power Vse Let me conclude with one word of Use from all this that hath been said which I hope you will consider of From this Doctrine thus opened you may hence see the saying of our Lord Jesus Christ verified and made good that few shall enter into the kingdome of Heaven Doubtless Paul did not look on sinners and Saints as we do we account every Professor let his principles be what they will either from the first or second Adam if he begin to leave sin and to perform duties we account him a good man But when the Lord comes to judge he will look further and examine us and will I fear finde abundance that shall never enter into the kingdome of Heaven even of those that follow good old Adam I mean there are abundance of Professors that have left corrupt Adam in his grossness and follow good old Adam that is a sprig from that they will abstain from sins and they will perform duties and they will do no wrong and all is but old Adam still Therefore you that are Professors look to your selves for the Lords sake I am mistaken if there be not many hundreds of us that will be found the Sons of Ishmael at the last day many that make a great Profession and many that make a greater Profession then others that are honest spiritual Saints before the world before men for when a man goes to keep the law every light that comes into his
the Spirit of God as long as they do so they shall never know the will of God We are not debtors to the flesh but we must be debtors to the Spirit if we will have one true thought of Jesus Christ O praise the Spirit and prize the Spirit If you have any thought of Christ thank the Spirit if you have any glimpse of him in your souls worth any thing praise the Spirit That is the reason that the Saints in the Book of God speak not of the Spirit of God without some special Epithite of Commendation Guide me by thy HOLY Spirit and saith another thy BLESSED Spirit and thy GRACIOVS Spirit and the Spirit of GRACE faith another They never speak of it without some word that shewed their love to it and high esteem of it When the Lord shall come and his Spirit shall be advanced in the hearts of men we shall have glorious times and never before that and those times will come I remember Calvin on those Prophesies in Isaiah and Joel The SVN shall be darkened and the MOON shall be turned into blood in that day Saith he the meaning is all the excellency that a man naturally hath his Learning and Endowments in the dayes of the Gospel when the Spirit shall come with his light when God shall exalt the Spirit The Sun shall be turned into darkness and the Moon into blood Men shall not so much esteem Learning from Books but learned and great men and Scholars shall come to one Classis and one Rank and Form with simple people all waiting on God by his Word through the Spirit A man can take his Boy from School that hath his Latine and Greek and send him to the University and he assures himself that he shall be as good a Minister as his other Son that it may be hath served the Spirit seven years this is our way and a hundred more whereby we basely slight and disdain the Spirit of God and do not honour him and therefore he will not honour us 3. If ever you will be true Gospel-Saints you must suffer your selves to be led by the Spirit of God That phrase you finde oft in Rom. 8. Gal. 5. If you live in the Spirit Walk in the Spirit Be led by the Spirit We are not complementary to commend the Spirit of God c. but give it scope to lead us You must heed more what the Spirit of God saith to you and what he works on you If there come a place of Scripture in your minde hear and consider whether the Spirit of God hath not put it in thy minde and would have thee study it and would have thee compare Scriptures And when thou comest to do any action whatsoever not so much to advise with this man or that man but what saith the Spirit I mean according to the light of the Scriptures hearken to that more then what all the world saith Therefore I have known some men that in their whole lives have often mâ—st the will of God in circumstantial things usually it may be for a year or two or three and they have mist it again in another thing and in another thing and when they have examined how this comes about they can say If they had hearkned to the Spirit they had not done so but they hearkned to men and so went against the dictates of the Spirit in their Conscience they would hear what this man said and what the other man did But now the Spirit will say to them You see I would have shewed you the right way but you would not give me scope but made a cypher of me And for my one particular I do not yet see how I should ever have mist the will of God since I knew him if I had hearkned to the Spirit of God if I had but observed so much light as the Spirit had put into my heart Now we ballance the Spirit with this mans example and with the other mans opinion and so come home by Weeping Cross Therefore give scope to the Spirit I mean not against the Word or above the Word but still I mean the Spirit of God working according to the Scriptures and no otherwise 4. Another thing and a special one is I wish you for the Mysteries of the Gospel to study the Scriptures in the simplicity of them without the glosses of men for a man in extremity must do that that a man that is not in extremity would not do We have brought our selves in such slavery to men that we must take that course that another sober man should not I mean thus when ever we go to look for any truth of God for the will of God we have notions in our mindes beforehand according to the times and places we live in As concerning Baptism what need I go to the Scriptures saith one we have it in such and such mens Writings and so we forestall the will of God that we are blinded and cannot see it Therefore if you will see the will of God I wish you for a while to look on the naked Scriptures And for my part I know but three uses to be made of other Books 1. As first there is this use of Books you have Books that will read the Scriptures in divers languages and shew the Originall and open the tongues now when I see a word in English and doubt of the meaning of it then I will go to the Greek or Hebrew as God hath endowed me with knowledge 2. Then there is another use of Books when I reade one single Scripture it may be I have a Book that will point out halfe a dozen Scriptures to open one Scripture by 3. And it may be I have some Books that take some Scripture and presse it upon my soule as Doctor Prestons and other godly Books But to take Books and say Jerome thinks this and Austin that and fill our heads with notions they blind us that we cannot see the will of God Therefore in reading of the Scriptures there should be this difference from our reading of other Books I mean in respect of age When we are Children and young we use not Spectacles it may be at twenty or thirty or fourty yeares old we can reade without Spectacles but when we come tofifty or sixty then we can see nothing but through Spectacles It should be just contrary with us when we are Christians When we are young we usually never read the word of God but through the Spectacles of mens glosses but when we are older Christians and stronger Saints we should learne to read better without Spectacles we should daily make lesse use of Mens Books and more of Gods Book That whereas before a man turned over twenty Authors upon a point Now he can go humbly to God with his Bible and without Spectacles he can see what the will of God is Therefore lay aside Spectacles sometimes and only take the spirit of God and compare Scripture
heard or understood any thing of them that God hath prepared for them that love him They are as we see there afterwards clearly the things of the Spirit of God They are called the deep things of God ver 10. they are deep because no carnal man can reach them and in ver 11. they are called the things of God and in ver 12. The things that are freely given to us of God And in ver 14. they are called the the things of the Spirit of God The things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to him In 2 Cor. 4. ult there you shall have both these things described for in that we shall have a little light from that description of it the things of the flesh are called there the things that are seen and the things of the Spirit are called the things that are not seen the one are said to be temporal and the other eternal The things of the flesh are temporal things that may be seen that is not so much seen with the eyes of the body but he means that a man every carnal man may perceive and understand them All the things of Old Adam a meer natural man is able to comprehend them but the other things are things that are not seen that is that eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor hath entred into the heart of man Therefore Christ in Mat. 11. 25. saith I thank thee O heavenly Father that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to babes What were these things the things of the spirit of God they are the things that are hid from the wise and prudent of the world they are not possible to be seen of them but God reveals them to the least babe of his own kingdome In Coloss 3. 1 2. you have another description for you may put these together and so the better understand them In ver 2. the things of the flesh are called things on earth and the things of the Spirit are called the things that are above The things of the flesh are the things that are beneath as it were things on the earth that is though in Old Adam there be many excellent things you must not conceive Earth here in a gross sense there is fine refined wisdome and understanding and prudence which the spirit of God usually slights and despiseth Where is the wise and the disputer c. notwithstanding all Old Adam is but earthly all the spirituality as it were of Old Adam are but things on the earth It is no wonder they are called things of the Earth when the Doctrine and Preaching of John Baptist he himself calls it Earthly I am from the earth I speak earthly He is from above he speaks heavenly and spiritually It was earthly in comparison of Christ though there was some Gospel in it Much more earthly is all the devotion and Religion and what is best in fleshly man that hath nothing in him but Old Adam In Phil. 3. 7. there is another large description of these things The things of the flesh there they are those things that Paul once accounted gaine to him and those things that Paul now accounted losse to him see there what those things are those excellent fine things the things of the flesh a man while he is in the flesh accounts them gaine a great gaine to him he lives by his wit and his wisedome and it is a mighty gaine to him to increase and build up old Adam in him But when a man comes to spirituall things he accounts all these things loss I account them loss saith Paul Now the things of the spirit were those things that Paul desired to win and to gain in the verses following That I may gain Christ and his righteousness and a little further you shall see Paul calls the things of the flesh the things behinde and the things of the Spirit the things before And in ver 19. the things of the flesh he calls them earthly things They minde earthly things and so by contraries the other things are heavenly I cannot open every particular expression onely I would point out the descriptions to you as the Holy Ghost layes them down In 2 Cor. 5. there the things of the flesh are called old things and the things of the Spirit are called new things for saith the Apostle We know no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet know we him so no more therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are passed away all the things of the Flesh are old things the things of the Spirit of God are new things Therefore in the Acts the Athenians desired to know the new strange doctrine that Paul brought What was this new doctrine Onely the things concerning the Spirit of God the other things are old things Gal. 2. 18. there the things of the flesh are described to be the things that Paul destroyed and the things of the Spirit the things that Paul sought to build up 1 Cor. 7. 32 33. the things of the flesh are called the things of the world but the things of the Spirit are called there the things of the Lord The married cares for the things of the world but the unmarried for the things of the Lord. Phil. 2. 23. the things of the flesh are called our own things and the things of the Spirit are called the things of Jesus Christ Saith the Apostle I have no man like minded who will naturally care for your state Mark that expression it is well worth observing in these self-seeking times We may well say so now if Paul said so then I have no man like minded who will naturally care for your estate A man can hardly finde a Professor in a multitude that will naturally and freely care for the state of others of the Saints for saith he All seek their own and not the things that are Jesus Christs all seek their own things the things that make for old Adam that make for the Flesh and for mans self Joh. 6. 27. the things of the Flesh are called meat that perisheth and the things of the Spirit meat that endureth to everlasting life Luke 10. 41. they are called many things and the things of the Spirit are called one thing Martha Martha thou art cumbred about many things for indeed there are many distracting businesses in the things of the world therefore in Mat. 13. when the seed was sown among thorns it is said the deceitfulness of riches and pleasures and the lusts of other things who knows how many it may be a thousand two thousand other things the things of the Flesh are endless but the things of the Spirit are called one thing the ruinous building of old Adam is going into a thousand pieces but there is but one Jesus Christ and in the things of Jesus Christ there is a greater union then in the things of the