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
Jesus doth procure the Love of the Father whereas Christ doth but manifest and declare the Love of the Father and therefore saith Christ I say not that I wil pray for you for the Father himself loves you Now having exhorted you to contend towards the knowing of the Father and living in the Father and not living in any forme for all forms are to cease forms are not our perfection The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath Let me give you this caution Let no man think there is no use of Christ and no use of Preaching or Ordinances of Prayer c. No this cannot be inferred from the Doctrine This only may be inferred that this is not that glorious rest where a Christian is to sit down formes are but helps but God doth by forms bring us to know himself without a form and no man knows the Father but he that knows him by Christ whom he did send therefore you cannot cast away those forms The Scriptures wil last so long as there is ought of them to be fulfilled But that which we are contending toward in all these means is the knowing of the Father and then we shal see that simplicity and unity that is in the truth then we shall see all those knots loosed and dark ways opened then we shall see that all those things of Christ coming and dying and suffering for us were but Parables Now this is the sum of the Gospel that God loves Beleevers and is their Righteousness and their Strength and Love and Faith and All not thus resolved is but a Parable that doth cloud the Father They were not ordained to cloud the Father but they do through our weakness cloud the Father from us They were ordained that they might infinuate and convey according to our capacities the knowledg of the Father into us but as I said before in all forms there is weaknes and forms shal be done away as time hastens to be no more and God be all in all THE TRUTH as it is in JESUS JOHN 17. 19. And for their sakes I sanctifie my self that they might be sanctified through the Truth THese words are an enforcement of that Petition which Christ put up for his Disciples and for all Beleevers to the end of the world that Petition you have in the 17. v. Sanctifie them through thy truth thy word is truth The Reason by which Christ enforces this Petition follows immediatly As thou hast sent me into the world so have I sent them into the world And therefore Father saith he sanctifie them through thy truth as if he should say Behold they are sent out into the world as I was sent out into the world they are sent out into a sinfull world into a lewd world they are sent forth upon the same errand and design that I am sent into the world viz. to shew forth the vertues and praises of God and therefore sanctifie them saith he through thy Truth thy word is Truth And for their sakes I sanctifie my self c. Here is a further Enforcement of his Request The meaning of it I shall give in a Paraphrase It is as much as if Christ had said behold my Sanctification is levelled at their Sanctification their Sanctification is the end and my Sanctification is but the means It is for their sakes that I sanctifie my self that they may be sanctified My own sanctifying of my self is not for my own sake it is for their sakes and therefore I lose my end in all that I do I lose my end in dying and suffering if they be not sanctified That 's the scope of the words in general Now we come to open them particularly to you 1. What is meant by this same sanctifying for their sakes I sanctifie my self Was Jesus Christ common or unclean that he speaks here of being sanctified Had Jesus Christ any sin in him that need to be removed that he speaks here of being sanctified No there was no sin in him neither was there any guil found in his mouth and yet Jesus Christ is said to be sanctified not only in this place but in other places as Heb. 2. He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all one saith the Apostle when he speaks of Christ that did sanctifie himself Therefore it is needfull to shew you what is that sanctifying of Christ that he meaneth here what it was and by what it was First it may be taken either particularly for the sanctifying of himself by his Cross by offering up himself Thereby he did sanctify himself by offering up himself he was crucifyed in the flesh that he might live unto God in the spirit Christ did lay down the glory of the first Adam in which he did appear absolute and compleat before his sufferings but he layd down that glory and that righteousness he layd down that same body of his that so he might be renewed again in the Glory of the Father 2. Or else secondly this same Sanctification may be meant of the whole as of the death of Jesus Christ It may be meant of all that befel him from his Cradle to his Cross of all that was done in him or done by him or done upon him All this was the sanctifying of Christ And it is called a making of him perfect It became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things to make the Captain of our salvation perfect through sufferings And so by temptation he was made perfect as wel as by his Cross and so Sanctification here may be as much as Qualification this did qualify Christ for the end for which he was designed and ordained which end was to reveal the Grace of the Father and the salvation of man in and by that grace and all that was done unto Christ it was a sanctifying of him or a compleating of him thus to be the Author and the finisher of our Faith to be a compleat type and pattern and a compleat Covenant and Witness unto us Now having explained those words for their sakes I sanctâ—fie my selfe There is but one word more that needs to be explained and that is thy Truth For their sakes I sanctifie my self that they might be sanctified through the Truth What is meant by this word thy Truth This same word here thy Truth is a relative word and I conceive it may relate to this same Type Pattern Image or Representation These two you know are members of a distinction Image and Truth Shadow Truth So by the Truth in this place you are to understand that which answers unto the shadow Type or Representation And so you have the meaning of these words Thus saith Christ Therefore am I come into world and have done and suffered these things before the eyes of men to the end that the like things may be done in the spirit in al my members whereof I have exhibited to the world a map and description in my own body
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
to dye for our sins and rise again for our Justification Here is now Christ in the Flesh here is his Ministration Why now hereupon salvation is preached unto men and it is told that God is reconciled for he hath sent his Son There is nothing to be done Justice is fulfilled God is reconciled he would not else have slain his Fatlings and made a feast for us Therefore beleeve Here is the outward dispensation but now a poor soul notwithstanding all this lyes under the guilt and weight of sin and such a grievious sin comes to his mind and not only one but multitudes of sins lye upon him whereby he cannot beleeve or take comfort in these glad tydings Do ye not see that there is need of another Ministration Is there not need of the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus as well as a Proposition of the Gospel You come and shew a poor soul the Proposition of the Gospel That whosoever beleeveth in Christ Jesus shal have eternal life c. And God so loveth the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever beleeves in him should have eternall life Yet all this while the poor soul lyes dead til not only the Letter but the Spirit of the Gospell comes and appears to him Till Christ appears not only in the first Court that is his own flesh or the Letter of the Gospell but in the inmost place of all that is in this mans conscience for we may allude to that place Heb. 9. 24. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us Pray mark it Jesus Christ did not suffer in Heaven but without the gate he suffered in the world but he is entered into Heaven These words are spoken figuratively its true he went up visibly to his Disciples into Heaven that is a place remote from their sight a Cloud received him out of their sight The true Heaven and that Heaven where Christ doth appear to the comfort and relief of a poor soul is the conscience of a poor sinner and that is called Heaven because as Heaven is the place of God so is the heart of man the heart of man is the place of God He is said to be the searcher of the heart he sits there and wounds and heals there there is Gods true place It is not in the understanding of a man in the notions there but it is in the heart of a man thither it is that Jesus Christ is gone Christ in the Spirit is in the hearts of his people that is Christs place for that is the Fathers place for he is in the Father and he goes to the Father as it is said Touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father Now you know that the Father though he be without us he is within us he can neither be said to be without us or within us inclusively nor exclusively for he fills all things and is comprehended in nothing So Jesus Christ is within us the Father is in the hearts of men and so is Christ and that is the Heaven where he appears now for do but consider this that which follows in the 25. vers Pray mark it Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin That which is rendered the end of the world may be translated the end of the age or the end of that Administration That which I note from thence is this that Christs sufferings put an end to one world that world was at an end when Christ had suffered that is God had dispatcht the outward discoveries of salvation and now he would discover it within us now al that was to be done by him was within us He went into the holy place he went into Heaven now to appear in the presence of God for us and there it is that Jesus Christ speaks a word for a poor soul There it is that Jesus Christ sits as King in our conscience Christ may offer himself long enough in the Letter in the History of the Gospel but if he appear nor in the Spirit and sit in our consciences to quiet them we shall never have any true understanding of the word aright Christ sets us free by making us Sons and the Son abideth in the house for ever Pray mark it unless we be made Sons we cannot abide in the house for ever we do not abide in the house for ever by having an eternall title by Christ but by a real Son-ship within us That same which makes Christ a Son makes us Sons and so you have it cleared unto you by that instance that this is the truth and the other in comparison of this is but the form but the Representation or Image but the Emblem of this Truth and so what is it unto us in matter of Sanctification to say Christ hath taken hold of our nature and purified it and seperated it and sanctified it what is this to the sanctifying of us if our persons be not taken into that same Union and be not sanctified with the same Spirit that Christ is Reason Now for this Reason I shall desire you to look within your selves and I make no question but if you do wait upon God without prejudiced spirits he wil clear this Truth to you If so be it might be no offence I should give you my own experience for the confirmation of this point for we can speak nothing but what we have heard and what we have seen Now I must confess and profess unto you that God hath made real this Truth unto me not by study not by notion not by outward discovery but by an inward experiment For this I have found and I trust more have found it besides my self though it may be they cannot tell what to call those things that work within them nor how to express it it may be but this I have found that all outward administration hath been weak and unable to produce those fruits and effects which the Scripture makes mention of it hath been as the Law What the Law could not do in that it was weak c. And look into your selves whether you have not found it so in your selves that you have had some corruption that hath troubled you Some masterful lust you would be glad to get the victory over and ye would account him a Messenger one among a thousand that could shew you how to effect your desires I am sure it hath been so with me and when I have seen such words as these in the Scripture Sin shall not have Dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace I have considered with my self and have done as I have been directed to do and I have told my self thou art under grace and I have pleaded this to God Lord I am under grace I am under
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
likewise must the end of every State of Christians in the flesh and in Forms and Ordinances be The Comforter could not come except Christ did go away An higher appearance of God cannot come but it removes a lower appearance of God as a grain of corn doth not rise up but by dying and rorting in its first body as the Apostle speaks But it shal suffice to have spoken thus much concerning the dying Christian But now what is this same living Christian Whether we live we live unto the Lord. Who is it that lives why the Lord lives and onely the Lord they shall swear The Lord liveth and As I live saith the Lord There is none lives but God so that whosoever lives it is by the Lord living in him The Apostle saith so much when he saith not I but Christ liveth in me This same living thâ—â— of the Lord in us doth relate unto the dying and buriall of the Lord in us The Lord he is buried or obscured in us and then he riseth as it is said I am he that was dead and am alive and behold I live forevenmore and as it is Ephes 4. He that ascended is the same also that first descended into the lower parts of the earth And this is the great Mystery of godlinesse God manifest in the flesh and justified in the Spirit first manifest in the flesh The Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us c. And so the Word comes and at length carries up flesh with it into spirit Indeed we are but the grave as it were of the Lord Jesus This whole Creation as it is known after the flesh and as it is injoyed by us and as we converse with it carnally and as it is carnally received by us it is but the Tombe as it were where the Lord is interred it is but the grave the sepulchre wherein the Lord is buried Why then what is the living of the Lord the Lords Resurrection the Lords sprouting forth out of this same grave this same sepulchre Answ It is this it is the Lords appearing and the Lords discovering himself and the Lords comming forth and putting off his Vaile and covering putting off his grave-cloaths as I may say this is the Lords living For the more profitable handling of this take these things 1. That the Lords death is the creatures life The burying or obscuring of the Lord Jesus is the life of man and the life of formes and the life of flesh 2. And in the second place the resurrection appearance of the Lord is the death of man and the death of forms and the death of flesh While the Lord Jesus hides himself while he breaks not forth in his glory the creature is something and Forms are something and they grow up and flourish as the grasse doth by the showrs But when the Lord Jesus comes forth in his Spirit and appears then the grasse withereth and the flower fadeth so we finde it in Esay 40. 6 7. The voyce said Cry And he said What shal I cry All Flesh iâ— grosse and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field The grosse withereth the flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it surely the people is grosse What is the meaning of the Spirit of the Lord blowing upon it The meaning is this when the Lord comes forth in his Spirit and reveals himself in his glory then the glory of flesh passeth away as when the Sun appears in the firmament the stars take their leave we know that as flesh is enmitie unto spirit so spirit is enmitie unto flesh and therefore it is said that they lust the one against the other In the third place take this proposition That as the obscuring of the Lord Jesus is the life of the creature and the life of that flesh and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the extinguishing of the Creatures life So thirdly this is and hath been the design of God and his glory from the beginning to come forth out of this same grave and from under this same Vail under which he hath lain hid and been covered by severall steps and therefore every step of Christs appearance is comparatively with the former darkness a state of life and a gradual Resurrection When Christ did come forth from under the Jewish Ceremonies when the body was come then was Christ raised in some sense and then did Christ begin to live and flourish and those that saw this they lived in the Apostles sense here Whether we live we live unto the Lord. Here was a graduall Resurrection in this though not a compleat Resurrection There was a thicker Vail taken off of Christ and a thinner vail put on so that Christ then coming forth under a thinner Vail is called by the name of the highest and last appearance of all It is called a Living not but that Christ did still lie under a vail as the Apostle saith Through the vail that is his flesh And the New Testament Ordinances though they are finer vails yet they are vails to the Lord yea I may say that the very graces of the Saints as we look upon them in a kind of fleshly form as we look upon them in their particular names and circumstances so they are a vail to the Lord Jesus yea Christ is said to rise when he comes into the world I am come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly that is more abundantly then they had under the Jewish Ordinances because that was a grosser vail In this sense you may understand That I am the way the truth and the life c. If you understand it in the flesh it is in comparison of the former a lively appearance of God Not that this is the highest appearance of God for to you that look for him he shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation So that I say Christ is coming out of the grave and every step is a step to life a step of the Resurrection a degree of life Now then from these things if you ask me who is this same living Christian I shall answer you first in a Subordinate sense secondly in an Ultimate sense In a Subordinate sense he is a living Christian in whom the Lord Jesus hath passed through many forms and vails He that is not in bondage to those same gross and thick and dark appearances of God But now in the Ultimate sense the Truth is that while we are on this side that same highest and brightest appearance of God till he comes to be all in all in us we cannot be said to be living Christians though in respect of former and darker appearances the present appearance of God to us may set us up in a higher degree of life yet in comparison of that which is to come the very best and highest of this state is but a death while God administers to us under any form under