the man that is not discerned or not esteemed nay very naturall relations upon this account come to be forgotten O the hideous effects of these fleshly wayes which destroyes all that is good of outward and inward man O that the streames of our contentions might be turned and our strivings to exceed may bee built upon a better foundation then a bare form of godlinesse even upon the power of godlinesse let us strive to exceed in holinesse and humility who shall be most like to our head and be made most conformable to the death of Christ A fine piece of Nature may talke up much of Christ and contend much for Gospel-formes but it is onely the workings of the Spirit by which a soul doth live up much of Christ Circumcision or uncircumcision it avails nothing but the new creature and it is spirituall worship that God requires John 4.24 John 4.24 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth And in Rom. Rom. 8.14 8.14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sonnes of God This Spirit discovers the mind of God to his people in every form he would have them to receive but it also carries the soule through and above every forme to live upon God himselfe Gal. 5.22 23. and in the power of godlinesse Gal. 5.22.23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentlenesse goodnes faith meeknes temperance and so forth And in the 25 verse If you live in the Spirit also walk in the Spirit It is not a bare talking either of Form or Spirit but a living up to God in the Spirit the fruits of which is love and so forth ambition to exceed in these fruits of the Spirit is that which God will own and crown it is safe and sweete diving into these deepes these be heights and breadths and depths and lengths indeed but God is to be found in them all so that there is no feare of miscarying but empty formes without God become our ruine I may truly say with the Prophet that we give our money for that which is not bread when we spend the zeale of our spirits in contending for formes of godlinesse I shall ever account best of that which leaves most of God and least of selfe behinde it And truly my experience tels me that when my thoughts and affections have travelled most through this pleasant path of God in the Spirit and the power of godlinesse this hath been the effect of it God hath in a good measure dispossessed the old man in me and giuen possession to the new man the Lord Jesus Now this experience begets this advice that our hearts and affections should be more pitched upon the power of godlinesse and doubtlesse wee shall finde that power in it as to engage our affections one to another by which the world will know us to be Christs Disciples And lastly this may comfort us when we consider those that hate us purely for godlinesse-sake looke upon them under this consideration they are not Christs Disciples nor can they in such a worke be owned or helped by him They may boast of their horse-men and Chariots but all their strength is weakenesse for they engage without God nay they engage against God and that makes them lighter then vanity and Saints in their sufferings are followers of Christ and contend in his might God is his peoples strength and their portion for ever Let us love our brethren then and not feare our enemies Love to God and Saints and suffering for the spirituality and the power of godlinesse are two undeniable witnesses that we are Disciples and followers of Christ CHAP. II. What Christ hath born for Saints they shall never bear themselves Gal. 3.10 11 12 13 28 29. For as many as are of the workes of the law are under the curse for it is written cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the booke of the law to doe them But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God it is evident for the just shall live by faith And the law is not of faith but the man that doth them shall live in them Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree There is neither Jew nor Greeke there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female for yee are all one in Christ Jesus And if yee be Christs then are ye Abrahams seede and heirs according to promise THe generall scope of the Apostle in these verses The scope I humbly conceive to be this namely to empty the creature of all hopes or possibility ever to attain a happy and blessed condition in it selfe out of Christ in which worke he strips the soule of all externall priviledges and dutieâ— in point of Justification and then makes Jesus Christ to be all in all to every redeemed soule The former part of this tenth verse is a positive conclusion that whoever is under the workes of the law for life is also under the curse of the law for death that is he which chooseth to be approved and justified in the fight of God from the workes of his owne hands and heart The sense must also be condemned before God in the failings and imperfections of those workes The latter part of this verse is a full proofe to the position laid downe in the former part of it If all things in the booke of the Law be not done and fulfilled then the curse of the Law attends and seizes upon every such soule as would live by the works of the Law Deutr. 27.26 Deut. 27.26 Cursed be he that confirmes not all the words of this law to doe them That soule which would fetch life from the workes of the law must performe all or hee loseth all hee hath done and his eternall soule with his dying duties The observations which I have received from hence is this That God hath not made a separation of the workes of the law from the curse of the law Observ 1 to that soule which would live by them And if God hath not man cannot this is that state of bondage spoken of in Gal. Gal. 4.9.23.30 31. 4.9.23.30 31. Those are children of the free woman whom Christ hath made free If the Sonne have made you free you are free indeed And those are children of the bond-woman that are obliged to any thing that is holy in their owne strength without Christ There is no soul free from these bonds but those which are bound up in the armes and cords of Christs love and this is the redemption which Christ made of his elect body when hee was in the flesh made under the law to redeeme them that were under the law to the adoption of Sonnes Gal. 4.4 5. Christ
the bare law of Commandement could not raise mee up to holy walking For flesh which was my owne strength that was weake but God having made up that in his Son Now sayes hee the righteousnesse of the law is fulfilled in us who walke not after the flesh but after the spirit And shewes in the 5th verse what it is to walke after the flesh and what after the spirit and in the 6. verse tells us flesh and spirit is the way of life and death but in the 9th verse he shewes who are in the Spirit namely those in whom the spirit of God dwels And sayes plainly that those which have not the Spirit are none of Christs And in the two next verses shewes if Christ lives in a soule by his Spirit then the body of sinne dyes There is a reigning power indeed the whole body of sin killed by the Spirits dwelling and reigning in a Saint and now all the action and motion of such a soule is from God The soule now in all its wants can have accesse to God through Christ in the spirit as in Ephes 2.18 and in Ephes 3.16 17 18. Ephes 2.18 Ephes 3.16 17 18. John 17.38 39. By the spirit in the inward man the soule is an established soule and a knowing soule and so is enabled to act for God in the Spirit John 7.38 39. There is a promise to believing soules of being so filled with the Spirit that there shall be flowings forth Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water And this saith the 39th verse is spoken of the spirit which they that believe in him should receive Now what is the end of this fulnesse of the Spirit but that it should rule and reigne in a Saint and that a Saint should walke and act in it In Rom 6.14 There is a promise sin shall not have dominion over the Saints and the reason is given because saith he you are not under the law but under grace Christ is your sanctification and his spirit of grace shall deliver you from the dominion of sin In 1 Cor. 2.14 15. There a Saints knowledge is spiritual and so dstinguished from the world and this spirituall knowledg living in action in a Saint We shall finde in 1 Cor. 12.11 in the former part of the Chapter the Apostle speaks of spiritual gifts acting diversly in severall Saints but all these workings are from one and the same Spirit so as it is the Spirit that doth all in the Saints In 2 Cor. 3.16 17 18. There is a soule made light by having the vaile taken from its eyes and in that light beholding God saith the Text is changed into his Image Now marke it all this is by the spirits living in a soule A soule living upon God in the spirit hath the vaile taken away and lives in a glorious vision of God by which the soul is changed into the Image of God and this is by the Spirit of the Lord saith the end of the 18. Verse And so in 2 Cor. 5.14 15 16 17. There is a new creature made by the love of Christ which constrained the soul from the powerfull operation of the Spirit wherefore henceforth saith he wee know no man no not Christ himselfe after the flesh No How then Why in the spirit that spirit that sheddes the love of Christ in our hearts and thereby constâ—aines us to live in him that died for us and in whom wee are dead to the flesh but alive in the spirit And thus the Spirit acts the new creature So in Gal. 5.16 17 18 22 25. Verses There is an exhortation to walke in the spirit by which a saint is delivered from obedience to the lusts of the flesh though the flesh lusteth against the spirit yet saith the 18. Verse If yee be led by the spirit yee are not under the Law and in the 22. Verse shewes the fruits of the Spirit and concludes in the 25. Verse If you live in the spirit then walke in the spirit making all a Saints life and action to be in the spirit I will only touch one particular of the life of a Saint out of this generall namely his worship and shew you how all that is in the Spirit for a Saint worshiping God in the Spirit take first John 4.23 24. Which is our Saviours Answer to the woman of Samarias Question in the 20 Verse she as one without the Spirit questions about the places of worship going as far as an eye of nature could carry her to externalls but the Lord Christ in the 21 Verse tells her Woman the houre cometh when neither in this mountaine nor in Jerusalem shall yee worship the father your light is onely in externalls and you worship you know not what and then preaches himselfe to her Salvation is of the Jewes as if he had said God will have his people onely worship him and that in the Spirit for the time comes and now is when the true worshipers shall worship God in the spirit and gives the reason of it for saith he God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth This truth is very fully confirmed in Phil 3.3 false teachers in the foregoing Chapter would have brought the Saints under the law of works a gaine and the yoake of circumcision but the Apostle in this 3. Verse tell us those are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit As if the Apostle had said these false teachers endeavour to bring you under a formall worship and to make you debtors to the law of worâ—s againe But we are above it and we are to live in the Spirit and to worship in the Spirit in the 1 Pet. 2.5 There the Apostle tells you who they be that are sit for communion with God they be living stones alive in the Spirâ—t and acting in the Spirit to offer up spirituall sacrificâ— to God by Jesus Christ I but when is a man a living stone fit to offer up the sacrifice sâ—e that in 1 Joh. 2.27 But the anâ—inting whâ—ch yee have received of him abides in you and the same anointing teacheth you all thinâ—s and is truth and is no lye and even as it hath taught you yee shall abide in him Then is a man a visible Saint a living stone fiâ— to worship God and to have communion with him when he hath received the Vnction of the Spirit by which he is taught of God to woâ—ship in the Spirit and in truth This truth is not taught of man but of God and therefore it abides in him thus you see he that worships God truly worships him in the Spirit What a Spirituall Saint is What a Saint is not First he is more than a Morall-man he that is lesse than a morall-man is a beast and he that is at the heigh of a morall-man is but meerly a man a fine civiliz'd peice of clay loving himselfe and therefore doth â—ot devoute another because
one dyed for all then were all dead I dyed to sinne in Christ and if now I live it should not be to my selfe but to Christ 2 Cor. 5.14 15. And to this the love of Christ constraines me For sayes he This I know who ever is in Christ is a new creature Olde things are passed away and behold all things are become new vers 17. And therefore saith he what ever is sinne is the old man and of this he cries out as the Apostle in Rom. 7. O wretched man that I am the law of my flesh rebels against the law of my minde Sin hath lesse entertainment no where then where the love of God by his Spirit dwels perfect love shuts out feare saith the Text and perfect love kils corruption Love to Christ kils and buries sin when legal fear only layes it in a swound it lives againe and possibly kils the legall soule at last but this spirituall man he keepes nothing to himselfe but carries all to God and Christ he lives only in God and Christ and when he finds corruption in himselfe he presently by the spirit layes it downe at the feete of Christ and tels him my glory saith he is to live in thee and what ever is thine and thy glory is to live in mee and in the death of my corruptions Oh then be zealous of thy glory thou hast taken the guilt and punishment of all my corruptions from me Is it not also for thy glory to take the reigne and the power of them from me too Yes saith Christ and I will make my promise good Sinne shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the law but under grace True Lord sayes the soule and I believe it that to live under grace is the only way to keepe sin under me Thus a spirituall soule having a sight of his sinnes of all men hath least feare in point of condemnation because this soule is filled with the perfect love of God which casts out feare but the in-being of this love of God in a soule makes as little love to all the profers of sin as it hath feare of the condemnation of it Sin in all its temptations hath the soonest denyall from such a soule of any for he answers sin thus Sin sayes he The love of Christ constrains me to hate thee This soule tels sin he will but lose his labour in tempting him for sayes he I am not at my owne disposing I have given my selfe up to Christ already and Christ hath taken possession of me and lives in me by his Spirit and for thy temptations I shall carry them to Christ and sure I am thou canst not live in his presence he hath overcome thee for me and he will destroy thee in me Thus the spirit changes a soule from darknesse to light and from the power of Sathan unto God and is made to live in this light which is the light of Gods reconciled countenance in the face of Christ And in this vision of God and Christ the soule is changed into the image of Christ from glory to glory even as by the Spirit 2 Cor. 3d. last This spiritual man as he lives upon God in the spirit so he worships God in the Spirit he knowes neither the Mount nor Hierusalem as his place to worship in he only knows Christ as the proper medium to worship God in and he knowes not Christ after the flesh neither but after the spirit his feasting is with God and upon God he knowes no formes or figure nor externals to make him a rest of he can only rest in the bosome of God and Christ he knowes no fellowship but with the Father and the Son as hee enjoyes God and Christ in Saints so hee hath sweete fellowship with them God is both the light and the life of his worship he makes God his way and his end in his worship This is a Dove that can rest no where but in the Arke Church-fellowship to him without Christ is no more then a selected piece of the darke world the Ordinances if Christ be not in them is to him but as the grave When Christ was risen all his enquiries are where is he whom my soule loves Shew me Christ in a Saint Christ in a Church and Christ in an Ordinance and then you shew me my life and upon this ground I can live and dye with you saith hee This soule can measure all men and things by Christ but Christ by nothing but himselfe that Spirit of Christ which dwelleth in him and thus you have some weake discourses of a spirituall Saint This exhorts Saints to live in the spirit upon God and Christ and to act from the endowings of that spirit as the image of God and Christ It is very plaine it is the interest and priviledge of Gods children to live on himselfe in the Spirit and from that life spiritually to make all its motions Oh why will you live out of God! did you ever finde any beloved like this beloved Did you sinde any thing that is all but God Why God is willing you should live upon all his all and be filled with his fulnesse O come my beloved eate of my banquet of love Drinke O drinke abundantly and be satisfied saith Christ All our sadnesse and complainings arise from our living out of God be it what ever it can be that is the most like God yet if it be not naked and clearly God the soule will be complaining of wants 'T is not duties Church-fellowship Ordinances or any thing that we conceive or propose to our selves which can of themselves give the soule rest it is only a living in and upon God in the spirit Oh let us stand in that liberty with which Christ hath made us free we can stand in none but in Christ and that is the freenesse of grace that we should stand for ever spotlesse and blamelesse in the sight of God through him Again This should stirre up Saints to act in God we have no cause now to act doubtingly If Christ be our strength the Spirit will teach us to pray and to crye Abba-Father for hee is our Father Is corruption too strong for us it is not too strong for Christ we should lay it at his feete And now tell mee believing soule canst thou that livest in the love of Christ live in sin No sayes the soule sin is for the love of it slaine in me by what law even the law of love living by the Spirit in me It is impossible sayes such a soule that I that am dead to sinne should live unto it My life sayes he is hid with Christ in God And it is not I that live now but Christ he lives in me Christ lives and I dye sayes the soule I that is all I my righteousnesse as well as my unrighteousnesse If I mistake not this is the strongest argument against a Saints living in sin that can be why a Saint
this was not Gods wil Haman hee designes according to his will but it being without God observe the fulnesse of his disappointment and the Justice of God returned into his own bosome In Esther 6. Esther 7. and vers 10. of Chap. 6. The King asketh Haman what should be done to the man the King would honour Doubtlesse Haman thought the King meant himselfe and therefore makes him this answer in verse 8. Let the royall apparrel be brought which the King useth to weare and the horse that the King rideth upon and the Crowne royall which is set upon his head and let his apparell horse be delivered to the hands of one of the Kings most noble Princes that they may array the man withall whom the King delights to honour and bring him on horse-backe through the streets of the City and proclaim before him thus shall be done to the man whom the King will honour It appeares cleare by this counsell that selfe was in his heart but observe in vers 10. the miserable disappointment of this proud selfish man Then the King said unto Haman make hast take the Apparell and the Horse as thou hast said and doe even so to Mordecai the Jew that sitteth at the Kings gate let nothing faile of all that thou hast spoken First Haman is disappointed in that he is not the man Secondly To aggravate his misery Mordecai whom he hated he is the man for whom hee had beene inventing death and dishonour God makes him the instrument to invent honours and to compleat this miserable disappointment Haman himselfe must be the Kings servant to honour Mordecai whom hee hated we see by Hamans answers to the King what proud and selfish men seeke after but their wils being out of God the higher they clime the lower they fall and the greater their expectations be the fuller of misery is their disappointment Yet the justice of God left not this proud cruel man but brought him to be hanged upon the Gallowes of fifty cubits high which he had in his wil appointed for Mordecay This is the fruit of having our wils out of Gods wil So Jonah his wil was the gourd should continue but that was not Gods wil therefore dye it must now how doth this disquiet the man even so much that he seemes to justifie his anger there was no cause of his discontent but that his wil was not in Gods wil. Secondly This doth informe us whence this rest and quiet that is in the bosomes of Gods people doth arise namely in this that their wils are in Gods wil therefore when God declares his wil under any dispensation in the World they are at rest for the appearance of his wil makes their rest all things besides this brings disquietments upon the spirit but when the wil of God appeares it silences all disputes and quiets all thoughts in the heart of him that hath given up his wil to Gods wil this soule doth not quarrel with but kisseth the feete of God when the wil of God lays it there it is in spirit at rest upon a sicke bed because of the wil of God there Disappointments in the outward man do not cease upon this man to disturbance because the wil of God is in them and that is his rest he is best at rest in that wherein he seeth most of Gods wil discovered to him what ever it be in its owne nature this soule can say with David when Gods wil appeares in it It is good for me I have beene afflicted and makes this the discovery of the good and evil of all he meddles with namely the wil of God If Gods wil appeare in it he acknowledgeth it to be good but if he see not that he cannot own it as his good or any thing for him to rest in for he rests only in God and it is nothing but the appearance of Gods wil that makes his Spirit at rest under every dispensation of God and from thence this soule hath a quiet being But againe This truth doth informe us as Saints of our duty to enquire after Gods will in all we doe or require others to doe The will of Christ was that the will of God should be done so is the wil of Saints in conformity to the wil of Christ their head and if to be done then surely to be known Nay Saints ought to doe nothing before they know the wil of God in it If this rule were observed there would not be so much doing and undoing as this uncertaine age affords If God led men into what they doe hee would so owne them that they should not be ashamed of it this is the true reason why men doe and ondoe because in what they doe they seeke their owne wils not Gods wil but hee that hath given up his wil to Gods wil before hee works he will see Gods wil this is the true reason why the men of this World with all their power and policy cannot make Saints worship as they doe the unknowne God or at least wise in such a manner as they know not whether it be the wil of God or no. I say this is the reason because they are bound up in the wil of God so that they cannot worship any unknowne God nor the God they know in any manner but what he makes known to them to be his wil that they should worship him in If men be truly zealous for the worship of God it can goe no farther then this That such as know him and his wil should worship him according to his wil made knowne to them for any thing else cannot be the true worship of the true God Now such as know God and his wil in truth the spirit of truth they are a willing people to worship God according to his wil made known to them by his Spirit in which they worship him If this were seriously considered in the Spirit of God it would appear to be the beauty of Saints not to act before light to know Gods wil and so to doe it therefore Saints should be teaching one another in the Spirit but not to force any where the Spirit hath not taught then there is no neede of forcing for the Spirit of God that teacheth doth also leade his people into obeying of his truths and wil. The Saints in truth speak thus in the spirit of truth to God Not my will nor the will of any man or men but thy will be done Therefore Lord shew me thy wil and it sufficeth he that rules should enquire after the will of God to rule by and he that is ruled for the will of God to be the rule of his obedience Oh that our Rulers did enquire after and finde out this rule to rule by Then would righteousnesse flourish in the Land as a greene Bay-tree and the branches of it would cover the Land with that much desired peace It is the want of this which makes the want of peace did
no truths of Jesus but by the Spirit nor did they ever truly worship or know how to worship God in truth but in by the Spirit and until they received this light they worshipped the unknown God Though Gods wil be free in the manner and measure and time of his dispensations yet he is certainly faithfull to the matter of his promises so that all his people shall beare him witnesse that he is a faithfull God in making good his free promises In a case more particular take Gods promises to Abraham concerning Isaac how fully did God make that promise good though from dead loynes and a dead womb yet nothing can hinder the living God from being faithfull to his promises nay though God commanded Abraham to sacrifice this sonne of promise and to suffer the knife to be almost at his throat yet God makes good his promise and doth all this but to try Abrahams faith not to break the least tittle of his own faithfulnesse The wicked that know not God and despise him shall find him a faithfull God in making good all his judgements upon them Now sayes the beleeving soule Here is another particular the faithfulnesse of God in making good all his promises therefore let him that glorieth glory in the Lord. A fifth particular is this namely The exactnesse of Gods Justice That one example of our Saviour Christ will stop the mouthes of all gainsayers to this particular when Christ did in the flesh hang upon the Crosse bearing all the sinne of his people upon him and having the whole debt to satisfie he did then finish his satisfaction before he came down from his suffering our Saviour tells us himselfe that the work was finished So the Author to the Hebrewes Chap. 10. v. 14. For by one offering hee hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Christ by this one offering of himself did make a perfect satisfaction to divine Justice otherwise such as he died for could not be made perfect nor could that of the Apostle be a truth That there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Nay God himselfe by the Prophet Isaiah in Chap. 53.11 doth acknowledge satisfactions in the sufferings of Christ He shall see of the travell of his soule and shall bee satisfied God in Christ doth behold his divine justice fully satisfied for the sinne of his people for that is the whole drift of the Prophet in that chapter to shew forth the sufferings and satisfaction of Christ to Gods justice so that we see the exactnesse of Gods justice that his beloved Sonne when once made a propitiation for sinne must pay the utmost of the debt so that he doth perfectly discharge There is exceeding much in this for beleevere to glory in God but I shall forbeare inlargements I am sure it is a full proofe to that which I produce it for Pharaoh and all his Host in the red Sea is another remarkable testimony of the exactnesse of Gods justice so were those murmurers and idolaters in the wildernes Gods dealing with that King which cut off the great toes and thumbs of so many Kings so that we see God is exact in his justice and exceeding glorious in it so in this particular he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. In the sixth place Consider God in the perfection of his holinesse righteousnesse and purity so if you can either finde spot or wrinkle in him nay he will not leave either spot or wrinkle in any he takes into union with himselfe he makes himself to be his peoples inheritance that so they may be holy in his holinesse righteous in his righteousnesse and pure in his purity God is so perfect in holinesse that he abhorres every unholy thing so exact in righteousnesse that the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees is no better then drosse and dung when Christ the righteousnesse of God appeares God is so full of purity that he is nothing else and yet he is all but he is all pure in all he is so that in this consideration also such as will glory let them glory in the Lord. Again Consider the infinitenesse of the power of Gods wisdome Heaven and earth is full of this glory by his power he makes and preserves gives being and maintaines being to all things Heaven is his throne and Earth is his footstoole Monarkes are but wormes under his feet Isaiah 40.15 So are the Nations of the earth as the drop of a Bucket and counted but as the small dust of the Ballance when they are counted to God they are lesse then nothing and vanity If all created Beings were sum'd up in one they are all but vanity and make nothing to be compared with the infinite power of God which created them God is not onely infinitly full of power to doe what he will but he is infinitly wise to know what to doe how to doe and when to doe for his own glory To this of the wisdome of God I think I shall offer one proofe will be either convincing or silencing all that doe acknowledge God and that is namely this The mystery ef godlinesse Christ in the flesh It is a mistery above any wisdome but Gods to reveale Oh then how great is that wisdome which could make such a mistery this mistery may be admired by Saints on Earth but it will never be fully understood till wee come to Heaven The reason is it is so great a mistery then surely it must be infinite wisdome that is the fountaine of this mistery the depths of God are deep indeed infinitely deepe My meaning is not to enlarge in these particulars onely to give a tast of things wherein God only will appeare the proper subject of his peoples glory so that such as glory may glory in the Lord. The last particular I shall mention is this the eternity of God that God is eternall in all he is the Lord tels us in one Scripture I am God that changes not hee waxeth not old as doth a garment hee dwelleth in eternity God is the same yesterday to day for ever Now this is a fit subject for Saints to glory in not only a glorious God but the God of eternall glory and a God that is eternally glorious Now give me leave to sum up all the former and to adde this to them and then see what we can say for this glory and for this God the subject of our glory who is First the God of originall and eternall love Secondly the God of free grace and eternally so Thirdly a God rich in mercy and that to all eternity Fourthly a God faithfull in making good all his promises and in this also he is an eternall God Fifthly God is exact in his justice and this to all eternity Sixthly God is a God perfect in holinesse righteousnesse and purity And in all these God is eternall Lastly a God infinite in power and wisdome and in these eeternall his power
God which to a spirituall eye carry their owne beauty but you will finde them without art not adorned with humane learning and so without beautie to a fleshly eye I know you will wonder what I meane to appeare in Print especially in these times when plaine truths from the most of men will finde nothing else but plaine scorne most men having sight but on one side and their stomacks so full of crudities that they cannot beare but vomit up with scorne in the face of him that brings them even saving truths besides you will thinke I cannot bee ignorant but to know that my name will prejudice these truths unto many that live by fancie more then Faith such as will cavill with all truth that comes by a hand they like not and have little other groūds for the truth they take up but that they come by such hands that they at present fancie I confesse I cannot make my selfe so ignorant as not to understand these things nor is it my designe by appearing in Print to make my felfe publike for I expect by it to be the derision of most men nor doe I Print because I thinke the Presse wants worke for I am throughly convinced that much evill hath over spread this Land by those many unsauory Pamphlets and those rending dividing principles which have this way been spread abroad by which the members of Christ have beene scandalized rent and divided and have almost made themselves a pray to the Wilde Boares and the subtle Foxes which have no higher ends but to destroy the tender Vines The reasons why I chuse to render my selfe to the Worlds scorne in this matter and manner are these First In satisfying my conscience in obedience to God in some Scripeures set upon my spirit by himselfe I trust when as my flesh and spirit did contend about this matter And the first is this Freely yee have received freely give Though this was spoken first to the Apostles yet I thinke it doth not exclude any but include every Saint and Disciple of Christ to be free in the giving forth of their knowledge experience and injoyment of God in Christ by his spirit to the World And this is my case What I give I have freely received from the Lord in secret when no eye but his did see me I doe acknowledge it is the free grace of God that makes knowne any title of truth to me and if my heart deceive me not it is the manifesting of his free grace that is my designe in giving forth freely as I receive I shall I trust with much more ease beare the reproaches of the World then I could a concealement of the love of God in Christ In another Scripture I finde that light is not to be put under a bushell but to be held forth that according to its nature it may lighten others and because what Saints have they have received and every talent is to bee improved to the Masters use and the standing rule to Gods people that all things be done to edification and that most which may edifie most therefore in obedience to these Scriptures God hath moulded me into his will and I doe freely cast my selfe upon his love and power to beare up my spirit to carry me through good and evill reports and I hope shall ever esteeme of the Worlds scornes as not worthy of thoughts in that day when God shall manifest his will and worke to me A second reason why I thus appeare is That I might be a Christian Servant to fellow Saints God is as free in giving as he is in saving he gives what hee pleaseth how he pleaseth when he pleaseth and by whom hee pleaseth this I have in some measure experimented of God and thinke it my duty to be a servant to God and to fellow Saints to bring unto them what I have received from him When Saints reveale their knowledge and experience of God they doe thereby confirme strengthen and build up one another in their most holy Faith I know no higher worke that Saints on earth have then this and were it more in practice I doe verily beleeve that the beauty of holinesse and the power of godlinesse would be more transparent but in stead of serving one another this way in the spirit of God we are devouring and destroying one another by an evill spirit of lying and slaundering fomenting unchristian and needlesse jealousies one of another this is either in the beginning or the end of most mens discourses of their printings and it hath beene where I am sure it ought not to be in mens Preachings these tares which the evill man hath sowne amongst the good seed have exceedingly scandalized the Gospell of Christ with the professours thereof and if God delight in this generation hee will exceedingly humile us under this very thing in stead of crucifying Christ in one another Saints should be servants to carry Christ to each other I meane their light in Christ and their experiences of the love faithfulnesse and holinesse of God this would increase love to God and his people in stead of devouring beget imbracings into the bosome and armes of love and faithfulnesse not to bely and scandalize but to honour and vindicate every childe of God A third reason that moves in me is this To stir up those many thousands which this Land affords that are abundantly more able to take up this necessary worke Truly it is sad to see how frothy and light things doe take up the spirits of able and godly men when as this onely thing necessary is as it were quite forgotten not onely dead but buried out of sight I doe beleeve these last seven yeares have brought forth as little of this fruit as any seven yeares before in which men did complaine they durst not send truths abroad least so doing should confine them to prisons had the seven yeares liberty the Presse hath had beene improved in this through the blessing of God it might have left such monuments of God in the World as after ages might have blessed him for I doe beleeve Satan hath hindred much of this worke from appearing by the scandall and reproach of the World which is usually cast upon it truly I found it a very hard thing to get over but when God gave me to understand that The good and comfort of one soule was of greater weight then the reproach of all the World I was immediatly carryed above that temptation and I here mention it to stirre up others to the same worke for doubtlesse God hath many thousand poore Saints in this Kingdome which will gladly gather up those pearles of Divine truths which the Swine of the World trample under their feet if but one soule blesse God in truth for the revealing of these truths though many thousand prophane ones should scorne me to my face yet I shall not lose my end nor repent for my reproaches if God be honoured by them My last
in Christ so as to be ever well pleased with it and to delight in it 2 Cor. 5.21 For he hath made him to be sinne for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him God hath made Christ the foundation of his eternall love when hee beholds the travell of his soule he is well pleased which he doth in every soule he hath united to him The third Gospel-truth is this That a Saint doth then only truly and properly enjoy his life when be lives by faith upon God and Christ in the Spirit It is not enough to know the rule of the law in the letter and some of the worke of the law in our lives to know all the formes of Gods worship under the law and Gospel To know and to be under all these is nothing when ignorant of the knowledge of God through Christ in the Spirit Knowledge in all the former substracted from the latter is but to know that we are under the chaines and the power of darkness Our life consists neither in circumcision or uncircumcision but in the new creature Christ living in us and we in Christ The life that we now live 't is by the faith of the Sonne of God by faith feasting and satisfying our soules upon the love of God in Christ the Spirit that teacheth and leadeth the soule into all truth even the God of truth and there the Spirit teacheth the soule to read God to be a God of love and so to enjoy him and live in him through Christ as a God of grace and a faithfull God that will keepe Covenant with his people and not impute sinne to that soule for whom Christ hath dyed Our life shall be for ever with God and in God enjoying nothing but God and all of God in heaven this is truly our life now as we are one with Christ only the clouds of mortality darkens it and so farre as we live upon God through Christ in the Spirit so farre and no farther doe we truly enjoy life in any condition and what we strive for here below is not our life nor truly worth our contending for all the weary pursutes of the heart of man which center not in Christ must wither before they come to their journeyes end for they have no life to carry them through A childe of God can finde no rest but the bosome of his Father and no way to that rest but Christ the great gift of his Fathers love so that God and Christ is both the way and the end of a Saints rest that is enjoying fulnesse of blisse in God who is all in all to all his people Gospel truths should be teaching to Gospel-Saints and these truths accompanied with the spirit of truth may first teach and informe all Saints where our life and interest lies namely in God and Christ God opening the bosome of his love and giving us Jesus Christ Jesus Christ giving out his blood his life and all that God requires to satisfie justice and to make a compleat redemption Christ putting on our flesh and taking upon him the curse due to us and all to this end to be Mediatour to stand betweene a displeased God and a poore soule to become sinne for us that wee might become righteousnesse in him Our life lyes neither in the workes of the Law nor the formes of the Gospel but in that love which gave Christ to be made under the Law to fulfill the Law for us and in that Jesus which is the Lord and the life of the Gospel the Gospel is glad tidings which is Christ crucified The highest forme is but a darke representation a cloud without light if Christ which is the light of life be not in it 'T is God in Christ that is our life Let us not turn againe to the beggerly rudiments under which we shall be in bondage but in the Lord of glory to live only upon God in Christ who is the true light and life of Saints to seeke life in any thing else is to seeke the living amongst the dead Again These Gospel-truths should teach and exhort Gospel-Saints to beleeve in God he is a God of grace and he is a faithfull God he makes good his covenant of grace that our sinnes and iniquities hee will remember no more to charge them upon the believer for hee hath fully charged them upon Christ and hath satisfied his justice to the full in Christ And hence it is that by way of comfort our Saviour in John 14.1 bids us to beleeve in God through him Yee believe in God believe also in me that is looke upon the covenant of God and all the promises of God made good in me believe that what my Father hath given me to doe I have finished it all the worke of your redemption and what ever God hath laid upon me shall never more be laid upon you though it made me sweat drops of blood and at last give up the Ghost yet I have finished the worke I conquered by yeelding and overcame by dying and I am risen again to beare witnesse of my victory over sinne death hell law and grave for you and thus I would have you to believe in mee and in God who gave me out of his bosome of love to be all this to you Distrust of these trutths is to put a question upon the faithfulnesse of God and the fulnesse of Christ God promises to pardon freely Christ undertakes to satisfie fully now a doubt of either is unworthy in him that is an heir of both In the next place me-thinkes this cals for much love from Saints to God and Christ Oh how should we love God that hath freely given us Christ and with him all things The great God of heaven and earth had no greater gift then Christ to give and him he hath freely given us and in Christ himselfe his Spirit his Kingdome and his glory too Who would not love a heart so full of love as Gods heart is How can wee chuse but love a hand so full of love as Gods hand is What ever may justly command or invite love it is in the heart and hand of God there are mercies free and full in God at his right hand is fulnesse of joy for evermore Love had its first conception in the heart of God we love him because he loved us first The glory of his love is the rise of our love the piece-meales of beauty and glory which we earnestly seeke and pursue after in the creature they all center in God what ever it is that might be taking to oul affections that is in its primitive glory as it is in God and truly did we see God by an eye of faith as we do things below with an eye of sense the brightnesse of his glory would darken all lower glories and all the streames of our affections would runne into God who is the fountaine and originall of all love and lovelinesse