unto you That we are not justified we are not sanctified by Christs dving by Christs suffering in the flesh only that is not the compleat Ministration of our salvation There indeed we see our salvation as in a glass and it is transacted as in a figure as in the history but then are we actually sanctified when as God doth send that same Spirit of Adoption into our hearts revealing unto us the Love of the Father and revealing unto us our Reconciliation that Reconciliation that was held forth to us on the Cross but which is dispensed unto us by our being offered up upon the Cross as Christ was For the Apostle Rom. 8. doth in two places speak so expresly to this purpose that no man can wave it or put it by verse 10. If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin and the spirit is life because of righteousness Here is the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ If Christ be in you and there is no salvation without it then the body is dead the body of your own Righteousness and your own Strength and wisdom is crucified in conformity to the death of Christ Christs death was but the figure of the death that must pass upon the flesh of every Beleever and therefore though we may say I am crucified with Christ c. We cannot take any comfort till the body be dead in us And the other place is the 4. verse of Rom. 8. That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us c. Pray mark it You dream of a Righteousness of the Law fulfilled for you that is true too Christ fulfilled it for you perfectly but there is a fulfilling of the Righteousness of the Law in you And the Apostle shews what that is when you are crucified to the fleshly principle and walk in the spiritual principle though you walk not in perfect obedience yet spiritually it is done in you The Righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit So then look after this that you be sanctified through the Truth that is that you in very deed be sanctified according to the pattern of Sanctification in Christ Jesus Let me minde you again of that Scripture Ephes 4. 21. If so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the Truth is in Jesus that ye put off the old man and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that ye put on the new man c. Look that this be done Object But you will say unto me is not this to bring us again into Bondage To charge this upon us when as we are bid look that it should be so and so with us Solution I answer it is your great interest that these things should be done in you but it is not expected that they should be done by you According to the working saith the Apostle of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ Jesus when he raised him from the dead and set him c. It is Gods mighty power that works in you it is God that crucifies you it is God that quickens you Christ offered up himself by the eternall Spirit it was not by the resolution of his flesh that he gave himself to dye as many a Valiant Roman hath done for his Country but it was through the eternal Spirit and therefore that which you are to do is to wait upon God And herein comes the use of the doing of these things in the man Christ Jesus before your eyes It is to strengthen your faith and expectation of having these things done in you by the same power and spirit And therefore if you ask me what use you should make of Christs Death and Resurrection and these things I say look upon them as the earnest of your salvation look upon them as the very sealing of the Covenant between God and you God reads over as it were all the Covenant before us and seals it in our presence and this is the scope of the Manifestation of Jesus Christ It is but to manifest the life to us to shew what God will do upon your flesh So what God did to Christ Jesus and so how he carryed him to glory so how he was tempted and be not you discouraged though it be so with you See how the Disciples were dismayed when Christ wrapt up himself for a Moment in the grave as in a cloud of darkness They said we thought this bad bin he that should have redeemed Israel See what an end the Lord made with him the same end will the Lord make with you also THE TRUTH as it is in JESUS JOHN 17. Sanctifie them through thy Truth thy word is Truth Verse 19. And for their sakes I sanctifie my self that they might be sanctified through the Truth THis same Portion of Scripture that is read to you is an Enforcement or part of an Enforcement of one of those savory Petitions which Jesus Christ put up at his departure out of this world for his Disciples and in them for all his elect The Petition is this Sanctifie them through thy Truth This Petition he doth in part explain and he doth enforce and urge it with Arguments 1. He explains it in part that part thy Truth he explains it thus thy word is Truth Now before I go any further By the word here we are not to understand this same Letter for we know this same Letter of the word is taken up by every one to defend his opinion and therefore this is not the meaning of thy word is Truth But the meaning is this That that word that was with God and that was God that word is Truth I conceive this same truth being a relative notion is here to be taken in opposition to form Thy word is Truth The meaning is this That thy word it is not only a form and an appearance in which thou dost make out thy self unto the world but thy word indeed is the very Truth that is it is thy self and so Christ desires that his Disciples may be sanctified not by planting the knowledg of the literal word in their minds but by ingraffing the nature of the Divine word in their hearts that is by ingraffing God himself by God himself becoming one with them This is the only means of Sanctification This is the true Sanctification by the word The ingraffed word which is able to save our souls Now having explained his request he enforces it and the first Enforcement of it is this from the title and the reason that may be pleaded why they should be sanctified why the Members of Christ should be sanctified Why saith he There is as much reason why they should be sanctified as there is why I should be sanctifyed For as thou-hast sent me into the world so have I sent them into the world Mark it I pray and you will see that it is not such a wringing of the nose
that will cause blood when we make a necessity of the same things to be wrought in us as were wrought in Christ Iesus For as God hath sent Christ into the world so did Christ send these his Disciples into the world that is as God did send Christ into the world to make known himself so Christ Iesus when he hath fulfilled his Ministration in the flesh he sends out Beleevers I say he sends out Beleevers upon the same design to make out God and his glory to the world So that then this is a sure and satisfying ground why the same glory of the Father must work in Beleevers that wrought in Christ because that Beleevers are sent out upon the same errand and design that Christ was sent about As thou hast sent me into the world so have I sent these into c. Beleevers hold forth God in a spiritual discovery to the world that is they hold forth that glory of the Fathers working and discovering it self in them in a spirituall way which Christ held forth in a fleshly way My meaning is Beleevers are not lift up upon a material Cross as Christ was and do not suffer without the gate as Christ did but their Old man is crucified spiritually and they are raised and quickond by a lively hope spiritually This is the Reason that Christ saith As thou hast sent me into the world so have I sent them into the world Therefore sanctifie them with thy Truth thy word is Truth And for their sakes saith he I sanctifie my self This is as it were the making up of the Reason and the meaning of it is this saith Christ Herein doth thy design come to its period and perfection even in the Sanctification of my Members Herein thy design Oh Father is come to the birth and is brought forth for while this design works only in my person it is not at its term and period till it come to work in their persons for I am but as it were an intermediate forme and person in whom thou dost discover thy self for the present with relation to the like discovery in them through the spirit afterwards And therefore saith he For their sakes I sanctifie my self that c. As who should say If it were not in relation to them there should be no such thing as my dying and suffering and rising again It is but in relation to their Sanctification that the same glory may work in them in the Spirit conformable to this pattern of mine in the flesh And thus you have the meaning of the words For their sakes I sanctifie my self c. That which I shal insist upon at this time is the last word of the Text Through thy Truth So that the Observation that I would ground thereupon is this Doctr. That that Glory of the Father which works in the body of Christ the Saints is the Truth of that same Image that did appear in the head of that body Christ Jesus It is called an Image in 2 Cor. 3. ult we all as in a glass behold the Glory of the Lord there it is equivalently called an Image for your face in a glass is but an Image of your face but it follows more expresly And are changed into the same Image from glory to glory But stil I desire you to carry that along that a Beleevers crucifying is not a fleshly crucifying as Christs was but his Old man is crucified by spiritually discoveries This is the Truth and the other is but the form Now I must explain my self here You wil ask me whether that same work of God that is wrought in the hearts of Beleevers be their eternal life their happiness and salvation Whether that be their Righteousness for there is a great prejudice against Doctrines of this kind as if we did take away from Christ and give to that work of God within us that honour that is due to Jesus Christ Answ Now I conceive that neither the Actions of God in Christ I mean of Christ dying and rising nor the like Actions of the Spirit in us conforming us unto Christ are our salvation or eternall life but the making out of eternal life they are only the Manifestation of that grace that was given us before the world began If you ask me then what is our happiness and our life I conceive that God alone is our happiness God in union with us Mark it not only God loving us for love is but an expression to us Love is a sweet thing among the creatures and we know what love is from one to another but the Love of God to us is but the making out of a kind of spiritual Union that is between God and a Beleever So that to say that the Love of God placed upon us is our happiness is too weak and too low an expression but this is our happiness that we are in God and in Jesus Christ and that the Father and the Son is in us and is our Righteousness and our Strength in Union with us This is our happiness and eternall Life Now I say all the Dispensations of God are but to make out these things unto us Give me leave to illustrate it to you by going a little about This was our Lot and Portion from the beginning God was our Portion and God did maintain our Lot as Psa 16. And God was become in Union with the creature This was in the beginning of the Creation and this was in the Person of Christ Iesus as an Earnest of the whole but this same Union and this great happiness that the creature might be sensible of it and that it might come home with the greater advantage as it were and we might have the more lively taste of it therefore did God ordain all those intervening administrations therefore he makes the first Adam as a figure of Christ and therefore he bestows but a little grace on Adam or makes him mutable that he might fall that the Love of the Father might be the more manifested to us which we could never have seen nor admired so much if we had not been thus led about unto it And this is the end of Christ in the Flesh and Christ in the Spirit and so I shal come to shew you the difference betweene Christ in the Flesh and Christ in the Saints for if we give glory to any other then unto Christ we shoot beside the mark we give it to Christ stil but there is Christ in the Flesh and Christ in the Spirit both these agree to make out the Father and here is the difference of that work of God within us from that work of God in Christ This latter is the Truth of the former Sanctifie them through thy Truth that is do thou act those things really in them which are done in a figure for them upon me There is the Truth I desire to cleer up this to you by some famiâ—â—ar experience You know that Jesus Christ is said
things by or from the conviction and evidence of Reason or the letter onely a light far below the spirit and experience thereof and so they know them but darkly and as though they knew them not cannot see to the end of k 2 Cor. 3. 13. them whereas did they know them in Spirit they would know them more certainly and their capacity withall would be inabled and inlarged stedfastly to behold them and take in more and more of their glory without being dazled For want of which they expose themselves to that exprobration of the Apostle l Gal. 5. 7. Ye did run wel who hath hindered you And that serious caution of the Apostle belongs to them m 1 Cor. 3 10 11. No other foundation can any man lay than that is laid but let every man take heed how he builds thereon viz. with unsuitable stuff lest his work be burnt or how he pull down that that is suitable lest he be found a fighter against God For if that old Simile of theirs be proper That even as the Seaman drawes his vessell to the rock not the rock to him so we doe not draw God to us by prayer or other means but our selves are drawn to him Then what blasphemy is it to say that Christ came to reveale to declare the love of God to us not to purchase it Again it hath been said by them of old time that Christ is not the cause but the effect of the Fathers love If this be truth then the love of the Father and our peace was not purchased but preached by Jesus Christ for the cause cannot be purchased but is declared by the effect Thirdly if also as it hath been said of old time Our redemption by the blood of Christ were but the extravagancy of grace for my part I dare not say what may be gathered and inferred from thence and yet both Premises and Inference have my heart exceedingly but sure it is much modesty to containe within this inference That if we be begotten again from the dead or recovered out of the horrible pit of sin to the lively hope and enjoyment of of this glorious grace which was before this redemption and all or any the works or acts of God and is through all and in all and live therein This is only that that fully answers the aim and end of God as without this or on this side hereof to rest in the knowledge of any plot or mystery of the way or of Christ without reaching together also the mystery of the n Father is no better than Negromancy or the smoak of the bottomlesse pit it is to dwell in the borders and flourish and not in everlasting life And lastly if as hath been sayd all the enmity be on our part and we are to be reconciled to God not God to us then all that language of Atonement and Purchase c. is to us and for our sakes according as it is said o Rom. 5. 11. We have received the atonement not God and we are redeemed and bought p Rev. to God not of God and is spoken to man and his Conscience who was made under a law and as we grow up in the knowledge of the truth becomes resolved into a mystery namely of suffering in the flesh and so ceasing from sin But indeed not onely may some choice sentences of some few bee brought in to witnes to these things there are none that hold the Principles of religion in so great bondage and obscurity in the very letter but a testimony may be drawn out of their own mouthes as the Apostle Paul doth towards the Athenians out of their own Poets For if the nature of God be one unchangeble as all men wil confesse if Jesus Christ be the same q Heb. 13. 8. yesterday to day and for ever as the letter of the Scriptures affirm we need seek no further evidence of these things Then God is true and every Man a lyar The law of liberty is in r Jam. 1. 25. James resembled to a glasse This law of liberty is the power and Spirit of the Lord Iesus in the heart of man reflecting the glories of the Lord there and changing us into the same appearances according to that Scripturtures 2 Cor 3. last Now as in a glasse such as the face is that looks therein such is the image or species that is seen there whether the face be black or whether it be beautifull whether it come towards the glasse or goe from it so doth the image in the glasse for the glasse hath no forme no image no species of its own but is wholly representative of the object that looks therein Even so is the apearance or representation of God in our hearts according to the work of God in our spirits for if thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted But if thou dost evill sinne lies at the door In the one the spirit of Adoption shews God as a Father in the other the spirit of Bondage shewes him an angry jealous God according as it is written againe ſ Psa 18. 26. With the froward thou wilt shew thy self froward and with the upright man thou wilt shew thy self upright The witnesse evidenoe or representatiō of God in the spirit of man being alwayes according to truth is various changeable according to the changeable capacity and condition of the creature but God all the while through all these changes remains in himselfe unchangeable being cbangeable onely in his appearances to us and in us For hee is not onely the unchangeable glasse wherein all changes are truly represented and the unchangeable eye and light wherein wherby they are according to their true state seen discern'd but is the unchangeable Father of these differing changeable lights appearances that are thus seen by us represented in us according to another text in James chap. 1. 17. Every good and perfect gift comes down from above from the Father of lights with whom is no variablenesse nor shadow of turning Yet what pity is it not onely the ordinary sort of Teachers who take for Doctrines the Traditions of men but even those who have separated themselves to a more diligent enquiry after truth seem to be of a choycer tast yet are dazled with the light they carry in their own Lanthorns But were this infirmity shall I call it an iniquity surely it is both according to its respective subjects found onely in the teachers it were not so great though a very great mischief But where shall we find almost a Saint that knowes his owne prayers or is not afraid to meet his own deare hopes in the things we are speaking of It may not bee forgotten what a spirit of prayer was powred forth upon the people of God in this Kingdome some 6 or 7 years past how our hearts were drawn forth in requests for the Spirit for the kingdome of Christ for
his coming in the spirit for his Truths to open and empty themselves upon us these with that fervency and uncessantnâ—sse as served to some in stead of prophesies of these things shortly to be to their great comfort and encouragement to expect theÌ„ And now is all that truth we expected come to a new forme of government whether Presbyteriall or Congregational Is this all the new light we lookt for to see to cast our cities counties into Classes and Provinces or to put new names of Pastor and Teacher upon our Ministers instead of the old names of Priests and Deacons I say is this all that comming of Christ in spirit we wanted desired expected Hath this mortified our lusts quickned our hearts beautified our ways that we are at rest Are these the changes that speak the day of Christ so notable so terrible that it is said Who may abide the day of his coming Shall the Refiners fire and Fullers sope find onely a few superstitious Ceremonies to purge out of our Parish Assemblies Is this the shaking of heaven and earth to shake men out of an Episcopal Prelacy into a Presbyteriall Or say it were out of a Presbyteriall form into a Congregationall which is but a step further may not have not these changes beene made salvo nomine with good credit and advantage to the makers O my brethren these are but the delusions of your adversary the Devil wbo if he cannot content you with his old trash he will turne merchant of reformation and cheat you with the superficies of it and he doth it by some such slights as these either he drawes a veile and casts a mist before our eyes that we can see no further than the letter and so think when we have attained that we have the prize or if he can not blindmen so farre but that they see a mystery and glory in spirit under the outward form and letter farre surpassing it then he tells them as once the Iewes when the second Temple was to be built the type of our Iesus his second appearance t Hag. 1. 2. The time is not yet But be not deceived the kingdom and government of Jesus Christ is not outward formal shadowy but u Luk. 17. 21. inward reall and powerfull It is in Spirit and within you not in the persons of men or Ministers without you it is that that shall destroy vv Heb. 9. last sin out of the world and all the fruits of sin and shall replenish the subjects of it with holinesse and happinesse And this Kingdome comes not with observation how else should x Luk. 17. 20. it come as a snare on all those that dwell upon the earth The first and second appearance of Christ are not so much distinguished in time as in excellency and glory And that of Christs second appearance which is now but as a cloud of a hand-breadth shall cover the heavens All things make for this appearance of Christ the symptomes of it are upon the world witnesse y Hag. 2. 6. the shaking of heaven and earth the confusion and unsetlednesse that dwels on the face of all our affaires the security of the world their z 2 Pet. 3. 3 4. scoffing and enmity against the Spirit and Christs second appearance But above all the * Isa 1. 30 2. 6. 3. 1 5 7 12 14. wants and disappointments of the children the bride in the hitherto provisions appearances Therefore lift up your heads O ye Saints for the day of your redemptio draws nigh Now as concerning my publishing these discourses the world hath been witnesse of many hard speeches against me let the world now beare witnesse of the Cause I thank God it is with mee a light matter to bee judged at mans day I confesse that in much infirmity of the flesh have I delivered this Testimony but I obtained this grace of the Lord to be faithfull And here you have them in no better dresse then as they were delivered weigh not words but the thing and consider the scope If any prejudicately stumble at the truth at his own perill be it I may perhaps be clearer in the expression of some things in this Preface than in the Discourse which being compared together may bee helpt One thing I must add in this place That whereas I say pag. 126. That a man can be under but one administration at a time either of flesh or spirit my meaning is That in that degree that a spirituall administration takes place the fleshly administration gives place In that measure that Christs second appearance dawnes on us we are drawing from under his first appearance Besides this I know nothing liable to any dangerous mistake with the unprejudiced But the time is short and I have little satisfaction in publishing disputing or wrangling out these things I desire to be enjoying them and as I enjoy to forget and presse forwards The Lord Himselfe will shortly preach Himselfe with clearnesse anâ— authority and all that cloud of Envie that is upon his appearance shall not hinder him Even so come Lord Jesus Amen The Table of the Sermons SERM I. The foundation of a Christian all laid in his being nothing in himself Iohn 14. 6. I am the Way the Truth and the Life no man commeth unto the Father but by me pag. 1 SERM. II. Somthing of the mystery of the â—ather and of Christ Ioh. 18. 25. Hitherto I have spoken to you in parables the time commeth when I will speak to you no more in parables but I will shew you plainly of the Father pag. 33 SERM. III. The Truth as it is in Iesus Iohn 17. 19. And for their sakes I sanctifie my selfe that they may be sanctified through the truth pag. 66 SERM. IV. On the same Text. SERM. V. The dying and the living Christian Rom. 14. 8. For whether we live we live unto the Lord or whether we die we die unto the Lord. SERM. VI. On the same Text. SERM. VII Solace for Saints in the saddest times On Canticles the first ERRATA Page 39. line 9. for the use of a parable read the nature c. p. 102. l. 1 2 3. for so in each line read see p. 114. l. 10. for fulfilled r. satisfied p. 118. l. ult for eternall title r. externall p. 119 at Reas for this Reason r. the Reason p. 122. l. 19. for enquire r. enquired p. 126. l. 9. for first read next l. 13. after fleshly supply appearance In the first Sermon on Genesis there is bitternesse for betternesse I know not the page THE Foundation of a Christians ALL Laid in his being Nothing In Himself GEN. 5. 24. And Enoch walked with God and was not for God took him YOU have here the Phoenix of his days one that doth make the Holy Ghost as it were to make a digression a digression in the story you have a word here that is like a Star in the mids of the
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
to do So after a time Christ leads us from a knowing of him after the flesh as representing things to us to know him within us as a quickning Spirit Consider how ☞ much it concerns you not to shut your eyes against this but examine it and try it because the truth is you will make slow advance til you are past through the fleshly Administration and are under the Spirit Look into the 28. Isa 9. Whom shall he teach knowledg and whom shall he make to understand Doctrine them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts Pray mark it There is a question and there is an answer Whom shall I teach knowledg and whom shall he make to understand doctrine there 's the question The answer is them that are weaned from the milk c. This same milk and these same breasts are the foolishness of God whereby he had made out himself to us according to our infirmity they are the fleshly Appearance and Discoveries of God these are the brests and this is the milk and till we have proceeded further we are in the flesh And as you will count it a shame for an old man to lie sucking at the dugg so you are in an uncomely posture to be always sucking the brest and always under rudiments and to know no more of God then he holds forth in an Image without you This is not your interest to rest here and therefore I beseech you to wait upon God for the humble he will teach in his way And although I have met with some objections against this and more may be raised from the Scripture that may seem to make against this yet they are made clear to me therefore wait upon God to clear them up to you If be this taken from me I profess I know no hope that I have of my calling for what is our hope but the hope of the high calling God cals us to fellowship with himself and hath manifested this by his Son Weigh these things in the Ballance and consider that Christ comes in Clouds and not in clear Discoveries at the first the Lord give you understanding in all things THE Dying and the living CHRISTIAN ROM 14. 8. For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we dye we dye unto the Lord. HERE is the Unity of Beleevers in their principle and the Destruction of Beleevers in their Forms All Christians in what form soever whether they be bond or free it is to the Lord there 's their Unity but there are bond and there are free there are Jews those that are under the Law there are those that are without Law there are such as do live to the Law and such as do dye to the Law there is their Destruction I have already observed this point unto you Doctr. That God is in all forms not only in distinct forms but in opposite forms Whether we live we live unto the Lord or whether we dye we dye unto the Lord. He that regardeth a day and he that regardeth not a day the Lord is in the light aâ—â— in the principles of the one as well as of the other The Lord is guide and leader of him that observes a day and of him that observes not a day This seems to be a contradiction a Paradox God is but one the Truth is but one 't is true but there are several steps and degrees of this Truth We shall never come to be all one and the Name of the Lord will never be one among us untill God is come forth in his most spirituall appearance and untill he hath brought us all to acknowledg that appearance but in order to Gods making out himself in his spirituall appearance in his naked discovery and with an open face he doth manifest himself in forms and under vails and he doth put off one form after another put off a more gross and put on a more fine put off a more thick and put on a more thin and spirituall and subtile vail God is in all forms but comprehended of no form if he were comprehended in any then he would not be in a diversity of forms There 's the great mistake of Christians and this same dark principle is that which makes us so to clash one against another We know not the mind nor the manner of the Lord we think if he be in our form he can be in no other form God is in a variety of forms and appearances that so no flesh may glory in his presence God will not be tyed to one form always for then that would be lookt upon as more then a form I have already gone through three things in the handling of this point which for the help of your memories I will only name to you the expounding of it the bounding of it and the grounding of it For the bounding of it thaâ— is the only thing I shal now remember you of Is God in all forms Then every superstitious wretch will take sanctuary here I answer thus far That whatsoever form any man doth conscientiously take up that is a form of Scripture-cognizance and doth walk in it to the Lord being perswaded it is the Lords mind He hath acceptance with the Lord For this is the bound the Holy Ghost sets in the Text He that regards a day regards it to the Lord. Is a man sincere in what he doth Doth he it to the Lord Doth he take it up because he thinks it is the Lords mind And doth he serve the Lord and not any lust Not a lust of honor and the applause of men Or the profit and commodity of this world Or the preferment of the time Why if he doth it to the Lord who art thou that judgest him The Scriptures hold forth unto us severall forms as God hath put on severall forms in his appearance to his people and the Scriptures are the records of all these and direct us unto them Now whosoever in the sincerity of his heart takes up any of these and walks in them as unto the Lord he is accepted of him Now the Use I made of this shall not be repeated but there is one Use more behind I exhorted you the last time that you should hold it forth that you do observe all your forms unto the Lord and every one bring forth his proper fruit whether you be in forms or whether you be above forms Thus the holy and happy man is described in the first Psalm He brings forth his own fruit in his season Look what season and administration you are under see you bring forth your proper fruit Those that are in forms see that your forms be advantage ground to rise up to the Spirit Those that be above forms let them bring down the glory of God and the Spirit upon all forms wherein they converse with men and as God hath brought them forth in the Spirit so let them bring forth every action and form
wherein they walk in the Spirit Use But the main Use which I intended and that for which I did in a main part pitch upon these words is to reconcile Beleevers in their different walkings and administrations Indeed it is sad that there should be any falling out that there should be any difference as Reconciliation doth import Let there be no strife among you for you are brethren Let us not judg one another as the Apostle saith here Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not If so be that Christians do not judg themselves in their forms why should we judâ— them And if so be that we do not judg one another why should we think that we are judged one of another for there 's the quarrell many times Such a man cannot walk in a different form from me but I think presently he condemns me and accounts me fleshly and carnall It is a sign that thou judgest thy brother in his form that dost think that he judgeth thee in thy form For such as we are our selves such we judg others to be Let us not judg one another for God hath received him that eateth and God hath received him that eateth not Where is the unity of the Spirit that the Apostle speaks of Ephes 4. Is there no unity but where there is uniformity Because we have not still one form have we not therefore one Father one Lord one Baptism or one common condition of suffering Doth not the world hate you if you be Saints And doth it not hate them also that walk in another form if they be Saints Let us not judg one another the strangeness that is among Christians because of forms is sad to behold How we are loosened one from another and how we are lost one to another if we once strike out of that path wherein we have walked one with another Is not this a denying a crucifying of the Lord of glory Is not this a disowning of Christ in one another Is not this a knowing one another after the flesh If you do good to them that do good to you what reward have you Do not even the Publicans the same So if you love them that are in the same form with you what thank is it Every man loves him that will say as he says and that will build up that which he builds up The Apostle saith That he that offends against a weak brother sins against Christ And is it not so He that judgeth his brother doth he not judg the Lord in his brother He that judgeth his brother by a form that overlooks the appearance of the Lord in his brother and sees his deficiency in such a form why doth he not now subject the Spirit as it were and subject the divine excellency of Christians and Saints to fleshly evidences and tryalls It must make out it self in this fleshly form and appearance or else there is nothing of God nothing of the Spirit The Reason why we agree not in severall forms is not because the forms differ but the fault is in our hearts God gathers up all forms and imbraces them in love and it is because we look not upon our brethren in their severall forms in the Spirit of God and of Christ that we do not imbrace them too The Devill carches away the spirituall Image and Appearance that is under every form wherein all forms agree and he fixes our eye upon the very outward form wherein the difference consists and so nourishes strife and discord among brethren That which the Apostle said of the Law the end is glorious the end of Moses Administration was glorious I may assume here the true face the true Image and the true and spiritual Appearance in and under every form is glorious and it is God and it is one and the same but the outward figure doth differ He that hath the Spirit of God and in that Spirit looks upon all forms he imbraces them all he reconciles all he walks with all with Jew with men under the Law with men without Law and doth not stumble nor is an offence All Saints are one body Now as in the body there are several members and each member differs as in a figure so in usefulness too yet are all usefull in their places So it is in the several attainments and administrations that Saints are under each doth differ from other in spirituallity and power and glory The Scriptures are a Record and Register of all those severall administrations that God hath brought his people under of all the severall forms in which God hath appeared to them and the Scripture bears witness to every of these and there is none of these but were usefull in their time in their order and place and the one doth lead unto the other in a way of ascending still and as the hand cannot say unto the foot I have no need of thee so neither can the highest administration say to the lowest administration I have no need of thee for there are still those that are benefitted by the lowest administration as well as there are some that are raised up to the highest administration The Nurse in a family where there are children is usefull in her place as well as the Steward of the house that looks to all the estate Milk is usefull to babes as well as strong meat to men Therefore as the members of the body do all of them do their office in their several places without disputing and murmuring The hand saith not because I am not the head therefore I am not of the body nor the foot because I am not the eye to see the way therefore I will not carry on the body in the way So should it be in the Body of Christ Let us every one in that station and calling wherein we are set in the body minister to the Lord whether as Nurses to give to the children or whether as Stewards to provide meat for strong men If we had a right understanding of things there would not be these breaches among us because we walk not all in the same way are not all in the same form It is the beauty of the body to have variety of parts The manifold wisdom of God is seen in it his word is purified seven times and he brings forth the same truths in more spiritual and higher appearances and higher and higher yet the same Lord is fulfilled over and over They that are yet in the low bough's may come to the top bough But here 's the Resolution of all Those that are yet below being not able to comprehend that which is above them and that which is more capacious then themselves they cannot bear witness to it nay they cannot bear with it But still take this for a certain truth the higher you go and the more God draws you up the more able you will be to comprehend and reconcile all underappearances and all lower administrations and to discern