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
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
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
Father For if there had been any thing else that they had needed to have known he would have mentioned that also This is life eternal saith Christ John 17. 3. to know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent to know thee by Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent as I told you before for we cannot know the Father but by Christ But more particularly and expresly in Iohn 14. 8. saith Phillip there Lordshew us the Father and it sufficeth us pray mark As Pilate and other wicked men as Balaam and the High Priest many times spake things that they knew not all that was in what they spake Sodoth Phillip here he speaks more truth then he is aware Shew us the Father and it sufficeth us It is most true and Christ never contradicts him he never says no it would not suffice to know the Father The Father is the whole object of divine Discoveries The Fathers Love as in the 6. of Iohn 29. This is the wil of him that sent that of all those he hath given me I should lose none The Fathers Person No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him This then I say that which was the scope of Christs comming downe from Heaven must needs be the adequate scope of the Gospell But to declare the Father was the scope of Christs comming downe from Heaven to declare the Fathers Person as wel as the Fathers Love Therfore he is called the express Image of his Person God did not send the Image of his Person but that we should know his Person by that Image Many take up the Image and the Picture and they never know the Person as when they take up Christ in the flesh for indeed Christ in the Spirit is one and the fame with the Father knowest thou not that I am in the Father the Father in me as Christ discourseth in that 14 of Ioh. 9. 10 11. Have I been so long time with you And hast thou not seen me Phillip He that hath seen me hath seen the Father And therefore are these expressions in Scripture of beleeving in God by Christ and coming to God by Him and through Him Jesus Christ Himself in the flesh is but a forme in which the Father doth present himself unto the world But what is the Father you wilsay Ans The Father here is God in Himself bringing forth all things within Himself possessing all things with in Himself God as he is this is the Father you know that is the expectation of the Saints to see God as he is Iesus Christ and all that God is to man in Iesus Christ it is in a form descending or in a condescending form Righteousness is such a form Sanctification is such a form Redemption is such a form All these are but formes in which God descends unto us they are not God Himself as he is And there shall come a time when these forms shal vanish when as the Saints shall heare no more of Righteousness or of Sanctification for Righteousness what is it but a relative word that relates to sin when sin shall be no more righteousness shall be no more Sanctification is a relative word that signifies peculiarity and separation This refers to common things and unclean things but when there shall be no unclean nor common thing but God shall be all in all and all things shall be in a form or appearance suitable to the form wherein they were in God then the notion of Sanctification shall cease so then the Father is the journies end of a Christian That which is first is last and that which is last was first The Father is first of all There was a time when God lived only in Himself and possessed all things in a divine form in Himself His own Diety was his Heaven and was all unto him The time cometh when these things that are brought forth in a distinction from God in proper beings of their own shal be returned and marryed to him and united to that Original whence they sprang and live in his life and shine in his glory And so the Father who is the first shall be the last also The end must find the beginning as the year is discribed to you by such an emblem of a Snake taking his tayl in his mouth the end running into the beginning all things came from God and God by all things shews Himself All things are Pictures and Emblems of God and especially Christ Iesus and the Saints they shew forth the vertues and the praises of God but all these things they must they do wheel about until the end doth find the beginning and so God shal be all in all When God hath made known himself by his Sonne unto the Saints then shal God cease administring any longer to the world as he hath done by our flesh and by the man Christ Iesus but God Himself shall be all in all So that by the Father here I mean not a Person in the Trinity but rather the whole Trinity considered essentially originally as containing in them that state appearance of things which was their first and Originall glory which is said in Scripture to be in the form of God which this present state and appearance waits to be cloathed withall and to be swallowed up in so as to subsist act and live in that and not in their own yet their own not to be destroyed by this nor mixed or confounded by this but cloathed upon with this and so of Christ it is said that he shal come in the glory of the Father Christ is not destroyed but is stil and keeps his distinct being but this being lives acts and appears in the Glory of the Father Reason Now if you ask me the Reason of this why is it not all the Reason in the world that God should only be and only appear and only be glorified He may lend his glory for a time and may lend his name for a time unto others that they may make him known unto the world as a King may lend his Kingly Honor to some Leiutenant in another Country as suppose in Ireland that so that Country may be Conquered for him and Governed for him but when it is done we know all derivative power and authority and names whatsoever do yield up to those from whom they receive their Commission when they have done that for which they had their Commission and so it is in this case Use To apply this same truth I desire you in the fear of God not to mistake me nor wilfully to pervert what I say Let us take heed of Idolizing even the humanity of Iesus Christ Himself of Idolizing his doings or his sufferings We see God through these doings or sufferings of Iesus Christ for us as through a Glass but it is no Blasphemy to say that a Beleever may come to see a Love
wrought and revealed within us by the Spirit and therefore as Christ saith we may be bold to say after him The flesh profits nothing if you only know Christ as dying and rising without you it wil profit you nothing unles you know him as dying rising within you Error in this is the root of the dead faith wherof the world is full This is the root of that formall profession of that form of godliness which men doe advance soe far in and glory so much of and shroud themselves under unto the persecuting of the power of godliness to the persecuting of the Spirit This setting up of the History of Christ being ignorant of the Mystery Any man is capable of remembring the story of Christ and telling and rehearsing it if he hath but common reason and can say as wel as another that Christ dyed for him and can throw himself upon Christ and hang upon Christ This is not Faith this is not Salvation We have not known how to put a difference between the precious and the vile We know not how to shake off the pretenders and knock off their fingers that would pretend to eternall life Through the ignorance of this truth we have counted it enough if a man hath had the knowledg of the Story of Christ and hath said he casts himselfe upon Christ for salvation But harken what James saith Faith without works is dead Harken what Paul saith Rom. 8. 3. The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death He doth not say that such a proposition of the Gospell did set him free He doth not say that the hearing that Christ dyed for the sins of men doth set him free No there was the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus as well as there was the Law or Letter the outward Covenant is it that entailes life upon Jesus Christand his seed There is an outward Covenant and there is an inward Spirit The outward Covenant is this I wil be thy God and the God of thy seed This is the Covenant that God made with Christ that he made with Abraham of old I wil be thy God and the God of thy seed Now then they that are of the seed of Christ are in this Covenant as al that were Abrahams seed were in that outward Covenant but may not any man pretend to be of the seed of Christ and to be of the generation of Christ And do not thousands profess themselves so to be Do not thousands in the world say Lord Lord and press to enter into Heaven We cannot put a difference between one or other except we know this truth for they say they are in the Covenant they say they are of Christs seed and what hold they forth for this They hold forth the confession of Christ and say that he dyed for their sins and rose for their Justification and this they beleeve and upon this they lay their souls for salvation May not the veryest Hypocrite do so as wel as the truest Saint But here is that which puts a difference when the Spirit of Jesus Christ brings this Covenant to the heart of a poore creature when the Spirit of Adoption the Spirit of Son-ship revealing God as our Father revealing God in Union with us our Righteousness and our Strength he doth indeed seal us to the day of Redemption he sets apart Christs sheep This distinguishes them from the other So that if you lay your salvation upon an historicall Christ you wil be deceived If you would have that in which you may confide you must have Christ revealed in you in the Spirit you must have the same spirit of Faith that was in Christ and the same Spirit of Power that wrought in him you must have the same eternall Spirit by which you must offer up your bodies offer up your flesh to God as a Sacrifice yea your selves and your own Righteousness This is true salvation Here is salvation manifested unto life But you wil say to me Is not this a wronging of Jesus Christ Is it not a giving away from Christ And a giving it to grace and Sanctification within us Solu To this I answer that it is no giving away from Christ at all for we make Christ to be all in all in this only we distinguish of Christ There is Christ in the Flesh and Christ in the Spirit Christ in the Flesh is the witness the Covenant the common Person in whom our salvation is transacted as in a figure Christ in the Spirit is the real Truth and Principle of Righteousness and of Life he is the reall salvation within us For what is Christ Jesus in the Spirit but the Manifestation of God the coming forth of God and unto this must we attribute and in this we must fix and pitch our salvation this is the Savour of life unto life Of his own wil begat he us Doth not the Apostle there take away from Christ And yet elsewhere Christ is said to be the everlasting Father This same Will of God brought forth is nothing else but Christ Jesus in Spirit Christ Iesus is the outgoing of the Fathers Wil the Manifestation of the Fathers good Pleasure Therefore he is said to dwell in the heart of every Beleever If you confine Christs dwelling to a locall Heaven you are ignorant of that which is the greatest joy that can be Christ dwels in thy heart if the Will of God be revealed in thee by the Spirit Christ is in thee for he is nothing else but the outgoing of the Fathers Will and the Manifestation tion of the Fathers good pleasure this is Christ So that if we give to Sanctification we give to Christ For this is the Will of God even our Sanctification Christ is made unto us Righteousness and Sanctification But I desire a little further to examine that same before I let it pass it is said it is a giving to Sanctification and not to the blood of Christ I say no. For 1. I do not here take Sanctification as it is commonly taken as to be such and such particular acts of the Spirit I know that our life lyes not in this or the other act or in any particular act Our life lies in union with God through the Spirit 2. I give it not only to the Sanctification of the Spirit but to the Revelation of the Spirit There is the Revelation of the Spirit as wel as the Sanctification of the Spirit as the Apostle speaks Ephes 1. 17. That God would give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and Revelation c. 3. There is the Spirit of grace as well as the grace of the Spirit and to this I give all and the Spirit of grace is Christ Jesus and so to him I give al and what do I give to the Spirit I give the Manifestation of salvation to life and that 's all 4. This is the sum of all I desire to commend