Right and expected the future blessing by faith and Hope And so the faithful accept the present Right and expect the future Blessing by Jesus Christ and have it by Faith and Hope And though we dye before we possess it yet we dye in faith and lye down in hope to rise again to the possession of Eternal Glory For so the faithful are said to be perswaded of Gods promises having seen them a far off and imbraced them All these dyed in faith Heb. 11.13 having not yet received the full fruition of the Promises and their flesh rested in hope to put on a glorious and blessed Immortality Therefore my Deerly beloved Brethren be ye stedfast and unmoveable allwayes abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. For Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen Coroll This faith is a Passive Act of mans Will receiving and embracing that state or condition into which Gods love puts us to have a present Right to a future Reward Thus in making faith the Action is on Gods part and in taking faith the Action is on Mans part And this is noble and free in God to promise and perswade and in Man to be perswaded and to receive what God gives What can be more easy and reasonable then to say Amen to Gods Promises only this Fiat quod dicitur Lord here I am to do whatsoever thou wilt have me to do Thus the Blessed Virgin answered Be it unto me even as thou hast said Give Lord for thy servant is ready to receive And that with a glad heart too to obtain such rich Grace from the God of all Grace This is Gods drawing of us with the Cords of a Man which makes his Yoke easy and his Burden light and all that refuse to be perswaded are left without all excuse For how often hath God stood at their door and knockt how often would he have gathered them together into his congregation to be partakers of his Benefits with his faithfull People but they would not therefore these things are justly hid from their Eyes Chap. 10. Of both Covenants This is to be in Covenant with God When Gods Sponsions are Double Acts of his Will devising a present Right to a future Blessing and Mans Responsions are Double Acts of mans Will accepting this present Right to a future Glory And so our will becomes agreeable to Gods will touching one thing to be had of God which makes a perfect Covenant of Grace justly so called because God was moved to make that Covenant meerly by his Grace and because the Matter of it is very gracious So Gods Commands are Double Acts of his Will for a present obligation to a future duty and mans yeeldings are double Acts of his Will to a present Band to a future duty So our Will becomes agreeable to Gods Will touching one Thing to be done of man which makes a perfect Covenant of Works justly so called because mans duty is a work and the matter of it is Labour For God Covenanted with Abraham that he should walk before God and be upright and that every male of his should be Circumcised And God covenants with us That we should be poor in Spirit mourn Matth. 5. hunger and thirst after Righteousness be pure in heart merciful meek c. which is laborious Concl. Therefore Gods Promise is a Covenant of Grace and Gods Precept is a Covenant of works and Gods Judgment is a Covenant of Curses which we unwillingly enter into but the two former willingly Therefore a full Right Interest Claim or Title of an Inheritance to come together with an earnest penny given and received is the substance and evidence of that inheritance to the Heir thereof and he is as sure if he hold his Right given as if he actually enjoyed it Therefore the Scripture saith Eph. 1.3 We are already in heavenly places in Christ Jesus And God hath raised us up together and made us to set in heavenly places in Christ He that Believeth hath everlasting life Eph. 2.6 and I will raise him up at the last day Christ is the first fruits of them that sleep Now if the first fruits be holy then the whole Lump is holy If Christ be the first fruits of the Resurrection to Glory then all that are Christs even the whole Harvest of the Faithful shall rise to the same Glory And therefore Christ is called the First Born from the Dead our Elder Brother the first Born among many Brethren and if the first Born be risen then shall the second and third Born and all the Brethren that are born of the same God rise from the Dead and be partakers of the same Inheritance of Glory with Christ their Elder Brother in whom and by whom they have right to be the sons of God by the Grace of Adoption and Regeneration as he had by Nature and Generation If Christ be the Head then the Faithfull are the Body And if the Head be risen the Body shall follow after For our Flesh is in Heaven already And as sure as Christ is in Heaven so sure shall we be also For where he is there we shall also be and Christ is gone before to prepare a place for us that where he is there we might also be And in his Fathers house there are many Mansions and Portions for all his Children And where the Carcass is thither will the Eagles be gathered together Application Chap. 12. Of Comfort For Comfort and satisfaction to all Godliness hath the Promise of this life and of that which is to come Things to come are made Present and things unseen are made to be seen by Faith God will have us to walk here by Faith and hereafter by sight Here we believe and see a farre off hereafter we shall enjoy and see cleerly Here we know and see darkly as in a Glass there we shall see Face to Face and know even as we our selves are known We are sure we are now the Sons of God we know not yet what we shall be but this we know that when Christ shall appear we shall appear also with him in Glory Chap. 12. Of Priviledges by Faith For look what Right Christ hath by Nature to the Love of his Father who hath made him Heir of all things The same in kind though not in degree have we by Grace in and through Jesus Christ to be the Heirs of God and Coheirs with Christ Jesus and consequently as younger brothers to Tast of the same Inheritance By Faith we see and feel these absent and invisible things of God and know the heighth and length and depth and breadth of the Love of God in Christ Jesus which otherwise passeth all knowledge For neither Eye hath seen nor Ear hath heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what things God hath
justified to Salvation it is not Gods fault but our own because we do not believe God hath graciously promised but man hath ungraciously refused and rejected Gods kindness and man hath nothing to say for himself Let God be true but let every man be a Lye Our destruction is from our selves but in God is our help 2 Cor. 4.4 But if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this World hath blinded the minds of men which believe not least the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them FINIS 2 COR. 5.7 For we walk by Faith not by sight INTRODUCTION FAith that is the evidence of things not seen abstracts the Soul from sense Therefore as that Faith that is so abstracted from sense is counted to us for Righteousness or doth justifie us to Eternal life So the same Faith kept by works upholds us in our Justification and makes us to walk before God in the Practise of a spiritual life abstracted from all carnal and sensual wayes which is our Sanctification For as the end is Spiritual that we aime at and not Carnal So the means whereby we attain to this End are Spiritual and not Carnal that is Faith and the life of Faith not of Sight For the Just man lives by his Faith and not by his sight or sense and does not make hast but waits patiently for the Hope of Glory that shall be revealed Still looking beyond this life and forgetting these things which are here behind reacheth out and presseth hard to the mark of the High Calling which is laid up for him in Christ Jesus Rom. 1.17 Rom. 8.24 25. For we are saved by Hope but hope that is seen is not Hope for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for but if we hope for that we see not then do we with patience wait for it Heb. 11.1 Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen When I was a Child I spake as a Child I understood as a Child I thought as a Child but when I became a man I put away childish things 1 Co◠13.10 11. For we now see through a glass darkly but then face to face Now I know in part but then shall know even as also I am known The Subject is Walking or Living The Parts are Faith Sight or a Spiritual and a Carnal Life The Doctrine Chap. 1. Life A Christians Life is Spiritual Life is 1. Of Nature Pure Harmless as of other living Creatures 2. Of sense irregular sinful brutish irrational Earthly 3. Moral by practise of Virtue 4. Civil in Society Justice under Laws 5. Spiritual Self-denying above Laws 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christians by their Spiritual lives Gal. 2.19 come up higher then the Laws Wherefore then serveth the Law it was added because of Transgressions 'till the seed should come to whom the Promise was made 1 Cor. 2.15 The spiritual man judgeth all things but he himself is judged of no man The Law is good if a man use it lawfully 1 Tim. 8 9 10 11. Knowing this that the Law is not made for a Righteous man but for the Lawless and Disobedient for the ungodly and sinners for wholy and profane for murderers of fathers and murderes of mothers for man-slayers for whoremongers for them that defile themselves with mankind for men-stealers for liars for perjured persons and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound Doctrine according to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God committed to my trust This life Sanctifies and spiritualizeth Nature Sense Manners and Laws For though we walk after the flesh 1 Cor. 10.3 c. we do not war after the flesh For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God for the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth its self against the knowledg of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ We are delivered from the Law Rom. 7.6 that being dead wherein we were held that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter Let not sin reign therefore in your mortal bodies Rom. 6.12.13 that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof Neither yeild ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield your selves to God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God for sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace Knowing this Rom. 6.6 that our old man is Crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that from henceforth we should not serve sin I am Crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh Gal. 2.10 I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me So that this life is High 1. Above all natural sensual pleasures profits Honors Arts Powers Glories Liberties Beauties Friends Health Strength Peace Orders c. 2. Above all natural sensual Pains Wants Shames Ignorances Weaknesses Disgraces Deformities Enemies Diseases Warres Slaveries Confusions c. So that I value the Pleasures of God and the profit of Eternal Life and the honour of being the child of God and the knowledge of Christ Jesus and the Power of God and the Glory of Heaven and the Liberty of the Gospel and the Beauty of Grace and the Friendship of God and of Saints and Angels and the Health and Peace of my Soul infinitely above all the Pleasures Profits Honors Arts Powers Glories and all the Pains and Wants the Shames Ignorances and weaknesses and all the miseries of this life I glory in tribulations and chuse rather to suffer afflictions with the people of God then to enjoy the Pleasures of sin which are but for a season For whosoever is born of God overcometh the World 1 Joh. 5.4 5. and this is the victory that overcometh the World even our Faith who is he that overcometh the World but he hath believeth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God 1 Joh. 3.9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God 3. This life regulates all Passions Love Hatred Joy Grief Hope Despair Boldness Fear Anger Revenge c. and raises them to Coelestial Objects 4. This Life sublimates all Faculties Understanding Will Memory Conscience 5. This Life attains to true Wisdome and Tranquility of Spirit By Exemption from vulgar Errors Chap. 2. Vulgar Errors Vices and Passions Lata est ad mortem via Alienis perimus exemplis Odi profanum vulgus arceo Broad is the way that leadeth to Death We perish if we follow
Duty that proceeded from his Faith as of the offering up of his Son And so he had a full assurance to himself of his own Faith by which he obtained so much Right and by his works his Faith was made perfect Jac. 2.21 So the word Justify signifies to hold as well as to have a Right Reas 7 Because after Gods accounting Abraham righteous God confirms his Right by an Oath By my self have I sworn Gen. 22 16. saith the Lord for because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy Son thine only Son That in Blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thee c. The effect of this was Chap. 7. Oathes That Abraham might claim that Right which he had to the Promises which God had made and now obliged himself to the Performance For Juramentum comes from Juro and Juro from Jus Juris because the right and best use of an Oath is to confirme and decide rights for when a Right is voideable an oath makes it immutable and when a Right is Litigious an Oath decides and puts it out of question Heb. 6.16 This was Juramentum Fidelitatis to perform the Faith God had given by Promise God swears Fealty to his Homager to Dust and Ashes to be a Protector and Benefactor unto him Yea when Abraham was dead Heb. 11.16 he was not ashamed to be called his God and the God of Isaac and Jacob when dead because he had prepared for them a City Now the Oath of fealty is usually taken by the vassal to his Lord. A wise man may find cause to doubt whither this be only reasonable or no. Note by the way That Gods Oath was voluntary as all Oaths should be else all soul-Liberty is destroyed Gen. 24.2 Put I pray thee thy hand under my thigh and I will make thee swear c. Abraham prayed his servant to swear He was his slave born in his house yet he forced him not in this So Jacob to his Son Joseph If I have found grace in sight Gen. 47.29 put I pray thee thy hand under my Thigh and deal kindly and truly with me bury me not I pray thee in Aegypt Reas 7 Because Abraham was legally and morally Righteous before he believed the Promise Chap. 8. True Right Gen. 13.14 and yet h was not justifyed by that Righteousness nor by the Estimatory Faith which he had in God as a great Benefactor who was feared and worshipped by him Gen. 13.4 but when he received the Promises That Promisory faith justified him Gen. 14.15.16 i. e. gave him a Title to those Promises of Issue Inheritance and Alliance even before the Ceremonial work of Circumcision fourteen yeers So that he was meerly justified by his Faith in the Promises Gen. 15.9 'Till when Abraham never made the least mention of an Issue or Inheritance Reas 8 Because it is the Scope of the Apostle to prove Justification by Faith So then Gal. 3.7 8. they that are of Faith are the children of faithful Abraham And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Heathen through Faith Preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying In thee shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed So then They that are of Faith are blessed with faithful Abraham Concl. Therefore What Right had Abraham to such an Issue and such an Inheritance and Alliance more then other men whose Bodies were younger and stronger but only this That such an Issue Inheritance and Alliance was counted and unto him for His and his Faith was counted unto him for the Reason of it i. e. for his Title to it So what right hath the Servant who worketh to his wages but only that his wages are accounted to him for His and his work is accounted to him for the reason of it And what Right hath the Son that worketh not to maintenance more then the Servant who worketh but only this That maintenance is accounted to him for His and his Birth is accounted to him for the reason of it And what Right hath the first born Son to his Fathers Inheritance more then his yonger Sons who are born to his Father as well as he but only this That the Inheritance is counted to him for His and his Primogeniture or Majority is accounted to him for the reason of it i.e. for his Title to it which therefore is called his Birth-right though that word be too wide for it is his Primogeniture or first Birth-right in order before the rest which giveth unto him his Right And so the Believer in God who as to God hath neither Works nor Birth What right hath he to Blessedness more then an unbeliever but only this That Blessedness is accounted His and his Belief is accounted to him for the Reason of it i.e. for his Title to Blessedness Hence the Apostle mentioning matter of right in Abrahams case constantly useth the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to count And reckoning Ratiocination and Counting are all one in effect in Logick and Logistick APPLICATION 1. For Assurance Evidence and Satisfaction to all Believers of their Right 1. To Adoption by Grace 2. To Remission of sins 3. To Sanctification by the Spirit 4. To Audience at the Throne of Grace 5. To every ordinance of God Baptisme c. 6. To Resurrection 7. To Eternal Life 1. Assurance is Gods giving his Faith to us Chap. 9. Assurance and we giving our Faith to him which is our being in Covenant with God And a mutual giving and taking of the Faith of each other is to be made sure together 2. Assurance is an Acceptation of the Act of Gods grace and pardon upon the condition of our obedience 3. Assurance is the Acceptation of the Legacy and Gift of Eternal Life devised to all the Faithful in Gods last Will and Testament whereof Jesus Christ is the Mediator This Promise Devise or Gift of Gods Testament concerning the Inheritance of Eternal Life is made primarily to Christ who is the promised Seed in whom all the Promises of God are Yea and Amen who is the Principal Heir of all things and the faithful do tast of the same Inheritance by Faith that the Promise might be sure to all the Seed who for Christ his sake are made Heirs of God and Co-heirs with Christ partakers of the same most precious promises by Grace and Adoption Which Promises are as sure to the Adopted Sons of God by Grace as they are to Christ the Essential Son of God by Nature This Act of Grace is freely made of God in and for Christ in whom God is well pleased in whom God hath reconciled all things to himself And this is the full and last unchangeable Will of God confirmed by the Bloud of Christ so that heaven and earth may faile but not the least Title of Gods Will and Testament shall ever fail For the Foundation of God standeth sure and God knoweth who
Faith but made shipwrack of it by their evil deeds and therefore could not enter into the Temporal Rest provided for them because of their unbelief Heb. 3. ult Let us therefore draw neer with a true heart in full assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our bodies washed with pure water Heb. 10.22 23 24. Let us hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful that hath promised And let us consider one another and provoke one another unto Love and good works c. 4. For comfort Why should Believers quarrel Chap. 14. Peace 1. We have all the same Cause of Right which is Gods Promise 2. We have all the same Right the effect of Gods Promise Justification 3. We have all the same means reason or Title whereby the same cause becomes effectual for the obtaining of that Right which is Faith Therefore we all agree in the main and may and ought to be comforted thereby How vain then and sinful are those questions and doubts about the manner of Gods Promise and our Right thereby and the means of Faith for the conveyance of that Right unto us Brethren and fellow-heirs of the same Promise have no Reason to fall out about the way and manner how they come by them it is sufficient that they are sure of them and God be thanked for that Let them love one another Unjustly therefore do we hate and separate one from another seeing we all trust in one God for the same common Salvation And why should we be disheartned Chap. 15. Courage or doubt any more of the Truth which is so evident God is Faithful which hath promised our Right is sure which is promised the Means to joyn both these together and give us this right is sure even our Faith Therefore do but believe do not dispute All things are possible to him that believeth Do but accept and ye shall have Take what is offered unto you An easy Yoke A light Burden A noble way A rational way to be drawn by the cords of a Man by Love for Love To suffer our selves to be wrought upon and perswaded by Love To believe that God is That he is a Rewarder of all such as fear him That all that will accept of this Reward shall have it upon this reasonable and easy condition of Faith and Repentance That a new Life and Holiness is a most pleasant thing of its self if there were no other Reward That if there be another Reward it ought in reason being so great as Eternal Life to be enjoyed by them only that believe it and that labour for it That if there be no Reward yet it is more just and comfortable to hope well and live well then to despair and do all wickedness to the present hurt of our own Peace and the Disturbance and Ruine of others for which they will Curse us even in this World And if there be a Reward as most certainly there is then these men shall be sure to miss it but the Faithful cannot fail to have it Because that reward is promised upon the Condition of Faith and none other As sure as there is a God in Heaven so sure shall there be a Reward in Heaven And as sure as there is a Christ so sure shall all they be rewarded that are in Christ As sure as Christ is born the Son of God by nature and the spirit so sure are the faithful born the Sons of God by Grace and the Spirit As sure as Christ was the promised Seed so sure are the Faithful the Promised Seed in him and by him As sure as Christ is the Heir of all things in himself by the means of his Birth-right so sure are the Faithful the heirs of God by the means of their Birth-right As sure as God hath promised and sworn to Christ so sure hath God promised and sworn to the Faithful This is Gospel God is a Spiritual Father The Faithful are a Spiritual Seed Spiritual Heirs of a Spiritual Inheritance 5. For Distinction of Reckoners true and false and of such as do not Reckon at all 1. Some make no accompt Chap. 15. Kinds of reckoning being without God in the World and having no Hope strangers to the Covenant of Promise dead while they live 2. Some make a false accompt reckoning without Faith Boasting of a Right to an estate when they have no grounds for it Living highly and making a great show to the World of a portion in Heaven when as they have nothing to trust unto being Hypocrites whose hope shall perish and be cut off before God Luc. 13.25 c. Angels and men They shall knock at the door saying Lord Lord open unto us then shall the Master of the house answer and say unto them I know you not whence you are Then shall they begin to say We have eaten and drank in thy presence and thou hast also taught in our streets but he shall say I tell you I know you not whence you are Depart from me ye workers of Iniquity Matth. 7.21 c. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdome of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven Many shall say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not Prophecied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out Divels and in thy name done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you Depart from me ye workers of Iniquity 3. Some have a true accompt made by God for them but cannot make a true accompt for themselves but are hindred and puzled being weak and put out of their reckoning 1. By school distinctions without difference and coyned niceties oppositions of Sciences falsly so called 2. By Pulpit marks signs the fancies of idle Brains and multiplication of Words without knowledge 3. By private scornes and Reproaches of Reprobation and Damnation without Wit or Charity But let all such poor true hearted wretches be of good cheer They that cannot reckon for themselves God shall reckon for them and help them to make it out The Spirit within them shall cry Abba Father for them and help them in all their infirmities with sighes and groans which they cannot utter Christ doth plead for their Right in Heaven which he hath obtained for them and knows how to have compassion upon the ignorant and them that are out of the way for that he himself also was one compassed with infirmities As a faithful and kind Steward will reckon to a poor servant his dues to a farthing Heb. 5.2 when he cannot reckon for himself So will Christ do for these poor Creatures and all that are Christs faithful Messengers and dispensers of the mysteries of Salvation The fault is in the false Teachers that fright poor Souls with Hell and Damnation Physicians of no value miserable Comforters such as
pleased He intended farre higher Duties unto which he led them by the hand if they had had the wit to observe it according as the Prophets did often hint unto them But they rested in the Letter and in the worke-daies and would not understand what God farther intended no not when they were sorely slasht in the Babilonish Captivity nor in the time of the Maccabees nor under the sore Yoke of Antiochus nor yet of the Romans when the Gospel began to dawn nor yet in the dayes of Christ himself and his Apostles when the cleer day-spring from an high did visit them and that God did fully reveal what worship he meant should continue for ever and that all their rude and beggarly elements should be laid aside as being added only because of Transgressions till the Promised Seed should come It was therefore necessary that the Patterns of things in the Heavens should be purified with these Heb. 9.23 but the heavenly things themselves with better Sacrifices then these But still they stumbled at the Old stumbling-stone of a Temporal Covenant established upon Temporal Promises and commanding Temporal Services And from hence many Christians first taken from the Nation of the Jews and afterwards from all the Heathen Countries have erred exceedingly Partly by mixing Judaisme and partly by mixing Paganisme with Christianity which both of them are not out of us unto this very day although the Apostles made it their business as they had then too much occasion to overthrow these two maine errors from whence all other Heresies have been derived and that Christ himself did so much speak against the continuance of the Jewish way and the Introduction of Heathenish customs by Preaching a more Spiritual Law and declaring Eternal Promises All though God hath winked at the Nonage of the Jews and the Ignorance of the Gentiles Chap. 9. Châ—iâ—â—â—anisme yet now God will have all men every where to aspire to perfection and learn better things commanded in a better Covenant that is established upon better Promises especially in the dayes of Adversity when we are pinched with long and sore Warrs with plagues of Fire and Water and sundry kinds of Death It is high time now for the World to grow wiser to come off from the Vanities and Pomps of this Life and walk highly with God in the Spiritual Exercise of Faith and Repentance Away then with this Loose and Carnal way of Living This will not do The Gospel calls for higher things 1. This Loose and Carnal Life will never satisfy the Conscience nor please God 2. This formal and outward Worship will not serve the Turne You must come up to the pure Gospel-way to the life of Faith and to the worship of the spirit or you can never please God Be honest and just in your words and Actions Be dutiful and obedient to the Laws Be decent and orderly in Gods Worship But still I shew you a more excellent way This is to be done and you are not to leave the other undone For thus it becometh us after Christs own Example To fulfil all Rigteousness To offend none but to give unto Caesar the things which are Caesars and unto God the things which are Gods APPLICATION I have set before you two wayes Faith and Sight Spirit and Flesh choose therefore the better part that shall never be taken away from you 1. Cherish the life of Nature by Temperance Sobriety and Chastity 2. Regulate the life of sense by Reason Prudence and Moderation 3. Order the Moral life by Virtue Justice Obedience and Honesty 4. Maintain the Civil Life by dutiful submission to Rulers and their Laws for the publike Good 5. Keep the Spiritual Life above all by Faith 1. Which may Sanctify Nature Sense Morality and Laws 2. Which may transcend all carnal Profits Pleasures Honours Arts Powers Glories Liberties Beauties Friends Health Peace Orders c. 3. Which may overcome all Carnal Pains Wants Shames Ignorances Weaknesses Disgraces Deformities Enemies Diseases Warrs Bondage Confusions c. 4. Which may regulate all Passions of Love Hatred Hope Despair Joy Grief c. 5. Which may sublimate all Faculties Understanding Will Memory Conscience 6. Which may arrive at the height of true Wisdome Peace and Tranquility of Minde 1. By exemption from vulgar Errors Vices and Passions 2. By aiming at Universal Liberty in Judgment and Will still submitting to Faith 3. By learning true essential simple honesty and plainness of Spirit 4. By Practicing true Piety 1. Free from Jewish worship 2. Free from Heathenish Idolatry This is the high and noble way of the New Testament of Jesus Christ which is of the spirit that giveth life not of the Letter that killeth Thus we overcome sin from ruling in our mortal Bodies that we should be obedient unto the lusts thereof Thus we overcome the Temptations and miseries of the World Thus we overcome the Devil and bruise Satan under every one of our Feet and through Jesus Christ are more then Conquerors And thanks be to God which giveth us this victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Look therefore on things Spiritual and not on things Carnal Chap. â—0 Faith on things Eternal and not on things Temporal For the things that are seen are temporal and carnal but the things which are not seen but believed are Spiritual and Eternal Believe your sins are blotted out of Gods Book for so they are when forsaken Though you cannot see your Pardon sealed by Gods spirit by your sense yet by your Faith you may see it Believe the Peace of God of your own Consciences though the sense discern it not yet your faith may Believe the Judgments of God are escaped and shall not hurt you though you feel present pain in the Flesh as is needful for you Believe the Devil is overcome though he sift you as the wheat is sifted yet Christ hath prayed for you that your Faith shall not fail you and his Grace shall be sufficient for you Believe you shall live though you die and see corruption for you shall die in Faith This is Faith to believe above sense above hope and contrary to hope the judgment of flesh and bloud This is Faith To be present with God in the Spirit though you be absent from him in the Flesh This is Faith to rejoice in Misery to glory in Tribulations to be ravished with Spiritual comforts during the enjoyment of Temporal To find Rest in God in the midst of Trouble to rest upon Gods Promises of Pardon and Blessedness in the midst of Sins and Miseries I will believe though I see not nor feel not any comfor This shall be my joy comfort in believing I will believe though I can give no Definition nor Reason for my Faith I will live in the Spirit though I live in the Flesh for I do not live after the Flesh I will worship God in the Spirit though I use a Forme and outward Ceremony I will Eat