in the midst of all thy corruptions if thou didst know it it would engage thee to joy and to every thing that is Holy and Good the Lord set it home to the hearts of his people and teach them to apply it to their own Souls in secret And then Secondly USE 2. 2. I say to you all from hence All of you learn what need there is of getting an interest in Jesus Christ for that is the end of my Sermon To perswade you to see the need that you have of getting an interest in Jesus Christ. Would you know why I wil tel you Al the sins that you commit as you wil commit sins every day you live but all the sins that you commit are all writ down in Gods Book he numbers your steps though you number them not your selves he hath your iniquities in a Bag and the day is coming when he wil cal every one of you to an account and now Friends what if you have not a Daies-man or a Mediator to appear for you I remember Ely said Oh my Sons if men sin against men men shal speak for them but who shall speak betwixt the Soul and God So you have committed innumerable sins and your own hearts and Consciences tel you more than any man can charge you with How wil you do to appear before God What if you have not a Mediator the Lord Jesus that is a Propitiation for our sins What a woful case are you in Take heed you do not imbrace a Cloud but study Christ and get found Faith in him and if Christ be yours you are secure but look to it or your case is dangerous I dare not stay you any longer The Lord give us understanding in all things FINIS THE HIGH PRIVILEDG Of all True BELIEVERS To be the SONS of GOD. Opened in a Sermon at Suttons Hospital Novemb. 12. 1654. John 1.12 13. But as many as received Him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that beleeve in his Name Which were Born not of Blood Nor of the will of the Flesh Nor of the will of Man But of God THe dependance of the Words stands thus First You have in the beginning of the Chapter a most glorious Description of Jesus Christ both of his person and of his Natures and of his Office under the Name of the Light that inlighteneth every one that cometh into the World Then Secondly You have a description of his Entertainment in the World when this great Lord submitted to this work and manifested himself What was his entertainment First He came into the world and though the world were made by him Yet the world would not know him he came amongst his own that is his own nation and kinred who had been instructed about a Messiah that was to come and had long prayed for him Oh! that he would bow the Heavens and come down amongst us he came amongst them and they would none of him they would not receive him Truly this is the ordinary lot of Jesus Christ wheresoever he cometh but yet there were a remnant that did receive him and shal receive him even those that belong to the Covenant of Grace And what get they by it That Remnant that handful that do receive Christ make the best bargain that ever was made in the world As many as did receive him to them he gave this priviledg that they should become the Sons of God and so here you have the comprehension of all the happiness that Beleevers do receive by Jesus Christ they are made the Sons of God so that the Text hath two things in it First 1. Here is the Means whereby Souls are made partakers of Christ that is upon receiving of him that is the means and condition or instrument All that receive him which is interpreted in the next words even they who believed in him Believing in Christ and Receiving Christ is al one This though it be a Doctrine of wonderfull comfort I shall speak nothing of it but of the second That is 2. The benefit that they all receive who do partake of Christ what they get by him They all of them have this priviledg or Prerogative That they are made the Sons of God and so without any more preparation to the Text or explication for the Doctrine I will explain in the handling of it I say without any more preface I lay you down this Doctrine Doct. That al who believe in Jesus Christ are made the Sons of God the Children of God And that you may receive this with better attention I will to make you the better understand the Lord's scope answer a Question that is this Quest. You say it is very cleer in the Scriptures that al Beleevers are made the Children of God that is one of their Priviledges but what is the reason that no more is named but that one They are Justified they are Sanctified they have the Promises they are Reconciled they have a thousand excellencies in this world yet here is none named but only this they are made Sons Why is no other named but this Answ. I Answer plainly and it will be of great use to understand it namely that though somtimes in the holy Scriptures our Sonship is but one of our Priviledges yet very frequently in the Scripture all that Beleevers do obtain from Christ in this world and the world to come here and to eternity all is comprehended in this one That they are made the Children of God Really you wil see it as cleer as the Sun presently that God comprehends all other priviledges in this one that he that hath this one he that is made the Son of God he hath all other that can be imagined or that you can find any Speech of in al the Book of God so great is this And I wil give you a little light about it and then you wil receive the Doctrine I hope with the more attention and with the more desire to see your own Interest in it You shal see and observe it as a general that very frequently when the Lord describeth the Covenant of Grace the new Covenant what he wil be to his people in the new Covenant he is very frequent in the setting down of this I wil be their Father saith he and they shall be my Sons and Daughters I know not how often the whol Covenant of Grace is expressed in that word I wil be their Father they shal be my Children but very cleerly you shal see it if you turn to Ephes. 1.5 where the Apostle doth bless the Lord for all the abundant Grace that is manifested to us in Christ there he sets it down in this one expression having predestinated us to the adoption of Children What is al that Al the Graces al the Good that we enjoy from Christ you have it in this one Sentence God predestinated us to the adoption of Children he hath done all when he hath
of Application is come the making himself over to them in the consideration or notion of an elder Brother and so they really by their conjunction with him partake of it There is the second work 3. There is the work of the Holy Ghost and til that likewise be past over the Soul never is any man made the Son of God The Holy Ghost and his work is so eminent and apparent that he is called the Spirit of Adoption that when the Lord gives his Spirit unto his Children he cals it by the Spirit of Adoption because it is the great Office of the Spirit to make that great work of Adoption Quest. Now what is the Holy Spirit 's work about it Answ. I Answer It stands in three things and you wil see them all cleer in Scripture and I hope I shal have some time for the Application for I go it over as fast as I can the Holy Ghosts work in making us the Sons of God stands in three things as it is cleer in the Scripture The one is 1. When the acceptable time is come that the Lord means to make a Soul that is by nature a Child of wrath to become the Child of God He sends the Spirit of Jesus Christ into that Soul to be a band of union betwixt Christ and that soul that whereas Christ is to be applied to them as a Brother and they to be mystically united unto him the holy Spirit takes this Office upon himself to come and dwel in the heart as a band of union betwixt Christ and them that Christ and they should never more be separated and this work of the pouring out of the Spirit into the Soul to take possession of him for Christ and to give the possession of Christ unto him the Spirit being the band of it this is the first work of the Spirit as he is the Spirit of Adoption There is one The second work of the Spirit is this 2. That when the holy Spirit comes to make Christ and us one he as the elder Brother and we as his Brethren inseparably united to him whereas he findeth us enemies hateful hating that would rather be united to Harlots to the Creature to any thing the Spirit of God works a Child-like heart in them framing and molding their Spirits that for the time to come they calling God Father as they have warrant to do they likewise shall be made Sons even in the frame and bent of their spirits which is very excellently expressed in the very next words to my Text wherein it is said He gave them this Prerogative that they should become the Sons of God which were born saith he mark not of Blood nor of the wil of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Now no longer shal flesh and blood sway them but being born of God the Spirit of God gives a new birth and a new life now they come to have the hearts of Children that as nature hath planted in the heart of a Child toward the Parent Honor and Love and Reverence and Obedience where sin hath not utterly perverted it this is the natural genius of a Child to his Father So the Spirit of God molds and frames the Soul and this the Scripture signifies when it saith Because you are Sons God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts whereby now we can cry Abba Father now the hearts of them shal stand to God and be carried to him in Faith and Prayer as the hearts of Children are naturally carried to their Parents That is the second thing And then the third and last work of the Spirit and so you have all this indeed as plain before you as I can set it out briefly the Third Work is this 3. This Holy Spirit even as it is the Spirit of Adoption doth not only unite them to Christ and frame a sutable disposition in them towards God and Christ But it abides in them upon all need to witness to their Spirits that this is their condition to give not only the Seal of it by changing their hearts but by giving them the comfort of it as they need it in their necessities which the Apostle expresseth in those words it is in Rom. 8. And the same Spirit witnesseth to our spirits that we are Gods Children it carries our hearts to God and testifies to the Soul that God is their Father There is the second Now I have been larger in that because in truth the world doth not ponder these things nay few of Gods own Children do ever consider what a strange work it is that none but the blessed Trinity can undertake and each of them have their distant work in it of bringing a poor Child of Wrath to become the Child of God That is the second You hear now what Adoption is and how it is wrought Now the third thing in the Doctrinal part and then I hasten to the Application is Wel What are the benefits of it Now what are the benefits of our Adoption That when the Lord hath took this strange course and brought about this strange work Wherein doth the worth of this Priviledg stand I answer You wil receive a great deal of light of it at least it wil help you to remember it and understand it the better if I do illustrate it by the practice that was amongst the Romans So their Adoption and the Roman Adoption had three things in it it carried three things as all learned men that have read their Stories and Laws do know The first is 1. When a man was Adopted into a Family the Family of a Caesar or the great men by his Adoption he was cut off from the Family from which he sprung by his natural birth cut off from it not simply but from whatsoever was base or unworthy in that Family that if his Father were a Slave and himself by his birth a Slave it was hereditary to him or if any blot or infamy stuck upon his family whatsoever it was the Adopting of this Person into another Family wholly cut him off from al the base ignominious slavish bondage and dangers which belonged to the Family from which he sprung by his natural birth That was the first The second was 2. That by his Adoption he was taken as belonging to the Family into which he was Adopted as much as if he had been begotten by him he was to have by the Laws of the Empire the same respect from his adopted Father the same provision the same protection the same immunities whatsoever that his own begotten Son might claim by nature from the Roman Laws the adopted Child was instituted in them all And Thirdly 3 By his Adoption he had the same right to the inheritance that the begotten Child had if there were no other begotten Children the whol Inheritance sel to the Adopted Child if there were another begotten Child though beloved the Adopted shared with him in it Look how
our nourishment comes from Ordinances for though the Lord be the Fountain of it yet the Ordinances are the canales the channels wherein the Lord gives out a greater supply of himself we must receive all these by Faith The Word profits no man unless it be mingled with Faith your Prayers they must be Prayers of Faith the Sacraments they are received by Eaith All Ordinances are so far effectual to the soul as the grace of Faith puts them upon you Faith is not only the means of our Food but for Physick the overcoming of our evil al the Spiritual enemies of our spiritual life all that would destroy it it is Faith alone must do it You shall find Satan the great Enemy how do we overcome him By resisting him in Faith The World another Enemy every one that is born of God overcometh that the world cannot prevail upon them and this is that that overcometh the world even your Faith So All our Lusts it is by Faith that we put off the old man the Scripture is cleer in it nay the actings of our lives all the actions of our spiritual life all the excitings and callings out of all our graces in every relation publick and private the Spirit of God laies it al upon Faith until we come to be consumated and put into Heaven the Lord doth leave the mannagement and carrying on of our spiritual life to the grace of Faith himself is the Sum the fountain but so far as the Creature hath a hand in it that is the sanctified creature it is this faith whereby the whol life is acted Thus you see the first thing I hope sufficiently cleered That the Life of al Gods People while they live in this world it is the life of faith But now comes the greatest Question for there are so many cleer Scriptures about that you cannot doubt of it you had as good doubt of your Christianity as to doubt of this Whether a Christians life is the life of faith But now What the holy Ghost signifies by this what is it to live by faith That is a thing that may be more difficult to be understood and if it please God that I can but cleer it to you out of the Word that you may see wherein the true living by faith doth consist when I have opened this I wil not doubt but so many as are Gods People wil say this is my very condition but as for others they wil say every body talks of living by faith one man makes living by faith only to be a fancy in his own head that God wil do this and that for him without any warrant from the Word another it may be fancies that live how he lists if he hope but to go to Heaven when he goes out of the world then he lives by faith But living by faith is substantial I shal now set my self by the Lords help to clear to you what the holy Ghost signifies when he saith that the life of Gods people in this world they live it by faith and to this end I must premise these two things but to make way The first is That our Lord Jesus who is our Head our spiritual mystical Head he hath not only an Al-sufficiency for al his people for every one that beleeveth til they come to glory but he hath a full purpose in his heart never to be wanting of supply unto his called ones a full unchangeable purpose to supply them with whatsoever is needful to bring them to glory That is the first thing I lay down as a foundation to lead you to know what it is to live by faith there is an all sufficiency in Christ our Head yea a ful purpose and resolution unchangeable to supply to all his people whatsoever they can need in any condition til he hath brought them to glory That is the first thing no body wil doubt this the Scripture is so ful to it The Second thing is more immediate and closer to my purpose and it is this That Jesus Christ hath not only this determinate purpose in his heart but he hath in his Word declared and manifested al that he will do for his people and expect from his people til they come into Heaven mark that is In his Word hath he declared Promises which hold out al the good that Christ means to do for his people not only general promises for pardon of sin to bring them to Heaven but promises for every condition that can be he hath declared what he means to do and which way he wil do it He hath there likewise declared what his will is for al the duties that his people are to perform iâ— the way of obedience he wil never expect from them in al their life time any thing but what in his Word he hath set down And thirdly In the same Word he hath not only laid down Promises what he wil do and precepts what they must do but Directions that hold out both arguments to stir them up and waies that they should take al these hath he laid down in his Word al the means either to attain strength to do duties or to accomplish the benefit of any Promise in his Word he hath laid down al his mind and that is called his will concerning us that is the will of God concerning us Now these three things premised the purpose of Christ to do all that he will do and expect the declaration of all this in his Word These two taken for granted now in the third place which is my Doctrine and which wil make you understand what the living by faith is The Grace of Faith wrought in us by the Spirit of God and acted in us by the Spirit of God it immediately hath its whol application to the Word Good Friends hearken I say the grace of faith is the work of the Spirit in us and is excited and stirred up to work by the Spirit the Spirits proper and immediate work is to deal with the will of Christ revealed in his Word it looks not at Heaven immediately it looks not to Christ immediately but it looks at God and Christ and Heaven mediately through the Word In the Word there saith sees all the good things promised that in its life time it shal stand in need of in the Word it seeth the injunction of al those duties that the renewed soul should be conversant about or be exercised in in the Word and in the Word only he seeth the Methods the Counsels the arguments the Directions that are to be attended upon for the enjoyment of all that which is in Christs purpose to do for us Now mark The grace of faith stirred up by the Spirit of God to look to the Word in every thing in the right way and the Lord by his invisible and secret work making the things held out in the Word effectual to the soul by this act of faith in the whol course of our life applying
inward man where Christ dwels and the things you look at in buying selling and purchasing and sporting and in al the things you may do that are Lawful to you observing Gods Rules you take Gods Word to be your Rule then I tel you for your comfort these two things First The Lord hath communicated to thy soul the excellentest life that ever he gave to any creature Three things I wil speak briefly that you account of First To be thus minded to be thus molded thus framed it is absolutely the highest the noblest the excellentest life that any creature ever partaked of I might shew it you in a world of Particulars out of the Word that there is no life like it We use to say in Phylosophy That the life of a Pismire it is a more noble life than the life of a Cedar though one Cedar be worth many thousand Pismires yet the life of the Pismire is better because it cometh from a nobler spirit Now the Life God hath given thee comes from the spirit of Jesus Christ. It is the noblest the operations of this Life are above what poor creatures can do as we say the Life of Reason it is such a brave flying thing to be a top above the poor sensual things of bruit Beasts and to deal with God And It is the sweetest too that is another for in al other lives men tast but the sweetness of the Creature but here the sweetness of thy Life is God and Jesus Christ himself there is no life so excellent as this is Secondly I say for thy comfort The Life God hath given thee is the greatest pledg of his love he ever giveth to any he hath given thee life it was the end of Christs undertaking to give life to his beloved ones he never giveth this to any man he means hurt to He can give a Kingdom to a man he means to destroy he gave it to Saul and cast him away in his wrath he can give an Apostleship to one that shall be damned he gave Judas an Apostleship and yet he perished but to have this Life to close with Christ to live to him according to his Word had you this Church ful of Diamonds given you to do what you would with and to raise your posterity to be the greatest men in this part of the world it were not such an expression of his love as to give Christ to you And thirdly I tel you This Life that the Lord hath given thee of which Jesus Christ is the Fountain thou mayest be bold to rely upon him for the preservation of it because it flows from him he is the Well-head of it he is the Well spring of it and therefore when thou thinkest how many evils thy Life may be incident unto what temptations thou mayest meet withal how weak thou art to resist them remember man or woman whose Life this is it is not thy life but Christs Life and he ever lives to make us live and therefore thou in an humble walking and dependance upon him in the use of Gospel Ordinances mayest comfortably expect that God wil nourish this Life and cherish it till thou come to be a perfect man till thou come to be transplanted into another Life where Faith and al these things shal cease and God be All in All this the comfort of it Then I thought to have spoken a little to the third Use. That because all the people of Christ live this Life to perswade you all to study it and to seek after it and often compare it with that other life that we so often weary our selves about with a vain shadow hazarding every thing for it to have our accommodation with as much refreshing as can be SERMON II. Gal. 2. part of verse 20. I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me now follows that which I shal more insist upon and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me THe Second Lesson which is the manner how all the Saints of God live this Life of Christ while they are in this world The Life which I now live in the flesh By Flesh there he means not his fleshly part as they are said to live to the flesh who live sensually and wickedly but by the Flesh there is meant our mortal condition while we are here upon Earth while we live our natural life the Life of Christ in us it is lived by the faith of the Son of God that is the faith wrought in us by the Son of God which we place upon the Son of God but that grace of faith it is the manner or the instrument or the means of our holy Life while we are in this world And this Doctrine which beloved is the mystery of Christianity is the very life and soul and kernel of true Christianity I shal endeavor according as the Lord shal enable me this day to open to you This is the Doctrine That that Life of Christ which all Gods people live in this world they live it by faith Understand but the scope aright and I hope the discourse may prove useful to those that have this Life My meaning therefore is That the grace of faith it is not only the instrument or condition required to make us partakers of Christ and his Life it is not only one chief grace or one branch of this Life but while the Saints are in this world the mannagement of their whol Spiritual Life is the work of faith Christ indeed is the fountain of it and the Spirit of God is the great administration of it but that which we do while we live in this world our whol spiritual Life is through the assistance of God acted by the grace of faith and I intend the Lord willing to handle it in this Method First I will cleerly demonstrate to you from the Scripture that it is so that the whol Life of a Christian it is led by faith Secondly which I more aim at I shall endeavor to clear to you what the holy Ghost means by this and what it is for a soul to live the Life of Christ by faith that shall be my chiefest work in the Doctrinal part and then I wil come to the application of it For the proof of it that it is so First Mark how cleerly the Scripture holds it out that while we are in this world the life of the Saints it is led by faith There is one place in Habbakkuk 2.4 I wil mention that you shall see the reason by and by the Spirit of God there speaks of the several waies that men had to live in troublesom times for Habakkuk lived in very difficult times of the Church and there in his discourse he shews how proud men lived by maintaining a good opinion of themselves and lifting up their hearts and how worldly men
the inheritance was to go amongst the begotten Children by the Laws of the Empire so by the same Laws it was to go amongst them that were adopted Thus it was amongst them but whether any Lawyers can except against it or no I will not much dispute it but I shal make it cleer to you that it is thus absolutely and fully in our adoption Absolutely and fully in the adoption of a Child by Faith all these three things meet First 1. We are hereby cut off from the Family from which we sprung by nature I speak not now of our Civil birth or rights but of our spiritual standing which is to be Children of wrath Children of Belial Children of old Adam Children of Sin and Death we are cut off from that Family no longer to be reckoned of it the Bondage Baseness Obligations Curses whatsoever lay or doth lie upon Adams Family or upon any that spring from it assoon as ever the Lord cals him Son through Christ he is wholly cut off from all that is plainly thus and because I cannot possibly open these in a short discourse I wil commend it to your studies 1. We are for example all of us by nature under the Dominion of sin that is our birthright sin and the curses of it we are al under it assoon as ever the Lord cals a Beleever Child that he hath let his adoption pass upon him the bondage of sin the curse of sin the dominion of sin it is wholly removed from him ye 〈◊〉 not under sin sin cannot have dominion over you because you are now brought under Grace And then likewise 2. The Law whereby sin is irritated and animated the Law that in the Rigor of it and the Curse of it that lies upon all the Sons of Adam we are cut off from it assoon as ever we are Gods Children and therefore the Apostle expresseth it thus to the Galatians that he made his Son born under the Law that he might Redeem us that are under the Law that we might have the Adoption of Children I hope no Body will mistake me for it is most clear in the word that the Law remains as a rule to Gods Children and that is their priviledg but as for the Rigor and curse of it they are wholly cut off from that when they are made the Sons of God by Adoption That is the First That the Lord calling Sons to Jesus Christ and owning them as his Children for the sake of Christ they are delivered from all the Curses and bondage that belongs to Adams Family and which all the Rest of the world lie under But then the Second is greater then this And that is 2. That by our Adoption we are really I speak of Beleevers not nominal Christians but real Christians they are all of them taken into Gods Family as his Sons and Daughters that is he owneth them to be his Children and hath the Bowels of a Father to them really that they are now under his care under his provision under his Protection under his indulgence and whatsoever he hath commanded the most Holy Parents to exercise towards their own Children that fear them he hath ingaged himself perpetually for ever to do all these things unto those whom he is pleased to cal his Sons and Daughters by Adoption There is nothing so ful no pearle so ful of excellency there is nothing so ful of any thing that is good as this is ful of consolation to the saints of God that can but understand it therefore he must needs bear with them therefore he must needs provide for them therefore if he correct them it must needs be in Love with nothing but a Fatherly rod for we are all taken into his Family and may go to him as to a Father in all things wherein we have need of a Father that is the Second A great comprehension of Priviledges not to be uttered And then the Third branch is as clear 3. That when God calls us to be his Children we are thereby made his Heires we are Heires of God indeed in the Civil Law inheritance it is by a succession into the right of the Dead but now as the Lord is pleased to apply it to his Children it signifies a certain inheritance but certainly the inheritance that the Lord of Heaven is to give to any or that he hath given to his Son Jesus Christ all his Brethren the Brethren of Christ and the Sons of God have a share in it If you wil have it a little more fully I will tell you in a few words thus for you have the proof of it in Rom. 8.16 That the Spirit witnesseth with our Spirits that we are the Children of God and if Children then Heirs Heirs of God and Coheirs with Christ But I mean these two things by it First 1. The Heir while he is a Child is Lord of all he is Lord of al before he comes to the injoyment of it he is the Lord of it so now while Gods Children are in their minority while they are poor ones in this world they are Heirs of the world the Lord hath called his Children to be Heirs of the world that is whatsoever is in this world is for their sakes the Angels the World the Devils in Hel in spite of their Hearts they are al under the Saints and are compelled by the Lord they against their wills and the Angels with their good wils they all of them are subservient to those that are the Sons of God by Adoption and whatsoever is in the wide world and may be enjoyed any waies for the good of his People they are the Heirs of all this is their Portion while they are in this world the Scripture saith it plain All is yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods and therefore Paul and Apollo or Cephas or whatsoever is in the world all is yours the Saints of God have a real right to al by vertue of their Sonship not in the Law of man but in the spirituall sense that the Scripture holds out And then 2. For the other life where the prepared possession which was cast by God from all Eternity all the Glory of Heaven such as Eye never saw nor never entred into the heart of man to conceive of it is all kept to be the everlasting inheritance of all those that are called the Lords Children Thus Brethren I have as briefly as I could and yet I have through Gods goodness plainly opened to you this great priviledg of all priviledges that whosoever doth beleeve in Jesus Christ really accepts him to be their Savior they are upon their beleeving in Christ made the Sons and Daughters of God Now let me make some Application before I dismiss you and one thing that I would fain have you think upon alone is USE 1. 1. To take heed you be not deceived about it this would require a Sermon whensoever I should treat of it and therefore I wil
know not how often in this one Chapter eating drinking is interpreted by Beleeving and Beleeving in a Metaphor is nothing but Eating Drinking therefore my work shal be God willing to explain this know then in general that this great Grace of Faith whereby Souls partake of Christ it is in the true nature of it nothing but an accepting or receiving of Jesus Christ to be that unto us which God sent him to be for poor sinners the Scripture is most cleer in 1 John 12. As many as received him he gave them power to become the Sons God even they that beleeved in him So that to receive Christ is to believe in him now the receiving of Christ being a spiritual act of the soul wherin the understanding and the wil must both have a share it hath pleased the Lord I beseech you mark it it hath pleased the Lord to set out this one act of Beleeving by abundance of Metaphors in the Scripture similitudes taken from the Body and every one of them being rightly interpreted wil cleerly set out the nature of Faith and what the Soul doth when it beleeveth in Christ as I wil give you but a tast because it is but one only that I mean to open and that is in my Text Somtimes 1. Beleeving it is very often set forth by Coming Come unto me He that cometh unto me I will not cast him out that is to Beleeveâ— Now Coming therein is a figure an expression taken from an act of our Body of our Feet wherein there are alwaies these three things 1. There is the place from which we go 2. There is the place to which we go 3. There is the way and means in which and by which we go Now these interpreted would cleerly shew you what the Soul doth in Beleeving So likewise 2. To look up to Christ that as Moses lift up the Serpent in the Wilderness that whosoever looked upon it was cured so Christ is lifted up that we may look upon him Now that very act of the eye to look to an Object for such an end being rightly interpreted would cleerly shew you what the Soul of man doth when it beleeveth in Christ. And so 3. To stay upon him or to lean upon him which is a Metaphor taken from the Body that reposeth it self upon somewhat to uphold it when it wants strength of its own now this being discovered would cleerly shew you what the Soul of man doth when it believeth in Christ. 4. Now among many of these Metaphors this Text of John's pitcheth upon this especially of eating Christ and drinking which is the action of our mouth and stomach wherby our life comes to be maintained by our Food and there is in this of eating and drinking so cleer a demonstration what the Soul of man doth when it beleeveth in Christ and how it may discover whether men do beleeve or no that you cannot desire a cleerer than this is if God do but vouchsafe the ful understanding of it That then which I have laid out for a part of this afternoon's work is to shew you wherin the eating drinking of our food doth shadow out Beleeving in Jesus Christ to eternal life though I have but now brought you to that which I would endeavor a little more fully to discover to you Would you know then wherein the Holy Ghost maketh the comparison to stand for I dare not go to ad the study of our own brains but wherein the Scripture makes these to answer one another eating and drinking food for bodily life and Beleeving in Christ for spiritual life wherein do they answer I answer in these six things some of them I shall not need to stay upon for if I should stay upon all I should not have time to cleer the rest but in six things do the eating and drinking of our food answer our laying hold upon Jesus Christ by Faith and I wil desire you to mark them because it is the foundation of a great tryal of your spiritual estate The first 1. That the Lord when he first created man with a living Soul with a life this life of man is not able to nourish it self to preserve it self in being nor to strengthen it self when it is any waies impaired but God hath appointed that which is food such creatures as have suitable spirits in them to the life of man that mans life under God lies in these and cannot be preserved without them but it is the meat and drink as the ordinary expression is it is the food and the nourishment the means wherby the life of man is preserved in a man and give him all other things in the world let Angels attend him Princes wait upon him let all that God hath given to the whole Creation be bestowed upon him keep food from him and the man dies he doth not live though it is true we live not by Bread only but God can preserve it otherwise but in the ordinary proceedings of God take away food and you take away life you need no other weapon mans life the nourishment of mans life is food that is one Now answerable to this for our spiritual life it is laid up and to be found wholly in the Lord Jesus Christ in his flesh and his blood but you must know it is his flesh and blood prepared that look as other meat Bread must be broken and ground and baked and so made fit for mans use before he partakes of it so the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ was ground was broken by the passion and sufferings he underwent for our sins and by vertue of his dying communicated it to us his flesh and blood hath merited life satisfied wrath and in Christ and Christ alone lies all the spiritual life of his people and can be had no where else Give him all the obedience that ever mortal man had give him the righteousness of the Holy Angels in Heaven give him all that a mans Tongue can speak of or his Pen write down he is a dead man if he have not the Lord Jesus Christ to be his life it self Our life is hid in Christ as the Apostle saith there is the treasury of it There is the first that as our humane life lies in Gods disposing I mean by his so ordering it in our food so our spiritual life lies only in Jesus Christ. That is one Secondly these three first I wil be very brief in The second branch is this 2. That look as God in nature hath planted in every man because his life is the most excellent thing skin for skin and all that a man hath he wil give for his life therfore God hath planted in man a more vehement appetite and desire after food then after any thing else in the world and if he be put to it that the choyce must be made it may be he would not part with any thing that he thinkes is sutable to him but if
an Argument to perswade to the learning of this lesson the Argument is taken from the necessity of it it is so necessary that that man that wil not deny himself even to the denying of his life for Christs sake wil undo himselff by his good husbandry by his providence if he think to save himself by following more wary Counsel he wil ruine himself but if he wil resign up himself to the counsel that Christ gives him Christs counsel shal save him and Salvation any other way he shal never find Now lest some-body might object against this and say But in probability the following of thee and taking up our Cross wil be so far from saving of us that it wil ruine us and the looking a little better to our selves may save our state save our credit save our liberty save our life Wel to that saith Christ do but cast up the gain that wil be got by this way I deny not but a man may by that providence that you speak of save his estate and save his credit he may possibly gain the world a great state in it but he wil lose his soul by it and that man that should purchase al the world that should be able to say this Kingdom is mine the other Kindom is mine all the Kingdomes of the earth are mine But what did they cost you nothing but my soul I gave my soul for them that man hath made a miserable bargain of it he will gain nothing that will venture the loss of his soul for the purchasing of the whol world The worth of a soul is invaluable and besides when a soul is once lost the loss of a soul is irrecoverable what shal a man ever give in exchange for his soul Therfore set this down for your Conclusion The man that wil not follow my counsel upon the best account that can be made is certainly an undone man This is the scope of Christ in these words Now I come to the Doctrinal part which I shal only insist upon at this time and in it there are these two things First 1. Here is the Lesson that Christ teacheth and imposeth on his Disciples in these words Let him that wil be my Disciple Deny himself Take up his Cross and follow me Those are the three things that Christ imposeth upon all his Disciples Deny themselves Take up their Cross Follow him Secondly 2. Here is the Condition upon which this Duty is imposed If any man wil be my Disciple Christ wil compel no body to be his Disciple and if they have not a mind to be his Disciples he wil not impose upon them denial of themselves and taking up of their Cross and following him if they like other waies better let them take them and see what will come of them in the end but if any man wil pretend to be a follower of Christ if he be resolved to be listed amongst Christs Souldiers or admitted into Christs School or into Christs Family then this is the ABC this is the first Lesson that he must learn He must deny himself Take up his Cross and follow him and that is all that I will say to the Condition of it that it may be as a watch word to all you that hear me this day I shal by and by by the Lords assistance handle a Doctrine that I know is very hard to flesh and blood that which possibly many of you never yet learned nor have any purpose to learn but only now remember this You shal not be compelled to learn it if you have not a mind to the Doctrine that shal be opened you are at freedome to take another way provided you wil not lay claim to be the followers of Christ Run your hazards and enjoy your good things in this world and see what wil come of it but if you have a purpose as I know you have and would be glad to be thought followers of Christ then be you high or low Lords or Ladies Gentle or Simple Learned or Ignorant know you that this is injoyned to every one whom Christ will own that they must deny themselves take up their Cross and follow him It is only the first of them that I purpose to treat upon at this time Deny himself and the Doctrine which by the Lords assistance I shall handle is this the very words of the Text. DOCT. That whosoever wil be a Disciple or Follower of Christ he must deny himself And for the explication of the words there is nothing hard but this The word He shal deny himself doth signifie a total abrenunciation he must wholly deny himself as I shal make good out of the Scripture it must be a total work Now for the proof of it that it must be so it were easie to turn you to a great many Scriptures where the very same words are used and upon the like occasion you shal find it in Mark 8. and also in Luke 9. but for fear I be prevented I wil content my self with a Text that I wil turn you to and that is in Luke 14. from verse 28. to the end of the Chapter it wil abundantly demonstrate the necessity of this Doctrine If Christ may be beleeved you shal find there that there were a great many came in to Christ to be his Disciples great multitudes they were taken with his Miracles his Sermons and the Conversation of the whol world began to run after him and gave in their names as fast as they could be admitted but mark what Christ saith to them about verse 26. saith he If any man come after me and do not hate Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Lands and his own Life he cannot be my Disciple mark what he saith he cannot he doth not say I wil not own him but positively because there is an impossibility of being Christ's Disciple unless that a man do so far deny himself as to renounce and and forsake whatsoever may be called himself And lest he should not be beleeved he doth prosecute this by three parables that follow there in order and they are to this purpose in the two first parables he doth plainly tel them 1. That if any man pretend to be Christ's Disciple and do not learn this lesson of self-denial that man if ever he be put to it wil prove an Apostate if ever times of tryall come that man that enters into Christs School not having learned the Lesson of self-denial wil prove an Apostate or Secondly 2. If he be never put to it in a way of persecution then he wil live all his daies but in a meer form of Godliness and an unsavory general profession he may make he wil never have any power in it and this I say the Lord shews in three Parables the two first of them you wil find they are taken one from a man that goes about a building to errect a House before he have throughly cast whether he have mony
rid of al these things that that man that denies himself must wholly part with all his corruptions and part with the powers and faculties of his soul or the accomplishments of them or part with all his Estate his Wife and Children or part with his morral Duties and Religion that is not the meaning neither and that that is not the meaning I prove thus to you First 1. Some of these things are things we must not part with the Lord forbids us to part with them If God have bestowed upon any man a good Wife or Children or Memory Understanding Learning Wealth Honor or Abilities or Honesty and Righteousness the Lord commands them not to part with these these are things that God may be served with and must be served with therefore that cannot be the meaning Nay 2. The worst of them none of them can be parted with while we live in this world though we would never so fain part with them totally no man upon earth can part with all his corruptions If there be any man can say he hath no sin in him that man rather hath no Grace in him St. John saith that man that saith he hath no sin in him lyeth and the truth of God is not in him therefore that cannot be the meaning What is it then I answer and I humbly crave your attendance and weighing of these things because your everlasting welfare must be measured out by this you wil know your spiritual interest in Christ by it I answer then 2. That this same denial of our selves this total renunciation of our selves it comprehends these four things in it and these four things do constantly meet in every soul that doth deny it self First of all 1. All these things that I have spoken of we do totally and absolutly renounce them all from being any part of our portion that whereas before all our good lay in some of these things that if you would ask any man what he is worth What are you and what are you worth he must tel you I am worth a thousand pound a year or I am worth as much as my Wife and Children my Wit my Parts my Learning my Education my good name my honest Conversation Look what worth there is in all these so much I am worth and this was all his portion but now when the soul cometh to Christ it totally renounceth all these to be nothing at all to him in the point of a portion if he be the Lords and I shal shew you good reason for it by and by God willing I wil shew you a notable instance of it in the Apostle Paul in that forenamed Phillip 3. where he saith I think if any man might Glory in the flesh I might Glory as much as any and there he reckons up his Religion his Birth his Education his Learning his Righteousness and the like and saith he these things were gain to me they were my portion that if you had asked Paul Paul what are you What am I as good a man as you I hope Wherein lies your goodness I am a Jew an Hebrew a Benjamite a Pharisee a Scholler an honest man one that is unblameable in my whol conversation This was my gain saith Paul but after that Paul was called to Christ he did profess al that was his gain before it was now Dogs meat to him shipwracked his Learning abided with him stil and his wealth and his wit or any thing he had it stil but it was all rubbish now he did lay no worth in the world upon it he had no portion now but the favor of God in Christ Jesus that was his wealth but now for all these things what use soever he might make of them they were nothing not one penny to him in the point of a portion This is the first thing that is an ingredient into this same self-denial that when the soul cometh to Christ it is unloosed and set loose from all these things as they gave any support to the soul to breed a good esteem in it of its own happiness That is the first The Second thing that maketh up this self-denial is 2 That as the Soul doth renounce all these from being a portion so as in any of these there is any thing found that stands in opposition to Christ or hath any enmity against Christ so far the soul totally doth not only throw it aside as a worthless thing but opposeth it as a deadly thing it casteth it aside as an enemy Before in the other it throws it aside as a useless thing but here it throws it aside as an enemy when it hath any opposition or enmity against Christ Jesus or the waies that Christ would have his people walk in that is plain both by many Scriptures that you shal see the Servants of God when they come to deny themselves they say to their Lusts get you hence to their Idolatry to their wicked waies they throw them out to the Moles and the Bats they mortifie them they crucifie them they put off the old man with all the Lusts that are contrary to Christ their carnal reason that stands in enmity against Christ According I say as there is any thing in them that bears opposition to Christ Jesus and the waies of holiness so far the soul renounceth them as an enemy if ever they deny themselves because as you shal hear in the Reason Christ Jesus alone is the great good of that soul that denies it self A Third thing that maketh up this self-denial is 3. That all these four or any thing that may fal under any one of them so far as they ever stand in competition with Christ and the things of Christ so far the soul totally abandons them likewise totally abandons them all according as they stand in competition with Christ Jesus and that our Lord means when he saith That a man must hate his Father and Mother and Wife and Children Certainly the Lord doth not mean that we should hate them simply No but when they come to stand in competition with Christ's excellence or providence or things fall out so that I must either renounce these or I must withdraw from Christ I cannot serve Christ and enjoy them too therein I totally renounce them all and this you shall understand thus Our Savior Christ saith a man then denies Christ though he have never so good an opinion of Christ if yet when he comes to that exigent that either he must leave Christ or leave the world or leave his wealth if he leave Christ for his wealth sake then he denies Christ so Christ saith by the same reason when I leave my life leave my wealth leave my Wife my Children my Name my Credit my wil my Duties when these stand in competition with Christ then I deny them all then that soul may truly be said to deny them as I pray take an instance or two of it that you may see what I mean
you shal find this That when all their infirmities as many of them had many gross ones and grievous ones when they were all reckoned up if this were but added but his heart was with God his heart was upright with God that was a Salvo for all the other he never broke with any of them or cast them off if so be their hearts were but with him in the midst of al other weaknesses and infirmities if they could but say as Hezekiah Lord remember that amongst all my weaknesses my heart hath been with thee there was Gods content And on the other side Let the performances be never so glorious or in things never so much commended or never so much delighted by the Lord the duties of his Worship and Ordinances if God did but say of them This they did but their hearts were not with God Nevertheless his heart was not upright with God that signified the Lord threw it all away as rubbish stuf that he took no pleasure in the wnrld in So then because that it is the Lord that looks at the heart and if he have that he hath all he hath so much as contents him and never breaks for the want of any thing else as you shal see further anon because where the heart is the best they have wil be brought out therefore above all we should keep that That is a third ground The Lord looks at that above all others therefore we should keep it above all others Then Fourthly which I need but name 4. The Devil who is our Adversary and the Lords Adversary and goes about like a roaring Lyon seeking how he may devour all his assaults and batteries are at the heart and he counts all his labor lost if he do not get into the heart if he gets that he gets the Cittadel that wil command all the rest and if he be kept out or cast out there he himself counts he hath nothing therfore he saith he wil enter into Judas's heart he wil fil Annanias's heart he labors to set up his Throne and his Dominion in the heart of the Children of disobedience that is his great endeavor Now then when we are called home to the Lord we give our selves up to him to fight his battels and where we know the Enemy wil most assault certainly our care should be most to watch If the good man of the house knew at what hour the thief would come he would watch if he knew what part of the house he would assault he would watch that most of all Now Satans whol endeavor though I confess that by his good wil he would not let the Lord have a good word out of the mouth of any of his People nor of any People in the world nor the bending of a knee if it lay in his power but he wil afford that so he may have but the heart and if he can but any waies batter the heart or discompose the heart or bring it out of frame he wil not greatly be troubled at all other formalities they give to God Now because Satan doth so extreamly lay his battery there surely the servants of God should above all keepings with all diligence keep that That is a Fourth ground Fiftly Another that is of equal force is this 5. The Heart even the heart of a Godly man it must be kept above Keepings with all diligence because in truth it is not to be trusted No not the heart of the best man living in the world it is deceitful it is false it is cozenig it is treacherous not that the new heart is so but our heart is renewed but in part and though it be made a Garison for Jesus Christ where our Treasures are kept yet that Garison hath a great many false enemies that lodg within it It were endless for me to explain this sufficiently in so short a time as is fit for me now to speak you know where the Scripture saith that the heart of man of an unconverted man in Jerem. 17.9 It is deceitful above all things it is desperately wicked so desperately wicked and deceitful that none but the God of Heaven can search into the bottome of it the deceitfulness of a mans heart goes as deep as Hel that no plum-line wil go to the bottom of it Now when the Lord plants Grace in any of his Children and brings in some integrity some sincerity yet there remains a woful tang of their former falshood and treachery that was in it before any Grace was brought in and if it be not wel kept and wel looked too the old deceits wil quickly so get up again that all wil be put most wofully out of temper upon a sudden Should I but give you the instances that the Scripture hath left upon record of some of the choycest Servants of God how they have been lamentably befoyled when they have but a little trusted their own hearts and not had a sâ—ickt watch and ward going along with it you would hardly beleeve it That holy Apostle Peter how did he trust his heart when our Lord and Savior asked him whether he would stick to him when he was in danger Lord saith he I wil die with thee and hang with thee if thou beest in danger and he beleeved it and little knew what danger lay in the bottom and David he would not countenance any one that was wicked but when he trusted his heart it led him to Murther and Adultery and Dissembling And abundance of others that when they have but a little beleeved their own hearts the best of Gods Children have found so much that I may say of all the Saints living what Solomon saith in Prov. 28. He is a Fool that trusteth his heart he that trusteth his heart that wil beleeve it No if it be not throughly searched and throughly looked too as Solomon saith of an enemy Beleeve him not though he give the fair words there are seven abominations in his heart So I may say to a Child of God that hath set Christ and Grace and Gods Glory the highest in his heart Beleeve not thy heart there are seven abominations lie in it that if it be not very wel looked to it wil lay thee in the ditch it will bring thee into woful inconveniences Now then as you know in a Garison if so be that we would keep a Garison if there be impetuous enemies without if the Rampires and Wals be strong the Guard may be a little secure but when they know there are a hundred false enemies within their wals that watch for any opportunity to open some postern Gate or other to set fire upon the City to make way for the enemy to come in they are mad that think that it wil be kept without al diligence So that because of the deceitfulness and treachery of our hearts we must therefore keep them with all diligence in the world Lastly to give one more and that is that which my
it draws and receives al from him when we are transplanted into another world that way of living ceaseth and we enjoy God in Christ immediatly These two Doctrines lie in the Text the first of them with the Lords assistance I shal spend one hour in endeavoring to cleer it to you and to make some use of it That all that do receive Jesus Christ even in this world they live his life I live but it is Christ that lives in me and the life that I live in this flesh I live it by the faith of the Son of God Now to make a little way to it That al the Saints live Christs life the life of Christ I would not have you expect that I would spend any part of my hour in a Phylosophical Discourse about the Nature of Life in general No let this suffice That you shal find in the Scripture a two fold Life of man spoke of The one is This present natural life which we al live which we receive from Adam I speak not of the corruption of our Nature but the first man was a living soul that is he was an animal man a man endewed with a reasonable soul and al that come from him have that life which is nothing but the union of the body and soul together and those motions and operations that are in us are acted in us by vertue of that union and this the Scripture somtimes cals the natural man the natural life the animal man as who should say the man endewed with a soul the happiness of whom is to enjoy a soul-life and this life it is somtimes called the present life somtimes called the bodily life the life of man and this life al that proceed from Adam do live in al Ages and parts of the world and to the upholding and beautifying and accommodating of this life are al mens labors and their studies and the good things of this world they are naturally al subservient to it every thing parted with rather than part with it Skin for skin and all that a man hath wil he give for this life Now that there is such a life no man doubts of it But then Secondly The Scripture speaks of another Life and so you shal see my Text leads to it he speaks of another life which is a spiritual life which flows from the second Adam that as the first Adam was a living soul and communicates a living soul to al that come from him the second Adam is a quickning spirit and communicates a quickning spirit to al that come from him that is the Life that my Text leads me to speak of and this Life before I come to speak further of it the Scripture somtimes cals the new Creature somtimes cals it the Life of Christ as in my Text somtimes cals it the Life of God not only because God is the Author of it for so he is of the other Life but because in a sound sense it is the life that he himself lives their Life being but an Image of his Life this is called Eternal Life this is that that is the end and fruit of al Christs undertakings Now this Life this Spiritual Life this Life of Christ this new Life this Eternal Life it is that that I now come to endeavor to demonstrate to you that al the Lords people live this Life while they are in this world Now there are Two things that my purpose is to treat upon in the Doctrinal part of it before I come to the Application but before I come to either of them both I wil crave your leave to set down three or four Propositions that are but preparatory to it I wil not handle them for they would take up too much of the time but to name them is requisite it shal be a kind of inlet or preparation to it The one is That this spiritual Life that the Saints do live no natural men have any understanding of it not any real understanding of it he doth not know the things of God nor can he they are spiritually discerned and therefore if it should prove a Riddle to many of you you may have cause to suspect your condition but not to suspect the truth of the Doctrine Yea Secondly I premise that men may be in the Church live in the Church and have admirable learning and admirable abilities to judg of al other things that fal under humane Capaâ—â—ty yet not be able to look upon this any otherwise than as a meer whimsie or a dark riddle Nicodemus who was a Doctor a Pharisee a Ruler an honest man according to his principles he had been trained up under yet when he comes to Christ to know the way to Heaven he tels him al his other righteousness was nothing if he be not born again and have a new life he could never come into the Kingdom of God What is this saith he this was as dark to him as if he should enter into his Mothers womb and be born again when he is an old man Therefore stil think not that if you be Scholars or wise men or learned men you must needs have the capacity of it though the vulgar cannot No if the Lord give you not a share in it you wil never understand it Thirdly I premise this That there is a double knowledg of this Life The One is Only a notional knowledg the Theory to be able to conceive that there is such a thing and to be able to talk of it and to reason about it And There is another knowledg of it that is experimental and practical and real and convincing Now the notional knowledg I confess by the common Light that accompanies the Ministry of the Word may break in upon some men but for the experimental real inward knowledg of it they wil stil be strangers to it Yea I would premise this also That while we are in this world none living understand this Life none not only natural men unconverted men but the wisest holiest graciousest men that live in this world never come to have any other than some gatherings they have some real knowledg I hope I shal make good to you but for a ful clear understanding of it it is not attainable in this world no more than as our Lord speaks of the wind that we hear the noise of it but understand not where it rises nor when it wil end and no marvel that it be not thus intelligible Because Partly from the depth of the things themselves they are the operations of the spirit of God And Partly from the weakness and corruption of our faculties and understandings which in truth know nothing perfectly No man doth understand how his own bones were framed in his mothers womb and the things that are before our eyes not a man living is able to decipher the life of a Pismire or a Butterfly therefore much less must you think to be able to comprehend this for this
in our stead and made over to us in the Covenant of Grace That is one Righteousness Secondly There is another Righteousness of Christ which is not only inherent in himself but is communicated to us so that it is wrought in us which is the righteousness of our Sanctification and it is that branch of our spiritual Life that this Text aims at for he did assert the other our quickning from the guilt of sin in al the former part of his discourse Now that no wretch may abuse it and say that then we may continue vassals to sin he proves it that Christs righteousness is communicated to us that is Christs Grace is infused into our souls and that is made up of these three things and I conceive there is nothing else in it but these three things The one is The Spirit of Jesus Christ that holy Spirit of Jesus Christ is communicated to Beleevers to dwel in them to be in them a principle of a new Life Secondly This holy spirit poured into the soul works in them in al the faculties of the soul those gracious dispositions wherein the Image of God stands which is light in the understanding freedom in the will love and fear and joy that is the turning of al these affections or passions to their right object habitually disposing them turning the bent of the heart from sin to God And then the third is This self same spirit that plants in them these Graces abides in them to excite them and stir them up and draw them out in their whol course to think and speak and do the things which in a kind of natural way flow from these inward principles and are a conformity to the Will of God and thereupon al the love of the Saints to God and one to another all their mourning for sin their striving against it all their endeavors after God they are motions of this new life that is wrought in us and this is the life now that all the Lords people do live while they are in this world The Spirit of Jesus Christ bestowed upon them working in them a new frame of heart turning the bent of their hearts to God and remaining as an exciting principle to draw out their graces and strengthening them in their working whereby their endeavor is in al things to live unto God according to his Will and this is that Life which my Text and other Scriptures call the Life of Christ and the Life of God which although it be perfect in none in this world but there are reliques of our old death in us and of our sinful distempers in us yet really and truly these things are found in every soul that is brought home to Jesus Christ. And let this I pray suffice for the Doctrinal part that without being burdensom to you I may make some application of it Thus then you see though I have not turned you to many particular Scriptures yet I know that if you do but read the Scriptures you wil find that this Doctrine it lies written upon the foreheads of abundance of Texts that thus it is with al Gods people Now then for the use of it I intend but three Uses it may be I shal but even name the last First You see by all this how necessary it is that you should al try and examine your souls Whether you be partakers of this Life or no And good friends be serious about it and to make you the more serious give me leave to stir you up by these few Considerations to be willing to have your hearts tried about it The one is That in truth this alone is Christianity mark my words and if you understand them not now study them There is nothing Christianity but the Life of Christ nothing else that is truly Christianity Opinions they may be Christian Opinions they may be Christian Truths but there is no life As we say not of any dead Carkass of any Picture though it be drawn to the life we say not in proper language this is a man though it be as like him as one thing can be like another if it have not a mans soul we say not of a dead man though it be the body of your Father or Mother you cannot properly say this is my Father or Mother it is but the Carkass of them So I say be baptized be in any Church Form or Order wait upon never so many external Duties hear Sermons never so constantly give as good words as you will to those that preach the Truth and hold it out to you this is not Christianity Christianity is to live Christs Life and at that day you shall find the Lord will never own a soul to be a Christian that had not the Life of Christ communicated to him And Secondly I tel you to provoke you to it Abundance of things go for this Life which are not this life because it is the thing that discriminates Gods people from others Satan hath shewed infinite stratagems and discovered all his abilities laid them out that he might make counterfeits of these things that might go currant with people that he could delude Civil Righteousness in some it is not Christianity a form of Godliness in others it is not Christianity and abundance of things that I have not time so much as to reckon up but these are not Christianity though they look like it and therefore I beseech you but think how you could answer this great Question Doth Christ live in you have you the life of God in you The Life you live in this life is it the Life of the Son of God Think what you could answer to it Now if you wil say How shall we know it I wil briefly discover it to you for I will give you but two Characters of it many others might be had but two I would bestow a little time to cleer to you The one is Wheresoever the Lord gives Life to any Creature in a natural way the life is the preciousest thing in the world to that Creature howsoever it may mind other things delight in them be taken with them there is nothing so precious to it as life Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life and if you would suppose as the life of a man it is made up of several lives that that continues the being of his life it is prized above al the others if he wil be impaired in any of them it shal not be in that as neer as he can that concerns the being of his life Now accordingly say I you shal find it cleer that among al those that live the life of Christ there is nothing in this world so dear to them as their spiritual Life is it may be they are dayly mourning for the weaknesses of it but that that they have of it is dearer to them than any thing they have in this world besides and the high