L*'^'^-'' ■■ .* i ■■■..■ •"JJJ»,*'>^ ;,4.. ♦ V "^^^ c^^ * THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, | Princeton, N. J. J BR 120 .L3 1843 H Law, William, 1686-1761. |j An humble, earnest, and affectionate address to th< I ff J \v oceec AN ADDRES S TO THE CLERGY. AN :/ HUMBLE, EARNEST, AND AFFEP^^NATE A D D B, E S S TO THE CLERGY. By WILLIAM LAW, A.M. LONDON: JAMES DARLING, AT THE CLERICAL CIRCULATING LIBRARY 21. 22. & 23 LITTLE QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS. EDINBURGH: JOHN CHISHOLM. 12 SOUTH ST. ANDREW STREET 1843. All the Ministers and Elders who come to attend the General Assembly may have a Copy of this Address gratis, by applying at Mr. John CnisnoLM's, 12 South St. Andrew Street, Edinburgh. As it is desired that every ordained Minister of the Church oi Scotland should get a Copy, it is respectfully requested that the Representatives of each Presbytery will depute of their Number to apply as above, and receive a Copy for each Minister of the Presbytery that has not come up to the General Assembly, and foi the Schoolmaster of each Parish, and arrange for conveying the same in such a way as will be most convenient. It is also desired that all the Licentiates of the Church should get each a Copy, and to accomplish this, the help of the Members of the General Asseiubly is likewise respectfully solicited. Such as can, of the Licentiates themselves, may have a Copy by applying tc the Bookseller. The Representatives of Presbyteries who will apply for the othei Ministers, Licentiates, and Schoolmasters, will have the goodnesi to give a list of the Name, Church, Parish, or Residence, of such. AN ADDRESS TO THE CLERGY. The reason of my humbly and affectionately addressing this discourse to the Clergy is not because it treats of things not of common concern to all Ciiristians, but chiefly to invite and induce them, as far as I can, to the serious perusal of it ; and because whatever is essential, to Christian salva- tion, if either neglected, overlooked, or mistaken by them, is of the saddest consequence both to themselves and the churches in which they minister. — I say essential to salvation, for I would not turn my own thoughts, or call the attention of Christians to any thing but the owe thing needful, the one thing essential, and only available, to our rising out of our fallen state, and becoming, as we were at our creation, an holy oftspring of God, and real partakers of the divine nature* If it be asked what this one thing is, it is the Spin t of God brought again to his first power of life in us. Nothing ek ^ is wanted by us, nothing else intended for us, by the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel. No- thing else is or can be effectual to the making sinful man become again a godly creature. Every thing else, be it what it will, however glorious and divine in outward appearance, every thing that angels, men, Churches, or Refor- mations, can do for us, is dead and helpless, but s6 far as it is the immediate work of the Spirit of God, breathing and living in it. Ail Scripture bears full witness to this truth, and the end and design of all that is written is only to call us back from the spirit of Satan, the flesh, and the world, to be again under full dependence upon and obedience to the Spirit of God, who, out oK free love and thirst after our souls, seeks to have h\?, first power of life in us. When this is done all is done that the Scripture can do for us. — Read what chapter or doctrine of Scripture you will, be ever so delighted with it, it will leave you as poor, as empty, and unreformed, as it found you, unless it be a delight that proceeds from, and has turned you whollij and solely to, the Spirit of God, and strengthened your union with and dependence upon him. For love and delight in matters of Scrip- ture, whilst it is only a delight that is merely human, however specious and saint-like it may appear, is but the self-love of fallen Adam, and can have no better a nature till it proceeds from the inspiration of God, quickening his own life and nature within us, which alone can have or give forth a yodly love. For if it be an immutable truth, that no man can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost, it must be a truth equally immutable, that no one can have any one Christ-like temper, or power of goodness, but so far, and in such degree, as he is immediately led and governed by the Holy Spirit. The grounds and reasons of which are as follow : All possible goodness that either can be named, or is nameless, was in God from all eternity, and must to all eternity be inseparable from him ; it can be nowhere but where God is. As, therefore, before God created any thing, it was certainly true that there was but one that was good, so it is just the same truth, after God has created innumerable hosts of blessed, holy, and heavenly beings, that there is but one that is good, and that is God. Ail that can be called goodness, holiness, divine tempers, heavenly affections, &c. in the creatures, are no more their own, or the growth of B their created powers, than they were their own before they were created. But all that is called divine goodness and virtue in the creature is nothing else but the one goodness of God manifesting a birth and discovery of itself in the creature, according as its created nature is fitted to receive it. This is the unalterable estate between God and the creature. Goodness for ever and ever can only belong to God, as essential to him, and inseimrahle from him as his own unity. God could not make the creature to be great and glorious in itself; this is as impossible as for God to create beings into a state of independence on himself. Tlie Heavens, saith David, declare the glory of God ; and no creature, any more than the Heavens, can declare any other glory but that of God. And as well might it be said that the firmament sheweth forth its own handy-work, as tiiat a holy, divine, or heavenly creature, sheweth forth its own nauiral power. But now, if all that is divine, great, glorious, and happy, in the spirits, tempers, operations, and enjoyments of the creature, is only so much of the greatness, glory, majesty, and blessedness of God dwelling in it, and giving forth various births of his own triune life, light, and love, in and through the manifold forn)S and capacities of the creature to receive them, then we may infaUibly see the true ground and nature of all true religion, and when and hoiv we may be said to fulfil all our religious duty to God. For the creature's true religion is its rendering to God all that is God's; it is its true, continual acknowledging all that which it is, and has, and enjoys, in and from God. This is the one true religion of all intelligent creatures, whether in Heaven or on earth ; for as they all have but one and the same relation to God, so, though ever so different in their several births, states, or offices, they all have but one and the same true religion, or right behaviour towards God. Now, the one relation, which is the ground of all true religion, and is one and the same between God and all intelligent creatures, is this, — it is a total, unalterable dependence upon God, an immediate, continual re- ceiving of every kind and degree of goodness, blessing, and haj)piness, that ever was or can be found in them from God alone. The highest angel has nothing of its own that it can offer unto God, no more light, love, purity, perfection, and glorious hallelujahs, that spring from itself, or its own powers, than the poorest creature upon earth. Could the angel see a spark of wisdom, goodness, or excellence, as coming from, or belonging to itself, its place in Heaven would be lost assure as Lucifer lost his. But they are ever abiding flames of pure love — always ascending up to, and uniting with God, for this reason, because the wisdom, the power, the glory, the majesty, the love and goodness of God alone, is all that they see, and feel, and know, either within or without themselves.- — -Songs of praise to their Heavenly Father are their ravishing delight, because they see, and know, and feel, that it is the breath and spirit of their Heavenly Father that sings and rejoices in them. — Their adoration in spirit and in truth never ceases, because they never cease to acknowledge the am. of God, — the all of God in themselves, and the ALL of God in the whole creation. This is the one religion of Heaven, and nothing else is the truth of religion on earth. The matter, therefore, plainly comes to this, — nothing can do or be the good of religion to the intelligent creature but the power and presence of God really and essentially living and working in it. But if this be the unchangeable nature of that goodness and blessedness which is to be had from our religion, then of all necessity the creature must have all its religious goodness as wholly and solely from God's immediate operation, as it had its first goodness at its creation. And it is the same impossibility for the crea- ture to help itself to that which is good and blessed in religion, by any contrivance, reasonings, or workings of its own natural powers, as to create itself. For the creature after its creation can no more take any thino- to itself that belongs to God than it could take it before it was created. And if truth forces us to hold that the natural powers of the creature could onlv come from the one power of God, the same truth should surely more force us to confess, that that which comforts, that which enlightens, that which blesses, which gives peace, joy, goodness, and rest to its natural powers, can be had in no other way, nor by any other thing, but from God's immediate, holy operation found in it. Now, the reason why no work of religion, but that which is begun, con- tinued, and carried on by the living oj)eration of God in the creature, can have any truth, goodness, or divine blessing in it, is because nothing can, in truth, seek God but that which comes from God. Nothing can, in truth, Jind God as its good but that which has the nature of God living in it; like can only rejoice in like; and, therefore, no religious service of the creature can have any truth, goodness, or blessing in it, but that which is done in the creature, in, and tlnough, and by a principle and power of the divine nature begotten, and breathing forth in it all holy tempers, affections, and adorations. All true relioion is, or brings forth, an essential union and communion of the spirit of the creature with the Spirit of the Creator : God in it, and it in God — one life, one light, one love. The Spirit of God first gives or sows the seed o\ divine union in the soul of every man, and religion is that by which it is quickened, raised, and brought forth to a fulness and growth of a life in God. — Take a similitude of this as follows : The beginning, or seed of animal breath, must first be born in the creature from the spirit of this world, and then respiration, so long as it lasts, keeps up an essential union of the animal life with the breath, or spirit of this world. In like manner, divine faith, hope, love, and resignation to God, are, in the religious life, its acts of respiration, which, so long as they are true, unite God and the creature in the same living and essential manner as animal resjnration unites the breath of the animal with the breath of this world. Now, as no animal could begin to respire or unite with the breath of this world but because it has its beginning to breathe begotten in it from the air of this world, so it is equally certain, that no creature, angel or man, could begin to be religious, or breathe forth the divine affections of faith, love, and desire towards God, but because a living seed of these divine atfections was by the Spirit of God first begotten in it. — And as a tree or plant can only grow and fructify by the sawe po?t;er that first gave birth to the seed, so faith, and hope, and love towards God, can only grow and fructify by the same power that begat the Jirst seed of them in the soul. Therefore divine, imme- diate inspiration, and divine religion, are inseparable in the nature of the thing. Take away inspiration, or suppose it to cease, and then no religious acts or affections can give forth any thing that is godly or divine. For the creature can offer or return nothing to God but that which it has first received from him ; therefore, if it is to offer and send up to God affections and aspirations that are divine and godly, it must of all necessity have the divine and godly nature living and breathing in it. — Can any thing reflect light before it has received it, or any other light than that which it has received ? Can any creature breathe forth earthbj or diabolical affections before it is possessed of an earthly or diabolical nature ? Yet this is as possible as for any creature to have divine affections rising up and dwelling in it, either before or any farther, than as it has or partakes of the divine nature dwelling and opera- ting in it. A religious /(:a7/i thnt is uninspired, a hope or love that proceeds not from tlie immediate working; of the divine nature within us, can no nrore do any- divine good to our souls, or unite tliem with the goodness of God, than an lHinger°after earthly food can feed us with the immortal bread of Heaven.— All that the natural or uninspired man does or can do in the church, has no more of the truth or power of divine worship in it than that which he does in the Jicld or shop through a desire of riches.— And the reason is, because all the acts of the natural man, whether relating to matters of religion or the world, must be efjually selfish, and there is no possibility of their being other- wise. ' For self-love, self-esteem, self-seeking, and living tvholly to self, are as strictly the whole of all that is, or possibly can be in the natural man, as in the natural beast ; the one can no more be better, or act above this nature, ihviw the other. Neither can any creature be in a better or higher state tiian this, till something supernatural is found in it ; and this super- natural something, called in Scripture the Word, or Spirit, or Inspira- tion of God, is Uiat alone from which man can have the first good thought about God, or the least power of having more heavenly desires in his spirit than he has in his flesh. A religion that is not wholly built upon this supernatural ground, but solely stands upon the powers, reasonings, and conclusions of the natural, uninspired man, has not so much as the shadow of true religion in it, but is a mere nothin(j, in the same sense as an idol is said to be nothing, because the idol has nothing of that in it which is pretended by it. For the work of leligion has no divine good in it, but as it brings forth and keeps up essen- tial union of the spirit of man with the Spirit of God, which essential union cannot be made but through love on both sides ; nor by love, but where the love that works on both sides is of the sawe ?m«?ire. No man, therefore, can reach God with his love, or have union with him by it. but he who is inspired with that one same spirit of love with which God loved himself from ail eternity, and before there was any creature. — Infinite hosts of new created heavenly beings can begin no new kind of love of God, nor have the least power of beginning to love him at all, but. so far as his own Holy Spirit of love, wherewith he hath from all eternity loved himself, is brought to life in them. This love, that was then in God alone, can be the only love in creatures that can draw them to God ; they can have no power of cleaving to him, of willing that which he wills, or adoring the divine nature, but by partaking of that eternal Spirit of love ; and, therefore, the continual, immediate inspiration, or operation of the Holy Spirit, is the one only possible ground of our continually loving God. And oiiW\s inspired love, and no other, it is that St. John saith. He that divelletk in love duelleth in God. Suppose it to be any other love, brought forth by any other thing, but the Spirit of God breathing his own love in us; and then it cannot be true that he who dwells in such love dwelleth in God. Divine inspiration was essential to man's first created state. The Spirit of the triune God, breathed into, or brought to life in him, was that alone which made him a lioly creature in the image and likeness of God. To have no other mover, to live under no other guide or leader but the Spirit, was that which constituted all the holiness which the first man could have from God. Had he not been thus at the first, God in him and he in God, brought into the world as a true offspring and real birth of the Holy Spirit, no dispensation of God io fallen man would have directed him to the Holy Spirit, or ever have made mention of his inspiration in man. For fallen man could be ilirectetl to nothing, as his good, but that which he had and was his good before ho fell. And had not the Holy Spirit been his first life,, in and by which lie lived, no inspired prophets amongst the sons ot lallen Adam had ever -been heard of, or any holy men speaking as they tvert moved by the Holy Ghost. For the thing would have been impossible ; no fallen man could have been inspired by the Holy Spirit but because the first life of man was a true and real birth of it ; and also because every fallen man had, by the mercy and free grace of God, a secret reynains of his first life preserved in him, though hidden, or rather swallowed up by flesh and blood ; which secret remains, signified and assured to Adam by the name of a bruiser of the serpent, or seed of the woman, was his only capa- citi/ to be called and quickened again into his first life, by new breathings of the Holy .Spirit in him. Hence, it plaiidy appears that the Gospel state could not be God's last disjiensaiion, or the finishing of man's redemption, unless its wliole work was a work of the Spirit of God in the spirit of man ; that is, unless without all vails, types, and shadows, it brought the thing itself, or the substance of all former types and shadows, into real enjoyment, so as to be possessed by man in sjririt and in truth. Now the thing itself, and for the sake of which all God's dispensations have been, is \.\in.X- first life of God, tvhich was essentially born in the soul of the first man, Adam, and to which he died. But now, if the Gospel dispensation comes at the end of all types and shadows, to bring forth again in man a true and full birth of that Holy Spirit which he had at first, then it must be plain that the work of this dis- pensation must be solely and immediately the work of the Holy Spirit. For if man could no other possible way have had a holy nature and spirit at first, but as an offspring or birth of the Holy Spirit at his creation, it is certain, from the nature of the thing, that fallen man, dead to his first holy nature, can have that same holy nature again no other vvay, but solely by the operation of that same Holy Spirit, from the breath of which he had at first a holy nature and life in God. Therefore immediate inspiration is as necessary to make fallen man alive again unto God, as it was to make man at first a living soul after the image and in the likeness of God. And con- tinual inspiration is as necessary as man's continuance in his redeemed state. For this is a certain truth, that that alone which begins or gives life must of all necessity be the only continuance or preservation of life. The second step can only be taken by tliat which gave power to take the first. — No life can continue in the goodness of its first created or redeemed state but by its continuing under the influence of, and working with and by that powerful Root or Spirit which at first created or redeemed it. Every branch of the tree, though ever so richly brought forth, must wither and die as soon as it ceases to have continual union with, and virtue from, that Hoot which first brought it forth. And to this truth, as absolutely grounded in the nature oi' the thing, our Lord appeals as a proof and full illustration of the necessity of his immediate indwelling, breathing, and operating in the re- deemed soul of man, saying, I am the vine, ye are the branches', as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, no more can ye, excejjt ye abide in me. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth mtich fruit. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a withered branch ; for with- out me ye can do nothing. (John, xv.) Now, from these words let this conclusion be here drawn, viz. That, theref)re, to turn to Christ as a light within us, to expect life from nothing but his holy birth raised within us, to give ourselves up wholly and solely to the immediate, continual influx and operation of his Holy Spirit, depending wholly upon it for every kind and degree of goodness and holiness that we want or can receive, is, and can be nothing else, but proud, rank enthusiasm. Now, as infinitely absurd as this conclusion is, no one that condemns continual, immediate inspiration, as gross enthusiasm, can possibly do it with less absurdity, or shew himself a wiser man or better reasoner, than he that 6 concludes, that because without Christ we can do nothing, therefore we ou<;^ht not to believe, expect, wait for, and depend upon his continual, im- mediate operation in every thing that we do, or would do well. — As to the pride charged upon this pretended enthusiasm, it is the same absurdity. Christ saith, without mc ye can do nothing ; the same as if he had said, as to yourselves, and all that can be called your own, ye are mere helpless sin and misery, and nothing that is good can come from you, but as it is done by the continual, immediate breathing and inspiration of another Spirit, given by God to overrule your own, to save and deliver you from ali your own goodness, your own wisdom and learning, which always were, and always will be, as corrupt and impure, as earthly and sensual, as your own flesh and blood. Now, is there any selfish, creaturely pride, in fully believ- ing this to be true, and in acting in full conformity to it ? If so, then he that confesses he neither hath, nor ever can have a single farthing, but as it is freely given him from charity, thereby declares himself to be a purse- proud, vain boaster of his own wealth. Such is the spiritual pride of him who fully acknowledges that he neither hath nor can have the least spark or breathing after goodness but what is freely kmdled or breathed into him by the Spirit of God. Again, if it is spiritual pride to believe that nothing that we ever think, or say, or do, either in the Church or our closets, can have any truth of goodness in it, but that which is wrought solely and immediately by the Spirit of God in us, then it must be said, that in order to have religions humility we must never forget to take some share of our religious virtues to ourselves, and not allow (as Christ hath said) that without him we can do nothing that is good. It must also be said, that St. Paul took too much upon him when he said, the life that I now live is not mine, but Christ's that liveth in me. Behold a pride and an humility, the one as good as the other, and both logically descended from a wisdom, that confesses it cometh not from above. The necessity of a continual inspiration of the Spirit of God, both to begin the first and continue every step of a divine life in man, is a truth to which every life in nature, as well as all Scripture, bears full witness. — A natural life, a bestial life, a diabolical life, can subsist no longer than whilst they are immediately and continually under the working power of that root, or source, from which they sprung. Thus it is with the divine life in man, it can never be in him but as a growth of life in and from God. — Hence it is that resisting the Spirit, quenching the Spirit, grieving the Spirit, is that alone which gives birth and growth to every evil that reigns in the world, and leaves men and churches, not only an easy but a necessary prey to the devil, the world, and the flesh. And nothing but obedience to the Spirit, trusting to the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, praying with and for its continual inspn-ation, can pos- sibly keep either men or churches from being sinners or idolaters in all that they do. For every thing in the life, or religion of man, that has not the Spirit of God for its mover, director, and end, be it what it will, is but earthly, sensual, or devilish. — The truth and perfection of the gospel state could not shew itself till it became solely a ministration of the Spirit, or a kingdom in which the Holy Spirit of God "had the doing of all that was done in it.— The apostles, whilst Clirist was with them in the flesh, were instructed in heavenly truths from his mouth, and enabled to work miracles in his name, yet not quahfied to know and teach the mysteries of his kingdom. After his resur- rection he conversed with them forty days, speaking to them of things apper- tannngto the kingdom of God ; nay, though he breathed on them, and said, riceive yc the Holy Ghost, &c., yet this "also would not do, they were still unable to preach or bear witness to the truth as it is in Jesus. And the reason is, there was still a higher dispensation to come which stood in such an opening of the divine life in their hearts as could not be effected from an outward in- struction of Christ himself. For though he had sufficiently told his disciples the necessity of being born again of the Spirit, yet he left them unborn of it till he came again in the power of the Spirit. lie breathed on them, and said re- ceive ye the Holy Ghost, yet that which was said and done was not the thing i/.se//,butonly a tyjje ox oiitiuard signijication of what they should receive, when he, being glorified, should come again in the fulness and power of the Spirit, breaking open the deadness and darkness of their hearts with light and life from heaven, which light did, and alone could open and verify in their souls all that he had said and promised to them whilst he was with them in the flesh. — All this is expressly declared by Christ himself saying unto them, / tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away ; therefore Christ taught them to believe the want, and joyfully to expect the coming of a higher and more blessed state than that of his bodily presence with them. For he adds, \'i I go not away, the Comforter ivill not come, therefore the comfort and blessing of Christ to his followers could not be had till something more was done to them, and they were brought into a higher state than they could be by his verbal instruction of then,. But if I go away, says he, / will send him unto you ; and ivhcn the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, is come he will guide you into all truth; he shall glorify me (that is, shall set up my king- dom in its glory in the power of the Spirit) for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you : I said of mine, because all things that the Father hath are mine. — John, xvi. Now when Christ had told them of the necessity of an higher state than that they were in, and the necessity of such a comforting, illuminating guide as they could not have, till his outward teaching in human language was changed into the inspiration and operation of his Spirit in their souls. He commands them not to begin to bear witness of him to the world IVom what they did and could in an human ivay know of him, his birth, his life, doc- trines, death, sufferings, resurrection, &c., but to tarry at Jerusalem till they were endued ivith jwwer from on high; saying unto them, ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come ujjon you. And then shall ye bear ivitness unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and unto the utmost part of the earth. Here are two most important and fundamental truths fully demonstrated, first, that the truth and perfection of the Gospel state could not take place till Christ was glorified, and his kingdom amongst men made wholly and solely a continual, immediate ministration of the Spirit : every thing 6e/bre this was but subservient for a time, and preparatory to this last dispensation, which could not have been the last had it not carried man above tyjjes, figures, and shadows into the /-ea/joossessio?? and enjoyment of that which is the spirit and truth of a divine life. For the end is not come till it has found the be- ginning : that is, the lust dispensation of God to fallen man cannot be come till putting an end to the bondage of weak and beggarly elements, (Gal. iv. 9), it brings man to that dwelling in God, and God in him, which he had at the beginning. Seco7idly, Thai as not the apostles, so no man from their time to the end of the world, can have any true and ?'eaZ knowledge of the spiritual blessings of Christ's redemption, or have a divine call, capacity, or fitness, to preach and bear witness of them to the world, but solely by that same divine Spirit opening all the mysteries of a redeeming Christ in their inward parts, as it did in the apostles, evangelists, and tirst ministers of the Gospel. For why could not the apostles who had been eye-witnesses to all the whole process of Christ, why could they not with their human apprehension declare and testify the truth of such things till they luere baptised with fire. and born again of the Spirit ? It is l)ecause the truth of such things, or the mysteries of Christ's process, as knowable by man, are nothing else in them- selves but those very things which are done by this heavenly Jire and Spirit of God in our souls. Therefore to know the mysteries of Christ's redemption, and to know the redeeming work of God in our own souls, is the same thing; the one cannot be before or without the other. Therefore every man, be he who he will, however able in all kinds of human literature, must be an entire stranger to all the mysteries of Gospel redemption, and can only talk about them as of any other tale he has been told till they are brought forth, verified, fulfilled, and witnessed to, by that which is found, felt, and enjoyed, of the whole process of Christ in his soul. For as redemption is in its whole nature an inward, spiritual work, that works only in the altering, changing, and regenerating the life of the soul, so it must be true, that nothing but the in- ward state of the soul can bear true witness to the redeeming power of Christ. For as it wholly consi Is in altering that which is the most radical in the soul, bringing forth -Anew s liritual death and a new spiritual life; it must be true that no one can know or believe the mysteries of Christ's redeeming power, by historically knovvin ", or rationally consenting to that which is said of him and them in writtc.i or spoken words, but only and solely by an inward, experimental finding, and feeling the operation of them in that netu death and new life, both of which must be eflPected in the soul of man, or Christ is not, cannot be found and known by the soul as its salvation. It must also be equally true that the redeemed state of the soul, being in itself nothing else but the resurrection of a Divine and holy life in it, must as necessarily from first to last be the sole work of the breathing, creating Spirit of God, as the first holy created state of the soul was. — And all this because the mysteries of Christ's redeeming power, which work and bring forth the renewed state of the soul, are not creaturely, finite, outward things that may be found and enjoyed by verbal descriptions or formed ideas of them, but area birth, and life, and spiritual operation which as solely belongs to God alone as his creating power ; for nothing can redeem but that same power which created the soul. Nothing can bring forth a good thought in it but that which brought forth the power of thinking. And of every tendency towards goodness, be it ever so small, that same may be truly aflfirmed of it, which St. Paul affirmed of his highest state, yet not I but Christ that liveth in me. But if the belief of the necessity and certainty of immediate continual Divine inspiration in and for every thing that can be holy and good in us be (as its accusers say) rank enthusiasm, then he is the only sober, orthodox Christian, who of many a good thought and action that proceeds from him, frankly saith, in order to avoid enthusiasm, iny oivn power, and not Christ's Spirit living and breathing in me, hath done this for me. For if «// that is good is not done by Christ, then something that is good is done by myself. It is in vain to think that there is a middle zvay, and that rational divines have found it out, as Dr. Warburton has done, who, though denying imme- diate, continual inspiration, yet allows that the Spirit's "ordinary influence occasionally assists the faithful."* Now this middle xuay hath neither Scripture nor sense in it ; for an oc- casional influence or concurrence is as absurd as an occasional God, and necessarily supposes such a God. For an occasional influence of the Spirit upon us supposes an occasional absence of the Spirit from us. For there could be no such thing, unless God was sometimes with us and sometimes not; sometimes doing us good, as the inward God of our life, and some- times doing us no good at all, but leaving us to be good from ourselves. — Occasional influence necessarily implies all this blasphemous absurdity. • Sermon, Vol. I. 9 A^ain, this middle way of an occasional wflnence and assistance necessarily supposes that, there is something of mans own that is good, or the Holy Spirit of God neither would nor could assist or co-operate with it. But if there was any thing good in man for God to assist and co-operate with, besides the Seed of his own Divine nature, or his own Word of life striving to bruise the Serpent's nature within us, it could not be true that there is only one that is good, and that is God. And was there any goodness in creatures, either in heaven or on earth, but the one goodness of the divine nature, living, working, and manifesting itself in them, as its created instru- ments, then good creatures, both in heaven and on earth, would have some- thing else to adore besides or along with God. For goodness, be it where it will, is adorable for itself, and because it is goodness; if therefore any degree of it belonged to the creature, it ought to have a share of that same adora- tion that is paid to the Creator. — Therefore, if to believe that nothing godly can be alive in us but what has all its life from the Spirit of God living and breathing in us; if to look solely to it, and depend ivholly upon it, both for the beginning and growth of every thought and desire that can be holy and good in us be proud, rank enthusiasm, then it must be the same enthusiasm to own but one God. For he that owns more goodness than one owns more Gods than one. And he tliat believes he can have any good in him, but the one goodness of God, manifesting itself in him and through him, owns more goodness than one. But if it be true that God and goodness cannot be divided, then it must be a truth for ever and ever, that so much of good, so much of God, must be in the creature. And here lies the true unchangeable distinction between God, and nature, and the natural creature. Nature and creature are only for the outward manifestation of the inward, invisible, unapproachable powers of God ; they can rise no higher, nor be any thing else in themselves but as temples, ha- bitations, or instruments, in which the supernatural God can and does manifest himself in various degrees, bringing forth creatures to be good with his own goodness, to love and adore him with his own spirit of love, for ever singing praises to the divine nature, by that which they partake of it. This is the religion of divine inspiration, which, being interpreted, is Immanuel, or God ivithin us. Every thing short of this is short of that religion which worships God in spirit and in truth. And every religious trust or confi- dence in any thing but the divine operation withiii us is but a sort of image-worship, which, though it may deny the form, yet retains the poiver thereof in the heart. And he that places any religious safety in theological decisions, scholastic points, in particular doctrines and opinions, that must be held about the Scripture-words of faith, justification, sanctification, election, and reprobation, so departs far from the true worship of the living God within him, and sets up an idol of notions to be worshipped, if not in- stead of, yet along with him. And I believe it may be taken for a certain truth, that every society of Christians whose religion stands upon this ground, however ardent, laborious, and good, their zeal may seem to be in such matters, yet, in spite of all, sooner or later, it will be found that nature is at the bottom, and that a selfish, earthly, overbearing pride, in their own definitions and doctrines of words, will by degrees creep up to the same height, and become that same fleshly wisdom, doing those very satne things which they exclaim against in popes, cardinals, and Jesuits. Nor can it possibly be otherwise, for a letter-leariied zeal has huX. one nature; wher- ever it is it can only do that for Christians which it did for Jews ; as it anciently brought forth Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, and crucifiers of Christ, as it afterwards brought forth heresies, schisms, popes, papal decrees, images, anathemas, transubstantiation, so in Protestant countries it will be 10 doing the same thing, only with other materials ; images of wood and clay will only be given up for images of doctrines ; grace and works, imputed sin, and imputed righteousness, election and reprobation, will have their Synods of Dort as truly evangelical as any Council of Trent. This must be the case of all fallen Christendom, as well Popish, as Pro- testant, till single men, and churches, know, confess, and firmly adhere to this one Scripture trutii, which the blessed Behmen prefixed as a motto to most of his epistles, viz., that our Salvation is in the Life of Jesus Christ in us. And that, because this alone was the divine perfection of man before he fell, and will be his perfection, when he is one with Christ in Heaven. — Every ihing besides this or that is not solely aiming at and essentially leading to it, is but mere Babel in all sects and divisions of Christians, living to them- selves and their own old man, under a seemimi holiness of Christian strife and contention about Scripture words. — But this Truth of Truths, fully pos- sessed and firmly adhered to, brings God and man together, puts an end to every Lo here, and Lo there, and turns the whole faith of man to a Christ, that can nowhere be a Saviour to him, but as essentially born in the inmost spirit of his soul, nor possible to be born there by any other means but the imjnediate inspiration, and working power of the Holy Spirit within him. — To this man alone, all Scripture gives daily edification ; the words of Christ and his Apostles fall like a fire into him. And what is it that they kindle there? Not notions, not itching ears, not rambling desires after new and new expounders of them, but a holy flame of love, to be always with, always attending to, that Christ, and his Holy Spirit within him, which alone can make him to be and do all that which the words of Christ and his Apostles have taught. For there is no possibility of being like-minded with Christ, in any thing that he taught, or having the truth of one Christian virtue, but by the Nature and Spirit of Christ become essentially living in us. Read all our Saviour's divine sermon from the Mount, consent to the good- ness of every part of it, yet the time of practising it will never come till you have a new nature from Christ, and are as vitally in him, and he in you, as the vme in the branch, and the branch in the vine. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, is a divine truth, but will do us no divine good, unless we receive it, as saying neither more nor less, than Blessed are they that are born again of the Spirit, for they alone can see God. For no blessedness either of truth or life, can be found either in men or angels, but where the Spirit and life of God is essentially born within them. And all men, or churches, not placing all in the life, light, and guidance of the Holy Spirit of Christ, but pretending to act in the name, and for the glory of God, from opinions which their logic and l, and is thought to do as much good to Christians as it did evil to the first inhabitants of Paradise. — This tree that brought death and corruption into human nature at first, is now called a tree of light, and is, day and night, well watered with every corrupt stream, however distant or muddy with earth, that can be drawn to it. The simplicity, indeed, both of the (rospel letter and doctrine, has the shine and polish of classic literature laid thick upon it. — Cicero is in the pidpit, Aristotle writes Christian ethics, Euclid demonstrates infidelity and absurdity to be the same thing. — Greece had but one Longinus, Rome had but one Quintilian ; but in our present Church, they are as common as ])atriots in the state. Rut now what follows fiom this new risen light? Why Aristotle's atheism, Cicero's height of pride and depth of dissimulation, and every re- fined or gross species of (iretk and Roman vices, are as glaring in this new and enlightenetl Christian Church, as ever they were in old l^agan Greece or l{ome. — Would you find a Gospel Christian in all this mid-day glory of 33 learning, you may light a candle, as the philosoplici did in the; mid-day sun, to find an honest man. And, indeed, it" we consider the nature of our salvation, either with re- spect to that wlucli alone can save us, or that from which we are to be saved, it will be plain that the wit and elegance of classic literature brought into a Christian Church to make the doctrines of the Cross have a better salration effect upon fallen man, is but like calling in the assistance oi halls and mas- querades to make the Lent-penitence go deepei' into the heart, and more effec- tually drive all levity and imj)urity out of it. — How ])oorly was the (iospel at first ])reaclied, if the wisdom of words and the gifts of natural wit and imagination had been its genuine helps ! But, alas ! they stand in the same contrariety to one another, as self-denial and self-gratification. To know the truth of Gospel salvation, is to know tiiat man's natural wisdom is to be equally sacrificed with iiis natural /o//?/ ; for they are but one and the same thing, only called sometimes by one name and sometimes by the other. His intellectual faculties are, by the Fall, in a much worse state than his natural animal appetites, and want a much gi'eater self-denial. And when own will, own xmder standing, and own imagination have their natural strength indulged and gratified, and are made seemingly rich and honourable with the treasures acquired from a study of the belles lettres, they will just as much help poor fallen man to be like-minded with Christ, as the art of cookery, well and daily studied, will help a professor of the Gospel to the spirit and practice of Christian abstinence.— To know all this to be strictly the truth, no more need be known than these two things, 1. That our salvation consists A\ holly in being saved from ourselves, or that which we are b}' nature ; 2. That in the whole nature of things, nothing could be tJiis salvation or Saviour to us but such an humility of God manifested in human nature as is beyond all expression. — Hence, the first unalterable term of this Saviour to fallen man is this, Except a man deny himself, forsake all that lie hath, yea, and his own life, he cannot he my disciple. And to shew that this is but the beginning or ground of man's salvation, the Saviour adds, Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart. What a light is here for those that can bear or love the light ! Self is the whole evil of fallen nature, self-denial is our capacity of being saved, humility is our Saviour. This is every man's short lesson of life ; and he that has well learnt it is scholar enough, and has had all the benefit of a most finished education. Then old Adam, with all his ignorance, is cast out of him; and when Christ's humility is learnt, then he has the very mind of Christ, and that which brings him forth a Son of God. Who, then, can enough wonder at that bulk of libraries, which has taken place of this short lesson of the Gospel ? or at that number of champion dis- |)utants who, from age to age, have been all in arms to support and defend a set of opinions, doctrines, and practices, cdl which may be most cordially embraced without the least degree of self-denial, and most firmly held fast without getting the least degree of humility by it. What a grossness of ignorance, both of man and his Saviour, to run to Greek and Roman schools to learn how to put off Adam and put on Christ ! To drink at the fountains of Pagan poets and orators, in order more divinely to drink of the cup that Christ drank of! — What can come of all this but that which is already too much come, a Ciceronian gospeller instead of a Gospel penitent? — Instead of the depth, the truth and spirit of the humhle publican, seeking to regain Paradise only by a broken heart, crying, God he merciful to me a sinner ; the high-bred classic will live in daily transports at the enormous* suhlinic of a Milton flying thither on the unfeathered wings of high-sounding words. * See Milton's eiionuoun lilUf, U 34 This will be more or less the case with all the salvation doctrines oP Christ, whilst under classical acquisition and administration. Those divine truths, which are no farther good and redeeming but as they are spirit and life in us, which can have no entrance or birth but in the death of self, in a broken and contrite heart, will serve only to help classic painters (as Dr. \V. * calls them) to lavish out their colours on their own paper monuments of lifeless virtues. How canu^ the learned heathens by their pride and vanity, by their in- ability to come under tlie Immility of the cross ? It was because tlie natural man shined in the false glory of his own cultivated al^ilities. Have wit and parts, and elegant taste, any more good or redeeming virtue in Christ- ians than they iiad in heathens? As well might it be said that onm ivill is good, and has a redeeming virtue in a Christian, but bad and destructive in a heathen. I said a redeeming virtue in it ; because nothing is or can be a religious good to fallen man, but that which hath a redeeming virtue in it, or is, so far as it goes, a true renewal of the divine life in the soul. Therefore, said our only Redeemer, Without me, ye can do nothing. Whatever is not his immediate work in us, is at best but a mere nothing with respect to the good of our redemption. — A Tower oi Babel may, to its builder's eyes, seem to hide its head in the clouds; but as to its reaching of heaven, it is no nearer to that than the earth on which it stands. — It is thus with all the buildings of man's wisdom and natural abilities in the things of salvation ; he may take the logic of Aristotle, add to that the rhetoric of Tully, and then ascend as high as he can on the ladder o^ poetic imagination, yet no more is done to the reviving the lost life of God in his soul, than by a tower of brick and mortar to reach to heaven. Self is the root, the tree, and the branches of all the evils of our fallen state. We are without God, because we are in the life of self. — Self love, self-esteem, and self-seeking, are the very essence and life of pride ; and the devil, the first father o^ pride, is never absent from them, nor without power in them. — To die to these essential properties of self, is to make the devil depart from us. But as soon as we would have self-abilities have a share in our works, the Satanic spirit of pride is in union with us, and we are working for the maintenance of self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking. All the vices of fallen angels and men have their birth and power in the pride of self, or I may better saj'^ in the atheism and idolatry of self, for self is both atheist and idolater. It is atheist, because it has rejected God ; it is an idolater, because it is its own idol. — On the other hand, all the virtues of the heavenly life are the virtues oniumility. Not a joy, or glory, or praise in heaven, but is what it is through humility. It is humility alone that makes the un])assable gulf between heaven and hell. — No angels in heaven, but because humility is in all their breath; no devils in hell, but because the fire of pride is their whole fire of life. What is, then, or in what lies the great struggle for eternal life ? It all lies in the strife between pride and humility ; all other things, be they what they will, are but as under workmen, pride and humility are the two master powers, the two kingdoms in strife for the eternal possession of man. And here it is to be observed that every son of Adam is in the service of jrride and self, be he doing what he will, till an humility that comes solely from heaven has been his Redeemer. Till then, all that he doth will be only done by the right hand, that the left hand may know it. And he that thinks • As this Ailchfss was wrote sometime ago, in whicli are certain strictures upon Ur. \Varhurton'.s writinsjs, who iias lately been consccr.ited a righr reverend lord bishop ; I thought it more caiulid not to alter my styli!, than to take tlie advantage of chargins: such gross errors on a Bishop of GloutOater, whicli I only found in a Mr. and Dr. Warburton. m it possible for the natural man to get a better humility than this, from his own riff/it reason (as it is often miscalled) refined by education, shews him- self quite ignorant of this one most j)lain and capital truth of the Gospel, — namely, that there never was nor ever will be but one Jiumiliti/ in the Avhole world, and that is the owe hutmlitij of Christ, which never any man since the fall of Adam had the least degree of but from (Christ. — Hnmilifi/ is one in the same sense, and truth as Christ is one, the Mediator is one, redemption is one. There are not tico Lambs of God that tahe away the sins of the world. But if there was any humility, besides that of Christ, there would be some- thing else besides him that could take away the sins of the world. — All that came before me, saith Christ, were thieves and robbers. We are used to con- fine this to persons ; but the same is as true of every virtue, whether it hath the name of humility, charity, piety, or any thing else ; if it comes before Christ, however good it may pretend to be, it is but a cheat, a thief, and a robber under the name of a godly virtue. And the reason is, because /)nV/e a7id self have the all of man, till man has his all from Christ. He, therefore, only fights the good fight whose strife is, that the self-idolatrous nature which he hath from Adam, may be brought to death by the supernatural humility of Christ brought to life in him. The enemies to man's rising out of the fall of Adam, through the spirit and power of Christ, are many. But the one great dragon-enemy, called Antichrist, is self-exaltation. This is his birth, his pomp, his power, and his throne ; when self-exaltation ceases, the last enemy is destro^^ed, and all that came from the pride and death of Adam is swallowed up in victory. There has been much sharp looking out, to see lohere and loliat Anti- christ is, or by what marks he may be known. Some say he has been in the Christian world almost ever since the Gospel times : nay, that he was even then beginning to appear and shew himself. Others say, he came in with this or that pope ; others that he is not yet come, but near at hand. Others will have it that he has been here, and there, but driven from one place to another, by several new risen Protestant sects. But to know with certainty where and %ohat Antichrist is, and who is with him, and who is against him, you need only read this short description which Christ giveth of himself. 1. Iran do nothing of myself. 2. I came not to do my own tcill. 3. / seek not my own glory. 4. / am meek and lowly of heart. — Now, if this is Christ, then self-tdnlity, or self -exaltation, being the higiiest and fullest contrariety to all this, must be alone the one great Anti- christ, that opf)Oseth and withstandeth the whole nature and spirit of Christ. What, therefore, has every one so much to fear, to renounce and abhor, as every imoard sensibility of sell^exaltation, and every outward work that proceeds from it. — But now, at what things shall a man look, to ?:ee that too rk- ing of self, which raises pride to its strongest life, and most of all hinders the birth of the humble Jesus in his soul ? Shall he call the pomps and vanities of the world the hiehest works o^ self -adoration ? Shall he look at fops and beaxix, and painted ladies, to see the pride that has the most of Antichrist in it? No, by no means. These are, indeed, marks shameful enough of the vain, foolish heart of man, but yet, comparatively speaking, they are but the skin-deep follies of that pride which the fall of man iiath begotten atul brought forth in liim. — Would you see the deepest root and iron-stiength of pride and self-adoration, you must enter into the dark ciuunbers of man's fiery soul, where the light of God (whicii alone give s humility and meek subniission to all created spirits) being extinguislied by the death which Adam died, Satan, or, wliicii is the same thing, self-e.idlfation became the strong man that kept possession of the house, till a stronger than lie should come upon him. — In this si^cret source of an eternal fiery soul, glorying in 36 the astral light of this world, a swelling kingdom of pomps and vanities is set up in the heart of man, of wliich all outward pomps and vanities are but its childish, transitory playthings. The inward stro/iff man of pride, the diaho- Ural self, has his higlier works within ; he dwells in the strength of the heart, and has every power and faculty of the soul offering continual incense to him. — Mis memory, liis icHl, his understanding, and imagination, are always at work for iiim, and lor no one else. — Histnemorg is the faithful repository of ail the fine things that sf//'hath ever done ; and, lest any thing of them should be lost or forgotten, she is continually setting them before his eyes. His ic/l/, though it has all the world before it, yet goes after nothing, but as se//" sends it. His understanding is ever upon the str-etch for new projects to enlarge the dominions of self; and if this fails, imagination comes in, as the last and truest sujjport of self, she makes him a king, and mighty lord oi' castles in the air. This is that full-born, natural self, that must be pulled out of the heart and totally denied, or there can be no disciple of Christ ; which is only say- ing this plain truth, that the apostate self-idolatious nature of the old man must be put off, or there can be no new creature in Christ. Now whatisit in thehuman soul that most of all hinders thedeathof thisold man ? What is it that, above all other things, strengthens and exalts the life of self, and makes it the master and governor of all the powers of the heart and soul ? It is the fancied riches of parts, the glitter oi gejiius, the flights of imagination, the glory of learning, and the self-conceited strength of natural reason : these are the strongholds of fallen nature, the master- builders of pride's temple in the heart of man, and which, as so many priests, keep up the daily worship of idol self. — And here let it be well, and well observed, that all these magnified talents of the natural man are started up through his miserable /«// from the life of God in his soul. — Wit, genius, learning, and natural rcasn, would never have had any more a name amongst men, than blindness, ignorance, and sickness, had man continued, as at first, an holy image of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. — Every thing, then, that dwelt in him, or came from him, would have only said so much of God, and nothing of himself, have manifested nothing to him but the heavenly powers of the triune life of God dwelling in him. — He would have had no more sense or consciousness of his own wit, or natural reason, or any power of goodness, in all that he was and did, than of lus oum creating power, or at beholding the created heavens and earth. — It is the dreadful fall from the life of God in his soul that has furnished him with these high intellectual riches, just as it has furnished him with the substantial riches of his bestial appetites and lusts. And when the lusts of the flesh have spent out their life, when the dark, thick body of earthly flesh and bloocf shall be forced to let the soul go loose, all these bright talents will end with that system of fleshly lusts in which they began ; and that of man, which remains, will have nothing of its own, nothing that can say, I do this, or, I do that, but all that it hath, or doth, will be either the glory of God manifested in it, or the poiver of hell in full possession of it. The time of man's playing with parts, wit, and abilities, and of fancying himself to be S!)mething great and considerable in the intel- lectual world, may be much shorter, but can be no longer, than he can eat and driidv with the animals of this world. — When the time eometh that fine buildings, rich settlements, acquired honours, and Rabbi, Rabbi, must take their leave of him, all the stately structures which genius, learning, and flights of imagination, have painted inwardly on his brain and outwardly on paper, must bear full witness to Solomon's vanity of vanities. Let, then, the high accomi)lished scholar reflect that he comes by his wit, and parts, and acute abilities, just a&ihv serpent came by hissubtilty; let him reflect, that he might as well dream of acquiring angelic purity to his 37 animal nature by multiplying new invented delights for his earthly passions and tempers, as of raising his soul into divine knowledge through the rcell exercised powers of his natural reason and imagination. The finest intellectual power, and that which has the best help in it to- wards bringing man again into the region of divine light, is that poor, de- spised thing called simplicity. This is that which stops the workings of the fiillcn life of nature, and leaves room for God to work again in the soul, according to the good pleasure of liis holy Avill. It stands in such a waiting posture before God, and in such readiness for the divine birth, as the plants of the earth wait for the inflowing riches of the light and air. But the sclf- assvming workings of man's natural powers sliut liim up in himself, closely barred up against the inflowing riches of the light and spirit of God. Yet so it is, in this fal/en state of the Gospel church, that with these proud endowments of fallen nature, the classic scholar, full fraught with Pagan light and skill, comes forth to play the critic and orator with the simplicity of salvation mysteries; mysteries which mean nothing else but the inward work of the triune God in the soul of man, nor any other work there, but the raising up a dead Adam into a liviin/ Christ of God. However, to make way for parts, ci-iticism, and language-learning, to have the full management of salvation doctrines, the well-read scholar gives out, that the ancient way of knowing the things of God, taught and practised ''y /fV/e/7«e/?-apostles, is obsolete. They, itideed, wanted to have divine knowledge from the immediate, continual operation of the Holy Spirit ; but this state was only for a time, till genius and learning entered into the pale of the Church. — Behold, if ever, the abomination of desolatioji standing in the hohj -place ! — For as soon as this doctrine is set up, that man's natural parts and acquired learning have full riglit and power to sit in the divinity chair, and to guide men into that truth, wliich was once the only office and power of the Holy Spirit ; as soon as this is done, and so far as it is received, it may with the greatest truth be said, that the hingdom of God is entirely shut up ; and only a kingdom of Scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites, can come instead of it. For by this doctrine the whole nature and power of Gospel religion is much more denied than by setting up the infallibility of the Pope ; for though his claim to infallibility is false, yet he claims it from and under the Holy Spirit; but the Protestant scholar has his divinity knowledge, his power in the kingdom of truth, from himself, his own logic, and learned reason Christ has nowhere instituted an infallible pope T and it is full as certain, that he has nowhere spoke one single Mord, or given the least power to logic, learning, or the natural powers of man, in his kingdom ; he has never said to them, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; never said to them, Go ye and teach all nations, no more than he hath ever said to Molves, Go ye, and feed my sheep.— Chvht, indeed, said of himself, ac- cording to the flesh, It is expedient for you that I go away ; but where has he said of himself, according to the Spirit, It is also expedient for you that I go away, that your own natural abilities and learned reason may have the guidance of you into all truth. This is nowhere said, unless logic can prove it from these words. Without me ye can do nothing, and Lo, I am with you to the end of the world. The first and main doctrine of Christ and his Apostles was to tell the Jews, that the hingdom of God tvas at hand, or was come to them. Proof enough surely, that their church was not that kingdom of God, though by God's appointment and under laws of his own commanding. But why not, when it was thus set up by God ? It was because it had human and worldly things in it, consisted of cardinal ordinances, and had only tyi)es, and figures, and shadows of a kingfjom of (Jod, that was to Qomo.— bf this kingdom, 38 Christ saith, My kingdom is not of this world; and as a proof of it, he adds, if it was of this world, then would my servants fight for me ; which was say- ing, tliat it was so different in liind, and so superior in nature to this world, tiiat no sort of worldly power could either help or hinder it. But of this world, into which the kingdom of God was come, the Holy One of God saith, Li the world, ye shall have tribulation, but be of good comfort, I have over- come the world. Now, how was it, that Christ's victory was their victory ? It was because he was in them, and they in him, Because I live, ye shall live also ; i?i that day ye shall ktiow that lam in the Father, and you in me, and I in you. This was the kingdom of God come to them, the same kingdom of God in which Adam \\'as born and began his first glorious life; when the image and likeness of the Holy Trinity had an outward glory like that which broke through the body of Christ, when on Mount Tabor his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was ivhite as the light. — To the children of this kingdom, saith its Almighty Kmg,Whe?i they bring you before magistrates and powers, take no thought how or what ye shall answer, or what ye shall say unto them, for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in that same hour, xchat ye ought to say. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father, that speaketli in you. No higher or other thing is here said, than in these other words, Take no thought what ye shall eat, or drink, or xvherewithal ye shall be clothedy but seek first the kingdom of God and his riyhieousness, and all these things shall be added unto^you. This is the Truth of the kingdom of God, come unto men, and this is the birthright privilege of all that are living members of it, to be delivered from their own natural spirit, which they had from Adam, from the spirit and wisdom of this world, and through the whole course of their lives only to say and do, and be that which the Spirit of their Father worketh in them. But now, is not this kingdom gone away from us, are we not left com- fortless, if instead of this Spirit of our Father, speaking, doing, and working every thing in us and for us, we are left again to our own natural powers, to run to every Lo ht^re and Lo there, to find a share in that kingdom of God, which once was, and never can be any thing else, but God, the wisdom and power of God manifested in our flesh ? Had it not been as well, nay, better for us, to have been still under types and figures, sacrificing bulls and goats by divine appointment, than to be brought under a religion that must be spirit and life, and then left to the jarring interests of the wisdom of the Greek, and the carnality of the Jew, how to be living members of it? For where the Spirit of God is not the continual, immediate Governor of spiritual things, nothing better can come of it. For the truth and full proof of this, no more need be appealed to than all the libraries and churches of Christendom for many ages to this day. What is the difiei^ence between man's own righteousness and man's oivn light in religion ? They are strictly the same thing, do one and the same work, namely, keep up, and strengthen every evil, vanity and corruption of fallen nature. Nothing saves a man from his own righteousness, but that which saves and delivers him from his ow7i light. — The Jew that was most of all set against the Gospel, and unable to receive it, was he that trusted in his own righteousness; this was the rich man, to whom it was as hard to enter into the kingdom of Heaven, as for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. — But the C'hristian that trusts in his oicn light, is the verj- Jew that trusted in his own righteousness; and all that he gets by the Gospel, is only that, which the Pharisee got by the law, namely, to be farther from en- tering into the kingdom of Goo?<'er of having any part in the mysteries of Gospel-salvation. Nothing can seek the kingdom of God, or hunger and thirst after his rigliteousness ; nothing can cry Abba, Father ; nothing can prug, Thg kingdom come; nothing can say of Christ, Mg Lord and mg God, but that which is born of God, and is tlie divine nature itself, be- come creaturely in us. Nothing but God in man can be a godlg life in man. — Hence is that of the Apostle, The letter killeth, but the Spirit gireth life. But you will say, can this be true of the spiritual divine letter of the Gospel ? Can it kill, or give death ? Yes, it killeth, when it is rested in ; when it is taken for divine power, and supposed to have goodness in itself; for then it killeth the Spirit of God in man, quencheth his holy fire within us, and is set up instead of it. — It gireth death, when it is built into systems of strife and contention about icords, notions and opinions, and maketh the kingdom of God to consist, not in power, but in words. When it is thus used, then of necessity it killeth, because it keepeth from that, which alone is life, and can give life. — This then is the whole of the matter ; all the literal truths, and variety of doctrines and expressions of the written Word, have but one nature, one end, and one errand, tiiey all say nothing else to man but that one thing which Christ said, in these words. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and Itvill refresh you ; j ust the same, as when it is said, Jesus Christ, who is of God, made unto us, wisdom, righteousness, and sanctijication ; this is the only refreshment from Christ. Again, But ye are ivashed, hut ye are cleansed in the name of our Lord Jesus ; just the same as when it is said, E!x- cept ye abide in me, and I in you, ye have no life in you. Again, by grace ye are saved, by faith ye are saved, saith neither more nor less than He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; the same as when Christ saith. Without me ye can do nothing ; the same as the Apostle saith, Yet not L, but Christ that liveth in me ; the same as Christ in its, the hope of glory; if Christ be not in you, ye are reprobates. — Therefore to come to Christ, to have our heavy-laden, fallen nature refreshed by him, to be born spirit of his spirit, to have his heavenly flesh and heavenly blood made living in us, before we put off' the bestial body and blood of death, which we have from Adam, is the o/ie only thing taught and meant by all that is so variously said in the Scriptures of the merits and benefits of Christ to us. — It is the SPIRIT, the BODY, the blood of Christ ivithin us, that is our whole peace with God, our whole adoption, our whole /edemption, our \\\\o\e jiistijication, our whole glorification ; and tiiis is the one thing said, and miaiit by that new birth, of which Christ saith, £!xcept a man be born again from above, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Now, the true ground why all that is said of Christ in 40 such a variety of expressions, hath only owe meaning, and pointeth only to one U7)