and Spiritual Precepts, and makes all men that embrace it to be truly Spiritual men. 4. He brings other reasons to shew that the Gospel is called Spirit, because by and in the Gospel God hath given to us not only the Spirit of manifestation, that is, of instruction and of catechism, of faith and confident assent; but the Spirit of Confirmation or Obsignation to all them that believe and obey it. He asserts that upon this foundation the Apostle has built these two propositions. That whosoever hath not the Spirit of Christ, is none of his; he does not belong to Christ at all: he is not partaker of his Spirit, and therefore shall never be partaker of his glory; and, that whosoever is in Christ, is dead to sin, and lives to the spirit of Christ; that is, lives a spiritual, a holy, and a sanctified life. Having considered these distinctly, he applies them to the congregation, and concludes. In the course of his reasoning, he says, Indifferency to an object is the lowest degree of liberty, and supposes unworthiness "or defect in the object, or the apprehension: "but the will is then the freest and most "perfect in its operation, when it entirely pursues a good with so certain determination "and clear election, that the contrary evil "cannot come into dispute or pretence. Such "in our proportions is the liberty of the sons of God; it is an holy and amiable captivity "to the Spirit. The will of man is in love "with those chains which draw us to God, and loves the fetters that confine us to the pleasures and religion of the kingdom. And "as no man will complain that his temples "are restrained, and his head is prisoner, "when it is encircled with a crown; so when "the Son of God had made us free, and hath "only subjected us to the service and do"minion of the Spirit, we are as "free as "Princes within the circles of their diadem, "and our chains are bracelets, and the law is A a law of liberty, and his service is perfect freedom, and the more we are subjects the "more we shall reign as kings; and the faster "we run, the easier is our burden; and "Christ's yoke is like feathers to a bird, when "in Summer we wish them unfeathered and "callow, or bald as eggs, that they might be "cooler and lighter. "Such is the load and captivity of a soul, "when we do the work of God, and are his "servants, and under the government of the Spirit. They that strive to be quit of his subjection, love the liberty of out-laws, and "the licentiousness of anarchy, and the free"dom of sad widows and distressed orphans: "for so rebels, and fools, and children long to "be rid of their princes and their guardians "and their tutors, that they may be accursed "without law, and be undone without con"troul, and be ignorant and miserable without "a teacher and without discipline. He that "is in the Spirit is under tutors and gover"nors, until the time appointed of the father, just as all great heirs are; only, the first "seizure the Spirit makes, is upon the will. "He that loves the yoke of Christ, and the "discipline of the Gospel, he is in the Spirit, that is in the Spirit's power." "A man, if you speak naturally, can mas"ticate gums, and he can break his own legs, "and he can sip up by little draughts mix"tures of aloes and rhubarb, of henbane and "deadly nightshade; but he cannot do this "naturally and willingly, chearfully, or with delight. Every sin is against a good man's "nature, He is ill at ease when he hath "missed his prayers, he is amazed if he have * Serm. 1. summer half year. "fallen into an error, he is infinitely ashamed "of his imprudence; he remembers a sin as "he thinks of an enemy, or the horrors of "a midnight apparition; for all his capaci ties, his understanding, and his chusing "faculties are filled up with the opinion and "persuasions, with the love and with the "desires, of God." "Amongst the ignorance and imperfection "of Gentile philosophy, men used to pray “with their hands full of rapine, and their "mouths full of blood, and their hearts full of "malice; and they prayed accordingly, for "an opportunity to steal, for a fair body, for "a prosperous revenge, for a prevailing malice, "for the satisfaction of whatsoever they could "be tempted to by any object, by any lust, "by any devil whatsoever. "The Jews were better taught, for God "was their teacher, and he gave the Spirit to "them in single rays. But as the spirit of obsignation was given to them under a seal, "and within a veil; so the spirit of mani"festation or patefaction was like the germ b Serm. 1. summer half year, p. 66 of a vine, or the bud of a rose, plain in"dices and significations of life, and prinIciples of juice and sweetness; but yet "scarce out of the doors of their causes: they "had the infancy of knowledge, and revela"tions to them were given as catechism is 66 taught to children; which they read with "the eye of a bird, and speak with the "tongue of a bee, and understand with the "heart of a child; that is, weakly and im perfectly." But that we may see how "great things the Lord hath done for us, "God hath poured his spirit into our hearts, "the spirit of prayer and supplication." c 66 66 C The two next discourses are upon "the descending and entailed Curse cut off;" and are grounded upon part of the fifth verse of the twentieth chapter of Exodus. The preacher opens his subject by stating that it is unnecessary for persons to be taught to avoid the plague, at least that most men think so: yet that this observation when applied to sin, the greatest of all disorders, does not hold good, for which reason God has manifested his open hostility to it in various instances, Serm. 1, p. 208, second part of the serm, "Of the 66 Spirit of Grace." K |