Directions and persuasions to a sound conversion for prevention of that deceit and damnation…Directions and perswasions to a sound conversion for prevention of that deceit and damnation…

For in the flesh he came on purpose to be humbled: but in the Spirit he comes to be exalted: In the flesh he came to condemn the sin that reigned in our▪ flesh, ⟨p. 145⟩(Rom. 8. 3.) and so was made sin for us (that is, a Sacrifice for sin) (2 Cor. 5. 21.) But in the Spirit he comes to conquer our flesh, and by the Law of his quickening Spirit, to free us from the Law of sin and death: both that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, and also that there might be no Condemnation to us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Rom. 8. 1, 2, 4. The Kingdom of Christ was not worldly; for if it had been worldly, he would have sought to establish it by strength of arms, and fighting, which are worldly means, Joh. 18. 36. But his Kingdom is within us: It is a Spiritual Kingdom: and therefore though in the world he was used with contempt, as a fool, and as a Sinner, and a man of sorrows; yet within us he will be used with honour, and reverence, as a King and absolute Lord. It was the hour of the executioner, and the power of darkness, when he was in his suffering: but it is the hour of his triumph, and marriage, and the prevailing Power of the Heavenly Light, when he cometh by Saving Grace into the Soul. On the Cross he was as a sinner, and stood in ⟨p. 146⟩our place, and bore what was our due, and not his own. But in the Soul he is the Conqueror of sin, and cometh to take possession of his own, and doth the work that belongeth to him in his dignity; and therefore he will there be acknowledged, and honoured. On the Cross he was pulling down the Kingdom of Satan, and setting up his own, but in the preparatory purchase: But in the Soul he doth both by immediate execution. On the Cross sin and Satan had their full blow at him: But when he entered the Soul, he hath his blow at them, and ceaseth not till he have destroyed them. In purchasing he expended his own: But in Converting he takes possession of that which he purchased. In a word; he came into the world in flesh for his undertaken Humiliation: but he comes into the Soul, by his Spirit, for his deserved exaltation: And therefore though he endured to be spit upon in the flsh, he will not endure to be slighted in the Soul: