A30579:371
Gospel-conversation
Gospel-conversation: wherein is showed, I. How the conversation of believers must be above what could be by the light of nature. II. Beyond those that lived under the law. III. And suitable to what truths the Gospel holds forth. By Jeremiah Burroughs, preacher of the Gospel to Stepney and Cripplegate, London. Being the third book published by Thomas Goodwin, William Greenhil, Sydrach Simpson, Philip Nigh, William Bridge, John Yates, William Adderly.Gospel-conversation: wherein is shewed, I. How the conversation of believers must be above what could be by the light of nature. II. Beyond those that lived under the law. III. And suitable to what truths the Gospel holds forth. By Jeremiah Burroughs, preacher of the Gospel to Stepney and Criplegate, London. Being the third book published by Thomas Goodwyn, William Greenhil, Sydrach Simpson, Philip Nye, William Bridge, John Yates, William Adderly.
London: printed by Peter Cole, 1650
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Fifthly, Christs Kingdom is not of this world: That homage that the Saints do unto Christ it is not worldly but spiritual, the Worship of Christ, and the Ordinances of Christ they are not worldly but spiritual. Now the Kings of this world they may appoint what kind of worship they please, that is, what Ceremonies they will, whereby their subject, should tender up their homage to them: and now men have ventured to be so bold with Christ the King, because men may tender up their homage unto their earthly Kings by any ways invented of their own, therefore they have thought that they might presume to tender up their homage to Christ their spiritual King by any ways of invented worship; and therein was a great error, they looked upon the Kingdom of Christ only in a carnal way, whereas the Kingdom of Christ is such as all our homage that we tender up to Him must be Spiritual, it must be Heavenly, it must be from Heaven, it must be from Christ Himself, it must be from some Institution and Appointment of Jesus Christ: and the more the kingdom of Christ doth prevail, the more Spiritual shall that homage be that the subjects tender up to Him: & therefore you shall find that when the holy Ghost speaks of the Kingdom of Christ in the new Testament, with reference unto that which was then in the old Testament, He calls, even those ways of worship in the old Testament worldly, in comparison of the worship and homage that the Saints tender to Christ in the new Testament, as in Gal. 4. 3. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the ⟨p. 142⟩world. The ceremonies of the Law are called here the elements of the world, that we were in bondage to, while we were children, for though we were subject to Christ then, yet we were but in our non-age; and indeed in comparison of what we are in the times of the Gospel we were slaves rather than subjects; we were then in bondage: and then in Col. 2. 8. Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. [after the rudiments of the world] These rudiments of the world they had some reference (as it appears in reading this Chapter) unto the ceremonies of the Law, and together with them there was mixture of mens own inventions, they were the rudiments of the world, not after Christ;