A77360:503
Christ and the covenant the work and way of meditation
Christ and the covenant the work and way of meditation. : Gods return to the soul, or nation; together with his preventing mercy. : Delivered in ten sermons, (viz.) 1. Christs personal excellencies, the object of our love. 2. Christ crucified, the object of our faith. 3. The new covenant of grace opened. 4. Christ the mediator of the new covenant. 5. The way and spirit of the new covenant, or New Testament. 6. The blood of sprinkling. 7. The sweetness and profitableness of divine meditation. 8. The work and way of this meditation. 9. Gods return to the soul and nation. 10. Preventing mercy. / By W.B.
London: printed for N. Ranew, 1667
Sermons › Sermon 5: The Way and Spirit of the New Covenant, or New Testament. SERM. V.
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.
2. The more Legal you are, the more opposite you are to your own assurance; to a full settled assurance of your interest in God and Christ: We have not received the Spirit of bondage (you read it,) again to fear; but the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Assurance is a work of the Comforter; but the Spirit of servitude, 'tis opposite to the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father; 'tis a great Enemy unto true assurance. Now is it not a miserable thing for a man or woman to be always fluctuating, and never to have assurance settled: The more Legal you are, the more opposite to your own assurance: But,
2. The more Legal you are, the more opposite you are to your own assurance; to a full setled assurance of your interest in God and Christ: We have not received the Spirit of bondage (you read it,) again to fear; but the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Assurance is a work of the Comforter; but the Spirit of servitude, 'tis opposite to the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father; 'tis a great Enemy unto true assurance. Now is it not a miserable thing for a man or woman to be always fluctuating, and never to have assurance setled: The more Legal you are, the more opposite to your own assurance: But,
3. Though you do serve and worship the true God, yet if you worship him in a Legal way, your worship will be Antichristian — For what's Antichrist, and who is Antichrist? — The Apostle John tells you in the 1 Epist. 4.3. Every Spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God; and this is that Spirit of Antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come.
But shall Antichrist deny Christ to be come in the flesh in so many terms? No,