A93249:237
A heavenly conference between Christ and Mary after His resurrection. Wherein the intimate familiarity,…
A heavenly conference between Christ and Mary after His resurrection. Wherein the intimate familiarity, and near relation between Christ and a believer is discovered.
London: printed for John Rothwel, 1654
A heavenly Discourse between Christ and Mary after his Resurrection.
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.
Who giveth us a being to be Christians, to have a new nature, to have a good being, but God? who maintaineth and preserveth that being, but God? and who keepeth and preserveth us, till we get into a glorious being in Heaven; but God, who is all-sufficient, self-sufficient, sole-sufficient, only sufficient, this God is our God now in Christ.
God is to us in a more special singular manner, then to other Creatures, because he hath raised us to a more excellent being, not only as men, we being in the highest rank of Creatures next the Angels, and so he is a God to us, more then to inferior Creatures, that have a more circumscribed ⟨p. 174⟩and narrow being. Man hath a large being, a reasonable soul, and is fitted by nature to have communion with God, who is wisdom it self, and with Angels; but all this were little comfort, unless we had higher degrees of being then this. If God be our God in Christ, we have a spiritual being, which is as much above the dignity and prerogative of our ordinary being, as our being by nature is above the basest Creature in the world. And so God setteth a stile upon us suitable to the excellency of our spiritual being: there is nothing excellent in the world, but we are learned by it. Now to let out the advancement and excellency of the dignity we have from God in a special manner, to be Sons, Jewels, his Portion, his diadem, to be whatsoever you can imagine, that is glorious and excellent. An excellent condition, though spiritual, and concealed from the world. Gods Children are concealed men, as you shall see afterward, they be hidden men, the world taketh no notice of them, because their excellency is seen with ⟨p. 175⟩another eye, then the world hath. The God of the world blindeth the eyes of worldlings. They cannot see into the excellency of Gods Children, no more then they can know God himself, and Christ himself. So you see what it is to be a God in nature and in grace, to be all in all unto us, to have our whole subsistence, and dependence in him, in him we live and move, and have our being, and well-being.