Chap.2.Se6t.4 Looking unto 1efm, Booic IV,Part.V 883 and this is our charad:er that Chrifis afcen!ion is truly ours. . 2 , If Chrifls fdlion be mine, thetl am I fer down with Chrift in heavenly places:- I mean not bodily,but by faith, which faith makes it affure to my foul as if l had·a foot alreaayin heaven ; faith Uthe fubfta~ce of things kopedfor, and the e11i~ence ~~ Fifh.H , J, things not .(een. By fatt~ I now fit 111 heavenly places, tn. th~t I verily bdteve I _fhatl do tt one day; my hope 1s nowcertam, m that I am as fure of that I look for, as I am of that I have already received; it is the common objed:ion, we foe it not. As the Apoftle H~b.~.8• faid ofChrift, wefee not yet all things put Iinder him; but he prefently anfwers, we fee {efm who WM made a little lower rh11n the Angels,crowned 11Jith glory nn~ honour, and fo we may be fure the 9 • thing is as good as done, for 1fhe be abov~, all mufi come under; in like manners we fee not our felves 111 prefent polfeffion, but we fee Chri£1: crowned, and our felves fitting with him vir• tually, and therefore at !aft we iliall fee our_felves actually crowned , and fitting together with Chrifi in heavenly places. ' In the mean time faith takes poil'effion of the Kingdome of heaven; faith makes the foul even now to converfe with God, and Chrifi , and Saints, and Angels; faith !ayes hold upon I Tim. 6,1 9· eternal life , it puts the fonlas it were into heaven, and fets it down at the right hand of Chrifl; and this is our charad:er that ' Chrifis feffion is truly ours. 3, IfChrifts Spirit be mine, and fent to me, then 'have I both the perfon, and train of the Spirit of Chrifi; it is the having the Spirit, and the working of the Spirit in me, that is my evidence of the Spirits miffion; I look upon this as the greatefi quefiion, and the weightie£1:, and mo£1: important cafe ofconfcience that can be propounded or known of us; viz;,, whether the Spirit ofChrift doth refide in us? or whether we have a well-grounded hop~ to fay of our felve~ that we have the in-dwelling of the S ptrtt of God? lz.now JC not ~~!It ye are the Temple ofGod (faith the 1 Cor.p 5. Apoftle) and th4t the Spmt ofqod dwelleth in )OH? And again, 1 Cor. 6 ·1.9· k._now ye not thnt your bod;es are the Temples of the holy qhofl ? in this quefiion he feems to put it out of quell:ion that true · Chri£1:1ans iliould know, and in right temper do 'know that the Spirit of God dwels in them ; If we know not this we .cannot know that we have any part_in Chrift; becaufe the holy Uuuuu z Spirit
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