to theE P H E-s 1A N S. My Brethren, fl1all I ilicw you the difference wherein this lieth? . . ~ All the World yieldeth, that thed1ffere~ce of mens knowledges. anfcth from :,.amot~ thedifferentimageorpictureof thmgs, (1f you will focall1t) wluch the m10d XXV. takes in. That you will ealily grant. If you take two men, and the one fee• the 1../"V'"'.J Picture of a man and the other fees the Man lumfelf, he that bath feen the Man himfelf bath fuch a knowledge of him, as he that bath feen but the Picture hnth not nor cannot have, except he fee the man himfelf. Why? Bccaufe there is a' different Image begotten in the m\nd and fancy of.him that \lath feen the man, and him that bath only feen the Picture. Hence anfeth different know• ledges. Here then is the thing I infer, That the Holy Gh?ft, wl!en he rcneweth the Underflanding of a man, he d?th beget m him by h•s. Alm1ghty power another reprefentation of Chnft and of God, and of all Sp~r~tual things m thm fpln· rual nature· whereas other men have but the Pictures of them, they do not know them'as the truth is in Je{tu, as I fa~d even now. All knowledge is either 'l'er jpecus Accept tU J r~6ur, when we take the I– mages off from the things themfelves; as when we fee a man himfelf, or when I take the Image of him at fecond hand from fomething that reprefenteth him. Now herein lieth the difference of the knowledge of a godly man and others that the Holy Ghofl createth Proprias fprcies, a proper likenefs and repref;ntation of Spiritual things, of G?d and Chrift; whereas all "?en elfe know him at fecond hand, they hear of h1m, and have been taught by h1m ; but not as the truth is in .'lefur. Hence is that p\mfe of the Apoflle in 1 C~r.i.g.. 0 take it, that ~hich I ant no\'\' handling opencth that phrafe , and IS pertinent to the meanmg of Jt, ) Saith he, Eye htlth not[em, 11or Ear heard, 11either hath it mtrediltt~the heart of mmt (that is, a Natural man) to co•Jceive the things which God httth prepa– redfor them that /ovr h~m; 6ut G~d hath revealed them tJJJto U! 6y hif Spirit. 1 plainly take the meaning to be this : There are fuch RevelatiOns, (fo the A· pofl(e here calleth them? fuch Images, fuch repre~entations of Spiritual things begotten In a godly mans hearr, as never entred Into the heart of ahy Carnal man in the World, and that IS the reafon why he cannot know them. Now Jefus Cluift you know is abfent, 111 whom, tho11gh we have 1JOt fem (faith he) we believe; He is in Heaven. And God is abfent, he is a thing not feen, you hear his Word and fee his Works; but beyond all thefe, the Holy Ghoft be– gctteth in your minds an Image of God and Chrift,makes him real toyou,makes him fubllfl; makes God that is abfent, prefent, Chrifl that i"s abfent, prefenr, Therefore it is called a fight, [o the Scripture expreffeth it; He that jeeth the So11, aJJd be!ieveth ou hn11; therefore He~. 1" 1. where there is a defcription of Faith, he calleth it the jit6j/mtce of thi11gs hoped for; they have a fubftantiallmage of the things begotten in them. It is not a meer Notion, . , . Now, my Brethren, this is the higheft Art~ the greatefl power (confider what I fay) to beget a real and fubflantial NotiOn and Image of Goc!, and of Chrift, and of any Spiritual thing in the mind and heart of a Believer, arid is more than to create a World, Why? The excellency of any Creature lies in this, in its ability to repreferit God to a man; therein lay the excellency of the Creation at firfl, that it declaretl1 God and his Glory and jbeweth forth his ha11dy work, as the Pfalmifl faith. ' Now the Image that the Holy Ghoft begetteth in a man's heart of himfelf· of Gad and Chrifl, and of all Spiritual things, dpth mpre lively rcprefent God to a man than all the Scripture, limply, .or than all the works of God, vea, than it was done to Adam; For, faith he, E;ye hath 11ot fun, 11either b,tth the Ea.– hem:d? 11or !Jatbtt mtred t?Jto the heart of mmt from the b~~irthi1lg of the world; (fo 1t IS m l(tu.64 4·) no not Into the heart of Adamhimfelf. This a!I Divines acknowledge; That Faith is a knowledge of God ilz fe, riot nf God by IllS works at fecond hand, but a knowledge of God in himfelf; As when you know the Sun by a beam of himfelf, and this is the knowledge that the Holy Ghofl works, and thetefore there is required as mud1 to it and rnore, than to create a World. 'to
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