Manton - BX8915 M26 1684 v1

Ver.22. the 17th Chapter of St. JOHN. 3 3 I Chrift, they would bewray it by their Operations. You may know what is within, by what cometh out ; if Chrift be within thee, there willcome out Prayer, Sighs and Groans for Heaven, fruitful Difcourfes, heavenly Walking, a mortified Converfation ; all this cometh out, becaufe Chrift is within. But now, when ye belch out filthy Dil- courfes, rotten Communication, there is nothing cometh out but Vanity and Sin, how dwelleth Chrift in you ? are thefe the Fruits of his Prefence ? Üfe 2. Learn Dependance upon Chrift. All the Power we have to work, is from Chrift. Whence bath the Body the Vigor it hath to work, and to move from Place to Place, but from the Soul ? And whence hath a Chriftian his Power, but from Chrift ? We derive all our Strength from Chilli. We are as Glaffes without a Bottom, they cannot hand of themfelves, but they are broken in pieces. Chrf can do all things without us, but we can do nothing without him : As the Soul can fubfift apart front the Body, Chrift bath no need of us, but we cannot live and a& without him. Sine to nihil, in to totem poffxmxs: Phil. 4.13. I can do all things through Chrifl which flrength. neth me. The Apoftle doth not fpeak it to boaft of his Power, but to profefs his De- pendance. It was never feen, that a Father would caft away the Child that hangeth on him. III. I (hall now fpeak of ChrifFs being in Believers apart, that I may a little enforce this Argument. How is Chrift in Believers ? We muft not go too high, nor too low. Ìt is not to be underftood effentially, fo he is every where, and cannot be more pecu- liarly in one than in another ; Whither Jliall 1 go from thy Spirit ? or whither fball I flee from thy Prefiere ? Pfal. x39. 7. He is here, and there, and every - where, in Hea- ven, in Earth; in Hell. Perfonally he is not in us, that cannot be without a Perfonal Union ; if the Spirit were perfonally in us, that would make us to become one Perfon with the Holy Ghoft, as the Divine and Humane Nature make but one 'Perfon : But Myftically, with refpe& to fome peculiar Operations which he worketh in us, and not in others. Chrf is in us, as the Head is in the Members, by influence of Life and Mo- tion ; not fuch Influence as tendeth to Life Natural, fo natural Men live in him, move in him, and have their being in him : There is an Union of Dependance between God and all his Creatures ; but Influence with refped to Life Spiritual. In (hors, Chrift is not only in us, as in a Temple or Houle, that is one way of his being in us, therefore he is laid to dwell in our hearts by Faith, Eph. 3. 17. But he is in us as the Head in the Members, and as the Vine in the Branches. joh. 15. t. where there is not only a Pre- fence, but an Influence. Once more, he is not only in us in a moral Way, in Af- fe &ions, his Heart is with us, and our Heart is with him, and his Love and his Joy is in and towards us. Prov. 8. 31. Rejoicing always in the habitable parts of the Earth, and my Delights were with the Sons of Men : But he is in us in a Myftical and gracious Way. John 17. 26. That the Love wherewith thou hail loved me, may be in them, and I in them. He is in us, as the Soul is in the Body, to give us Life, Senfe, Vigor and Operation. Z)fe t. To prefs us to labour after an Intereft in this Privilege, that Chriff may be in us. It is the Caddeftmark, if Chrift be not in us; t Cor. 13. g. Know ye not that Chri3'I is in you, except ye be Reprobates? Reprobates difallowed of God. Let me prefs it : a. If Chrift be not in us, the Devil is. EpheC 2. 2. Wherein in time part ye walked according to the courfe of this World, according to the Prince of the Power of the Air, the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of Difobedience. Man's Heart is not a Waite, it is occupied by Chrift or Satan. The .Children of Difobedience are a &ed by the Devil, and governed by the Devil. Thofe that are caft out of the Church, which is a Figure of cutting off from Communion with Chrift, were given up to Satan, to (hew, that he reigneth there whereChrift doth not take poffeffion, the Devil entreth into them, and fendeth them headlong to their own defiru&ion. 2. Where Chrift is, there all the Trinity are. John 14.23. We will come unto him, and make our abode with him ; there is Father, Son, and, Spirit. Such an one is a conk- .. crated Temple, wherein God taketh up his Reldence. They do not only come as Guefts, to tarry with us for a Night, as the Angels came to Abraham, Gen. 18. 2. Or as Friends come to vifit, and away, and fo lejve more Sorrow on their departure, than Joy in their Prefence ; but they will abide with us for ever. Heaven is where God is-; this Heaven we have upon Earth, that all the Perlons take up their abode in our Hearts. Tttt 2 God

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