23 2 The Saints perfea freedom, or fier, as Chrifl told peter, when thou waft young, thougirdedit John 21. thy felf, andwallq:dit whither thoupleatèdit : but when thouart. a 8. old, another 'ballgird thee and lead thee whither thou wouldeft not. Chrift Intimating thus much to him, that whilehe was youngand in the fateofunregeneracy, he followed his owti will, andgirded himfelf, anddid what hmfelf pleafed ; but hereafter he fnouldnot do fo, but he muff f rve his Mailer, and his commands thould girdhim and rule him, he Ihould begirded by-Chrift, and Ihould crofs his own will, and follow his Mailers in whateverfervicehe fhould command. And truly Brethren, he that is thus made a Servant by Chrift, he is truly a free-man and a CitizenofHeaven ; And thus tohave experienceofChrift in us to be the Deliverer, toknow him, to feel him, and to rejoyce in his falvation , there is nonelike this : to fee H I S mighty power, and his ftrong arm u'eliv:ring thy foul from the powers of Hell and Dàrkne/l;Andholding this forth not onely by the Prophets and theirpointing at Hirn, but chiefly in holding this forth in Himfelfe by all his external aecions : what a mighty Myflery is this ? yeafuch a Myßery as none knowsbut only he who is delivered : Indeed men talk_ofit, and run over it in words ; but, toFeel Chrift a Captain, aConquerer, a Deliverer in them,this is that Myftery that neither the Pharifees,nor all the Learned, nor all the wifdom nor indufiry of man could everyet comprehend, for it is fpiritually difcerned. Rev. t. In this fenfe the whole Scriptures are a BoolZPealed, and Cant. 4.12 a Garden walled about, and a FountainPhut up ; few can make this out in their own experience; they can tell you a [tory ofAbraham, and David, and Peter, and Paul, bqt that they are the men, no fuch matter; they can neither makeout the way, the manner, nor the means,how theirfouls were brought out and delivered from the pit, nor from out of the mire and clay, nor how their fetters were broken off, nor how A&s 3 their eyes were opened, nor how their anckle-bones received flrength ; for how can they ? when they never found they were in prifon or under death or condemnation ? they were Mat. 13. never blind, nor deaf, nor dumb : But tis onely the Scribe that 42. is inftruOed to the Kingdom of Heaven,can bring out of his trea- ffires
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