fore, what is predicated of Him in this respect, is likewise predicated of them. Hence if it be said of Christ Jesus, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart; "1 it is said also of believers in Jesus, that they are" the people in whose heart is " God's "law." For the terms of "the New Covenant" are, "I will put My law into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them." But what heart, and what mind? That which is "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked?" That which is "enmity" itself "against God;" that "is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be? "5 Most assuredly not: but the "new heart," which God says, "I will give you," and the "new spirit," which He says, "I will put within you "_" the new man" in fact, which is "renewed after the image of Him that created him."

But then it might be asked, does this new birth of the Spirit make any change in our old nature; or, as the Scriptures term it, our "old man"? Not in the least: for Christ's work is no patching up of old Adam; but an entirely "new creation": for, as we have seen, "that which is born of the flesh is flesh," and remains flesh; and cannot therefore, be changed into spirit, or, amended, or improved. "For I know that in me," says the Apostle, that is, in "my flesh"-the sinful nature which I derive from Adam-"there dwelleth no good thing;" and in itself, as he concludes, it can only, therefore, "serve the law of sin." As it can neither, therefore, be amended, nor improved, it has to be "put off;" and ultimately "destroyed" out of the very being of believers, that they may be wholly conformed to their living Head in glory while in the mean time, "with the mind” "new man," they serve the law of God."s

-or

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And this leads me to the next point, that believers are also to be made like unto Christ, in His death and burial, as well as in His resurrection and ascension; for they have

to be conformed to Him, not only in His death, but also in His life. As, however, I have so fully considered the legal aspect of this subject before, and I have at some length, in my first volume of "Outlines," also considered the experimental aspect of the subject; I would merely here repeat that, inasmuch as the crucifixion of " the flesh" in believers is not carried on in them apart from the life of "the Spirit," or "new man" in them; but is indeed a necessary consequence of that life itself, being effected by the Holy Spirit of God "dwelling" in them, and acting in and through "the new man," in "subduing all things" unto Christ; just as Christ Jesus gave up His holy flesh for crucifixion and death upon the cross for us; so likewise must all believers give up their sinful flesh, through the power of the Divine Spirit within them—for "if ye through the Spirit do put to death," OavaтOÛTE, "the deeds of the body, ye shall live "—for θανατοῦτε, crucifixion and death in Him.

"I have been crucified with Christ," Xplor ovveσtaúpapai, says the Apostle. This is the legal aspect of the subject. Yes: but "they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." This is the experimental aspect of it. And, therefore, as we have seen, the Apostle continues, "nevertheless I live, yet not I”—i.e., not I in my old Adam life: for "the flesh," or "old man in me, which has been legally "crucified with Christ," has now also been given up by me for experimental crucifixion and death in Christ-"but Christ liveth in me." I have, as it were, died in Jesus; and Christ has come to live His resurrection life, by His Divine Spirit, in me. And, therefore, "the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me." I, as it were, live by faith upon the life of Another. Nay, that Other lives His life in me: for I am one with Him, not in His death only, but also in His life, His resur

1 See first Vol. of "Outlines," Chap. II., Section 1, pp. 53-65; Chap. XII., Sections 2 and 3, pp. 731-769.

? Rom. viii. 13.

3 Gal. v. 24.

4 Rom. vi. 6.

5 Gal. ii. 20.

rection life. And this it is to be truly conformed to Christ in His death, as well as in His life. For as Christ gave up His holy will wholly unto His Father: so must we give up our wills wholly unto Christ Himself. "I beseech you therefore, brethren," says the Apostle, "by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove," i.e., to yourselves, "what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." For we cannot indeed prove it to ourselves in any other way. For God is "only wise: therefore His will is only wise. God is infinitely holy: therefore His will is infinitely holy. God is infinitely good: therefore His will is infinitely good. God is infinitely perfect: therefore His will is infinitely perfect. But we cannot prove these things to ourselves; we cannot realize them in blessed heartfelt experience to our own edification and comfort, until we thus wholly surrender ourselves to the Lord, and give up our wills unto Him: and then, and then only, shall we prove to our own selves "what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." And then also, when He comes again, "we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope IN HIм purifieth himself, even as He is pure."4 Hence it follows that

VII. The believer in Jesus will be a partaker of the very glory of Jesus Himself: for even if this were not stated, it would follow from what has been already said: but it is stated, and that in the most positive and absolute of terms. Indeed this is the final blessing which Jesus prayed for His disciples, in His wondrous and most comprehensive consecration prayer, "Father," said He, "I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold my glory which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world."

1 Rom. xii. 1, 2.

3 Col. i. 9-11; Psalm xviii. 30.

2 Rom. xvi. 27; 1 Tim. i. 17.
4 1 John iii. 2, 3.

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"And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are One." And "to him that overcometh," saith He, "will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne."2 "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." And "now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory, with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen."4 And "if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen."5

SECTION III.

How the Church of Christ at first lived up to its calling-The state of the Gentile Churches some years after the destruction of Jerusalem.

When our Blessed Lord Jesus first appeared unto His disciples, after His ascension, and commissioned them to preach the Gospel; addressing them, as it were, as the nucleus of the future Church to be formed at Pentecost-for He afterwards told them to "tarry in the city of Jerusalem until" they should "be endued with power from on high -He said unto them, "Peace be unto you: As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Now bearing in mind the nature and character of the believer's calling and blessedness, we can

3

be at no loss to understand our Lord's meaning on this occasion; for His meaning could be nothing less than this. "I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me." The Father sent Me as One, not of this world,' to bear witness for Himself, in the midst of a world lying in the wicked one;' and 'to gather together in one the children of God that are scattered abroad therein." I have, therefore, chosen you out of the world; that you also may now bear witness for Me." You have representatively died in Me, as to your old man;' you have risen in Me as to your 'new man;' and have now also ascended, representatively in Me, even into heaven itself. You are, therefore, now 'not of this world:' but your 'citizenship,' TOλíтevμa, 'is in heaven." As My Father, therefore, sent Me from heaven: so now send I you, as it were, also from heaven itself to earth again to do the work, which I have given you to do: even as 'I have' now ‘finished the work, which' My Father' gave Me to do.""

6

And this was in truth, precisely "the high calling" of the Church of God in Christ Jesus: and as the Apostles themselves, and vast numbers of individual believers also, were "filled with the Spirit," and were, in accordance with our Lord's own promise, "guided" by Him "into all truth; "8 they undoubtedly fully realized the nature and character of this calling, and measurably acted up to it in their lives. Hence they became a separate body; and the purpose of God in the calling of the Christian Church at Pentecost, was now fully revealed; and the name of "Church," EKKλnoia, is for the first time applied to them, as a distinctive body. For we read, that immediately after Peter's address at Pentecost, "then they that gladly received his word were baptised: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the Apostle's doctrine and

1 John vi. 38.

2 John viii. 23; xviii. 37; 1 John v. 19; John xi. 51, 52. 4 Acts i. 8, 22.

3 John xv. 19.

Rom. vi. 5-8.

Col. iii. 1; Eph. ii. 6.

7 John xvii. 14; Phil. iii. 20.

s John xvi. 13.