And as for you that cannot yet well endure to think that you should be justified by the blood of the Son of Mary shed on the cross without the gate, I say to you, "Kiss the Son, lest he he angry and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little: blessed are all they that put their trust in him." Psa. 2:12.
The work of the Spirit is to lead us into the sayings of Christ; which, as to our redemption from death, are such as these: "I lay down my life, that you may have life; I give my life a ransom for many; and the bread which I give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
The Holy Ghost breatheth nowhere so as in the ministry of this doctrine; this doctrine is sent with the Holy Ghost from heaven.
What is the church of God redeemed by from the curse of the law? It is by something done within them, or by something done without them.
If you say it is redeemed by something that worketh in them, then why did the man Christ Jesus hang on the cross on Calvary, without the gate of Jerusalem, for the sins of his children? and why do the Scriptures say that "through this man is preached to us the forgiveness of sins?"
The answer thou givest is, "The church of God is redeemed by Christ Jesus who is revealed in all believers, and Christ Jesus wrought in them mightily, and it was he that wrought in them to will and to do. This is plain scripture; and the man Christ Jesus," sayest thou, "hanged on the cross on Calvary because they wickedly judged him to be a blasphemer, and through their envy persecuted him to death because he bore witness against them, and in their account he died and hanged on the cross an evil-doer."
Ha, friend, I had thought thou hadst not been so much hardened. Art thou not ashamed thus to slight the death of the man Christ Jesus on the cross, and reckon it not effectual for salvation, but sayest, the church is redeemed by Christ Jesus who is revealed within? and to confirm it, thou dost also corruptly bring in this scripture: "Whereunto I labor, according to his working which worketh in me mightily; "by which words Paul signifies, that as God was with him in the ministry of the word, so did he also strive according to his working which wrought in him mightily. What is this to the purpose?
That thy answer is false, I shall clearly prove. First, because thou deniest that redemption was wrought out for sinners by the man Christ Jesus on the cross on Calvary; when the scripture says plainly, that when he did hang on the tree, then did he bear our sins there in his own body. And secondly, in thy saying it is redeemed by Christ within, by being within, when the work of the Spirit of Christ in believers is to make known to the soul, by dwelling within, which way and how they are redeemed by the man Christ Jesus on the cross. And this I prove further, because when thou art forced to answer to these words, Why did the man Christ Jesus hang en the cross, on Calvary for the sins of his children? thou sayest, "Because they wickedly judged him to be a blasphemer." Friend, I did not ask thee why the JEWS did put him to death; but why was he crucified there for the sins of his children? But thou, willing to cover over thine error, goest on cunningly, saying, that through their envy they persecuted him to death for an evil-doer.
As for thy saying that salvation is Christ within, if thou mean in opposition to Christ without, instead of pleading for Christ thou wilt plead against him; for Christ, God-man, without on the cross, did bring in salvation for sinners; and the right believing of that justifies the soul. Therefore Christ within, or the Spirit of him who did give himself a ransom, doth not work out justification for the soul in the soul, but doth lead the soul out of itself and out of what can he done within itself, to look for salvation in that Man that is now absent from his saints on earth. 2 Cor. 5:6. Why so? For it knows that there is salvation in none other, Acts 4: 12; and therefore I would wish thee to have a care what thou doest, for I tell thee, that Man who is now jeered by some, because he is preached to be without them, will very suddenly come the second time to the great overthrow of those who have spoken and shall still speak against him.
And indeed they that will follow Christ aright must follow him without, to the cross without, for justification on. Calvary without—that is, they must seek for justification by his obedience without—to the grave without, and to his ascension and intercession in heaven without; and this must be done through the operation of his own Holy Spirit that he has promised shall show these things unto them, being given within them for that purpose. Now the Spirit of Christ, that leads also; but whither? It leads to Christ without.