hing attainable: nay, when Christ calls us unto
himself, that we may thus walk with him! I would have Christians men of
great and big projects and resolutions; of high and unlimited desires, not
satisfied with their attainments, but still aspiring unto more of God,
more conformity to his will, more walking after the Spirit, more
separation from the course of the world. And this is indeed to be of a
divine spirit. The divine nature is here, as it were, in a state of
violence, out of its own element. Now, it is known by this, if it be still
moving upwards, taking no rest in this place, and these measures and
degrees, but upon a continual motion towards the proper centre of it,--God,
his holiness, and Spirit.

We desire to speak a word of these three. First, The nature of the
spiritual walking. Next, Its connection and union with that blessed state
of non-condemnation. And then of the order of this, how it flows from a
man's being implanted in Christ Jesus;--which three are considerable(167)
in the words.

This spiritual walking is according to a spiritual rule, from spiritual
principles, for spiritual ends. These three being established aright, the
walk is even the motion of a Christian within the compass of these. It is
according to the word, as the holy rule; it is from the faith and love of
Jesus Christ, as the predominant principles. Nay, from the Spirit of
Jesus, living in the heart by faith, and dwelling in it by love, as the
first wheel of this motion, the _primum mobile_. And as it begins in the
spirit, so it ends there, in the glory of Jesus Christ, and our heavenly
Father. Consider this then--it is not a lawless walking and irregular walk,
it is according to the rule, and the rule is perfect, and it is a motion
to perfection, not a rest in what is now attained to. The course of this
world is the way and rule of the children of disobedience; Eph. ii. 2.
There is a spirit indeed that works in them, and a rule it works by. The
spirit is that evil spirit, contrary to the Holy Spirit of God, and you
may know what spirit it is that works, by the way it leads men unto--a
broad way, pathed and trodden in by many travellers. It is the kings high
street, the common way that most part walk into according as their
neighbours do, as the most do. But that king is the prince of this world,
Satan, who blinds the eyes of many, that they may not see that pit of
misery before them, which their way leads them to. A Christian must h