their cup; and then reproach they him for a wicked person, who has stolen their cup and authority from them, and run after him and would murder him, and damn him to temporal and eternal death, and reproach him without ceasing for a treacherous person, who has stolen their cup.
6. That is, when a true Christian obtains the cup of Christ, and drinks out of it, then comes the anger of God in the fleshly evil nature, as also the devil and the evil world, and set upon him on every side, because he has this cup in his habitation, and prophesies or divines against them, that they have the cup of whoredom and abomination in them, and because he reveals it, and will not quaff with them in their cup of hypocrisy and blasphemy.
1 Upon, into or concerning. 2 Or, knave.
7. And then must a Christian lay down his sack of God's grace at their feet, and suffer himself to be bound and captivated in their scorning and contemning; and then they oftentimes bereave him of body and life, honour and welfare, and set him with his cup before their judgement. And there a Christian must drink out of their cup the derision, cross, suffering and death of Christ, and imitate and follow Christ in this cup, and so not go home again in peace, with his filled sack of the grace of Christ, through this world into his eternal country of his Father.l He must be conformable to Christ's image (Phil. iii. 10; Rom. viii. 29), and follow him in his way which he has walked in this world. This is powerfully prefigured in this figure.
8. For Joseph's brethren stood now in the figure of a converted Christian, whom God has clothed with Christ, and also laid in the cup of the cross, together with grace, and, moreover, uppermost in the sack; to signify that when the grace of Christ, which is bestowed on a Christian, shall work and bring forth fruit, that it is not done in standing still in peace and quietness, but in the strife about this cup, for it lies uppermost in the sack of grace, and the strife about the cup must always be the forerunner of it.
9. For Christ says, The Son of Man is not come to establish peace on the earth, but strife and persecution, that one be against another and persecute him (Matt. x. 34; Luke xii. 51). Also, He has kindled a fire, and desires it should burn (Luke xii. 49). And this is it: that a true Christian must always be spoken against, even those of his own family in flesh and blood must be his enemies (Micah vii. 6), that the sown and planted tree of pearl may stir and bring forth fruit.
10. As an earthly tree must stand in heat, cold and wind, and have great strokes and opposition, whereby the sap is drawn out of the earth into the tree, so that it blossoms and bears fruit: thus also the poor soul, in such smitings and opposition, in scorn and misery, must draw power and virtue into itself out of the bestowed and entrusted grace, viz. out of [the soil] and field of the Word of God, with earnest prayer and working, and thereby bear the fruit of faith, viz. good doctrine, instruction and conversation.
11. For thereby the soul feeds the spirit of Christ, and Christ feeds the soul again out of the sack of the substantial grace, viz. with his flesh of the substantial wisdom of God; and thus they give themselves one to another, to a perpetual working.
1 Or, native country.
their cup; and then reproach they him for a wicked person, who has stolen their cup and authority from them, and run after him and would murder him, and damn him to temporal and eternal death, and reproach him without ceasing for a treacherous person, who has stolen their cup.
6. That is, when a true Christian obtains the cup of Christ, and drinks out of it, then comes the anger of God in the fleshly evil nature, as also the devil and the evil world, and set upon him on every side, because he has this cup in his habitation, and prophesies or divines against them, that they have the cup of whoredom and abomination in them, and because he reveals it, and will not quaff with them in their cup of hypocrisy and blasphemy.
1 Upon, into or concerning. 2 Or, knave.
7. And then must a Christian lay down his sack of God's grace at their feet, and suffer himself to be bound and captivated in their scorning and contemning; and then they oftentimes bereave him of body and life, honour and welfare, and set him with his cup before their judgement. And there a Christian must drink out of their cup the derision, cross, suffering and death of Christ, and imitate and follow Christ in this cup, and so not go home again in peace, with his filled sack of the grace of Christ, through this world into his eternal country of his Father.l He must be conformable to Christ's image (Phil. iii. 10; Rom. viii. 29), and follow him in his way which he has walked in this world. This is powerfully prefigured in this figure.
8. For Joseph's brethren stood now in the figure of a converted Christian, whom God has clothed with Christ, and also laid in the cup of the cross, together with grace, and, moreover, uppermost in the sack; to signify that when the grace of Christ, which is bestowed on a Christian, shall work and bring forth fruit, that it is not done in standing still in peace and quietness, but in the strife about this cup, for it lies uppermost in the sack of grace, and the strife about the cup must always be the forerunner of it.
9. For Christ says, The Son of Man is not come to establish peace on the earth, but strife and persecution, that one be against another and persecute him (Matt. x. 34; Luke xii. 51). Also, He has kindled a fire, and desires it should burn (Luke xii. 49). And this is it: that a true Christian must always be spoken against, even those of his own family in flesh and blood must be his enemies (Micah vii. 6), that the sown and planted tree of pearl may stir and bring forth fruit.
10. As an earthly tree must stand in heat, cold and wind, and have great strokes and opposition, whereby the sap is drawn out of the earth into the tree, so that it blossoms and bears fruit: thus also the poor soul, in such smitings and opposition, in scorn and misery, must draw power and virtue into itself out of the bestowed and entrusted grace, viz. out of [the soil] and field of the Word of God, with earnest prayer and working, and thereby bear the fruit of faith, viz. good doctrine, instruction and conversation.
11. For thereby the soul feeds the spirit of Christ, and Christ feeds the soul again out of the sack of the substantial grace, viz. with his flesh of the substantial wisdom of God; and thus they give themselves one to another, to a perpetual working.
1 Or, native country.
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