of his when he rose againe in his resurrection the acquittance from our sinnes was sealed thereby we know that the debt is paid because he rose againe let us see an acquittance of all in the resurrection And if we thinke of the glory that God hath reserved for us thinke of it in Christ see Christ glorious first and we in him See Christ at the right hand of God and wee in him carry Christ along with us in our contemplations We are quickned with Christ Christ takes away all the deaths J spake of before Christ by his resurrection tooke away the death of sentence he rose againe for our justification so that now there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ. So againe in regard of that deadly disposition that is in us Christ quickens us in regard of that by infusing grace by his Spirit for Christ is an universall principle of all life Now Christ by his death pacifying his Father obteined the Spirit and by that Spirit which he infuseth as a principle of life he more and more quickens our nature and makes it better and better till it be perfect in Heaven As Adam was a principle of death and the more we live in the state of nature the worse we are til we come to hel So when we are in Christ the Spirit sanctifies us more and more till he have brought us to perfection And as we are quickned from the death of sentence and of disposâ—tion so we are quickned in regard of that hope of glory that we have For now in Christ we are in Heaven already and though there come bodily death betweene yet notwithstanding that is but a fitting us for glory the body is but fitted and molded in the grave for glory This very consideration will quicken a man in death my head is in Heaven above water therefore the body shall not bee long under water And Faith makes that that is to come present and affects the soule comfortably Christ is in Heaven already and J am there in Christ and J shall be there as verily as he is there I am there de jure de facto I shall be there in these considerations Christ quickens us Therefore saith St. Peter Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath begotten us againe through the resurrection of Christ from the dead to a lively hope of an inheritance immortall c. We are begotten againe to this inheritance by the resurrection of Christ who is risen againe to quicken himselfe and all his The consideration of this should affect us as it did Saint Peter to blesse God Now all this quickning power ariseth from our union with Christ we must have a beeing in Christ before we can have comfort by death with him or by rising with him Our union with Christ springs from faith faith is cherished by the Sacrament the Word and Sacrament beget faith faith unites us to Christ union with Christ makes us partake of his death and the benefits of it and of his resurrection and ascention to glory therefore the more we attend upon this ordinance of the Word and the seale of the Word the Sacrament the more our faith is increased for God invites us to communion and fellowship with Christ and all his benefits and favours and the more wee find faith assured of Christ the more union and fellowship wee have with Christ and the more wee seele that the more Christ is a quickning Spirit quickning us with the life of grace here and the hope of Glory afterward Therefore let us comfortably attend upon the ordinance of God sanctified for this purpose to strengthen this our union with Christ. FINIS THE FRVITFVLL LABOVR FOR Eternall Foode In two Sermons By the late Reverend and Learned Divine RICHARD SIDS Doctor in Divinity Master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge and sometimes Preacher at Grayes-Inne ESAY 55.2 Why doe you spend money for that which is not Bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Hearken diligently unto mee and eate yee that which is good and let your soule delight it selfe in fatnesse JOHN 6.55 For my flesh is meate indeed and my blood is drink indeed LONDON Printed by G.M. for Nicholas Bourne and Rapha Harford 1639. THE FRVITFVLL LABOVR FOR Eternall Food IOHN 6.27 Labour not for the meate that perisheth but for the meate that indureth to everlasting life which the Sonne of man shall give you for him hath God the Father Sealed OUr blessed Saviour was mighty in word and deed witnesse what he did what he taught and both in this Chapter What he did hee fed many with a few loaves he came over the water without any helpe What he taught witnesse from this part of the Chapter to the end The words are part of an Answer of our blessed Saviour to his hypocriticall followers that followed him for the Loaves and not for any confirmation of their faith by his miracles for upon occasion of those two miracles mentioned in the former part of the Chapter they followed him and perceiving that hee was miraculously come over the water they began to aske him Rabbi how camest thou heere Our Saviour perceives that they meant to complement with him he sees with what hearts they came after him therefore as most befitting the Exigence of their state because they were hypocrites he answers not to their question but to their persons Verily verily yee seeke mee not because of the miracles but because yee eate of the loaves and were filled Labour not for the meate that perisheth c. The Verses together containe a Conviction and an Injunction or direction A Conviction and that is serious and loving Serious Verily verily I say unto you you seeke mee not because of the miracles but because yee eate of the loaves c. Hee convinceth them of their fault of their hypocrisie of their wicked and carnall aimes in holy businesse they come flattering of Christ but as hee was too holy to flatter so he was too wise to be flattered hee deales therefore directly with them thoroughly convinceth them of their hypocrisie and corrupt aimes in following after him We are all naturally prone to these carnall ends in holy actions we must take heed with what mindes with what hearts we come before God whose eyes are brighter then the Sun who regards not so much what we doe as with what mindes we doe it As his conviction is Serious so it is Loving for with the conviction or reproofe followes the injunction or direction Labour not for the meate that perisheth In the Injunction there are two things First he shewes them what they should not follow he takes them off from labouring after the meate that perisheth And then secondly hee instructs them in what they should follow what they should seeke after But labour for the meate that indureth to everlasting life c. There are Arguments in both In the first there is an Argument disswasive and
servant to do our worke for us to suffer for us to beare the burthen of our sinnes upon the tree to become our husband to bestow his riches upon us to raise us to the same condition with himselfe and withall to be such a one as God hath chosen out to love and delight in as the best object of his love and most capable of it and for us not to solace and delight our selves in him that God delights in when God delights in him for our sake God loves and delights in him for the worke of salvation and redemption by his blood and shall not wee love and imbrace him for his love which is for our good What good hath God by it but onely the glory of his mercy in saving our soules through Christ Therefore if God love him for the good he doth to us much more should we love him for the fruit of it that wee receive our selves It should shame us therefore when we finde dullnesse and coldnesse upon us that wee can heare of any thing better then of Christ and arguments concerning Christ are cold to us alas where is our love and joy and delight and when we can make no better but a carnall use of the incarnation and other benefits by Christ we should therefore desire God to shed the love of Christ into our hearts more and more that we may feele in our soules the love that hee beares to us and may love God and Christ againe for that that hee hath done for us Hence we have also a ground of estimation of Christians to be excellent persons doth God valew poore sinfull soules so much as to give Christ for them to become a Saviour doth he delight in Christ for giving himselfe for them and shall not we love one another whom God and Christ so loves But if God love and delight in those that are in Christ with the same love and delight that he hath in him how shall I know that I am in Christ and that God thus delights in me Briefly a man may know that hee is in Christ if he find the Spirit of Christ in him for the same Spirit when Christ tooke our nature that sanctified that blessed masse wherof he was made when there was an union betweene him and the second person the same Spirit sanctifies our soules and bodies there is one Spirit in the head and in the members therfore if we find the Spirit of Christ in us we are in Christ and he in us Now this Spirit is renewing Whosoever is in Christ is a new creature all is new old things are done away the old manner of language the old disposition old affections old company all old things are past all is new and if a man be a new creature hee hath right and title to the new heaven and new earth let us examine the worke of grace in us if there be no change in us we have no present interest in Christ we have to do with him because he is still woing us to be in him but as yet we have no title to him The very beholding of Christ is a transforming sight the Spirit that makes us new creatures and stirres us up to behold this servant it is a transforming beholding if wee looke upon him with the eye of faith it will make us like Christ for the Gospell is a mirrour and such a mirrour that when we looke into it and see our selves interessed in it wee are changed from glory to glory a man cannot looke upon the love of God and of Christ in the Gospell but it will change him to be like God and Christ for how can we see Christ and God in Christ but we shall see how God hates sin and this will transforme us to hate it as God doth who hated it so that it could not bee expiated but with the blood of Christ God-man so seeing the holinesse of God in it it will transforme us to be holy when we see the love of of God in the Gospell and the love of Christ giving himselfe for us this will transforme us to love God when wee see the humility and obedience of Christ when we looke on Christ as Gods chosen servant in all this and as our surety and head it transformes us to the like humility and obedience those that find not their dispositions in some comfortable measure wrought to this blessed transformation they have not yet those eyes that the Holy Ghost requireth here Behold my servant whom I have chosen my Beloved in whom my soule delighteth I will put my Spirit upon him Now wee come to the qualification of Christ for his calling in these words I will put my Spirit upon him that is I will cloath him with my Spirit I will put it as it were upon him as a garment Now there were divers degrees of Christs receiving the Spirit at severall times for hee was conceived by the Holy Ghost the Holy Ghost did sanctifie that blessed masse whereof his body was framed in the wombe of the Virgin he was quickned in the wombe in his conception by the Holy Ghost and he was graced by the Holy Ghost and led by the Spirit in all things before his Baptisme but afterward when he came to set upon his office to be the Prophet and Priest and King of his Church that great office of saving mankind which he did not solemly set upon till hee was thirty yeares old then God powred upon him a special portion of the Spirit answerable to that great calling then the Spirit lighted upon him Christ was ordained to his office by the greatest authority that ever any was ordained from the beginning of the world for at his Baptisme when he was ordained and set apart to his office there was the Father from heaven uttered an audible voice This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased and there was Christ the partie baptized and installed into that great office then there was the Holy Ghost in the forme and shape of a Dove it being a matter of the greatest consequence that ever was in the world greater then the Creation it was fit it should be done with the greatest authority and so it was the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost being present at the admission of Christ into his office this is especially here intended though the other bee included I will put my Spirit vpon him that is I will annoint him as it is in Isaiah 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord is upon mee saith Christ because the Lord hath annointed me to preach good tidings to the meeke to binde up the broken hearted to proclaime liberty to the captives to open the prison for them that are bound to proclaime the acceptable yeare of the Lord that is the yeare of Iubile for that was a Type of Christ to preach the Gospell deliverance to all that are in captivity servitude and thraldome under Satan and sin this was
accomplished when Christ at his Baptisme entred upon his office God put his Spirit upon him to set him apart to ordaine him and to qualifie him with abundance of grace for the worke for there are these three things especially meant by putting the Spirit upon him separation or setting apart and ordaining and inriching with the gifts of the Spirit When any one is called to great place there is a setting apart from others and an ordaining to that particular and a qualifying if it be a calling of God he qualifies where he ordaines alwaies But Christ had the Spirit before what doth he meane then when hee saith hee will put the Spirit upon him now I answer he had the Spirit before answerable to that condition he was in now hee received the Spirit answerable to that condition hee was to undertake he was perfect then for that condition now he was to be made perfect for that office he was to set upon he was alway perfect hee had abundance of Spirit for that estate hee was in but now he was to enter upon another condition to preach the Gospell to be a Prophet and after to be a Priest therefore he saith now especially I will put my Spirit upon him Now this putting of the Spirit it is expressed in Isaiah 61. and other places by Annointing There were three sorts of persons that were annointed before Christ Prophets Priests and Kings now Christ was to bee a Prophet a Priest and a King therefore hee was to be annointed with the Spirit to enable him to these three offices I might here take occasion to enlarge my selfe in the offices of Christ but I will onely speake of them as the Text ministreth just occasion There are three maine defects in man since the fall There is ignorance and blindnesse There is rebellion in the will and affections And in regard of his condition by reason of the sinnes of nature and life a subjection to a cursed estate to the wrath of God and eternall damnation Now answerable to these three grand ills whosoever shall bee ordained a Saviour must provide proportionable remedies for these hereupon comes a threefold office in Christ that is ordained to save man to cure this threefold mischiefe and maladie As we are ignorant and blind he is a Prophet to instruct us to convince us of the ill state we are in and then to convince us of the good hee intends us and hath wrought for us to instruct us in all things concerning our everlasting comfort he is such a Prophet as teacheth not onely the outward but the inward man hee openeth the heart he teacheth to doe the things he teacheth men teach what we should doe but they teach not the doing of them he is such a Prophet as teacheth us the very things hee teacheth us to love and to obey c. And answerable to the rebellion and sinfulnesse of our dispositions he is a King to subdue whatsoever is ill in us and likewise to subdue all opposite power without us by little and little hee will trample all enemies under his feete and under our feete too ere long Now as we are cursed by reason of our sinfull condition so hee is a Priest to satisfie the wrath of God for us he was made a curse for us he became a servant that being so hee might die and undergoe the cursed death of the crosse not onely death but a cursed death and so his blood might be an attonement as a Priest So answerable to the three fold ill in us you see here is a threefold office in Christ. Now Christ performes these three offices in this order First of all he is a Prophet when he was baptised the Spirit was put upon him as in Isaiah 61. To preach deliverance to the captives First he preached wherefore he came into the world why God sent him and discovered to the world the state they were in and when he had preached as a Prophet then as a Preist he dyed and offered himselfe a Sacrifice After death his Kingly office was most apparent For then he rose againe as a triumphant King over death and all our enemies and ascended in his triumphant chariot to Heaven and there he sits gloriously as a King in his throne at the right hand of God so that how ever at his Baptisme and before when he was sanctified in his mothers wombe he was both King Priest and Prophet yet in regard of the order of manifestation he manifested himselfe first to be a Prophet secondly a Priest and thirdly to be a King For his Kingly office brake foorth but seldome in the time of his abasement sometimes it did to shew that he was ruler and commander of Earth and Sea and Divels and all he wrought miracles but the glorious manifestation of his kingly office it was after his resurrection Now the fundamentall the chiefe office to which he was annoynted by the Spirit upon which the rest depends it was his Priestly office for wherefore was his teaching but to instruct us what he must doe and suffer for us and what benefit we have by his Sacrifice reconciliation with God and freedome from the wrath of God and right unto life everlasting by his obedience to the cursed death of the crosse And how comes he to be a King to rule over us by his holy Spirit and to have a right unto us But because as a Priest hee dyed for us first He washed us with his blood he purged us with his blood and then he made us Kings and Priests Rev 1. All other benefits came from this he washed our soules in his blood first whatsoever wee have from God is especially from the great worke of Christ as a Priest abasing himselfe and dying for us and thereupon hee comes to bee a Prophet and a King thus we see the order of Christs offices how they come to be fruitfull to us the rest especially by vertue of his priestly office Note this by the way Christs priestly office includes two branches his sacrificing himselfe for us a Priest was to offer Sacrifice and to pray for the people our Saviour Christ did both in the daies of his humiliation in his prayer in Ioh. 17. there as a Priest he commends his sacrifice to God before he died and now he is in Heaven making intercession for us to the end of the world he appeares for us there We see then to what purpose God put the Spirit upon Christ to enable him to be a Prophet a Priest and a King and thereupon to take away those mischiefes and evills that wee were subject and inthralled too so that we have a supply for all that may any way abase us and cast us downe in the all sufficiency that is in Christ Jesus who was annoyntâ—d with the Spirit for this end It may be objected Christ was God himselfe hee had the Spirit and gives the Spirit therefore how could the
God by his death and making of us friends with God there it holds there it lives and there it will continue for ever this keepes the soule alive And then againe as in meate before it can nourish us there must be an union an assimulation a turning of it into us so Christ except hee be made one with us by faith unlesse there bee an union betweene him and us hee can never nourish and comfort us savingly Againe as wee oft eate and after we have received food once yet we eate againe every day because there is a decay of strength and there are still new businesses new occasions that require new strength and therefore there is need of a continuall repairing of our strength by food Even so there is a perpetuall exigence a continuall need that the soule hath to feed upon Christ upon the promises of Christ and the prerogatives by Christ because every day we have fresh impediments fâ—esh assaults and therefore we have need to fetch fresh supplies and refreshment from Christ to have meate from Christ every day to live on Christ not onely at the first but continually that as our corruptions and temptations and infirmities returne every day so every day to feed on Christ for the repairing of our spirituall strength especially wee are to make daily use of the death of Christ for howsoever the death of Christ be transient in respect of the act of it as one of the Antients saith yet the fruit of it remaines for our daily comfort and refreshment his bloud runs every day in the Church afresh like a fountaine alwaies powred out for Iuda and Ierusalem to wash in it alwaies runs that is in regard of Gods imputation in regard of the fruit that comes to the soule and therefore we should make daily use of it for the comfort and strength of our soules upon all occasions Wee have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous and hee is the propitiation for our sinnes he is now an Intercessour in Heaven hee continually applies the fruit of his death now by his intercession in Heaven Againe as after meate received and eaten there is strength and comfort gotten for the affaires of this life so likewise after the soule hath digested and relished Christ and the benefits and prerogatives that come by him after we have made the heavenly truths of Christ our owne the soule is strengthened to holy duties it is fit to doe it is fit to suffer it is fit to resist temptations it is fit to performe all the services of Christianity In these and divers other respects Christ is the blessed meate heere mentioned not himself alone but considered with all the blessed good things which we have by him for Christ as I said before is never alone if wee have him we are sonnes in him we are heires in him we are free in him we are redeemed in him wee are Kings in him Priests in him Prophets in him we are all in him we have with him all the good things that he hath for as we have not them without him so we have not him without them those that have the field have the pearle in the field and they that have the pearle in the field have the field they that have Christ have Christ cloathed with all his blessed prerogatives and priviledges and comforts But wherein lieth the difference betweene this meate this foode of the soule and other meate In these things First of all Christ as he is from Heaven so all the graces and comforts that we have by him are all from Heaven and they carry us to Heaven all the other things are earthly Secondly all earthly food doth not give but maintaine life where it is but Christ hee is such a food as gives life he is as well life as food I am the life Againe thirdly the nourishment wee have from this outward food we turne to our selves but Christ this spirituall meate turnes us into himselfe transformes us into his owne likenesse for Christ offered to us in the Gospell being digested by Faith doth by his Spirit change us every way into his owne likenesse Lastly all other meats are consumed in the spending and there will a time come when wee shall not be able to relish any worldly thing our mouth will be out of taste with these outward things But Christ the food of the soule is never consumed but growes more and more and when wee can relish no other wee may relish this food that indures to everlasting life it alwaies satisfies the soule all earthly things are as salt water that increase the appetite but satisfie not onely Christ and grace and the comforts we have by him satisfie and that everlastingly they are as a spring that never dyes As he himselfe in his owne person endures to everlasting life so all that we have by him is everlasting grace is everlasting grace ends in glory Christ alwayes satisfies though not wholy here because there must be a continuall recourse to him yet hee will satisfie hereafter Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse for they shall be satisfied Thus you see what is meant by the food that endures to everlasting life and the reason of the resemblance and the difference that is betweene this and other meate Here are arguments enough then to enforce us to a labouring after this meate that endures to everlasting life that is so agreeable to the best part of us that is able to make us happy to labour by Faith to get them to bee our owne Now the labour required is especially to get a stomacke to this meate God requires nothing of us when we come to his delicacies but that we bring a good stomacke with us J will therfore speake a little of that what wee must doe to get an appetite to this spirituall meate A good stomacke we know is procured by sharpe things the Paschall Lamb was to be eaten with sowre hearbs if we would have an appetite after Christ labour daily to consider what a cursed estate we are in without Christ God hath left the Law as for other purposes so for this that we should feed upon the threatnings of it that it should drive us to Christ A legall faith is the way to evangelicall Labour therefore thorowly to bee convinced of the need thou standest in of Christ and then I need not bid thee to labour for the food that endures to everlasting life that will sharpen thy appetite after it And beg of God illumination to see the ill that is in thee and the ill that belongs to thee God hath left infirmities and corruptions in us on purpose for this end and likewise we have tentations without us we carry not onely a Hell within us which if God should not keepe in would carry us to despaire but there is a hell without us the tentations of Satan the accusations of the Law the anger and wrath of God thus we
that it may be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh For before wee come to heaven Christ must not onely be bone of our bone c. that is in his Incarnation but wee must be bone of his bone c. that is wee must have natures like Christ not onely flesh and blood for so a reprobate hath flesh and blood as Christ hath but wee must have his Spirit altering and changing our nature that instead of a proud disobedient rebellious nature now it must be a holy and humble and meeke nature together with humane frailty for that we carry about with us then the Spirit of life derived from Christ makes us bone of his bone For indeed in his humane nature being bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh hee made us bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh he became man that we might partake of the divine nature being partakers of the divine Spirit So that now the Spirit of life in Christ when we are knit to him is a Spirit of sanctification altering our natures and working in our hearts a disposition like Christs that wee judge as Christ judgeth and chuse as Christ chuseth and ayme at Gods glory as Christ did For there is the same mind in us that was in Christ Philip. 2. In our proportion growing still more and more to conformity with Christ till we be in heaven till Christ be all in all 1 Cor. 15. When he will change our nature to be holy as his owne Besides this liberty from sinne and death in this life there is a glorious liberty and freedome thaâ— we have by the Spirit of Christ when we are dead for then the Spirit of life that raised Christs dead body will raise our bodies and that Spirit of Christ that raiseth his body and raiseth our soules in this world from sinne to beleeve in him will raise our dead bodies The same vertue and power that workes in Christ workes in his members this is called The glorious libertie of the Sonnes of God Then wee shall be freed indeed not onely from the law of sinne but from sinne it selfe and not onely from the law of death but death it selfe and wee shall live forever with the Lord. Christ then shall be all in all by his Spirit Christ will never leave us till hee have brought us to that glorious freedome wee are freed already from sinne and death he hath set us in heavenly places together with himselfe now In faith we are there already but then wee shall be indeed Thus you see how we come to have the law of the Spirit of life in Christ to free us from the law of sinne and death and all the passages of it You see here that there is law against law The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ against the law of sinne and death I beseech you consider that God hath appointed law to countermand law the Spirit of Christ to overcome sinne in us not onely in justification but in sanctification oh let us therefore comfortably thinke there is a Law above this Law I have now cold dead base affections but if I have the Spirit of Christ he can quicken and enliven me hee will not onely pardon my sinne but by the Law of his Spirit direct guid and command me a contrary way to my lusts And this is an Art of spirituall prudence in heavenly things whensoever wee are beset with dangers to set â—reater then that against it The Devill is an Angell but we have a guard of Angels about us The Devill is a Serpent but we have a braâ—en Serpent that cures all the stings of that Serpent We have Principalities and Powers against but we have greater Principalities and Poâ—ers for us The Law of life against the law of sinne and death We have a law of our lusts tyrannizing over us and enthralling us it is true but then there is a Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus to overcome and subdue that law of our lusts if so be that wee use the prerogatives wee have if we use faith and goe to God and Christ in whom are all the treasures of grace Hee is the treasury of the Church of his fulnesse we receive grace for grace Are we troubled with any corruptions goe to the Spirit of liberty in Christ and desire him to set us at liberty from the bondage and thraldome of our corruptions And remember what Christ hath done for us and where hee is now in heaven let us raiâ—e our thoughts that wee may see our selves in heaven already that wee may be ashamed to defile our bodies and soules with the base drudgery of sinne and Satan that are sanctified in part in this world and shall be glorified in heaven Certainely faith would raise our soules so we betray our selves when being once in the state of grace we are inâ—hralled basely to any sinne For sinne shall not have dominion over you because you are under grace saith the Apostle Being under grace if wee doe 〈◊〉 use our reasoning and use faith and exercise the grace we have given us wee cannot be in thrall to corruptions Wee shall have remainders to trouble us put not to 〈◊〉 and reigne and domineere For sinne 〈◊〉 beares â—way but when wee betray our selves and either beleeve not what Christ hath done for us or else exercise not our faith A Christian is never overtaken basely but when hee neglects his priviledges and prerogatives and doth not stirre up the grace of God in him Learne this then when we are troubled with any thing set Law against Law set the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ against all oppositions whatsoever and let the temptation â—â—e where it will let it lie in justificatiâ—â— as when wee are tempted by Satan to despaire for sinnes for great sinnes oh but then consider the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ hath freed me from the law of sinne and of death Christ was made sinne to free me â—rom sinne Consider that Christ was God-man hee satisfied divine Justice the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sinne though they be as red as crimson Thus set Christ against our sinnes in justification when the guilt of them â—â—oubles our soules And so likewise when wee are set on by base lusts set against them the power of Christ in sanctification What 〈◊〉 I now a member of Christ one that professeth my selfe to be an heire of heaven there is a Spirit of life in Christ my head there is a Law of the Spirit of life in Christ that is there is a commanding power in his Spirit and that Spirit of his is not onely in the head but in the members If I goe to him for grace I may have grace answerable to the grace that is in him grace that will strengthen me with his power be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Ephes. 6.