Christ a Christian's Life Or A Practical DISCOURSE OF A Believer's LIFE Derived from Christ and Resolved into Christ BEING The Substance of several Sermons Preach'd by the Author upon his Recovery from a Fit of Sickness and now extorted from him by the Importunity of Friends By JOHN GAMMON Minister of the Gospel and Pastor of a Congregation in White-Chappel Col. 3.4 When Christ who is our Life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in glory Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Rom. 14.8 For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords LONDON Printed by J. R. for W. Marshall at the Bible in Newgate-street 1691. The Epistle Dedicatory To the little Flock of Christ over whom the Holy Ghost hath made me Overseer The Father of Mercies and God of all Grace who hath called you to his Eternal Glory by Christ Jesus make you perfect stablish strengthen settle you and make known to you that Mystery which from the beginning of the World hath been hid in God who created all by Jesus Christ Beloved in the Lord I Have in some measure been acquainted with the longing Desire of most of you to have these Sermons Published by whose Importunity I have been prevailed with to Print them against many Struglings and much unwillingness in my self to go forwards with the Work for some of you well know how much I was set against the Printing of them and that for several Reasons First Knowing that there are plenty of good Books the Works of worthy Learned Men extant That there was no need of my unworthy Labours Secondly Knowing how little the best of Books are valued by most Thirdly Knowing the Scorn and Contempt not only of profane and wicked Persons but many that profess a great Zeal for God do contemn those principal Gospel-Truths Justification by Christ alone But if persons were truly wakened they would be of the Mind of Bellarmine That it will be best to rest upon Christ alone for Salvation when they come to die They will then see that they have had no cause to abuse the Servants of Jesus Christ that have made it their business to exalt Christ and Free-Grace Fourthly Knowing my own Insufficiency for so great a Work as to appear to Publick View Fifthly Because of many things that might be lest out in the Printing that was Preach'd I not Preaching by Notes cannot remember many things which were delivered to you when the Sermons were preach'd but here you will find the principal Heads of what I deliver'd being taken from my mouth by a Servant of the Lord when preached I have done my endeavour to supply what I could that was wanting and to correct what I saw out of order but it cannot be expected so well as it would have been if I had writ the Sermons I had preach'd at length yet finding the earnest desire of most of you to have them printed and the many Arguments you used to have them hastned to be published notwithstanding the many Struglings I have had against the Work yet the dear Love I bear to you and the earnest desire I have to serve you in the Lord hath overcome my unwillingness in this Work having received an account from several of you the sweet comforts many of you received when you heard them preach'd and have also declared how much it would add to your comfort and edification if they were printed I hope through Grace that you will not be disappointed of your expectation Some of you have declared that the Preaching was as Marrow and Fatness to your Souls I hope that you will suck out some Spiritual Sweetness in the reading of them As God was graciously pleased to answer your Prayers in raising me from a sick Bed to preach these my sick-bed Meditations amongst you so I hope through mercy your longing desire to read them will be satisfied in receiving that comfort you expect to reap to your Souls in reading of them What is said of Mony that it answers all things to the subsistence of the Body may be much more said of Christ to them that live upon him he answers all their Wants supplies all their Needs He that hath Christ wants not he that hath not Christ inherits not what he seems to have Christ enjoyed in the Soul makes bitter things sweet heavy things light where Christ's Presence is Darkness is made Light and Sorrow turned into Gladness How precious are the enjoyments of them that have such a precious Pearl as Christ is He is the chiefest of ten thousand he 's a most excellent and lasting Good Heb. 13.18 All the hid Treasure of Wisdom and Knowledge is in him Col. 2.3 What an excellent knowledge have ye attained unto that truly know Christ How doth this transcendent worth affect your Hearts changing them into his own Image and Likeness When a Soul comes to a saving knowledg of Christ he is changed then from Vir Terrenus an Earthly Man to Vir Coelestis an Heavenly Man Ignorance of Jesus Christ causeth Men to rest in Shadows and Forms in poor and low things compared with Christ and his Excellency are all but Dross and Dung so the Apostle esteems them Phil. 3.8 It is only a real saving knowledge of Christ can draw the Heart of a vain and perishing World to seek things that are above It is not a Speculation but an Application of Christ that brings home to the Immortal Soul what it stands in need of Life Light Pardon Peace Purity Righteousness Counsel Comfort Healing Deliverance Grace Glory all flows to the believing Soul from Christ in whom all fulness dwells The Soul that lives Christ hath a good Livelihood John 6.51 He shall live well for ever It is not an outside shew of Religion will be to the Soul what it stands in need of as Redemption Forgiveness Reconciliation Sanctification Consolation Salvation Christ is the Believers safe Sanctuary in all their Troubles and Temptations Isa 8.14 In this small following Treatise I hope you will find some Discourses of the fulness of Jesus Christ and the emptiness of the Creature for that is my Desire in all my Labours among you to get an esteem in your Hearts for Christ above all other things and that the Name of the Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and ye in him I hope I need not doubt of your acceptance of those plain following Truths I do not think that you will refuse it for its plain Dress but rather embrace it for I know as for the most part of you that you had rather have Christ plainly preach'd than such Discourses that are bedeck'd with Rhetorick or painted over with curious
he did walk frowardly before me gave me not my ends in smiting him yet I will heal him and wherein doth this healing consist Alas in restoring Joy and Comfort to him The poor Soul was overwhelmed with Sorrow his Heart was ready to sink and fail within him and lest it should do so he will heal him Here is a healing indeed the healing of broken Bones and broken Hearts the Lord Jesus was anoynted by the Father for this very purpose with the Oyl of Joy and Gladness above his Fellows that he might speak in due season that he might bind up the broken Spirits The Lord Jesus delighteth to do this Will and Work of his Father O he loveth to be doing with broken Hearts And O that we had Work for the Lord Jesus This day he is among us now to see if there be any Heart in this condition that he may heal us it is his delight to do it O how doth many a poor Soul come under an Ordinance with an heartless Mind cold and dead and his Heart doth burn within him while the Lord by his Spirit hath Communion with him in those Ordinances What refreshing doth arise to a poor weary Soul when the Lord that createth the Fruits of the Lips speaketh Peace to such troubled and weary Souls He reviveth the Spirits which languish and are ready to go out As the poor Birds that in the Winter are hard put to it some lie you hardly know where as if they were dead or dying when the Sun returneth how doth it revive their little Spirits that were dead before The Night brings a heaviness and burden along with it to the Body but in the morning when the Sun ariseth how doth it enliven and enlighten Oh so it is in this case many poor Souls can say by experience when darkness hath been long on them they have no light no comfort no refreshment no breathing of the Spirit to their Apprehensions in Ordinances on their Heart O how have their Hands hanged down and their Knees feeble and knock one against another for feebleness And that which was within them in their own Apprehension ready to die But no sooner hath the Lord Jesus the Sun of Righteousness looked on them Mr. Murcer but they have had their Ankle-bones stretched The Joy of the Lord is their strength Neh. 8.10 The Saint indeed sometimes may have some Graces that may not be in exercise but there are other Graces set on work so that a Soul still lives a fruitful Life While you are ignorant of Christ there is no going forward whatever whatever Duties we do it is all but an heap of Ignorance Legal Repentance is such Sorrow as is in Hell but they that know Christ go forth of themselves to Christ for all First The Soul goes forth from his own Righteousness all becomes as filthy Rags he goes forth from himself you will never thrive while under the old Adam no believing in Christ no living on Christ until the Soul goes out of himself before ever you can see Christ glorious you must go out of your selves Cant. 3.11 Go forth O ye Daughters of Zion and behold King Solomon with the Crown wherewith his Mother crowned him in the day of his Espousals and in the day of the gladness of his Heart It is a glorious crowning when we are crowned with Christ's Crown but a withered Crown when we are crowned with our own Doings and Duties The Pharisees never thrived under any thing they did because they did not come forth of themselves Go forth from your sins from your selves out of your selves to Christ for your Life A poor Man hath nothing at home and he goes forth every day for something to live on So a poor Believer cries Lord I have nothing in my self I will live upon Christ for all it is not enough that I have made a Profession or can hear a Sermon or have got good Books but saith the Soul that knows Christ I will live every day on Christ for new experience for new supplies every day for the manifestation of his Grace of his Love of his Peace The Natural Man is bound up in himself and is fond of his Prison As the Prodigal he was resolved as long as he could get Husks he would live on them rather than go to his Fathers House for Bread Many poor Creatures while they can but speak to God in Duty though they have many fears they will live on that rather than go to Christ to be their Life The Woman of Canaan was highly to be commended for when Christ told her she was a Dog she desired a Crumb Why Woman sure you may fare better than to live on Crumbs What have you nothing at home No she must live upon Christ for she had not a Crumb of her own that would feed her Soul Mat. 15.25 26 27. She came and worshiped him saying Lord help me But he answered and said It is not meet to take the Childrens Bread and to cast it to Dogs And she said Truth Lord yet the Dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their Master's Table I shall never thrive till I am under Christ's Table A Crumb from Christ will satisfie me more than all my own Loaves I am sure not a word drops from him but it is Life not any Look from him but it is Life not any Communication from him but it is Life So a Soul that lives on Christ he goes forth of himself O pray how do you that have been so long without the knowledge of Christ that live upon your own Duties A Believer will tell you he lives better and fares better now he is Christ's Beggar and lies under his Table for a Crumb than he did when he lived on his own stock There is Liberty in this Life If the Son make you free ye are free indeed You are but Bond-slaves by Nature a Slave to the Devil a Slave to the World a Slave to your selves in Bondage to the Law and I believe many Professors in this day understand not these words If the Son make you free then are you free indeed Many will be ready to say Make me free I will pray my way to Heaven I will hear my way to Heaven Ay but do what you will while you are out of Christ you are in Bonds it is only Christ can make you free John 8.36 If the Son make you free ye shall be free indeed The Servant abideth not in the house for ever but the Son abideth ever the Servant shall be cast forth When you have done all you shall be shut out of Heaven if you are not a Son The Servant abideth not in the House for ever but the Son abideth for ever If you bring the best of your Performances at the Great Day before the Lord and hope to be accepted for your so doing if you should say Lord receive me into thy Kingdom of Glory for I have prayed and fasted and gave
Words of Arts. I may expect it will not be free from the Slighting Scorn and Contempt of many that are ready to undervalue every thing but what they do themselves and to find fault with that they cannot mend But I have learned not to value any of their undervaluings For if a thousand to one slight it yet if one in a thousand get good to their Souls ' by it I shall bless God that ever it was printed what evil Report soever I may receive from evil Men of evil minds for the Works sake I hope I shall not value the Frowns of Men as one well saith Better to lose the Smiles of Men than to lose the Souls of Men and I am sure without Christ be our Life we are poor undone dead Sinners I know I have many Enemies who have through their Envy and Malice raised many false Reports of me But I desire to be an Enemy to none but those that are implacable Enemies of Christ in Doctrin and Practice but tho they are my Enemies yet I freely pray for them But I cannot expect to fair better than those that have abundantly excelled in Grace and Knowledge that were both burning and shining Lights whose Works praise them in the Gate and their sweet Savour in Christ made known to Saints and Sinners many hundreds I believe have cause to bless God that either heard them preach'd or have read their Works And yet how are these Men railed against as not worthy to live and their Works to be burnt by the common Hangman as one with more Zeal than Knowledge declared Because Men have not received that measure of Knowledge and Experience as those Men had they rail against them as ignorant unlearned Men their Books not safe for any to read Do not these Men go quarrelling along in the Dark because their Brethren have received more Light than they Persons are grown to such a fond conceit of themselves and their own Opinion they will not hearken to Gospel-Experiences they will not so much as try those Truths they revile by the Scripture but proceed with Lies and Slanders against those good Men though they never knew their persons nor read their Books I am Perswaded if these persons had knowledge of those persons and Truths they speak against if the Lord were pleased to reveal himself to them had they a taste and sight of the Lord Jesus who reveals himself how and to whom he pleaseeh insted of biting and devouring of them and spending their time to raise evil Reports of them they would enquire after the knowledge of Christ as the Daughters of Jer did of the Spouse Whether is thy beloved gone that we may seek him with thee Cant. 6.1 If Christians would spend that time in enquiring after Christ and receiving and imparting their Experiences to each other as they spend in Contentions and taking up and carrying about evil Reports of them that excel themselves in Godliness they would find more Peace and Comfort to their own Souls and bring more Glory to God bring more Souls to Christ and would be a means for the Beauty of Holiness and Power of Godliness to shine with a greater Lustre to the World This is my comfort whatever Mens Thoughts or Words Censures or Contempt are of these my poor Labours I can truly say I seek not my self but the exalting of Jesus Christ and his Truths and Kingdom in the World In singleness of Heart I have imparted Truth to you as I learned them in Jesus I had rather have the Scorn of Men for the plainness of Truth than you should have plain Truths hid from you If I am the Object of Worldlings Scorn so Christ be the Object of your Faith therein I shall rejoyce Beloved as I have granted your Request in Printing my unworthy Labours which were done chiefly at your Request and for your sake I pray grant me some few Requests which I beg of you for Christ's sake First That you seriously and carefully peruse these Plain Truths that I have Dedicated to you Secondly That you go to the Throne of Grace and there earnestly beg a Blessing on what you read Thirdly If your Souls receive benefit in the reading of it ye ascribe all to God alone it is he alone that teacheth to profit by all we read or hear Fourthly That you would study and love Christ more let his Glory be the end of your Actions you never seek your own interest better then when you seek Christ's above all Your Excellency most appears when Christ and his Excellency is known to you When your Eye is singly set on Christ then is Christ admiring your Beauty Cant. 4.7 The single Eye took away Christ's Heart then the Chain of Obedience ravished him also Without a pure Intention aiming at the Glory of God to exalt Jesus Christ there is no Action be it never so excellent in its self is accepted of God Hos 10.1 Israel is an empty Vine he bringeth forth Fruit to himself He weighs out his Fruit to himself he proportions his Religion to himself all being for himself God accepts him not Such Fruit and meer Emptiness is much as one before God It is not enough that a thing done be materially good but because God commands it and that it is to the glorifying the Lord Jesus He that is Alpha must be Omega He that is the Supreme Good must be the ultimate end of all things Let all your good Works fall in Christ's Bosom and centre in his Glory They that do not with a single Eye look to Christ in all they make as if there were something more excellent than Christ to look unto Since Christ is a Believers Life from whom he receives all the good he enjoys his Life and Strength and Comfort depend upon him for the Influence of his Grace and Spirit to have daily Supplies and Waterings from him that you may continually live to him Psal 119.32 He prays for Heart-enlargement to run the way of God's Commandments Psal 119.173 Let thy hand help me for I have chosen thy Precepts We have need of continual Supplies of Grace If you be never so well furnished with Divine Grace it will not be in exercise without fresh anoynting and fresh Gales of the Spirit Cant. 4.16 Awake O North-wind and come thou South blow upon my Garden that the Spices thereof may flow out let my Beloved come into his Garden and eat his pleasant Fruits Ordinances are but Mediums and Chanels of Grace we had need to look to Christ to fill them with Divine and Spiritual Blessings It is not a Sanctuary of Ordinances will do our Souls good it is the Power and Glory and Goings of God in it is the Life of the Soul It is the Drops of the pure Rivers of Life above dropping upon the Soul refreshing it in Ordinances Ordinances are dry and empty things if the Lord Jesus by his Spirit doth not breath upon the Heart O then lie down at
praying for their Ministers Many are readier to reproach them than to pray for them and to rejoyce in their Falls than to pray that they may be upheld How many that have excellent Gifts and Parts do little Work for God bring little Comsort to Souls If shining they are not burning Lights they leave cold earthly proud Hearts I think one Cause may be they have not been earnest at the Throne of Grace that a Blessing may attend their Labours People may be much in admiring such Ministers Gifts when the Word they Preach takes little effect upon their Souls Ministers have a great Charge committed to them a great Work to go through many Trials and Temptations in their Work they had need be daily the Subject of your Prayers and Pity Your strangeness to the Work may cause their Work to be much a Stranger to your Souls To be a Minister saith Luther is nothing else but to derive the Worlds Wrath and Fury upon himself The Dirt of Reproach saith one lies no where so thick as on Ministers Coats How many would count themselves happy in their ruin that bring the Tidings of Peace and Salvation to their Souls A miserable Happiness that rejoyceth in the Destruction of them that bring Salvation to them As the People would have their Ministers good Nurses to their Souls and good Examples to their Flock as they would not have them pervert them by their Error in Doctrin nor be Temptations to them by their Falls they should pray hard for them that they may neither miscarry in Life nor Doctrin that God's Urim and Thummim may be with them I hope Beloved in the Lord you will not shut me out in your Prayers as you would have the Name of Christ honoured by me your Souls well fed with wholsom Spiritual Food as you would not have my Enemies have the desire of their Hearts that wait for my Halting Alas I am a poor frail Creature that am encompassed about it may be with as many Temptations if not more than many others are and I fear have less Strength to go through them Pray for me that while I preach to others I may not be a Cast-a-way my self It is dreadful to drop into Hell from under the Pulpit but more dreadful to drop out of it into the Bottomless Pit It is sad for Ministers to be without the Grace of God and true knowledg of Jesus Christ they press others upon pain of Damnation not to neglect Like one that should spend time and strength to draw Water for others and perish with Thirst himself Or as one that directs many the right way and yet doth lose his own way As you would have me a faithful Labourer in the Harvest to bring full Sheaves to your Souls pray the Lord of the Harvest to give me Skill and Strength to bear the Burden and Heat of the Day As you would have the Word which I preach drop upon your Souls as the Rain and distil as the Dew and small Rain upon the Herb and as the Showers upon the Grass beg of God to pour out a double portion of his Spirit on me As you would have my Preaching powerful my Life teaching my Sermons Heaven-born my Lamp burning my Heart engaged my Talent improved my self to spend and be spent for your Souls good pray forget me not at the Throne of Grace I shall now take my Leave of you and subscribe with my Hand the Reality of my Heart your Loving Pastor and faithful Servant for the Lords sake JOHN GAMMON TO THE READER Christian Reader THE subsequent Tract being sent down to me in the Country I did as my other occasions would admit for I have not had time for a strict Perusal cursorily look it over and finding to my great satisfaction such a sweet breathing in every part of it I do joyfully recommend it to thy serious View as a Jewel not common or easie among the multitude of Books this Age abounds with to be found And that thou mayest know the Cask that hath sent forth such precious Wine I will give thee a brief Account of the Author tho indeed ex pede Herculem his own Work portrays him and delineates the frame of his Spirit far beyond what my feeble Pen can do But being well known to me perhaps better than to any besides I think it my Duty to wait upon him to the Press in this his first Essay with this just and impartial Character of him He is an holy serious good Man abounding with the Gifts and Graces of the Spirit and every way fitted for that Great Work he is called to Prayer Meditation and the sanctified use of Affliction Luther's three Ingredients to make a Gospel-Minister few has a greater share of He is one of an excellent Spirit of great Faithfulness and Courage a perfect Hero in his Ministerial Work none of those Rattle-Snakes that hiss and sputter in warm Sun-shiny Weather but durst not peep out of their Holes in a Winter Season This worthy Champion for which his Praise is and will be in the Gates of Sion bore a glorious Testimony in the late horrid Persecution he stood manfully to his Arms when the Bulls of Bashan encompassed him about he never quitted the Field nor flinch'd from his Posts notwithstanding the imminent Danger himself and Family were daily exposed to but as one unconcerned in any Terrene Events he went on in his way in his Work and verily the Lord was with him he crowned his Labours with extraordinary Success and as a Token of his special Favour gave into his Bosom a most sweet People to be a Nursing-Father to whose Unanimity among themselves and Fervency of Love to their endeared Pastor whatever others may I am sure I cannot match in the Sphere of my Acquaintance But to pass from the Workman to the Work His Book will exactly shew him such an one as I have hinted Read it but seriously over and thou wilt be under no Temptation to think me a Flatterer but count me as much too low as the Queen of Sheba did the Relators of Solomon's Court. Thou wilt meet with no uncouth Phrases no Logical Whimsies no Flashes of wanton Rhetorick But here Oh! here thou wilt find the refined Language of Canaan the Dialect of the New Jerusalem and such a melodious Consort of Divine Musick as if the Lord set in with it will warm thy Heart refresh thy Spirit and ravish thy Soul as the Spouse was ravished with the Rays of Christs Glory I am Thy Soul 's well-wishing Friend C. N. Christian Reader THE Author of these ensuing Sheets desired my Perusal thereof that afterwards I would give my Judgment of the same to the World the former of which I easily granted and have Sheet by Sheet as they were done perused the same and suppose that thou hast them entire without Typographical Errors so far as we observ'd they are very carefully corrected However if some have escaped the Press they
must be as is ordinary imputed to the Printer and not to the Author or any of us who have read the Original Copy thereof as I may say for my self with pleasure and profit Touching the latter scil commending it to thee I most declined partly because I esteemed it needless in regard that the matter thereof sufficiently commends it self and partly because I did not think my self so fit as some fitter might be of doing such a kind of Work However I thin my self bound in Justice to say something hereof which I shall reduce to two Heads 1. Concerning the Author 2. The Book it self 1. The Author of whom I must be sparing because he is alive though otherwise I should not remembring also the words of the Wise Man As the Fining Pot for Silver and the Furnace for Gold so is a Man to his praise As the Furnace will discover what Dross is in the Metal when it is melted so may Praise and Commendation draw out the Pride that is in the Heart of him that receives them nay which is more strange this Corruption may be felt in the Heart even when the last Breath is ready to expire according to the Saying of one of the German Divines in his last Sickness when those about him recounted for his great Encouragement the many Services he had done for God Auferte ignem saith he adhuc enim paleas habeo Take away the fire for there is still the chaff of pride in me But nevertheless I hope I may give this Account of him without any Temptation that I esteem him a good Christian and a Gospel-Minister one who hath endeavoured to keep a good Conscience walks close with God in his Personal and Relative Duties in the worst of Times of a Catholick Spirit loving all that have aliquid Christi in them making Saintship the Ground of Church-Communion and avoiding all factious Singularity which beside his Ministerial Abilities were the Grounds of my intimatest Correspondence with him 2. As for the Book it self thou wilt Reader if thou savourest the things that be of God and not of Man perceive an Evangelical Strain of Spirit throughout the whole Ever since I knew him he was highly Evangelick but I never thought him so much as this ensuing Tract shews him to be the matter whereof was preached by him in sundry Sermons after a great Fit of Sickness when we have reason to think his Spirit was very warm In sum the most excellent Subject to Discourse or Write of is Jesus Christ saith a Modern Author of our own Austin having read Cicero's Works commended them for their Eloquence but he passed this Sentence upon them They * Dulces non sunt quia nomen Jesu non est in illis are not sweet because the Name of Jesus is not in them Parallel with which is that of Bernard If thou * Si disputes aut conferas non sapit mihi nisi sonuerit ibi Jesum in 1 Cor. 2.2 writest it doth not relish with me unless I read Jesus there if thou disputest or conferrest it doth not relish well with me unless Jesus sound there This I can assure thee Reader to the best of my Remembrance there is not a Page in this Book without the Name of Christ either once or more and not impertinently or unnecessarily mentioned at which I much wondred Not that I am of the Opinion of some as if Christ could not be preached if he was not mentioned in totidem verbis but to be sure when he is so much mentioned not in a way of vain Tautologies but every way according to the Revelation of him in his own Gospel as I do count he is in this Book surely then we may say Here is a Book that treats of Christ I shall not therefore any longer detain thee from the Book it self but commend It and Thee to the Blessing of God who is ambitious of nothing else but to be All in Christ and nothing in Self Thomas Powell Jan. 21. 1691. Christian Reader THe foregoing Epistle of my Respected Friend hath given an account of the Author and his Performances of this Vndertaking the Author himself declaring the Causes and Occasions of the Publication thereof that which remaineth to me is to commend the Diligent Attendance on the Duty here exhorted unto of Living upon Christ by Faith and because a fixed view of Christ as he is Revealed in the Scriptures is an instituted means whereby in and through him there is conveighed unto us Strength and Ability to live unto him as we ought I shall therefore only shew the Reasonableness and necessity of living to him as it is an Argument that may induce us to live upon him who is the Fountain in and through whom all Ability is conveyed unto us by the Grace of God whereby we may comfortably walk with God and live unto his Praise and our own Peace All I have to say on this Account therefore may be reduced to these three Heads 1. The Reasonableness And 2. The Necessity of Christians living to Jesus Christ And 3. The grievous neglect hereof in the times wherein we live endangering our Ruin unless we repent and reform First As to the first Observation That it is most reasonable to live unto Christ this doth hereby appear in that whatsoever it is that is meant by living to Christ whatsoever is included and comprised in it or can be understood by it the Lord Jesus is every way worthy of it it is all his due and no more than our reasonable Service and this will further appear by an Induction of these three particular Properties and most eminent Instances of this living to Christ First As it is an Act of Divine Honour and Homage that is paid unto Christ by living to him this he is worthy of as he is God Secondly As it is an Expression of the greatest Love to live to him this he is worthy of who died for us while we were Sinners Thirdly As it consists in a Resignation of our selves to the Will and Disposal of Christ by living to him this is most reasonable also because he hath redeemed us to himself we are his and not our own First then as it is an Act of Divine Honour and Homage that is paid unto Christ by living to him to devote our selves to the Lord he is worthy of the same in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily Col. 2.9 To make any thing the Object of Divine Honour but God alone is Idolatry the highest Love Fear Reverence Trust and Obedience that our Natures are capable of performing is the Homage that is peculiarly due unto God as he is the Author of our being the difference between the Respect we owe to God and what we are allowed to shew unto Creatures is stated in this Law that requireth us to Love the Lord our God with all our Heart our Might and Strength Deut. 6.5 And our Neighbour as our selves Mark 12.30 31.