and in Christ I can doe all things by his Spirit though in my selfe I can doe nothing And so in deadnesse and desolation of Spirit when the soule is cast downe with discomfort let us thinke with our selves the Spirit of life in Christ is a quickening Spirit if I can beleeve in Christ he hath freed me from the guilt of sinne and hee hath by his Spirit given me some little inlargement from the dominion of my corruptions why should I be cast downe I am an heire of heaven ere long Satan shall be trodden under my feet ere long I shall be free from the spirituall combate and conflict with sinne that I am now encountred with therefore I will comfort my selfe I will not be cast downe overmuch In the houre of death let us make use of this freedome of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus from the law of sinne and death When the time comes that there must be a separation of soule and body oh let us thinke with our selves Now I must dye yet Christ hath dyed and I must dye in conformity to my head and here is my comfort the Law of the Spirit of life hath freed me from the law of death it hath freed me from spirituall and eternall death So that now through Christ death is become friendly to me death now is not the death of me but death will be the death of my misery the death of my sinnes it will be the death of my corruptions death now will be the death of all that before troubled me but death will be my birth day in regard of happinesse Better is the day of death then the day of birth When a man comes into this life he comes into misery but when he dies hee goes out of misery and comes to happinesse so that indeed wee never live till we dye wee never live eternally and happily till then for then wee are freed from all misery and sinne Blessed are they that dye in the Lord they rest from their labours they rest from the labours of toyle and misery they rest from the labours of sinne from all labours whatsoever Blessed are they that dye in the Lord and of all times then blessed more blessed then before they rest from their labours and then begins their happinesse that shall never end So you see what comfort a Christians soule sprinkled with the blood of Christ may have if it goe to God in Christ and begge of Christ to be set at liberty from all enemies to serve God in holines and righteousnesse I speake too meanely when I say the Law of the Spirit of life hath fâ—â—ed us from 〈◊〉 and death this is not all the Spirit of life not onely frees us from ill but advanceth us to the contrary good in every thing wherein this freedome is For we are not onely called out of misery but to a Kingdome wee are not onely freed from sinne but intitled to heaven in justification and in sanctification we are not onely freed from corruption but inabled by the holy Spirit of liberty to run the wayes of Gods Commandements and make them voluntary to serve God chearefully zealous of good workes wee are not onely freed from the command and condemnation of sinne and â—he rigour of the Law but we have contrary dispositions ready and willing and voluntary dispositions wrought by the Spirit of Christ to every thing thâ—â—â—s good And so wee are not onely free from death and misery for so things without life are they suffer no misery but wee are partakers of everlasting life and glory the liberty of glory Gods benefits are compleat that is not onely priuative freeing us from ill but positive implying all good because God will shew himselfe a God he will doe good things as a God fully For the Law of the Spirit of life not onely frees us from the law of sinne and of death but writes the Law of God in our hearts he not onely frees us from the law of death but advance us to everlasting life to the glorious life we have in heaven to live for ever with the Lord oâ— happy condition of a Christian if wee could know our happinesse Let us often meditate deepely of Christ and of our selves in him let us see all our ill in him and all our good in him see death overcome and sinne overcome by his death hee being made a curse for us see the Law overcome hee being made under the Law for us when the wrath of God vexeth and terrifieth us see it upon him Hee sweat water and blood in the Garden It made him crie out My God my God why â—ast thou forsaken me See all that may trouble us in him as our Surety And all the good wee hope for see it in Christ first whatsoever he hath in his naturall body it is for his mysticall body for hee gave his naturall body for his mysticall God in the world to humble us exerciseth us with troubles and calamiâ—ies as he did Christ wee must be conformable to our heâ—d but consider the poyson and sting of all ills wee need to feaâ—e is swallowed up and taken away by Christ. And as I said let us see all our good in him wee are sonnes in him raysed 〈◊〉 him blessed in him set in heavenly places with him and shall be follow-heires and Kings with him for wee are his members his Spouse the wife shall enjoy the same condition as the husband whatsoever hee hath she shall have What a comfortable estate is this I we can feare no ill nor want no good whatsoever hee hath it is for us hee was borne for us hee dyed for us hee is gone to heaven for us for us and our good hee did and suffered all these things We cannot exercise our thoughts too much in these meditations The Lords Supper is a Sacrament of union and communion hence it hath its name and by receiving the Sacrament our Communion and union with Christ is strengthned What a comfort then is it to thinke if I have fellowship with Christ it is sealed by the Sacrament when I take the Bread and Wine at the same time I have communion with the Body and Blood of Christ shed for my sinnes and as Christ himselfe was freed from my sinnes imputed to him and by his Resurrection declared that hee was freed so surely shall I be freed from my sinnes So that this Communion taking the Bread and Wine it seales to us our Communion and fellowship with Christ and thereupon our freedome from sinne and from the Law and sets us in a blessed and happy estate Wee should labour therefore by all meanes to strengthen our union and Communion with Christ and amongst the rest reverently and carefully attend upon this blessed Ordinance of God for the body of Christ broken doth quicken us because it is the body of the Sonne of God My flesh is meate indeed and my blood is drinke indeed and hee
comes I say from selfe-love and not from any change of heart As in the the humility of wretched persons a little before the judge comes though they haue carried themselves as rebels before yet then they will humble themselves not out of any hatred to their courses but out of feare of the judge So it may be now thou art arraigned by Gods judgements thou forsakest thy sinnefull courses not out of the hatred of thy sinnes for if thou couldest thou wouldest sinne eternally and that is the reason sinners are punished eternally Because they would sinne everlastingly but thou seest thou art in danger to be pulled away by Gods judgements It is not out of love to grace it is not from any change of nature that thou desirest to be a new creature that thou admirest grace to be the best state but it is to avoid danger not that thou carest for the face of God to be reconciled to him but to avoid the present judgement And what a staggering will this be to conscience when a man shall deferre his repentance till Gods judgements seaze upon him We see it is false for the most part Because such persons that are then humbled when they recover they are as bad or worse then ever they were Therfore an Ancient saith well He that is good onely under the crosse it never good it comes not from any change that God works but meerely from selfe-love Therefore presently let us repent of those waies that God convinceth our conscience to be evill wayes God may strike us suddenly Those that forget God and care not for him now it may be just with God to make them forget themselves to strike them with frenzy to take away the use of their memories then and when sickenesse comes wee shall have enough to doe to conflict with sicknesse we shall have enough to doe to answer the doubts of conscience Oh it would upbraid then We shall thinke it a hard matter then to have favour from God whose worship we have despised the motions of whose Spirit we have neglected and resisted Conscience after long hardening in sinne will hardly admit of comfort it is a harder matter then it is taken for Therefore even to day presently you that are young now in the daies of your youth now in the spring of your yeares repent you of your sinnes before old-age comes which indeed as Salomon describes it is an ill time to repent in Alas then a man can hardly performe civill duties as we see in Barzillai he complaines that in his old-age he could not take the comfort of the creatures Therefore put not off this duty till then And all both young and old now when the judgements of God are abroad in the world take the advantage returne to God renew your covenants make your peace now now this danger doth warme our hearts a little let us strike the Iron now while it is hot let us take the advantage of the Spirit now avvakening us vvith this danger Our hearts are so false and so dull we have need to take all advantages of withdrawing our selves from our sinful courses And to incourage us to doe it let us consider if we doe this and doe it in time wee shall have the sweetnesse of the love of God shed abroad in our hearts You will say wee shall loose the sweetnesse of sin I but you shall have a most sweet communion with God One day of a repentant sinner that is reconciled to God is more comfortable then a thousand yeares of an other man that is in continuall feare of death and judgement Oh the sweete life of a Christian that hath made his peace with God! he is fit for all conditions for life for death for every thing now by this wee shall have this grace and favour of God the Lord will say unto us by his Spirit I am your salvation And besides you shall have his grace renewing and altering and changing you framing you to a better course of life And he will be so farre from misliking any for their former sinnes that hee will give them cause to love him the more as wee see Luk. 7. Shee loved much because shee had much forgiven her Christ we see upbraided not any of his followers with their former sinnes hee regarded nor what they had beene formerly Zaccheus the extortioner Mary Magdalen Matthew the Publican Peter that denied him wee never heare that he upbraided any of them hee doth not onely vouchsafe mercy to Peter repenting but advanceth him to his former office Apostolicall so sweete a God have we to deale with let this incourage us Againe it is the way to prevent Gods judgements as wee see in Nineveh and others Put case we repent not we cannot goe fafe in the citie nor any where but God may meete with us and strike us with his arrow The onely way to prevent his judgements is to meete him speedily by repentance This is the way not onely to turne away the wrath of God concerning eternall damnation but outward judgements as wee see Ioel. 2 and many other places Then againe should we be stricken if we have made our peace with God if we have repented all shall be welcome all shall be turned to our good wee know the sting is pulled out If the sting of death be pulled out if the malignity and poison of any sicknesse be it the plague or whatsoever be pulled out why should we feare it Jt comes in love and shall be turned to our good and in the meane time God sweetens it Here is a grand difference betweene the children of God and others If the judgement of God light upon a repentant person it comes from favour and love to correct him for his former sinnes it is turned to good and in the meane time it is sweetned with love and mixed with comfort and moderated as it is Isa. 27.7 hath hee afflicted thee as I afflicted others No hee moderates his judgements to his children and not onely moderates them but sweetens them with comfort Jf God doe correct a repentant person hee is no looser by it nay he is a gainer It is good for mee that I have been afflicted Oh the blessed estate of that person that repents and turnes from his evill wayes But if a man doe not repent but live still in sinne what a state is hee in God cares not for his prayers If I regard iniquity in my heart God will not heare my prayers and what a state is a man in when his prayers that should beg for blessings and avoid judgements and procure deliverance are not heard but shall be turned into sinne When God that is a God hearing prayer shall not regard his prayer What a case is this Yet if we regard iniquity in our hearts if we repent not of our sinnes God will not regard our prayers Then besides that there is a noise of feare in the
of Christ we are helped and assisted against the remainders of our corruptions For the third the miseries of this life we have victori◠in Christ In him we are more they conquerours as you have it in this Chapter They can doe us no harme Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Iesus We have 〈◊〉 singular comforts in this Chapter against all the troubles than can be fall us and this is one that triumphs over all All things shall worke for the best to them that love God What should I speake of hurt from any thing that befalls us when all shall worke for the best by the over-ruling of him that commands all Vers. 28 And for death it selfe Neither life nor death shall be able to separate us from the love of God And for damnation which accompanies death It is God that justifieth who shall condemne There is opposite comforts in Gods Booke nay in this Epistle and in this Chapter against all that may any way trouble our peace There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus saith the Apostle and then he goes on after to shew how by the helpe of the Spirit all things worke for the best c. In this very Verse likewise you have this comfort set downe of our freedome by Christ from any thing that may hurt us For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath made me free from the Law of sinne and of death The words are dependant as we see in the particle for For the Law of the Spirit of Life c. They depend upon the first Verse thus as a reason why how ever there be sinne in Gods children yet there is no damnation to them There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Iesus he prooves it thus Those that are free from the Law of sinne and of death which brings in condemnation those undoubtedly are free from damnation but those that are in Christ Jesus they are freed from the Law of sinne and of death therefore there is no condemnation to such But how shall we know that we are in Christ Jesus Those that have the Spirit and are led by the Spirit of Christ they are in Christ The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath freed me from the Law of sinne and of death So I say the words are especially a reason of the former There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus because by the Spirit of Christ they are freed from the Law of sinne and of death and by consequent they are freed from damnation for what brings in damnation but sinne In the words then there is an opposition there is Law against Law The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ and the Law of sinne and of death Now where there are contrarie Lawes if there be contrarie Lords as there must be New Lords will have new Lawes especially if they be Lords by conquest they will alter the very fundamentall Lawes that were before as you know the old Conquerours have done in this Kingdome Here is Law against Law and Lord against Lord Christ against sinne and death Here is a Lord by conquest over all other Lords and Lawes therefore here must needes be an alteration of Lawes upon it the very fundamentall Lawes must be altered But to come more particularly to the words For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath freed me from the Law of sinne and of death The words are much vexed by Expositors I will rather speake my owne judgement of them and reconcile them then dash one mans judgement against another for that tends not to edification The Law of the Spirit of life c. The meaning of the words is plaine if we compare it with other Scriptures The Law It is nothing but a commanding power for so the word written the Law in the Apostles meaning is but a power forcing and commanding So the Law of the Spirit of life is the commanding and forcing power of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus and so the Law of sinne it is either the tyrannicall command and forcing power of sinne or else the condemning for sinne afterwards as we shall see hereafter for we shall unfold the words better in the particulars First then here we have set downe what estate we are in by nature we are under the Law of sinne and of death And then here is our freedome and deliverance from that we are made free from the Law of sinne and of death And then the Author of it Christ Jesus The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath freed me from the Law of sinne and of death In the words and those that goe a little before there are these three maine fundamentall points of Religion The miserie and bondage of man The deliverance of man And his dutie Here you have his miserie he is under sinne and death Here is his deliverance he is free from this by Christ. And for his dutie you have it in the last Verse of the former Chapter speaking of his deliverance Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the bodie of this death then it followes Thankes be to God through Iesus Christ our Lord Thankfulnesse is due not verball thankfulnesse onely Indeed the whole life of a Christian after his deliverance is a reall thanksgiving but that is not in my Text. To speake therefore of our estate by nature and of our deliverance our estate is that we are under the Law of sinne and death We are under the Law of sinne We are under sinne what sinne We are under a three-fold sinne We are under the first sinne of our first father for as Levi payd Tythes in Abraham to Melchisedech so we all sinned in the Loynes of Adam our first Parent and the guilt of that first sinne lyes upon us Secondly there is another sinne that is derived and springs from that first sinne which is the deprivation of the Image of God the pravation of our nature we call it originall sinne whereby we are stripped of that good we had in our first creation and have the contrarie image the image of Satan stamped upon us so we are under the first sinne the guilt of it and we are under the sinne of nature which we call originall sinne because it is derived to us even from our birth and first originall we had in Adam And then we are under actuall sinnes which are so many bonds to tie us fast under sinne We are dead by nature but we are dead and rotten by actuall sinnes we super adde to the guilt of our sinne by our dayly conversation We are blind by nature but we are blinded indeed much more by our custome of life Every sinne doth as it were tie us faster to damnation and keepes us faster under the bondage of sinne Every new sinne takes away
nor motion Though such men live a common naturall civill life and walke up and downe yet they are dead men to God and to a better life The world is full of dead men that are dead while they are alive as S. Paul speakes of the Widow that lives in pleasures A fearefull estate if we had Spirituall eyes to see it and thinke of it But then after the death of the soule in this world there is another degree of spirituall death which is when the soule leaves the body then the soule dies for then it goes to hell it is severed for ever from the comfortable and gracious presence of God and likewise it wants the comforts it had in this world And the third degree of it is when body and soule shall be joyned together then there is an eternall separation of both from the presence of God and an adjudging of them to eternall torments in hell This is the state of all men that are not in Christ they are dead in soule while they live dead after the separation of the soule and body and after to be adjudged to eternall damnation world without end Life is a sweet thing and wee know death it is terrible when we would set out our hatefulnesse to any thing wee use to say I hate it as death doe wee love life and doe we hate death we should labour then to be out of that condition that we are all in by nature wherein we are under sinne and death in regard of spirituall life I meane for for civill life and government and policy men may have life and vigour enough that are hypocrites but I speake of a better life an eternall life that is not subject to death Now marke the joyning of both these together we are under sinne and death by nature where a man is under sinne he is under death for as the Apostle saith Rom. 5. Sinne entred into the world and by sinne death They were neither of both Gods creatures neither sinne nor death but sinne entred into the world by Satan and death by sinne Oh ye shall not die saith Satan he was a lyar alway from the beginning so now he saith to men you shall not die you may doe this and doe well enough but he is a lyar and a murtherer when he solicites to sinne he is a murtherer Let us take heed of solicitations to sinne from our owne nature or from Satan marke how God hath linked sinne and death The wages of sinne is death When we are tempted to sinne we thinke I shall have this credit or profite or contentment or preferment and advancement in the world I but that that you get by sinne it is not so great as you looke for when you have it if you get it at all but afterwards comes death the beginnings of eternall death terrours of conscience universally follow if a man be himselfe if he be not besotted The more a man is a man and enjoyes the liberty of his judgement to judge of things the more he sees the misery that is due after sinne with a fearefull expectation of worse things to come Sinne and death are an adamantine chaine and linke that none can sever who shall separate that which God in his Justice hath put together If sinne goe before death will follow if the conception goe before the birth will follow after if the smoake goe before the fire will follow There is not a more constant order in nature then this in Gods appointment first sinne and then death and damnation after Therefore when wee are tempted to sinne let us reason with our selves there is death in the pot let us discerne death in it it will follow And if a man after repent of it it will be more sharp repentance and grievous then the sinne was pleasant that a man shall have little joy of his sinne if he doe repent if he doe not repent what a fearefull estate is a man in after he hath sinned Sinne and death goe together no humane power can sever them for take the greatest Monarch in the world when he hath sinned conscience is above him as great as hee is for conscience is next under God it awes and terrifies him and keepes his sleepe from him as we see of late in our bloody neighbour Country after that great Massacre he could not sleepe without Musicke and the like All that they have and enjoy in the world all their greatnesse it will not satisfie and stop the mouth of conscience but when they sinne they feele the wrath of God arresting and they aâ—e as iâ— were shut up in prison under the terrours of an accusing conscience till they come to eternall imprisoment in the chaine of hell and damnation This is the estate of the greatest man in the world that is not in Christ. They are not so happy as we thinke they are they are imprisoned in their owne hearts though they walke at never so much liberty abroad and doe what they list for sinne and death goes together and before eternall death comes the expectation and terrours of it seize on them for the present So that whatsoever our first birth be though it be noble and great yet by it we are bond-slaves under sinne and death unlesse our second birth our new birth make amends for flâ—â—e for the basenesse of our first birth This prerogative our spirituall noblenesse is such an estate wherein wee are not borne but are borne againe to it to an inheritance immortall c. But by nature wee are all bond men though wee be be borne never so nobly Therefore let us never bragge of our birth as the Jewes did that they were the children of Abraham No saith Christ you are of your father the Devill Let none stand upon the Gentrie and Nobility of their birth unlesse they be taken out of the condition they are in by nature to be in a better condition in Christ for we see all men naturally are under the law of sinne and death These things are slighted because wee enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season men thinke to be inthralled to sinne it is pleasant thraldome they are golden fetters for I shall have the pleasures of sin all my life time c. and for death I will set a Romane spirit against death Saith a Romane what is it such a matter to die It is nothing to die they set a good face on the matter And this is the conceite of many men till they come to it but alas to be inthralled to death it is another matter for behind death there is a gulphe A man may breake the hedgewell enough with a strong resolution to die it is nothing to die if there were an end But there is a gulphe there is damnation and destruction behind there is eternall torment behind to be adjudged from the presence of God for ever to be separated from all good and all comfort
any good God takes notice of it Daviâ— after hâ— had repented of that foule sinne and was sharply corrected for it as indeed he was David was a good man for all that hee served God in his Generation But to give you an item by the way however God passed by the sinne in David and accounted him after his repentance a good man yet he must be sharply corrected for it Let no man therefore presume upon this that God will iudge him by the tenour of his life and therefore hee will commit particular enormities oh no! it cost David deare for besides his heart-smart in his owne particular God made his heart bleed it cost him many a salt tear besides that it was punished in his posteritie God raysed up his own bowels to take armes against him hee made him wish a thousand times that he had not so offended God It is ill trying conclusions with God though God afterwards pardon us and turne all to good yet it shall cost us deare first Though God will bring us to heaven yet if we will venture upon sinnes against conscience and take libertie to offend God he will take sharp courses with us yet it shall not preiudice our salvation you see those sins of David after he had repented was corrected for them they were forgotten and David in regard of the course of his life served God his life was a service of God notwithstanding some particular actions These things may be usefull to the best of us all therefore I observe them in generall from Gods manner of mentioning David here with honour and passing by his infirmities To come more particularly to the words Then David after he had served in his Generation the will of God c. THe words are a short Epitome of the life and death of the blessed man David First I will speak of his life and then of his death In his life there are these two parts First the time in which he lived when this service was done In his Generation And then the manner of his carriage in that time of his generation It was a service of God He served God And this service of God is set down by the obiect of it God By the rule of his worship the will of God Hee served God but how as he had revealed his will to him not at randome God will be served according to his own will And then here is the act he served So here is the proper obiect of worship God in whom all our service is terminate whatsoever we do it must rest in him if we do good works to men it must be for Gods sake we must serve God in it Then here is the proper rule carrying us to that obiect his Will And then it must be a service it must be done in obedience to God David in his Generation served the will or counsell of God as the Word is For his death we shall speak of it after First for the time In his generation Generation in the Scripture signifies a succession of men one after another as you have it in Matth. 1. from such a one to such a one so many generations so many successions You know in the Latine tongue seculum is taken for an age or generation the space of an hundred years though Moses shut up the life of man in a shorter time Succession of one man after another is a generation Generation sometimes in a generall sense is taken for all of one kinde The generation of Noah and the generation of the righteous that is all of that kinde without restraining it to succession But most commonly it is the consideration of men from succession of them having the tearm from the way whereby we enter into the world that is by generation therefore the succession of men from one to another is called Generation Now here Generation implies both the times and the persons The persons of men are a severall generation and the time wherein they live is a generation and both are here included David in his Generation among the age of men and in the time wherin he lived â—erved God The meaning of the place is clear The points considerable here are First of all that there is a generation a succession of men one after another Secondly that every man hath his particular generation Daviâ— had his generation wherin he served the Lord. Thirdly that he served God in his Generation that is the whole time of his Generation yet with this limitation he served God only in his generation while he was here before he came to heaven In heaven there is a kinde of service but it is not by way of work but of reward We must serve God in our generation here If ever we look to reap herafter we must sow now David served God in his generation First of all There is a generation a succession of men Particular men go off the stage but the species the kinde is eternall kinds of things continue forever Man dies noâ— but Paul and Peteâ— and David die there is a succession of particular men It is with men as it is with the waves of the sea one wave goes away and another comes after It is with men as it is with trees for men are compared in Scripture to trees trees of righteousnesse and man take him in his nature is like a tree the Poet could say to that purpose it is with men as with trees some leaves fall off in Autumne and others come in their place the next spring so it is with men they have their severall Generations there is an Autumne a decay and there is a spring of them there is a succession of Generations To teach us this lesson that our time being short here every man hath his generation one Generation goeth away and another commeth as the Scripture saith wee must be laid to our Fathers and otherr must stand up in our place Rise up Iosua for Moses my servant is dead saith the Lord one servant of God dies and another rises There bee many that must act their parts in this world therefore some must go off the stage that others may come on therefore while we have time here let us be sure to do good before we be takeÌ„ away suddenly we know not how soon and there be no more generation Here there will be a succession of generations till wee all meet in heaven then there wil be no succession there shal be no more death but as the Apostle saith we shal be for ever with the Lord. And it should teach us likewise considering that in regard of our being and naturall condition in the world there are severall successions generation after generation that now we are here and presently after no more seen in the world to make sure an eternall generation to be borne anew of the immortall seed that never dies as Saint Peter saith that tends to
David in his Generation served the Counsell or Will of God Now to make a perfect discourse of it wee will speak something of his end He fell a sleep and was gathered to his Fathers and saw Corruption HE fell asleep that is he died for sleep in Scripture it is a middle phrase appliable to good and bad for wicked men in Scripture are said to sleep and good men are said to sleep Only the difference is as the persons are for the sleep of wicked men it is like the sleep of a male factor before his execution that is oft-times tripped in his sleep or like the sleep of a man in sicknesse or in a mad fit his sleep doth but concoct the malignant humour and after he wakes he rageth three times more than he did before So the sleep the death of a carnall wicked man it is but a preparation to his execution it is but the sleep of a distempered man that wakes with more horrour and terrour and rage than ever before indeed properly the death only of the godly is a sleep But to observe something first briefly in generall We see here is a time of dying as well as 〈◊〉 a time of living There is a time to serve God in living and there is a time to yeeld our soules to him as well as a time to serve God in doing the actions and functions of this life Which should teach us this not to fix our thoughts too much on life As there is a time for all things to the living so there is a time to cease to live and therfore to use the world with moderation as though wee used it not knowing that the fashion of the world passeth away It should teach us to serve God as well in living as in dying And it should teach us to do all the good wee can while wee have time David served God while hee lived and hee served God in dying because his death was in obedience but as I said before after death properly there is no service of God but a receiving of wages therefore let us serve God while we live while we have time because there is a time when night will come the night of sicknesse and of death and then no man can work if he would never so faine He fell asleep Why did he not die before hee served God a great while hee did not die when he was first a good man God will have his Children serve out their Generation They must serve out their time As soone as ever we beleeve we have right to heaven but God will have us beare the burthen of the day awhile to bring others to heavn with us to go before others in the example of a godly life to gaine as many as we can To trie the truth of our graces before wee come to heaven whether they be true or no that they may be true tried graces And he will have us perfect before we come to so holy a place hee will have us grow in grac as Ahasueros his wife 's were to bee perfumed and prepared before they came to him It is a holy place that wee hope for a holy condition therfore he will have us by little and little be fitted by the spirit of God Many such reasons there be why God in heavenly wisdome will have us go on here a time before wee come to heaven though as soone as we beleeve we are in the state of salvation as Christ said to Zacheus This day is salvation come to thine house Therefore let us not repine that God will have us live Indeed as soone as a Christian hath faith he hath life in patience and death in desire for hee is impatient to want his crowne oh but here is the time of service and when he considers the eternity of the reward hee shall have after he will bee glad to serve God and he will be ashamed that he can do it no more When hee knowes hee shall have an eternall weight of glory for a little service then hee will deny his lusts and pleasures to serve God in the place hee lives in whether hee be Magistrate or Minister whatsoever to undergo the burden of a little service Againe in that it is said here Then he fell asleep not before till he had served the counsell of God God hath alotted a man a time He hath set him a glasse that must be runne he hath given him a part to act and hee cannot be taken away till that be done hee can never fall asleep till hee have served the counsell of God As it is said in the Gospell concerning our Saviour Christ his houre was not yet come They have laid wait for him but his houre was not come so there may be many snares laid for the children of God by Sathan and his instruments but till their houre bee come all the Divells in hell nor all the Divells instruments on earth cannot shorten a mans life one minute of an houre for hee shall fall asleep when he hath served the counsell of God when he hath done all that God will have him to do Therefore it is ground of resolution let us go on in our places and callings undantedly and wisely too not to tempt God to rush into dangers but I meane without base feare and distrust for wee must serve God to day and to morrow and then wee shall be sanctified Wee must serve God the appointed time that hee will have us to live here and then wee shall fall asleep and not before no creature hath power over the life of man to shorten his dayes The next thing wee will observe from the nature of sleep is that The death of the godly is a sleep in respect of refreshing Sleep doth refresh and repaire and as it were recreate and make a man anew Sleep and rest it is the blessed ordinance of God it is an excellent thing to repaire man so after death nature shall be repaired better we shall rise fresher as it is Psal. 17. ult when I arise I shall bee satisfied with thine image wee shall rise refreshed better than wee lay downe So that as we go to bed then to sleep to cut off all cares so when wee rest in death all cares and feares and terrours all annoyances are cut off Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord they rest from their labours insinuating that there is no rest before for to a man that knowes that this world is a work-house and his life a service to God hee thinkes of no rest till he be in his grave so death it is a sleep in regard of that rest Wee rest from the labour of sinne wee rest from the wearisome labour of the body from the labour of afflictions and oppressions from the molestations of other men among whom we live every way this life is tedious and
adds to our comfort that whatsoever Christ did for us he did it as chosen hee is a chosen stone as Saint Peter saith 1. Peter 2.6 A precious corner stone though refused of the builders yet precious in Gods sight Was Christ a chosen servant of God and shall not we take Gods choise Is not Gods choise the best and the wisest Hath God chosen Christ to worke our salvation and shall we choose any other Shall we run to Saints mediation to the Virgin Mary and others for intercession which is a part of Christs office Who chose Mary and Peter and Paul to this worke there is no mention in Scripture of them for this purpose But behold my servant whom I have chosen God in Paradice did choose a wife for Adam so God hath chosen a husband for his Church he hath chosen Christ for us therefore it is intollerable sacrilegious rebellion and impudency to refuse a Saviour and Mediator of Gods choosing and to set up others of our own as if we were wiser to choose for our selves then God is we may content our selves well enough with Gods choise because he is the party offended Besides it is folly to goe out from Christ where there is all fulnesse and content to leave Gods chosen servant and to goe to any other servant to any broken vessell God rests in this servant as Pharoah did in Ioseph the second person in the Kingdome therefore let Gods choise and ours agree And this directs us also in our devotions to God how to carry our selves in our prayers and services to offer Christ to God Behold Lord thy chosen servant that thou hast chosen to bee my Mediator my Saviour my all in all to me he is a Mediator and a Saviour of thine owne choosing thou canst not refuse thy owne choise if thou looke upon me there is nothing but matter of unworthinesse but look upon him whom thou hast chose my head and Saviour Againe if Christ be a chosen servant O let us take heed how we neglect Christ. When God hath chosen him for us shall not we think him worthy to be imbraced and regarded shall we not kisse the Sonne with the kisse of love and faith and subjection he is a Saviour of Gods owne choosing refuse him not What is the reason that men refuse this chosen stone They will not be laid low enough to build upon this corner stone this hidden stone the excellencie of Christ is hidden it appeares not to men men will not be squared to be built upon him stones for a building must be framed and made even and flat men stick out with this and that lust they will not be pared and cut and fitted for Christ if they may have their lusts and wicked lives they will admit of Christ but wee must make choise of him as a stone to build upon him and to bee built on him wee must be made like him we like not this laying low and abasing therefore we refuse this Corner stone though God hath made him the corner of building to all those that have the life of grace here or shall have glory hereafter The Papists admit him to be stone but not the onely stone to build on but they build upon him and Saints upon him and works upon him and traditions but he is the onely corner stone God hath chosen him onely and wee muâ—â— choose him onely that wee may bee framed and laid upon him to make up one building so much for that Behold my servant whom I have chosen My Beloved in whom my soule is well-pleased How doe we know that these words in the Prophet Isaiah are fitly appliable to Christ By the greatest authority that ever was from the beginning of the world by the immediate voice of God the Father from Heaven who applies these words in Isaiah to Christ Mat. 3. in his inauguration when he was baptised This is my Beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased this is that my Sonne that beloved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beloved Sonne so beloved that my soule delights in him he is capable of my whole love I may powre out my whole love upon him in whom I am well pleased it is the same with that heere in whom my soule delighteth the one expresseth the other How and in what respect is Christ thus beloved of God First as he is God the Sonne of God the engraven Image of his Father so he is primum amabile the first lovely thing that ever was when the Father loves him he loves himselfe in him so he loves him as God as the second person as his owne image and character And as man he loves him for as man he was the most excellent creature in the world he was conceived fashioned and framed in his mothers wombe by the Holy Ghost It is said Heb. 10.5 God gave him a body God the Father by the Holy Ghost fashioned and framed and fitted him with a body therefore God must needs love his owne workmanship Againe there was nothing in him displeasing to God there was no sinne found in his life any way therefore as man he was well-pleasing to God he took the man-hood and ingrafted it into the second person and inriched it there therefore he must needs love the Man-hood of Christ being taken into so neare a union with the God-head As God and man Mediator especially hee loves and delights in him in regard of his office he must needs delight in his owne Ordinance and Decree now he decreed and sealed him to that office therefore he loves and delights in him as a Mediator of his owne appointing and ordaining to be our King and Priest and Prophet Againe hee loved and delighted in him in regard of the execution of his office both in doing and suffering In doing the Evangelist saith hee did all things well when hee healed the sick and raised the dead and cured all diseases whatsoever he did was well done And for his suffering God delighted in him for that as it is in Iohn 10.17 My Father loves me because I lay downe my life and so in Isaiah 53. He shall divide him a portion with the great because hee powred out his soule unto death and in Philip. 2. Because he abased himselfe to the death of the Crosse God gave him a name above all names therefore God loves and delights in him for his suffering and abasement It is said of Noah Gen. 8.21 that he offered a sacrifice after the flood and the Lord smelled a sweet savour of his sacrifice and thereupon hee saith I will not curse the earth againe so God loves and delights in Christ as he offered himselfe a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour wherin God rests he felt such a sweet savour in the sacrifice of Christ he is so delighted in it that he will never destroy mankind hee will never destroy any that beleeve in Christ the sacrifice of Noah
order the baser part doth not rule the higher but the higher part of the soule a sanctified judgement rules all because the whole is in right judgement therefore sanctification is called judgement and other courses though they be never so fashionable are but madnesse and folly and disorder in the censure of the Scripture nothing is judgement and true wisedome but sanctification and obedience flowing from sanctification Therefore saith Moses in Deuteronomie Then shall you be knowne to bee a wise people when you obey the Lawes that I have given you onely that shewes a wise judicious man to be obedient to Gods truth by the Spirit sanctifying him Without the truth of God and the Spirit in us framing our soules answerable to the truth we are out of all good order For then the affections that should bee ruled rule us then the body and the lusts of the body rule the soule and the Divell rules by both what a shamefull disorder is this when a man shall be ruled by the Divell and his owne lusts that he should treade under feete and trample upon and this is the state of all that have not this judgement in them that have not the word of God written in their hearts bowing and bending them by the Spirit of God to spirituall obedience to proove this J will name but one place among many Titus 3. â— hee shewes the state of all men that are not brought into subjection by this judgement by the Word and Spirit of truth We our selves saith he were sometimes foolish and disobedient till this judgement is set up in us wee are foolish in our understandings and disobedient in our wills and affections deceived and misled by the Divell and our owne lusts for that followes upon folly those that are foolish and disobedient are deceived and led away to eternall destruction There is a way that seemes good in a mans owne eyes but the issues of it are death saith Salomon this is the state of all men that are not led with the judgement of Gods truth and Spirit sanctifying and framing their soules to obedience they are foolish and disobedient and deceived and so it will proove with them in the end Serving diverse lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hating one another Now when God by his blessed Truth and Spirit sets up his rule in the heart it brings all into captivity as Saint Paul saith it brings all the inner man into subjection The Word of God is the weapon of God these judgements are mighty in operation together with the Spirit to beate downe all strong holds and to set up another judgement there it brings all into captivity to the truth and command of God and to the motions of the Spirit the Word and Spirit beate downe all the strong holds that are raised up in the heart by Satan and our corruptions so wee see here what is meant by this phrase Hee shall declare judgement to the Gentiles It is a militant word therefore J have stood somewhat the longer in unfolding of it Now this is wrought by the preaching of the Gospell Hee shall declare judgement to the Gentiles all grace comes by declaring The Gospell is the power of God to salvation Let but the Gospell which is Gods judgement how men shall be saved and how they shall walke in obedience by way of thankefullnesse to God be declared and all that belong to God shall come in and yeeld homage to it and bee brought in subjection The Divell in the Antichristian state knowes this well enough therefore he labours to hinder the declaration of judgement by all meanes he will not have Gods judgements but mens traditions declared he knowes the declaring of Gods judgements will breed an alteration quickly in mens dispositions For when hee saith Hee shall declare judgement to the Gentiles he meanes the consequent as well as the thing he shall so declare judgement that they shall yeeld spirituall obedience and come in and be saved Let the Divell doe his worst let all seducers of soules doe their worst if they would but give way to the preaching of the Gospell let but judgement be declared let Gods arme be stretched forth in delivering the truth hee would soone gaine soules out of the captivity and bondage of Satan they know it well enough therfore by all the wayes they can they stop the preaching of the Gospell and disgrace and hinder it and set up mens traditions instead of the Gospell but I will not inlarge my selfe farther upon these wordes but goe on to the next Hee shall not strive nor cry neither shall any man heare his voice in the streetes These wordes set downe the mild and sweete and amiable manner of Christs carriage upon earth here in his first comming to worke the great worke of our redemption he did not carry the matter in an outward glorious manner in pompe but he would have his miracles concealed oft times and himselfe hidden his God-head was hid under the vaile of his Manhood he could not have wrought our salvation else if the divell and the world had knowne Christ to be as he was they would never have made those attempts against him therefore considering he had such a dispensation to work our salvation as a King Priest and Prophet he would not cry and contend and strive hee would not come with any great noise Now here is an opposition to the giving of the law and likewise to the comming and carriage of civill Princes You know when the Law was given all the mount was on fire and the earth thereabout quaked and trembled and the people fled they could not indure to heare the voice of God speaking in the mount there was such a terrible smoake and fire they were all affraid thus came Moses now did Christ come as Moses was the Gospell delivered by Christ as the law was in terrors and feares Oh no Christ came not in such a terrible manner in thunder and lightning but the Gospell it came sweetly A Dove a mild creature lit upon the head of Christ when he was Baptised to shew his mild manner of carriage and he came with blessing in his mouth in his first Sermon of all Blessed are the poore in spirit blessed are they that mourne blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse The Law came with curses Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the law to doe them Christ came in another manner the Gospell was delivered in a mild sweete manner Christ as an Ambassador came sweetly to intreat and beseech there is a crying indeed but it is a crying out of love and intreaty not a shouting in a terrible manner as was at the giving of the law no nor as at the comming of other civill Princes into a citie with shouting and noise of trumpets with pompe and state and great attendants Christ came not into the world to execute his kingdome and
sinnes he quickned us but they are put in in the translation because they must be understood to make the full sence In the words consider these things First of all heere the Apostle puts them in mind of their former condition And then he sets downe in particular what it was They were dead in trespasses and sins Then he tells them wherein they were dead what was the cause of their death and the element wherein they were dead in trespasses and sins Lastly not in one trespasse and in one sin but in trespasses and sins And then to speake a little of quickning to take it out of the 5. verse You hath he quickned There is the benefit with the condition That which Jaime at is especially to shew our estate by nature and how we are raised out of that I shall touch the points briefly as I have propounded them Saint Paul here first minds them of their former condition you were dead in trespasses and sinnes For contraries give lustre one to another and it magnifies grace mervailously to consider the opposite condition Hee that never knew the height and bredth and depth of his naturall corruption will never be able to conceive the height and breadth and depth of Gods infinite love in Iesus Christ. Saint Paul had deepe thoughts of both as ever man had therefore he could never enter into the argument of abasing man and extolling the love of God in Christ that he could satisfie himselfe but his spirit carries him from one thing to another till he set it out to the full And every one of us should be skilfull in this double mystery the mystery of the corruption of nature that is unsearchable there is corruption in the heart that none knows but God only and we must plow with his heifer that carries a light into the hidden parts of the soule and discovers corruption there is a mystery of that as well as of the Gospell of our deliverance out of that cursed estate from the guilt and thraldome of it I doe but touch it onely to shew the scope of the Apostle Now besides the consideration of it for this end to magnifie the grace of God and to understand what our former estate was the better there are many other ends As to stirre up our thankefullnesse when we consider from what we are delivered to glorifie God the more There is no soule so enlarged to glorifie God as that soule that hath large thoughts of its estate by nature and that estate by nature made worse by custome our second ill nature and bondage voluntary considering Gods mercy in delivering and freeing us from all sinnes and trespasses this will make us thankefull indeed And it is a spring of love to God when we consider what great sinnes we have forgiven usâ— it will make us humble all the daies of our lives and pitifull to others but this may be handled fitter from another portion of Scripture To come therefore to the words Who were dead in trespasses and sins Their condition is they were dead the specification of their death in sinnes and trespasses and not in one but in sinnes and trespasses Here I might digresse and tell you a discourse of life and death at large every man knowes by experience what they are In a word death is a privation of life What is life and whence ariseth it Not to speake of the life of God God is life and Christ is life but of lâ—fe in us It ariseth from the soule first there is a soule and then a life from the union with that soule and then there is a secret kindled motion and operation outward wheresoever life is Life in man I say springâ— from the soule The soule hâ—th a double life a life in it selfe and a life it communicates to the body The life in it selfe it liveth when it is out of the body it hath an essentiall life of its owne but the life of the body is derived from its union with the soule and from that union comes lively motion and operation The spirituall life of the soule is by the Spirit of Christ when our soule hath union with the quickning Spirit of Christ and by Christs Spirit is joyned to Christ and by Christ to God who is life it selfe and the first fountaine of all life then we have a spirituall life The Spirit is the soule of our soules and this spiritual soule this Spirit in us is not idle wherever life is there is motion and operation inward and outward suteable and proportionable to the fountaine of life the Spirit of God himselfe So on the contrary it is with death what is death Death is nothing else but a seperation from the cause of life from that from whence life springs The body having a communicated life from the soule when the soule is departed it must needs be dead Now death take it in a spirituall sence it is either the death of law our sentence as we say of a man when he is condemned he is a dead man Or death in regard of disposition and then the execution of that death of sentence in bodily death and in eternall death afterward Now naturally we are dead in all these sences First by the sin of Adam in whose loynes we were we were all damned there was a sentence of death upon all Adams rotten race as we say damnati antequam nati we were damned before we were borne as soone as we had a being in our mothers wombe by reason of our communion with Adam in that first sinne And then there is corruption of nature as a punishment of that first sinne that is a death as we shall see afterward a death of al the powers we cannot act and moove according to that life that we had at the first we cannot thinke we cannot will we cannot affect we cannot doe any thing that savours of spirituall life Hereupon comes a death of sentence upon us being damned both in Adams loynes and in originall sinne and likewise adding actuall sinnes of our owne if we had no actuall sinne it were enough for the sentence of death to passe upon us but this aggravates the sentence We are dead in law as well as in disposition This death in law is called guilt a binding over to eternall death it breeds horrour and terrours in the soule for the present which are the flashes of Hell-fire and expectation of worse even of the second death for the time to come which is an eternall seperation from God for ever an eternall lying under the wrath and curse of God in body and soule after they are united at the resurrection because wee would sinne eternally if we did live eternally here and no satisfaction being made for man after death there must be an eternall sentence and punishment upon him a terrible condition if we were not afraid of the first death we should be afraid of the
second death that followes wee are all dead in trespasses and sins Now what is the reason of it why we are dead First of all the ground of it is by sin we are seperated from the fountaine of life therfore we are all dead Secondly by sinne we lost that first originall righteousnesse which was comproduced with Adams soule when Adams soule was infused it was cloathed with all graces with originall righteousnesse the stampe of God was on his soule it was connaturall to that estate and condition to have that excellent gratious disposition that he had Now because we all lost that primative Image and glory of our soules we are dead We are dead likewise not onely in regard of the time past but for the time to come No man by nature hath fellowship with the second Adam till he be grafted into him by Faith which is a meere supernaturall thing In these regards every man naturally is dead Nay sinne it selfe it is not onely a cause of death of temporall death as it is a curse and so of eternall death of that bitter sentence and adjudging of us to both that we feele in terrours of conscience and expect after But sinne it selfe is an intrinsicall death Why Because it is nothing but a seperation of the soule from the chiefe good which is God and a cleaving to some creature For there is no sin but it carries the soule to the changeable creature in delight and affection to its pride and vanity one thing or other Sinne is a turning from God to the creature and that very turning of the soule is death every sinfull soule is dead In these and the like considerations you may conceave we are all dead And you hath hee quickned who were dead c. Let us consider a little what a condition this is to be dead in trespasses and sinnes Not to speake of the danger of the death of sentence when a man by the state of nature lies under the wrath of God that hanges over his head and is ready to crush him every moment But to speake of that death that seizeth upon our dispositions wee are dead by nature And what doth death worke upon the body unactivenesse stiffnesse so when the Spirit of God is severed from the soule it is cold and unactive and stiffe Therefore those that finde no life to that that is good no nor no power nor strength it is a signe that they have not yet felt the power of the quickning Spirit when they heare coldly and receive the Sacrament coldly as if it were a dead piece of worke and businesse when they doe anything that is spiritually good coldly and forced not from an inward principle of love to God that might heate and warme their hearts but they goe about it as a thing that must be done and thinke to satisfie God with an outward dead action Againe death makes the body unlovely Abraham would buy a piece of ground that hee might bury his dead out of his sight hee could not indure the sight of his owne beloved wife when shee was dead Death takes away the beauty and the honour that God hath put upon the body so that it is not honourable to those that behold it after death The Image of God stamped upon the soule of man by the Spirit it is the glory of a man after sin it is an unlovely soule We are all deprived of the glory of God as S. Paul saith And not onely so but there is a loathsomenesse contrary to that honour that was in it before Though all art and skill be used that may be to set out a dead body with flowers or whatsoever you will to please the fancy of the living yet it is but a dead body and the stench will be above all other sweete smells So let any naturall man be as witty and as learned and as great and as rich as you will or as he can be set out with all these ornaments and flowers yet hee is but a carrion a loathsome creature to God if his soule be seperated from God and inwardly cleave to the creature If he have not a new heart he is abhominable and loathsome to God and to all that have the Spirit of God A dead soule is abhominable to all Gods sences the Scripture thus familiarly condescends unto us hee will not behold him hee lookes upon the proud afarre off And hee smells no savour from their performances the very sacrifice of the wicked is abhominable he lookes upon them as wee doe upon a dunghill as a loathsome thing The prayers of the wicked are an abhomination to God he turnes away his face from them hee cannot indure them And for his eares hee will not heare the prayers of the wicked And for feeling he is wearied with their sinnes as a cart is with sheaves Nay he is wearied with their very good actions as it is Isa. 1.8 Whatsoever wicked men performe it is abhominable to God hee cannot behold them hee cannot indure them hee is burdened with their sinnes and those also that have the Spirit of God in them as farre as they see the foulenesse of their sins they loath them But herein a wicked man agrees with a dead body a dead body is not loathsome to its selfe So take a carnall man hee pranks up himselfe hee thinkes himselfe a jolly man especially when hee is set out in his flowers those things that hee beggs of the creatures he sees not his loathsomenesse hee thinkes himselfe a brave man in the world in the place he lives in and hee hath base conceits of others of God and all things of God Dead men are not loathsome to themselves because they want sences As in a prison the noisome savour is not offensive to them because they are all acquainted with it it hath ceazed upon and possessed their sences So wicked men they smell no ill savour and sent one from another because they are all dead persons one dead man is not loathsome to another as a company of prisoners they are not offended with the noysomenesse of one another Againe we sever dead persons from the rest so indeed a dead soule as he is severed from God so ae jure he should be severed from the company of others there should be a seperation and as soone as the life of grace is begun there will be a seperation betweene the living and the dead Let the dead follow the dead and bury the dead saith our Saviour in the Gospell Where bodily death is it deprives of all sences there is no use of any either of the eye or tongue c. it makes them speechlesse So he that is spiritually a dead man he can speake nothing that is savoury and good of spirituall things if he doth he is out of his element if he speak of good things he speakes with the spirit of another man if he speake of the writings of
and to have societie with the Devill and his Angels in hell and that forever and for ever Thou maist perhaps make â—light of the service of sinne because thou hast the present baits to delight thee but thou shouldst regard death Thou maist neglect death but then regard eternall death This word Eternall it is a heavy word Eternall separation from all good and eternall communion with the Devill and his Angels and for the wrath of God to seize on thy soule eternally world without end me thinkes men should not set light by that Therefore considering that this is our estate by nature we are all slaves to sinne and death let us labour to get out of this cursed estate by all meanes which is by The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus Now I come to speake of our freedome The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath freed me from the Law of sinne and death This is good news indeed to heare of freedome good newes to the Israelites to heare of freedome out of Egypt and for the Jewes to heare of Cyrus Proclamation for their freedome out of Babylon Freedome out of bondage is a sweet message Here we have such a message of spirituall freedome from other manner of enemies then those were The yeare of Jubile it was a comfortable yeare to servants that were kept in and were much vexed with their bondage when the yeare of Jubile came they were all freed therefore there was great expectation of the yeare of Jubile Here we have a spirituall Jubile a manumission and freedome from the bondage we are in by nature The Spirit of life in Christ makes us free from the Law of sinne and death There is life in Christ opposite to death in us there is a Spirit of life in Christ and a Law of the Spirit of life in Christ opposite to the law of sinne and of death in us So that this is our happinesse while we live here oh it is the blessednesse of men to make use of it while they have time and space and grace to repent and to cleave to Christ that whatsoever ill we are under by nature we may have full supply in Christ for all the breaches that came by the first Adam There came the wrath of God the corruption of our nature terrours of conscience death and damnation all these followed the sinne and breach of the first Adam all these are made up in the second He hath freed us from all the ill wee received from the first Adam and that we have added our selves for we make our selves worse then we come from Adam by our voluntary and daily transgressions but wee are freed from all by the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus How comes this freedome There can no freedome be without satisfaction to divine Justice For why are we under sinne God gives us up to sinne why are we under death God gives us up to death Why are we under Satans government he is Gods executioner Gods serjeant he gives us up to him here because we offend him Why are we under damnation and wrath because God is offended All our slavery comes originally from God however it be sinfull in regard of Satan that keepes us yet the power whereby he keepes us is good for he doth it from God His will is alwayes naught but his power is alwayes lawfull therefore the power whereby the Devill keepes us if wee looke up to God under whom the power is it is a lawfull power for God hath a hand in giving us up to finne it is a judiciall giving up and then by lusts and â—inne to Satan and death and damnation So if we speake of freedome wee must not begin with the executioner the wrath of God must be satisfied God must be one with us so as his Justice must have contentment Satisfaction must be with the glory of his Justice as well as of his Mercie his Attributes must have full content one must not be destroyed to satisfie another hee must so be mercifull in freeing us as that content must be given to his Justice that it complaine not of any losse Now reconciliation alway supposeth satisfaction it is founded upon it And satisfaction for sinne it must be in that nature that hath sinned now man of himselfe could not satisfie divine Justice being a finite person therefore God the second Person became man that in our nature hee might satisfie Gods wrath for us and so free us by giving payment to his divine Justice The death of Christ God-man is the price of our liberty and freedome But why doth the Apostle speake here of a Law of the Spirit of life in Christ which frees us but here is no mention of satisfaction by death Oh but death is the foundation of all as we shall see afterwards To unfold the point therefore because it is a speciall point and the words need unfolding Here it is said there is life in Christ. A Spirit of life in Christ. and a Law of a Spirit of life in Christ. There is life in Christ not onely as God for so indeed he is life God his life is himselfe for life is the being of a thing and the actions and moving and vigour and operations of a thing answerable to that being So the life of God is his being As I live saith the Lord that is as I am God I will not the death of a sinner Now Christ hath life in him as God as the Father hath but that is not especially here meant There is life in Christ as God-man as Mediator Now this life is that life which is originally from the God-head indeed it is but the God-heads quickening and giving life to the man-hood in Christ the Spirit quickning and sanctifying the man-hood And we have no comfort by the life of God as it is in Gods life alone severed for alas what communion have wee with God without a Mediator but our comfort is this that God who is the fountaine of life he became man and having satisfied Gods Justice he conveyes life to us he is our head hee hath life in himselfe as God to impart spirituall life to all his members so there is life in Christ as Mediator And there is a Spirit of life that life it is a working life for spirit is an emphaticall word spirit added to a thing increased the thing Againe he saith the Law of the Spirit of life Law is a commanding thing to shew that the life in Christ it is a commanding life it countermands all opposite lives whatsoever of sinne and death and this Law is a countermand to all other Lawes the Law of the Spirit of life frees us from all other Lawes So here is life the Spirit of life and the Law of the Spirit of life all words of strong signification But for the cleare understanding of this sweet and comfortable point First
Justice for them and by the Spirit of life hath quickned that dead body of his that was surety for us himselfe we may well say Who shall lay any thing to our charge he that is our surety is dead dead nay risen againe nay ascended and sits at the right hand of God Therefore now the conscience of any Christian may make that interrogation and bold demand there it may stand out any that dares to oppose the peace of his conscience now that he may say who is it it is God-man that dyed it is Christ that dyed in our nature and hath raised that nature of ours againe and is at the right hand of God who shall lay any thing to our charge The Spirit of life in Christ quickning him hath quickned us together with him so that now we may boldly demand we are freed from our sinnes because our surety is free from all All this was for our good what Christ did it was not for himselfe but for us and in his birth and life and death and resurrection we must consider him as a publicke person and so goe along with all that hee did as a publicke person Whatsoever may be terrible to us we must looke upon it first in Christ. If we looke upon the corruption and defilement in our nature looke upon the pure nature of Christ his nature was sanctified in his birth and he is a publicke person therefore this is for me and though I be defiled in my owne nature and carry the remainders of corruption about me yet the Spirit of life in Christ sanctified his nature and there is more sanctity in him then there can be sinne in me When we looke upon our sinnes let us not so much looke upon them in our consciences as in our surety Christ. When wee looke upon death looke not upon it in our selves in its owne visage but as it is in Christ undergone and conquered for the power of the Spirit of life in Christ overcame death in himselfe first and for us and will overcome in us in time When the wrath of God is on our consciences looke not upon it as it is in our selves but as undergone by Christ and as Christ by the Spirit of life now in him is raised up not from death alone but from all terrours My God my God why hast thou forsaken me See Christ by the Spirit of life quickened from all not onely bare naturall death but from all enemies thou needest to feare from the Law it is nayled to his Crosse hee now triumphs over it and from sinne hee was a Sacrifice for it and from the wrath of God he hath satisfied it or else he had not come out of his grave So whatsoever is terrible look on it in Christ first see a full discharge of all that may affright thy conscience and trouble thy peace any way See him in his death dying for every man that will beleeve Consider him in his resurrection as a publicke person not rising himselfe alone but for all us therefore is 1 Pet. 1. There is an excellent place Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath begotten us againe to a lively hope by the resurrection of Iesus Christ to an inheritance immortall undefiled c. and so goe along with him to his Ascension and see our selves sitting with him in heavenly places as Saint Paul speakes oh this is a sweet meditation of Christ to see our selves in him in all the passages of his birth and life and death and resurrection and ascension to glory in heaven for all that he did was as a publicke person as the second Adam But now before the Spirit of life in Christ come to free me I and Christ must be one there must be an union betweene me and Christ I must be a member of Christ mysticall For as Christ quickened his owne body every joynt when it was dead because it was his body so he quickens his mysticall body every member of it but I must be a member first I must not be my selfe severed from Christ. Therefore the Law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ the first thing it doth next to impetration and obtaining of happinesse it workes application for these two goe together impetration and application Christ by his death obtained all good and by his resurrection hee declared it but there must be an application to me Now this Spirit of life which is in Christ which quickened him and raised him up and all for my good must apply this to me The grace of application it is faith therefore this must be wrought in the next place How doth the Law of the Spirit of life free me because first it freed Christ therefore me but that is not enough except there be application Therefore the Law of the Spirit of life workes faith in me to knit me to Christ to make me beleeve that all that hee hath done is mine and the same power that raised Christ from the dead workes the power of faith and application For wee must not thinke that it is an easie thing for a carnall man to beleeve to goe out of himselfe that it is salvation enough to have salvation by the obedience of another man No both in the Ephesians and Colossians in divers places it is S. Pauls phrase that the same power that raised Christ from the dead must raise our hearts and worke faith in them For as the good things that faith layes hold on are wondrous good things even above admiration almost that poore flesh and blood a piece of earth should be an heire of heaven a member of Christ that it should be above Angels in dignity as the things are superexcellent things even above admiration in a manner so the grace that beleeves these things it is a strange and excellent and admirable grace that is faith Therefore faith must be wrought by the Law of the Spirit of Christ by the ministery of the Gospell This is the grace of application when a man goes out of himselfe when he sees himselfe first in bondage to his corruptions to Satan and to death and then sees the excellent way that God hath wrought in Christ to bring him out of that cursed estate then hee hath by the Spirit of life faith wrought in him And indeed the same power and Spirit that quickened Christ from the dead must quicken our hearts to beleeve in Christ. It is a miracle to bring the heart of man to beleeve Wee thinke it an easie matter to beleeve indeed it is an easie matter to presume to have a conceite but for the soule in the time of temptation and in the houre of death for the guilty soule to goe out of it selfe and cast it selfe upon the mercy of God who is justly offended and to beleeve that the obedience of Christ is mine as verily as if I had obeyed my selfe here must be a strong
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.
death rest Againe it is in this respect a sleep because a man goes to bed with assured hope of rising againe and therefore he goes quietly though it be a state of darknesse for the time all the senses are bound up yet hee knowes that in Gods ordinarie providence hee shall rise againe therefore men not only quietly but cheerefully go to bed So there is greater ground to know that wee shall rise againe out of our graves than that we should rise out of our beds for many mens beds have been their graves in some sort I meane they have died in their beds but for the resurrection we have the word of Almighty God that is a God of his word that we shall rise againe and we have it in the pledge of our Saviours resurrection there is no doubt of that Therefore when wee die if wee have faith wee should make no more of death than men doe to goe to bed hoping undoubtedly of an assured and joyfull resurrection The want of faith in that kind makes us backward to this you see in what respect death is said to be a sleep To speak only of those references and relations that are most pertinent between sleep and death David fell asleep and very willingly for he had lived a painefull life he served God both as a private man as a Sheepheard as a King Eccles. 5.12 To a labouring man sleepe is sweet so to a man that hath served God carefully in his calling and kept a good conscience death is very sweete Wee see children that have been playing all day they are loath to goe to bed but to a man that hath wrought all day sleepe is sweete as wise Salomon saith to a labouring man Would we then have death as a sweet rest to us let us doe as David did that is bee painefull and laborious in our particular place and in our generall calling let us be faithfull in them to keep a good conscience and set all in order as much as wee can while we live to leave no seeds of debate when we are gone Some men die carelesly this way in disposing the good things that God hath given them they lay a foundation of perpetuall jarring afterward and so their death is skarsly a sleepe and rest they cannot but bee disquieted when they thinke how they leave things because they were not wise before hand David setled Salomon in his Throne and set all things right before hee died and that made him die not only in rest but in honour in 1 Chron. 29.28 David died in a good old age full of riches and honour And let us labour to get assurance of a change for the betteâ— David his flesh rested in hope because hee beleeved in Christ that Christs body should see no corruption Psal. 16. So if wee would have death sweete as a sleepe let us labour to get assurance by faith in Christ and so our flesh may rest in hope that as Christ raised his owne flesh so he will raise ours Good Simeon when he had seene Christ once Lord now let thy servant depart in peace c. so after we have gotten a sight of Christ to be our Christ our Saviour and Redeemer and have interest in him Lord now let thy servant depart in peace So much for the tearme sleepe It is added besides that Hee was gathered to his Fathers HEâ— was gathered to his Fathers both in regard of his body and in regard of his soule for his body went to the house of the dead the grave and his soule went to his fathers to heaven As I said before of sleepe so of this it is a phrase of Scripture that must bee understood as the persons are When a man dies his body goes to the place or house of all men the house of darknesse the grave but for his soule that goes as the man is to his fathers to hell if hee bee naught to the soules of just and perfect men as the Apostle speakes if he have lived a gracious and a good life and so it must be understood here bâ—cause hee speaks of a blessed man He was 〈◊〉 to his Fathers he meanes not to his immediate fathers but all beleeving men before him that were the children of Abraham his soule went to them his body to the first Mother the Earth out of which it was taken So the Generall is nothing but this that When we die wee are put to our fathers Therefore this should moderatâ— our feare of death and our griefe for the departure of others Why wee are not lost when we die the soule and body is taken asunder it is taken in pieces but both remaine still the bodie goes to the earth from whence it was taken and the soule goes to God that gave it And for our comfort we goe to those that we knew before many of them to our fathers not to strangers Especially in respect of our soules wee goe to our fathers to our next fore-fathers and to our old fathers to Abraham Isaac to Iacob to David to blessed Saint Paul and Peter and all the blessed men that died in the faith And when we are dead wee goe to those that are more perfect than those that wee leave behind us This should moderate our griefe oh I leave my friends behind me my father and mother and childrenâ— it is to goe to better to greater and those that love thee better Thou goest to greater for they are in their pitch they have attained their end they are in heaven and to better they are refined from those corruptions that men here are subject unto and then their love is perfect likewise therefore going to our fathers and not to strangers to those that are better and greater and love us more perfectly why should wee thinke much to die they will bee readie to entertaine us oh the welcome that soules find in heaven and at the day of the Resurrection the sweete imbracings when all the blessed soules that have beene from Adam to the last man shall meete together seeing therefore wee goe to our fathers it should rather make us chearefull Here whom do we live with take them at the best our friends men subject to jealousies and weaknesses our jealousie makes us suspect them and their weaknesses makes us thinke the meaner of them so our love is not perfect nor our graces are not perfect therefore we cannot have perfect love and contentment while we are here But in heaven there shall be no jealousie nor feare nor imperfection which is the ground of jealousie we shall perfectly love them because they shall be perfectly good and they shall perfectly love us because we shall be perfectly good and one shall stand admiring the graces of God in another and that will maintain a perpetuity of love therefore it is want of faith that makes us unwilling to yeeld our soules unto God at the point
immortality there is no death in that birth A Christian as hee is a new creature hath a generation to eternitie hee never dies In regard of our being here there is generation after generation successions of men but when wee are new borne though wee cease to be here we go to heaven He that beleeves in mee saith Christ shall never die Man that is 〈◊〉 of a Woman saith Job hath but a short time to live and that short time is full of misery but man that is borne of the spirit hath an eternall time to live and that a happie life All flesh is grasse in regard of this life we lead which is supported with meat and drink and the comforts of this life all flesh is grasse and the beauty of it as the flower of the grasse but the Word of God indureth for ever and as Saint Iohn saith hee that doth the will of God indureth for ever The word of God indures for ever because it makes us having the spirit of God to indure for ever The world passeth and the lusts of it but he that doth the will of God that is new borne by the word of God and transformed to the obedience of God he abides for ever Would you abide for ever and not passe from alteration to alteration as wicked men they alter and come to nothing and worse than nothing then labor for this estate this is the way to abide for ever this life hath no date of daies no death Labour to plant our selves in Christ by faith that so in him wee may have an eternall estate Thou art our habitation from generation to generation It was a Psalme that was made upon occasion of their falling away in the Wildernesse they dropped away as leaves and few of them came to Canaan Well saith he we fall away here and wither as grasse c. But thou art our God from generation to generarion that is wee have a perpetuall subsistence in thee A Christian when hee is in God by being in Christ hath a perpetuall everlasting subsistence As we are Temples of God so he is our Temple wee dwell in him thou art our habitation c. Who would not labour to bee in such an estate for in this world there is nothing but a succession of Generations Secondly Every man hath a particular generation There is some emphasis in this David in his generation For men drop not into the world at all adventure but every man hath his own time appointed when to come into the world and when to goe out some in one time and some in another Therfore the times wherin they live are foreknown of God he hath set downe when such a man shall be borne in such an age of the world so long he shall live such work hee shall do and when he hath done his worke he shall be taken away hence and another shall come and stand up in his place So every man hath his own generation designed and appointed and ordained by God himselfe from all eternity not only his generation but all the circumstances of it the very place of his abode the time and season and country where he shall live all are set downe It is usefull for this end to observe in what times our lot is fallen to what times God hath reserved us what generation and age we live in to consider of the state of the times Are they good blesse God that hath reserved us to those times We pittie some good men that lived in ill times as our Countrie-men in Queene Maries time and other dark times they were worthy men and it was pitty they lived not in better ages certainly they would have beene excellent men then Therefore we should blesse God for reserving us to better times What makes the times better The discovery of salvation by Iesus Christ the discovery of the meanes of happinesse in another world In what age there is a cleerer discovery where there is most spirit working together with the outward meanes that is a blessed age the spirit of God was not working so much in former times of darknesse and Popery Then there were many that followed the Beast to their eternall destruction though God had mercy on many soules that followed him As it is said in Scripture they followed Absalom in the simplicity of their hearts not knowing whither they went so they followed Popery in the simplicity of their hearts not knowing the danger God had mercy on them yet certainly thousands of them were wrapped up in darknes they were miserable times then Those that know Popery wil say so those that read the story will say so the world was wrapped in wars and miseries in those times It is true our times are not so good as they should be and in many regards they are miserable times and we must not murmure at this dispensation of God if God hath so appointed that our lot shall be to live in hard and ill times I say in some respects these are bad times for the world the older it growes the worse it is As it is in a sinck the further it goes the more soyle it gathers so al the soyle of former times are met in the sinck of later times in that respect this generation is an ill generati◠but if we consider what makes times good the manifestatiō of Christs glorious Gospel that hath shined for a hundred yeere more in our Church the discovery of the means of salvation so cleerly the abundance of the spirit with the meanes making men to apprehend the means enlightning their understandings to make use of them and working their hearts to obedience look in what age these are they are happie times Witnesse our Saviour and he is the best Iudge Happie are the eyes that see the things that yee see and the eares that heare the things that you heare Oh! in former times if they had seene that that wee see and heard that that wee heare they would have accounted themselves happy Oh! those that lived two hundred yeeres ago though they were good men if they had lived to see that that we see and to heare that that we heare living in the glorious lustre and Sun-shine of the Gospell how would it have reioyced them Therefore as we have cause to consider of the ills of the time and generation that wee bee not swayed away with them so we have cause on the other side to blesse God that hath reserved us to these times of knowledge In regard of the ills we may say with Saint Austin Lord to what times are we reserved But in regard of the good things wee may say blessed be God that hath reserved us for these things that he hath cast our time thus that we should be borne in this generation in the blessed time of the Gospell in this second spring of the Gospell We should blesse God for it