it becomes a servant not only to God but to Saints also Death is through Christ a servant to all Saints to waite on them till they have finished their worke on Earth in the will of God and then layes them to rest in the dust It waits till all the worke be done and then doth its worke in the appointment of God resting the weary body from its labours cracking the clay walls that the thirsting soule may meete its Beloved in perfection of glory so meet as never to part more but to be for ever with the Lord to behold the love of God in glory and be for ever swallowed up in the glory of that love Death which in it selfe is grim and frightfull is through Christ to a Saint welcome and pleasing because it comes without a sting and hath no other businesse but to serve Gods end in freeing both soule and body sets the foule free from the body of death and the body from a weary and toilesome life Death is but a sleep in which the body lyes till at the glorious appearance of Christ it riseth incorruptible the nature of death is through Christ but to be our Fathers messenger to bring us home that we may see his reconciled face in glory and enjoy the mansions prepared for us that wee may tast the love of his heart know him in himselfe reape the full harvest of all our hopes possessing glory above the life of faith our feasting in heaven will be fruitions not a crown of glory in promise only but in possession the joyes the hopes the desires of a gracious soule in all his life is by death brought in at once the joy of this soule is that the day drawes nigh in which the body shall be dissolved and it shall be with Christ It hopes to meete its beloved in perfect glory and never part more it desires to be absent from the body and present with the Lord and in all this death is through Christ a servant to a Saints death hath all its poyson in its sting and Christ taking away the sting from death hath quite changed the nature of it Death with its sting kils where it conquers but Death without its sting only changes the body of Saints from wormes to cold clay So Job hee waited all the dayes of his appointed time till his change came by death Saints change their place but not their company whereas before they lived in God now they live with God Saints on earth have communion with God and Christ in the Spirit and Saints in heaven have the same company but in greater glory Death changes our place of communion but not those wee have communion with Saints on Earth live upon love tokens from God and Christ sent to them by the Spirit but in Heaven upon the originall and fulnesse of all that love here by the Spirit we read the love and kindnesse of God and Christ in a Covenant of free-grace and many gracious promises but in heaven we taste of love in the fountaine in the very bosome of God and Christ to all eternity here wee glory that glory waits for us in heaven there our glory is to be swallowed up into glory and to be made glorious in the fulnesse of that glory In this Saints glory over the nature of death it doth not kill them but change them from a cloudy to a more exceeding and eternall weight of glory And as for the bodies of Saints it may be said of them as Christ did of the Rulers daughter shee is not dead but sleepeth Death changes them in this their sleep is something longer then at other times yet they are not dead but sleepe for Christ is the life of Saints And because Christ lives they live also John 14.19 Their clay is colder in this sleepe then in others and by degrees crumbles into dust here is a change indeed and it is no more for this corruptible must put on incorruptible and this mortality must put on immortality and then it will fully appeare that death is swallowed up in victory 1 Cor. 53 54. The nature of Death is changed by Christs taking the sting away from being the King of terrours it becomes the messenger of glad tidings Death is now so free from terrours that it brings tidings of the greatest joy to Saints it tels the Spouse of Christ she shall goe and be for ever in her beloveds armes Your wildernesse days are accomplished in which you went many times to the Watchmen to enquire for your Beloved and you found them in the darke as well as your selfe but now you shall finde your Beloved and be filled with his love and live in the light of the Lord for ever Death tels the children of God hee is come to fetch them home to their Fathers house yea to their Fathers Kingdome in which they shall all reign with him They shall be as children under-age no longer they shall now possesse the mansions prepared from eternity to eternity not only have all teares wiped from their eyes but to live for ever in the beholding and enjoying perfection of glory Death brings glad tidings both to body and soule it tels the body head you shall ake no more stomacke you shall be sicke no more heart you shall tremble and be affraid no more flesh you shall bleed and smart no more I am come to put an end to all these feares and troubles God will looke you up in the cabinet of the earth that you may there sleep in peace till Christ raise you incorruptible and carry you into glory And to the soule sayes Death you shall have no more time for sinne and vanity perfect holinesse to eternity shall now swallow you up I come only to put an end to sinning dayes you shall now groane under sinne no more that body which held you and was subject to temptations shall now goe to sleepe in the dust till the tempter be chained up in eternall darkenesse in stead of mourning under sin you shall now for ever glory over sin your feares shall end so shall your faith for in stead of the evidence of things not seene you shall both see enjoy the heighths breadths depths and lengths of the love grace kindnesse faithfulnesse and glory of that God you have believed in Feare not me sayes Death I come from your Father so as you mâ—y be sure I have no commission to hurt you Christ your beloved Huâ—band Brother Head and Redeemer tooke care that I should not be able to hurt you for he tooke my sting from me before I should come unto you I am come without a sting to tell you God and Christ loves you but that is not all my errand they love you so well that they can suffer you no longer to be out of the full enjoyment of their love and I am sent to cracke the clay walls which is your prison that you may flye home and be at rest there your rest
soule this day is so farre from administring feare in death to soules in Christ that it is the comfort in which those earthly tabernacles goe to the dust beleeving That what is sowne in corruption shall bee raised in incorruption what is sowne in dishonour shall be raised in glory and what in weaknesse shall be raised in power and though it be sowne a noturall body yet it shall bee raised a spirituall body 1 Cor. 15.42 43 44. So that the feare of eternall death and judgement is wholy taken away from this naturall death where Christ hath taken away away the sting But secondly The men of the World will tell you they are afraid of death because it cuts them off from their Worldly delights they can finde no other fault with the World but that it perisheth coold they injoy it for ever though there be many bryers in this Wildernesse yet they could make their Canaan in it so that they might never be stripped of it but they know when death shall once close their eyes they must bid adue to all their Worldly delights never to see or enjoy them more and upon this consideration as well as the former death is the King of feares and 〈…〉 unto them But it is quite contrary with the soule in Christ he concludes if his hopes and comfort were onely in the World he were of all men most miserable hee blesseth God for every wildernesse mercy but he lives onely in God himselfe it is his joy to looke upon the World as perishing and his body a decaying for the top of his glory and the expectation of his soule is to be dissolved and to be with Christ he counts the worldlings choyce of mercy to be the greatest misery To be ever in the World would bee worse then ten thousand thousands of deaths to his body his pantings are to be absent from the body that he might be fully present with the Lord he doth acknowledge God to be glorious in his footstoole but as an heire of God he thirsts to be in the glory of his throne if you tell him of pleasure and delights in the World his answer is that communion with God is full of pleasure and delight where ever it be but sayes he the World cloudeth these joyes and eclipseth this communion therefore O that I were stript of this dying flesh that I might have full communion and fellowship with God in the spirit that I might drinke freely of the waters of life in the fountaine this soule reckons all the delights and pleasures of the world to be amongst the wise mans vanities and having tasted Christ the bread of life in his Fathers house and in him the love of his Fathers heart can neither feede upon nor delight in the empty buskes of this perishing World if any ambitious worldling telleth him it is very good to be honourable I sayes he If you meane that honour which floweth from being precious in the sight of God and having an interest in his love 43 Isay 4. He gives this one answer to the worldling in all his proposals of pleasure and beauty in this life sayes he God is the beauty of the whole creation as the originall fulnesse of it so that it wholy depends upon his will and that which is our glory is God himselfe who is the glory of Heaven and earth though the World withers yet he is for ever glorious and he is his peoples glory therefore the worldlings feare in death upon this account is not a Saints feare for his glory is out of the World even in God and his delight and affections are in things above not in things on the earth and that because He is risen with Christ his affections are risen before his body is dead the delight of his heart is in Heaven though the flesh of it be in his body 3 Col. 1 2. this soule is crucified with Christ to the World and the World to him 6 Gal. 14. so that neither his joyes nor his feares are with the worldling if death can onely strip him of the World he hath no cause to feare death nay death commeth too late in that for hee through Christ is dead to the World whilst he liveth and is above all the feares of death because his life is hid with Christ in God I but sayes the worldling I am afraid of death because it takes me from all my sweet relations here on earth I must dye to them and they to me it is true indeed but herein the beleeving soule is no looser he leaveth the drops of corrupted creatures love to be swallowed up into the Ocean of Gods power and eternall love he leaveth those broken Cisterns of love which in a little time would leave him and is taken up into the Father and fountaine of love in the glory of love and free grace for ever he now comes to taste love in the originall and readeth it as it was in the heart of God to him from eternity and shall be to eternity in the fulnesse of Gods love so full that there will not be the want of any sweet or relation for all will be made up in God there is no complaining in the streets of the new Jerusalem no want of relations God will be a Father Christ will be a husband Saints glorified our brethren Sisters and asociates to all eternity we shall want no relations in Heaven nor shall any relations there want perfection for all there shall be compleat in Christ and filled with the fulnesse of God we leave a World of wants and it is to possesse a Heaven of fulnesse and glory I but sayes a tender hearted Father or Mother will not my Children my little babes want me Truly no for your worke in the decree of Heaven is done before God suffers death to cut your thread of life and t is our unbeliefe that telleth us it were better either for us or ours that we had more work in the World then God hath appointed us had we more dayes we could not in them make a haire black or white we could not in our selves add that little to our little ones Our Fathers kindnesse will bee our Childrens comfort and hee liveth when wee are dead to them and alive with him the presence of God with our children will be their blessed portion though we be absent to beleeve in this his love and faithfulnesse will be a blessed rest to us and ours we shall leave them well in leaving them with God and need not feare the leaving them when we are going to God death in taking us from our children to carry us home to our Father will advantage us and not disadvantage ours for though he filleth us with all fulnesse of love and glory in Heaven yet he is neverthelesse full but can also fill our children on earth and such as taste of his love and grace have no cause to doubt of the freenesse and fulnesse thereof I but
sayes the flesh it may be of a Saint I am afraid of the paines of death in dying truly this is a feare of our owne creating for how many thousands goe out of the World when standers by can scarce tell whether they sleepe or dye but grant it that the paines of death be strong upon thy flesh yet take this with thee it is all the paines that ever thy flesh shall beare men to live a dying life are oftentimes content to have their limes cut from their bodies which I beleeve is far more paine to the body then when death cracks it to let out the soule but the gaine farre exceedeth thus is soule and body at ease both when the body is but the dying of one limbe a little before the rest of the body it is but the deferring of death and it may be many deaths assaults the body in that time this is but a bugbeare in the fancie to fright children not worth the nameing among Saints let God breake what he will when he will and how he will he makes all good againe to his people in himselfe it was Christs end in taking the sting from death not to leave any ground of feare for his people so that beleeving Saints through Christ may truly glory in and over death in all the feares of it Fourthly Believing Saints through Christ may glory over death in the manner of it Whether it be according to the termes we use for distinction either naturall or violent death yet to a Saint through Christ it is in both but death without a sting and that which our flesh cals the worst of these the violent death God hath and doth make to be the portion of many of his deare Saints the Prophets Apostles and those glorious primitive Christians did many if not most of them drinke of this cup and did it with so much joy in God that the Tyrants of those times were more unable to invent cruel deaths then they were to undergoe them and the reason is visible for though these deaths had the cruelty of man in them yet there was also the kindnesse of God in them Christ had taken away the sting of death which was sin and though men might adde to their cruelty yet they could put no sting into death The Martyrs of late times as Histories tels us have gone leaping and rejoycing to the stake being joyfull in the embracing of flames and as one said to his fellow Martyr Be of good cheere though our break-fast be sowre yet our supper will be sweete in Heaven As if hee had said though these flames brings smarts with them yet they will put an end to all smâ—rts this is all the sting that is in death and it will soon have an end we shall sup with our beloved Jesus and abide in that love for ever it is sin in death that makes it bitter what ever the manner be but if finne be taken away there is no sting in death let the manner be what it wil it is all one to a Saint where he meets with Death whether in the field or at home in his bed whether it takes him in his greatest streÌ„gth with his bones ful of marow in his dâ—câ—ying state when his eyes grow dimme and his other faculties faile he mindes not the manner of dying but the matter of death death is without a sting so that where when or how death comes into his bosome that is of little value with him he on 〈◊〉 this to find death a friend without its sting and then through Christ he glories in and over both matter and manner of death Fifthly A believing Saint through Christ may glory over death in the ends of it There is two maine ends in Death which is proper to Saints The first is to put an end to a dying life to finish that worke which begins so soone as wee begin to live in these bodies of clay man begins to dye so soon as he beginâ— to livâ— because the whole life is but a progresse of death or a dying life all the time we live we dye invisible and when we dye indeed it is but vâ—sible death that which we carry about with us in the world then appeares to carry us out of the world that which sleepes with us many a short sleepe now casteth us into one â—â—ng sleep this is properly the end of death in Saints to put an end to all dying for it is a reall truth though a mistery to the world that Saints dye whilst they live and live when they dye So that this end of death is a Saints glory not his griefe not what he feares but what he hopes for counting himselfe most miserable of all men if Deaths end were not to put an end to his dying life The other maine end in death is To plucke up the flowers of heaven that growes in the earth by the rootes that they may be planted in their owne kingdome and flourish there for ever I meane those precious souâ—es of Saints which are here enclosed in those earthly mâ—ulds of our bodies by which the beauty of those heavenly flâ—wers are exceedingly short of that glory they shall have with Christ above and doe many times taste and savour of the earth they grow in Christ is the proper roote of those branches and Heaven the only place for them to grow and flourish in Now death comes only to transplant them from Earth to Heaven to crrumble that clay into dust which holds these flowers of heaven so fast that they cannot get home into their owne kingdome Now a Saint may well glory over this end of Death for Death is herein the soules servant to have it home to glory and to unprison it from all the bonds it lyes under But lastly A believing Saint through Christ may glory over Death in its victory My meaning is the victory which Saints have over death death in the wil of God lays Saints to sleep in their corruptible bodies But Saints through their union with Christ rise againe that in incorruption though it goe to the dust corrupt and noisome clay in dishonour and in weaknesse like a natural body yet Christ will raise it againe a spirituall body full of power and glory There is no losse to Saints in dying no not to their corruptible flesh for that hath an interest in Christ and Christ having conquered death for his people though their bodies shal by death be sown in incorruption yet they shall not lye there for ever the grave shall have no vâ—ctory but shall give up its dead and such as rise in Christ shall rise as Christ spirituall bodyes though the Earth shall have leave to roote the corruption of the body of Saints yet Christ will preserve his interest and raise it as the fruit of his redemption resurrection even a spirituall body Death hath its office and the grave its proper worke but Christ hath the command of both when death
the beames of Christ shines through clouds in this world and so maintains life in his members yet here lyes the gaine to be carried above the clouds and to be lodged in the bosome of the Lord of glory As the fore-named Text To be ever with the Lord there lies the gain Gods word tels us of a time when all teares shall be wiped from our eyes but it is not in this world for our Saviour tels us the world will hate us it shall be a place of tribulation It must not seeme hard or strange to those that shall reigne with Christ to suffer with him all our sufferings are in and from the world but the fulnesse of our reigne is with Christ in Heaven Thus are we made conformable to the image of Christ in this world we enjoy least of Christ and therefore must needs be a Saints worst condition That is the darkest day to a Saint in which the least of Christs presence and glory appeares therefore is the world a Saints worst state because it is not able to beare the fulnesse of the glory of Christ which shall be revealed in Heaven There will be no need to enquire for him whom our soule loves for we shall alwayes be in his presence When mortality hath put on immortality then comes in the crown of glory we may have glimpses of glory in this life but the more exceeding and eternall weight of glory is in the life to come The top of our life here is of faith we eive by the faith of the Sonne of God saith the Text. And another Scripture opening the nature of faith sayes It is the evidence of things not seen but in Heaven we know as we are known of God the eye wil then be made sutable to the object and there wil be defect no more on our part to diminish the glory So that you see if wee set aside all the sowr of the world and take a Saints sweetest morsels he hath below yet it is short of the glory shal be revealed Wherefore the observation stands very cleare That a Saints worst condition is in this world The 2d observation is this namely That a Saint hath reliefe from the worst of the world by faith waiting for the appearance of Christ as in the Text. A Saint by faith lookes upon his union with Christ as a Sonne and so satisfies it selfe with the appearance of God So the Apostle Paul in Rom. 8. the latter end he eyes there his union with Christ and so is carried above tribulation or distresse or the worst of the world Hee concludes there was nothing could separate him from Christ and therefore he is at rest as if he should say notwithstanding all these which he named before as tribulation and the rest yet Christ and I shall be one in glory and when his fulnesse of glory appeares then shall mine A Saint by faith can argue thus what-ever may seeme best at present to a carnall eye yet I know when Christ shall appeare that is the righteous Judge of quicke and dead then shall my head be lifted up for my full redemption drawes nigh When a state of good and evill for eternity comes then shall my state and condition appeare good I know whom I have trusted Christ will preserve his owne glory and mine with his my state of glory shall be that which shall accompany the appearance of Christ the best and worst of the world hath but a moment a little time to attend it but the glory of Christ hath eternity with it and this is my portion Thus hath a Saint by faith reliefe from the worst of the world waiting for the appearance of Christ A third observation Love makes the soule quicke-sighted The soule that loves Christ sees by faith his appearance though afarre off and rejoyces in it though no affliction but is grievous for the present yet by faith the soule sees the appearance of Christ though at some distance and in the joy of it is carried above the present affliction Hence it is that Saints can overcome the world even their faith sayes the Text that eyes the appearance of Christ for if they saw nothing but the world the world would overcome them but it is a higher glory that carries them above the world The believing soule sayes he that shall come will come and will not tary and so quickens Christs appearance to the reliefe of his owne soule A fourth observation A Saint values himselfe according to his interest in God and what reliefe comes in by that interest hee eyes it though afarre off and satisfies himselfe with it Let the world value me at as low a rate as they will sayes a Saint yet I will value my selfe according to my interest in God If they say my wisdome is folly yet I will say Christ is my wisdome and so I have true wisdome If they say I shall want bread to eate I can say by experience I have food to feed on which they know not of and when they shall want their huskes I shall finde bread enough in my Fatâ—ers house and love enough in my Fathers heart to satisfie and till my eternall soule I blesse the Lord sayes such a soule I value this above tenne thousand worlds my union with Christ and know there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus and that nothing shall be able to separate mee from this glorious interest Rom. 8. I can value this I am thâ—ough free grâ—ce a childe of God an heire of glory and that which the worâ—d adores I in the Spirit of Christ can trample upon I know God hath freely given me Christ and with him all things the world is an addition and over plus Christ and glory is my portion and when the worldling gluts himselfe with this present dying world I can rejoyce in my interest in the living God and eye my gâ—ory as a sonne of God and an heire wiâ—h Christ as â—t shall be revealed at the great and glorious appearance of the Lord Jesus My soule shall be satisfied with its interest in God when the world and worldlings shall be confounded in their own glory My life is hid with Christ in God and when Christ who is my life shall appeare then I know I shall appeare with him in glory Through as it is hâ—d in God the world cannot see it yet through the Spirit of God I can see it and rejoyce in it and thus a gracious soule filled with the Spirit values it self according to â—ts interest in God and Christ The fifth observation is this namely That a gracious soule relieves it selfe in bâ—holding Gods love in the originall and the glory of it Hee lookes upon Gods love as it elected and chose him to be a sonne and he lookes on the glory of that love as it shall be manifested at the glorious appearance of Christ In a cloudy day such a soule goes to the Sonne of Righteousnesse for
and feare it lesse it is our carnality that makes it a King and sets it on the Throne and then we fall down and worship it but God hath made the world our foote-stoole as it is Christs for he is our interest and what is his glory as our head is our glory as his members when the world concerning Saints is mentioned by God it is as an additionall thing but Christ and his righteousnesse is a Saints interest The holy Ghost gives the world this title The meate that perishes but Christ is that portion which endures for ever call not that enough which is not enough for a moment a frowne from God can in a moment darken all the world and a smile from God as soon out-shine all the beauty of the world Oh then Saints let this teach us toknow our ful interest in God and the emptinesse of this empty perishing world Lastly This cals all Saints to rejoyce in the glorious appearance of Christ that will be a day of glory that never will have night the sun that will give give light unto that day will be the Sonne of righteousnesse and the God of grace we shall from that to all eternity never behold nor enjoy lesse glory then God himselfe God filling us and all that glorious company above not only revealing but communicating the fulnesse of his glory to us so that our vilde bodies shall be made like unto his glorious body and the whole soule and body made capable to receive and shall be satisfied with the fulnesse of God all the glory of Heaven shall center in our bosomes and that shall be the feast which the Lamb and his Wife shall keep to all eternity Is not this a fit subject for our joy if such a day as this be at hand Oh then rejoyce all you whose interest is in Christ for every moment in this dying world hastens to this day all the clouds we see in this darke world are flying away that this Sun of Righteousnesse may breake forth in its full splendor and glory the world dyes that we may live things that now appeare they perish to make way for this glorious appearance of Christ and therefore live now upon this not only that we are children but knowing that when hee shall appeare we shall be like him for sayes the Text we shall see him as he is CHAP. V. Christ is the foode of living soules John 6.48 I am that bread of life THESE words they are a cleare and plaine testimony of our Saviour concerning himselfe In verse 33. of this Chapter he tels the Jewes that the bread of God came downe from heaven Joh. 6.33 and giveth life unto the world For the bread of God is he which commeth downe from heaven and giveth life unto the world and then in vers 35. and vers 48. So that we must consider these words under these two heads First Head 1 The Lord Jesus Christ to be that bread which came downe from heaven Secondly Head 2 The Lord Jesus Christ to be that bread which gives life to the world For proofe of this first head we need goe no further then this Chapter in which every testimony to this truth is the witnesse of the Lord of truth even Christ himselfe to that of the 33. verse take the 38. verse of this Chapter For I came downe from heaven not to doe my owne will but the will of him that sent me So in vers 52. I am the living bread which came downe from heaven And likewise in vers 58. This is that bread which came downe from heaven Christ speaking in the verse before this of his Fathers sending him these Scriptures prove the truth But it will be said Object every good and perfect gift comes from above and wherein lies the peculiarity of Christ in this more then in other gifts of God I answer that in the consideration of the next head Answ which is that Christ is the bread of life or that bread which gives life to the world In this I say the peculiarity of Christ comming from heaven will appear Thus is the marrow and the life of all our Saviours discourse in this Chapter as it were center'd in this 48. vers I am that bread of life In verse 33. he calls himselfe the bread of God and the life of the world And in vers 38. he shewes how he came to be the life of the world even by the will of God sent by God and his businesse the worke and the will of God In this 39. and 40. verses he tels us And this is the Fathers will which hath sent me that of all which hee hath given me I should loose nothing but should raise it up againe at the last day And this is the will of him that sent me that every one that seeth the sonne and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day Here our Saviour cleares up whom hee meant by the world namely the elect and chosen of God which are given to Christ by his Father and then declares that his worke is his Fathers will and tels us what it is namely that all which God his Father had given him should have everlasting life in him He tels us how faithfull he will be in this worke so that nothing shall be lost that God hath committed to him and tels us this is the will of God Verse 40. that every soule which hee hath given to Christ should have a discovery of him and believe on him and that in all this wil of God runs the seed of eternal life For that part which is capable of lying downe in the dust to sleepe even that part shal not be lost but shall be raised up at the last day that is the last day of the world which passeth away like a dreame in the night Now if we lay all this together must we not needes acknowledge this truth That Christ is the bread of God the bread of life yea the God of life Our Saviour uses this term of bread indulgently to the weaknesse of our flesh but his work is in the Spirit and if God give us the Spirit with the letter we shal discerne the glory of Christ as he is our life in his own light This appears by our Saviours owne words in vers 63. of this chapter It is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speake unto you they are spirit and they are life Christs words are spirit life Verse 49. because himself is our spiritual life In vers 49. Christ tels us what he doth mean by this bread of life Your fathers did eate Manna in the wildernesse and are dead As if Christ should say no externals whatsoever is your life you may feede on them all your way in the wildernesse and yet soule and body dye But in the two next verses he speaks plainly what is the bread he meant
as our compleatnesse and Satan the accuser of the brethren cast ouâ— he was made a curse and did bare it and overcame it for us and in it satisfied the holy Law and the just God for us if the remainders of the old Adam strugles and conscience joyne with it to accuse us Christ answers you are not complear in your owne duries but in me I am perfect you can finde no spot nor wrinkle in me and in my perfection lies your compleatnesse So that every believing Saint eyeing his oneness with Christ may triumph as Paul in Rom. 8. latter end Who shall condemne Or what shall separate and conclude as he doth Nothing shall be able to doe it for I am compleat in Christ From all this there runneth great consolation to the children of God Wee have here had a view of that perfection and compleatnesse that God in his free-grace hath given unto us and that the eyes of this pure God will behold us in it to all eternity which is the fulnesse of the God-head dwelling bodily in Christ and we in him he compleat as God we compleate in him justice can lay no more to our charge then to Christ for our compleatnesse of justification is in Christ the wrath of God can as soone rise on Christ as on us for hee is our compleat discharge from wrath having borne the curse for us sinne can no more separate us from God then Christ from God for Christ is our compleat attonement our sinnes being taken from us and laid on Christ Death can no more separate us from God then it hath done Christ he bore all the sting of death for us death is to Saints but a dissolution in the flesh that wee might come home and possesse to eternity that compleatnesse with him What can the soul desire for comfort that lyes not in this Christ is full for us and wee compleat in him If God and Christ be enough for thy soule then satisfie it here here is Gods compleatnesse yea that compleatnesse which is God made our compleatnesse what can our soules judge will be the end of this love Truly it will be love without end that love which hath made us compleate in Christ that love will make us compleate with Christ not only glorious Heires but Heires in glory not only decked as the Kings daughter but lying for ever in the bosome of Christ as his Spouse not only to have visious of the Kingdome but possession of the Kingdome mortality putting on immortality will not be all but there shall be added to it a crown of glory It doth not yet appeare sayes the Tâ—xâ— what wee shall be but when be appeares we shall appeare like him It will be enough surely to be as Christ is Oh then here let our soules ceter no reaching soul can reach after more then is in Christ he is compleat enough to answer all desires to quiet all spirits to fill all hearts to cloath all naked soules hee is bread and bread enough Let us begge a mature steady eye of faith alwayes to behold Christ the fulnesse of the God-head bodily for us and we compleate in him then may we in life and death lift up our heads with joy unspeakable and full of glory in believing Thus to live will be Christ and to dye will be gaine The soule will quietly waite till God loose the body and rejoyce to be dissolved knowing it shall be with Christ the droppings of Heaven will stay the soule quiet here knowing that the compleatnesse and fulnesse of glory that God and Christ is in shall swâ—llow it up to all eternity And thus it is and shall be to be compleat in Christ CHAP. VIII Free-grace in God justifieth and redeemeth through Christ Romans 3. vers 24. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus THe holy Chost doth confirm and explaine that pofitive truth he layes downe in this verse by some verses going before and after as from the 20. to the 28. In the verse before he tels us all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and therefore stand in need to be justified And in vers 20. he tels us that by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in the sight of God Had the holy Ghost stopped here it had been an addition of misery to a fallen man and the sad cries in the soule of man would have been like those evill spirits to our Saviour that hee was come to torment them before their time But Gods designe is love and the holy Ghost is to proclaime it so that all which goes before is but like the Ministery of John to prepare the way for Christ to breake the clouds that the Sunne of Righteousnesse may appear and that Saints may see by an eye of faith that they are no loosers in that the menstruous ragges of their owne duties should not be a justifying righteousnesse to them in the pure eyes of God but that full justification is given of the free-grace of God through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ In the words is a birth the wombe that gives it forth when it had conceived it and the Midwife from whose hands and sides we receive it and all these infinitly holy and glorious the birth is Justification to a soule that hath sinned and come short of the glory of God the wombe that conceives and brings forth this glorious birth it is the Free-Grace of God and the Midwife from whose hands and sides we receive this is a Christ crucified One observation from these three which is this That all the glorious life of an elect soule delivered from the state of a fallen sinner and made a redeemed Saint is from eternity and to eternity wholely conceived and given forth in and from the wombe of the free-grace of God This is demonstrable under these two heads First in considering a soule under a state of nature Secondly under a state of Grace Or if you will in the first and the second Adam in both which I thinke the exceeding glory of that great wombe the eternall iove and free-grace of God will appeare in taking lost creatures out of the first Adam to make them glorious Saints in the Lord Christ that second Adam I know no other light nor rule but the word and spirit to make out any thing of God to any soule therfore first search the word what light it gives us to discerne our state by nature or the naturall condition of fallen men and women To take this in the beginning of holy writ let us turne to Gen. 3.6 7 8 9 10. Here we finde the fall of our first Parents in which we all fell and the effects of this fall in them They fel by difobeying God in eating the forbidden fruit but then obferve the effects of this fall when they knew their nakednesse the only reliefe they sought was aprones of fig-leaves or as it is
for the good of others and therefore lookes on it as his duty and that he is obliged by the law of Christ shed abroad in his heart to become all things lawfull to all men that hee may gaine some Againing and not a destroying worke is in his eye and this makes him indeed and in truth to lye low at the feete of the weakest Saint and this he doth from a spirituall consideration how that he stands justified to all eternity by the free-grace of God through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ for wee are justified freely by the grace of God through Jesus Christ CHAP. IX Christ and the new Creature are unseparable 2 Cor. 5. former part of vers 17. Therefore if any man be in Christ hee is a new creature THE Apostle doth in this Scripture as in all other like a good and faithfull servant make it his whole businesse and design to advance his Masters glory the Lord Jesus Christ A new creature is the most glorious object that the world affords and the Apostles care is to hold that forth in all its glory namely in Christ A creature in Christ is a new creature indeed and a new creature is in Christ indeed As if the Apostle had said there is not any man who is in Christ what ever he was before but by vertue of that union he is made a new creature though before a wilde Olive yet so soone as ingrafted into Christ the tree of life hee brings forth good fruit As you cannot gather grapes from thornes nor figs of thistles no more can the members of Christ be barren or bring forth briers or thistles in stead of the fruits of the Spirit which is love joy c. Christ is the Saints fountaine that is united to him out of whom can flow no bitter water Hee that is borne of God sins not so far as the new birth is in him though there be a law in the members in the flesh of Saints which serves the law of sin yet with the law of their mindes they serve the will of God so that you shall finde Saints in this frame complaining of selfe and admiring of God condemning of self and justifying of God the remainder of the old man in me that is my selfe my flesh saith a Saint but the new creature that is Christ in me the hope of glory that is the King of glory come into my soule and displaying the glory of his presence there that is Christ in me and I in Christ in whome I am made a new creature therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature and if any man be a new creature it is Christ in him That there may appeare Method in what followeth take this one generall Observation Namely That being in Christ and the new creature are inseperable they alway gee together If in Christ then a new creature and if a new creature then in Christ as it is impossible to be a new creature before united to Christ so it is as impossible to be truly in Christ and not to be a new creature as those dead bones could not live before God had united them covered them with skin and breathed life into them For testimony to this truth take in the Apostle Paul in Rom. 8.10 And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousnesse He gives us this truth as it were upon his experience as if he had said I have found this that ever since I have bin in union with Christ the body of sin hath bin a dying the spirit of life hath carried me forth to the fruits of righteousnesse I am dead now to the commands of sin and flesh by which I have formerly binned captive and am made alive in my spirit to the workes of righteousnesse and if you aske me a reason of this it is Christ in me And iâ— Christ be in you it will be so with you too your bodies will be dead to the commands of sin and your spirits alive in the fruits of righteousnesse you will finde Christ a living Christ the second man from heaven heavenly and as a living Christ so hee makes life where ever he comes and the life he brings is heavenly Christ makes the new creature therefore can never be without the new creature What hath its being from Christ cannot be without Christ Now the new creature hath its being from Christ it could not be but in Christ and by Christ so that it must needs follow it is alwayes with Christ where Christ is there is the new creature indeed the new creature is nothing else but Christ possessing himselfe of a soule living in it and reigning over it by his spirit as Satan doth in the meere naturall man A Saint he dies with Christ and he lives with Christ Christ dies for him and lives in him and wee shall finde the Apostle Paul in Gal. 2.20 making this confession and acknowledgment I am crucified with Christ neverthelesse I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me He doth acknowledge himselfe to be dead crucified to himselfe in the death of Christ and then laies hold of another life but it is out of selfe by faith in Christ this is my very life now whilst I am in the flesh saith he and truly this my life is Christ in me it is not I but Christ that lives in me that faith which is in me is not selfe but Christ as if he had said my life is a new life and that life is the new creature and that new creature is Christ in me I am that Temple which you see Christ lives in but Christ is the life of that Temple Without me saith Christ you can doe nothing True Lord saith Paul but through thy strength I can doe all things as if Christ had said you cannot be new creatures till you be in me and I in you I finde that true saith Paul for in me that is in my flesh there is no good But I have also experimented this truth if once in thee I can be no longer an old creature as he tells us in Gal. 1.15 16. So soone as ever God had called me by his grace to reveale his sonne in me that I might preach him among the heathens immediately I obeyed and did not stand to confer with flesh and blood Not to see by his old eyes nor to act upon his old principles flesh and blood must no longer teach and lead Paul when God had called him by his grace and revealed Christ to him as if Paul should say I am now united to the Lord Jesus and I cannot but be a new creature the Kingdome of God is within me and it will burst out it is like new wine in old bottles as my flesh was
Seeking those things which are above where Christ fitteth on the right hand of GOD. Having its affections on things above and not on things on the earth Col. 3.1 2. As Christ so Saints in the world have no other businesse but to doe the will of their Heavenly Father Now truly the consideration of this may well put all Saints upon that great work of selfe-examination We are apt enough to see a mote in our brothers eye when wee overlooke the beame that is in our owne But it is the onely businesse of every Saint to live up Christ then it is worth the looking into our lives how much of Christ wee can find there what singlenesse of soule is in us to all the wayes will and worke of Christ whether we follow Christ for love or for the loaves For what hee is or for what hee gives Whether it be his love that constraines us to deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts or whether feare of Hell shame or punishment stops the eyes pursute and stops the prractise of sinne Or whether our profession of godlinesse under what forme soever be to lift up Christ or selfe Whether if Heaven and Sinne might goe together we would not rather have sin live in our souls then Christ Whether that the profession of godlinesse which we seem so much to delight in be not a burthen to us in the power and life of it Whether that day in which Christ is most and selfe least in our souls be best to the souls content Whether it be the souls desire petition at the throne of grace to be unselft in every thing and that Christ may be all in all whether the soul doth indeed count that a lost day hour or moment in which he doth not in some measure lift up Christ and declare the in-dwelling of Christ in his soule by the out-goings of Christ in his life It is worthy a soules examination how the olde man dyeth and the new man is renewed in him day by day how pride and passion is brought under the feete of Christ in our soules how through Christ that loves us we are more then conquerours over sin and selfe by the love of Christ that conquers them in us and enableth us by his love to live like conquerours rejoycing and glorying in the free grace of our God the new creature is Christ in truth and truths as they are in Jesus godlinesse in power and the power of godlinesse holinesse in its beauty and the beauty of holinesse God in the Spirit and the Spirit of God heavenly mindednesse and a mind in heaven it is living and walking in the Spirit it is a soule united to Christ Christ in it and it in Christ Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature CHAP. X. Vanity and vexation of spirit compasseth all things under the sun Eccles Chap. 1. vers 14. I have seene all the workes that are done under the Sunne and behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit THIS Scripture is the testimony of the Wise man concerning all things under the Sunne and it is so upon seeing and trying all these things In the verse before this he tels us hee gave his heart to seeke and to search out by wisdome concerning the things that are done under heaven He hath attained the beholding of what he gave hie heart to seeke so that both seeking and seeing in wisdome he findes all to be vanity and vexation of spirit The vanity of the whole creation is the subject matter of all his booke He begins it thus in this first Chap. and 2d vers Vanity of vanities saith the Preacher Vanity of vanities all is vanity His heart is so full of the matter that hee doubles the sentence and as he begins with it in the generall so in his whole booke he followes the same subject in the particulars of it concludes his booke with the same generall in Chap. 13. vers 8. Vanity of vanities saith the Preacher all is vanity The Psalmist in Psalm 144. vers 4. Bears witnesse to this truth in the top-branch of all the creation Man saith he is like to vanity and he proves it for his dayes are as a shadow that passeth away And in Psalm 62.9 takes in men of high and low degree in the proofe of this generall truth Surely men of low degrees are vanity and men of high degrees are a lye to be laid in the ballance they are altogether lighter then vanity the vanity of the creature is a subject well worthy the study of a wise christian and truly none but Christ our wisdome can give us light into this vanity for method sake wee will draw out one generall truth which I thinke is visible in this Scripture That upon true discovery and knowledge of all things under the Sunne we shall finde them vanity and vexation of spirit For the proofe of this truth let us search the Scripture and our owne experience the wise man to prove this truth begins with man in his labour in his first Chap. vers 3 4. What profit hath a man of all his labour under the Sunne for he stayes not to keepe any fruit of his labour but passeth away one generation goeth and another commeth So in Chap. 2. vers 22 23. Man reapeth no content from all his labours under the sunne They fill him full of sorrow travell and griefe and at last he cannot lye downe and rest in them They are a bed of thornes unfit for rest yea when the poore creature comes to lye down indeed and sleep that sleep of death it find â—s no rest in all its labours under the Sun of what kinde soever So in Chap. 1.6 9.17 18 19. verses He tels us mans labour under these vanities is so great that he cannot utter it and that without any satisfaction though what is pursued be enjoyed For though the eye see yet it is not satisfied with seeing and though the eare doe he are yet it is not filled with hearing The creature can never give so long and so much till that which receives from it saith it hath enough though it give objects to the eye yet the eye wants more objects then it can give and though it offers to fill the eare yet the eare is not filled with all that it can give there is no new thing under the Sunne but that which hath been shall be and that which is done is that which shall be done So that though I give my heart to know all things wisdome madnesse and folly yet I find nothing new in them And in stead of content in all this variety of knowledge I found vexation of spirit for I will tell you the best and then judge you the rest In much wisdome is much griefe and he that encreaseth knowledge encreaseth sorrow And if this be the best of the best who can tell what is the worst of the worst he comes to particulars in Chap. 2. vers 1. he
calling grace and that it goeth hand in hand with his choosing he chooses to call and cals whom he chooseth and is free in his grace in all for nothing moves God in all this but his own free-grace Thirdly God justifies his elect and called by his free-grace See this in that plain Text Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by is grace In three or foure of the next foregoing verses the Apostle shewes us how that by the deeds of the law shall no flesh he justified in the sight of God and that it is only Gods righteousnesse which is Christ that will be found righteous in the pure eyes of God for sayes he in vers 23. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God therefore our justification is meerly of his free-grace not by any deed or duty under the law vers 20. For by the law is the knowledge of sinne The law condemns it doth not justifie any it is only free-grace justifies So Gal. 2.16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the workes of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ And Gal. 3.11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God it is evident for the just shall live by faith By the law and the workes of the law in these Scriptures is comprehended all the best holyest and most exact performance of any soule though according to the commands of God that in none of these nor all these together is any soule justified in the sight of God for that is only the worke of free-grace but lest any should stumble at this that faith is so much mentioned in the matter of Justification the holy Ghost in Ephes 2.8 takes off all occasion of offence in that For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Hee binds up the whole matter of salvation of which justification is a part in the grace of God for by grace are yee saved Now God hath made faith as the hand to lay hold upon this salvation of his free-grace and that it might appeare to be all grace this is also the gift of God the workings of free-grace it is so much the more free that God gives both the hand and the gift too so the Apostle Rom. 8.33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth I of his owne free-grace God doth so fully acquit that nothing can be laid to the charge of those whom God doth justifie thus freely doth God acquit such as cannot justifie themselves by any deedes of the law though there be sin in the best duty yet there is justification in the free-grace of God though not of the sinne yet of the person There might be very much writ of this subject but I onely touch it here because it is more fully done in another place Fourthly God is free in his sanctifying grace his holy Spirit as the winde bloweth where it listeth Sanctification must needs be a free worke because it is the worke of a holy God in unholy soules there is no more in us to move God to cleanse us from our blood and pollution then there is to move him to love us when wee lay in our blood so that no eye but the eye of his grace could pitty us that power that overcame self must needs be freely without selfe now this is the sanctifying grace of God in the soules of his people and the Apostle Paul speaking of the worke of regeneration in his soule confesseth it is meerely of grace that I am what I am our state in the kingdome of glory to be ever with the Lord that is also the workings of orinall love and free-grace in God to be heire of God to possesse God and as joynt-heirs with Christ to be filled with his glory to all eternity this is free-grace it is too bigge to stand upon any other foundation but as two undeniable testimonies in the free-grace of God in all these particulars take Gods covenant of free-grace and Jesus Christ the gift of his free-grace into consideration First his Covenant in Jer. 31.33 34. What out of God could oblige God to make such a covenant as this is God engaging himselfe to put his law in our inward parts and to write it in our hearts and that he will be our God and we shall be his people that all shall know his way and that he will forgive our iniquity and remember our sinnes no more This may well be called the covenant of free-grace for it is the grace of God freely engaging himselfe to doe all this for us and in us it is too large to open where it is only brought as a proofe but this I can truly say of it it is in every part and in the whole the free-grace of God hee forgives all iniquity blots out all sinnes writes his holy law in the hearts and inward parts of his people teacheth them all to know his way and all this of his free-grace and to all this freenesse of grace he bindeth up himself by covenant not to make himselfe more faithfull for he is eternally and infinitely faithful but to make us more believing because by nature we believe in works not in free-grace But consider the Lord Jesus Christ who is the great gift of Gods free-grace in whom God filleth his people with grace and glory to all eternity whom God predestinates to the adoption of children hee doth it by Jesus Christ Ephes 1.5 Whom he cals and quickens hee doth it together with Christ Ephes 2.5 Whom he justifieth freely of his grace hee doth it through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ Rom. 3.24 When God in his free-grace gives wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption hee gives it in Christ and makes Jesus Christ to be all this to his people 1 Cor. 1.30 When God glorifies his people with himselfe for ever he doth it as joynt-heirs with Christ After he had suffered in the flesh for us he goeth to heaven and glory to prepare mansions for us comes again to receive us to himselfe Now upon all these considerations tel me whether all the salvation in part or whole of the people of God be not the only workings designe of the eternal love and free-grace of God I hope none wil be so gracelesse as to deny it and to such as acknowledge it to them I say this is a generall full of particulers for such as glory to glory in the Lord. A believing soule wil tel you this he can glory in his election through the free-grace of God in Jesus Christ that none is or shall ever be able to plucke him out of Gods hands and hee will tell you that he is called into union with Christ by that eternall free-grace of God which will surely keepe him that he can never fall totally away Christ must have his whole body compleat in heaven not lose one member hee
shall be as high as heaven and filled with God where no troubles can ever reach you nor no power be able to unrest you this is the true nature of death to Saints Christ having taken sin from them which is the sting of death so that in all this and exceedingly more may believing Saints glory in the very nature of death Secondly a Saint through Christ may glory over Death in the time of it though it be uncertain in the time of its comming yet that hinders not a Saints glory For a beleeving Saint knowes when ever death comes it shal be without a sting and this made the Apostle to glory in Phil. 1.21 For me to live is Christ and to dye is gaine If death stay longer before it comes yet I can glory in the length of time For to me to live is Christ and in the strength of Christ I can wait patiently all the dayes of my appointed time till in the wil of God my change shal come And if death be at hand and settle it selfe in my bosome the next moment yet herein I have glory For to die is gain A beleeving Saint can tell Death he hath his time as wel as his work appointed him you have both your time and your power given you by my Father and though to me it is a secret when your time shal be yet in the Spirit of God this is revealed to me when ever you come the love of God my Father comes with you and your work shal be to have me home that I may feed upon the bankets of love for ever Therefore sayes such a soule I feare not the time of your comming but wait patiently for it in the wil and Spirit of God yet in all that time thirst earnestly to be dissolved and to be with Christ The uncertain time of death may justly be sad and amazing to such as have their good things and their portion of good onely in this world and that by terme of life for here Death crops all in a moment and they are left empty though their barnes be full as the foole in the Gospel But to such a foule whose lise is hid with Christ in God and when Christ who is its life shall appeare wee shall then appeare with him in glory Here the uncertain time of death can be no disadvantage because Christ to this soule is eternal life so that it lives certainly and eternally with Christ in God Gol. 2.3 4. it hath a certain life and therefore can glory in it and over the uncertain time of death 2 Cor. 5.1 For wee know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved wee have a building of God an house not made with hands eternall in the Heavens Though we know not the time of dissolution to this earthly Tabernacle yet this we know when it shall be it will be a time of advantage for wee leave a tabernacle that may and must be dissolved to possesse a building of God an eternal Mansion house in heaven Therefore sayes a beleeving soule Death I can glory in thy time Christ hath made thee my friend by taking my sins which was thy sting away from thee and now I long and earnestly desire to see thy face O death my friend If I must waite yet a few dayes or yeares before the appointed time shall come for thee to lay my weary body asleep in the dust yet I doe see the beauty of my Fathers will in that but if thou beest at hand thou art truly welcome if the next moment bee thine for me it is a blessed moment the moment of my first entrance into the full fruition of blessednesse this thy time is the time of wiping all teares from my eyes and revealing all glory to my soule of putting an end to all misery and the beginning of joyes without end thy time is my triumphing my waited hoped longed for moment I did tell the World that scorned me that I was an heire of glory had mansions and a crowne prepared and waited for me in my Fathers glory and art thou now come O death to fetch me home to bring me to Christ my head with whom I shall for ever possesse that glorious inheritance which I have gloried in this is a blessed time and moment in which I be held thy face thou art not come before thou art welcome I have nothing to stay me here I have waited long for thee my God and Father is in Heaven so is Christ my beloved there perfection purity is onely there my treasure is there so is my heart also and art thou now come to set mee cleere of this corrupt empty perishing World that I may bee onely there and for ever there O blessed be the Lord that thou art come thy time is a welcome time a time of deliverance from sinning in the body and the body of sinne thy moment puts an end to all howers of temptation and though the men of the World may trample over my clay yet my soule shall tryumph in reall glory above this imaginary glory thus may a beleeving soule glory over death in the time of it Thirdly A beleeving Saint through Christ may glory over the feares of death What ever feares there be in death they are onely to Christlesse soules for soules in Christ may glory over them all because to them death hath no sting as first the grand feare in death is this that it may prove eternall the haling of soule and body out of the World to come before the righteous Judge of quicke and dead where it shall receive this sentence Goe you cursed into eternall fire prepared for the Devill and his Angels for ever This is more then a feare for it is really so to Christ lesse soules where death comes with his sting in him but when the sting is gone this feare is gone too and the beleeving soule in Christ may glory over death as it is bereaved of his sting and so over death in this great feare the Scripture tels us It is appointed for all men once to dye and after death to come to judgement That is to come before the righteous Judge but the description which the Word of Gâ—d giveth us of that day is that there shall be a right hand and a left to distinguish betweene the Sheepe and the Goates on his left hand Depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devill and his Angels so to the Sheep on his right hand he will say Come you blessed of my Father inherite the Kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the World 25. Mat. latter end The feare in death is a seare of judgement but the judgement day is a blessed day to all the members of Christ 't is that day when soule and body shall meet againe to be blessed for ever in inheriting of the kingdome prepared for them it is the day of the bodies full redemption and eternall nuptiall with the
hath laid the bodies of Saints in the dust there is the end of his office and when the grave hath swallowed up the corruption of those bodies then its worke is done too but then Christ hath an eternall wo ke in his hands to raise it a spirituall body that the fulnesse of his redemption may be made up so as that soule and body both may be filled with the fulnesse of his redemption and in this worke Christ commands both death and grave to give up their dead bodies and then he spirits his owne sutable to that eternall life which they are to possesse The Scripture tels us That Christ is risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept 1 Cor. 15.20 That is Christ is first in the resurrection but so as hee is the first fruits a testimony of resurrection to all that sleepe and in Rom. 8.11 the Apostle telleth us That the same power which raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortall bodies by his Spirit So in 1 Thes 4.16 For the Lord himselfe shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voyce of the Arch-Angel and with the trumpe of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first I mention these Scriptures to shew the victory that Saints have in Christ over death and grave and to me they give full satisfaction and ample proofe in them to the thing in hand that neither death can hurt nor grave hold so much as the body of a Saint in Christ but on the contrary that the very bodies of Saints have victory over death in dying and that Saints have exceeding cause to glory over death under this consideration as well as all or any of the former I shall next take into consideration in some few particulars the benefits and advantages that believing Saints through Christ have by death both in our soules and bodies I will begin with the bodies First Death freeth us from all the naturall infirmities and diseases of our bodies One complaines that winde makes a torturing tumult all his body over the bowels and the body full and they fill the head so that there is no free part Another he complains that fluxe of water hath filled his veins chil'd his bloud and num'd his joynts so that aches are in all his bones A third complains that gravell lyeth in his reines teares his kidneyes and stops his bladder so that his whole life is as it were upon the torturing racke there be many more complainers besides these which goe from man to man to make their moane and begge their help for a little ease though but for a little time which sometimes they finde but often returne from fellow-creatures as miserable as they came but when Death comes without his sting he makes a perfect cure of all sorrowes and paine for ever among creatures wee seeke ease with teares but death hee brings full and lasting ease and wipes away all teares from our eyes Death puts an end to hunger and thirst to cold and nakednesse to labour and wearinesse in short to all wants and to all woes the grave is quiet it is the only piece of quiet earth that man can meete withall though a little above the grave on the earth there be cryings out and complainings yet the grave is quiet nothing can disturb the rest and quiet of that bed it is not capable of disturbance therefore exceeding usefull to rest in this I assure you is a greater benefit then all the living World enjoyes beside Crownes have their crosses States their crackes all persons and things their wants every person state condition and thing under the sinne wrapped up in vanity all wants are buried no where but in the grave of death The body of man never bids adiew to all want til it be embraced in the arms of death and laid to rest in that quiet center of the earth but when death comes without its sting it brings this certaine benefit and advantage with it A second benefit and advantage of the body of Saints in death without its sting is this It takes from the worlds scorne and cruelty When the bodies of Saints are in the grave Worldlings must seeke some other object for their slander scorn or cruelty they will finde no sap or moisture in the dust of Saints to feede these lusts withall the derision and persecution of Gods deare Saints on Earth is the pastime and practise of sinning soules like the flye that sports it selfe about the candle till shee have burnt her wings but God hath his time to ease his people of this burthen and if not before yet certainly and fully when death comes is this worke effected Saints whilst they live in the bodie are with their spirits above the worlds scornes and cruelties but when death comes then the body gets beyond them too so that here is another benefit in death it freeth them from the scorns of fools and the cruelty of cruell men The wicked worldlings counts a Saint to be the only troubler of the people and place wherein hee lives but when death comes to a Saint he is very willing to leave the world their portion and their elbow-roome hee is not desirous to trouble them any longer all he desires is a little earth to lye downe to sleepe in and that the world is content withall wishing that al the rest were there too this is a benefit which a Saint with submission to the wil of God desires many an houre before it comes he is as willing to be at home in his owne inheritance as the worldling is to have him out of his now death crownes these longing in Saints and brings in the harvest of many prayers which the spirit hath made for this very thing so that in these and many more particulers is death beneficial and advantageous to the body of Saints But I shal mention two generals in which death without its sting is through Christ exceeding advantagious and benificous to the soules of beleeving Saints First It delivers them from a body of sinne a place of temptations and darknesse which is the whole complaint of Saints whilst they are in the flesh the Apostle Paul complaines of the Law in his members which rebelled against the Law of his minde and of the body of death how often doth the Prophet David pray to be kept from temptations and to be inlightned in his darknesse that God would shew him the way he should walke in and make his pathes straight Saints desire to be uncloathed of the body of flesh because they are capable of sinning in that body any it is a body which tempts to sinne and in which the soule is under much darknesse And therefore groanes within our selves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body 8. Rom. 23. It is very sweet to bee delivered from temptations that they get not the upper hand so as to lead the soule captive at their will
vers 50. and 51. This is the bread which commeth downe from heaven that man may eate thereof and not dye I am the living bread which came downe from heaven if any man eate of this bread he shall live for ever And the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world Here I say Christ demonstrates what is the bread hee meant namely himselfe in the flesh and he becomes this bread of life by giving his life in the flesh for us In the 53 54 55 56. verses of this chapter out Saviour shewes us how that interest in him as a crucified Jesus is our life and that he may fully cleare this out to us he holds forth himselfe not only a crucified Saviour but a living God In verse 57. As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me Our Saviour's argument seemeth to be thus I live as one in God and you as one in mee And thus is Christ that bread of life or that bread which gives life to his owne in the world Thus much for proof to the two heads that were first laid down I shall now hold out such spiritual observations from what hath gone before as I have received from Christ And the first observation shall be this namely That Christ only is a Saints life By this I mean that every sparke of a Saints life lies in Christ and so in Christ that it is in nothing else in which Christ is not all Christ is so fully and solely a Saints life that take all duties ordinances priviledges and externall advantages whatsoever substracted from Jesus Christ and they are all dead things but like the grave cloaths in the Sepulchre when Christ was risen Our Saviour himselfe beares witnesse to this truth I am the way the truth and the life No man comes to the Father but by me It is a truth so deare to God and Christ that Christ speakes to it in this place as fully as termes can expresse it both in the affirmative and the negative I am the life sayes Christ that is in the affirmative And so the life that no man comes to my Father the fountaine of life but by me there in the negative and affirmative both in the negative exclusive from Christ and in the affirmative inclusive If wee consult that place in John 16.14 where our Saviour speaks of the office of the Spirit and the usefulnesse of it in the hearts of his people we shall find it speak to this thing we have in hand John 16.14 He shall glorifie me for hee shall receiverf mine and shall shew it unto you Marke it the work of the Spirit is to reveal Christ to us as he is our life and so glorifie Christ in shâ—wing him to be our life As if Christ had said the holy Ghost when he comes hee shall shew you your names written in the booke of Life with my blood all your sinnes laid on me and that I have buried them in my owne wounds so that they shall never rise up in judgment more against you my righteousnesse your robe of glory perfect glory in the sight of God my law of love written in your hearts to be the power that shall slay sinne in your lives Thus the Spirit shall glorifie me in shewing you that I am your life in whole and every part of it Christ as hee is one with God is our fountaine of life in all our addresses to God he is our way truth and life For further confirmation take the experience of the Apostle It is not I saith the Apostle but Christ that lives in me and the life that I live it is by the faith of the Sonne of God And in another place Our lives are bid with Christ in God Take this Text for all 1 Cor. 1.30 But of him are yee in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdome and righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption Marke it here Christ is made all by God to us for what can you call life that is not bound up in some or all of these The 29. verse of that Chapter gives a good and â—ull reason why God made Christ all to his people namely this that no flesh should glory in his presence This reason is so full that the truth stands strong upon it against all gain-sayers grace were nor grace if flesh had any thing in it selfe to glory of in the presence of God our life to be only in Christ preserves as entirely the glory of Gods free-grace as it doth the safety of our soules for that soul that glories in Christ as his life glorifies the free grace of God which gave that life When the Apostle speakes of the acts of life in his soule he makes Christ all for sayes hee I can doe all things through Christ that streng thneth me And the same Apostle in another place sayes he it is meerely of grace that I am what I am so that you see where Christ is made all there free-grace hath the glory of all and this is the great designe of God to all eternity to glorifie his free grace Thus much shall suffice for the first observation That Christ only is a Saints life A second observation is this If it be thus Saints should value and esteeme of Christ as their lives Saints what meane these carnall feares doth not Christ live If the world be nothing is not Christ enough Why feare you so much to loose the meate that perisbes when Christ this bread of life lives for ever cannot you be content the world should bring forth wants why there is no other place of want but that there is bread enough in your Fathers house Heaven only is the proper place of fulnesse doth it not speake an undervaluing of Christ that carnall feare shall possesse our spirits of want when Christ the fulnesse of the God-head bodily is our life portion Nay what mean these stoopings and bendings of our judgements affections services to the world and worldly ends Is not this the end of it to live in their love and esteeme so as to make a portion of perishing things friends of the unrighteous Mammon Saints will this stand with an esteeme of Christ as our life A soule that truly values Christ it pants thus in spirit Let me know truths as they are in Jesus and obey them in the spirit of Jesus God hath made the world my foote-stoole as it is his and I am one with him Christ is only my life and glory I would trample upon my foot-stoole and lie downe in the bosome of Christ who is my life and glory this is a soule that truly values Christ But tell me Saints if we value Christ as our life or portion and our crowne of glory our best and truest friend our faithfull brother and our loving husband one that hath borne all Gods wrath