brings us to that state that Adam was in at first this restores us to it seeke not then your happinesse where it is not to be found We all doe as the Prodigall did we get our portion into our owne hands and goe from our Fathers house and seeke for our happinesse elsewhere but yee shall finde at last that all else is but huskes Thus the Saints have found it This life of grace gives rest to the soule all else in the creature is but vanity and vexation of spirit Vanity is nothing else but an insufficiency in the creature to give that content that wee looked for in it as when we looke for water in an empty well seeke for that in the creature that is not in it wee see its vanity in the absence of the good wee looke for and presence of the evill wee looked not for In God yee finde rest and tranquility such a tranquility as is in the Sea when it is without waves as is in the upper region of the ayre where no tempests are Looke on the lives of men who are taken up with trifles when they are young when they come to a riper age greater things move them when men are wiser they feele the apprehension of higher things when ye lift up your soules and keepe them on the wing yee are freed from troubles and cares Paul had a greater measure of this life than other men his Epistles which doe transcribere animam transcribe as it were his soule declare as much and hence was it that in all his troubles and afflictions he was full of constancy and comfort the more constantly we live this life the greater gainers shall we be Lastly till yee live this life yee have no assurance that yee are in the number of the elect Repentance puts a new life into men till yee finde this in you yee know not whether God is yours whether God will worke this life in you This should make us tremble and feare and never to leave till wee had got this life This life is a fruite of election wee know not whether wee are in Iacobs or Esau his case till we know we have it make haste therefore to get it It lies not in your power The Spirit breatheth when and where it listeth ye may feare that God will not give it you if you spend your life in vanity Take one who neglects you all the time that hee is able to doe you service if hee seekes unto you in his extremity for his owne ends what answere doe you give him but this Seeing he hath neglected you when he was able to doe you service you may justly refuse him now he is able to doe you none So if ye neglect God whilst ye are able for to serve him and seeke to him in your extremity take heede that yee receive not that answer from him as the Israelites did in their extremity Goe to your Idols and let them helpe you nay hee forbids Ieremiah to pray for them Consider this and make haste to live this life of grace ye cannot get it of your selves God must put it into you Now if these motives move you to seeke this life and after examination of your selves ye finde it not to be in you then use these meanes to get it The first meanes to get and mainetaine this life which is all one for that which begets it doth likewise nourish it is knowledge abound in knowledge get much light this life consists in light when a man judgeth aright The understanding enlightened is the primum vivens the first living part and therefore ye shall finde that life and light are put one for the other Ephes. 5.14 Stand up from the dead and Christ shall give you light and Ioh. 1.4 Christ was that light and that light was the life of men this life stands in inlightning the mind adde to this light yee adde to life The reason why men are dead is because there is a darkenesse in their soules they see not the wayes of God therefore they act not they step not forwards because they are in the darke All shining is from light as ye increase light so ye increase life Ephe. 4.18 it is said of the Gentiles that they were strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them The knowledge of God brings men nearer to the life of God Ephe. 4.24 Holinesse is said to proceede from truth the words are put on the new man which after God is created in righteousnesse and holines which proceeds from truth But you will object that there are many who abound in knowledge who have life little enough that ignorant men live this life most that none live it lesse than those that know most To this I answer that there is a double knowledge First there is a meere inlightening and informing knowledge Secondly there is an operative knowledg yee may have enough of the first and be never the neere but it is the last that helps and gets this life and this knowledge is the gift of the sanctifying Spirit this is the operation of God we doe but informe and teach men wee cannot make them doe any thing wee cannot make them practise Gods teaching makes this knowledge operative perswades every way works every way Secondly there is a knowledge in the habit and a knowledge in the act which produceth actions these are set downe obscurely In the. 2 Pet. 1.12.13 the Apostle there saith that hee would not be negligent to put thē alwaies in remembrance of those things though they knew them and were established in the present truth yea I thinke it meete as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stirre you up by putting you in remembrance Peter did not write unto them that they might know those things habitually for so they knew them before but that they might know them actively and might presently act them for that end he wrote The first knowledge is as sparkes raked up in ashes the other as sparkes blowne up the first is as the sap in the roote the later like the sap that fills the branches with leaves and fruite the first is a generall knowledge gotten by contemplation the last is a practicall and actiue knowledge a knowledge to practise The Scripture exhorts to doe things that intend this knowledge Deut. 4.1 and Deut. 6. the Israelites were exhorted to heare and know the statutes of the Lord that they might doe them to speake of Gods word and works which actes their knowledge puts them in remembrance of Gods mercies and stirres up their minds Iosh. 1.8 he is commanded to reade the Law and to meditate in it day and night he must reade it not to know it for at that time there was little written but hee was to reade it that he might doe it But if we doe this so much it will hinder and interrupt our businesses so that we shall faile of
the threatnings or promises the more life is in us Lastly dead men are speechlesse there is no breath in them Out of the aboundance of the heart the mouth speaketh The drie and empty channell drives not the mill but a full streame sets it on worke If the heart bee full of life the tongue is full of good speeches Prov. 10. The words of the righteous are as fined silver because there is a treasure within them but the words of the wicked are nothing worth because their hearts are evill As it is said of evill men that their tongues are set on fire of hell so the tongues of the righteous are set on fire by heaven Esay 19.18 they speake the language of Canaan In hypocrites there is loquacity as blasing meteors and in Saints there is sometimes an indisposition by reason of some sinnes which make them like to springs that are dammed up with stones and mudde Yet judge not of them by such fits but take them as they are in their ordinary course the mouth speaketh out of the abundance of the heart Every man is delighted in some genious operations in things that are sutable to him if there be aboundance of life aboundance of grace within a man he delights to speake of it as all men are severally disposed such are their speeches Now all these are privative signes of death I will adde one more that is positive Fiftly looke what life a man lives he drawes to him the things that nourish it and expelleth that which hinders it If a man bee alive to sinne he drawes that which is sinfull but holinesse and the meanes of grace he expels as contrary to him What doth satisfie his lusts that he doth he may doe good for a time but he is quickly sicke of it But I doe much good I abstaine from much evill may some men say To this I answer that if one member lives it is a signe the whole body lives so if one mortall sinne live in you it is a signe you are dead Truth of grace cannot stand with one mortall sinne unrepented unsubdued one disease kils a man as well as an hundred so one living lust kils you Doth any lust live and reigne in you it kils you But what is it to live and to reigne I answer when a man ceaseth to maintaine warre with his lust and resists it not when a man layes downe the weapons when he seeth his lust is naturall to him and therefore yeelds unto it then it reignes in him There is no man that lives the life of grace but hee hath this propertie that hee strives against all sinne to the utmost not in shew but in sinceritie he strives against the occasions of sinne though they foile him hee still maintaines warre against them and so they live and reigne not in him 2. If every man out of Christ be in an estate of death let us not deferre repentance but doe it whilst wee may Repentance makes a dead man to be a living man What is it that makes you deferre repentance Yee thinke yee can change your courses and sorrow when you list therefore ye deferre it If men be dead and repentance puts as it were a new soule into them makes them to passe from death to life then it is not so easie a thing Suppose yee had Ezekiahs warning is it in your power to make your selves live No it is beyond your power God onely can doe it Every man lies before God as that clod of earth out of which Adam was made God must breathe life into him else hee continues dead God doth not breathe life into all He quickens whom hee will It is your wisdome therefore to waite on him in his Ordinances if ye have good motions begun in you presse them forwards they are ofsprings of life Thinke seriously am I dead or alive If dead why then say it s not in my power to quicken me its onely in God to doe it and he doth this but in few those whom he quickneth are but as grapes after the Vintage or as the Olives after the beating how then shall I bee in the number Give your selves no rest know that it is God that breatheth and then depend on him Make that use of the doctrine of election with care and more solicitude to looke to your selves God workes both the will and the deede of his good pleasure worke out therefore your salvation with feare and trembling If repentance bee a passage from death to life if it bee such a change then labour for to get it The Spirit doth not alwayes strive with men yee are not alwayes the same yee will sticke in the sand grow worse and worse if yee grow not better and better No more power have you to change your selves than the Blackmore hath to change his skinne or the Leopard his spots the time will come when you shall say as Spira did O how doe I desire faith would God I had but one drop of it and for ought wee know he had it not Thirdly learne from hence to judge aright of naturall men for all the excellency they have yet they are but dead men If a man be dead wee doe not regard his beauty all excellencies in naturall men are but dead It is a hinderance in the wayes of God to over-valew outward excellencies and to despise others that want these trappings let us say for all these excellencies yet he is but a dead man wee know none after the flesh any more 2 Cor. 5.16 Againe for your delight in them know that this death differs from naturall death for these dead men are active and ready to corrupt others they have an influence that doth dead those who are conversant with them sinne communicates as well as grace Nothing so great a quench-cole as the company of bad men there is an operative vertue in them to quench mens zeale as the droppings of water will quench the fire though they cannot wholly extinguish it being once kindled Fourthly if all out of Christ are dead learne to judge of the Ordinances of God and the meanes of salvation let us not undervalue nor over-value them the Ordinances cannot bring life of themselves no not the Word nor Sacraments If yee are sicke and send for the Minister hee cannot quicken you the Ordinance is but a creature and cannot give life If we speake to the eare and Christ speake not to the heart it is nothing Let your eyes therfore be fixed on Christ beseech him to put life into you and pray to God for a blessing on the meanes the Ordinances are but dead Trunkes as Pens without Inke or Conduit-pipes without water Learne then that God doth convey life by the Ordinances that they themselves cannot give life therefore doe not over-valew them Yet know withall that God doth not worke but by his Ordinances the spirit breathes not in Taverns or
that it is not seene The life of grace being perfect swallowes up imperfection he that lives the life of grace hath the imperfections of this naturall life swallowed up For example before wee live this life we magnifie riches honours and Gugaes but the list of grace comming wee have other kindes of comforts then as a man that is to be made a Prince contemnes the things hee before admired The weakenesses we are subject to are swallowed up in this life al sicknesse and trouble ar swallowed up in this so are all our frailties and imperfections This should teach us to set a high prize upon this life of grace that we dye no more if we live it that it is a life indeed that it swallowes up this other life compare it with other lives it far excels theÌ„ all this therefore should move us to desire and seeke it Secondly this life of grace must needes be more excellent than the common life because it makes a man a better man much better than he was this puts man into a better condition elevates and puts him into a condition equall to the Angels and beyond in some respects That yee may understand this yee must know that every thing is made better by mingling it with things that are better than it selfe as Silver being mixed with Gold Water with Wine are made better than they were before There are two things required to make a thing better First that that thing with which it is mixed be of a better nature than the thing it selfe Secondly that there be a good union Nothing puts so high a degree of excellency into us as this that we are united unto God this uniting to God is the chiefest good Secondly this union betwixt God and us is a perfect union There are many unions as first there is a relative union such as is betweene man and wife Secondly there are artificiall and natural unions as when two peeces of bords are put together so that one touch the other so when graine and graine of another sort are mixed together there is a nearer union than this when as water and water are mixed together nearer than this is the union that is betwixt the soule and the body Such a union as this is there betweene us and Christ we are in him as the branches in the vine wee are incorporated and knit to him this puts us into an higher degree of excellency silver mixed with gold is better yet if we could take the spirits out of gold and make silver take the nature and quality of it it would be much better Wee put on the Spirit and quality of Christ when as we live this life Lusts which are most contrary to this life puts us below men and makes us worse than Beasts this life puts us beyond men and makes us equall with Angels All men desire some excellency which is done by adding something to them some desire wealth some learning some honour Consider then if yee live this life yee goe beyond all others nothing beyond Gods Image nothing better to be united to than God let this set the life of grace at a high rate in your affections men do it not and therefore they despise religion in its selfe and in those in whom it appeares Thirdly yee have this advantage in this life of grace it addes liberty to you it makes you to doe those things that otherwise yee could not doe it makes yee to pray to repent to beleeve and to doe those things without which there is no salvation looke on Christ. There are but few that can doe this there are few that can delight in God relish the word in its purity take pleasure in the company of the Saints comfort themselves in the Lord their God this life gives liberty which is an addition of some perfection it makes us to do things that we could not doe before and to doe them in another manner A man having gotten an Art hath liberty to doe those things which before he could not as one that hath gotten the Art of logicke or geometry can doe that which before he could not doe as one in health hath liberty to doe that which he could not doe being sicke water being hot hath liberty to heaâ—e which it could not before There is no liberty to doe holy actions but this liberty of the life of Grace the Spirit of life addes liberty to doe the actions of life 2 Cor. 3.17 Where the Spirit of God is there is liberty to doe things which before we could not as one having an Art can doe things that hee could not doe before This though you prise it not whiles your mountaine is strong yet the time will come when yee will need liberty to pray repent and trust in God and then ye will find the preciousnesse of it this then sets a price upon this life of Grace and should make you to desire it Thirdly if it be a happy condition and the priviledge of those who are in Christ that there is such a life for them let this â—each men to seeke to live this life of grace to get it if they have it not to confirme it if they have it to abstaine from lust the sicknesse of the soule and the meanes to quench this life take heede of estranging your selves from God who is the principle of this life take heed of dejections of mind the cloudings that damp this life This life is to be active to act much in the wayes of God when a man is cheerefull and vigorous he lives a life of nature so he that hath a quicke and nimble sence and is forward and busy in good workes lives most this life of grace He that rejoyceth most in God hath most comforts most life Take heed of the contraries Idlenesse sencelessenesse and barrennesse are contrary to life take heed of them take heed of sadnesse that rusts the wheeles of the soule whereas joy doth oyle them Doe all to further this life avoid all that hinders it Labour now to bee translated from death to life that which hinders us is that we thinke we are in a state of life when we are not Now yee may know whether ye are alive or no by seeing whether yee are dead or no But because yee may be certaine whether ye are alive or not I will give you some positive signes of life to know it First ye are translated from death to life yee are living men if ye love the Brethren 1 Ioh. 3.14 If a man be a living man he lives in another element than he did before Every living man converseth with those of the same kind as every creature doth Sheepe with Sheepe Lyons with Lyons Doves with Doves so living men will converse with living men Not loving the brethren wee are in a state of death Every creature must have an element to live in a new life must have a new element evill men out of their companies
to know whether Christ live in you or no or whether you are in an estate of death you must see whether you have these two things which are in every one in whom Christ liveth first see whether you live to him He died that we should not live to our selve but to him alone In morall things the end and principle are all one Before Christ lived in you all you did was from your selves ye were your owne principle and end but Christ living in you there is another end ye eye Christ ye looke to him all that ye doe is done in sinceritie it is done for him and from him But how can Christ be the end of our callings eating drinking and recreations I answer that of every action Christ must be the end yee must doe as a man in a journey though every step he treades he thinkes not of his journeies end yet the generall aime of every step must be for that end and that causeth every step so in all yee doe the generall end must be Christ. Secondly if Christ live in you your hearts cleave to him as to the Principle of life as the child to the dug or the element to its naturall place What ever our life is we cleave to it Some place their life in their credit take away it and they die others in riches take away them and they perish What ever is your god if it be taken away you perish Therefore Iohn 6.68 When Christ demanded of the twelve whether they would likewise goe away Peter makes this answer Lord whither shall we goe thou hast the words of eternall life Thirdly ye may know what life ye liue by the food that feedes it Oyle feeds the Lampe fuel the fire If your life be fed with the duties of obedience then yee live If ye keepe my Commandements yee shall live in them saith Christ you shall live in them as in your proper element as the Fish in the water every motion out of it is to death There are two sorts of men to whom this triall doth belong The first are those who have a name they live and yet are dead like the Church of Sardis Rev. 3.1 The second to whom this belongeth are those who are dead indeed The first of these are like the Angels that take bodies and doe actions they are not truly living men though they appeare to be Now the signes that Characterise these dead men from those that are truly living are five taken from the signes of the fained life in the Spirits that have bodies but onely in appearance whereby they are distinguished from bodies that truly live First Angels that take assumed bodies eate and drinke and are not nourished as the Angels that came to Lot and Abraham and had created bodies So these dead men doe all the actions that living men doe they heare they pray they reade but they turne it not into flesh and bloud because there is no life in them they are not the stronger for hearing or any thing they doe they thrive not as those that have the Boulimia they eate and drinke yet they grow not because there is an Atrophy in their bodies We preach to men yet they are the same this yeare as they were the last they have a name to live and yet they live not they turne not the meanes to flesh and nourishment it is a signe of a living man that he growes That which is said of a good wit that it makes use of every thing may be said of grace it turnes all the passages of Gods providence into nourishment stormes as well as faire gales helpe a living man to the haven Affliction prosperity all put him on and helpe him forwards Take one not having this life doe what yee will hee thrives not as an unthrift put him to what trade you will he thrives not hee is still on the losing hand so these men prosperity adversitie helpe them not put any thing to a dead man to doe he doth it not so these men the Word and Sacrament helpes them not because they are dead Secondly the motion of the Spirits that take assumed bodies is not from any inward principall nor from the motion of life within so the actions of men that are not alive are not from the principles of life they are not vitall motions but as in other actions the Wheeles goe as long as the spring is up that moves them so the actions of men that are dead as long as the springs are up and the influence continues they move When they are sicke and apprehend death then they will doe many things but these being gone their goodnesse is ended whilst they deepely apprehend some accident they will be good that being gone and forgotten their goodnesse ends· Many whiles they have good acquaintance and are in good company will be good but when they are gone their goodnesse ceaseth These men have golden outsides they seeme to have the Kings stampe upon their actions yet they are but counterfeit they pay God in counterfeit coine not in currant mony their actions have a forme of religion but yet the power is wanting all they doe is but a meere formality their Prayers their Sabbath keeping are but in shew those actions and duties that have most power and life in them they doe least of all relish they tast them not because they have no life in them In generall all the actions that men wanting life doe they are but dead workes they may bee deceived with them for a time but when death comes they shall finde them to be but dead Remigius a Iudge of Loraigne tells this story that the divell in those parts did use to give money to Witches which did appeare to be good coine seemed to be currant money at first but being laid up a while it then appeared to be nothing but dried leaves so the divell deceives men now he makes them to doe outward actions which have a faire shew but when they need them they then appeare as they are to be nothing but dead leaves because the principle of life is wanting A third propertie of assumed bodies is this that they are taken up onely for a time and then are laid downe againe as the Spirits that take them listed so in these men which seeme to live there is an inconstancy and mutability in their lives they lay downe their religion as occasion serves If that they did was done in respect to God it would bee alwayes the same their company and occasions would not alter it but because it is not done in respect to God therefore as their company and occasions are mutable so is their religion They are as inconstant as Clouds without raine that are quickly scattered like wandring Stars or like the morning dew that is soone dried up The Saints have an inequalitie in their lives yet they never die againe they may be sickly but these men are
Play-houses but in the Church assemblies Act. 10.44 whiles Peter was preaching to Cornelius and his family the Spirit fell upon them so the Spirit fell on others by laying the Apostles hands on them the ordinances are the Vehiculum of the Spirit give what is just to them and no more give them neither too little nor too much do not over-value them but yet neglect them not neglect not the Sacrament ye know not what ye do when ye neglect to receive it ye think that yee ate and drink your own damnation if ye receive it unreverently Absence from it is a sinne as well as the remisse and negligent receiving of it Sicknesse and death yee feare why then doe you neglect the Sacrament why doe you receive it unworthily Whence are those Epidemicall diseases amongst us the cause of them is from hence that yee neglect the Sacrament that yee receive it unworthily 1 Cor. 11.30 For this cause many are weake and sicke among you and many sleepe Consider the danger of neglecting the Sacrament he that came not to the Passeover must bee cut off from the children of Israel the same Equitie remaines still in the Sacrament the cause of that was because he was to come up with the rest to remember the death of the first borne of Egypt and the redemption from their bondage hee being passed over thereby It is now the same sinne to neglect the Sacrament the Equity still remaines Are yee so strong in faith as ye need it not To bee absent from the Word yee thinke it a sinne so it is to be absent from the Sacrament nothing can excuse you If a master bid his servant do a thing and he goes and is drunken so that he cannot doe it will it excuse him If you have made your selves unfit to receive the Sacrament by commiting any grosse sinnes the unfitnesse will not excuse you If a man hath an occasion to ride a journey if he misse one day hee will take the next so ye if ye misse the Sacrament once be sure to take it the next time It is devided here that so if ye misse once yee may receive it the next time take heed therefore how yee neglect it The end of the Sacrament is to worship God to set forth Christs death it is the chiefest part of God worship therefore give it the chiefest respect Now from hence see the necessitie of this life of grace how can yee come to the Sacrament if yee are dead men Labour therefore for this life of grace And thus much for the first point that all men out of Christ are in a state of death We come now to the second which is this That all in Christ are in a state of life Our scope is to shew you what you are out of Christ and what benefits ye receive by being in Christ we cannot goe throughout all particulars but we will take the greatest life and death the one the greatest good the other the greatest evill All in Christ are living men this is the greatest benefit because death is the greatest evill therefore by the rule of contraries life must be the greatest good Farther men prize nothing so much as life this experience sheweth and Sathan himselfe could tell that skinne for skinne and all that a man hath he will give for his life Iob 2.4 Beyond experience God himselfe threatens death to Adam as the greatest evill The day that thou eatest of it thou shalt die the death Gen. 3.3 Now all that live this life are living men and have all things pertaining to life 2 Pet. 1.2 they have all that pertaines to life and godlinesse that is all things necessary for the nourishing and cherishing of them life were else unhappy take beasts and plants they having all belonging to their life are happy and they are said to live take any naturall life when as a man hath food and rayment and recreation he is said to live A man lives when he hath life and all that appertaines unto it I will divide this Doctrine into two parts and I will shew you two things First that there is such a life as this Secondly what this life is First that there is such a life as this It is needfull to shew you that there is such a life because it is a hidden life God hides these spirituall things as he hid Christ under a Carpenters sonne so he hides the glorious mysteries of the Sacrament under the base elements of Bread and Wine he hides the wisdome of God under the foolishnesse of preaching he hides those whom the world is not worthy of under sheepes Skinnes and Goates Skinnes Heb. 11. yea Col. 3.3 Our lives are hid with Christ in God But from whom is this life hidden I answer that it is hidden from naturall men as colours from a blind man they are there and he sees them not But with what is it hidden I answer that it is hidden First with this naturall life wee see it not because wee have this life it is hid as the Sap in the roote or water in the spring Secondly it is hidden with a base outside 2. Cor. 6.10 The Saints are as poore as despised as having nothing Christ had a base outside there was no forme or beauty in him that wee should desire him and so have the Saints being conformable to him they are like other men for their outsides Thirdly it is hidden with mis-reports thus Christ himselfe was hidden he was counted a wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and sinners one casting out divels by Belzebub and therefore he became a stumbling blocke unto many The Saints are likewise mis-represented they are evill spoken of they are presented to mens understanding otherwise than they are There are a generation of men that pervert the strait wayes of God Act. 13.10 that is they make them seeme crooked though they are straight notwithstanding they pervert them as a crooked or false glasse perverts a face that is beautifull representing it in another shape or as a sticke that is halfe in the water and halfe out seemes to be crooked and yet is straight in it selfe But in what is it hidden I answer that it is hidden in Christ as in the fountaine as in the heart and soule as in the subject wherein it dwels Men what ever they professe beleeve not this that there is such a life because it is a hidden life what course then shall wee take to make you beleeve it The Scriptures you will not deny yet you will be as hard to beleeve them as you will be to beleeve that there is such a life Wee will therefore say something without the Scriptures to perswade you that there is such a life as this First there is a life which the foule and spirits lives as the Angels they move act and understand though they eate not there is therefore a life
doe if they bring not forth fruit if they glorifie not God they are dead See what a price is put into your hands see what yee have done and mend whiles yee may bestow not your price amisse There are many Talents yet none like this of life take therefore the Apostles exhortation Gal. 6. While yee have time doe good life is but an acting yee then live when ye are doing good We see how many men fall from the Tree of life as leaves in Autumne the candle of this life is quickly blowne out have therefore a better life in store bee not alwayes building never inhabiting alwayes beginning never finishing Stultitiae semper incipit vivere folly alwayes beginns to live It is the fault of most men they are alwayes beginning and neuer goe on Lâ—t us take therefore the Apostles counsell 1 Pet. 4.3 Thinke it sufficient that we have walked formerly as we have done the time which remaines let us reckon it precious and bestow it to better purpose Secondly if every one that is in Christ be in an happy estate of life then let men from hence know their state and condition let them often reflect on their priviledges behaving themselves as men that prize them and bestowing their time as well as may bee let as few rivulets runne out of this streame as you can Wee pray that wee may doe Gods Will on earth as perfect as the Angels doe it in heaven wee should therefore practise this as we pray for their life is without interruption they are in communion with God let us then be alwayes doing having our thoughts above let not cares and businesse call us off but let us comfort our selves in God acting that which is for his glory wherefore prize this life esteeme it much know what ye have by Christ and consider the excellency of this life above all others That yee may know the excellency of this life consider it comparatively with this other life that we live It hath three properties wherein it differs from and excells this common life which we all live First it is an eternall life Ioh. 6. Your fathers did eate Manna and died but hee that eateth of this bread shall die no more but he shall live for ever that is this is the advantage that yee have by the life that I shall give you those that did eate Manna the food of Angels died and Ioh. 4. Those that drinke of this water shall thirst againe that is those that live another life than this shall die and thirst but those that live this life shall never die To live this life is when the soule lives in the object there is a living in the subject yet this spirituall life is when the soule lives in the object when as it is set on God Take men that live other lives yee shall see that their lives are short A man living in honour that being the thing he mindes and intends it is in potestate honorantis there is no constancy in it it is brickle If a man lives in wealth sets his minde on it Why riches take their wings and fly away Pro. 23. and then their life is ended So if a man lives in pleasure and musicke they passe away and then he is dead those who live in these things suffer many sicknesses and many deaths as their hearts are more intent upon them But it may be wee may not minde these things Yes as if we minded theÌ„ not as a man that hears a tale and hath his mind elsewhere or as a man that baits at an Inne his minde being somewhere else If yee mind them ye die in them he that minds the best things never dies because there is no change in them God is alwayes the same his favour and love is constant see therefore that yee prize them As a time that is infinitely long exceeds that which is a but a span long in quantity so doth this life exceed the naturall life in perpetuity and excelles all other lives in excellencie Secondly this life is a life indeed as that that feeds it is meate indeed the other is not so looke upon all the comforts of this present life they are not such indeed take wealth pleasures honours and the like wealth is but a false treasure Luke 16.11 it is called the unrighteous Mammon the false treasure Et falsus Hector non est Hector in comparison of the true treasure it is nothing Therefore Salomon Pro. 23.5 speaking of riches saith Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not these riches are nothing So for honours all praise among men is nothing it is but vaine-glory and vaine because it is empty and hath nothing in it so the pleasures of this life are but sad pleasures the heart is sad at the bottome the riches the comforts of this life and onely these are riches and comforts indeed the actions of this life are actions indeed In eating and drinking there is sweetnesse but when we feed on the promises by faith then we taste sweetnesse indeed in them One that is weary being refreshed with sleepe finds sweetnesse and ease but it is another refreshing that those finde who have beene weary and heavie laden with sinne and are nâ—w refreshed this brings comfort to the soule So to thinke of houses wife children and lands to consider all the actions that wee have done under the Sunne and all that we have passed thorow is pleasant but to thinke of the priviledges we have in Christ that we are Sonnes of God and heires of Heaven this is comfort indeed especially to thinke of the good workes wee have done what good prayers wee have made what good duties wee have performed these are actions indeed and bring comfort indeed All the actions of this life are actions indeed this life is a life indeed in death you shall finde it so that Christs body and bloud are meate and drinke indeed that remission of sinnes and peace of conscience are comforts indeed peace indeed they are such now though ye thinke not so yee shall then know that this life is life indeed Thirdly this life of grace is a prevailing life swallowing up the other 2 Cor. 5.4 the Apostle desired death not to be uncloathed but to be cloathed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life that is desiring death I desire not to be deprived of the comforts of this life then I were unwise I would not put off my cloathes but to be cloathed with a better suite I desire a life to swallow up this life not as a Gulfe swallowes that which is cast into it or as fire swallowes up the wood by consuming it but a life that swallowes it up as perfection swallowes up imperfection as the perfecting of a picture swallowes up the rude draught as perfect skill swallowes up bungling or as manhood swallowes up childhood not extinguishing it but drowning or rather perfecting it
our other enterprises To this I answer that this will not hinder them but they shall be done the better as oyling of the wheeles makes them goe the better Psal 1.2 hee is said to be blessed that doth meditate in the Law of God day and night Your knowledge being brought to action helpes you much often hearing of the word which puts you in remembrance addes to your life though it hinders you in other things Those who have not the word to heare live not under preaching Ministers who will not be at the cost to get them or live where they are not are much to blame and live not this life Simon Magus sinned in thinking that the holy Ghost might be bought with mony doe not they also sinne who doe lesse than hee that will not give mony for to have the Gospel brought unto them There is the like fault when as men may have the word and come not to it If they come to it though it addeth not to their knowledge yet it helpeth their acting and life Those who neglect the constant reading of the word who are not constant in private prayer those who neglect the speaking and talking of good things they neglect this life That Arabian proverbe Shut up the five windowes that the house may bee full of light will be of good use here that is the five senses being shut up the fuller of light shall wee be the not stopping up of them makes men ignorant cares and businesses possessing mens mindes there is no roome left for better things Let your minds be still plodding on that which may further you in grace and truth It is ignorance that makes men strangers from the life of God Ephe. 4.18 and this is not an ignorance that proceedeth from want of knowledge but from the badnesse of your hearts Hard hearts make men ignorant why doe men heare and yet are ignorant but because their hearts are hardened they regard not the word and so they grow not in knowledge The second meanes to get this life is to bee much in doing be much in doing in acting the duties of new obedience the more yee are occupied the more ye live else deadnesse will possesse you be therefore still praying and meditating these will revive you these are the coales that keepe the heart warme this life like water is apt to grow cold unlesse it be acted and stirred up But I must be full of life ere I can doe actions I answer that one begets the other action begets life and life begets action as health produceth exercises and exercise procureth health But I am indisposed and unfit for such actions I answer that if ye are indisposed the more need you have to be doing else you are more unexcusable the way to get heate is to bee acting as motion doth bring life to a benummed member so doth it to the soule be awaked be stirring this will revive you againe Christians hearts are awaked when as they themselves sleepe if they stirre them up there will be more life in them Rom. 2.13 when Christians begin to languish their medicine is to rise up and be doing whence Saint Paul admonisheth the Galatians Gal. 5.16 To walke in the Spirit those who have the Spirit stand not still as one that cannot stirre but they are still acting and walking this acting helpes this spirituall life first by inlarging and intending this life Secondly by preventing that which increaseth death the more we walke in the wayes of life the more we prevent the way that leades to the Chambers of death Be doing therefore if not one duty yet another In the steppings out of your callings be doing be reading and praying Conferring and talking of good things the neglect of this is the cause why there are so many dwarfes in grace Men content themselves with morning and evening duties and it is well if they doe them but doe you the actions of life more constantly and abundantly It is the corruption of our nature that wee are not doing life is maintained by the actions of life habits are mainetained by actions that are sutable to them We live in the commandements by well doing as the creature doth by food Good actions mainetaine life it receives strength from well-doing Set therefore your selves to pray to doe holy duties be still praying doing more and more the more ye doe the more life increaseth The third meanes to get this life is to get faith Faith helps this life it is a life of faith and it makes us to live this life by three several waies First it gives a reality to the priviledges of life and makes you see they are priviledges indeed therefore is it that yee act the duties of this life because ye beleeve that God is such a God that ye have such priviledges that yee are heirs of all things If yee thinke that God is such a one as he is in wisedome power and mercy if ye intend and minde the priviledges of this life then will you live the life of grace If ye doubt and question with Atheists whether these things be but dreames then ye intend them not and live not this life He that beleeves saith let me have God sure the other saith let me have that I touch and feele but the imaginary things consisting in faith and hope I care not for The more ye beleeve these things the more ye are occupied about them Secondly faith drawes you on to action and this life is but the acting of the duties of new obedience Faith and perswasion further other things as if one be perswaded that such a thing will hurt him it produceth an action of the will abstinence if a man be perswaded that he shall dye without the Physition he sends for him So in all other actions perswasion is that which sets a man on worke So in spirituall actions if we are perswaded that such a sinne committed wil not make our bodies sicke but our soules we will not doe it if we are perswaded our soules shall fare the better if wee doe such a thing this make us to doe it being perswaded wee shall have a recompence of reward it produceth action and the more action the more life Thirdly faith doth it by fitting us for Christ from whom our life comes 1 Ioh. 5.12 he that hath the Sonne hath life First the Sonne of God infuseth life into him to whom he is conjoyned the conjunction betwixt Christ and us is but relative as betweene the King and the subject when the subjects resolve to take such an one for their king they are conjoyned to him so when a woman resolves to take such a man for her husband shee is conjoyned to him The action of taking Christ is to take him as a Lord to serve him as a Saviour to have all comfort by him hee that hath the Sonne in the relative union shall have him in the reall union the Sonne
are as Fish out of the water Every life hath likewise a taste and appetite a new life hath a new taste and judgement Pro. 29.27 An unjuste man is an abomination to the just and he that is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked that is one hates the thing that the other loves he that is alive the things which before he loved he now hates he abhors the things that evill men delight in That which is a dogs meate is a sheepes poyson as the proverb is so that which wicked men delight in is as odious as poyson to the just To judge this life by see what your company and delights are nothing can be lesse dissembled than company In his company man doth speake out of the abundance of the heart he then bewrayes himselfe what he is there is no dead man no living man but he is inward with the like no signe so much poynted at in the Scripture as this Yee are translated from death to life if yee love the brethren 1 Ioh. 3.14 and Ioh. 13.35 By this shall all men know that yee are my disciples if yee love one another this rule will not deceive you Secondly yee may know whether yee live this life if ye contend for it that life which a man lives for it he will contend he will let any thing goe rather than it If yee live this life of grace yee will maintaine it and yee can doe no otherwise 1 Iohn 3.9 Hee that is borne of God cannot sinne to be borne of God is to leade a new life he that lives a new life admits not the things which tend to the destruction of it Compare this with the 1. Pet. 2.11 Abstaine from fleshly lusts which fight against the soule hee that is borne of God sinnes not that is hee yeelds not to sinne with his good will but struggles against it as one in health strives against sickenesse resists the disease and maintaines a warre against it But yet the best are foyled T is true yet they strive they never yeeld they maintaine a warre and this they doe not onely by discourse but there is a naturall instinct that puts them forwards they may be cast backe yet they returne againe they may have a sickenesse that takes away sence they may swound and be astonished for a time yet after they contend for life Every evill man contends for his life he leades his life in some lust or other from which if he be drawne hee returnes againe as a thing that is lifted from the earth will fall downe to it againe he reckons the wayes of God hard and opposite to him The wisedome of the Spirit is enmity to the flesh neyther can it be subiect to the Law of God Rom. 8. it cannot but resists it Every creature labours to mainetaine its being so evill men continuing in sinne strive naturally against all that would bring them out of this life of sinne So the Saints they live a life of grace and labour to maintaine it Iohn 6.68 Christ asking his Disciples whether they also would goe away Peter made this answer Lord whither shall wee goe thou hast the words of eternall life that is whiles we conceive thee to be the principle and fountaine of this life we cannot depart from thee The Saints wil let go friends and life and all for this life Count therefore of others and judge of your selves by contesting for this life strive to mainetaine it let all goe rather than it Thirdly yee may know whether yee have this life in you or not by the fruites of it as the tree is knowne by its fruites If the word turne the flocke into its owne nature ye know it by the fruites Gal. 5.25 If ye live in the Spirit ye will also walke in the Spirit that is if ye professe your selves holy men shew it by walking in the Spirit holy men will bee doing that which is good This is the surest triall our workes will not deceive us other things which consist in imagination may 1 Ioh. 3.10 In this the Children of God are manifest and the children of the Divill who doth not righteousnes is not of God he that is of God doth not unrighteousnesse Consider then what your walke and your actions are and by them ye shall know this life But how shall we know whether we walke in the Spirit or no I answere first that there are many by-walkes and if ye walke but in one of them yee walke in the flesh and not in the Spirit Iam. 1.26 If any man seeme to be religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his owne heart this mans religion is vaine that is hee that makes this sinne his trade and walkes ordinarily in it his religion is vaine Secondly yee may know it by the guides yee follow Evill men they follow three guides Ephe. 2.3 they follow first the world secondly the Divill thirdly the flesh Holy men have three contrary guides first the renewed part within secondly the holy Ghost thirdly the course of the Saints Goe ye the broad way oportet Sanctos vadere per diverticula the Saints doe not so Follow yee the streame fulfill yee the will of flesh or of the Spirit what are your actions Ephe. 4.17 I charge you that you henceforth walke not as the Gentiles doe in the vanity of their mindes that is holy men may have vanity in their mindes yet they walke not in it as others doe evill men may have other thoughts yet they walke in the vanity of their mindes and albeit that evill men walke not in all the waies of sin yet they are dead there is but one way to hit the marke but there are a thousand by-wayes a holy man may stumble in the wayes of God and have some foyles but he leades not his life in sinne he strives against it hee that leades his life in any knowne sinne not resisting it and will doe it and not crosse himselfe in it is dead his religion is vaine But what actions are there that holy men doe but that wicked men and others doe them I answere that there is no good actions we doe but they may be dead workes as men may pray and keepe the Sabbath yet they may be but dead workes they may doe them for a shew yet they are dead A shaddow hath all the liniaments of a body yet it wants life so the workes of hypocrites they want life consider therefore whether your workes are living workes you may know it by these three signes First if they proceed from the fountaine of life they are not dead workes compare Gal. 5.6 In Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by love with Gal. 6.15 In Christ Iesus neither Circumcision availes any thing neither uncircumcision but a new creature all that proceeds not from a new heart and from faith which worketh by love is nothing this is