live without light they are dark men and women in their Souls Another thing that Christ preaches to them is in ver 24. the Lord open your hearts in the reading of it I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins Dying in ones sins is the saddest death that a man can die that person dies to die As the children of God die to live so these they die to die again When they die the natural death they die the Eternal death they die to be damned to be separated for ever from the Lord as those that he will never have any thing to do with more but in a way of tormenting them for their living and dying in their sins And these of all that die out of the World are the persons whose death is to be most lamented If God takes away any of your Relations or Friends or Neighbours if you have but good hopes that they died in Christ 't is comfortable but this same dying in sin Oh! that 's the terrible that 's the lamentable death as you say of some persons sometimes that died in some horrible way Oh! such an one he came to a sad end so do all that die in their sins A sad end the Lord knows One were better never to have been born than to die such a death But I pray mark here what is it that will bring people to such a death Why says Christ If ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your sins If ye abide Unbelievers if you don't come to me own me give up your selves to me as sure as can be saith he this will be your case ye shall dye in your sins There be some that die to their sins that 's a good death and all Gods Children dye so There be some that die in their sins that 's a sad death as you have heard and all Reprobate Sinners die so There be some that die for their sins eternally and such are all they that die in them and the way to die in them and for them is to live in them These and such kind of things Christ is here preaching I have but named that which I conceive to be most needful for you Well now what 's the success of Christs preaching to his Hearers Why you may observe it was this That of those that heard him some were complying and some were cavilling The Lord grant that all of you may be of the first sort and none of the second Some were complying Hearers This kind of Doctrine took upon their Souls v. 30. As he spake these words many believed on him Oh that there might be such a presence and power of God in our Assembly here that as we are speaking you might be believing applying taking home the Truths of the Gospel so as to be converted to Christ Now these kind of Hearers Christ encourages and bids them go on as they had begun and they should have a Threefold Priviledg The first of them is in v. 31. They should be Disciples indeed not in name and in shew only but in reality q. d. I 'le own you for sincere ones such as Nathanael was concerning whom Christ said John 1 48. Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile You have some that do offer towards Christ begin as if they would follow his Rules and Doctrine but they don't continue in his Word and so shew that they are not Disciples indeed none of the right kind of Professors The other Two Priviledges which Christ saith these shall have are in v. 32. 1. Ye shall know the Truth i. e. have experimental knowledg of the Truths of God God and Christ would reveal themselves further and further to them in the matters and mysteries of salvation He promises inward and sound illumination to them that they should have another manner of knowledg of spiritual things than they have who have nothing but what swims in the brain 2. That the Truth which they should have an understanding of should make them free not like those that abide in slavery and bondage but they should have a state of Freedom Now amongst these Hearers some as I said were cavilling Hearers And this is the sad success that the Word hath upon some that it sets them but a cavilling at what is delivered And thus the Gospel is the favour of life to some and the savour of death to others Now the carnal and unbelieving Hearers take occasion unjustly to cavil at Christ from those last words which he spake to his complying Hearers in the Text shall make you free As if they should say Why then pray what do you make of us We perceive that you count us Slaves or Bond people Your Disciples and Followers shall be taken out of the company of such as are in thraldom why then be-like we are no Freemen Here they thought they had a great advantage against Christ see v. 33. They answered him We be Abrahams seed and were never in bondage to any man How sayest thou Ye shall be made free This that they said was not true in the letter and as to the outward bondage that they had never been in bondage to any man for had they not been in bondage in Egypt and in bondage in Babylon And they were at this present under Tribute and subjection to the Romans Note that a cavilling Spirit is a lying Spirit too They that are given to the one sin are given also to the other But Christ did not mean this in the letter or of any outward bondage but of bondage by sin that they were in And so v. 34. he doth explain himself Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin i. e. is in bondage to it and so will find himself to be at last v. 35. when he shall see that he must not abide any longer among the Children and Sons of God but shall be sent away as the Servant or he that is bound to his Master is afterwards sent out of the house while those that are the sons and Free ones are kept in as those that have a Right and a Priviledg to stay as I that am Gods natural Son do and shall abide for ever in my Father's house together with all his adopted Children who believe on me This 36th Verse to which I am now come is Christ's drawing a conclusion from all this applying this that he had been speaking about Bondage and Freedom to their case that they if they had had Grace might have made a saving use of it for their own everlasting good If the Son therefore shall make you free ye shall be free indeed i. e. If I who am the Son of God and therefore am free and can give freedom to others if I make you free ye shall be free indeed Wherein you have 1. The name by which Jesus Christ calls himself the Son of God or as 't is in the Greek that Son that is such a Son as none is
to save those who are to be saved You must take notice that this willingness of Christ to save sinners may be considered two ways 1. There is an absolute willingness in Christ to save some sinners and these sinners are those whom God hath from all eternity chosen to life and who thereupon do come to Christ that they might have life being awakened and stirred up thereunto by the inward and effectual working of Gods Spirit and Grace upon their hearts Now there is in Christ an absolute willingness to save all such he is fully resolved to be wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption to them Joh. 6. 37. 2. There is a conditional willingness in Christ to save other sinners yea all sinners yea even those that shall never be saved by which Christ stands ready to receive and pardon and imbrace them in case they come to him and repent and believe the Gospel which they never doing through the hardness and impenitency of their hearts to which they are justly left they are eternally lost tho Christ could have saved them and would have saved them if the Condition had been performed Luk. 13. 34. Secondly it will appear that this Freedom is in Christ abundantly if we consider how he and his Salvation are magnified and extolled in Scripture You shall find the Word of GOD speaking very honourably of both as indeed he and his Salvation deserve the highest Praise When Christ himself as a Redeemer is spoken of see the great commendation that is given of him I shall need to lead you but to that one Epistle to the Hebrews for it See chap. 4. 15. and chap. 7. 26. and chap. 8. 1 2 6. and chap. 9. 14. And then as he himself who is the Saviour is thus set forth with such magnificent Expressions So the Salvation and Redemption that comes by him likewise Heb. 2. 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation He speaks of it as that which cannot be told what manner of thing 't is for the Worth and Value of it he is so taken up with the admiration of it that he wants a fit comparison to set it out by So great salvation as if he should have said I cannot tell you how great 't is 't is so great And in 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot He makes all the Silver and Gold and precious things of the World as nothing to this Redemption which the Blood of Christ hath purchased for us Thirdly there must needs be abundant Freedom in Christ if we consider that this Redemption of his doth more good to them that partake of it than ever the Fall of Adam did them hurt It was indeed an unspeakable deal of misery that was brought in by the Transgression of our first Parents by it came Sin by it came Death and Condemnation Beloved there is no evil either of Sin or of Punishment either in this World or in that to come but it is the woful effect and fruit of that Fall Oh that God would shew us what a miserable condition we are in by the Fall Oh how ignorant is the World of this How unawakened about it Little do the most consider where it is that Adam hath left them what wretched cursed Creatures they are upon that account and Oh how little care do People generally take or how little haste do they make to get out of it How secure do the most continue upon that sinking ground as if there were no danger towards them Well but now this Redemption by Christ hath more good in it for them that are or shall be delivered by it than that had hurt in it This second Adam sets them into a better condition than ever they were before they fell He doth not only make up their loss again but with the greatest advantage Read that excellent place Rom. 5. 15. to the end Fourthly 'T is such abundant Redemthat is in Christ that he can save those that despair of ever being saved not only can he save those who deserve to be damned but even such as despair of being saved Oh how many be there that have lain under most dreadful fears of everlasting condemnation that when they have been brought to see their sins as it were set in order before them and to see the wrath of God as it were flaming against them they have concluded that they should as certainly go to Hell as if they were there already And Oh the bitter cryes that they have had upon this Oh the anguish and sorrow that their Souls have been filled with What shall become of me c. They have roared by reason of the disquietness of their hearts they could not tell how to eat or drink or sleep for the fearful looking-for of Judgment and of Wrath that should devour them and yet after all this have been saved the great Redeemer hath given them rest from their fear and from their sorrow and from the hard bondage wherein they were made to serve Heb. 2. 15. And it may be here may be some or other amongst you that are full of trembling thoughts and very ready to speak about your Salvation as if there were no hope I know that many poor Souls do go under this load they can't tell how to think that they shall ever be saved Oh but consider there is such abundance of Freedom in Christ that he can save those who despair of being saved and therefore be revived in thy hopes thou poor disheartned Soul and because of this say as Jonah did chap. 2. 3 4. For thou hadst cast me into the deep in the midst of the seas and the floods compassed me about all thy billows and thy waves passed over me Then I said I am cast out of thy sight yet I will look again toward thy holy temple 3. This Freedom is in Christ freely the very word doth carry this along with it Christ doth not release Souls as men use to give Freedom to the Bodies of them they have kept in prison if they will have their Liberty they must pay their Fees That which God speaks of Cyrus in Isa 45. 13. is eminently true of Christ He shall let go my captives not for price or reward Christ doth not ask Souls What will you give me if I will do this for you But he is willing to do it for nothing he bids them come and buy but 't is without money and without price he is as glad to free poor sinners as they are to be freed by him And there be three Reasons why Christ doth all freely in the Work of Redemption pray mark them 1. Because he redeems them out of love therefore he aims at no reward What is it that brings Christ to this Work why 't is Love Isa 63. 9. in his love and in his pity he
be in mercy to them let it come never so soon and they are so fit for Heaven as that to be sure they shall not miss of it Col 1. 12 13 14. And so now you see what excellent Uses may be made of this Freedom and thereupon what an excellent Freedom this must needs be Now you that are in it I beseech you put your Freedom to these good Uses which I have set before you let it teach you to pitty poor sinners to get more understanding in the Gospel let it endear Christ to you let it comfort your hearts let it make the ways of God sweet to you and you useful Prize the Saints let it strengthen your faith be enriched by it in all goodness let it make you very humble and engage you to Christ in the strictest obedience and to be ready against your Lord shall come CHAP. XI Concerning the many wonders that may be observed in this Freedom THE Seventh and Last thing to set out the excellency of this Freedom is to speak something of the many Wonders that may be observed in it Beloved if ever there were any thing to be wondered at since the beginning of the World this Freedom is to be wondered at there 's enough in it to amaze and astonish every beholder You know people are mightily taken with seeing of rare sights and the hearing of strange news but never did any thing present you with such rare sights nor bring such strange news to your ears as this Freedom doth The whole story of it is wonderful from first to last it begins in Wonders and goes on in Wonders and is finished in Wonders The Freedom that God gave his people from other Bondages for their worldly condition were attended and accompanied with great Wonders so 't was when he brought them out of Egypt God was a Wonder-working God at that time I will smite Egypt saith he with all my wonders When he came to deliver Israel every one of the ten Plagues were Wonders the drying up of the Red-Sea the causing of his people to pass through the midst of it the drowning of all their Enemies by the returning of the Waters upon them they were great and marvellous works and so 't was when he brought them out of the captivity in Babylon he did such strange and great things then that his people were like to them that dreamed Psal 126. 1. they were great things in the eyes of their very Enemies as well as in their own eyes vers 2 3. But now this same spiritual Freedom is the Wonder of Wonders I might observe to you how that in many places of the Scripture where this Freedom is spoken of 't is brought in with this word behold that 's put before it as who should say do you mind what a Wonder here is Can you pass it by without admiration see it in Isa 7. 14. chap. 28. 16. chap. 42. 1. Jer. 23. 5 6. Zech. 9. 9. Luk. 2. 10. Joh. 1. 29. 1 Joh. 3. 1. and in Isa 9. 6. When Christ is prophecied of that he should come into the World for the giving of this Freedom amongst all his other names this is one and the first that is mentioned that he should be wonderful But now to come to Particulars If I should insist upon all the Wonders belonging to this Freedom I should be too large and indeed the Subject that I am upon doth not require any more than that I should speak so far of the Wonders in it as may serve to set out the excellency of this Freedom And therfore I do willingly omit the Wonders that may be observed in the Incarnation Conception Birth Life Death Resurection and Assention of Christ and shall only lay before you such Wonders as by which you may see as I said that this is an excellent Freedom I will mention ten of them 1. What a Wonder is this That the greatest loss should be turned into the greatest gain 't is so by this Freedom it brings Saints the best estate that ever they were in out of the worst estate that ever they were in 'T was never so low with them as it 't was by the Fall of man 't was never so high with them as it is by this Freedom by Christ by which they are recovered from that Paul saith Phil. 3. 7. That the things that were gain to him became loss for Christ and they who are the Children of God may also say that the things that were loss to them are become gain by Christ Oh how have they gained by the fall And yet beloved we must not rejoyce in the fall while we look barely upon that No 't is matter of heart-breaking sorrow to think that ever Adam and the World in him sinned away their innocency as they did and 't will be matter of everlasting mourning to many millions in Hell that Adam did not abide in that honour which God gave him at the first but we may and we must rejoyce in Christ who turns even this great evil to the great good of all that believe in him to them it is according to Sampsons riddle Out of the eater came forth meat and out of the strong came forth sweetness If ever there were a blessed loss this was it considering how God took occasion from it to magnifie the riches of his Grace in his Son This Wonder you have set forth in Rom. 5. 17 18 19. where he speaks how we were ruined in the first Adam and raised in the second 2. That every sin that a man hath committed should be damnable and yet that all the sins that he hath committed shall not damn him Certainly there must be some wonderful way found out to bring this to pass why now this Freedom by Christ doth it 'T is the nature of every sin to deserve Hell not only the evils and miseries of this present life but also everlasting wrath in the World to come and who ever is not made free by Christ shall find that every sin is a deadly sin and that 't is not a Purgatory shall serve their turn to cleanse them from the least transgression Oh what a cursed practise is this of the Papists to harden sinners hearts thus as if some sins were of such a small guilt and of such a venial nature as if Hell were a place of too great torment for them but we say as Paul in another case Nay O man who art thou that repliest against God Doth not this word say that death is the wages of sin Rom. 6. ult of sin as 't is sin and by death there is meant that which is in opposition to eternal life But now this Freedom makes innumerable damnable sins not to damn would you not count it a wonderful thing if there should be such a thing as were able to quench unquenchable fire Why this Freedom does it for those that have it it puts cut the Fire of Hell to them Beloved if you would imagine
mankind to perish and if he would have saved any he might have bid his Son go take the nature of Angels and redeem the Devils but that it would not consist with his everlasting purpose and have left Adam and all his posterity under the curse but that he should pitch upon us to be the subjects that should be capable of this Freedom how is free Grace to be admired that God should overlook those that stood nearer to him by their creation then we did to look upon us The spirits of darkness are left in dispair while we are under hope they and we were all miserable creatures by the fall first of one and then of the other but their misery was irrecoverable ours is a recoverable misery 2 Tim. 2. 26. God hath an Election amongst us but he hath none among the Devils and therefore the door of mercy is shut against them never to be opened 2 Pet. 2. 4. Jude vers 6. Oh how are we beholding to God that he would reserve Mercy for us when he reserves Wrath for the fallen Angels there he made quick work they fell into Condemnation and God sealed up their Condemnation there is not so much as a possibility that God will ever be reconciled to them but with us he was willing to renew a better Covenant than that was which we brake there is pity and pardon and peace for us in Christ Now have not we cause to admire this and to say as Heb. 2. 6. What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him 2. That not only men but some of the worst of men should have the benefit of this Freedom I mean not only a temporal benefit for so all have but the saving everlasting benefit of it You read in the Scripture of some of the very worst of men that have been made free by Christ When this Freedom came to them at first it found some of them amongst the Thieves and others amongst the Drunkards and others amongst the Whoremongers and others amongst the Idolaters as it did the Corinthians and others amongst the Persecutors and the Blasphemers as it did Paul and others amongst the Crucifiers of Christ as it did the Jews and have you not heard sometimes of some notorious sinner or other that became a new man and through grace was afterwards as much for God as before he was the for Devil that to ones thinking was come even to the height of wickedness and yet brought home Beloved God will have this Freedom by Christ and the exceeding riches of it glorified even in this World and therefore he gives it sometimes to the very dregs of sinners And who indeed is there of those that have obtained a fellowship in this great Salvation but hath cause to admire that ever it should be given to him And to say Oh! God had mercy upon a grievous sinner when he had mercy upon me It is certain that the loving-kindness of God in Jesus Christ will be admired by every Soul upon whom it lights and such a one is ready to think That never was there any sinner that did more need mercy or less deserve it and the Reason of this is because where this Freedom comes it works such a sense of ones vileness upon the heart that tho indeed there may in some respects be greater sinners than ones self yet one cannot but look upon ones self as one of the greatest Wonders of Mercy that ever was as Paul did 1 Tim. 1. 15 16. And when God shall have gathered all his Children to glory Oh beloved what a wonderful company there will be I don't mean so much for multitude tho that will be innumerable as to think what sinners these were and especially some of them Oh! the stories that might be told of them in Heaven to raise matter of everlasting Admiration that one who had been formerly such a grievous sinner on Earth should prove notwithstanding a glorious Saint in Heaven Oh wonderful Vse 3. Is this Freedom by Christ such an excellent Freedom then here is something for Lamentation and Mourning Beloved we have often through Gods Mercy met together Oh! that we could now mourn together And you that cannot weep with your eyes oh that you would mourn in your hearts Why but you may say What is there here to mouth for This excellent Freedom is cause of rejoycing Yea indeed so 't is â—is glad tidings of great joy if all things about it were well with us but alas the Lord knows they are not I pray therefore consider four things for the piercing of your hearts in this Use of Lamentation 1. That ever we should be the cause of putting the Lord Jesus Christ who purchased this Freedom for us to so much pain and grief as he underwent in the doing of it Oh! what bitter mourning should we make for our sins that laid such a load upon Christ that we could never have had this excellent Freedom if he had not suffered beyond expression We may say those of us that are made free by Christ he hath put us into a good condition but oh into what a bad condition did our sins put him he hath brought us joy but we brought him sorrow he hath brought us rest but we brought him travel of Soul he hath brought us life but we brought him death he hath brought us blessing but we brought him a curse he helped us to a great deal of Mercy but we helped him to a great deal of misery in respect of his sufferings he was the miserablest man that ever lived Now friends this was your sins and my sins that brought him to this that made Jesus Christ to have a very Hell upon Earth and shall we not mourn for this Oh! that the Lord would perform that promise to us this day Zech. 12. 10. And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and of supplications and they shall look upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first born 2. That God hath no more Glory from us for all this grace that he hath bestowed upon us This Freedom is actually given to some of us and those Scriptures through the tender Mercy of God may be applied I doubt not to some of you Col. 1. 21. Gal. 4. 13. Eph. 2. 13 19. But will you not say your selves I know you will that you do fall exceeding short of such a walking as this excellent Freedom engages you to Beloved I am glad to see any of you that are in Christ so good but truly the best of us have cause to mourn that we are no better Oh what a people should we be for whom the Lord Jesus Christ laid down his precious Life and shed his precious Blood You do God some
spots will be all out Thou Child of God shall have no more of this deadness no more of this hardness and unbelief of heart here thou canst not pray one quarter of an hour without vain thoughts there thou shalt praise and glorifie him to all eternity without the least distraction Oh! what a Priviledge will this be when sin and you shall be quite parted Now you hear of it in every duty but there you may be good as long and as much as you will and no evil to hinder you Paul's complaint is now at an end as to himself because he is at home Rom. 7. 21. Priviledge 5. They who are made free by Christ are made nigh to God Eph. 2. 13. But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the Blood of Christ As the people of Israel whom he redeemed out of Egypt are called a people near to God Psal 147. 14. You know 't is counted a Priviledg to stand near to an earthly King in some cases The Queen of Sheba pronounced the Servants of Solomon happy upon this account 1 Kings 10. 8. But as Christ said once of himself a greater than Solomon is here here 's the King of Heaven and Earth that is the most high God and these are near to him whatsoever is dear to us is near to us Now the Saints are very dear to God How dear is a Friend to you And how dear are your Children to you And how dear is the Apple of your eye to you Why by these names the Lord calls his people in the Scripture Yea beloved the Lord is very near to them when they think he is far off from them Psal 73. 23. don 't make account that God is at such a distance from you you that belong to him as many times you do you think he is gone away so that he will never return and all that while he is hard by you if you could but see him remember what he saith in Isa 41. 10. Fear thou not for I am with thee c. Priviledg 6. This Freedom brings Union with Christ Eph. 5. 30. it joyns those to him who are redeemed by an inseparable bond Christ is in them and they are in him therefore Paul saith Gal. 2. 20. that Christ liveth in him and 't is said of the Saints that Christ dwells in their hearts by Faith Eph. 3. 17. and Christ and they are not to be considered as two but as one he owns them as his Members and you know they are one with the head as his Wife and she is one with the Husband Now what an unspeakable Priviledg is it to be united to Jesus Christ and what greater honour can a Soul desire or enjoy than this is If you have such a deal of comfort from those earthly Relations in which you stand one to another as some of you have tho this is a Union of a low degree in comparison of this yet you find there is much sweetness in being joyned to a loving Wife or a loving Husband Oh what is it to be joyned to the Lord Jesus Christ Obj. But you 'l say What 's a bare Vnion if there be no Communications from him if Christ doth not give out that which he is and that which he hath to us there 's many a one that is joyned to another in an uniting Relation that is little the better for it Ans Yea but to be sure they who are one with Christ shall be the better for it for in the next place Priviledg 7. From this Union flows Communion with Christ and a communication from Christ of abundance of good things to them I will instance in some 1. They partake of his likeness and image to this you read that they were of old predestinated Rom. 8. 29. Hence they are said to have put on Christ as soon as ever he brought them into this Freedom he began presently as I may say to draw his Picture upon them and they grow more and more like him every day by resembling of him in his Graces and walking The Saints desire to live no other life but that which is suitable to the life that Christ led and they would fain imitate and follow him in his holy conversation they 〈◊〉 mightily taken with it all their trouble is that they can reach it no more 2. They partake of his fulness Joh. 1. 16. 'T is their Priviledg being made free by him to be fetching from him what they need for tho he hath it in himself yet he doth not keep it to himself no he means to be liberal of what he hath to all his Members He is not like the Rich covetous men of the World that tho they have abundance yet they hoard it up they have no readiness in them to distribute but Christ is all for distributing and that which his redeemed ones have had and shall have from him is an unknown deal 3. They partake of his Death and Resurrection Rom. 6. 5. They dye to sin by the vertue of Christs Death and they live to God by the vertue of Christs rising again For beloved Christ did not do those things barely that they should end in himself that none should have a fellowship with him in them But his design was that his Death should bring forth another Death and his Resurrection another Resurrection in the Souls of his people that they should feel in themselves that he died by their being crucified to sin and crucified to the World and that they should feel in themselves that he rose by their newness of life and by their setting their affections upon things above Now this is a great Priviledg to have the experience of these things within us people talk how Christ died and rose again but where is our conformity to this Oh! how little doth the power and the virtue of this come to us 4. They partake of his Righteousness I mean 't is imputed to them as their own that perfect unspotted obedience of his 't is to cover all the unrighteousness that is in them 2 Cor. 5 ult Oh beloved what a thing is this that a righteousness that is just as the Scripture would have it without the least defect wherein all the holy rules and commands of the word are fulfilled to a tittle that this should be made over to one with as great and sure an interest in it as if one had done all this in ones person why thus 't is with those whom Christ hath made free 5. They partake of his Intercession the Lord Jesus is at the right hand of the Father on their behalf Heb. 9. 24. he is speaking good words to God for them continually and his intercession is powerful Oh with what great Arguments can Christ back all the requests that he makes to his Father for them even from what himself hath done and suffered and satisfied 6. They shall partake with Christ in his Glory many of them are
saies again vers 18. I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven As if he should say I foresaw this when I sent you out that it would be so I knew that he would come down as swift as the lightning Beloved this Freedom makes sinners vomit up Devils where it comes what a wonderful thing is this 7. That the dead should be raised would you not Wonder to see a man raised from the dead If so be that any of you should stand in a Church-yard and while you are looking upon a grave and think of the person that lies dead and buried there and how many years ago it is since he died and that now he were rotten and consumed to see him come forth and stand up and live Why now such a marvellous work is done by this Freedom it hath spiritually opened the graves of many thousand Souls and blessed be God we are not without some such that live and walk amongst us at this day and that are with us in this Congregation Beloved do but turn your eyes now and look upon such a man and such a woman that fears God and you have this wonderful sight before you concerning whom it may be said as in Eph. 2. 1. And you hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins By this Freedom God shews Wonders to the dead the dead arise and praise him Psal 88. 10 11 12. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead shall the dead arise and praise thee Selah Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave or thy faithfulness in destruction Shall thy wonders be known in the dark and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness Why yes God doth so in this case that I am upon And therefore if you that have any Relations any Children any Friends that are for the condition of their Souls stark dead you cannot perceive the least motion or breathing in them towards God or any thing that is good Why 't is true indeed if you be spiritually alive your selves you can't but do that which persons use to do for their Friends that are dead you cannot but mourn for them and in this sense you may and you must do that which would be a great sin in another sense you may pray for the dead and you may be stirred up to it by the consideration of the wonderful nature of this Freedom that it is a thing that will put life into the dead You may look upon a wicked Child or Relation it may be so far gone in sin that they are even past hope as we use to do upon people when they are dead oh as long as they were alive tho very sick yet while there 's life there is hope as we use to say but when we see they are dead then hope is gone Yea but as to this I am speaking of how know you but Christ may come to the grave of that dead Soul and raise it as he did to Lazarus So beloved we that are Ministers of Christ we preach of this Freedom to you and as to divers of you we are afraid we preach to the dead and one would think Why then what hope is there were it not as good to give over Oh no! Preach we must for all this in hope that you may live we are sure that if God please to give you this Freedom tho you have it not yet when it comes it shall do Wonders in you 't will fetch you out of your graves Our Preaching to sinners 't is like Ezekiels prophecying to the dry bones cap. 37. God brought him and set him down in the midst of a Valley full of them vers 1 2. and when he had been viewing them well and seen what a sad Spectacle there was now Son of man can these bones live saith he dost think 't is possible that ever they should live And he answered O Lord God thou knowest As if he should say O Lord that 's with thee who can resolve that but thy self verse 3. Well in vers 4. Come do thou prophecy upon them saith God and keep on prophecying and see what I will do by it Now vers 7. the Prophet prophesied as he was commanded As if he should say That I did and that was all that I could do but mark what wonderful success here was see vers 7 8 9 10. and you read in vers 10. that they lived c. The Lord bless our preaching as he blessed Ezekiels prophecying here 8. That Death it self should be killed Is not this a strange thing You know what a killing thing Death is you have heard of many and seen many that have been slain by it it is a killing all over the World Whether you consider Death naturally or spiritually what a great destroyer ' t is But now that there should be something that should cause Death it self to dye would not this be a wonder why this Freedom doth it it kills the bodily death by the Resurrection of the body it kills the spiritual Death by their being risen with Christ it kills the eternal Death by giving them eternal Life You have two Verses in Joh. 11. 25 26. that speak to this says our Saviour there I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me tho he were dead yet shall he live And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye See also 1 Cor. 15. 54 55 56 57. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 9. That a man should be made able to do all things Would you not Wonder to see a man that is so able It may be you will not believe that there is any such man in the World Nay that if he could do all things he would not be a man and 't is true if you take all things in the largest sense he cannot do all things that God can do but he can do all things through God that he hath to do Phil. 4. 11. A true Christian is in some sense weak and yet strong as Paul saith When I am weak then am I strong 2 Cor. 12. 10. And says our Saviour to the man that brought to him his Son possessed with a Devil beseeching him to help him Mark 9. 23 If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth As if he should say Art thou got into Freedom if so there 's nothing that thou hast to do but thou maist go through with it by faith in me A man that hath this Freedom and improves it as he should do he can be poor he can be rich he can do and he can suffer he can live