AN ELEGANT AND LIVELY DESCRIPTION OF Spirituall Life and Death DELIVERED In divers Sermons in Lincolnes-Inne November the 9. th M.DC XXIII vpon Iohn 5.25 BY John Preston then Bachellor of Divinitie and Chaplaine in Ordinarie to the Prince his Highnesse Ignatius Epistola 15. ad Romanos Mors est vita sine Christo. LONDON Printed by Tho Cotes for MICHAELL SPARKE at the blue Bible in Greene-Arbor 1632. AN Elegant and lively description of Spirituall DEATH and LIFE IOHN 5.25 Verily verily I say unto you that the houre is comming and now is when the dead shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God and they that heare shall live THE Occasion of these words was this when as Christ had affirmed to the Iewes That God was his Father and the Iewes went about to kill him for it Hee proves what hee had said by this argument He that is able to give life to the dead is God or the Sonne of God But I am able to give life to the dead The houre is comming and now is when the dead shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God and those that heare it shall live Therefore I am the Sonne of God In briefe these words shew Christs Divinity by the effects of it that hee can quicken the dead In these words we may consider these parts First the subject on which Christ doth exercise his Divinity and that is on dead men The dead shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God and shall live Secondly the instrument by which he doth it and that is by his word which is not meant onely the bare preaching and hearing of the word barely but such an inward commanding powerfull operative word that makes men doe that which is commanded them Such a word was spoken to Lazarus being dead Lazarus come forth and hee did it This word commands men and makes them to obey it Thirdly the time when hee will exercise his divinity the howre is comming and now is that is the time shall come when as it shall be abundantly revealed the fruite of the Gospel shall appeare more plentifully and fully hereafter but yet it is now beginning to appeare there is now some small fruit of it Lastly it is affirmed with an asseveration or oath Verily Verily I say unto you And these are the parts of this Text. Out of these words I purpose to shew you these three things First what the estate of all men is out of Christ. Secondly what we gaine by Christ. Thirdly what we must doe for Christ. First we will shew you what your estate is out of Christ for this will make you to prize him more And the point for this is That every man out of Christ is in a state of death or a dead man that is All men however they are borne living yet they are still dead men without the living Spirit the root is dead Hence are these places of Scripture Gen. 2.17 The day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death Math. 8.22 Let the dead bury their dead Ephes. 2.1 You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sinnes Ephe. 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light The meaning is that all men are spiritually dead This will be of some moment to shew you that you are dead without Christ. Yee account it a gastly sight to see many dead men lye together it affects you much but to see a multitude of dead men walke and stand before us that affects us not The naturall death is but a picture or shadow of death but this spirituall death is death indeed As it is said spiritually of Christs flesh Iohn 6.55 That it iâ— meate indeed Now that you may know what this death is I will shew you First of all what death is Secondly how many kinds of death there are Thirdly the symptomes and signes of this death Fourthly the degrees of this death For the first what this death is it consists in two things First in death there is a privation of life then a man is dead when as the Soule is separated from the Body so a man is spiritually dead when as the soule is separated from the quickning Spirit of Grace and righteousnesse This is all our cases In us there dwels no good there is no Spirit of life within us the Soule is so out of order that the spirit is weary of it and forsakes it When the Body growes distempered and unfit for the Soule to use it then the Soule leaves it Even as when the instrument is quite out of tune a man layes it aside whiles it is in tune he playes on it So a man dwels in a house as long as it is habitable and fit to dwell in but when it becomes unhabitable he departs so as long as the body is a fit organ for the soule it keepes it when it becomes unfit it leaves it Even so the holy Ghost lives in the Soule of man as long as it is in good temper but being distempered by sinne the holy Ghost removes You may see it in Adam as soone as hee eate of the forbidden fruite the holy Ghost left him and hee lost his Originall righteousnesse Secondly in this death as there is a privation so there is also a positive evill quality in the soule whereby it is not onely voyd of goodnesse but made ill In the naturall death when as a man dyes there is another forme left in the body so in this spirituall death there is an evill habit left in the soules of men This you may see Heb. 9.14 where the workes you doe before regeneration are called Dead workes there would be a contradiction in calling them dead Workes if there were not another positive evill forme in man beside the absence of the quickning Spirit which forme is called Flesh in the Scriptures But it may be objected that sinne is a meere privation of good that it is a Non-ens therefore flesh cannot be said to be an operative quality and forme of sinne To this I answer that though all sinne bee a meere privation yet it is in an operative subject and thence it comes to passe that sinne is fruitfull in evill workes as for example take an horse and put out his eyes as long as hee stands still there is no error but if he begins to runne once he runnes amisse and the longer hee runnes the further he is out of the way wherein he should goe and all this because hee wants his eyes which should direct him So it is with sinne though it in its selfe bee but a meere privation yet it is seated in the soule which is alwaies active Anima nunquam otiosa The goodnesse that should inlighten us is taken away and there is a positive evill quality put into it that leads us on to evill Consider farther whence this death proceeds the originall of it is the understanding mind of man which is
primū vivēs et ultimū moriens That which lives first and dies first The cause of life is the understanding inlightened to see the truth when the affections are right and the understanding is straight then wee live when it is darkned all goes out of order Iohn 1.4 speaking of Christ it is said that in him was life and the life was the light of men he was life because he was light he did inliven men because he did inlighten them therefore Ephe. 5.4 Awake thou that sleepest stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light because light is the beginning of spirituall life Iames 1.18 Therefore it is said Of his owne will begot he them by the word of truth that is the word rectifies the understanding and opinion which is the first thing in this spirituall birth Ephe. 4.22.24 Put off the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts thereof and put on the new man which after God is created in holinesse and perfect righteousnesse The old man is corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts that which is heere called deceitfull lusts c. in the originall signifies lusts proceeding from error and holinesse proceeding from truth lust proceeds from error in mistaking things for lust is nothing else but affection misplaced proceeding from error That holinesse in which God delighteth in which his Image consists comes from truth When Adam was alive he judged aright then the wheele and affections of his soule were right Being dead by reason of his fall he lost his sight he saw no beauty in the wayes of God and this is the case of all unregenerate men but when the Spirit rectifies the judgement convinceth them of sinne and righteousnesse then they begin to revive To be dead is to have the understanding darkned the judgement erronious to be alive is to have the understanding inlightened and the judgement rectified And thus much for the first what this death is We come now to the kindes of death which are three First there is a death of guiltinesse one that is guilty of any offence that is death by the Law is said to be but a dead man So every one by nature is a dead man bound over to death though he be not executed Secondly there is a death in sinne that is opposite to the life of sanctification Ephe. 2.1 you hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sinnes there is a death for sinne that is contrary to the life of Glory Thirdly there is a death that is opposite to the life of joy in hell there is a life man is not quite extinguished but yet men in hell are said to be dead because they have no joy This death consists in the separating of God from the soule when God is separated from the soule then man dyes this death of sorrow God joynes himselfe to the soules of good and bad to those who are not sanctified he joynes himselfe in a common manner and thence it is they have common joy common comfort common civility to the godly he joynes himselfe in an extraordinary manner by which they have extraordinary joy now when God is separated from the soule then comes a perfect death see it in the separation of God from Christs humanity God withdrawing himselfe from him but for a time he cryeth out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me As God withdrawes himselfe more or lesse so is our joye our sorrow more or lesse Thus much for the kinds of this death We come now to the Symptomes or signes of this death and they are foure The first is this men are said to be dead when they understand nothing when as there is no reason extant in them when they see no more then dead men The life is nought else but the soule acted then a man is said to live when the understanding part is acted man is spiritually dead when as his understanding is darkned when as he sees or understands nothing of Gods waies because they are spirituall and he carnall But it may bee objected men doe understand things belonging to faith and repentance carnall men not yet sanctified have some understanding of these I answer that they may understand the materials belonging to Godlinesse as well as others but yet they relish them not they see them not with a spirituall eye Tit. 1.16 They are to every good worke reprobate they cannot judge aright of any good workes as to like approve and love them to see a beauty in them as they are good Rom. 8.7 the wisedome of the flesh is enmity with God for it is not subiect to the law of God the Greeke word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the meaning is not that they understand it nor but they like it not they relish it not they tast it not they thinke of Gods wayes that they are but folly 1 Cor. 2.14 They are at enmity with them they count them drosse The second symptome of death is want of motion where there is no motion there is death All men naturally want this motion they cannot judge or doe any thing by nature they may doe opus operatum but they cannot doe it in a holy manner their prayers their hearing receiving of the Sacrament and the like are dead workes without faith the principall of life however they may be faire in other mens eyes The third signe of a naturall death is sencelesnesse so men are spiritually dead when they are not affected with Gods judgements when they have hard hearts which cannot repent Rom. 2.5 when they have hearts as hard as a stone Ezek. 36.26 yet they may be affected with them as naturall men apprehend evill not from a quickning Spirit but from a selfe love Lastly in a naturall death there is a losse of that vigor and beauty in the face and countenance which is in living men So in men that are spiritually dead there is no beauty no vigor they have death in their faces they may have painted beauty which may be like the living as he said pictum putavi esse verum et verum putavi esse pictum they may bee much alike yet they have not that livelinesse and beauty as living men have Gods beauty the beauty of holinesse is not found in them But it may be objected they have many excellencies in them they know much they excell in morall vertues I answer they may have excellencies as a dead man may have Iewels and Chaines about him yet they are dead they have them but yet they are as Iewels of Gold in a Swines snoute they are as Swine their good things make them not men they are beautifull yet they are but dead men as the evill workes of good men make them not bad men so the good workes of evill men make them not good Thus much for the signes of this Death We come now to the degrees of this death in all these deaths
there are degrees First in the death of guilt if you have had more meanes the guilt is greater if you make no use of them The Gentiles they shall onely be condemned for breaking the Law of nature because they knew no other Law The Iewes they shall be condemned for sinning against the Law of nature and the Law of Moyses they had a double Law and shall be condemned for the breach of it Christians having a treble Law the Gospel the Law of nature the morrall Law shall be condemned for all three and among all Christians such as have had more meanes and better education the greater shall their punishment be Secondly in the death opposite to the life of sanctification there are degrees Now yee must know that there are no degrees in the privative part of death but they are onely in the positive The lowest step in this second death is to have enmity to the waies of God being fighters against God enemies to the Saints this is the lowest step The second degree is when as men are not so active that way but yet are dead in pleasures Ambition covetousnesse the like There is a generation of men which trouble not themselves to oppose God the Saints but give themselves to pleasures and like those Widowes 1 Tim. 5.6 are dead in pleasures while they are alive The last step in this death is the death of Civility Civill men come nearer the Saints of God than others they come within a step or two of heaven and yet are shut out they are not farre from the kingdome of Heaven as Christ said to the yong man yet they misse of it as well as others Thirdly for the death that is opposite to the life of ioy the degrees of it are more sensible Some have legall terrors the beginnings of eternall death others have peace of conscience and joy in the holy Ghost the beginning of eternall life And thus much for the degrees of these deaths Now hearing that all are dead in trespasses and sinnes yee may obiect If wee are dead why doe you preach unto us If we bee dead we understand not wee moove not wee are not capable of what you say To this I answer First there is a great difference betweene this spirituall death and naturall death For first those who are naturally dead understand nothing at all but in those who are spiritually dead there is a life of understanding by which they themselves may know that they are dead men who are naturally dead cannot know they are dead Secondly those who are spiritually dead may understand the wayes of life though they relish them not yet they may heare and receive them which those who are naturally dead cannot doe Thirdly those who are spiritually dead may come to the meanes to the poole in w c the Spirit breaths the breath of life whereas naturally dead men cannot come to the meanes of life Secondly I answer that though ye are dead yet hearing may breed life the word can doe it There was an end why Christ spake to Lazarus that was dead Lazarus come forth because his word wrought life therefore though ye are dead yet because the word can worke life in you our preaching is not in vaine Lastly this death is a voluntary death Men who are naturally dead cannot put life into themselves no more can those who are spiritually dead when they have made themselves dead Men dye this death in a free manner I cannot better expresse it than by this similitude A man that is about to commit the act of murther or treason his friends perswade him not to doe it for if hee doth he is but a dead man yet notwithstanding he will doe it we say of such a one that hee is a dead man willingly So wee tell men if they doe thus and thus that they goe downe to the Chambers of death yet they will doe it Hence is that Ezek. 18.31 Why will yee dye O yee house of Israel implying that this spiritual death in sinne is a voluntary death But yee will obiect Men are not quite dead there are some reliques of Gods Image still left in them how are they then dead To this I answer that there is a double Image of God first a naturall standing in the natural frame of the soule as to be immortal immateriall So there is understanding will and reason and some sparks of life left in us as the remainder of a stately building that is ruinated but yet there are no sparkes of the living Image left in us the spirituall Image of God consisting in holinesse and true righteousnes remaines not The Papists indeed deny it but how will they answer the rule of the Fathers that Supernaturalia dona sunt penitus ablata naturalia quassata that supernaturall gifts are utterly taken away no sparkes of them remaine But it will be objected that though men by nature have nothing left yet there is now an universall ability and grace an universall sufficiency given unto them To this I answer that that which they call universall grace is the same thing that nature is but they put another tearme upon it it is found in nature and is common wherever it is therefore it cannot bee grace For in grace there is always someting that is peculiar Secondly if there should be an universall grace the Saints would be no more beholding to God than other men if God give all alike to all it should not bee God but themselves that put the difference Thirdly if there were that generall sufficiency it would take away all election there might then be prescience but no election no predestination to death or life Fourthly if there were a generall grace what is the reason that Paul made it such matter of difficulty to answer that question of election Rom. 9. If Aristotle and other heathen if every one have such a generall sufficiency Paul would not have made such a scrupulous answer and have cryed out of the depth Thirdly there is not that universall ability because that which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the Spirit is Spirit wee are borne of the flesh and cannot therefore have this spirituall sufficiency But yet there are some spirituall gifts in men I answer that we cannot have these spirituall gifts if we are not borne of the Spirit that which is borne of the flesh is flesh Not Bellarmine himselfe nor no man else will say that all are borne of the Spirit Iohn 15.2 Every branch in me not bearing fruite he taketh away and it is cast out and withered that is as the branch not being in the root bringeth forth no fruite so men as long as they are not ingrafted into Christ bring forth no buds no fruite they may heare the word but they cannot make use of it they cannot doe it without the Spirit and that is free it breatheth where it
listeth compare Iohn 3.8 the Spirit breatheth where it listeth with Iohn 6.44 No man can come unto mee unlesse the Father draw him draw him that is not as a sheepe is lead with a bough for Christ doth not say no man will come but no man can come except the Father draw him compell him as it were by force not perswade him by intreaties that is unlesse he changeth and taketh away his wolvish will But it will be objected that God drawes every man I answer that the context concludes against this For Christ doth bring this in to shew the reason why many did not receive his Doctrine and he concludes with this that men therefore doe not receive it because God doth not draw them None can come unto me except my Father draw them I will answer one objection more and so conclude If wee are dead to what end is the law given why are wee commanded to doe thus and thus if we be dead To this I answer that the Law is given to this end to shew us our weaknesse and to leade us unto Christ it is not given us to keepe exactly for that is impossible it was impossible to keepe it through the weaknesse of the flesh Rom. 8.3 the Law was therefore given that wee might know our weaknesse not that we should keepe it but that Christs righteousnesse might be fulfilled in us by faith Gal. 3.24 the Law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be Iustified through faith That is the end of the Law But it will be objected that in as much as we are commanded to doe things impossible mans nature is destroyed for man is a free creature Secondly the command implies an absurdity and impossibility to bid a man doe that which he cannot doe to bid a man that is in a deepe Well bound hand and foote to come out himselfe is foolish yee may blame him for falling in it is absurd to bid him come out To this I answer that there is a difference betweene the externall binding and the bonds wherewith a man is fettered by sinne There is an externall impediment which a man cannot remove when hee is fettered in the Well but there is no externall impediment when as men are bound in the chaines of sin When wee command you to doe thus and thus all the businesse is with the will we rather say men will not then they cannot come There is liberty when as a man hath eligibile or non eligibile when hee hath a thing in his owne choyse when there is no impediment when hee may argue both wayes If a man out of the perversnesse of his nature doth it not it is not compulsory but free a beasts action is free because he cannot reason on both sides but man when he considers arguments on both sides when he can say doe not doe such a thing but doe such a thing when he can conceive arguments on both sides he is free there is no such externall impediment in him as to bid one in darknesse to doe a thing of the light or one bound hand and foote in a pit to come out since the chiefe impediment here is in the depraved wils of men which God doth rectify and change by his grace Spirit through the use of meanes If then every man out of Christ bee in an estate of death let every man examine himselfe and consider whether he be a dead man or no this is the great quere or question in this mutability and incertainety of things Let us make the life to come sure our life is uncertaine here but have wee this spirituall life are wee living men then we are happy but are we dead then he that is not partaker of the first resurrection shall not be partaker of the second It is too late to begin to live when we are dying certainly naturall death is a time of spending not of getting or inquiring after life If yee deferre this search while yee are in health when yee lye on your deaths bed when you shall see heaven and hell immediately presented unto you this question will hold you solicitous and then you shall see that this spirituall life is the life indeed The time of this naturall life is not long the Candle burnes not long if it burne out yet it is oftner blowne out than burnt out men oftner fall downe than come downe from the tree of life this Tabernacle is often throwne downe before it fals downe therefore in this short life make your selves sure of eternall life Now there are two things which hinder this search and inquiry after spirituall life The first is a false opinion men thinke themselves in the waies of life being in the waies of death they thinke there is a greater latitude in the Gospell than there is The second is men are not at leysure there are millions of businesses in their heads so that they cannot hearken to the whisperings of conscience they have no spare time to be wise unto salvation It will be our wisedome therefore to consider our end Deut. 32.29 To helpe you therefore in this Quere whether you are dead or alive Consider first if ever you have beene dead Secondly if ye have beene dead whether yee are made alive First I say consider whether yee have bin dead or no I meane whether sinne hath bin made alive in you that you might dye Rom. 7.9 10. I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandement came sinne revived and I dyed that is the Commandement awakens my sinnes and they being alive I dyed sinne when it affrights not a mans conscience then hee is dead when it wounds the conscience then he is alive The Law being brought to the soule by the Spirit yee see the rectitude of the Commandement and your owne obliquity and crookednesse sinne is alive and yee dye Peter preaching to the Iewes Act. 2. recites to them their sinnes in crucifying the Lord of glory which sinne was made alive and pricked them at their hearts Sinne was dead in David till Nathan and the Law came unto him afterward hee lived and was humbled Luke 5. Peter seeing Christs divinity by the draught of Fishes cries out Depart from mee Lord for I am a sinfull man hee had sinnes in him before but they were dead then they were made alive Paul he had sinnes that were dead in him but when the outward light which was but a tipe of his light within did shine about him then hee dies and his sinnes were made alive So Iosephs brethren had sins but they were not made alive till they were put in prison then their sinne in selling their brother Ioseph lived and they dyed Hath sinne ever bin alive in you by the commandement to slay you that is hath it bred such an apprehension in you as of death not a sigh or two for a day that is no slaying of you but yee must apprehend
sinne as death as one that is to be executed forthwith apprehends death so must you apprehend sinne then it is a signe that there is life within you Secondly are yee made alive againe Is there such a change in you as if yee were other creatures as if yee lived an other life Where this life is it works an alteration and a change gives us another being makes us to bee no more the same men whoever is in Christ is a new creature it workes a generall change from death to life it makes all our actions to be rigorous like the actions of living men Old â—hings passe away all things become new it makes men leade a new life If old aquaintance â—nd lustes would draw us away we answer â—hat we are dead that we live no moe to these â—hat now we have not our owne wills Christ â—ives in us and workes in us Gal. 2.20 It is not that live but Christ lives in me The same mind â—ill be in us that was in Christ Iesus Phil. 2.5 â—ow if ye desire to know whether Christ live â—n you or no or whether you are in an estate â—f death you must see whether you have these â—wo things which are in every one in whom â—hrist liveth first see whether you live to him â—e died that we should not live to our selves but him alone In morall things the end and prinâ—â—ple are all one Before Christ lived in you 〈◊〉 you did was from your selves ye were your â—wne principle and end but Christ living in â—â—u there is another end ye eye Christ ye â—â—oke to him all that ye doe is done in sinceriâ—â— it is done for him and from him But how can Christ bee the end of our calâ—â—â—gs eating drinking and recreations I answer that of every action Christ must be â—â—e end yee must doe as a man in a journey â—â—ough every 〈◊〉 treaâ—es he thinkes not of 〈◊〉 journeys end yet the generall ayme of 〈…〉 must be for that â—nd and that causeth every step so in all yee doe the generaâ— end must be Christ. Secondly if Christ live in you your hearâ— cleave to him as to the Principle of life the child to the dug or the element to its natâ—rall place What ever our life is wee cleave it Some place their life in their credit take â—way it and they dye others in riches take â—way them and they perish What ever is yoâ—â— god if it be taken away you perish Therforâ— Iohn 6.68 when Christ demaunds of the twelâ—â— whether they would likewise goe away Petâ—â— makes this answer Lord whither shall we gâ—â— thou hast the words of eternall life Thirdly ye may know what life ye live the food that feeds it Oyle feeds the Lamp fuell the fire If your life be fed with the dutiâ— of obedience then ye live If yee keepe 〈◊〉 Commandements yee shall live in them saiâ—â— Christ you shall live in them as in your prâ—per element as the Fish in the water eveâ—â— motion out of it is to death There are twâ— sorts of men to whom this triall doth bâ—long The first are those who have a name they lâ—â—â— and yet are dead like the Church of Sardis Râ—â—â— 3.1 The second to whom this belongeth are thâ—â— who are dead indeed The first of these are like the Angels tâ—â—â— take bodies and doe actions they are not tâ—â—â— 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 true bodies but onely in appearing 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 read but they turne it not into flesh and blood 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 not because there is an Atrophy in their bodies Wee preach to men yet they are the same this yeare 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 will 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 yee will he thrives not hee is still on the losing hand so these men prosperity adversity 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 motions of the Spirits that take Assumed bodies is not from any inward principall not 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 the influence continues they move When they are sick 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 stamp upon their actions yet they are but counterfaite they pay God in counterfaite Coyne 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 Sabath 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 works they may bee deceived with them for a time but when death comes they shall finde them to be but dead Remigius a judge of Laurence tels this story that the Divell in those parts did use to give money to Witches which did appeare to bee good coyne seemed to be currant money at first but being laid up a while it then appeared to be nothing but dryed leaves so the Divell deceives men now hee makes them to do outward actions which have a
that are most sweetest unto you Thirdly dead men are sencelesse like Idols that the Psalmist speakes of they have eyes and see not eares and heare not mouthes and speake not feet and walke not they have sences to discerne but there is yet an inward eye they want they see no beauty in the wayes of God therefore they thinke there is no such matter because they have eyes see it not they have mouthes and tast it not they relish it not they smell no sweet savour from the graces of the Saints when as the graces of the Saints have a sweet savour like an oyntment powred out Cant. 1.2 So for feeling they feele not they are not sencible of the judgements or threatnings the Law nor the Gospell move them not they have hard and insensible harts the more insensible they are it is a signe they are ever dead the more sensible we are 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 abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh The dry 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 which 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 hee expels as contrary to him What doth satisfy 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 say To this I answer that if one member lives it is a signe that 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 them it kils them 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 sinne reignes in him There is no man that lives the life of grace but hee hath this property that hee strives against all sinne to the utmost not in shew but in sincerity he strives against the occasions of sinne though they foyle 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 sorrow when you list therefore ye deferre it If men be dead and repentance puts as it were a new soule into thē makes them to passe from death to life then is it not so easy 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 lyes 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 he will It is your wisedome therefore to waite on him in his Ordinances if you 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 Phil. 2. God workes both the will and the deed of his good pleasure worke out therefore your salvation with feare and Trembling If repentance be 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 Blackamore 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 we know he had it not Thirdly learne hence to judge of naturall men for all the excellency they have yet they are but dead men If a man be dead we 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 we knowe none after the flesh any more 2. Cor. 5.16 Againe for your delight in them know that this death doth differ from naturall death for these dead men are active 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 dropping 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 overvalue them the Ordinances cannot bring life 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 bee fixed on Christ beseech him to put life into you pray to God for a blessing the Ordinances are but dead Trunkes as Pens without Inke Conduit pipes without water Learne then that God doth convay life by the Ordinances that they themselves cannot give life therefore doe not overvalew them Yet know withall that God doth worke but by his Ordinances the Spirit breathes not in Taverns nor Playhouses but in the Church assemblies Act. 10. 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 Neglect not the Sacrament ye know not what yee doe when yee neglect it yee thinke that yee eate and drinke your owne damnation if yee receive it unreverently Absence from it is a sinne as well as the remisse and negligent receiving of it Sickenesse 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 be cut off from the children of Israel the same Equity 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 to strong in faith as yee need it not To bee absent from the word yee thinke it a sinne so is it to bee absent from the Sacrament nothing can excuse you If a master bid his servant doe 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 committing any grosse sinnes the unfitnesse will not excuse you If a man hath occasion to ride a journey if he misse one day he will take the next so ye if yee misse the Sacrament once be sure to take it the next time It is devided here that so if yee 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 cheifest part of Gods worship therefore give it the cheifest respect Now from hence see the necessity 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 poynt that all men out of Christ are in a state of death We come now to the second and that 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 yee receive by being in Christ we cannot goe throughout all particulars but wee 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 great 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. 1. Beyond experience God himselfe threatens death to Adam as the greatest evill The day that thou eatest of it thou shalt dye the death Gen. 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 nourishment 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 hee 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 wisedome 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. Col. 3.3 Our lives are hid with Christ in God But from whom is this 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 this 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. 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 hee became a stumbling blocke unto many The Saints are likewise misrepresented 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 waies of God Act. 13.10 that is they make them seeme crooked though they are straight notwithstanding they pervert them as a crooked as a false glasse doth pervert 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 yet it is straight in it selfe But in what is it hidden
idle it out that is hee lived not as his owne master but he did doe it all to God as to a master All the worthyes of the Church have lived thus and not onely they but poore Christians they are still doing they serve God and men they are usefull these are the men that live Those who spend their time in sports in gaming in businesse in serving wealth and honour those who spend their time in morrall discourses in histories in hearing and telling of newes as the Athenians did these are dead they doe not live as we say of Trees that if they bring not forth fruit they are dead whatever men doe if they bring not forth fruite they are dead if they glorifie not God they are dead See what a price is in 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 exhortation Gal. 6. while yee have time doe good life is but an acting yee then live when yee are doing good see how many men fall from the Tree of life as leaves in Autumne the candle of the life is quickly blowne out have therefore a better life in store bee not alwayes beginning alwaies building never inhabiting alwayes beginning never finishing Stultitia semper incipit vivere folly alwayes beginns to live men are alwayes beginning and never goe on 1 Pet. 4.3 Thinke it sufficient that you have walked formerly as yee have done the time which remaines let us reckon it precious and bestow it to better purpose If every one in Christ be in an happy estate of life then let men from hence know their state and condition often reflect on their priviledges behaving themselves as men prising them bestowing their time as well as may be let as few riuulets runne out of this streame as you can Wee pray that we may doe Gods will on earth as perfect as the Angels doe it in heaven we should therefore practise this as we pray for their life is without interruption they are in communion with God let us then bâ— doing having our thoughts above let us still be doing let not cares and businesse call us off but let us comfort our selves in God acting that which is for his glory prize this life esteeme it much know what yee have by Christ and consider the excellency of this life 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 dyed but he that eateth of this bread shall dye 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 Iohn 4. those that drinke of this water shall thirst againe that is those that live another life than this shall dye and thirst but those that live this life never dye 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 minds and intends it is in potestate honorantis there is no constancy in it it is brickle If a man lives in wealth sets his mind on it Why riches take their wings and fly away Pro. 23. and then their life is ended So if a man lives in pleasures and musicke they passe away and then he is dead those who live in these things suffer many sicknesses and many deaths as his heart is more intent upon them But may we may not minde them Yes as if we minded them not as a man may heare a tale and have his minde elsewhere or as a man that baits at an Inne his mind is somewhere else If yee minde them yee dye in them hee that minds the best things there is no change in them God is alwayes the same so his favour and love is constant see therefore that yee prize them As a long time that is infinitely long exceeds one that is 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 see all the comforts of this life they are not so indeed take wealth pleasures honours and the like wealth is but a false treasure Luk. 16.11 it is called the unrighteous mammon the false treasure 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 comforts of this life and onely these are 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 tast sweetnesse indeed in them One that is weary being refreshed with sleepe finds sweetnesse and ease but it is another refreshing that these finde who have bin weary and heavy laden with sinne and are now 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 wee have in Christ that we are heires of Heaven Sonnes of God 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 blood are meate and drinke indeed that remission of sinnes peace of conscience are comforts indeed peace indeed they are such though now yee thinke not so yee shall then know that this life is a life indeed Thirdly this life of grace is a prevailing life swallowing up the other 2 Cor. 4.4 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 doe not desire 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
faire shew but when they need them they thē appeare as they are to be nothing but dead leaves becaus◠the Principle of life is wanting A third property 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 be alwaies the same the 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 dryed up The Saints have an inequality in their lives yet they never dye againe they may be sickly but these men are twice dead Trees plucked up by the rootes that never grow againe The Saints may bee as sheepe soyled with a fall but they can never become Wolves againe but these men they turne Wolves againe so did Pharoah and Saul The Saints have their Turbida intervalla their ebbing and flowing their full and their waine but yet all these cloudings doe but obscure their graces not extinguish them the darkenesse of the night extinguisheth not the light of the Stars but covers it so doe these cloudings but onely cover the graces of the Saints All the goodnesse of other men that seeme to live are but Lucida intervalla they are good but by fits when as those that live are bad but by fits Nullum fictum est diuturnū their goodnes is but counterfeit therefore it lasts not it holds not out Another distinguisher of those walking Ghosts from living is this the actions they do they do them not as living men doe they make apparitions onely and vanish Those men that have nothing but civility it quickly vanisheth they are like the Church of Sardis Reve. 3.1 that had a name shee lived and yet wa◠dead Their workes are not perfect throughout they were but linsey-wolsey they were not thorow paced in the waies of God but shuffel they graspe at both comprehend neither they doe many things but not all As the young man that came to Christ Christ looked on him and loved him what distinguished him One thing was wanting his workes were not perfect his heart was set upon his wealth he would doe any thing else his heart was not weaned or divorced from it Saul had a name to live but yet his workes were not perfect when Samuel came not then hee was discovered that was but his triall hee would not rest in God Herod did many things yet he was not perfect he would not leave his incest so all that have but a forme of religion they are Wolves though they have a sheepish outside they are not perfect yee shall know them by their workes But what workes are those that we cannot see them doe I answer they may be exact in the first yet faile in the second Table and those that practise the duties of the 2 Table faile in the duties of the first If men be exact in the duties of both Tables their religion is pure and undefiled Iam. 1.27 If they faile in the duties of one table to make their religion pure is to mend in the other These civill men wrong no man yet they content themselves with a bare formality this is not pure religion wee say this is a pure religion if yee be fervent in prayer and content not your selves with formality of Religion without the power Lastly these walking Ghosts do but shew themselves to men they company not with them ye see them and heare no more of them Ye shall know living men by their companying and loving of the Saints as sheepe and Doves they are never out of company and keepe no other company but their owne Yee shall finde in others those differences First eyther they delight not in all the Saints Wee must love all the Saints this particle all is put in all Pauls Epistles these love not all the Saints Secondly if they love all the Saints yet they love not the Saints onely yee must love none but the Saints If yee love the Saints because they are Saints then those who are not Saints yee doe not love that is yee love none with the love of friendship and intimate familiarity but the Saints yet love them with a love of pitty and we all faile in this love Thirdly they doe not love those that excell in vertue If your hearts be not right yee dislike all those that goe beyond you in holinesse and practise Lastly though they make a shew they love them yet they doe not shew the effects of their loves to them And thus much for the helpes and discovery of the first sort of men that have a name they live and yet are dead The second sort of men to whom this use is directed are those who are quite dead yee shall know them by these markes or Symptomes First yee shall finde coldnesse in them in death there is no heate so their prayers and performances are cold they are dead wanting fervency But the Saints want heate as well as others they also are cold I answer though sometimes they want it yet they are quickly made hot againe because there is life in them as Charcole is quickly kindled because it hath beene in the fire so the Saints are soone kindled because they had fire in them before Others are as greene wood or rather as matter that is not Combustible as the Adamant that will not be made hot with fire living men admonitions and the fire of good company will heate againe so will it not the others Secondly yee shall know them by their stifnesse and hardnesse It is a signe of death to be inflectible Wicked men are as hard as flint to Gods commandes but as soft as waxe to that which humors them Are yee tractable doe you delight in your owne wayes and yet continue the same men keepe the same company Doe yee abide still in the same place or go on in the same tract then yee are dead In many things you may be tractable but the maine is whether yee are flexible in those things that are connaturall unto you these deale with us as Iohanan did with Ieremiah Ier. 42. he said he would goe downe into Egypt he would doe any thing that God should bid him whether it were good or bad but when Ieremy had told them that they must not goe downe into Egypt then they say that he spake false God did not send him If Gods will had suted with his hee would have done what hee would have had him to doe your triall is when you must offer up your Isaack when you must part with those things
their holinesse is but by flashes and fits it continues not they are like violent motions quicke in the beginning and slower in the end the higher they goe the weaker they are But the motions and actions of the godly are as a stone falling downwards which moves faster and faster till it falles to the Center where it would bee Now we have done all this there is not yet sufficient said to make it sufficiently appeare that there is such a life of grace these and an hundred other Arguments and reasons will not make naturall men beleeve that many men live other lives than they But when they see the life of holinesse blase in their eyes they say it is but guilded over it is but hypocrisy These reasons may prepare and confirme but they cannot perswade we must therefore beleeve that there is such a life Iohn 3. Christ treats of this that there is such a life he tels Nicodemus that he must live it and be borne againe He wonders at it how it can be Christ therefore concludes in the 12. verse If I have told you earthly things and yee beleeve not how shall yee beleeve if I tell you of heavenly things that is it must bee beleeved that there is such a life sense beleeves it not yet it is easier to beleeve it because it is wrought on earth other things are harder than this to beleeve because they are wrought in heaven though this be wrought on earth yet it is hard to beleeve and must bee beleeved And thus much for the first part of the doctrine that there is such a life For the second what this life is yee may know one Contrary by another wee have shewed already what death that is contrary to it is by which yee may partly perceive what this life is yet we will give you some other signes how to know it This life is a reall life as reall as the other though this life doth not consist in eating and drinking as the other doth it is a life of faith it is not seene yet it is as reall as the common life as it appeares by comparing it with the cōmon life First in this common life of nature there must be temper of body disposition of instruments so in this life of grace there is a frame of heart and a composition of soule on which it doth depend there are humors and ingredients of this life and they are the things yee know there is a reality in this life as well as in the naturall life Secondly as the naturall life hath a temper of body hath divers mixtures so it abhorrs things that are hurtfull to it and desires things that cherish it so in this life of grace there is an appetite those that live they are carried to the things that helpe them they doe hunger after the word and that that builds them up they abhorre sinne and lust that would destroy them Thirdly as in the naturall life so in this there is a taste and palate that helps this appetite Rom. 12.2 Bee yee changed by the renewing of your minde that yee may prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God that is that yee may be able to discerne of it as the touchstone discernes of Gold or the taste and palate of meates Fourthly as in the other life there is hunger and thirst so is there in this men are sensible of paines and refreshings they are sensible of sinne judgement and threatnings which others are not being hard and dead Fiftly as the other life is fed with food so is this the food which a man eates is not presently turned into flesh and bloud that nourisheth but there is a nutritive faculty that nourisheth and turnes all wee eate into nourishment So the Saints they turne all the passages of Gods providence into nourishment they assimulate and turne all things to a good use there is a living and vitall faculty in them that sets them forwards Ephe 4.16 They being knit to Christ according to the effectuall power working in every part increase and edifye themselves in love Lastly as this common life hath beside other things that maintaine it some other indowments to helpe it out as company recreation riches and the like so hath this spirituall life it hath riches and friends it hath its heritage company habitation God is our habitation from everlasting with the same reality though not with the same visibility and so exposed to sence as the other The cause of this life is the holy Ghost who is to the soule as the soule is to the body he is the cause of it the end of all of it is the Lord all is done to God No other life is so this life is of God through God and for God when you finde such a reality in your actions tending to God when he is your ayme then yee live this life If this bee the condition of all that are in Christ to live and be quickned see what is expected from you to whom this talent is cōmitted every excellency is a talent it must not lye dead but be improved for our masters use the sinne is great if yee doe it not the neglect being of a greater thing the sinne is greater God sets a proportionable account on his benefits and expects a severe account from us if wee use them not Be exhorted then to live this life some live much in a short time Some never live this life one man may live more in one day than another man in a hundred for to live is nothing but to be stirring and doing 1 Tim. 5.6 those who live in pleasures are dead whilst they live so he that is occupied about riches or honors is dead all that time that men are occupied about riches and their estates about credit honors and the like making them their end that is a time of death yee have lived no longer than yee have acted duties of new obedience If you sommon up your lives according to this computation to how short a reckoning will they come A wise man speakes more in a few words than a foole doth in a multitude one peece of Gold hath more worth than a hundred peeces of Brasse as we say of an empty oration that there is a flood of words but a drop of water so if you consider your lives and see how long yee have lived in death bungling out the time you will see that yee have lived but little in a long time therefore now bee doing something redeeme the time be busy in doing or receiving good be still devising to doe something for God and to put it in execution spend your fat and sweetnesse for God and man weare out not rust out flame out not smother out burne out be not blowne out So did Christ so did Moses so did Paul making the Gospel to abound from Ierusalem to Illyricum so did David the text saith that he served his time he did not
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 a manhood swallowes up childhood not extinguishing it but drowning it that it is not seene The life of grace being perfect swallowes up imperfection he that lives this life of grace hath the imperfections of this life swallowed up For example before wee live this life wee magnifie riches honours and Gugaes but the life of grace comming wee have other kinds of comforts then as a man that is to bee made a Prince contemnes the things hee before admired The weakenesses we are subject to are swallowed up in this life all sicknesse and trouble are swallowed up in this so are weaknesses and imperfections This should teach us to set a high prize upon this life of grace that wee dye no more if wee live it that it is a life indeed that it swallowes up this other life compare it with other lives it farre excels them Secondly this life of grace must needs bee 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 him 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 then it selfe as Silver mixed with Gold Water with Wine are made better 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 wee are united unto God this unity to God is the cheefest 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 wife Secondly there are artificiall naturall 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 betweene 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 knit to him this puts us into an higher degree of excellencie silver mixed with gold is better yet if we could take the spirits out of gold 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 wee live this life Lusts which are most contrary to this life puts us below men 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 therefore they despise religion in its selfe 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 heate 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 doe as one having an Art can doe things that he could not doe before This though you prise it not while your mountaine is strong yet the time will come when yee will need liberty to pray repent and trust in God and then yee will finde the pretiousnesse 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 that bee the priviledge of those who are in Christ that there is such a life for them let this teach men to seeke it 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 heed 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 hee lives a life of nature so in this life of grace he that hath a quicke and nimble sence and is forward and busy in good workes lives most hath most life he that rejoyceth most in God hath most comforts hath most life Take heed of the contraries Idlenesse sencelesnesse 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 avoyd all that hinders it Labour now to be 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 yee are alive or no by seeing whether yee are dead or no But because yee may be certaine whether yee are alive or not I will give you some positive signes of life to know it First yee 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 then 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 are as Fish out of the water every life hath a tast appetite a new life hath a new tast and judgement Pro. 29.27 an unjust man is an abomination to the just he that is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked that is one hates the things 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 it 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 bee 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 nor living man but hee 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 yee 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 resistes 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 sicknesse 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 leads his life in some lust from which if he be drawne hee returnes againe as a thing that is lifted from the earth will fall downe to it againe hee reckons the wayes of God hard and opposite to him the wisedome of the Spirit is enmity to the flesh neyther can it be subject to the Law of God Rom. 8. it cannot but resists it Every creature labours to maintaine 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 we goe thou hast the words of eternall life that is whiles we conceive thee to be the principle and fountaine of this life wee 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 maintaine it let all goe rather than it Thirdly yee may know whether yee have this life in you or not by the fruits of it as the tree is knowne by its fruites If the word turne the stocke into its owne nature ye know it by the fruites Gal. 5.25 If yee live in the Spirit yee will also walke in the Spirit that is if yee 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 righteousnesse is not of God he that is of God doth not unrighteousnesse Consider then what your walke and your actions are and by them yee shall know this life But how shall wee know whether we walke in the Spirit or no I answer first that there are many by-walkes and if yee 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 Go yee the broad way oportet Sanctos vadere per diverticula the Saints doe not so follow yee the streame fulfill yee the will of the flesh or of the Spirit what are your actions Ephe. 4.17 I charge you that you hence forth walke not as the Gentiles do in the vanity of their minds that is holy men may have vanity in their minds yet they walke not in it as others doe evill men may have holy thoughts yet they walke in the vanity of their minds and albeit that evill men walke not in all the wayes 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 leads 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 answer that there is no good actions wee doe but they may bee dead workes as men may pray keepe the Sabbaths and yet they may bee 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 not proceeding from a new heart and from faith which worketh by love is nothing this is the roote of all when all our actions come from faith which workes by love else though they are never so pretious they are but dead works It is no matter whether yee pray or not whether yee recive the Sacrament keepe the Sabbaths or not they helpe not a jot unlesse they come from the principle of life a new creature Secondly consider the manner of their working they will bee done with quicknesse and vivacity Men do them as living actions with all propensnesse and readinesse with much connaturalnesse with much fervency and zeale when they are done in a perfunctory manner they are dead workes Thirdly yee may know them by their end looke yee to Christ doe yee all in sincerity to him or no or to your selves if yee doe then they are gracious workes and proceed from grace they are living actions and not dead they issue from a right principle ayming at God and not at your selves Hosea 10.1 Israel is an empty vine he bringeth forth fruite to himselfe If you bring forth â—ruits to your selves and not to God yee are but empty Vines God accepts you not Fourthly this life is discovered by your behaviour to the meanes of life when they are brought unto you when there is no sound or no voyce there is no distinction twixt a deafe and a hearing man so where there is no light there is no difference twixt a seeing man a blind but the light differs them So when as the light of the Gospel shines then men are tryed In times of ignorance God regards not men so much but now in time of the Gospel see if it be powerfull and whether you set your selves about holy duties Matth. 3.10 Now is the Axe laid to the roote of the tree that is since Iohns comming there is a distinguishment twixt living and dead trees A tree is not discovered to bee dead till it wither no man will cut downe a tree in winter because he knowes not then whether it be dead or no the Spring distinguisheth the dead and living trees in the winter they are all alike The Spring is the powerfull preaching of the word if men spring not then if they come not in they are dead Those whose education hath beene good those who live under a powerfull Ministry now is the Axe laid to the roote of the tree with them it is a signe they are dead if they profit not by it Fiftly yee may know whether yee have this life by the food it is fed with severall lives are fed with severall foode Now the food of this new life of grace is double first the word secondly good workes First the word 1 Pet. 2.25 As new borne babes desire the sincere milke of the word that yee may grow thereby if so bee that you have tasted that the Lord is gracious that is if yee are alive as you professe your selves to bee you shall know it by your behaviour to that which doth nourish your life First yee will long after the word as the child doth after the Teate If the child be hungry neyther apples nor rattles nor any thing else can quiet him but the Teate So nothing can quiet these but the word Others may have excuses they will have none Eyther they will live where the word is or they will bring it home to them they will bring themselves to it or it to them Secondly they desire the sincere milke of the word many things may be mingled with the word that doe please the wit yet those who live the life of grace desire the sincere word the pure word without any mixture Thirdly they desire it that they may grow thereby many desire it to know it onely if ye desire it as new borne babes it will make you better better many heare but as men having an Atrophy in their bodies they grow not no fruite comes thereby Fourthly they taste a sweetnesse in the word above others the second ground received the word with joy and Herod heard Iohn Baptist with gladnesse but where there is true grace they goe farther they delight in the word it is sweeter to them than the hony few can say so in good earnest that the pure word is sweeter to them than Hony or the Hony Combe Iob hee esteemed the word more than his appointed food Iob. 23.12 The second food of this life is good workes Ioh. 4.32.33.34 is the place out of which I collect this where Christ being asked of his Disciples to eate said that hee had other meate that they knew not of then said they hath any man brought him ought to eate Hee saith unto them My meate is to doe the will of him that sent me and to finish his worke Doe you good workes with such a desire as men eate and drinke doe you hunger and thirst after them desiring for to doe them Then yee are alive Hypocrites may doe much but it is not their meate and drinke to doe it examine therefore your selves by these signes whether you are alive or dead This is the preaching of the law to shew you the narrow differences of life and death The first step to life is to know that yee are in a state of death the Law must goe before the Gospel Iohn Baptest before Christ yee must bee brought to their case in the 2 Act. 37. who were pricked at the hearts yee must bee brought unto the case of the Iaylor and of Paul to the case of the Prodigall that you may know your estate then yee come home Our end is to preach life and comfort to you not damnation Rom. 15.4 All Scripture is written for our comfort now there are many things in the Scripture that tend to discomfort and terrors yet their end is comfort as Physicke is sharpe for the time yet the end is health Wee desire not to exclude any but to bring you in whilst you have time the market is then hard to make when yee lye on your death beds labour to know it in time your death is a time of spending not of getting it was too late for the foolish Virgins to buy oyle when they were to attend the bride-groome We desire not to affright you with false feares but to admonish you that you be not deceived I finde this sentence Be not deceived prefixed before many places of Scripture where Gods judgement are denounced as 1 Cor. 6.9 Be not deceived neither fornicators Idolaters Adulterers c. shall inherit the kingdome of God and Eph. 5.6 Be not deceived with vaine words for because of these things commeth the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience to shew that men are apt to deceive themselves
thinkes and beleeves that the wayes of sinne are evill and that they are evill to him When God doth convince us that such a thing is evill and that it is evill to us then wee live and not before A man having a businesse to doe if all bee done but one thing this one thing crosseth all the rest but that being done our businesse is brought to passe so in this life a man having many offers of grace which doe not fully perswade him this is not enough if Gods helpe bee absent but when once hee speakes he doth fully convince and perswade us and makes us to continew As Sathan hahaving leave never gives over vexing man so the Spirit keepes us in good things where there is this life there the Spirit dwels But after what manner is this effectuall perswasion done I answer when as God gives an eare and speakes a voyce for it to heare he that hath an eare to heare saith Christ let him heare Wee then heare when as there is a disposition wrought within us when as we preach there are many that have hard hearts and nothing for to soften them therefore the words falls from them as raine from a stone but if there be a man that God will chuse he fits his heart and so hee is perswaded This is called the opening of the understanding Luke 24.45 hee opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures when wee speake to men we sow as it were upon fallow ground which will beare no Corne unlesse God plow it Those that saw the miracles of the Loaves esteemed them not because their hearts were hardned Ephe. 4.18 They are alienated from the life of God thorow the ignorance that is in them because of the blindnesse of their hearts that is they are not sensible of sinne and death the word or the threatnings when God takes away this hardnesse they are fit to harken then comes light the beginning of life which is the informing of the understanding to judge righteous judgement Those who have the life of Christ if hee speakes it quickens them It is the inward voyce that quickens seeke therefore to God earnestly that Christ would speake to your hearts yee heare and are not quickned because he speakes not And thus much for this second point that all in Christ are in a state of life We come now to the third point that may bee noted out of these words and it is this That the voyce of the Sonne of God is the onely meanes to translate men from death to life Men before are dead Christ by his voyce makes them living men This voyce is the onely meanes there is no voyce but this that is able for to do it that 's the scope of this Text. This proposition may bee resolved into two parts First nothing else is able Secondly this is able for to doe it As it is said of faith that it justifies and nothing else but it can justify so may it be said of this voyce that nothing else can translate men from death to life and this can doe it To translate from death to life is nothing else but effectually to perswade and change the heart now nothing else can thus perswade and alter the heart but this voyce of the Sonne of God God himselfe frames the heart it is as a curious framed locke none can picke it but hee that knowes the turning of it God onely fits the perswasions and turnings mens perswasions are as one that will unlocke a locke with a wrong key God onely can perswade Iapheth to dwell in the Tents of Shem I cannot doe it Esay 57.19 I create the fruite of the lippes that is I make them to bring comfort I create the fruite of the lippes for peace by my power That this is so you may see by divers reasons First that it is so see it by this we speaking to y e quickest often times they beleeve not but the others do the same sometimes beleeve sometimes not If man were the sole cause the word would have the same effect at all times Secondly this is life and God onely gives life it is as the breathing of life into a clod of earth It requires an almighty power to worke this in those that beleeve Eph. 1.19.20 The same power that raised up Christ from the dead raysed us up it is an almighty action to give this life Thirdly if it were not proper to Christ and his voyce to translate men from death to life hee should lose his chiefest soveraignty hee quickens whom hee will he hath compassion on whom hee will have compassion If men could translate men from death to life then it would not be proper to God to doe it Lastly as nothing else can doe it so the voyce of the Sonne of God is able for to doe it At the first creation all was made by the voyce of God hee saith Let there be light and there was light let him say to any man follow mee and he doth it Matth. 9.9 hee saith to the Publican sitting at the receipt of Custome follow me and hee left all and rose up and followed him Christ speaking to his eare and heart made him to follow him his speech was like the speech of Elias to Elisha hee followed him and could not chuse but doe it Christ speaking wee cannot but follow him But what is this voyce of the Sonne of God that translateth men from death to life I answer it is nothing else but an inward worke of the Spirit by which hee perswades men effectually to turne from darknesse to light and from the power of Sathan to God It must be understood of the effectuall working of the Spirit because who ever doth heare it lives this voyce reneweth and changeth men translating them from death to life Now this effectuall speaking consists in two things First in propounding the object the truth to the heart Secondly in the perswasion of the truth First the Gospel must be laid open to the heart all things necessary to salvation must be manifested to it then there must be light in the heart to apprehend these reasons which are propounded The Scripture propounds things by authority Then the holy Ghost doth kindle light to apprehend them which another doth not Marke how Moyses beginning his booke saith that in the beginning it was thus and thus God did he doth not perswade them by arguments to beleeve it so Iohn begins his Gospel without perswasions In the beginning was the word c. so the Apostles commission was Goe and preach that Christ is Come he that beleeved shall be saved he that beleeves not shall be damned The word of it selfe is sufficient authority when the Gospel it selfe is thus propounded then the holy Ghost kindles light And therefore this life begins when as the Gospel is propounded and light kindled then this life is wrought Now there