and besides it was for a pledge that at the last day all shall not die but be changed The true cause of death is sin and the true nature of it is penal to be a punishment of sin take away this relation to sin and death wants the sting But in itâ— fiâ—st appointment and as it prevails generally over men aâ—uleaâ—a est mors it hath a sting that pierceth deeper and woundeth soâ—er then to the dissolution of the body it goeth in to the innermost paâ—â—s of the soul and wâ—undeth that eternally The truth is the death of the body is not either the first death or the last death it is rather placed in the middle between two deaths and it s the fruit of the first and the root of the last There is a death immediatly hath ensued upon sin and it is the separation of the soul from God the fountain of life and blessedness and this is the death often spoken of you who were dead in sins and trespasses c. Eph. 2.1 Being past feeling and alienated from the life of God Eph. 4.18 19. And truly this is worse in it â—elf then the death of the body simply though not so sensible because â—pirituâ—l the corruption of the best pâ—â—t in man in all reason is worse then the corruption of his worst part but this death which consists especially in the losse of that blessed communion with God which made the soul happy cannot be found till some new life enter or else till the last death come which adds infinit pain to infinit losse Now the death of the body succeeds thiâ— souls death and that is the separation of the soul from the body most suitable seeing the soul was turned from the fountain spirit to the body that the body should by his command return to dust and be made the most defiâ—ed piece of dust Now this were not so grievous if it were not a step to the death to come and a degree of it introductive to it But that statute and appointment of Heaven hath thus linked it after death comes Iudgment Because the soul in the body would not be sensible of its separation from God but was wholly taken up with the body neglecting and miskenning that infinit losse of Gods favour and face therefore the Lord commands it to go out of the body that it maythen be sensible of its infinit loss of God when it is separated from the body that it may then have leasure to reflect upon it self and find its own surpassing misery and then indeed infinit pain and infinit losse conjoyned eternal banishment from the presence of that blessed Spirit and eternal torment within it self these two concurring what posture do you think such a soul will be into There are some earnest of this in this life when God reveals his terrour and sets mens sins in order before their face O how intolerable is it and more insupportable then many deaths They that have been accquainted with it have declared it the terrours of God are like poysonable arrows sunk into Jobs spirit and drinking up all the moisture of them Such a spirit as is wounded with one of these darts shot from Heaven who can bear it not the most patient and most magnanimous spirit that can sustain all other infiâ—mities Prov. 18.14 Now my beloved if it be so now while the soul is in the body drowned in it what will be the case of the soul separated from the body when it shall be all one sense to reflect and consider it self This is the sting of death indeed worse then a thousand deaths to a soul that apprehends it and the lesse it is apprehended the worse it is because it is the more certain and must shortly be found when there is no brazen serpent to heal that sting Now what comfort have you provided against this day what way do you think to take out this sting Truly there is no balm for it no Physitian for it but one and that the Christian is only acquainted with He in whom Christ is he hath this soveraign antidot against the pâ—yson of Death he hath the very sting of it taken out by Châ—â—st death it self killed and of an mortal enemy made the kindest friend And so he may triumph with the Apostle O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Thanks be to God in Iesuâ— Christ who giveth us the victory 1 Cor. 15.55 The ground of his triumph and that which a Christian hath to oppose to all the sorrows and pains and fears of death mustred against him is threefold one that death is not real a second that is not total even that which is and then that it is not perpetual This last is contained in the next vers the second expressed in this vers and the first may be understood or implyed in it That the nature of death is so far changed that of a punishment it is become a medicine of a punishment for sin it is turned into the last purgative of the soul from sin and thus the sting of it is taken away that relation it did bear to the just wrath of God And now the body of a Christian under appointment to die for sin that is for the death of sin the eternal death of sin Christ having come under the power of death hath gotten power over it and spoiled it of its stinging vertue he hath taken away the poysonable ingredient of the curse that it can no more hurt them that are in Him and so it is not now vested with that piercing and wounding notion of punishment though it be true that sin was the first in-lett of death that it first opened the slâ—ue to let it enter and flow in upon mankind yet that appointment of death is renewed and bears a relation to the destruction of sin rather then the punishment of the sinner who is f`orgiven in Christ And O how much solid comfort is here that the great reason of mortality that a Christian it subject unto is that he may be made free of that which made him at first mortal Because sin hath taken suâ—h possession in this earthly tabernacle and is so strong a poyson that it hath infected all the members and by no purgation here made can be fully cleansed â—ut but there are many secret corners it lurks into and upon occasion vents it self therefore it hath pleased God in His infinit goodnesse to continue the former appointment of death but under a new and living consideration to take down this infected and defiled tabernacle as the houses of leprosie were taken down under the Law that so they might be the better cleansed and this is the last purification of the soul from sin And therefore as one of the Ancients said well That we might not be eternally miserable mercy hath made us mortal Justice hath made the world mortal that they may be eternally miserable but to put an end to this misery
subordination to God and sowen a perpetual discord and enmity between them this hath conquered all mankind and among the rest even the elect and chosen of God these whom God had in his eternal Council predesâ—inated to life and salvation sin brings all in bondage and exerciseth the most perfect tyranny over them that can be imagined makes men to serve all its imperious lusts and then all the wages is death it binds them over to Judgment Now this sedition and rebellion being arisen in the world and one of the most noble creatures carried away in this revolt from allegiance to the Divine Majesty the most holy and wise Council of Heaven concludes to send the Kings Son to compesce this rebellion to reduce men again unto obedience and to destroy that arch traitor sin which his nature most abhoâ—s And for this end the Son of the great King Jesus Christ came down into the world to deliver captive man and to condemn conquering sin There is no object that God hath so pure and perfect displeasure at as sin therefore he sent to condemn that which he hates most and perfectly he hates it to condemn sin and this is expressed as the errand of his coming 1 Ioh. 3.5 8. to destroy the works of the devil all his wicked and hellish plots and contrivances against man all that poyson of enmity and sin that out of envy and malice he spued out upon man and instilled into his nature all these works of that Prince of Darkness in enticing man from obedience to rebellion and tyrannizing over him since by the imperious laws of his own lusts in a word all that work that was contrived in hell to bring poor man down to that same misery with devils all that Christ the only begotten Son of the great King came for this noble businesse to destroy it That Tower which Satan was building up against Heaven and had laid the foundation of it as low as hell this was Christs business down among men to destroy that Babylon that Tower of darkness and confusion and to build up a Tower of light and life to which Tower sinners might come and be safe and by which they might really ascend into Heaven Some do by these words for sin understand the occasion and reason of Christs coming that it was because sin had conquered the world and subjected man to condemnation therefore Jesus Christ came into the world to conquer sin and condemn it that we might be free from condemnation by sin And this was the special cause of his taking on flesh if sin had not entered in the world Christ had not come into it and if sin had not erected a Throne in mans flesh Christ had not taken on flesh he had not come in the likenesse of sinful flesh So that this may administer unto us abundant consolation If this was the very cause of his coming that which drew him down from that delightful and blessed bosome of the Father then he will certainly do that which he came for he cannot fail of his purpose he cannot misse his end he must condemn sin and save sinners And truly this is wonderful love that he took sin only for his party and came only for sin or against sin and not against poor sinners He had no commission of the Father but this as himself declares Ioh. 3.17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved As one observes well Christ would never have hinted at such a jealousie or suggested such a thought to mens minds had it not been in them before but this we are naturally inclined unto to think hard of God and can hardly be perswaded of his love when once we are perswaded of our enmity Indeed the most part of the world fancy a perswasion of Gods love and have not many jealousies of it because they know not their own enmity against God but let a man see himself indeed Gods enemy and it is very hard to make him believe any other thing of God but that he carries a hostile mind against him and therefore Christ to take off this perswades and assures us that neither the Father nor he had any design upon poor sinners nor any ambushmâ—nt agâ—inst them but mainly if not only this was his purpose in sending and Christs in coming not against man but against sin not to condemn sinners but to condemn sin and save sinners O blessed and unparallel'd love that made such a real distinction between sin and sinners who were so really one Shall not we be content to have that wofull and accursed union with sin dissolved Shall not we be willing to let sin be condemned in us and to have our own souls saved I beseech you beloved in the Lord do not think to maintain alwayes Christs enemy that great traitor against which he came from Heaven Wonder that he doth not prosecute both as enemies but iâ— he will destroy the one and save the other O let it be destroyed not you and so much the more for that it will destroy you Look to him so iniquity shall not be your ruine but he shall be the ruine of iniquity but if you will not admit of such a division between you and your sins take heed that you be not eteâ—nally undivided that you have not one common lot for ever that is condemnation Many would be saved but they would be saved with sin too Alace that will condemn thee as for sin he hath proclaimed irreconciliable enmity against it he hath no quarter to give it he will never come in terms of composition with it and all because it is his mortal enemy therefore let sin be condemned that thou may be saved It cannot be saved with thee but thou may be condemned with it The word for sin may be taken in another sense as fitly a sacrifice for sin so that the meaning is Jesus Christ came to condemn and overthrow sin in its plea against us by a sacrifice for sin that iâ— by offering up his own body or flesh And thuâ— you have the way and means how Christ conquered sin and accomplished the business he was sent for It was by offering a sacâ—â—fice for sin to expiat wrath and to satiâ—fie justice The sting and strength of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law as the Apostle speaks it 1 Cor. 15.55 we had two great enemies against us two great tyrants over us sin and death Death had past upon all mankind not only the miseries of this life and temporal death had subjected â—ll men but the fear of an eternal death of an everlasting separation from the blessed face of God might have seized upon all and subjected them to bondage Heb. 2.15 But the strength and sting of that is sin it is sin that arms death and hell against us take away sin and you take away the sting the strength of death it
and all for life will a man give Death imports a destruction of being which every thing naturally seeks to preserve But O! what a dreadful life is it worse then death when men will chose death rather then life O! how terrible will it be to hear that word Hills and mountains fall on us and cover us Men newly risen their bodies and souls meet again after a long separation and this to be their mutual entertainment one to another the body to wish it were still in the dust and the soul to desire it might never be in the body Surely if we had so much grace as to believe this and tremble at it before we be forced to act it there were some hope if we could perswade our selves once of this that the wayes of sin all of them how pleasant how profitable soever whatsoever gain they bring in whatsoever satisfaction they give that they are nothing else but the wayes of death and goe down to the chambers of hell that they will delude and deceive us and so in end destroy us If we might once believe this with our heart there were some hope that we would break off from them and choose the untroden paths of Godlinesse which are pleasantnesse and peace However this is the condition of all men once to be under sin and under a sentence of death for sin It s the unbelief of this and a conceit of freedom that securely and certainly destroyes the world by keeping souls from Jesus Christ the prince of life But there is a delivery and that is the thing expressed in the words there is freedom from both attainable and I think the very hearing of such a thing that there is a redemption from sin and misery possible yea and that some are actually delivered from it This might stir up in our hearts some holy ambition and earnest desire after such a state how might it awake our hearts after it but this is the wofulnesse of a natural condition that a soul under the power of sin can neither help it self nor rightly desire help from another because the will is captive too this makes it a very desperat and remedilesse businesse to any humane expectation because such a soul is well pleased with its own setters and loves its own prison and so can neither long for freedom nor welcom the Son who is come to make free But yet there is a freedom and delivery and if ye ask who are partakers of it the text declares it to you even these who are in Iesus Christ and walk according to the Spirit of Christ. These all and these only who finding-themselves dead in sins and trespasses under the power and dominion of sin and likewise under the sentence of death and condemnation begin to lift up their heads upon the hope of a Saviour and to look unto their Redeemer as poor prisoners whose eyes and looks are strong intreaties and in stead of many requests such as give an intire renounce unto their former wayes and prevailing lusts and give up themselves in testimony of their sense of his unspeakable favour of redemption to be wholly his and not their own There are some souls who are free from the dominion of sin and from the danger of death some who were once led about with divers lusts as well as others who walked after the course of this world and fulfilled the desires of the flesh and were children of wrath as well as others but now they are quickned in Christ Iesus and have abandoned their former way they have another rule another way another principles their study is now to please God and grow in holinesse the wayes they delighted in in former times are now loathsome they think that a filthy puddle which they drank greedily of and now it s all or their chiefest grief and burden that so much of that old man must be carried about with them and so this expresseth many groans from them with Paul waâ— is me miserable man who shall deliver me Such souls are in a manner to speak so half redeemed who being made sensible of their bondage groan and panâ— for a Redeemer The day of their compleat redemption is at hand all of you are witnesses of this that there are some thus freed but they are signes and wonders indeed to the world their kinsmen their acquaintance their friends and neighbours wonder what is become of them they think it strange they walk not and run not into that same excess of riot with them But whosoever thou art that is escaped from under the slavery of sin wonder at the world that doth run so madly on their own destruction think is strange that thou ran so long with them and that all will not run in these pleasant wayes with thee think it strange that thou runs so slowly when so great a prize is to be obtained an immortal and never fading Crown If mortifying and crucifying the lusts of the flesh if dying to the world and to thy self seem very hard and unpleasant to thee if it be as the plucking out of thine eye and cutting off thine hand know then that corruption is much alive yet and hath much power in thee but remember that if thou can have but so much grace and resolution as to kill and crucifie these lusts without foolish and hurtful pity if thou canst attain that victory over thy self thou shall never be a loser thou cannot repent it afterward To die to our selves and the world to kill sin within O! that makes way to a life hid from the world one hour whereof is better than many ages in sinful pleasure Quicken thy self often with this thought that there is a true life after such a death and that thou canst not passe into it but by the valley of the death of thy lusts remember that thou dost but kill thine enemies which embrace that they may strangle thee and then stir up your self with this consideration the life of sin will be thy death better enter heaven without these lusts then go to hell with them SERMON IX Vers. 2. For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath made me free c. THat which makes the delivery of men from the tyranny of sin and death most diâ—â—icult and utterly impossible unto nature is that sinners have given up themselves unto it as if it were true liberty that the will and affections of men are conquered and sin hath its impeâ—ial throne seated there Other conquerours invade men against their will and so they rule against their will they contain men in subjection by fear and not by love and so when ever any occasion offers they are glad to cast off the yoke of unwilling obedience But sin hath first conquered mens judgement by blinding it putting out the eye of the understanding and then invaded the affections of men drawn them over to its side and by these it keeps all in a most willing obedience Now
31.33 Not only I delight do thy will but I will make them dâ—light to do it also And truly in this respect the Law is more fulfilled â—nd established by Christ then ever it could have been if man had been left to satisfie it alone If we had reckoned alone with the Law we had been taken up eternally with satisfaction for the breaches of it so that there could be no access to obedience of the command and no acceptance either a sinner must first satisfie the curse for the fault done before ever he can be in a capacity to perform new obedience on the terms of acceptation of it with God Now the first would have taken up eternity so that there can be no place of entrâ— to the second therefore if Christ had not found out a way of free pardon of the sins that are past and assurance of forgiveness for the time to come the Commandments of God should be wholly frustrated but there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared Psal. 130.4 The word is also worshipped Truly my beloved this is the foundation of all Religion free forgiveness there had been no Religion no worship of God no obedience to his commands throughout all eternity there should never have been any fear any love any delight in God any reverence and subjection to him if he had not forgiveness a treasure of mercies with him to bestow first upon sinners and this makes access to stand and serve in his sight The cloud of our transgressions is so thick and dark that there could never have been any communion with God if he had not found out the way to scatter and blot it out for his own Names sake Religion then must begin at this great and inestimable free gift of imputed righteousness of accounting us what we are not in our selves because found so in another it begins at remission of sins but that is not all this hath a further end and truly it is but introductive to a further end that so a soul may be made partaker of the gift of holiness within and have that image of God renewed in holiness and righteousness I would have you once perswaded to begin at this to recieve the free gift of anothers righteousness Rom. 5.17 And anothers obedience to find your own nakedness and loathsomness without this covering and how short all other coverings of your own works are O that we could once perswade you to renounce your selves to embrace this righteousness then it were easie to prevail with you to renounce sin to put on holiness I say first you must renounce your selves as undone in all you do as loathsome in all that ever you loved and come under the wide and broad skirt of Christs righteousness which he did weave upon the earth for to hide our nakedness You must once have the righteousness of the Law fulfilled perfectly by another before you can have access to fulfill on jot of it your selves or any thing you do be accepted and till this foundation be laid you do but beat the air in Religion you build on the sand Now if once you were brought this length to renounce all confidence in your selves and to flee in to Christs righteousnesse then it were easie to lead you a step further to renounce the love of your most beloved sins and the more lovely that Christs righteousnesse is in your eyes the more beauty would holinesse and obedience have in them also unto you then you would labour to walk after the guidance of the Spirit I would have the impression of this deep in your hearts that the Gospel is not a Doctrine of licentiousnesse but a Doctrine of the purest liberty of the compleatest redemption Many think it liberty to serve their lusts and it is indeed as bonds and cords to restrain them There is no man but would be content to be saved from the wrath to come and therefore many snatch at such sentences of the Gospel and take them lightly without consideration of what further is in it But truly if this were all it were not compleat redemption if there were not redemption from sin too which is the most absolute tyrant in the world I think a true Christian would account the service of sin bondage though it were left at his own option He that commits sin is the servant of sin therefore the freedom that Christ purchaseth is freedom from sin Ioh. 8.38 I will say more we are delivered from wrath that so we may be redeemed from sin we have the righteousnesse of Christ imputed to us that so the image of Christ may be renewed within us this is the very end of that I am sure any that disceâ—ns aright knows sin to have infinit more evil in it then punishment hath nay punishment is only evil as it hath relation to sin There is a beauty of justice and righteousnesse in punishâ—nt but there is nothing in sin but deformity and opposition to his Holiness it s purely evil and most purely hated of God and if there were no more to perswade you that sin is infinitly more evil then pain consider how our pain and punishment was really transferred upon the blessed Son of God and that all this did not make him a whit the worse but he was not capable of the real infusion of our sin that would have made Christ as miserable wretched and impotent as any of us that would have disabled him so far from helping us that he would have had as much need of a Mediator as we all which were highly blasphemous to imagine Look then how much distance and difference there was between suffering dying Christ and wretched men living in sin none can say but he is infinitly better even while in pain nor the highest Prince in pleasure so much disproportion there is between sin and pain so much is the one worse then the other Do not think then that Christ died to purchase an indulgence for you to live in sin truly that were to take away the lesser evil that the greater may remain that were to deliver from one misery that we may be more involved in that which is the greatest of all miseries Nay certainly if Christ be a Redeemer he must redeem us from our most potent and accursed enemy sin he must take away the root the fountain of all misery sin that which conceived in its womb all pains sorrows sicknesses death and hell You have the great end of redemption expressed Luk. 1.75 That we being delivered from all our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness It was that for which he made man at first and it is that for which he hath made him again created unto good works Eph. 2.8 It was a higher design certainly for which the Son of God became partaker of our nature then only to deliver us from hell no doubt it was to make us partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 and this is
eye which would make offend and stumble in the way but let the remembrance of the life to come sweeten it all when men undergo the hazard of losing life for a little pleasure when for a poor petty advantage men will endure so much pains and trouble O what should eternal life and such a life as the best liâ—e here is but death to it how should it mitigat and sweeten the bitterness of mortification how should it fortifie our spirits to much endurance and patience A battel we must have for these lusts that we disingage from the Devil and the World besides will lay wait for us in this way but when for such small and inconsiderable advantages men will endure all the disadvantage of war of a long war O how should the expectation of this peace which incloses and comprehends all felicity all well-being animat and strengthen us to fight in into the City of life and peace eternal SERMON XX. Rom. 8.7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God and is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be UNbelief is that which condemns the world it involves in more condemnation then many other sins not only because more universal but especially because it shuts up men in their misery and secludes them from the remedy that is brought to light in the Gospel By unbelief I mean not only that careless neglect of Jesus Christ offered for salvation but that which is the root of that The inconsideration and ignorance of our desperat sinfulness and irremediless misery without Christ which not being laid to heart seriously makes such slight and superficial intertainment of a Saviour and Redeemer Man is truly miserable and unhappy whether he know it or not but truly it is an accession to his misery that he knows it not that he neither apprehends what he is now by nature nor what he must shortly be made by Justice Indeed if there were no remedy to be â—ound it were a happy ignorance To be ignorant of misery the knowledge and remembrance of it could do nothing but add unto the bitterness of it if a man might bury it in eternal forgetfulness it were some ease But now when God hath in His mercy so appointed it that the beginning of the belief of sin and misery shall in a manner be the end of miserâ— and seing whether men know it or not they must shortly be made sensible of it when there is no remedy to be â—ound then certainly it is the hight of mans misery That he knows and considers it not If we would apply our hearts at length to hear what God the Lord speaks for he only can give account of man to himselâ— we might have a survey of both in these words and the preceeding of our desperat wickedness and of our intollerable misery for the present by nature we are enemies to God and shortly we must be dealt with as enemies as rebels to the most potent and glorious King be punished with death an endless living death Experience shews how hard a thing it is to perswade you that you are really under the sentence of death you will not suffer your hearts to believe your danger left it interrupt your present pleasures of sin Nay you will flatter your selves with the fancied hope of immunity from this curse and account it a cruel and rigorous Doctrine That so many creatures made by God should be eternally miserable or a sentence of it should be past on all flesh Now that which makes us hardly to believe this is the unbelief and deep inconsideration of your sinfulnesse therefore the Apostle to make way for the former adds Because the carnal mind is enmity against God Do not wonder then that your wayes and courses your affections and inclinations bring forth that ghostly and dreadfull end of death seing all these are enmity to the greatest King who alone hath the power of life and death They have a perfect contâ—ariety to His holy Nature and righteous Will not only is the carnal mind an enemy but enmity it self and therefore it is most suitable that the soveraign power of that King oâ— kings stretched out to the vindication of His Holiness and Righâ—eousness by taking vengeance on all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men If rebellion in a State or Monarchy against these petty mortal gods who shall die as men be so hainous as to deâ—erve death by the consent of all Nations how much more shall enmity and rebellion against the immortal eteâ—nal King who hath absolute right and dominion over his creatures as over the clay have such a suitable recompence of eternal death Now my beloved if you once believed this the enmity and opposition of your whole natures to God you could not but fearfully apprehend what might be the issue of it you could not blesse your selves as you do and put the evil day far off but certainly you would be affrighted with the terrour and Majesty of that God you have to do with whom when he awakes to judgment you can neither resist nor escape no standing against his wrath and no fleeing from it out of His Dominions and this would dispose and incline your minds in time to heaâ—ken â—o the treaty of peace which is holden out in the Gospel and to lay down the weapons of your enmity and make peace with Him in His Son the Peace-maker Amity and Unity is the very being and beauty of the world This universe is made up of innumerable different kinds and natures and all these climb and walk together by the bond of peace and concord among themselves and with that One high understanding that directs all and supream will of God that moves all It is that link of union with God that gives and preserves being and beauty in all the creatures as the dependence of the ray upon the Sun or the stream on the fountain makes them what they are which being interrupted they cease to be what they were All things continue as thou hast ordained them for all are thy servants Ps. 119.91 You see then this amity and union of subordination of the creatures to God is not dissolved to this day But woâ—ull and wretched man alone hath withdrawn from this subordination and dissolved this sacred tye of happy friendship which at first he was liâ—ted up unto and priviledged with Amity and friendship you know consists in an union of hearts and wills and a communion of all good things it makes two one as much as two can be by the conspiracy of their affections in one thing and the joynt concurrence of their endeavours to communicat to one another what each hath it takes away propriety and it makes a community between persons Now how happy was that amity how blessed that friendship between God and man Though mans goodness could not extend to God yet his soul united to God by love and delight and all that God had given him returning that to
Christ hath continued our mortality Else he would have abolished death it self if he had not meant to abolish sin by death and indeed it would appear this is the reason why the world must be consumed with fire at the last day and new Heavens and earth succeed in its room because as the little house the body so the great house the world was infected with this leprosie so subjected to vanity and corruption because of mans sin therefore that there might be no remnant of mans corruption and no memorial of sin to inteâ—upt his eternal joy the Lord will purify and change all all the members that were made instruments of unrighteousness all the creatures that were servants to mans lusts a new form and fashion shall be put on all that the body being restored may be a fit dwelling place for the purified soul and the world renewed may be a â—it house for righteous men Thus you see that Death to a Christian is not real death for it is not the death of a Christian but the death of sin his greatest enemy it is not a punishment but the enlargement of the soul. Now the next comfort is that which is is but partial it is but the dissolution of the lowest part in man his body so far from prejudging the immortal life of his spirit that it is rather the accomplishment of that Though the body must die yet eternal life is begun already within tâ—e soul for the Spirit of Christ hath brought in life the Righteousnesse of Christ hath purchased it and the Spirit hath performed it and applyed it to us not only there is an immortal being in a Christian that must survive the dust for that is common to all men but there is a new life begun in him an immortal well being in joy and happinesse which only deserveth the name of life that cometh never to its full perfection till the bodily and earthly house be taken down If you consider seriously what a new life a Câ—â—istâ—â—n is â—â—â—aâ—lated unto by the operation of the Holy Ghost and the ministration of the word it is then most active and lively when the soul is most retired from the body in meditation the new life of a Christian is most perfect in this life when it carrieth him the furthest distance from his bodily senses and is most abstracted from all sensible engagements as you heard for indeed it restores the spirit of a man to its native rule and dominion over the body so that it is then most perfect when it is most gâ—thered within it self and disingaged from all external intanglements Now certain it is since the perfection of the soul in this life consists in such a retirement from the body that when it is wholly separated from it then it is in the most absolute state of perfection and its life â—cts most purely and peâ—fectly when it hath no body to communicat with and to entangle it either with its lusts or necessities The Spirit is life it hath a life now which is then best when furthest from the body and therefore it cannot but be surpassing better when it is out of the body and all this is purchaâ—ed by Christs righteousnesse As mans disobedience made an end of his life Christs obedience hath made our life endlesse He suffered death to sting him and by this hath taken the sting from it and now there is a new statute and appointment of Heaven published in the Gospel whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have eternal life Now indeed this hath so intirely châ—nged the nature of death that iâ— hath noâ— the most lovely and desirable aspect on a Christian that it is no more an object of fear but of desire amicable not terrible unto him since there is no way to save the passenger but to let the vessel break he will be content to have the body splitted that himself that is his soul may escape for truly a mans soul is himself the body is but an earthly tabernacle that must be taken down to let the inhabitant win out to come near his Lord the body is the Prison-house that he groans to have opened that he may enjoy that liberty of the sons of God And now to a Christian death is not properly an object of patience but of desire rather I desire to be dissolved and be with Christ Phil. 1.23 He that hath but advanced little in Christianity will be content to die but because there is too much flesh he will desire to live but a Christian that is riper in knowledge and grace will rather desire to die and only be content to live he will exercise patience and submission about abiding here but groanings and pantings about removing hence because he knoweth that there is no choice between that bondage and this liberty SERMON XXIX Rom. 8.10 The body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life c. IT was the first curse and threatning wherein God thought fit to comprehend all misery Thou shalt die the death in that day thou eatest though the sentence was not presently executed according to the letter yet from that day â—orward man was made mortal and there seemeth to be much mercy and goodness of God interveening to plead a delay of death it self that so the promise of life in the second Adam might come to the first and his posterity and they might be delivered â—rom the second death though not from the first Alwayes we bear about the markes of sin in our bodies to this day and in so far the threatning taketh place that this life that we live in the body is become nothing else but a dying life the life that the ungodly shall live out oâ— the body is a living death and either of these is worse then simple death or destruction of beeing The serious contemplation of the miseries of this life made wise Solomon to praise the dead more then the living contrary to the custom of men who rejoyce at the birth of a man-child and mourn at their death yea it pressed him further to think them which have not at all been better then both because they have not seen the evil under the Sun this world is such a Chaos such a masse of miseries that if men understood it before they came into it they would be far more loath to enter into it then they are now afraid to go out of it And truly we want not remembrances and representations of our misery every day in that children come weeping into the world as it were bewailing â—heir own misfortune that they were brought forth to be sensible subjects of misery And what is all our life-time but a repetition of sighs and groanâ— anxiety and satiety loathing and longing dividing our spiâ—its and our time between them How many deaths must we suffer before death come for the absence or losse of any thing much desired is a sepâ—ration no lesse gâ—ievous to the hearts of men