was a Type of Christs sacrifice Now that Christs sacrifice was so acceptable to God there is a direct place for it in Ephes. 5. Walke in love as Christ hath loved us and hath given himselfe an offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweet smell And indeed how many sweet savours were there in the sacrifice of Christ offered on the Crosse was there not the sweet savour of obedience he was obedient to the death of the Crosse there was the sweet savour of patience and of love to mankind therefore God delighted in him as God as Man as Mediator God-Man in his doings in his sufferings every way Doth God delight thus in Christ in his person or considered mystically I answer both God loves and delights in Christ mysticall that is in Christ and his members in whole Christ This is my Beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased not onely with whom alone by himselfe but in whom in him as God in him in body and soule in him as head of the Church in him mystically in all that are under him any kind of way God delights in him and all his Is it possible that hee should delight in the head and refuse the members That he should love the husband and mislike the Spouse O no with the same love that God loves Christ he loves all his he delights in Christ and all his with the same delight there is some difference in the degree That Christ in all things may have the preheminence but it is the same love therefore our Saviour sets it downe excellently in his owne prayer he desires that the same love wherewith his Father loved him may be in them that are his that they may feele the love wherewith his Father loves him for hee loves him and his members him and his Spouse with all one love This is our comfort and our confidence that God accepts us because hee accepts his Beloved and when he shall cease to love Christ he shall cease to love the members of Christ they and Christ make one mysticall Christ. This is our comfort in dejection for sinne wee are so and so indeed but Christ is the chosen servant of God In whom he delighteth and delights in us in him it is no matter what we are in our selves but what we are in Christ when we are once in him and continue in him God loves us with that inseperable love wherewith hee loves his owne Sonne therefore Saint Paul triumphs Rom. 8. What shall seperate us from the love of God in Christ Iesus This love it is founded in Christ therefore neither things present nor things to come as he goes on there gloriously shall bee able to seperate us you see what a wondrous confidence and comfort wee have hence if we labour to be in Christ that then God loves and delights in us because he loves and delights in Christ Jesus And here is a wondrous comfort that God must needs love our salvation and redemption when he loves Christ because hee powred out his soule to death to save us doth not God delight that wee should bee saved and our sinnes should bee forgiven when hee loves Christ because hee abased himselfe for that purpose What a prop and foundation of comfort is this when the Divell shall present God to us in a terrible hideous manner as an avenging God and consuming fire c. indeed out of Christ he is so let us present to our selves thoughts of God as the Scripture sets foorth God to us and as God setâ— forth himself not only in that sweet relation as a Father to Christ buâ— our father I go to my Father and your Father to my God and your God having both one God and love and care There is none of us all but the Divell will have a saying to us either in the time of our life in some terrible temptation especially when any outward abasement comes or at the houre of death and all the cordials wee have gathered out of the Word will then be little enough to support the drooping soule especially in the houre of temptation Oh Beloved what a wondrous stay and satisfaction to a distressed conscience doth this yeeld that Christ in all that hee hath wrought for us is Gods chosen servant whom he loves and delights in and delights in him for this very worke that hee abased himselfe and gave himselfe for us that hee wrought Gods worke because he wrought reconciliation for us If we can believe in Christ wee see heere what ground of comfort wee have that God loves and delights in us as he doth in his owne Son And what a comfort is it now in our daily approach to God to minister boldnesse to us in all our suites that we goe to God in the name of one that he loves in whom his soule delights that we have a friend in Court a friend in Heaven for us that is at the right hand of God and interposeth himselfe there for us in all our suites that makes us acceptable that perfumes our prayers and makes them acceptable his intercession is still by vertue of his service dying for us he interceeds by vertue of his redemption if God love him for the worke of redemption he loves him for his intercession therefore God must needs regard the prayers made by him by vertue of his dying for us when he loves him for dying for us Bee sure therfore in al our suites to God to take along our elder Brother take our beloved Brother take Benjamin with us offer al to God in him our persons to be accepted in him our prayers our hearing our works and al that we do and we shal be sure to speed For he is one in whom the soule of God delights There must be this passage and repassage as God looks upon us lovely in him and delights in us as wee are members of him all Gods love and the fruits of it come to us as we are in Christ and are one with him then in our passage to God againe we must returne all and doe all to God in Christ be sure not to goe to a naked God for so he is a consuming fire but goe to him in the mediation of him whom he loves and in whom his soule delighteth And shall God love him and delight in him and shall not our soule delight in Christ This therefore should stirre up our affections to Christ to be faithfull in our conjugall affection as the Spouse of Christ to say My Beloved is mine and I am my Beloveds Christ calls his Church My Love and my Dove Doth Christ delight in us and God delight in Christ and shall not we delight in Christ that delights in us and in whom God delights In the 1. Cor. 16. ult the Apostle is bold to pronounce a bitter curse Anathema Maranatha upon him that loves not the Lord Christ Jesus a most bitter curse when Christ shall become a
sanctified judgement and a mighty power to raise the soule to cast it selfe so upon Gods mercy in Christ. So that besides the obtaining saluation by Christ there must be a grace to apply it and this faith doth Faith is said to doe that that Christ doth because faith layes hold upon Christ what faith doth Christ doth and what Christ doth faith doth therefore it hath the same actions applyed and given to it that Christ hath Faith is said to save us you know it is Christ that saves us but faith layes hold on Christ that saves us faith purgeth the heart and overcomes the world Christ by his Spirit doth all this but because faith wrought by the Spirit is such a grace as layes hold on the power of Christ it goes out of it selfe to Christ therefore what Christ doth faith is said to doe So then the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ not onely freed Christ himselfe by his Resurrection but likewise by the same power whereby hee raysed himselfe he rayseth our hearts to beleeve what hee hath done both in his state of humiliation and exaltation and makes all that Christ did ours The Spirit of life in Christ Iesus working faith in us and by faith other graces doth free us from the Law of sinne and death Christ doth it and faith doth it and grace which issues from faith doth it subordinately Christ doth it by way of merit and by his Spirit working faith in us to lay hold upon whatsoever Christ hath done or suffered as if we had done it our selves so it frees us from the law of sinne and death because it layes hold of the freedome wrought by Christ for us But besides and next to faith there is a Spirit of sanctification by which we are free from the commanding law of sinne and death But to cleare all this consider there is a freedome in this life and in the life to come from sinne and from death A freedome in this life in calling in justification in sanctification and in the life to come a freedome of glory There is a freedome in effectuall calling by the minâ—sterie of the Gospel the Gospel being preached unfolded faith is wrought whereby wee know what Christ hath done for us and wee see a better condition in Christ then we are in by nature seeing by the Spirit of God the cursed estate wee are in we are convinced of sinne in our selves and of the good that is in Christ and hereupon wee are called out of the thraldome wee are in by nature by the Spirit of Christ and the Word of God unfolding what our condition is for man by nature having selfe-love in him and that selfe-love being turned the right way he begins to thinke I doth the Word of God say I am a slave to sinne and damnation the Word of God can judge better then my selfe and then the Spirit of God sets it on with conviction that undoubtedly this is true And together with the cursed kingdome and slavery that I am under there is discovered a better state in Christ for the Gospel tells us what we are in Christ freed from hell and death and heires of heaven oh the happy estate of a Christian to be in Christ The Gospel with the Spirit discovering this a man is called out of the cursed estate he is in by nature to the fellow-ship of Christ by faith which is wrought in this calling so that now he comes to be a member of Christ by faith so that whatsoever Christ hath or is or hath done or suffered it is mine by reason of this union with him by faith which is the grace of union that knits us to Christ and the first grace of application So there is the first degree of liberty and freedome wrought by the Spirit of God together with the Gospel in effectuall calling The second is in justification that faith and beleefe in Christ that was wrought in effectuall calling it frees me from the guilt of my sinnes For when the Gospel in effectuall calling discovers that Christ is such a one and that there is such an estate in Christ and there is faith wrought in me then that faith layes hold upon the obedience of Christ to be mine For Christ in the Gospel offers his obedience to be mine as if I had done it in mine own person whatsoever Christ did or suffered is mine for he is made of God to be Wisedome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption to be all in all the Gospell sets him forth to be so Now faith laying hold of Christ to be made of God all in all obedience righteousnesse c. whatsoever is needfull hereupon this faith justifies me hereupon I come to be free from the guilt of my sinnes because my sinnes were laid upon Christ Christs death was the death of a surety it was as if I had dyed my selfe and more firme thus I come to be free in justification for what my surety hath done I have done Againe there is a freedome in sanctification that is when a man beleeves that Christ is his and that his sufferings are his then the same Spirit that discovers this to be mine it workes a change and alteration in my nature and frees me from the dominion of sinne The obedience of Christ frees me from the condemnation of sinne and the Spirit of sanctification frees me from the dominion of sinne This is the freedome of sanctification which faith layes hold on Whosoever hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his Christ as a head derives to me the holy Spirit to sanctifie my nature and of his fulnesse we receive grace for grace so the Spirit of sanctification in Christ frees me from the dominion of sinne and death It is said here that by Christ we have spirituall liberty and freedome not from sinne and death but from the law of sinne and of death It is one thing to be freed from sinne and death and another thing to be freed from the law of them for wee are not indeed freed from sinne and death but from the law of sinne and death that is from the condemning power of sinne that though sinne be in us yet it doth not condemne us and though we die yet the sting is pulled out death is but a passage to a better life So I say in Justification wee are freed from the condemning power of sinne and in sanctification from the commanding power of sinne When we are knit once to Christ we have the obedience of Christ ours in justification and the holinesse of Christ is derived to us as from the head to the members in sanctification and so we are freed from the law of sin To understand this a little better the same Spirit that sanctified the naturall body the humane nature of Christ wherby he became bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh the same Spirit doth sanctifie the mysticall body of Christ
and do all the good we can in our time And then consider what death will be when we come to die it will be a sweet sâ—eep to us and our resurrection will bee a refreshing our flesh shall rest in hope as David saith We shall be gathered to our fathers wee shall see Corruption indeed but mark what David saith Psal. 16. my flesh shall rest in hope because thou wilt not suffer thy holy one to see Corruption Then this is the upshot of all though we see Corruption when we are dead yet with the â—y of faith wee see a rising againe from Corruption We see death but as a pot to refine us in even as it is with silver when there is much corruption and heterogeniall matter mingled with it the fire refines it but it is not lost so the grave refines the body and fits it for a glorious resurrection The flesh rests in hope all the while though the body see Corruption because our head saw no Corruption if the head be above water what if the body be downe our head saw no Corruption that is Christ for he rose out of the grave before his body putrified for his body had a subsistence and was gloriously united to the second person in Trinity and being united to the Lord of life it saw no Cortrption For that did not lie upon Christ as our Saviour to bee corrupt but to die to bee made a curse for us and then especially I say by reason of the neare union of it to the God of life Well then what is Davids argument of comfort in Psal. 16. My flesh shall rest in hope because thou wilt not suffer thine holy one to see Corruption Because Christ rose from the grave himselfe the holy one of God our flesh may rest in hope though we see Corruption because the same divine power that raised christ our head out of the grave that his body saw no Corruption will raise our bodies to bee like our glorious bodie Our blessed Saviour that overcame death in his owne person by his power he will overcome death for all his mysticall body that is his Church it shall be perfect in heaven soule and body together as hee himselfe is glorious now in heaven That wee may say with David notwithstanding our bodies see Corruption as his did yet our flesh shall rest in hope because Gods holy one saw no Corruption FINIS The Table Part Page A Abasement ABasement of Christ the greatest 1 10. Abasement of Christ whence it was 1 11. Fruit of Christs Abasement 1 13. Adam Our estate in Christ better then in Adam 1 43. Affections Affections not taken away by religion 1 249. Afflictions Benefit of Afflictions 1 279. Against How farre the enemies of Gods children are Against them 2 74. In what respect none are Against Gods children 2 75. Alone A Christian is never Alone 2 78. Angels Angels the cause of their fall 2 202. Annointed Three sorts of persons Annointed 1 34. Appetite How to get Appetite to feed on Christ 1 183. Application Application wrought by the Spirit 2 43. Faith the grace of Application Ibid. Approach Comfort in our Approach to God 1 27. Ascention The Spirit given more abundantly since Christs Ascention 1 53. Authority Authority of Christ from his Father 1 202. B Behold The word Bâ—â—â—ld how used 1 5. Blame Blame to bee laid upon our selves in judgements 1 316. Bodies Bodies of others not to be doted on 2 229 Bondage Freedome in sin a Bondage 2 17. Bride The Church of God a Bride 2 101. Why the Church is called a Bride 2 106. C Care Ground of Care in our carriage 1 82. Ceremonies Bondage of Ceremonies in the Law 1 263. Chaines Sin as Chaines 2 7. Choise Chosen Christ Chosen of God how 1 19. We should rest in Gods Choise 1 20. Christ. Christ not to be neglected 1 21. How to know wee are in Christ 1 30. All that is good is first in Christ and then in us 1 40. To take heed of refusing Christ 1 210. The greatnesse of the sin to refuse Christ 1 212. Comfort for such as receive Christ 1 213. See Chosen servant delight Adam Christians Difference betweene Christians and others 1 238. 2 205. Disposition of true Christians 1 246. Church Three degrees of men in the Church 1 156. Cleansed To labour to be Cleansed by the blood of Christ 1 296 Comfort Comfort from the ground of Gods love 1 25. Comforts when to bee stored up 1 131. Ground of Comfort for weake Christians 1 228. Comming There must be a second Comming of Christ 2 107. The Church desires Christs Comming 2 108. The Church in Heaven desires Christs Comming 2 113. Christians not alway fitted alike for Christs Comming 2 118. Directions how to desire Christs Comming 2 119 Communion See Saints Common See Service Condition Why we should consider our former Condition 1 140. Why God suffers different Conditions of men 2 137. Conflict Gods children exercised with Conflicts 2 132. How to recover out of Conflict 2.134 Confession Confession of sin necessary 1.288 Good men in their Confessions rank themselves with others 1 289. Conscience Conscience after long sinning hardly comforted 1 94 Conjunction Foure Conjunctions wonderfull 1 10 Consideration Hinderances of Consideration 1 103. Contentment Ground of Contentment 2 84. Contraries Contraries agree in a Christian 1 302. Conviction Ground of Conviction 1 127. Conviction of judgement the ground of practise 2 148. Foure things in Conviction 2 149. Conviction to be laboured for 2 151. Conviction wrought by the Holy Ghost 2 155. Correct God Corrects his children sharply 2 169. Counsell The will of God called Counsell why 2 187. Corruption The best men subject to Corruption why 2 227. Ground of support against Corruption 2 218 Courage Ground of Christian Courage 2 81. Course Every man hath his Course 1 107. God judgeth men according to their Course 1 108 Gods children have a contrarie Course to the world 2 137. Creator God to be served as a Creator 2 187. Crâ—â—â—ion See Redemption Creature God shames mens pride by other Crâ—atures 1 115 D Danger What to doe in times of Danger 1 129. Death Dead Men naturally Dead 1 141. Death what Ibid. Death spirituall wherein it is 1 142. Sin it selfe a Death 1 144. Signes of spirituall Death 1 145. Difference in naturall and spirituall Death 1 152. The best have remainders of Death 1 155. Every man under the law of Death 2 25. How we are under the law of Death 2 27. Sin and Death go together 2 28. â—reedome from sin and Death what 2 49. Difference in the Death of godly and wicked 2 216. See Sinne. Defect Three maine Defects in man 1 34. Defiled The best actions of the best men Defiled 1 299 Delay Repentance not to be Delaied 1 91. Danger of Delaying 1 92. Delight Delight in Christ the ground of it 1 28. Desirâ— See Comming Dying There is a time of Dying as
servant to do our worke for us to suffer for us to beare the burthen of our sinnes upon the tree to become our husband to bestow his riches upon us to raise us to the same condition with himselfe and withall to be such a one as God hath chosen out to love and delight in as the best object of his love and most capable of it and for us not to solace and delight our selves in him that God delights in when God delights in him for our sake God loves and delights in him for the worke of salvation and redemption by his blood and shall not wee love and imbrace him for his love which is for our good What good hath God by it but onely the glory of his mercy in saving our soules through Christ Therefore if God love him for the good he doth to us much more should we love him for the fruit of it that wee receive our selves It should shame us therefore when we finde dullnesse and coldnesse upon us that wee can heare of any thing better then of Christ and arguments concerning Christ are cold to us alas where is our love and joy and delight and when we can make no better but a carnall use of the incarnation and other benefits by Christ we should therefore desire God to shed the love of Christ into our hearts more and more that we may feele in our soules the love that hee beares to us and may love God and Christ againe for that that hee hath done for us Hence we have also a ground of estimation of Christians to be excellent persons doth God valew poore sinfull soules so much as to give Christ for them to become a Saviour doth he delight in Christ for giving himselfe for them and shall not we love one another whom God and Christ so loves But if God love and delight in those that are in Christ with the same love and delight that he hath in him how shall I know that I am in Christ and that God thus delights in me Briefly a man may know that hee is in Christ if he find the Spirit of Christ in him for the same Spirit when Christ tooke our nature that sanctified that blessed masse wherof he was made when there was an union betweene him and the second person the same Spirit sanctifies our soules and bodies there is one Spirit in the head and in the members therfore if we find the Spirit of Christ in us we are in Christ and he in us Now this Spirit is renewing Whosoever is in Christ is a new creature all is new old things are done away the old manner of language the old disposition old affections old company all old things are past all is new and if a man be a new creature hee hath right and title to the new heaven and new earth let us examine the worke of grace in us if there be no change in us we have no present interest in Christ we have to do with him because he is still woing us to be in him but as yet we have no title to him The very beholding of Christ is a transforming sight the Spirit that makes us new creatures and stirres us up to behold this servant it is a transforming beholding if wee looke upon him with the eye of faith it will make us like Christ for the Gospell is a mirrour and such a mirrour that when we looke into it and see our selves interessed in it wee are changed from glory to glory a man cannot looke upon the love of God and of Christ in the Gospell but it will change him to be like God and Christ for how can we see Christ and God in Christ but we shall see how God hates sin and this will transforme us to hate it as God doth who hated it so that it could not bee expiated but with the blood of Christ God-man so seeing the holinesse of God in it it will transforme us to be holy when we see the love of of God in the Gospell and the love of Christ giving himselfe for us this will transforme us to love God when wee see the humility and obedience of Christ when we looke on Christ as Gods chosen servant in all this and as our surety and head it transformes us to the like humility and obedience those that find not their dispositions in some comfortable measure wrought to this blessed transformation they have not yet those eyes that the Holy Ghost requireth here Behold my servant whom I have chosen my Beloved in whom my soule delighteth I will put my Spirit upon him Now wee come to the qualification of Christ for his calling in these words I will put my Spirit upon him that is I will cloath him with my Spirit I will put it as it were upon him as a garment Now there were divers degrees of Christs receiving the Spirit at severall times for hee was conceived by the Holy Ghost the Holy Ghost did sanctifie that blessed masse whereof his body was framed in the wombe of the Virgin he was quickned in the wombe in his conception by the Holy Ghost and he was graced by the Holy Ghost and led by the Spirit in all things before his Baptisme but afterward when he came to set upon his office to be the Prophet and Priest and King of his Church that great office of saving mankind which he did not solemly set upon till hee was thirty yeares old then God powred upon him a special portion of the Spirit answerable to that great calling then the Spirit lighted upon him Christ was ordained to his office by the greatest authority that ever any was ordained from the beginning of the world for at his Baptisme when he was ordained and set apart to his office there was the Father from heaven uttered an audible voice This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased and there was Christ the partie baptized and installed into that great office then there was the Holy Ghost in the forme and shape of a Dove it being a matter of the greatest consequence that ever was in the world greater then the Creation it was fit it should be done with the greatest authority and so it was the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost being present at the admission of Christ into his office this is especially here intended though the other bee included I will put my Spirit vpon him that is I will annoint him as it is in Isaiah 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord is upon mee saith Christ because the Lord hath annointed me to preach good tidings to the meeke to binde up the broken hearted to proclaime liberty to the captives to open the prison for them that are bound to proclaime the acceptable yeare of the Lord that is the yeare of Iubile for that was a Type of Christ to preach the Gospell deliverance to all that are in captivity servitude and thraldome under Satan and sin this was
of his when he rose againe in his resurrection the acquittance from our sinnes was sealed thereby we know that the debt is paid because he rose againe let us see an acquittance of all in the resurrection And if we thinke of the glory that God hath reserved for us thinke of it in Christ see Christ glorious first and we in him See Christ at the right hand of God and wee in him carry Christ along with us in our contemplations We are quickned with Christ Christ takes away all the deaths J spake of before Christ by his resurrection tooke away the death of sentence he rose againe for our justification so that now there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ. So againe in regard of that deadly disposition that is in us Christ quickens us in regard of that by infusing grace by his Spirit for Christ is an universall principle of all life Now Christ by his death pacifying his Father obteined the Spirit and by that Spirit which he infuseth as a principle of life he more and more quickens our nature and makes it better and better till it be perfect in Heaven As Adam was a principle of death and the more we live in the state of nature the worse we are til we come to hel So when we are in Christ the Spirit sanctifies us more and more till he have brought us to perfection And as we are quickned from the death of sentence and of disposâ—tion so we are quickned in regard of that hope of glory that we have For now in Christ we are in Heaven already and though there come bodily death betweene yet notwithstanding that is but a fitting us for glory the body is but fitted and molded in the grave for glory This very consideration will quicken a man in death my head is in Heaven above water therefore the body shall not bee long under water And Faith makes that that is to come present and affects the soule comfortably Christ is in Heaven already and J am there in Christ and J shall be there as verily as he is there I am there de jure de facto I shall be there in these considerations Christ quickens us Therefore saith St. Peter Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath begotten us againe through the resurrection of Christ from the dead to a lively hope of an inheritance immortall c. We are begotten againe to this inheritance by the resurrection of Christ who is risen againe to quicken himselfe and all his The consideration of this should affect us as it did Saint Peter to blesse God Now all this quickning power ariseth from our union with Christ we must have a beeing in Christ before we can have comfort by death with him or by rising with him Our union with Christ springs from faith faith is cherished by the Sacrament the Word and Sacrament beget faith faith unites us to Christ union with Christ makes us partake of his death and the benefits of it and of his resurrection and ascention to glory therefore the more we attend upon this ordinance of the Word and the seale of the Word the Sacrament the more our faith is increased for God invites us to communion and fellowship with Christ and all his benefits and favours and the more wee find faith assured of Christ the more union and fellowship wee have with Christ and the more wee seele that the more Christ is a quickning Spirit quickning us with the life of grace here and the hope of Glory afterward Therefore let us comfortably attend upon the ordinance of God sanctified for this purpose to strengthen this our union with Christ. FINIS THE FRVITFVLL LABOVR FOR Eternall Foode In two Sermons By the late Reverend and Learned Divine RICHARD SIDS Doctor in Divinity Master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge and sometimes Preacher at Grayes-Inne ESAY 55.2 Why doe you spend money for that which is not Bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Hearken diligently unto mee and eate yee that which is good and let your soule delight it selfe in fatnesse JOHN 6.55 For my flesh is meate indeed and my blood is drink indeed LONDON Printed by G.M. for Nicholas Bourne and Rapha Harford 1639. THE FRVITFVLL LABOVR FOR Eternall Food IOHN 6.27 Labour not for the meate that perisheth but for the meate that indureth to everlasting life which the Sonne of man shall give you for him hath God the Father Sealed OUr blessed Saviour was mighty in word and deed witnesse what he did what he taught and both in this Chapter What he did hee fed many with a few loaves he came over the water without any helpe What he taught witnesse from this part of the Chapter to the end The words are part of an Answer of our blessed Saviour to his hypocriticall followers that followed him for the Loaves and not for any confirmation of their faith by his miracles for upon occasion of those two miracles mentioned in the former part of the Chapter they followed him and perceiving that hee was miraculously come over the water they began to aske him Rabbi how camest thou heere Our Saviour perceives that they meant to complement with him he sees with what hearts they came after him therefore as most befitting the Exigence of their state because they were hypocrites he answers not to their question but to their persons Verily verily yee seeke mee not because of the miracles but because yee eate of the loaves and were filled Labour not for the meate that perisheth c. The Verses together containe a Conviction and an Injunction or direction A Conviction and that is serious and loving Serious Verily verily I say unto you you seeke mee not because of the miracles but because yee eate of the loaves c. Hee convinceth them of their fault of their hypocrisie of their wicked and carnall aimes in holy businesse they come flattering of Christ but as hee was too holy to flatter so he was too wise to be flattered hee deales therefore directly with them thoroughly convinceth them of their hypocrisie and corrupt aimes in following after him We are all naturally prone to these carnall ends in holy actions we must take heed with what mindes with what hearts we come before God whose eyes are brighter then the Sun who regards not so much what we doe as with what mindes we doe it As his conviction is Serious so it is Loving for with the conviction or reproofe followes the injunction or direction Labour not for the meate that perisheth In the Injunction there are two things First he shewes them what they should not follow he takes them off from labouring after the meate that perisheth And then secondly hee instructs them in what they should follow what they should seeke after But labour for the meate that indureth to everlasting life c. There are Arguments in both In the first there is an Argument disswasive and
and in Christ I can doe all things by his Spirit though in my selfe I can doe nothing And so in deadnesse and desolation of Spirit when the soule is cast downe with discomfort let us thinke with our selves the Spirit of life in Christ is a quickening Spirit if I can beleeve in Christ he hath freed me from the guilt of sinne and hee hath by his Spirit given me some little inlargement from the dominion of my corruptions why should I be cast downe I am an heire of heaven ere long Satan shall be trodden under my feet ere long I shall be free from the spirituall combate and conflict with sinne that I am now encountred with therefore I will comfort my selfe I will not be cast downe overmuch In the houre of death let us make use of this freedome of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus from the law of sinne and death When the time comes that there must be a separation of soule and body oh let us thinke with our selves Now I must dye yet Christ hath dyed and I must dye in conformity to my head and here is my comfort the Law of the Spirit of life hath freed me from the law of death it hath freed me from spirituall and eternall death So that now through Christ death is become friendly to me death now is not the death of me but death will be the death of my misery the death of my sinnes it will be the death of my corruptions death now will be the death of all that before troubled me but death will be my birth day in regard of happinesse Better is the day of death then the day of birth When a man comes into this life he comes into misery but when he dies hee goes out of misery and comes to happinesse so that indeed wee never live till we dye wee never live eternally and happily till then for then wee are freed from all misery and sinne Blessed are they that dye in the Lord they rest from their labours they rest from the labours of toyle and misery they rest from the labours of sinne from all labours whatsoever Blessed are they that dye in the Lord and of all times then blessed more blessed then before they rest from their labours and then begins their happinesse that shall never end So you see what comfort a Christians soule sprinkled with the blood of Christ may have if it goe to God in Christ and begge of Christ to be set at liberty from all enemies to serve God in holines and righteousnesse I speake too meanely when I say the Law of the Spirit of life hath fâ—â—ed us from 〈◊〉 and death this is not all the Spirit of life not onely frees us from ill but advanceth us to the contrary good in every thing wherein this freedome is For we are not onely called out of misery but to a Kingdome wee are not onely freed from sinne but intitled to heaven in justification and in sanctification we are not onely freed from corruption but inabled by the holy Spirit of liberty to run the wayes of Gods Commandements and make them voluntary to serve God chearefully zealous of good workes wee are not onely freed from the command and condemnation of sinne and â—he rigour of the Law but we have contrary dispositions ready and willing and voluntary dispositions wrought by the Spirit of Christ to every thing thâ—â—â—s good And so wee are not onely free from death and misery for so things without life are they suffer no misery but wee are partakers of everlasting life and glory the liberty of glory Gods benefits are compleat that is not onely priuative freeing us from ill but positive implying all good because God will shew himselfe a God he will doe good things as a God fully For the Law of the Spirit of life not onely frees us from the law of sinne and of death but writes the Law of God in our hearts he not onely frees us from the law of death but advance us to everlasting life to the glorious life we have in heaven to live for ever with the Lord oâ— happy condition of a Christian if wee could know our happinesse Let us often meditate deepely of Christ and of our selves in him let us see all our ill in him and all our good in him see death overcome and sinne overcome by his death hee being made a curse for us see the Law overcome hee being made under the Law for us when the wrath of God vexeth and terrifieth us see it upon him Hee sweat water and blood in the Garden It made him crie out My God my God why â—ast thou forsaken me See all that may trouble us in him as our Surety And all the good wee hope for see it in Christ first whatsoever he hath in his naturall body it is for his mysticall body for hee gave his naturall body for his mysticall God in the world to humble us exerciseth us with troubles and calamiâ—ies as he did Christ wee must be conformable to our heâ—d but consider the poyson and sting of all ills wee need to feaâ—e is swallowed up and taken away by Christ. And as I said let us see all our good in him wee are sonnes in him raysed 〈◊〉 him blessed in him set in heavenly places with him and shall be follow-heires and Kings with him for wee are his members his Spouse the wife shall enjoy the same condition as the husband whatsoever hee hath she shall have What a comfortable estate is this I we can feare no ill nor want no good whatsoever hee hath it is for us hee was borne for us hee dyed for us hee is gone to heaven for us for us and our good hee did and suffered all these things We cannot exercise our thoughts too much in these meditations The Lords Supper is a Sacrament of union and communion hence it hath its name and by receiving the Sacrament our Communion and union with Christ is strengthned What a comfort then is it to thinke if I have fellowship with Christ it is sealed by the Sacrament when I take the Bread and Wine at the same time I have communion with the Body and Blood of Christ shed for my sinnes and as Christ himselfe was freed from my sinnes imputed to him and by his Resurrection declared that hee was freed so surely shall I be freed from my sinnes So that this Communion taking the Bread and Wine it seales to us our Communion and fellowship with Christ and thereupon our freedome from sinne and from the Law and sets us in a blessed and happy estate Wee should labour therefore by all meanes to strengthen our union and Communion with Christ and amongst the rest reverently and carefully attend upon this blessed Ordinance of God for the body of Christ broken doth quicken us because it is the body of the Sonne of God My flesh is meate indeed and my blood is drinke indeed and hee
Spirit in the Spouse saith Come The Spirit doth all as the soule doth all in the body it acts it and leads it and comforts it and gives beauty to it so the Spirit first knits Christ and us together there is the same Spirit in Christ the head and in the Church there is one common Spirit in head and members And when it hath done so it acts and leads and sanctifies and purifies the Church it acquaints the Church with the good things that God hath given her acquaints her with the deepe meaning of God the love of God in Christ it acquaints God with our desires hee knowes our meaning in our prayers and we know his meaning it acquaints us with the state we shall have after and assures us of it It is the earnest of the Inheritance the Spirit and the graces of it are not onely the earnest but a part of that Inheritance a part of heaven where our bodies shall be spirituall not that they shall turne to be spirits but they shall be ruled wholy by the Spirit as the soule rules the body As it is in a river it is impossible that the streame should run higher then the spring-head from whence it comes so it is impossible that our desires should rise higher then the spring from whence they come the desires of nature cannot goe higher then nature the desires of the flesh are fleshly but spirituall desires as they spring from heaven they have a noble originall and head so they carry to heaven againe Therefore as the Spirit comes from God the Father and the Sonne so it carries us backe againe to the Father and the Sonne as it comes from heaven so it carries to heaven back againe That is one way to know whether our desires be spirituall or no our desire of death and of the comming of Christ if it be from wearisomnesse of life and from afflictions in the world so nature may desire I were better be dead then to be thus as Ionas wished death and the children of Israel and Elias in a passion oh that I were dead c. but if those desires spring from the Spirit then they come from heaven from the consideration of the excellency of the state wee shall have there that it shall be better with us and that death is but a darke passage to a glorious condition We may know our desires are spirituall from the rise of them if they come from spirituall and holy and heavenly considerations the Spirit doth all in the Spouse that is holy and Spirituall Therefore let us give entertainment to the Spirit of God and be where we may have further and further communion with the Spirit in spirituall Ordinances The preaching of Gods holy Word though it be meanely esteemed by the world it is the Ministerie of the Spirit in the hearing of it the Spirit is given if we would have the Spirit let us attend upon the Ministerie of the Spirit And let us study Christ and make him all in all Saint Paul questions with the Galathians saith hee I would know of you how came ye by the Spirit by hearing of Christs Gospel or of the Law preached No it was by the Gospel so that not onely the Ministerie in generall but the Evangelicall Ministerie that unfolds Christ and the infinite love of God in Christ the excellent condition we have in this world and look for in the world to come the Spirit is effectuall with these thoughts to make us holy and heavenly The Law beats downe but the Gospel especially these Evangelicall truths make us spirituall Therefore wee should be willing to heare spirituall points There are a company of men that love to heare curious and nice points and if a Minister be quaint anâ— satyricall and unfold points sutable to their apprehension they can digest this but come to speake of things above nature of Christ and the benefits by him they are spirituall they are remote and transcendent above their nature that they cannot relish them But he that hath the Spirit of Christ of all points there are none to those that unfold Christ and the benefits by him the glory that wee hope for by him in another world And let us not grieve the Spirit but give way to his motions The Spirit is now among us in his Ordinance knocking at our hearts and desiring entertainement let us give way and not quench the good motions that hee stirres up and the Spirit shall be given more and more to us The Holy-Ghost is given to them that ebey him And let us beg the Spirit God will give his holy Spirit to them that aske him Luk. 11. As if hee should say the Spirit is the best thing that God can give you that are evill can give good things to your children but your heavenly Father hath one good thing instead of all he will give his Spirit Therefore when wee find our hearts dead and dâ—ll and earthly and base-minded thinke thus Alas I am a lump of flesh now where is the Spirit of God certainely if I had the Spirit in me I could not be as I am If we love our soules we will take this course wee trifle with Religion else God doth all by the Spirit the Spirit is Christs Vicar here is no need of a Ministeriall head betweene the Spouse and Christ the Spirit and the Spouse are so neere together there is such a conjunction betweene Christ and his Church that where the Spirit is hee stirres up desires of his comming Onely let us attend upon the meanes and Ordinances that hee hath left in his Church And let us consider wee are not for this life we are not to live here alway the child in the wombe is not for that life and when it is in the world it is not for this life there is a third life that we are for An imperfect state rests not till it come to perfection our best is behind let those that are naught feare the second comming of Christ. Let Herod and Iudas and the beast of Rome feare that shall be cast into the burning lake Let Felix tremble the corrupt Judge and all that live in corrupt courses But wee that professe our selves to be Christians and hope for better things in another world let us labour to banish base feares and to this end let us labour to be spirituall and not to be lead by the flesh Whosoever is Christs hath the Spirit of Christ or else he is none of his as it is sweetly and largely and heavenly prooved Rom. 8. We have nothing to doe with Christ unlesse we have his Spirit to stirre up motions and desires of better things then this world can afford FINIS DAVIDS CONCLVSION OR THE SAINTS RESOLVTION In one Sermon By the late learned and reverend Divine RICHARD SIBBS Doctor in Divinitie Master of Katherine-Hall in Cambridge and sometimes Preacher at Grays-Inne Ieremy 30.21 Who is this that ingageth his heart to approach