Mediator the Life which they who have him have with him is that which he hath as Mediator which the Father hath given to all that believe and is put into the hands of the Son to give unto them To open this great Mystery the more you will find that the Son as God hath Life himself as in a Fountain yea he is Life And as he is Mediator and Redeemer the Father hath given to the Son to have Life in himself John 5.26 And gave him power to give eternal Life to as many as he hath given him John 17.2 And again John 6.57 As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me shall live by me Mark the place Christ was speaking of eating his Flesh and comparing himself to Bread more excellent than Manna and of the singular Benefit which they who made use of him by Faith as Men do eat Bread they should have Life by him But how could he give Life to them that believe He opens that in this vers 57. where note 1. The gracious Act of the Father in sending his Son in our Natures to be a Mediator and Saviour with Commission and Power 2. He who as God the Son had Life in himself receiv'd Life from the Father by whom he lived and this Life he did communicate to all that believed 3. So he that eateth me shall live by me The Benefit and Blessing derived to them that eat him that by Faith apply him is Life and as eating of Bread is the means of living by Bread so believing or spiritual eating is the means of living so he that eateth me shall live by me O! How marvellous is the manifold Wisdom of God in the way of Life as his Grace and Mercy is in bringing forth Life to the Dead in Sin and in bringing Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel Our miserable and helpless condition required no small help but a great and all-sufficient Saviour And so the Life of our Mediator shews the Death of every Sinner and our Deliverance from Death must in order go before though not in time the free Gift of Life It was by an easie passage which seemed wonderful delightful to the deluded minds of our first Parents that we fell under Condemnation and Death but the recovery was hard and two things were to be done for us to the praise of the Glory of Grace 1. The Evils under which we lay were to be removed 2. Our Life and Happiness procured and communicated and both these are done by our Mediator and Saviour I. The Evils under which we lay are contained under that bitter and terrible Word Death which is four-fold 1. We were dead in respect of the Guilt of Sin We were all Filii Mortis As in Adam all die That Threatning In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die hangs over our Heads Gen. 2.17 The Death contained in the Threatning and Curse of the Law Grot. de Satisfac p. 71. the eternal Death especially We are dead and our sed by the Law and we are all guilty before God Rom. 3.19 2. We are all spiritually dead dead in Trespasses and Sins under the power of our Corruptions and sinful Lusts Eph. 2.1 and 5. And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins dead to God and all spiritual Good Even when we were dead in sins hath he quickned us together with Christ making us alive to God and Holiness 3. We were dead as to all real and spiritual Comforts born to misery as the Sparks fly upward Comfortless without Hope Eph. 2.12 As Adam was naked and ashamed thrust thorough with Fears and Perplexities driven to invent helpless Shifts for felt necessities Paul did sadly mistake his condition when he thought himself alive and was brisk and well Rom. 7.9 I was alive without the Law once I thought my self well and safe but it was my Ignorance and Senselesness for when the Commandment came by which I was convinced of Sin then sin revived then the Snake appear'd to be alive by that Fire and I died I was a lost man I died and had no hope nor comfort that way 4. We are dead as Death is opposed to Eternal Life in Heaven dead under God's everlasting Wrath which is an everlasting Separation from the Presence of God and the Punishment of the Eternal Fire This is the wages of sin Rom. 6. II. The good which we need and which is procured for us is Life and Happiness All Blessings are comprehended in and presented to us under the sweet and comfortable Word Life and this Life is in the Son Christ and they who have him have it and every Branch and Distinction of Life and that in Perfection 1. He hath in him the Life of Righteousness and through his Righteousness they who believe in him are justified and pardoned and have their precious Life given unto them who were under Condemnation Righteousness and Life are equivalent to have the one is to be secure of the other Rom. 5.17 18. Therefore as by the Offence of one Judgment came upon all to condemnation so by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to the justification of Life How came this to pass See 2 Cor. 5.21 For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him He paid the Ransom and endured the Curse of the Law and as a Sin-offering bare the punishment of our Sin that we migh be made the Righteousness the Abstract put for the Concrete that is that we might be made fully righteous in his sight with that righteousness which is of God compleat and acceptable He was made of God to be righteousness for us that we might be justified and not come into Condemnation 1. Cor. 1.30 2. He hath in him the Life of Grace Sanctification and Holiness He hath a quickning Power in effectual Calling raising out of the Death and Grave of sin and rolling away the stony Heart that the dead in sin may rise to a spiritual Life John 5.25 Verily verily I say unto you the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live They shall hear his Voice and they that hear shall live O then most mighty Lord put forth thy Voice and say Awake thou that sleepest and rise from the Dead and Christ shall give thee Life Ephes 5.14 And that our Lamps should never want Oyl our Hearts never want Supplies there is a fulness in Jesus Christ and that to be communicated to all that receive him And of this fulness have all we received Grace for Grace John 1.16 The Life of Holiness conceived and brought forth in Regeneration is encreased and continued by the Mortification and Death of Sin and living to God and both these Powers we receive from Christ Rom. 6.11 Likewise
Marriage-Covenant between Christ and his Church Rev. 3.20 The only Son of the highest the Lord of Glory that one Mediator is tendred to you Will you have the Son of God If you will you shall live A Blessing which comprehends all manner of Blessings in it even the everlasting Inheritance You hear what is said your Answer is will or will not if you will not then that 's entred as in a Book of Remembrance And you will not come to me that you may have Life John 5.40 But if you will and consent and say you will have him for your Husband your Head and your Lord then there is a Covenant between you and you have Life setled upon you and you enter upon the First Fruits of it and have Communion with the Father and the Son which is Life indeed O what a Life is this beginning of Life Till the Soul say I will there is no full Answer given and while you suspend Consent your Life is in Suspense IV. He who hath the Son hath him in his Affection And except you have him by Faith in your Heart how can you affect him But if you have him in your Hearts the whole Houshold of the Affections entertain and come about him Love the first-born and strength of the Heart receives and hath him Desires run and go clogged as they are now with Infirmities towards him their Delights and Joys when they are themselves and free from the clutter of Strangers and worldly Lusts which quarter upon them are in him above all Persons and Things they ever saw or knew My Beloved is unto me a Bundle of Camphire of a refreshing vertue He is a Bundle and breaths out Grace and Life he shall lie all Night between my Breasts he shall be next my Heart most intimate with me I will make him a Bed in my very Heart I will not disturb him nor offend him nor make him weary of his Lodging and so offend him as to make him go away O happy I when I have him with me Cant. 1.13 He is altogether lovely or all desirous And this is my Beloved and this is my Friend O ye Daughters of Jerusalem Cant. 5. from ver 10. to 16. They who have him in their Hearts trust him with the dearest thing they have with the best of all yea their All that is their Life in whom ye trusted Ephes 1.13 And rejoyce in the hope of the Glory of God and Christ in them is that hope of Glory Col. 1.27 You cannot have Christ without spiritual strong affections towards him no more than a faithful chaste Wife can have an Husband God works upon these Powers of the Soul when you come first unto Christ to have him and by lively Affections you hold him and keep to him 5. To have the Son is by Faith to have him in our Aims We have him to live by him to live in Communion with him not as with an equal or ordinary Companion but to live to him and to make him the scope of our Lives as well as the lively Rule and Example That we should not live unto our selves but to him who died and rose again 2 Cor. 5.15 And so the Holy Apostle profess'd that to him to live is Christ Phil. 1.21 That Christ may be enjoy'd obey'd pleas'd and glorified in me and by me 6. They who have him thus have him as in their Eye to love him and to aim at him so they have him in their remembrance Can a Maid forget her Ornaments or a Bride her Attire Jer. 2.32 Can that Soul who hath the Son of God who hath taken him and given her self to him forget her Ornaments the Garments of Salvation wherewith he hath clothed her the Wedding Garment and best Robe Can a Bride forget her Attire If not her Attire can she forget her Bridegroom There is a particular great Ordinance appointed to this End that he should be remembred and the Church his Spouse must do as he hath commanded in remembrance of him 1 Cor. 11.25 7. They who have him in their Minds Hearts and Affections will have him in their Mouths with Honour Whom do Men say that I the Son of Man am Some say thou art John the Baptist But whom do ye say that I am And Simon Peter answered Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God Mat. 16.16 They that have the Son know what to call him and who he is Faith must know him distinctly and separately from all other Names and Persons and eminently above all I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God Acts 8.37 If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the Dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10.9 What! A Wife and not speak of her absent Husband While we are present in the Body we are absent from the Lord. But not have him in our Mouths to remember and honour him How many Wonders have you to speak of concerning Christ How many great Actions wise Sayings Heavenly Doctrins holy Precepts and precious Promises and rich Tokens have you to speak of Have him have him more in your Hearts and more in your Mouths with pure Affection and great Praise as the Church had him Cant. 5. from the 10th verse Have him in your daily Prayers and Praises have him in your Closets in your Houses have him in your Communication as the Disciples had him as they walked by the way Luke 24. 8. They who have him have him in their Lives They cannot live but by having him I live yet not I but the Life that I live in the flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2.20 You must have the Son or you cannot have Life He is our Life Col. 3.3 4. Have him in your Lives as the perfect Copy Exemplar and Pattern of Holy and Heavenly Living have him in your Lives as the Manna as the Meat you eat as the Garments you wear as the Air you breath in yea as the Life you live III. What is that Life which they have who have the Son By Life all manner of good things all manner of Blessings are understood and by Death all manner of Evil. Life and Good are set out together in opposition to Death and Evil Deut. 30.15 See I have set before thee this day Life and Good Death and Evil There is some shadow of Death in all manner of Afflictions Miseries and Sufferings and all the lesser Streams of Evil run at last into the endless Gulf of Death whose Spring-head is the Curse and Threatning of Death In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Gen. 3.36 That is the Wrath which abideth upon them who believe not And when we believe and are justified and pardoned we are said to pass from Death to Life John 3.36 John 5.24 I have shewed you before that the Son is here considered as
case in the Book of God They are all lost and dead Men they shall never see Life Not to have the Son of God is a Negative of having him and not to have Life is a Privative of having Life The Reasons and Truth of this Sentence doth spring from the former He that hath the Son hath Life which implies these Propositions or Doctrins 1. The Son of God hath Life in him and is the Saviour of all them that believe and he alone excluding all other ways or means or persons neither is there Salvation in any other 2. He whoever he be that would have Life must have the Son 3. He that hath the Son of God hath Life and none but he Therefore he who hath not the Son hath not Life because he alone hath Life who hath the Son of God And as God did for his great Love give his Son made this Law abstract in the first Sentence so in Justice he hath added this other The words are so plain and certain that they need no Proof but only a laying open of the case that all Men may see into themselves And the desire of my Soul is that by seeing how it is as long as you have not Christ and how it shall be for ever if you will not have him you may be prevailed upon to believe in Christ to close with him and cleave to him for Life Beside what was proved in the former Doctrin from John 3.36 Acts 4.12 Open your Eyes and see open your Ears and hear and conclude with the Text upon full Proof and Evidence both in Jews and Gentiles 1. The Jews had Moses and the Prophets Priviledges Ordinances Types and Shadows and Promises of Christ but if they had not Christ they were lost and undone for they had not Life For God declared and enacted this Law or Rule to be followed in giving Life John 5.24 Verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my Word and believeth on him or him that sent me hath everlasting Life and shall not come into Condemnation but is passed from Death to Life And again John 6.40 And this is the Will of him that sent me that every one who seeeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting Life and I will raise him up at the last day vers 36. But I say unto you ye have seen me and believe not How could they then have everlasting Life or escape that Sentence v. 53. Except ye eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of the Son of Man ye have no Life in ye It is not your eating Bread and following me for Loaves that can give you Life but you must by Faith eat of Christ and live 2. All they who believed not are severely threatned with dying in their sins I said therefore unto you that ye that die in your Sins for if ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your Sins 3. All that were sensible of Sin and Death that were stung in Conscience were to look to him for Cure John 3.14 15. and were invited to come to him Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden c. Mat. 11.28 But they who would not come unto him would not come that they might have Life John 5.40 4. They who put away the Word of God from them judged themselves unworthy of Eternal Life Acts 13.46 and were cut off for their Unbelief Rom. 11.20 23. 2. Thus God determined concerning the Jews Let us pass from them to the Gentiles Could they have Life who had not Christ If Life and Immortality were brought to Light by the Gospel as they were 2 Tim. 1.10 then they were in Darkness before that was brought to Light and their state before the Gospel-light did shine and the Gospel-call did sound in their Ears is every where described to be miserable and doleful as Dead in Sin as Children of Wrath Slaves of the Devil Ephes 2.1 3. Out of the way Rom. 3.10 11 12. And without hope Ephes 2.12 2. After the Gospel was preached it was still certain He that believed not and had not the Son had not Life To open this observe there was and is but one way one streight Gate for all Flesh to enter into Life For observe 1. When the Apostles were to go into all the World and to preach the Gospel to every Creature capable as the Jews called the Gentiles by way of Contempt they were to keep to this Rule He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.16 And Paul was sent to the Gentiles to open blind Eyes to turn them from darkness to light that they might receive an Inheritance among them that are sanctified by Faith that is in me Acts 26.18.2 When the Gospel brought forth Fruit this was the Fruit they were translated into the Kingdom of his dear Son Col. 1.13 And as many as were ordained to eternal Life believed Acts 13.48 See 1 Thess 1.9 10. and 1 Cor. 15.11 So we preach vers 3. c. and so ye believed 3. Consider what was the principal Subject-matter of the preaching and writing Was it not Christ and him crucified 1 Cor. 2.2 5. Was it not Christ Jesus the Lord 2 Cor. 4.5 Was it not Faith in Christ the Benefits and Fruits of Faith Yes certainly 1. They shewed the necessity of Faith and the Righteousness of God by Faith Rom. 3.22 28. 2. The great Blessing the Justification of Life by Faith Rom. 3.25 26 30. Chap. 5.1 Being therefore justified by Faith we have Peace with God c. and Salvation which is the Consummation of all Blessedness and Life in Perfection Ephes 2.8 By Grace ye are saved and that through Faith Receiving the End of your Faith the Salvation of your Souls 1 Pet. 1.9 3. They forewarned all of the danger of Unbelief Heb. 3.18 19. c. 4.2 3. See the Heads of Doctrin preached by Paul to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 15.3 4 5. 4. How many Arguments are spent in perswading to Perseverance and how many flaming Threatnings are drawn to deter from everlasting Deaths from the 23d Verse of the 10th to the Hebrews to the end of the 12th Chapter All this serves to convince every considering Person that as Life and Power to save all Men is in Christ and that they who would live must have him so they who have him not shall certainly perish Application I hope I have cleared and laid open the Case of every Man that hath not Christ not to leave any Soul that shall read this in that horrid state of Death but to perswade them to a timely Flight from the Wrath to come upon all that believe not and trust not to God through Jesus Christ alone for Mercy I beseech you receive the Love of the Truth that you may be saved 1. If all who have not Christ have not Life then he convinced of the miserable and necessitous condition of all them who are under
of Unions c. The Apostle doth mix both these Unions of Husband and Wife Head and Members Ephes 5.28 29 30. The Elaborate and Judicious Mr. Charnock's Disc Weak Grace victorious p. 1339. as between Head and Members and the closest political Union as between Husband and Wife Not that our Union with Christ is wrought after a natural manner but is like unto it in respect of the closeness and effect of it the Bonds of our Union with Christ is of all the streightest and indissoluble Death will separate and untie all our Joynts and Bands of Nature and Marriage-ties but he who hath the Son hath Life and that eternal and Death is so far from keeping us from it that it is made an open Door and Passage into it The Bands of our Spiritual Union with Christ are such as convey unto us Life and Nourishment from him and without such an Union as this by vertue of which we receive Spiritual Life and Power to obey his Commandments and live under his Government he might in vain call for Service and Obedience which is due to him whether we can pay it or not or we ever expect the Reward of our Obedience Christ is an Head for Government but if our Union with him were only as to a King Political Head and Governor we should be related to him only in respect of his Kingly Office and that only as to the outward administration of that his Kingly Office and Policy But the Nature of our Union with him is best understood by the effect of it If we have Life by having him we so have him as to have Life in him and with him and by him and without the Spirit of Life and Faith we can never obey him as he requires Christ infinitely excels all those things to which he is compared and our Union with him by the Spirit and Faith hath those things singular in it which cannot be comprehended in any one of those Unions to which it is compared it excels the natural Union of Head and Members A. B. Vsher's Sermon before quoted p. 19. c. Immuel added to his Sum. p 438. Sum. and Subst p. 154. Lyford 118. Mr. T. Hooker Serm. Soul's Exaltation p. 25. c. Cameron Praelect de Ecclesia for it is spiritual and everlasting it excels the political Union between a King and his Subjects by Compacts and Laws for Subjects pay Obedience and Tribute of their own but we are made a willing People by the Power of Grace and having nothing of our own we have all in having Christ The Political Union by Marriage doth more fully express it but not fully Hold to this then that to have Christ is so to have him as to have Life given us and maintained by our Union with him The Wife hath the Benefit of Counsel Direction Haec Vnionis exempla adumbrant tantum non satis exprimunt Vnionem nostri cum Christo c. Cameron Praelec de Ecclesia 225. p. Government Protection Maintenance from her Husband but not Life and she doth not live because her Husband lives But a Believer hath Life as well as Counsel Protection and Maintenance from Christ and he is our Life the Cause of our Life It is hid or laid up for us in him Col. 3.3 4. And because I live said Christ ye shall live also John 14.19 There is a distinction between Christ and his Members they are not what he is nor he what they are notwithstanding this Spiritual Union but he is said rather to live in Believers than they to live Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the Life which I now live in the Flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who gave himself for me So much of the first Doctrin attend to the Application of it I must be short upon many Heads or else too long for a short Discourse I. Use of Information in many Particulars 1. Hence you may learn the true way and method of having eternal Life Observe the Words He that hath the Son hath Life The Son first and then Life and all those Benefits and Blessings which are comprehended in that sweet and precious Word Life We cannot have any Promises nor Priviledges without Christ nor before we have him by Faith For as none can be made Partakers of the Vertue of the Bread and Wine to his bodily sustenance unless he do first receive the substance of those Creatures so neither can any participate in the benefits arising from Christ to his spiritual relief except he first have Communion with Christ himself We must have the Son before we have Life Most Reverend Usher 's Serm. before H. of C. p. 17. His 18 Sermons p. 421. not the pardon of Sin nor Peace nor Hope nor any access to God but by having Christ and him first in order though at the same instant and time of having Christ we have some Benefits for the present and a Right and Title to all the rest in due time Whoever shall eat of the Marriage-Feast must have a Wedding-garment and be married to the Son by Faith first In vain do all those hope for great things that care not for the Knowledg of Christ or having of him The having of the Son makes Faith effectual lively and working because it hath Life and Faith without Life from Christ can never be but a dead Faith And this is also the trial of our sincere Love to Christ when we receive him and close with him as he is proposed to us as altogether lovely Then do we like those who marry for Love to the Person and not for Wealth as too many do See the clearly judicious and holy Dr. Preston's Treatise of Faith p. 11 And of Effectual Faith p. 12 13. And Mr. Baxter's Dir. and Perswas to a sound Conversion p. 286. who care not for the Person so they have the Wealth Hypocrites would have Mercy to pardon them yea Heaven that Kingdom who care not for having Christ as a Saviour to save them from their Sins These can forsake him deny him be Traitors to him in a time of Danger and Temptation 2. Hence learn That if every one that hath the Son hath Life then our Faith and our Love are set upon the most holy and glorious Person of the Son of God but then as invested in the Office of Mediator for as such he hath received Life from his Father for us Doth the Word Son here in this Text denote and signifie the Person of our Redeemer Was it the Person of our Saviour that was given us when it was said To us a Child is born to us a Son is given Isa 9.6 If it was the Person that was born and given to us then it is the Person that they have who have Life as able to give them Life It is a spiritual and real Union whereby Christ and a