and live to God Had he now sought Justification in a away of works and by the Law could he have ever bin able to have answered to this temptation Ye may see what the Apostle saies in the 7. chap. of his Epistle to the Romans he gives you a Similitude thus As a woman so is the sould of every man So long as a woman is married unto one man she brings forth children unto him and not unto any other but is dead unto all others but when that man dies she is free to marry and she marries another and she brings forth children unto him Now saies the Apostle at the 4. verse Wherefore my brethren ye also are become dead to the Law by the body of Christ that ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God So that so long as a man is married to the Law he can never bring forth fruit unto God Now then thus lies the Reason If that the Law and Justification thereby be no Friend but a real Enemy unto all our Holiness then contraries having contrarie consequences Justification by faith alone is a friend and no Enemy unto our Spiritual life and Holiness Seondly This also will appear if ye consider the paralel between the first and second Adam Christ is our second Adam Now saies the Apostle in the 5. of the Romans As by the sin of one death came upon all men to condemnation so by the Righteousness of one life comes unto many Well but how came condemnation upon all men by the sin of one The first Adam he was a common person he did stand for all mankind when he sinned all mankind sinned and therefore assoon as any one is born the sin of Adam being imputed to him judicially that imputation is the original of all the Unholiness that is among the children of men So our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ being our second Adam he is a Common person stands in the room of al the Elect he was obedient not for Himself but for Them Christus non meruit sibi Obeyed not for Himself and he died not for himself but for them righteous for them When therefore a man is born into the world is regenerate by faith then all that Righteousness of Christ the second Adam is imputed to him And this imputation of his Righteousness by faith is the original of all that Holiness that is in our lives thus As al the Unholiness and Wickedness that is in the world does flow from the imputation of the first Adams sin So al that grace and holiness that is in the world does flow from the imputation of the second Adams Righteousness Now by faith alone this Righteousnes is imputed and does become ours and therefore Justification by faith alone is the principle and original of all our grace and holiness Thirdly If free-remission of sin and the sence thereof be the cause of our Holiness then Justification by faith alone must needs be a friend unto it For these Two Free-remission of sin and justification by faith alone go together and are ordinarily taken for one And therefore in the 3. of the Romans The Apostle having said as the 24. verse Being justified freely by his grace he saies at the 28. ver That a man is justified by faith and saying That a man is justified by faith he saies That a man is justified freely by grace these are put together Now Free-remission of sin and the sence thereof is the Cause of al our Holiness Ye know what the Apostle saies Tit. 2.11 12. The grace of God hath appeared unto all men teaching us to deny Vngodliness and worldly lusts and to live righteously and soberly in this present world All Holiness comes from thence The apparition of grace Free-remission of sin And ye know what it is that doth hatch the Chicken 't is not the fire that does hatch the Chicken nor is it the cold water that does hatch the Chicken but laying of the eggs under the warm feathers of the living Hen. Come to a man or woman that hath many eggs that are yet not Chickens within a month or two these are al become living Chickens Say you How comes it to pass that all these are now living Chickens What! did you lay these eggs unto the fire No for then they would have been roasted What! did you lay these eggs in the cold water No then they would have rotted but I laid them under the warm wings of the living Hen and so they are become chickens So you come to a living soul a living heart and you say Friend how came you to be thus enlivened and quickned a month or two ago I heard you complaining of your dead heart Oh! my heart is dead but how came you to be thus enlivened and to be thus quickned Did you go and lay your heart against the fire of the Law No that would have scorch'd me and tormented me What did you go and lay your heart in the cold world No that would have rotted me How then Truly after all my fears and after all my doubtings I went and laid my cold heart under the warm wings of Divine-love and so it came to pass that I am thus enlivened and I am thus quickened as you see this day for the which I blesse the Lord for ever Three things there are that do make up a gracious Conversation Repentance for sin past Mortification of sin present and the Obedience of faith or Obedience Now as for Repentance look I pray what is said in the 7. Chapter of Luke and see what is the Cause of that You reade there a story of a great Sinner that became a great Penitent at the 37. verse Behold a woman in the City which was a great sinner and she came and stood behind Jesus at the 38. verse weeping and began to wash his feet with tears and did wipe them with the hairs of her head She wept much Why for saies the text at the latter end of the Chapter she loved much But why did she love much She loved much because much was forgiven her So then Remission is the Cause of Repentance And have ye not so much expresly in that 16. Chapter of Ezekiel and the last verse I will establish my Covenant with thee that thou maiest remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done So that this shame and repentence comes from pacification And as for this matter Luther had so great a fight into it that saies he before I was justified by faith alone and saw into this matter of Free-remission I look't upon that word Repent as a terrible word I did even hate that word and I wish't that there had been no such word in all the book of God but after once that word justitia was opened the righteousnesse
for first r. last p. 108. l. 12. for Dominus reginae r. Domina regina p. 109. l. 13. dele two p. 199. l. 13. for rigorous r. vigorous THE CONTENTS Of the Third VOLVMNE SERMON I GALATIANS 2.20 TEXT Opened Page 2 Doctrine 1 Every godly gracious man is a living man and lives a spiritual life Page 3 Explication 1 What this spiritual life is 1. A supernatual perfection Page 3 2 It ariseth from our Vnion with Christ by the Spirit Page 4 3 By it we act move and work towards God Ibid 2 How it may appear that every godly gracious man is thus a living man Proved 1 By vegetative life Page 5 2 By sensitive life ib. 1 They are sensible of their sins Page 6 2 Of the hiding of Gods face ibid 3 Of the miseries of the Churches Page 7 3 By rational life ibid How it may appear that others are not in this state of life Page 8 Objections answered Page 9. 10 Application Comforts for the Saints 1. It is above the life of Adam in innocency Page 12 2. It is the most pleasant life ibid 3. It is the most communicative life Page 13 4. The Lord looks upon all our former sins under a mollifying consideration ibid Object I am afraid I have not this spiritual life because I am dead cold and stiff Answered There is a deadness opposite to liveliness as well as a death opposite to life Page 15 There is a difference between the coldness of a living man and the coldness of a dead man ibid Object I am afraid I am not alive because I do not grow Answered 1. Do you grow out of love with your own righteousness Page 16 2. Are you less subject to be offended than before Page 17 3. Do you grow more off from youth ful things that godly men look to ibid Object I am alive to the world Answered Page 18 Duties flowing from this spiritual life 1. We should live at a higher rate than the world doth Page 20 2. Our hearts should not run too much after the things of this world Page 21 3. Our comunion and fellowship should be more with the living ibid Exhortation to those that are dead in sins to come to Christ Page 23 SERMON II. Gal. 2.20 Doctrine 2. Our Justification by faith alone is no enemy but a real friend to our spiritual life Page 26 Explication 1. What is meant by Justification by faith alone Page 27 2. How doth it appear that free Justification by faith alone is the original of all our holiness 1. By contraries Page 29 2. By the paralel between the first and second Adam Page 31 3. By the sence of free remission of sin Page 32 Instanced in 1. Repentance Page 33 2. Mortification ibid 3. Obedience Page 34 3. Objections Answered Page 34. 35 4. What there is in free Justification by faith that doth advance our holiness 1. The more a man forsakes his own good for Christ the more is Christ engaged to give his good to him Page 36 2. God doth never suffer any man to pass under relation but he writes the Law of that relation in his heart ibid 3. The more a man agrees with God the fitter he is to walk with God Page 36 4. As by seeking Justification by works a man is estated in the covenant of works so by seeking Justification by faith alone a man is estated in the covenant of grace Page 37 Application Hence we see the reason why men are no more gracious Page 39 Object I fear my obedience was never right because I have turned aside to a covenant of works Answered Page 41 Object My obedience is not right because it is so little Answer 1. Doest thou limit thy self Page 42 2 Doest thou oppose them that have much ibid Object My obedience is not right because I do not find the visible characters of Justification upon my Sanctification Answered 1. Doest thou mourn for sin because 't is pardoned Page 44 2. Is there a meeting of all graces in thee ibid Object Suppose I have not stood cleer from my own doings in matter of Justification how shall I do to do it Answered 1. Be humbled in the sight of God Page 46 2. Study much the transaction of things between God the father and Jesus Christ ib. 3. Acquaint your souls with the difference between the covenant of works and the covenant of grace ibid 4. When your duties are highest let your souls go beyond them ibid 5. When they are lowest you have an opportunity to stand cleer from them Page 47 SERMON III. Gal. 2.20 Doctrine Every true beleever that seeks Justification by faith alone is a self-denying person Page 50 Explication 1. What it is for a man to deny himself Answered Page 51 2. Whereby it may appear that the Gospel works this grace in the heart of man Answered 1. If the Law cannot do it the Gospel must Page 52 2. He that lives under the Gospel is of a disposition contrary to the world Page 53 3. He is tender of intrenching upon Gods prerogative Page 54 4. The more truly a man repents the more sensible he is of his own unworthiness ibid An objection How doth the Gospel only do this seeing moral men Heathens and Papists have spoken and written much for humility and self-denial Answer 1 Though they be humble yet they are proud of humility Page 56 2 'T is only in some particulars ibid 3 He is ruled by reason and not by the spirit ibid 4 There is no mysterie in it as there is in a Christians For 1 A Christian cries out what shall he do to be saved and yet he expects not to be saved by doing Page 57 2 He accounts himself lesse than the least of all Gods mercies and yet he thinks God hath done more for him than if he had given him all the world ib. 3 He prizes every duty though never so small and yet counts all dung in respect of Jesus Christ ib. 4 He looks upon himslf as the greatest of sinners yet would not change condition with a Drunkard c. for all the world ib. 5 He mourns under reproaches and yet triumphs over them ib. 6 He counts all he doth nothing and yet praiseth God for every thing ib. 4 What there is in the Gospel to being a mans heart to this frame Answered 1 The more of Gods glory a man sees the more humble he is Page 58 2 The more self-denial a man sees in Christ the more he denies himself Page 60 3 The more a man sees himself a debter to Christ the more humble he is Page 61 4 When Christ comes into the soule all other things must out ib. Application How hard a thing it is to Beleeve Page 62 Reply We hope we all have faith Answer Are there not some that 1 Cannot deny themselves in outward things Page 64 2 Seek themselves in spiritual things ib. 3 Stint themselves in the service of God Page 65
alone is the living man that hath this Spiritual life that is in this state of life Quest Is all a Civil mans Civility nothing and are all Moral Vertues nothing are all these then good for nothing Answ Yes they are in themselves good and they are good for somthing but they are not good to make a man spiritually alive If a man come and offer you a brass six-pence or a brass shilling and you say No it will not go and if he reply and say to ye But though it be brasse is it good for nothing You will say Yes 't is good for somthing brass is good for somthing but 't is not good for money it will not go for pay it will not pay your debt 't is not sufficient to fetch you out of prison it will not make you alive 't is not good for this So now say I Do ye ask whether these be good for nothing I say Yes they are good all moral vertues are in themselves good but they are not good for to pay your debt they are not good to make you alive they can never make you spiritually alive 't is only grace and union with Jesus Christ by the Spirit that must make a man alive Spiritually alive and this only the Saints and people of God have and therefore they only are the living men every Child of God is a living man and none else Applyca If this be so What abundance of comfort is here unto all the Saints and people of God! He only lives comparatively that lives this spiritual life the Saints and people of God they are alive Doest thou therefore beleeve art thou united to Jesus Christ by the Spirit then thou art alive and in the state of life made partaker of this Spirittual life And doest thou know what it is to be made partaker of this Spiritual life doest thou know what a life it is that now thou livest It is a life better and beyond the life that thou shouldest have lived in the state of innocency for as the second Adam is more excellent than the first Adam was 1 Cor. 15.45 The first man Adam was made a living soul but the second Adam was made a quickning Spirit So that life that comes from Christ the second Adam is better and beyond that life that you should have had from the first Adam in the state of innocency Of all lives this Spiritual life that now I am speaking of is the most Pleasant life In the 36. Psalm saies the Psalmist concerning the godly at the 8. verse They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures Now as Austin doth well observe upon that place The River hath many waves one following upon another so are the pleasures of the Saints the Spiritual pleasures one wave one pleasure following upon another and it is a deep river Oh! but a River may be dry Nay it cannot be dry if it be maintain'd with a Fountain and with Springs Now see what follows at the 9. verse They shall satisfie themselves of the river of thy pleasures Why for with thee is the Fountain of life So that if a man do but enjoy God in Christ and be united unto Christ by the Spirit he hath this life which shall be as a river of pleasures maintained with a Fountain Yea this life it shall know no end Your lives now they run into death but this life this Spiritual life it shall know no end The Apostle argues unto the Romans that they should die no more because they had cōmunion with Christ in his death Rom. 6.10 And therefore saies he In that he died once he shall die no more And so you having communion with Christ in his death you shall die no more once alive spiritually and ye shall die no more Who can go to Heaven and pull Christ out of Heaven In the 2. Chapter of Paul unto the Ephesians the 5. ver saies the Apostle there Even when we were dead in trespasses and sins hath he quickned us together with Christ and he hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Here 's sitting together in heavenly places with Jesus Christ and we are raised up in Christ So then if once ye have this Spiritual life in Christ ye shall never die again Spiritually And this life that now I am speaking of 't is of all other lives the most Communicative life A Man does communicate life unto his Child but his Child is not able presently assoon as 't is born to communicate life unto an other child One Beast does communicate life unto another the Sheep communicates life unto the Lamb but the Lamb assoon as 't is brought forth is not able to communicate life to another and beget another And so the Herb communicates life to another but not presently assoon as 't is an Herb. But now no sooner does a man partake of this Spiritual life but he is presently able to communicate life unto another When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren Luke 22.32 No sooner was Paul made alive by another but he presently goes and communicates this life unto his brethren And let me tell you one thing more Though your sins have been very great while you were in the state of death before you were made partakers of this Spiritual life yet when once ye come to partake of this spiritual life the Lord wil look upon al your former sins under another consideration a mollifying consideration Luke 15.32 This my son was dead saies the father of the Prodigal and is now alive that is all He does not say This was a Whoremonger or this was a Riotter or this was a Spend-thrift and now he is returned and come home to me for meat No but in mollifying terms only thus This my son was dead and is now alive And ye know what is said of David David committed a great sin in the murder of Vriah and yet saies the Lord concerning David He turned not aside to the right hand or to the left 1 King 15.5 save only in the matter of Vriah He does not say Save only in the murder of Vriah but in a mollifying term he saies only so Save only in the matter of Vriah a mollifying term Why because that David had repented of the Sin now the Lord does not look upon it but under this mollifying term Save only in the matter not in the murder of Vriah but in the matter of Vriah And so if thou do repent and turn unto the Lord thy God though thy sins have bin very great in the state of thy death yet if once come to be made partaker of this Spiritual life the Lord will look upon all thy former sins under other terms and mollifying considerations He will not say Here 's this poor wretch that now I do look upon as a
live Yes saies he at the 20. ver I am crucified with Christ Nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me Nevertheless or now I live I live that is a spiritual life There is a Natural life and there is a Spiritual life He does not here speak of the Natural life when he saies Nevertheless I live because he adds yet not I but Christ liveth in me that is Spiritually And when he saies I live he speaks it in the Person of every Believer not in his Own Person but he personates a Believer all along I through the Law am dead to the Law that I might live to God I a Believer And I am crucified with Christ I a Believer And Nevertheless I live All along he does personate a Believer and does not speak in his own Person but in the Person of a Believer And he saies here Nevertheless I live He had said before That we are justified by Faith alone and not by the works of the Law and that a Believer was crucified with Christ Now saies he This Doctrine that I have preach'd unto you is no way opposit unto our Spiritual life or unto our Holiness yet now I live or nevertheless I live From whence then you may observe these Two things First That every true Believer every Godly Gracious man is a living man lives aspiritual life is in the state of life Secondly That our justification by faith alone and our being crucified with Christ is no enemy but a friend unto this Spiritual life Nevertheless I live Doct. 1 First of all Every Godly Gracious man is a living man is in the state of life lives a Spiritual life And this ye have most expresly in that 6. Chap. of John at the 40. vers This is the will of him that sent me That every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day But though he shall have everlasting life hereafter it may be he hath not this life for the present Look therfore what he saies at the 47. vers Verily verily I say unto you He that beleeveth on me hath everlasting life 'T is not said He shall have everlasting life but he hath everlasting life everlasting life is begun in him already And that ye may be the more sure of it he gives you a double Verily Verily verily I say unto ye He that believeth on me hath everlasting life But how can this be Nay how should it be otherwise for a mans life is as his meat is and saies our Saviour I am the bread of life at the 48. vers Then at the 54. vers Whesoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life For my flesh at the 55. vers is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me So that ye see this Chapter is ful of it here is a cloud of winesses I say therfore That every godly gracious man is a living man and lives another life from the life of the world a spiritual life and is in the state of spiritual life For the opening of this Truth unto ye We must first of all enquire What this Spiritual life is Take therefore this description of it It is that supernatural perfection of soul whereby a man being united unto Christ by the Spirit is able to act move and work towards God as his utmost end First I say It is a supernatural perfection There is some perfection in every life Life is the greatest good and perfection Death is the greatest evil Therefore when the Lord theratned Adam to punish him for eating the forbidden-fruit he saies The day thou eatest thereof Gen. 2. thou shalt die the DEATH Death is the greatest evil and so Life is the greatest good and perfection And this the Devil knew full well Joh 2.4 when he said Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life So that life is a perfection But I say this Spiritual life It is the Supernatural perfection of the soul And therefore in the 4. chapter of the Ephesians and the 18 verse This life of the Saints the very life of the Saints is called The life of God 'T is a supernatural perfection of soul therefore Secondly As it is a supernatural perfection of Soul So it rises from our Vnion with Christ by the Spirit A man is united to God by faith and by the Spirit and as our outward life does arise from the union between the soul and the body and though the body be never so fair or full yet if it be not united to the soul it is but a dead carkass So our Spiritual life it doth arise from our union with Christ and though a man have never so many moral virtues and his conversation be never so fair yet if not united to Christ by the Spirit he is but a dead man spiritually a dead man And therefore saies the Apostle here in the Text Nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me Thirdly As it arises from our union with Christ by the Spirit So I say It is that Supernatural I perfection whereby a man is able to act and move and work towards God as his utmost and last end And therefore saies the Apostle in the former verse I through the Law am dead unto the Law that I may live to God To God as my last and my utmost end And when a man is able to act and move and work towards God as his last and utmost end then he is said to live spiritually So that then ye have this description of our spiritual life I repeat it again It is that supernaturall perfection of soul whereby a man being united unto Christ by the Spirit is able to act and move and work towards God as his utmost end Quest 2 Secondly Whereby may it appear That every godly gracious man is thus a living man made partaker of this spiritual life so as to he able to act and move and work towards God as his utmost end Answ I will take but the Three ordinary lives that are in the world The vegetative life the life of Plants and Herbs The Sensitive life the life of Beasts And the Rational life the life of Man And I wil shew ye That the Essential properties of all these lives are in a Spiritual way in the godly and then the Argument will lie thus If the Essential properties of all these lives be in a spiritual way in every godly man then certainly every godly gracious man is a living man and in the state of life living another life from the life of the world First Take the life of plants and herbs or of flowers and what is the Essential property of
Drunkard or a Swearer but he will say thus This my son was dead but is now alive this my daughter was dead and is now alive Thus the Lord will look upon your former evils if once ye come to be made partaker of this Spiritual life Oh! therefore what a blessed condition are the Saints and people of God in that are made partakers of this same Spiritual life I remember it is written of a certain Martyr in the Primitive times a woman when she was brought before the enemies of the Gospel they put divers questions to her and she answered all their questions with one answer which was this Christiana sum I AM A CHRISTIAN When they said unto her Woman Art thou married or no. I am a Christian saies she What Parents hast thou Woman I am a Christian saies she Woman Where doest thou live I am a Christian saies she She answered all their questions with this I am a Christian And so me thinks a man may answer all objections that are made unto him with this I am alive in Christ But thou hast a dead Estate much of it is lost at Sea or at Land Well but I am alive in Christ But hast thou not a dead Husband or a dead Wife or a dead Child I am alive in Christ But is not thy Name dead and buried under reproaches I am alive in Christ A poor soul may answer all with this I am alive in Christ Oh! what a blessed thing is it for a man to be made partaker of this Spiritual life This is the condition of all the Saints Art thou therefore alive and made partaker of this Spiritual-life blessed art thou from the Lord and thou shalt be blessed to all eternity Object I am affraid that I have not this Spiritual life for my heart is Dead and Cold and Stiffe and dead men they are Cold and Stiffe very Stiffe and truly so 't is with me My heart is Cold and Dead and Stiffe and therfore I fear I am free among the Dead and not free among the Living Answ Have ye not heard That there is a deadness which is opposite to Liveliness aswel as a death that is opposit to Life And were thine heart dead with a death opposite to Life thou couldst not feel it And I appeal to thee If that thy soul be alive in opposition to death hast thou not more cause to be thankful that thy soul is alive in oppofition to death than to be discouraged that thy soul is dead in opposition to Liveliness But there is a differance ye know between the coldness of a Living man and the coldness of a Dead man Take a dead man and if he be cold 't is not al your fires wil put warmth into him or your Aqua-vitae or your chafing and rubbing of him or your warm beds that will make him warm But now take a man that is cold and Living and if ye chafe him or bring him to the fire or lay him in a good warm bed he recovers his warmth again And so 't is with a godly heart though cold yet bring it unto the Ordinance either Publickly or Privatly and it recovers its warmth againe and hath it not been even so with some of you It 's true A Dead man is Stiffe But have you found your selves in a way of sin an evil way and are ye so stiffe therein as ye will not be put out of your way no not by admonition then ye are stiffe indeed There are two men that are out of their way suppose The Traveller and the Thief The Traveller is out of his way and if you come to him and say Sir you are much out of your way He hearkens to ye and he thanks ye and he returns into his way again But if ye come to a Thief and say Sir you are out of your way He laughs and scorns and comes not into the way So there are some indeed that are out of their way and if you do come to them and tell them that they are out of their way they will blesse and praise the Lord for your admonition and labor to return into their way again But some there are that if ye tell them that they are out of their way they will rather scorn and jeer at it What have you to do to meddle with me what have you to do to meddle with my waies meddle with your own matters These men are stiffe they are stiffe indeed why because they are dead they are stiffe in the way of their sin and they wil not be stird out no not by Admonition why because they are dead But I appeal to ye whether is it thus with ye or no Don't ye say rather I praise the Lord though sometimes yea many times I am out of the way and in the way of sin yet I can rejoyce in an Admonition and blesse the Lord for an Admonition Yea this I can speak though my heart be sometimes very cold yet I have found heat and warmth recovered again either under a Publick or under a Private Ordinance Well then be of good comfort thou art not dead though thou mayest be asleep yet thou mayest be among the living Object I am affraid that I am not alive spiritually that I am not made partaker of this spiritual life because I do not grow in grace and this is the difference between a Living child and a Dead child the Dead painted child grows not but the Living child grows and the Lord knows I do not grow in grace and therefore I fear that I am but the painted child of God and I am not the Living child Answ If this were true it were ill for growth indeed is a sign of life But whoever you are that make this Objection and lie under this fear Give me leave to propound to ye Two or Three Questions First Do ye not grow more out of Love with your own Righteousness and with your own Duties as to the resting on them The stronger a man grows in grace the more he grows into Christ and so the more he grows off from Himself and his own Righteousness Secondly Do ye not find that ye are lesse subject to be offended now than heretofore ye were When a man is in the state of Nature and in Spiritual death then he is apt to be offended against all actions against the good way of God and the people of God This is your Godliness these are your Professors and they are all so very apt to be offended When a man is converted and turn'd to God while he is weak in grace he is apt to stumble and to be offended but the stronger he grows in grace the lesse he will be offended Thirdly Whether do ye not grow more off from the youthfull things that godly men do look unto I say the things that the youthfulness of godliness is taken much with Ye know that Youth is taken with many things that the state of man is not
not the Painted child but I am the Living child of God and made partaker of this Spiritual life What is my Duty now that does flow from hence Answ Surely you will be thankful for your life If your outward and momentary life were given you for a prey you would be thankful and will ye not be thankful for this life this Spiritual life this Pleasant life this Eternal life that never shall be taken from you But there are Three things I wil propound to you in particular Duty 1 First If we be alive indeed made partakers of this Spiritual life Why then should we not live at an higher rate than the world does which have none of this life The Beast lives at an higher rate than the Plant or the Herb does why because it hath an higher life than the Plant or Herb hath Man as man lives at an higher rate than the Beast does why because man as man hath an higher life than the Beast hath And if a man have this Spiritual life he hath a life that is higher than the men of the worlds life is and therefore if we be alive and made partaker of this Spiritual life why should we not live at a higher rate why should I not say to my own soul thus and speak it often O my soul Wherein doest thou live at a higher rate than Civil men do thou hast a higher life thou saiest why doest thou not then live at a higher rate Duty 2 Secondly If we be alive indeed and made partakers of this Spiritual life Why should our hearts run after the things of the world so as to feed on them as our meat to be satisfied with them Every life lives upon some meat that maintains it and is sutable to it The Herb hath one kind of life and it hath a meat which sutes to it The Beasts have another life and they have a meat that does sute to that life Man hath another life different from the Beast and therefore he hath a meat that does suit to his life Now this Spiritual life 't is another kind of life than the natural life of man is and therefore it must have a meat that does sute with it meat that the world knows not of Saies our Savior John 4.32 I have meat to eat that you know not of This life of grace it is a hidden life and therefore the meat thereof that it lives upon 't is an hidden meat Then if you are alive indeed and have this Spiritual life why do you live upon these outward things and why should our hearts run out after these outward things so as to live upon them and make them as it were our meat for the satisfaction of our souls to live upon Duty 3 Thirdly If we be alive indeed and made partakers of this Spiritual life Why is our Communion and Fellowship together no more living Why no more living Fellowship and Communion why is our Conference no more warm and living A living coal warms ye know There is this difference between a living coal and a dead coal Take a Dead coal and though it be never so great or small it sullies and blacks more or lesse but it warms not But take your Living coal which hath fire in it and though it be never so great or small it does warm in proportion more or lesse it warms And if we be as Living coals why then is our Conference and Communion together no more warming When ye go into Wicked and Ungodly company there ye meet with dead coals and there ye are sullied and dirtied and black't by them I say If ye indeed be living coals why is your Conference no more warm and living Oh! what sad times are we now fallen into Heretofore some four or six or ten years ago ye should not come into a Christians company but you should have some heart-warming Conference that you should bless God for many yeers after As 't is said of Junius he came into a poor country-mans house and he spake so feelingly of Christ that he thought it was not Knowledge only that would serve a mans turn and thereupon he thought of his own condition and was turned to God And we reade of the Martyrs in the Primitive times when they met together they would speak much of the Kingdom the Kingdom the Kingdom of Heaven in so much as their Accusers their Enemies and Persecutors charged them That they aimed at the Empire and the Kingdom whereas they were speaking of a Heavenly Kingdom and not of an Earthly Kingdom But I say they were alwaies speaking of the Kingdom the Kingdom And so heretofore in former times when Christians did meet together then they would speak of the Kingdom and somthing that would warm their hearts together that they might be the better al the yeer after But now when we are met together either our speech is about Newes or some Dispute in point of Religion or some other thing yea though it be upon the Lords-day But if you be living coals Where is your living Conference and your heart-warming-Communion Certainly if you be alive in Christ indeed and made partaker of this Spiritual life you will live at a higher rate than the men of the world do Quest Is there nothing in all this Doctrine concerning those that are dead in sins and made alive hath this Doctrine nothing to say to them Answ Yes it hath very much to say to them Only I am loth to be the messenger of death to any one of your souls But if this Doctrine be true That every godly man is a living man and in the state of life and none else How many poor dead souls may this Doctrine find in Congregations It 's said that when the Egyptians found their first-born dead in their families there was a great cry thorow Egypt a great cry in every family And were men as sensible of their souls as they are of their bodies Oh! what a great cry might there be in divers of your families One crying out and saying Oh! Lord I have a dead Child whose soul is dead Another Oh! Lord I have a dead Servant in my family Another Oh! Lord I have a dead Wife in my family whose soul is dead Another I have a dead Husband a dead Friend I say were men and women as sensible of their souls as they are of their bodies what crying what a great cry this morning might there be found in this Congregation But I chuse rather to Exhort ye in the Name of the Lord for to get this same Spiritual life that now I have been speaking of above all getting to get this Spiritual life Ye see into what sad times you are fallen Who knows how long he shall live who knowes how long he shall he the owner of his Estate Liberty or Life The Kingdom is ful of blood and there is a blood-thirsty-disposition that runs thorow the Kingdom and if you and I have our lives