of Christ we are helped and assisted against the remainders of our corruptions For the third the miseries of this life we have victori◠in Christ In him we are more they conquerours as you have it in this Chapter They can doe us no harme Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Iesus We have 〈◊〉 singular comforts in this Chapter against all the troubles than can be fall us and this is one that triumphs over all All things shall worke for the best to them that love God What should I speake of hurt from any thing that befalls us when all shall worke for the best by the over-ruling of him that commands all Vers. 28 And for death it selfe Neither life nor death shall be able to separate us from the love of God And for damnation which accompanies death It is God that justifieth who shall condemne There is opposite comforts in Gods Booke nay in this Epistle and in this Chapter against all that may any way trouble our peace There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus saith the Apostle and then he goes on after to shew how by the helpe of the Spirit all things worke for the best c. In this very Verse likewise you have this comfort set downe of our freedome by Christ from any thing that may hurt us For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath made me free from the Law of sinne and of death The words are dependant as we see in the particle for For the Law of the Spirit of Life c. They depend upon the first Verse thus as a reason why how ever there be sinne in Gods children yet there is no damnation to them There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Iesus he prooves it thus Those that are free from the Law of sinne and of death which brings in condemnation those undoubtedly are free from damnation but those that are in Christ Jesus they are freed from the Law of sinne and of death therefore there is no condemnation to such But how shall we know that we are in Christ Jesus Those that have the Spirit and are led by the Spirit of Christ they are in Christ The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath freed me from the Law of sinne and of death So I say the words are especially a reason of the former There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus because by the Spirit of Christ they are freed from the Law of sinne and of death and by consequent they are freed from damnation for what brings in damnation but sinne In the words then there is an opposition there is Law against Law The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ and the Law of sinne and of death Now where there are contrarie Lawes if there be contrarie Lords as there must be New Lords will have new Lawes especially if they be Lords by conquest they will alter the very fundamentall Lawes that were before as you know the old Conquerours have done in this Kingdome Here is Law against Law and Lord against Lord Christ against sinne and death Here is a Lord by conquest over all other Lords and Lawes therefore here must needes be an alteration of Lawes upon it the very fundamentall Lawes must be altered But to come more particularly to the words For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath freed me from the Law of sinne and of death The words are much vexed by Expositors I will rather speake my owne judgement of them and reconcile them then dash one mans judgement against another for that tends not to edification The Law of the Spirit of life c. The meaning of the words is plaine if we compare it with other Scriptures The Law It is nothing but a commanding power for so the word written the Law in the Apostles meaning is but a power forcing and commanding So the Law of the Spirit of life is the commanding and forcing power of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus and so the Law of sinne it is either the tyrannicall command and forcing power of sinne or else the condemning for sinne afterwards as we shall see hereafter for we shall unfold the words better in the particulars First then here we have set downe what estate we are in by nature we are under the Law of sinne and of death And then here is our freedome and deliverance from that we are made free from the Law of sinne and of death And then the Author of it Christ Jesus The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath freed me from the Law of sinne and of death In the words and those that goe a little before there are these three maine fundamentall points of Religion The miserie and bondage of man The deliverance of man And his dutie Here you have his miserie he is under sinne and death Here is his deliverance he is free from this by Christ. And for his dutie you have it in the last Verse of the former Chapter speaking of his deliverance Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the bodie of this death then it followes Thankes be to God through Iesus Christ our Lord Thankfulnesse is due not verball thankfulnesse onely Indeed the whole life of a Christian after his deliverance is a reall thanksgiving but that is not in my Text. To speake therefore of our estate by nature and of our deliverance our estate is that we are under the Law of sinne and death We are under the Law of sinne We are under sinne what sinne We are under a three-fold sinne We are under the first sinne of our first father for as Levi payd Tythes in Abraham to Melchisedech so we all sinned in the Loynes of Adam our first Parent and the guilt of that first sinne lyes upon us Secondly there is another sinne that is derived and springs from that first sinne which is the deprivation of the Image of God the pravation of our nature we call it originall sinne whereby we are stripped of that good we had in our first creation and have the contrarie image the image of Satan stamped upon us so we are under the first sinne the guilt of it and we are under the sinne of nature which we call originall sinne because it is derived to us even from our birth and first originall we had in Adam And then we are under actuall sinnes which are so many bonds to tie us fast under sinne We are dead by nature but we are dead and rotten by actuall sinnes we super adde to the guilt of our sinne by our dayly conversation We are blind by nature but we are blinded indeed much more by our custome of life Every sinne doth as it were tie us faster to damnation and keepes us faster under the bondage of sinne Every new sinne takes away
his wrath he will bee too good for them the Divell will be too good for them hell will be too good for them conscience will teare them in pieces and the judgement of God will seize on them The way of wicked men is a wretched a desperate and dangerous course thou art stubborne against God and he is so against thee he will doe to thee as thou doest to him Who are we are wee stronger then God Carelesse atheisticall persons thinke they are tush they can wind out well enough but they will finde it otherwise Doe wee provoke the Lord to jealousy are wee stronger then he saith the Apostle let us lay this to heart We see heere againe how sinne hath cleane defaced the Image of God in man Man being in honour hee would become like God he was weary of his subordination hee would be absolute and because he would be like God God made him like the beast and it is worse to be like the beast then to be a beast for the beast in his owne condition followes the instinct of nature but to be like a beast is for a man to unman himselfe to degrade himselfe to a baser condition then God made him in and when a man doth this hee is either in malice like the Divell or in licentiousnesse as the beast is he is alway like the Divell or a beast till hee be a new creature And that our nature is come to this we are beholding to our owne yeelding to Sathan and his counsell wee rush as the horse into the battell therefore let us beware of this Bee yee not as the horse and mule c. saith David Psal. 32.9 Who would not labour to be in a better condition to be a new creature to be changed by the powerfull ordinances and Spirit of God so much for that briefly come wee now to the last clause Yea the Storke in the Heavens knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their comming but my people know not the judgement of the Lord. Here is another expression comparative or rather superlative hee compares them to the Storke and Turtle the Crane and Swallow and prefers these poore creatures in wisedome and providence as going before men But my people know not the judgement of the Lord There needes no great explication of the wordes Iudgement is directive or corrective The directive is the Law of God setting downe Gods judicious course This you shall doe or if you doe not this you shall be punished When we obey not Gods directive course we meete with his corrective for judgement is the stablishing of judgement judgement of correction is the stablishing of judgement of direction Gods Lawes must be performed they are not skare-crowes if wee avoid the one wee shall runne into the other if we doe not meete him in the judgement of his directive law wee must be met with in his law corrective if we be good men or destructive if we be bad men Now here J take it he meanes especially the judgement of correction the time of visitation it was a dangerous time as it is now among us they were already under severall heavy judgements as famine c. wee see in the next verse there was no vines no grapes c. all failed And besides a farre heavier judgement was ready to come upon them they were ready to be carried into Babylon and they knew not the judgement of the Lord. They knew not that is they did not make use of it for in divinitie thinges are not known when they are not affected God knoweth all things but when hee doth not affect and delight in us he is said not to know us so wee are said not to know when vve doe not affect and make use of things They know not the judgement of the Lord. They were not ignorant hee had told them of vengeance he had told them that they should be carried into captivity but they made not that use they should of it therefore they are said not to knovv it So the old world it is said they did not knovv of the flood certainely Noah had told them of it but vvhen they made not a right use of it but went on brutishly they knevv it not Jt is all one not to knovv it at all and not to make use of it Wicked men thinke they knovv God and they knovv religion vvell enough I but what use do they make of it in their particular course that which vve doe not use vve doe not knovv in religion Jf ill be discovered and be not avoided by thee thou art a brutish sencelesse creature thou dost not know it and so thou shalt be dealt with They know not the judgement of the Lord that is They vvill not knovv it it was affected ignorance The words being thus unfolded here first vve see That God confounds the proud disposition of wicked men by poore silly creatures the Crane the Turtle the Swallow and the like What their wisedome is we see by experience in winter to fly from hard and cold parts to those where there is a Spring They are here in the moderate season and when the Summer is gone they goe to a more moderate aire where they may live better For the life is the chiefe good of such poore creatures and their happinesse being determined in their life they labour to keepe that they have an instinct put in them by God to preserve their being by remooving from place to place and to use that that may keepe life Now man is made for a better life and there be dangers concerning the soule in another world yet he is not so wise for his soule and his best being as the poore creatures are to preserve their being by the instinct of nature When sharpe weather comes they avoid it and goe where a better season is and a better temper of the aire but man when Gods judgements are threatned and sent on him and God would have him part with his sinfull courses and is ready to fire him and to force him out of them yet he is not so carefull as the creatures He will rather perish and die and rot in his sinnes and settle upon his dregs then alter his course so he is more sottish then the silly creatures he will not goe into a better estate to the heate to the Sunne-beames to warme him he will not seeke for the favour of God to be cherished with the assurance of his love as the poore creature goeth to the Sunne to warme it till it be over hot for it Man should know what is good and what is evill the new creature doth so for with the change of nature there is a divine wisedome put into the soule of a Christian that teacheth him what is good and what is evill that he may be carefull to avoide the evill that he may discerne of things that differ that he
sinnes he quickned us but they are put in in the translation because they must be understood to make the full sence In the words consider these things First of all heere the Apostle puts them in mind of their former condition And then he sets downe in particular what it was They were dead in trespasses and sins Then he tells them wherein they were dead what was the cause of their death and the element wherein they were dead in trespasses and sins Lastly not in one trespasse and in one sin but in trespasses and sins And then to speake a little of quickning to take it out of the 5. verse You hath he quickned There is the benefit with the condition That which Jaime at is especially to shew our estate by nature and how we are raised out of that I shall touch the points briefly as I have propounded them Saint Paul here first minds them of their former condition you were dead in trespasses and sinnes For contraries give lustre one to another and it magnifies grace mervailously to consider the opposite condition Hee that never knew the height and bredth and depth of his naturall corruption will never be able to conceive the height and breadth and depth of Gods infinite love in Iesus Christ. Saint Paul had deepe thoughts of both as ever man had therefore he could never enter into the argument of abasing man and extolling the love of God in Christ that he could satisfie himselfe but his spirit carries him from one thing to another till he set it out to the full And every one of us should be skilfull in this double mystery the mystery of the corruption of nature that is unsearchable there is corruption in the heart that none knows but God only and we must plow with his heifer that carries a light into the hidden parts of the soule and discovers corruption there is a mystery of that as well as of the Gospell of our deliverance out of that cursed estate from the guilt and thraldome of it I doe but touch it onely to shew the scope of the Apostle Now besides the consideration of it for this end to magnifie the grace of God and to understand what our former estate was the better there are many other ends As to stirre up our thankefullnesse when we consider from what we are delivered to glorifie God the more There is no soule so enlarged to glorifie God as that soule that hath large thoughts of its estate by nature and that estate by nature made worse by custome our second ill nature and bondage voluntary considering Gods mercy in delivering and freeing us from all sinnes and trespasses this will make us thankefull indeed And it is a spring of love to God when we consider what great sinnes we have forgiven usâ— it will make us humble all the daies of our lives and pitifull to others but this may be handled fitter from another portion of Scripture To come therefore to the words Who were dead in trespasses and sins Their condition is they were dead the specification of their death in sinnes and trespasses and not in one but in sinnes and trespasses Here I might digresse and tell you a discourse of life and death at large every man knowes by experience what they are In a word death is a privation of life What is life and whence ariseth it Not to speake of the life of God God is life and Christ is life but of lâ—fe in us It ariseth from the soule first there is a soule and then a life from the union with that soule and then there is a secret kindled motion and operation outward wheresoever life is Life in man I say springâ— from the soule The soule hâ—th a double life a life in it selfe and a life it communicates to the body The life in it selfe it liveth when it is out of the body it hath an essentiall life of its owne but the life of the body is derived from its union with the soule and from that union comes lively motion and operation The spirituall life of the soule is by the Spirit of Christ when our soule hath union with the quickning Spirit of Christ and by Christs Spirit is joyned to Christ and by Christ to God who is life it selfe and the first fountaine of all life then we have a spirituall life The Spirit is the soule of our soules and this spiritual soule this Spirit in us is not idle wherever life is there is motion and operation inward and outward suteable and proportionable to the fountaine of life the Spirit of God himselfe So on the contrary it is with death what is death Death is nothing else but a seperation from the cause of life from that from whence life springs The body having a communicated life from the soule when the soule is departed it must needs be dead Now death take it in a spirituall sence it is either the death of law our sentence as we say of a man when he is condemned he is a dead man Or death in regard of disposition and then the execution of that death of sentence in bodily death and in eternall death afterward Now naturally we are dead in all these sences First by the sin of Adam in whose loynes we were we were all damned there was a sentence of death upon all Adams rotten race as we say damnati antequam nati we were damned before we were borne as soone as we had a being in our mothers wombe by reason of our communion with Adam in that first sinne And then there is corruption of nature as a punishment of that first sinne that is a death as we shall see afterward a death of al the powers we cannot act and moove according to that life that we had at the first we cannot thinke we cannot will we cannot affect we cannot doe any thing that savours of spirituall life Hereupon comes a death of sentence upon us being damned both in Adams loynes and in originall sinne and likewise adding actuall sinnes of our owne if we had no actuall sinne it were enough for the sentence of death to passe upon us but this aggravates the sentence We are dead in law as well as in disposition This death in law is called guilt a binding over to eternall death it breeds horrour and terrours in the soule for the present which are the flashes of Hell-fire and expectation of worse even of the second death for the time to come which is an eternall seperation from God for ever an eternall lying under the wrath and curse of God in body and soule after they are united at the resurrection because wee would sinne eternally if we did live eternally here and no satisfaction being made for man after death there must be an eternall sentence and punishment upon him a terrible condition if we were not afraid of the first death we should be afraid of the
some part of the light of the understanding and takes away some freedom of the will it darkens the judgement more and more and enthralls the will and affections and bindes a man more and more to the just sentence of God That as it is Prov. 5. the sinner is tied with the bonds of his owne sinnes he is under the chaines of an habituated wicked course of life as well as of the sinne of nature which is the spring of all This is the miserable state of man and these chaines of his sinnes reserve him to further chaines Even as the Devill is reserved in chaines that is in terrours of his conscience which as chaines bind him till he be in Hell the place he is destinated to so we being in the chaines and bondage vexed with our sinnes we are at the same time in the chaines of terrours of conscience the beginnings of Hell and reserved to chaines of damnation and death world without end It is another manner of matter our estate by nature then it is usually taken for If men had but a little supernaturall light to see what condition they are in till they get out into Christ Jesus they would not continue a minute in that cursed estate And we have deserved to be cast into this estate by reason that we left our subordination and dependance upon God which being creatures we should have had Therefore we turning from God to the creature God punisheth our rebellion to him with rebellion in our selves because we withdrew our subjection from him that therefore there should be in us a withdrawing of the subjection of sinne and of the whole soule to God So this captivitie to and giving up to sinne in us it is penall and sinfull but as it comes from God it is meerely judiciall Therefore we have it oft in the New Testament in Rom. 1. 2 Thess. The Gentiles because they would not entertaine the Truth that they might have had by the light of Nature God gave them up to their sinnes And then the Christians after the Apostles times they set slight by the good Word of God the Gospel therefore God gave them up to beleeve lyes It was sinne in them but as God gave them up it was justice So this captivitie and giving men up to their owne lusts it is justice as it comes from God it is a horrible judgement it is worse then to be given up to the Devill himselfe for by being given up to our lusts we encrease our damnation To be given up to be tormented of the Devill it is not such a mischiefe as this spirituall captivitie under sinne we are guiltie our selves of our owne thraldome And this will encrease both the shame and the punishment The shame that a man shall say in Hell afterward I have brought my selfe hither I had meanes enow prohibitions enow I had sometimes chastisements of God sometimes motions of his Spirit sometimes one helpe from God sometimes another yet notwithstanding I brake through all oppositions that God set betweene me and the execution of my lusts and to Hell-ward I would and hither I have brought my selfe So that indeed the greatest part of Hell torment the shame of them especially it will be that men have brought themselves by their owne wits and carnall lusts thither And indeed all the wit a carnall man hath that is not sanctified by Gods Spirit it is to worke himselfe to miserie to be a drudge to his lusts that sets all the parts he hath on work not how he may serve God and be happie in another world but how he may proule provide for his owne carnall lusts This is the estate of all men by nature they are under sinne under the power of sinne the blind judgement leades the blind affections and both fall into the ditch into Hell The fearefulnesse and odiousnesse of this condition to be in prison and thraldome and bondage to all kind of sinne naturall actuall it will appeare further by this That being in subjection to our base lusts by consequence we are under the bondage of Satan for he hath power over death by sinne because he drawes us to sinne and then accuseth us and torments us for sinne By sinne we come to be under his bondage so that we are under the fearefull captivitie of the Devil while we are under the captivitie of sinne for all the power that he hath over us it is by sinne he is but Gods executioner for sinne First God gives him power to draw us to sinne to punish one sinne with another and then he suffers him to accuse and to torment us afterward What a fearfull bondage is this that being under sinne we are under Satan We are servants to our enemie as God threatned his people that they should serve their enemies but this is a greater judgement to be slaves to this enemie This is the condition of every sinner To be a slave to a mans enemie it is a judgement of judgements yet nothwithstanding this is the case of every man by nature he is a servant to his enemie to Satan and his owne lusts He is a right Cham a servant of servants for Satan useth him as the Philistims did Samson he puts out his eyes he puts out his judgement his wits he besots him and so he goes blind in Satans blind worke and businesse he is in a Maze all his life long till at length he sinke into Hell So this is the aggravation of a mans estate by nature he is a slave to his enemie You know blessed Zacharie saith Luke 1. That being delivered out of the hands of our enemies we might serve him without feare in righteousnesse and holinesse all the dayes of our life There is no wicked man but he is acted by the Devill oh that we would consider of it we thinke we are led onely by our owne lusts and sinnes as men but untill a man be in Christ he is ruled by the command of the Prince of the Aire and in 2 Tim. 2 he is ruled by Satan according to his will Even as a Bird in a snare it may move up and downe but it is still in the snare and he that hath it there cares not he knowes he hath it safe and he goes about to catch other birds So when we are in our lusts and follow them the Devil hath us in his snare he is secure of us and goes about getting more and more still the Devill acts and moves and leads all carnall men But how chanceth it that they doe not know and perceive it It is because he goeth with the streame of their owne corruptions Indeed we must make some limitation of this In some cases the Devill doth not move carnall men they are better then the Devill would have them be for the good of the Common-wealth and State but yet take them as they stand in relation to Religion they
nor motion Though such men live a common naturall civill life and walke up and downe yet they are dead men to God and to a better life The world is full of dead men that are dead while they are alive as S. Paul speakes of the Widow that lives in pleasures A fearefull estate if we had Spirituall eyes to see it and thinke of it But then after the death of the soule in this world there is another degree of spirituall death which is when the soule leaves the body then the soule dies for then it goes to hell it is severed for ever from the comfortable and gracious presence of God and likewise it wants the comforts it had in this world And the third degree of it is when body and soule shall be joyned together then there is an eternall separation of both from the presence of God and an adjudging of them to eternall torments in hell This is the state of all men that are not in Christ they are dead in soule while they live dead after the separation of the soule and body and after to be adjudged to eternall damnation world without end Life is a sweet thing and wee know death it is terrible when we would set out our hatefulnesse to any thing wee use to say I hate it as death doe wee love life and doe we hate death we should labour then to be out of that condition that we are all in by nature wherein we are under sinne and death in regard of spirituall life I meane for for civill life and government and policy men may have life and vigour enough that are hypocrites but I speake of a better life an eternall life that is not subject to death Now marke the joyning of both these together we are under sinne and death by nature where a man is under sinne he is under death for as the Apostle saith Rom. 5. Sinne entred into the world and by sinne death They were neither of both Gods creatures neither sinne nor death but sinne entred into the world by Satan and death by sinne Oh ye shall not die saith Satan he was a lyar alway from the beginning so now he saith to men you shall not die you may doe this and doe well enough but he is a lyar and a murtherer when he solicites to sinne he is a murtherer Let us take heed of solicitations to sinne from our owne nature or from Satan marke how God hath linked sinne and death The wages of sinne is death When we are tempted to sinne we thinke I shall have this credit or profite or contentment or preferment and advancement in the world I but that that you get by sinne it is not so great as you looke for when you have it if you get it at all but afterwards comes death the beginnings of eternall death terrours of conscience universally follow if a man be himselfe if he be not besotted The more a man is a man and enjoyes the liberty of his judgement to judge of things the more he sees the misery that is due after sinne with a fearefull expectation of worse things to come Sinne and death are an adamantine chaine and linke that none can sever who shall separate that which God in his Justice hath put together If sinne goe before death will follow if the conception goe before the birth will follow after if the smoake goe before the fire will follow There is not a more constant order in nature then this in Gods appointment first sinne and then death and damnation after Therefore when wee are tempted to sinne let us reason with our selves there is death in the pot let us discerne death in it it will follow And if a man after repent of it it will be more sharp repentance and grievous then the sinne was pleasant that a man shall have little joy of his sinne if he doe repent if he doe not repent what a fearefull estate is a man in after he hath sinned Sinne and death goe together no humane power can sever them for take the greatest Monarch in the world when he hath sinned conscience is above him as great as hee is for conscience is next under God it awes and terrifies him and keepes his sleepe from him as we see of late in our bloody neighbour Country after that great Massacre he could not sleepe without Musicke and the like All that they have and enjoy in the world all their greatnesse it will not satisfie and stop the mouth of conscience but when they sinne they feele the wrath of God arresting and they aâ—e as iâ— were shut up in prison under the terrours of an accusing conscience till they come to eternall imprisoment in the chaine of hell and damnation This is the estate of the greatest man in the world that is not in Christ. They are not so happy as we thinke they are they are imprisoned in their owne hearts though they walke at never so much liberty abroad and doe what they list for sinne and death goes together and before eternall death comes the expectation and terrours of it seize on them for the present So that whatsoever our first birth be though it be noble and great yet by it we are bond-slaves under sinne and death unlesse our second birth our new birth make amends for flâ—â—e for the basenesse of our first birth This prerogative our spirituall noblenesse is such an estate wherein wee are not borne but are borne againe to it to an inheritance immortall c. But by nature wee are all bond men though wee be be borne never so nobly Therefore let us never bragge of our birth as the Jewes did that they were the children of Abraham No saith Christ you are of your father the Devill Let none stand upon the Gentrie and Nobility of their birth unlesse they be taken out of the condition they are in by nature to be in a better condition in Christ for we see all men naturally are under the law of sinne and death These things are slighted because wee enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season men thinke to be inthralled to sinne it is pleasant thraldome they are golden fetters for I shall have the pleasures of sin all my life time c. and for death I will set a Romane spirit against death Saith a Romane what is it such a matter to die It is nothing to die they set a good face on the matter And this is the conceite of many men till they come to it but alas to be inthralled to death it is another matter for behind death there is a gulphe A man may breake the hedgewell enough with a strong resolution to die it is nothing to die if there were an end But there is a gulphe there is damnation and destruction behind there is eternall torment behind to be adjudged from the presence of God for ever to be separated from all good and all comfort
and to have societie with the Devill and his Angels in hell and that forever and for ever Thou maist perhaps make â—light of the service of sinne because thou hast the present baits to delight thee but thou shouldst regard death Thou maist neglect death but then regard eternall death This word Eternall it is a heavy word Eternall separation from all good and eternall communion with the Devill and his Angels and for the wrath of God to seize on thy soule eternally world without end me thinkes men should not set light by that Therefore considering that this is our estate by nature we are all slaves to sinne and death let us labour to get out of this cursed estate by all meanes which is by The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus Now I come to speake of our freedome The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath freed me from the Law of sinne and death This is good news indeed to heare of freedome good newes to the Israelites to heare of freedome out of Egypt and for the Jewes to heare of Cyrus Proclamation for their freedome out of Babylon Freedome out of bondage is a sweet message Here we have such a message of spirituall freedome from other manner of enemies then those were The yeare of Jubile it was a comfortable yeare to servants that were kept in and were much vexed with their bondage when the yeare of Jubile came they were all freed therefore there was great expectation of the yeare of Jubile Here we have a spirituall Jubile a manumission and freedome from the bondage we are in by nature The Spirit of life in Christ makes us free from the Law of sinne and death There is life in Christ opposite to death in us there is a Spirit of life in Christ and a Law of the Spirit of life in Christ opposite to the law of sinne and of death in us So that this is our happinesse while we live here oh it is the blessednesse of men to make use of it while they have time and space and grace to repent and to cleave to Christ that whatsoever ill we are under by nature we may have full supply in Christ for all the breaches that came by the first Adam There came the wrath of God the corruption of our nature terrours of conscience death and damnation all these followed the sinne and breach of the first Adam all these are made up in the second He hath freed us from all the ill wee received from the first Adam and that we have added our selves for we make our selves worse then we come from Adam by our voluntary and daily transgressions but wee are freed from all by the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus How comes this freedome There can no freedome be without satisfaction to divine Justice For why are we under sinne God gives us up to sinne why are we under death God gives us up to death Why are we under Satans government he is Gods executioner Gods serjeant he gives us up to him here because we offend him Why are we under damnation and wrath because God is offended All our slavery comes originally from God however it be sinfull in regard of Satan that keepes us yet the power whereby he keepes us is good for he doth it from God His will is alwayes naught but his power is alwayes lawfull therefore the power whereby the Devill keepes us if wee looke up to God under whom the power is it is a lawfull power for God hath a hand in giving us up to finne it is a judiciall giving up and then by lusts and â—inne to Satan and death and damnation So if we speake of freedome wee must not begin with the executioner the wrath of God must be satisfied God must be one with us so as his Justice must have contentment Satisfaction must be with the glory of his Justice as well as of his Mercie his Attributes must have full content one must not be destroyed to satisfie another hee must so be mercifull in freeing us as that content must be given to his Justice that it complaine not of any losse Now reconciliation alway supposeth satisfaction it is founded upon it And satisfaction for sinne it must be in that nature that hath sinned now man of himselfe could not satisfie divine Justice being a finite person therefore God the second Person became man that in our nature hee might satisfie Gods wrath for us and so free us by giving payment to his divine Justice The death of Christ God-man is the price of our liberty and freedome But why doth the Apostle speake here of a Law of the Spirit of life in Christ which frees us but here is no mention of satisfaction by death Oh but death is the foundation of all as we shall see afterwards To unfold the point therefore because it is a speciall point and the words need unfolding Here it is said there is life in Christ. A Spirit of life in Christ. and a Law of a Spirit of life in Christ. There is life in Christ not onely as God for so indeed he is life God his life is himselfe for life is the being of a thing and the actions and moving and vigour and operations of a thing answerable to that being So the life of God is his being As I live saith the Lord that is as I am God I will not the death of a sinner Now Christ hath life in him as God as the Father hath but that is not especially here meant There is life in Christ as God-man as Mediator Now this life is that life which is originally from the God-head indeed it is but the God-heads quickening and giving life to the man-hood in Christ the Spirit quickning and sanctifying the man-hood And we have no comfort by the life of God as it is in Gods life alone severed for alas what communion have wee with God without a Mediator but our comfort is this that God who is the fountaine of life he became man and having satisfied Gods Justice he conveyes life to us he is our head hee hath life in himselfe as God to impart spirituall life to all his members so there is life in Christ as Mediator And there is a Spirit of life that life it is a working life for spirit is an emphaticall word spirit added to a thing increased the thing Againe he saith the Law of the Spirit of life Law is a commanding thing to shew that the life in Christ it is a commanding life it countermands all opposite lives whatsoever of sinne and death and this Law is a countermand to all other Lawes the Law of the Spirit of life frees us from all other Lawes So here is life the Spirit of life and the Law of the Spirit of life all words of strong signification But for the cleare understanding of this sweet and comfortable point First
that it may be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh For before wee come to heaven Christ must not onely be bone of our bone c. that is in his Incarnation but wee must be bone of his bone c. that is wee must have natures like Christ not onely flesh and blood for so a reprobate hath flesh and blood as Christ hath but wee must have his Spirit altering and changing our nature that instead of a proud disobedient rebellious nature now it must be a holy and humble and meeke nature together with humane frailty for that we carry about with us then the Spirit of life derived from Christ makes us bone of his bone For indeed in his humane nature being bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh hee made us bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh he became man that we might partake of the divine nature being partakers of the divine Spirit So that now the Spirit of life in Christ when we are knit to him is a Spirit of sanctification altering our natures and working in our hearts a disposition like Christs that wee judge as Christ judgeth and chuse as Christ chuseth and ayme at Gods glory as Christ did For there is the same mind in us that was in Christ Philip. 2. In our proportion growing still more and more to conformity with Christ till we be in heaven till Christ be all in all 1 Cor. 15. When he will change our nature to be holy as his owne Besides this liberty from sinne and death in this life there is a glorious liberty and freedome thaâ— we have by the Spirit of Christ when we are dead for then the Spirit of life that raised Christs dead body will raise our bodies and that Spirit of Christ that raiseth his body and raiseth our soules in this world from sinne to beleeve in him will raise our dead bodies The same vertue and power that workes in Christ workes in his members this is called The glorious libertie of the Sonnes of God Then wee shall be freed indeed not onely from the law of sinne but from sinne it selfe and not onely from the law of death but death it selfe and wee shall live forever with the Lord. Christ then shall be all in all by his Spirit Christ will never leave us till hee have brought us to that glorious freedome wee are freed already from sinne and death he hath set us in heavenly places together with himselfe now In faith we are there already but then wee shall be indeed Thus you see how we come to have the law of the Spirit of life in Christ to free us from the law of sinne and death and all the passages of it You see here that there is law against law The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ against the law of sinne and death I beseech you consider that God hath appointed law to countermand law the Spirit of Christ to overcome sinne in us not onely in justification but in sanctification oh let us therefore comfortably thinke there is a Law above this Law I have now cold dead base affections but if I have the Spirit of Christ he can quicken and enliven me hee will not onely pardon my sinne but by the Law of his Spirit direct guid and command me a contrary way to my lusts And this is an Art of spirituall prudence in heavenly things whensoever wee are beset with dangers to set â—reater then that against it The Devill is an Angell but we have a guard of Angels about us The Devill is a Serpent but we have a braâ—en Serpent that cures all the stings of that Serpent We have Principalities and Powers against but we have greater Principalities and Poâ—ers for us The Law of life against the law of sinne and death We have a law of our lusts tyrannizing over us and enthralling us it is true but then there is a Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus to overcome and subdue that law of our lusts if so be that wee use the prerogatives wee have if we use faith and goe to God and Christ in whom are all the treasures of grace Hee is the treasury of the Church of his fulnesse we receive grace for grace Are we troubled with any corruptions goe to the Spirit of liberty in Christ and desire him to set us at liberty from the bondage and thraldome of our corruptions And remember what Christ hath done for us and where hee is now in heaven let us raiâ—e our thoughts that wee may see our selves in heaven already that wee may be ashamed to defile our bodies and soules with the base drudgery of sinne and Satan that are sanctified in part in this world and shall be glorified in heaven Certainely faith would raise our soules so we betray our selves when being once in the state of grace we are inâ—hralled basely to any sinne For sinne shall not have dominion over you because you are under grace saith the Apostle Being under grace if wee doe 〈◊〉 use our reasoning and use faith and exercise the grace we have given us wee cannot be in thrall to corruptions Wee shall have remainders to trouble us put not to 〈◊〉 and reigne and domineere For sinne 〈◊〉 beares â—way but when wee betray our selves and either beleeve not what Christ hath done for us or else exercise not our faith A Christian is never overtaken basely but when hee neglects his priviledges and prerogatives and doth not stirre up the grace of God in him Learne this then when we are troubled with any thing set Law against Law set the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ against all oppositions whatsoever and let the temptation â—â—e where it will let it lie in justificatiâ—â— as when wee are tempted by Satan to despaire for sinnes for great sinnes oh but then consider the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ hath freed me from the law of sinne and of death Christ was made sinne to free me â—rom sinne Consider that Christ was God-man hee satisfied divine Justice the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sinne though they be as red as crimson Thus set Christ against our sinnes in justification when the guilt of them â—â—oubles our soules And so likewise when wee are set on by base lusts set against them the power of Christ in sanctification What 〈◊〉 I now a member of Christ one that professeth my selfe to be an heire of heaven there is a Spirit of life in Christ my head there is a Law of the Spirit of life in Christ that is there is a commanding power in his Spirit and that Spirit of his is not onely in the head but in the members If I goe to him for grace I may have grace answerable to the grace that is in him grace that will strengthen me with his power be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Ephes. 6.
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
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