from him in all that have him Life is first in God So often the great Evangelical Dr. Sibs Expos on the 4 c. 2 Ep. to the Corinth So in the Excellency of the Gospel above the Law p. 418. c. then in Christ Mediator and then in us who believe All our Mercies Blessings Comforts of all kinds and degrees from Election to Glorification are first in Christ and from him to us Therefore in having him you have all as in a Fountain as large as an Ocean running in a full stream to Eternity O what a thing is this life It is everlasting life begun in Faith in Christ and Regeneration running up hill a marvellous cross and hard passage against mighty and unwearied opposition of Satan and the VVorld and our indwelling Corruption labouring to choak it at the very mouth of it in our Sanctification till it run into the vastness of immeasurable Eternity Mark what it is called It is Life it is a life of Sentence as the Reverend Dr. Sibs often calls it or Absolution from the Sentence of the Law and Death It is a life of Grace from Christ by his Spirit kindled in a dead Nature and this is the Spring of Heavenly Glory The least Beam of the light and life of Grace has more Glory in it than all the VVorld on this side Heaven can shew It is for the Excellency of it called The life of God Ephes 4.18 And the life of Jesus 2 Cor. 4.10 11. For we which live are alway delivered unto unto Death for Jesus sake that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal Flesh Nature teacheth Men to prize life above all things therefore life whether of Sense or Reason is the best thing in Nature's Orb But for the life of Grace and Glory Grace teacheth Faith which is called a wise Grace by that named Divine teacheth a gracious Man who is the best of Men to lose his life for Grace and eternal life For we which live are always delevered unto Death for Jesus sake c. And will not this move you to have Christ the Son and life with him VVhat do you stick at Do you know that if you have the Son he must have you and that you must forsake your Sins and all the World at his Call And will you stick at these things O what an Act of Grace Mercy Pity and love is it in Christ to receive and have you If Christ have you not the Devil will and your Enemies shall and will have you What should I speak of Sin and the pleasures of Sin and all the Vanities under the Sun Will you stick at these And not part with them at the first word that you may have Christ and Life I will only say to you if every Hair of your Head were a life of Pleasure Wit Mirth Diversion Riches and Honour you should part with them all for this life of Grace and Glory Christ paid more for your Redemption for life than all the lives in the whole World are worth If you will not forsake Sin your loathsom Disease for life and spiritual Health If you will not deny your selves in your Vanities for Christ and the hopes of Glory how many drops of Blood would you have shed for your own Redemption if such a price had been set upon your own Souls Now Christ and Life are offered you for having how cruel and merciless are you to your precious Souls that will not have them And O! how happy for ever shall you be if you have life and that more abundant more abundant in duration and confluence of all things to make you fully and for ever happy Hearken again That which is to be had is life eternal it is the life of life who can describe it This life is but a Vapour which appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away James 4.14 It fleeth as it were a shadow Job 14.2 The natural life is sustained by corruptible earthly matter The spiritual life is a noble Heaven-born life but encumbred with a mixture of much evil while upon Earth A life rooted in Christ or it could not continue a life of continual Contention and Warfare much clouded and distracted with vain Thoughts Doubts Fears Unbelief Cares for the body for the Morrow and things of this life It hath its good days and times foresights and foretastes of Heaven in Communion with God and Christ by the Spirit in Ordinances it hath its Victories Peace Increase Comforts and Supports by the way But when Time is run out into Eternity and the new Man grown into a perfect Man then life will appear to be life indeed That life is a life all of Grace and Holiness without one dark or vain thought or indwelling Sin A life like God's in conformity to him a life of Vision perfect Union and Communion A life free from any thing that shall cause Trouble and Repentance A life without Care for what we shall eat or wherewith we shall be clothed Immortality and Glory shall be our Clothing and the living God that is a full infinite Fountain shall be our life A life full of God Goodness Holiness Light Peace Joy and satisfaction for ever It is happy now to walk with God and to be under Grace O what will it be to be for ever with the Lord When Adam took his Death by the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil he would have made his way to the Tree of Life but that he was kept off by a Flaming Sword But all that have Christ shall live upon him as upon a Tree of life which will yield all manner of Fruit and satisfie every blessed one with blessedness Have Christ and you shall have eternal life immediately upon your believing in Christ your Head Your Soul shall enter into eternal life upon your Dissolution and Body as well as Soul shall have eternal life at the Resurrection Q. But some may desire to know How they may come at this Eternal Life A. The Text is your Direction for that Have the Son and you have Life Q. But how shall I come to have the Son 1. A. The original and first Cause of our having the Son and so the first way by which we have him is by God's gracious Act of giving us his Son As he gave him for us to be a Saviour so he gives him to every Soul prepared by Grace and that is the Work of the Holy Ghost and so we have him The Spirit of Grace gives to every one that hath Christ understanding to know him and a heart to receive him and when we receive him Whatsoever is wrought in Man it is by the Spirit all comes from the Father as the Fountain and through the Son as Mediator but whatsoever is wrought it is by the Holy Ghost in us Excel Dr. Sibs as before p. 579. Grace is in the Father as a Fountain in Christ as Treasurer in the Spirit as
Dispenser Excellent Charn made known and offered to us then we have him God shines in our hearts 2 Cor. 4.6 The God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory giveth the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him Ephes 1.17 Every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh to me John 6.45 This is the way by which we come to the Son and have him 2. But the meaning of the Question may be What must I do What means may I use Or what manner of Man must I be that I may have the Son And then I answer in this general Sentence or Rule Then a man may have the Son when he is made heartily glad to have him on any Terms that is according to the Son 's own Proposals Here mark We do not mean by the Word Terms Condition Propositions any Bargain or Exchange Price or Commodity of our own We receive all from Christ being nothing to him in consideration whereof we have Christ We find in him all fulness riches and honours But what have we of our own but Baseness Poverty and Misery This Misery contracted by sin is the Dowry Cameron as above-cited in Myrothecio The Son as the Son of God gets nothing by us nor doth our Union which he affecteth bring any gain or happiness to him but by much loss and many Sufferings he obtained it But respectu nostri omnia candida we receive from him nothing but good and magnificent and only such things Hoornb ubi supra p. 797. which we bring to our Husband Christ I say again then are you prepared to have Christ when you would gladly have him with all your Soul with all that he requireth of you He hath set down the Terms your Hearts consent you subscribe to them all as the VVritings are drawn by the Spirit in the Gospel you desire no new Articles nor abatement of any but stand to his Mercy and Grace And well you may for he is VVisdom and Love Goodness Mercy and Compassion and will enable you to do and suffer all that you bind your self unto Q. But when is the Sinner made glad to have him A. Then when he seeth there is but one way for him if he have him not that is when he is under actual strong Apprehensions and Convictions that he must perish and die for ever a Death of Privation of the enjoyment of God in Heaven yea and in Earth also when he is humbled and poor in his own Sense when he feels himself sinking into the bottomless Pit under the Burden of his Sin and Guilt 2. VVhen he finds all Creatures Helps and Confidences in the Flesh fail him Phil. 3.4 When he looks upon his right hand and upon his left hand and there is no Helper nor Intercessor that can save him when he believes for certain there is Salvation in any other Acts 4.12 Oh how formidable and terrible doth Hell look with its Flames and utter Darkness How wonderful doth Salvation appear to such a Soul 3. When he cannot think of being damned without Horror and not of being saved without Wonder and Astonishment And then when he hears of the Grace of God in Christ and of the graciousness of Jesus Christ his Fulness his Fitness his Compassions his Kindness his willingness to save every one that comes unto him O how glad is the miserable humbled Soul to hear of his Offers his Invitations to come to him and his Promises to them that come and have him Those Jews who were pricked in their Hearts gladly or willingly received the Word of Advice and Grace in their extremity and soreness of heart And they who gladly received the Word of Salvation were baptized They by Baptism a sign of their having him put on Christ and had him They who are sick will gladly have the Physician and the Soul that is poor desolate lost a Syrian ready to perish will most gladly have Christ for a Covering of their Eyes for their Head and Husband when they hear the Record and Testimonies those high Characters and Reports that are given of him Mark a condemned Prisoner When we behold our selves in our Blood O how comfortable is that word of Grace and Mercy Live that fears the Execution and lies under the terror of Death will most gladly receive his Life at the hands of his Gracious Prince and serve him as his Prince with the hazard of Life What will not a Man do for Life How much for eternal Life Q. But how may I be brought to this to be made glad and willing to have the Son for my Saviour 1. You must awake out of your Sleep and Dreams And will not the Alarum of Death and Wrath hastning towards you awake you Will not a Cry at Midnight rouze you The last Enemy and the last Trump stir you The Drowsiness of this Generation is a fearful Sign and Forerunner of a Spirit of Slumber and a dead Sleep You then that have Ears to hear hear and then we shall shew you how you may have Life Eternal 2. Hear read and ponder upon the Word of God The more you know and seriously consider of these things the better it will be I say ponder the things and the drift of them and do not lay them up as Notions and Historical Passages in a careless Head 1. Understand how the case of Mankind stood before the Fall 2. How it is with all Mankind under the ruins of that Fall how we are under Guilt Sin Satan and the Curse how great our Darkness is how we are all out of the way what our Enmity is against God and true Holiness what our Impotency is to turn to God as without Strength to help or recover our selves 3. How we must be restored by Jesus Christ alone Rom. 5.8 9 10 12. c. 4. What the Gospel declares to be our Duty Knowledge Faith Repentance Love Obedience Active and Passive Obedience and Self-denial when our Lord calls for us to forsake all and suffer for him 5. None of these things are called for as a price or Mony as the Prophet speaks Isa 55.1 2. The great main thing that is required of you is your rational deliberate free Consent Will you have me That 's the great Question say understandingly and sincerely you will and you have him who is infinitely worth your having 6. Study the invaluable worth of your precious Souls and of your great Saviour the Son of God and the Life of your Souls Know that one thing needful Luke 10.42 and the first thing to be sought Mat. 6.33 And tho the Gate be strait you will enter because it is unto Life 7. Think not much of the way of Salvation but submit to be led into every step of it It is the Invention of infinite Wisdom out of Grace and Mercy 8. No Man is excluded from Eternal Life but he that will not believe and have the Son John 6.37.9 Understand
not the Son of God hath not Life but the wrath of God abideth on him 2. See another Text John 14.6 Jesus saith unto him I am the Way the Truth and the Life no man cometh to the Father but by me I am the way by which you may come to the Father as to your last and highest End and Happiness I am the Door by me if any man enter in he shall be saved John 10.9 There 's as much as He that hath the Son hath Life But then observe No man cometh unto the Father but by me He who hath not the Son of God hath not the Way nor the Truth nor the Life 3. Take a third Witness to confirm both parts of the Point Acts 4.12 Neither is there Salvation in any other for there is none other Name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved The Affirmative That Salvation and Life is in Christ is included in the excluding word Neither is there Salvation in any other Salvation is in and by Jesus Christ but not in any other for there is none other name c. And therefore if any one hath not the Son of God he hath not Life From what is said you may come to be past fear and doubt of your everlasting Salvation if you have the Son of God as you shall hear by and by you may be sure your Life your Treasure your Happiness is safely laid up for you And on the contrary a Man that reads these Words may read his own Doom He who hath not the Son hath not Life Conclude now as you have or or have not the Son of God Jesus Christ the Saviour so you shall live or die eternally But yet take this for prevention of Trouble or Despair As it is certain no Man hath any Right or Title to eternal Life except he believeth and hath the Son so he who hath not the Son at present now may have him may believe and be saved if he attend for him in the means of Grace and have him while he may be had that is while he is offer'd to him I take the Words as Doctrins or Divine Propositions without putting them into any other Form 1 D. He that hath the Son hath Life 2 D. He that hath not the Son hath not Life In opening the first observe these Particulars 1. Who and what is this Son spoken of in the Text. 2. What it is to have the Son 3. What is that Life which they have who have the Son 4. The reason why he who hath the Son hath Life or how it will follow and appear that he who hath the Son Jesus hath and must needs have Life 1. By the Son is to be understood Jesus Christ the Son of God our Mediator and Redeemer of whom there is frequent mention in this Chapter The Son is that same Holy One and wonderful spoken of in the first Verse Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God v. 5. Who is he that overcometh the World but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God He who came by Water and Blood even Jesus Christ ver 6. He to whom the Father the Word or the Second Person in the Godhead and the Holy Ghost bear witness the Three in Heaven that bear witness and to whom the Three bear witness on Earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood ver 7 8. He who is called Son his Son Son of God ten times from ver 8. to the end of the Chapter And observe ver 20. And we know the Son of God is come He who was given and sent is come in our Flesh to be a Mediator between God and us and hath given us an Vnderstanding to know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal Life This Son this Son of God is the true God and eternal Life is in him ver 11. He is called Life John 14.6 and the Word of Life 1 John 1.1 and Eternal Life v. 2. He is the true God and hath Life in Himself and he is eternal Life essentially as the Son of God the only begotten Son John 3.16 And because the only begotten begotten by eternal Generation by the Father he was Life and had Life in Himself from Eternity before the Beginning therefore he is immutable and immortal he is Eternal Life originally and in the Fountain And that eternal Life which the Father of his meer Grace and Love hath given to us who are born of God is in his Son who is entrusted with it for us and hath power to give it to us John 17.2 and he who hath him hath eternal Life for that reason From these Scriptures learn four great Points and Matters of Faith 1. That Jesus Christ is so the Son of God that he is certainly the True God 2. That the Son of God is come into the World as sent of God as made of a Woman as manifest in the Flesh having taken part of the same Flesh and Blood which his Brethren were partakers of Gal. 4.4 1 Tim. 3.16 Heb. 2.14 3. That the only begotten Son of God hath Life in Himself yea is the Life the word of Life and eternal Life 4. That Christ his Son Jesus Christ hath that eternal Life in him as our Mediator Saviour and Head which God hath given to them who are born of God regenerated by the Spirit and adopted to be the Sons of God and Heirs of Life Jesus Christ our Mediator and Saviour is that Son which whoever hath hath Life Give me the attentive Ear to two Texts more which being taken together as they ought to be will prove That the Son of God is the same with Jesus our Saviour and that as our Jesus he is called the Son of God Luke 1.31 32 35. And behold thou shalt conceive in the Womb and bring forth a Son and shalt call his Name Jesus He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the highest c. And to her Question who thought it to her a thing incomprehensible but not impossible ver 34. How can it be seeing I know not a Man The Angel answered and said unto her The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall over-shadow thee Therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God The Name Jesus is the Name of the Son of God as Mediator given him from the End or Effect of his coming into the World Mat. 1.21 Thou shalt call his Name Jesus for he shall save his people from their Sin The same is called according to the Prophesie of Isaiah Emmanuel God with us and the same called the Son of God Mat. 1.23 He shall be called * Dr. Owen of the Person of Jesus Christ against Biddle p. 180. c. Mr. Estwick's Articles of Mr. Biddle's Faith confuted p. 211. A. B.
reckon you your selves to be dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord John 15.4 Abide in me and I in you As the Branch cannot bear Fruit of it self except it abide in the Vine no more can ye except ye abide in me vers 5. I am the Vine ye are the Branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit For without me ye can do nothing Phil. 1.11 Being filled with the fruit of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ mark that unto the glory and praise of God All Sanctifying Grace comes from Jesus Christ and power to bring forth Fruit See Rom. 8.10 11 12 13. And if Christ be in you the Body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is Life because of righteousness But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you c. 3. He that hath the Son hath a Life of Joy and Gladness He was a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Griefs for our sakes his Griefs and Sorrows were a strong Composition of Sorrows prepared for a Man of Sorrows He was sorrowful unto Death Mark 14.33 As a man cast out from among men that hath none to comfort him nor as much as to speak kindly to him or to make his Complaint to But his Sorrows were turned into Joy He told his Disciples that they should have Sorrow but I will see you again and your Heart shall reioyce and the sight of Christ risen from the Dead should be as joyful to them as the Birth of a Son to a Woman after Travel and your Joy no man taketh from you John 16.21 22. He is the Author and Fountain of a Christian's Joy he is the matter and object of our Joy his Birth was a time of Joy in Heaven and Earth his first Preaching was with Joy Luke 4.18 out of Isaiah 61. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me he hath anoynted me to preach the Gospel to the poor glad Tidings to the poor to the broken-hearted to the captive to the blind to the bruised and the acceptable year of the Lord the year of Jubilee or Release The foresight of his Resurrection was joyful to him going to his Death and to see him risen from the Dead made his Disciples glad John 20.20 He hath provided for them plentifully that their Joy might be full John 15.11 And all that believe have the matter and cause tho not always the sense joy and peace in believing Rom. 15.13 1 Pet. 1.8 And he is still a flowing Spring of Joy Rejoyce in the Lord Phil. 3.1 Verse 3. Rejoyce in the Lord and again I say rejoyce Phil. 4.4 Rejoyce ever more 1 Thess 5.12 4. He that hath the Son hath Life hath everlasting Life that endless Life of perfect Happiness in Heaven It is an everlasting Life pure Life next for excellency to the Life of God himself who liveth for ever and ever A Life of likeness to God We shall be like him 1 John 3.2 We shall be satisfied with his likeness Psal 17. ver ult A Life of the nearest Union with our glorified Head and therefore a Life of Gladness and fitting Communion and therefore most blessed This Life is the Gift of God Rom. 6.23 trusted in the hands of the only begotten Son the Son of God's Love to be kept for and to be given to all that sincerely believe and love him It is in a faithful powerful hand and he hath promised to give it over and over The Heavens and Earth shall pass away but his Promise shall be like the Waters of Noah as they shall never drown the World again so this Life shall certainly come Look for it it is better tho yet to come than that Life which you now live This Life is in his 1 John 5.11 O how rare and transcendent a Life is this And what a way is this of giving it of laying it up for us and deriving it unto us IV. And so I come to the Fourth Particular Why or how it comes to pass that he that hath the Son hath Life This follows necessarily upon the former Words last repeated And this is the Record that God hath given to us Eternal Life and this Life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath Life These Words have the Force of an Inference or Conclusion from the other This Life is 1. Given to us who are called of God who believe who turn to him love and obey him The Donor is God the Father who is the Fountain of Life It is the Fathers Gift of Free-grace and Love 2. He appointed his Son O raise up your Thoughts into an holy admiration of this effect of infinite Wisdom and Grace for the Salvation of undone Sinners to be Mediator to do what was for the Glory of God and then to be the Trustee and Conservator of this Life the greatest Trust that could be put into his Hands wherein the Glory of God is more concerned than in all his Works and all that is most precious the Treasure of eternal Life the All of the Chosen Ones of God Our happiness was once put into the hands of Adam he fail'd and broke and we were all ruin'd in him But now it is put into the keeping of Jesus Christ our Lord the Son of God and there it is safe 3. The Son of God undertook the Charge and Trust His Father shall not lose the Glory intended nor his chosen and called ones the Blessing and Benefit of this Grant intended by his Father for them 4. It was concluded and decreed in the Eternal Counsel of the Father the Word and Spirit those in Heaven which declare and testifie these things that all and every one that is to have this Life eternal must have the Son For this is the Decree or Order consented to and declared to us He that hath the Son hath Life The Son as Mediator received Life for all that have him they therefore who have him have Life But if you desire to be yet informed How we come to have Life then know 1. We have the Son by a Spiritual Union with him as a Bride hath a Bridegroom a Similitude often attended to Or as a Wife hath an Husband As all the Blessings and Benefits of a Matrimonial State do by agreement follow upon the Marriage-Union with the Person so by the Covenant of Grace that vast Blessing of Eternal Life which comprehends all in it doth become the Inheritance and Estate of every one that by Faith joyns himself to the Lord the Son of the most High God Union is the appointed means of Communication of Life 2. Vnitio communis est Patri Fil. Sp. Sacto unio propria est Filio Camer de Ecclesia p. 223. This Union is the wonderful Work of the holy Trinity observing the order of Operation every person is the cause of it All that come to Christ are taught of God they have
lost cursed state of Guilt Uncleanness Bondage and utter Inability to come to Life of your self 2. Have you seen the necessity of a Mediator to make your Peace and to bring you to a reconciled God 3. Have you been and are you still satisfied with Christ And Christ alone His Death Merits Resurrection and Intercession alone not joyning Antichrist as a Head bringing him to Christ and sodering him to you with soft Wax or binding him to you with a Rope of Sand nor adding Saints Merits and Intercessions to his Nor any other devised Supplements and Means of your Peace and Salvation 4. Have you with hearty self-abasement been and are you still a great Admirer of the way of your recovery by Jesus Christ And stand amazed at the Grace Wisdom Righteousness and Love of God in Christ 5. Have you come naked wounded poor and humbled to Jesus Christ upon his Offer and Invitation and taken him understandingly advisedly deliberately heartily and resolvedly through his Grace and Assistance without whom you can do nothing casting away whatever offends him out of his place and House namely your Heart And do you still know that you are dead without him And do you love him and observe him and the longer you are acquainted with him the more and better 2. What Use do you make of the Son Do you reckon him your Life Do you draw your Spiritual Life from him And do you alledg him Rom. 8.34 and plead him for your Discharge against all Accusations and trust him for your Salvation in his own way and your way of Adherence and Obedience 2. Positively All that have him are united to him that 's the immediate Work of the principal efficient Cause the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost or the Spirit who makes Application of Redemption and brings Christ and his Members to be one and the immediate Work and Office of Faith given of God and excited by the Spirit like the opening of a blind Eye to behold an admirable lovely Object or quickning a dead Palsie Hand to receive a Pardon 2. Every one who is united to him and made one is regenerate and born of God 1 John 5.1 2 Cor. 5.17 If any man be in Christ he is a new Creature 3. He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit And this having of the Spirit is made a Sign of the mutual Union between Christ and the true Believer 1 Joh. 3.24 And he that keepeth his Commandments of Believing on the Name of his Son Christ and mutual Love to the Brethren vers 23. dwelleth in him and he in him and hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us But how may the true Spirit be known By his Light Life Operations and Fruits As the Soul of Man is known to be a rational Soul by its Operations so is the Spirit of Christ known to be in Believers by his Operation and Effects Take your Aim and Direction in this from one effect of the Spirits uniting us to Christ and dwelling in us and that is Life He that hath the Son and the Spirit of the Son hath Life in him whereby he lives a New Life to God through Jesus Christ Where this Life is it is known by a spiritual sense and motion from Christ and back again unto him 2. By Hunger and Thirst by an Appetite to Spiritual Food As a new born Babe desires the sincere milk of the word 1 Pet. 2.2 3. By Growth and Strength As new born Babes grow and gather strength till they come to be Men by using proper means of nourishment as Milk and stronger meat by abiding in Christ and living by Faith drawing Supplies of Grace by holy Desires and Prayers with all perseverance 4. By Nauseating and loathing refusing resisting and casting out Contraries to it and using Preservatives These things being drawn up for your Service in this little room I return to my Exhortation to persuade you to have Christ to have him for Life for your Necessity is so great that you do not need him for less than your Life and that you would make haste and have him while he is near Isa 55.1 2. Or else you may seek him when you shall not find him John 8.21 And when you have him adhere to him have him and cleave to him for still the same reason continueth it is for your Life What will stir you if the Words of the Text will not Consider the unconceivableness of the loss and what is the consequent of it The greatness of the loss and deprivation and the nearness of it are implied in these Words Hath not Life Oh! Wo Wo to that Soul His state is infinitely worse than his who hath not the Light of the Day to look on nor Eyes to see it Worse than his who hath not a Friend in the whole World not a Rag to his Back not a Farthing in his Purse not a Morsel to eat not as much as a fading Gourd to hide his Head under not the use of a Limb not Skin upon his Back no not a Grave to rest in If every Unbelievers loss were as great as Job's was it were nothing to this Hath not Life It amounts to as much as the loss of God of Heaven and all that is therein The loss of Earth and the present Life is the least part of it This loss cannot be reckoned in the Ages of of the World it is a loss under which there is no support or relief to bear it Miserable Sinners can contribute nothing but Miseries and Sorrows to one another Nor will God himself ever repair it to any of them They who will not have the Son for their Saviour and Redeemer would refuse yea despise all other means and ways of their recovery and readmission to happiness They who do not assent to this wonderful way of God nor consent to the Terms of the Covenant of Grace now revealed would dissent from any other ways if there were any other reserved in the Will of God They who cannot forsake nor give up their Sins which a Disgrace a Shame a Burden a Perversion a Confusion of Nature which every Sinner hath cause to be sick of and in continual pain till he be delivered of it would never accept of Grace and Mercy upon condition of being Holy and pleasing God They who will not have the Son for their Saviour would not have God for their God and Father There being no way left to recover their forfeited Life they are lost for ever who lose it Q. But may not a man who hath not the Son at present have him and Life by him hereafter A. Yes if he have him while it is to day when God waiteth that he may be gracious But if he die before he comes to and receiveth Christ he dies in his Sin and is out of all hopes of Life Oh! who would for any business or any Pretence whatsoever delay the having of the
It will be more tolerable in Hell for Devils than for any of you if you die in Unbelief for Christ died not to save them nor was he ever offer'd to them as he is to you Will you chuse Sin and Death rather than Christ and the Life of Pardon Grace and Glory because the Devil would have you do so What Evil have you heard of the Son of God that rather than have him you would be tied to a stake yea dragged in pieces yea lose Life rather than have it if you must have him for it Oh! the Prejudices Strangeness and Enmity of the World against Christ and his ways of Salvation But will you live and die without a Saviour And walk in that Faction of Men against God which hath the Devil in the Head of them You should turn out of all the Paths of the Devil for he brought in Sin and Death by Sin into the World If you come to Christ and have him with his Merits and Benefits with his Fathers Love and Spirits Grace and Comfort you shall have a Christian's Life in Heaven but if not you must take what Follows the Life of a Sinner which is a Slave's Life upon Earth and a Devil's Life in Hell Precious and Beloved Soul whoever seriously reads and is moved with any of these things take these Advices and Directions following and the Lord give you a Heart to follow them 1. Do not carelesly lay by the Book and the Thoughts of what is written together If one Eye be opened to see somewhat of your Case close it not up to sleep upon it but open both to see the true state of your Soul as to Life and Death If you are prickt in the Heart receive more Pricks and fear not to be wounded for sin for Christ can heal thee and give thee Life 2. Do not receive the Word upon my Credit and do not reject it for any Prejudice against me but go to the Word of God it self Read the Text and recieve it as it is the Word of God for so it becomes effectual 1 Thess 2.13 3. Dread a slight Work upon thy Heart The Son of God finished his Work and left nothing undone that was to be done It lay heavy upon him yet he did it till all was finished Be faithful to thine own Soul to thine own Life in working out thine own Salvation with fear and trembling with a wise care and diligence fearing to fail and miscarry And when you are heartily and seriously engaged to work out your Salvation Take these Directions 1. Study well with reading hearing praying the Word of Grace and Salvation As you shall pass from Death to Life in your Justification so you must have a new Principle of Life and be changed from Death to Life in Regeneration and Sanctification How was the Apostle changed The Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus Christ hath made me free from the Law of sin and death Rom. 8.2 The Gospel is the Ministration of Life 2 Cor. 3.6 and by it we are changed while we behold the Glory of the Lord the Son Jesus Christ with open face as in a glass v. 18. 2. As you are dead and can never be saved but by Christ the Saviour so you can never be quickned nor believe nor have Christ but by the Holy Spirit We are changed from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 It is the real effectual Work of the Spirit of the Lord and it is so done as to demonstrate the Finger of God to be in it 3. Rest not in outward Performances and Acts of Devotion but wait upon God in all his Ordinances as appointed means for Salvation Pray for the Spirit of the Lord to work in you a sincere Separation from sin Satan and Self and to implant you in Jesus Christ to work your Hearts to believe and joyn you to him in love that you may have him for all those kinds of Life that have been spoken of 4. Rest not in Wishes that you had Christ but by humble Applications with great earnestness of Soul by the quickning Assistance of the Holy Spirit come to Jesus Christ himself for Himself and Life You must have Christ himself therefore come to him directly and see that no overloved Creature or Sin whatever lie in the Heart like a Stone between the Grass and the Tree to hinder a closure Idols and Harlots must be shaken off or there will be no Marriage-Union between the Son and you And now the God of all Grace supply what I am wanting in and give Life with his Son to whom be Glory for ever A Narrative of the Occasion of Preaching and Printing this Discourse and of the Behaviour of those two condemned Criminals from their Condemnation to their Death submitted to the charitable Judgment of Pious Readers THE last day of the Assizes at Even which ordinarily was in Lent but then put off I received a Message at my House to desire me to visit a Woman a meer Stranger to me as was her Father also condemned for the Murder of a Child Next Morning I waited on the Lord Chief Justice Pollixfen on the Road towards Rutland being but two Mile from my House to desire the favour of a Reprieve for some convenient Time for me to use my endeavours with her His Lordship told me he had reprieved her not being satisfied in the Proof that the Child was born alive He entertained me with very Divine Discourse and proper for me and the Woman and obliged me to give him an account of her at his return from the Circuit that if there were good hopes of her leading a Life answerable to Repentance he might procure her Pardon and his last Words to me deserve my remembrance Pray Sir do it sincerely Her Name was put into the Pardon by his Lordship and expected to come the next Assizes but came not then as was expected The next Assizes I waited upon his Lordship and staying there giving what Assistance I could to the most afflicted good Father of the Woman Mr. Samuel Dudley my kind Friend came to me and told me He was shortly to come and settle in Town and was resolved to make it his business to visit the Prisoners and desired my Assistance which I promised when desired and had opportunity The Afternoon after the Woman was ordered to be Executed being condemned two years before and the Man received his Sentence Mr. D. sent for me into the Prison where he was performing his Visit to these poor condemned Criminals After we had privately discoursed them as fully as time would give us leave the Honoured Thomas Catesby Esq the High Sheriff was desired to give us leave to preach to them before Execution which was readily granted with Thanks for our willingness to take pains with them They had but about a Week to live we agreed That one of us should preach the Wednesday following
Vsher of the Incarnation Fol. p. 428. Last Edit of the Sum and Substance Cameron Myrothec Evang. in Luc. Praeter in Mat. 16. Johan Junii Exam. Socini de Incarnatione fil Dei cap. 1. p 92. c. he shall appear to be shall be acknowledged and professed to be the Son of God for the Son of God hath taken that which is conceived in thee into Union with himself and so altho he is the Man Christ as made of a Woman conceived in the Womb of the Virgin by the Holy Ghost he is indeed the Son of God and shall be so called He shall be glorified with the Name of the Son of God with whom he is made One Person by that Power of the Highest overshadowing the Virgin If he was therefore the Son of God because he was conceived and formed in the Virgins Womb then he must needs be the Son of the Holiest his own Spirit but the Son is the only begotten of the Father and called the Holy Thing which signifies and denotes that which is Essential to Christ the Divine Nature or Person and the same is called the Son of God to whom the Humane Nature is united that so he might be Jesus Our Saviour and God with us in our Nature and for us for our Salvation Had Christ been meer Man and no more he might have been called the Son of God as the first Adam is called Luke 3. v. ult because of his immediate Creation but then he had been but a Creature tho perfectly holy from his Conception and had not been at all the proper and Natural Son of God as not being of the Divine Essence or Nature for every Son hath the same Nature that his Father hath but the Humane Nature is not the Divine Simber de Filio Dei l. 1. c. 5. p. 58 59. the Humane Nature being from the first moment of Conception united to the Second Person the Son of God that which was conceived in the Womb of the Virgin was the Son of God Our Mediator must needs be God and Man in one Person and because the Holy thing that was born was Emmanuel God-Man therefore he was called the Son of God The Natures are distinguished but the Person was but One and being but One there is one glorious Name given him The Son of God The Son of God and the Son of Mary are one and the same called the Son of God Christ the Son of David according to the Flesh Rom. 1.3 had his beginning when he was conceived by the Holy Ghost and that Operation of the Spirit was the Cause of his being called the Son of God Johannes jun. ib. Hooynbeck Socinianismi Confutatio 1 De Christ c. 1. p. 38. The Son of God took our Nature into Union with himself and he was not only to be called the Son of God by Men but was owned and called so by God himself at his Entrance into the Administration of his Office of Mediator Mat. 3.17 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased And besides many other places too many to be opened at this time he is called his dear Son or the Son of his Love Col. 1.13 and demonstrated to be the Son of his Being if I may so speak by the many Arguments in the following Verses 1. The Son of God's Love is the great God our Saviour and so great that he hath a Kingdom and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son O most blessed translation and change To be delivered from the power of Darkness and translated into the Kingdom of his dear Son It is a deliverance and a translation from Darkness and the power of Darkness out of the Devils Power and Tyranny out of the Dominion of Sin where every Lust is a Lord and we Slaves and Drudges working our own Destruction by our own Thoughts Tongues and Hands Great is the Power of Darkness and miserable are they that are under it They are under Wrath and within a step of Hell as long as they are under his Power But O how happy are they who are brought out of it into this Kingdom of the Son of God's Love Such as the King is such is his Kingdom the Son the King is full of Grace and Truth his Kingdom is a Kingdom of Grace and Glory of Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost The Laws Ordinances Priviledges Subjects and the whole Government of this Son of God's Love and King of Saints are answerable or suitable to him and what 's wanting here of perfect Happiness shall be made up in Heaven Our translation by effectual Calling and Grace is a Deliverance from the outward Prison and Suburbs of Hell into the outward Courts of Heaven and out of them there will be another remove and promotion into the everlasting Kingdom of Heaven 2. He is such a Son of God as paid a Ransom for all that have him and that was his own Blood Was there ever such a Son such Love such a Ransom All that are in him by Faith have the Benefit of that Ransom from the Wrath of God and the deserved Punishments of Sin He is the Son that procured our Pardon and Release from the Guilt of Sin the Curse of the Law the Justice of God ver 14. In whom we have redemption thro' his Blood the forgiveness of sin O how blessed is that Man whose Iniquities are forgiven Psal 32.1 Is not this then the Son of God the true God in our Natures purchasing us with his own Blood Acts 20.28 3. This dear Son is such a Son who is the Image of the invisible God God is invisible in his pure Essence and Being What Image can there be that is lively and perfect but what must needs be invisible also So Christ the dear Son of God must needs be invisible also in his Godhead and Divine Person and therefore truly God the Son but then God the Son the essential invisible and perfect Image of his invisible Father having taken our Nature into Union with his Person is a visible Image of the living true invisible God for he who hath seen the Son hath seen the Father also John 14.9 He that hath seen me hath seen the Father Ver. 10. Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me Never did any Image so lively express the Original as the Son of God in our Nature did express the infinite Wisdom Power Grace and Mercy of God God was manifest in his Flesh in his Humane Nature a pure material Glass shewing us Divine Perfections 1 Tim. 3.16 4. He is the First Born of every Creature As Man it is certain he was not born before every Creature As God he is not called the First-Born but the only begotten John 1.14 He is not called the First-Born in respect of Order of Time or Participation of the same Nature with the Creature created after him For if the Notion of the Arians were true
not the Knowledge of it and Wisdom in themselves to come to Christ And the Father draweth No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him John 6.44 2. The Son calls and puts out a mighty quickning Voice and raiseth the dead senseless Sinner to come to him for Life and he outwardly inviteth and draweth also Mat. 11.28 Come to me all ye that labour and are heavy laden c. He draweth objectively all Men to come unto him and all that come are drawn by him effectually John 12.32 And as all that the Father giveth him come unto him so he receiveth them and will in no wise cast off any that come unto him And then the Holy Ghost convincing the ignorant senseless lost miserable Sinner of Sin and Damnation and of Christ Righteousness and Salvation by him worketh Faith and the Heart to consent and receive and take Christ and so we come to have him The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Faith 2 Cor. 4.13 and the Cause of our Union For by one Spirit we are baptized into one Body and into Christ the Head of that one Body who puts Life and Spirit into every living member of it 1 Cor. 12.12 13. 3. The outward means of this Union are The Word of God and the Ministry of it I have espoused you unto one Husband that I may present you as a chaste Virgin to Christ 2 Cor. 11.2 If you desire to know yet further how you have Life The Answer is ready In or by having the Son Christ you have Life You have it in having him who hath received it and hath it for you You have it in him who is the Author Purchaser and Giver of Eternal Salvation He is our Life as the meritorious Cause as the Conservator and Fountain of it as the efficient Cause and Giver of it You have Life and Deliverance from Death Eternal by the Grant of Pardon and Righteousness You have the Life of Grace and Holiness by Union and Influence from him and there is a fulness of habitual Grace to supply you John 1.16 You have the Spirit in you Rom. 8.9 10. and you have the Life of Glory in the Bud Principle First-Fruits Promise and Hopes of it What shall I say You have Life in having Christ as a Branch in a Vine hath Sap and Vertue by being in the Vine as a Member of the Body from the Head as a Spouse hath all that she is endowed with by being espoused and married to the Husband All the incomparable Benefits of Christ come from Union with him As we have Christ now so we have Life now that is such Communications of Grace and Blessings as are convenient for our present state and in the Life to come a Crown of Life All All an incomprehensible All This Union doth not stand only in relation to Christ tho in every relalation there is some kind of Union but it is such an Union tho spiritual and mystical as these Terms are contradistinct to Corporal and Natural as a third one doth result from it But he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 That one Spirit which our Lord received not by measure that he might be the Head of his Body the Church The Mystery of our Union with Christ consisteth mainly in this That the self-same Spirit which is in him as in the Head is so derived from him into every one of his true Members that thereby they are animated and quickned to a spiritual Life The most reverend Ushers Sermon before the House of Commons 1620. p. 20. Lyford's Senses exercised 127. The same Spirit which was the immediate Conveyor of Grace to the Humane Nature of Christ is so to us Mr. Charnock 2 Vol. p. 134. is that one and same Spirit which teacheth guideth ruleth in and sanctifieth all and every one that by Faith are joyned to the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God To be one Spirit is to be united in the highest degree of Union The Union of one Believer to another is very near and close as of one Member of the same Body to another And this Union of every single Believer to the Body of the Catholick or Universal Church is by the Grace and Operation of the holy Spirit quickning and regenerating and all these living Members make one Body in Christ Christ the Head of the whole Body and the Head of Influence from whom they all receive spiritual life and growth and they who are joyned to him are one Spirit and from that one Spirit we have Grace to consent with Christ to will the same and to love and hate the same things to aim at the same End the Glory of the Father and to be govern'd by him against all Distractions and Oppositions that hinder us It was an entire and comfortable happy Union of the Primitive Church an Example to all succeeding Churches Acts 4.32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one Heart and one Soul neither said any of them that ought of the things he possessed was his own but they had all things common They were all of one Heart aimed all at one common Good in one common Action without any private Ends. This was a close Union of Hearts but the Expression of this Conjunction comes far short of that Spiritual real tho not essential Union between Christ and his gracious regenerate sanctified Members made One Spirit It was much to be of one Heart and Soul but it is more to be one Spirit This is the closest Union of all except the Essential Union of the Persons in the Godhead or the Hypostatical or Personal of the Second Person with the Humane Nature For one Believer doth not derive his Spiritual Life and Being from another nor depend upon one another for it but all receive it from their Head Christ and depend upon him for it although their being knit together is a means of their Growth Col. 2.19 And not holding the Head from which all the Body by joynts and bands having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God Our Union with Christ the Head is the closest because from him we all receive our Life and have nourishment ministred that we may increase with the increase of God And because our Union with Christ is most inward and strict therefore it is shadowed out under the Similitude of the streightest natural Union Cum itaque nostra cum Christo unio sit arctissima ea propter in Scriptura sub figura utriusque illius unionis nobis quasi adumbratur c. Cameronis Myrothec in Evang. Jo. 6.56 p. 149. of both See the excellent B. Reynolds Life of Christ and Mr. Polhil's Answer to Dr. S. of the Knowledg of Christ c. 4. s 1. p. 162. c. and his Treatise of Spiritual Union There is no stricter Union in the World than that of Christ to Believers 't is therefore compared to all kind
Christian are knit together our very Persons Soul and Body are coupled to the Person of Christ by the same Holy Ghost which dwelleth in him and in us 1 Joh. 4.13 Worthy Lyford p. 116. Hoornb Theol. practic l. 7. de Spirituali nostri cum Christo unione Zanch. in Ep. ad Ephes c. 3. De Spirituali Connubio A. B. Arm. Serm. before cited p. 19 20 21. And by him the Protestant Schoolman as a learned Person calls him Zanc. in c. 5. Ep. ad Ephes Q. 3. Thess 4. l. 3. Spiritualis connubii It was an high Dishonour that some did to Christ and injury to Souls that exposed the having acquaintance with the Person of Christ to the pleasure of vain ignorant Men or disgusted Palates at the Doctrin of God our Saviour We must not only know but have the Person of the Son as sent into the World to save Sinners as Mediator in the Execution of that Office as Prophet Priest and King as was said before But if any will ask How is it possible for us upon Earth to have the Son who is now ascended above all Heavens This Question or Objection was answered long ago by the renowned Vsher The Conjunction is Spiritual and Supernatural no Local Presence no Physical or Mathematical Continuity or Contiguity is requisite thereunto It is sufficient for the making of a real Union in this kind that Christ and we tho never so far distant in place each from other be knit together by those Spiritual Ligatures the quickning Spirit and a lively Faith wrought by the same Spirit A Wife is a Wife joyned in Marriage to her Husbands Person tho separate in divers Countries Subjects are related to the Person of their King and Politically united and enjoy the Benefit of his Government and pay Duty to him tho they never saw him But tho the Body of our glorious Redeemer be in Heaven his Person and his Spirit are in all that believe and with them whom having not seen yet believing ye live 1 Pet. 1.8 3. Every particular Believer who hath the Son hath Life and hath the Son for himself and by his own particular Faith as really and truly as the Catholick Church hath which is made up of all Believers What is the Universal Church but the Whole existing in Particulars The Text speaks in particular and not in general He that hath the Son hath Life Camero de Eccles p. 226. Itaque nullum est membrum corporis Christi ne vilissimo quidem judicio humamano quod non aeque Christum contingat atque illa quae sunt nobilissima c. quia Christus totius Ecclesiae singulorum Ecclesiaâ— membrorum Sponsus est and this having is an immediate having of him by every particular Believer for himself He that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.16 By this therefore let this Truth enter into your Hearts That every one of you not one excepted must have Christ for your own particular Life and Salvation Except we are living Stones living Members we are not Members of the Catholick Church The wise Virgins might as well have given of their Oyl to the foolish Virgins All Believers are immediately joyn'd to Christ one is not more united than another in the Body every Member is not proximly joyn'd to the Head but in Christ the meanest and weakest Believer is immediately joyned to him Rev. Mr. Burgess on 17 of John p. 589. as the Catholick Church give Life to any particular Member of it Christ is the Fountain of Life and except we have Life from him we are not Members of his Body the Catholick Church nor have Spiritual Communion with it Do not think of entring into Life by any new-invented Door or round about by which you shall not speed but come to him that hath Life and calleth you to come to him himself Make haste then for it is for Life 4. If he who hath the Son hath Life O what a Prize have they who have him They have him who is all Worth and Excellency A Pearl and nothing but Pearl There is no dross at all cleaving to him whose Head is of the most fine Gold Cant. 5.11 Yea he is altogether lovely all Desires Most desirable and most desirable for this that he is good to make a Man that is dead to live O what a Prize have all that have him They have Life What an Immense Loss was that of Adam's losing Life and Goods God and Creatures Soul and Body But now behold all that was lost is recovered All was sunk in the Sea of Perdition Man and his whole Estate of Happiness but now all regained and brought to Light he hath brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel Is there any thing to be given in exchange for a Soul Here is now a Jewel more valuable than a World Here 's Life with the Lord Jesus Christ Such a Life as none should live without but those miserable condemned ones who cannot have it The loss of it will be lamented for ever How joyful should the Souls be that have it Let us make merry saith the Prodigal's Father for this my Son was lost but is found was dead but is now alive O how glad should we be of having this Life For it was lost and is now found and shall never more be lost O value value Christ and what is to be had with him He is infinitely better than your selves and by him you have the best of the best of things Life is more precious than all things but this Life is the Crown of Life 4. You who have Christ owe more to him than to all the World Parents have done nothing for you in comparison of Christ they were Instruments of giving Life to you but they were also unhappy Instruments of Sin and of bringing Death upon you and when they had made you miserable and brought you into a World of Misery and Danger of Sin of every Sin and of Temptation They never sweat drops of Blood nor shed their Blood to save you They reckon they have done much in nursing and bringing you up and giving you a Portion of such perishing things poor stuff as they have But the Son of God who never did you harm and whom you never obliged to do you good sorrowed pray'd wept sweat drops of Blood yea died a cursed Death to save you from everlasting Death and to procure everlasting Life What have Physicians done for you or can they do but give some ease and some relief and for a few days prolong your natural Life Did they ever bear your Sorrows or raise your Dead or make your recovered Lives the happier But the Son hath born our Griefs and by his Stripes we are healed There 's a way of healing and all the happiness of life he provided for you What can Kings and Princes do for you VVe acknowledge the Blessing of Peace and Protection under
them Thousands yea Millions of Lives are lost in their Quarrels and Wars But here is the Son who saves his Subjects Lives raiseth their dead Bodies to Life he is the Prince of Peace and Life and he that believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting Life O what love and thanks shall be render'd to the Father of Mercy for his Son and to the Son for Life 5. Then here is good News to Sinners that are sensible of sin that know somewhat of the Death which they deserved and that fear it that desire Life and long for it but fear and doubt if not despair of Life O Souls here 's good News for you for Christ and Life are both to be had If you would have Life you must have Christ and if you have Christ you have Life both Christ and Life are to be had Life may be had O! if the Soul cry out and say How how is Life the Life of my Soul to be had The Spirit of God hath told you and his Servant John He that hath the Son hath Life the way to have Life is to have Christ Have him and you have Life that is most certain If the Soul pant and faint and pine for Life and cry out O when shall I be so happy as to live The Answer is ready As soon as you have Christ so soon you shall have Life Long long for Christ then make haste and come he will receive the Soul whom necessity drives 6. The way of having life is very wonderful and high yet attainable It is by Christ and by having Christ God gives life eternal life to his beloved ones but not one of them is fit to keep it for himself much less for others it is in his Son The Son comes down from Heaven in our Natures and he must die or we cannot have it We are dead and love Death in loving the way of Death and we are under the power of Murderers and Destroyers nay more we are under a Law of Sin and Death under the Curse of God Christ could cast out Devils with a Word and destroy the Destroyers without pain or shedding one drop of Blood but he could not deliver us from Death under the Sentence and Curse of the Law but by Blood The life of pardon by forgiving Sin was by precious Blood for without the shedding of Blood there is no remission of Sin Heb. 9.22 Behold how costly a life is our life Whence comes it From Heaven By whom by the Son By the imputation of his merit infusion and communion of his Spirit Per imputationem sc quae faciunt ad justificationem partim per participationem quae pro nostra sanctificatione gloria So those great Divines agree Bp. Reynold 's Life of Chr. and Hoornbeck as before p. 801. How by the Son By his Death and Life Passion and Resurrection From what O wonder at it it is life fetcht out of the Fire out of Death and Hell pluckt out of the Jaws of Devils and secured from all Dangers and Hazards but then he who hath it hath the Son 7. Then he who hath Christ is happier in having Christ than all other Persons in the World for he and he alone hath life when and while all other Persons are dead dead in Law dead in Sin dead to God and dead to their own Souls Good 8. Then the only sure and ready way to escape Death and to be sure of Life is to have Christ to come to him to believe in him and make him your own You know the ordinary way is that of the rich Man Good Master what good thing shall I do that I may inherit life Mat. 19.16 Memorable is the Relation of blessed Bilney's Conversion As the Woman in the Gospel had consumed all she had upon Physicians and yet was still worse and worse till she came to Christ c. Before I came to Christ I had likewise spent all I had upon ignorant Physicians they appointed me Fastings Watchings buying of Pardons and Masses c. But at last I heard speak of Jesus even then when the N. Testament was put forth by Erasmus At first I was allured to read rather for the Latin than for the Word of God At the first reading I hit upon the Sentence of St. Paul O most comfortable Sentence to my Soul It is a faithful Saying c. 1 Tim. 1.15 This did so exhilerate my Heart wounded with the guilt of my Sins insomuch that my bruised Bones leapt for joy And then I learnt that all my Travels all my Fasting and Watches all the Redemption by Masses and Pardons without Faith in Christ were but an hasty and swift running out of the way or like sowing Fig-leaves c. Neither could I be relieved or eased of the sharp stingings of my sins before I was taught of God that as Moses lift up the Serpent in the Wilderness c. That whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting Life c. B. of Martyrs 2 Vol. Letter to Tonstale The way he approved of was hard and he went a great way in it but there was a harder way and he could not find in his Heart to take it Souls Souls the way is but one and it is very fair save your pains of Pilgrimages and Cords and all the devised ways of human Reason and Superstition The way you know and me you know said our Saviour So say I because his Word saith so Have Christ and you shall live 2. Use of Exhortation to you all to have the Son O that I could perswade you to have Christ and to have him for Life and so to have him as to have Life by him Oh! how many have but Notions of him Some know not as much as the meaning of his Names and Office and such as their Faith is such their Life is A Notional Faith can have but a conceited Life an imaginary Life such as will last no longer but while they neglect their Salvation and receive the Grace of God in vain O have him as you have been taught what it is to have him I beseech you go along with me and set Consideration on work while I perswade you and then I will answer what you desire to know Arguments drawn from necessity and that extream and from advantage and gain and loss and both the greatest are very prevailing Let the greatest Wit in the World think if he can what is more necessary or equally necessary What Gain comparable to the gain of Life eternal Or what loss can come into a comparison with a loss of Life Who can number the Reasons to perswade you to have the Son for your Saviour and if you weigh them all other things are lighter than Vanity being put in the Ballance with them This one Reason should perswade us to have Christ because our life and all those good great and glorious things contained in life is first in Christ and
some fashion or way or other O! shall the short and uncertain life that fadeth away be more the Care and Concern of all Men than the life of Jesus That incomprehensible Gift of God which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord unto all them but to none but them who have his Son Labour not for the meat that perisheth but for the meat which indureth unto eternal Life which the Son of Man shall give you John 6.27 Yea count it better to enter into life halt or maimed or blind to avoid Sin the cause of Death than having two Hands two Feet two Eyes to be cast into Hell-fire Mat. 18.8 9. yea if it comes not only to the loss of Limbs but of Life it self spare not any thing to secure the Son and Life to thy Soul The having of him is safe without assurance but the assurance of it is comfortable for then the greatest danger is over and the everlasting Treasure and Inheritance secured and known to be so by the Testimony of the Spirit both from the Word and Conscience also 2 Vse Of Exhortation and Persuasion to believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God so as to have him altogether Person and Offices for all Uses Necessities Benefits and Purposes with all your Soul Mind and Strength What can be said more to persuade you than what is contained in these two short Sentences in the Text Be not content with any thing below the real and saving having of the Son of God Deceive not your own precious Souls try what you have whether what you have and put confidence in doth cause a spiritual Life of Holiness and true Joy and Peace in believing and be in you the hope of Glory all which they have who have Jesus Christ indeed That you may not be deceived in so great a matter I will shew you what some have had and you may have and yet come short of having the Son to Salvation and what they have who have him 1. You may read that the Jews thought they had enough when they could say they had Abraham to their Father John 8.38 But if God had been their Father they would have loved his Son v. 42. And by their Relation to Abraham they had the sign of Circumcision and other outward Privileges which many did build much upon But the Apostle did often overthrow their deceitful Building often telling them that Circumcision availed nothing no more than Uncircumcision but Christ was all in all Col. 3.11 But Faith working by Love Gal. 5.6 And a new Creature Gal. 6.15 2. They may not oly build upon their relation to Abraham and have nothing in themselves but they had a Form of Knowledge and Truth of the Law and think they can be Teachers of others Rom. 2.20 21. c. 3. And not only a Form of Knowledge a Religion in the Head but also a Form of Godliness in their Lives in opposition to the power of it 2 Tim. 3.5 which is rooted in the Heart and from the Heart springs forth and grows out in the Life dying to Sin and the World and living unto God 4. They may think they have and seem to have but they are mistaken in their thinking and but seem to have Luke 8.18 They may seem to have a Root of Faith when the Seed of the Gospel comes up in a green Blade but it withereth and is choaked by the heat of Sufferings and worldly Affections And they may say they have Faith James 2.14 These may have knowledg of Christ and his Word and be so far convinced of his being the Son of God as to be able to answer Questions concerning Christ and make an acknowledgment of him As the Devils confessed Christ Thou art Christ the Son of God Luke 4.41 And he suffered them not to speak for they knew that he was Christ Which was almost as much as Peter's Confession Mat. 16.16 and more than the ordinary Jews and Pharisees could say The one was the sincere Confession of a Friend the other of an Enemy There is an Assent to this Truth as to a Proposition or a true Doctrin and an Assent that is lively practical and cordial in order to have Christ the Son of God as a Person to be trusted to and relied upon for Life This is the Assent of a true Faith 5. Men have some Desires after Christ for the good they may get as the Scribe expressed Master I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest And Jesus saith unto him The Foxes have Holes and the Birds of the Air have Nests but the Son of Man hath no where to lay his Head Mat. 8.19 20. This was a trial of his sincere Faith if he would be as poor and destitute as the Master was If you had all things that can be named and have not Christ you have not Life Take heed therefore where you pitch and settle what you count your Treasure and upon what you build your Confidences Give me leave to hold you a little longer and to shew upon what Sand careless Builders who look not to the things that are eternal do lay their hopes of Life Suppose you had all things that are common to the sincere Believer and to the Pretender all will not amount to the Happiness of Life You say you are born of Christian Parents and not only of professing Christians but holy Parents So had the Jews as was noted but now Abraham the Father of the Faithful to their Father but not his Faith in Christ Say you have the best Church in the World for your Mother to what purpose except you are a living new-born Child of God Know you not that the Children of the Kingdom such as they were should be cast out Mat. 8.12 You have Baptism Had not Simon Magus that Token upon him Acts 8.13 You have the Ministry of the best Scholars and bless'd Men Had not they who had not Life this to say to Christ himself Thou hast taught in our Streets Luke 13.25 Yea but you have a Society of Saints you have Fellowship with Virgins and wise Virgins and had not and have not foolish Virgins the same Mat. 25. Shew what you have with your Lamps and what Oyl your Lamps are furnished with Have you Faith So had Simon Magus Acts 8.12 so have Devils Have you Christ indeed Have you Love unfeigned burning fruitful Love You have perhaps a Name to live a Name of Renown and Eminency so had they who were dead Rev. 3.1 All these things will make rather against you than for you if by all outward means you have not the Son himself 2. But some may say How shall I be certain that I have Christ the Son truly and indeed Let me ask you a Question or two and answer them to your self 1. How came you to seek after him and to have him Have you understood and felt your own Case and do you still know and feel when you look into your self a dead miserable