Mortification in them This General work of the new creature is necessary to all the actions of new obedience in us whether as to the doing of that which is good or the abstaining from that which is evil in that manner as it ought to be abstained from Therefore this must be laid as a ground-work and foundation to us in this particular and the reason why many fail in it is for want of this What 's the cause that many think with themselves oh they will certainly abstain from such sins and yet fall again in with them why it is because they never throughly hated them nor had their spirits set against them Therefore look first of all to that Secondly Stop the beginnings as we desire not to go on in trespasses let us not at first venture upon them for it is like the letting out of waters as Solomon speaks of strife which a man knows not where it will end He that will give himself liberty to begin he shall go on whether he will or no. Therefore take heed of the very first entrance and initiation in evil for these will draw on more with them take heed of the occasions of sin and of the edges and branches and brinks of spiritual danger as we love our own souls and the salvation of them See that we hate even the garment spotted with the flesh Thirdly Have daily and continual and fresh and actual apprehensions in us of the filthiness and dangerousness of it It is not some habitual prejudices against sin which will secure us from it unless we do also actually consider and reflect upon it and have things green in our memory especially at such time as temptations shall offer themselves here we must set one against the other The remembrance of the evil against the strength of the allurement and provocation to it As a man that thinks there is danger in such a way he will be sure to decline it Lastly Beg the assistance of Gods Spirit and fetch power still from Christ and be careful to walk in wayes well-pleasing to Him It is Gods enemies as I shewed before which go on in their Trespasses When men will be sinful they shall be so and the more that they give way to corruption the more it shall abound in them but it concerns all good Christians to have that nearer watch over themselves as that the Lord may not be provoked to give them over hereunto but to keep and restrain them from it This for helps and directions What remains to us but that we be careful to put them in practise as we have occasion for them we have as inpart hinted before many curbs and restraints upon us The Counsels of friends the Admonitions of the Ministery the Danger set before us and experience of Gods Judgements upon others in such and such evil courses Now if we will go on for all this we are in a most desperate condition indeed For this purpose we must further know thus much that nothing less will serve our turn then real and through amendment and reformation and turning to God and turning from our evil wayes It is not all the promises we can make all the fair pretences to betterment or all the counterfeit expressions of relenting whether in words or tears or the like as some will sometimes reach so far unto No as long as they still go on in their sins these will nothing avail them As if a man has some disease upon him Gout or stone or the like let him use all the Physick that may be yet if he goes on in the use of that dyet which feeds those evil humours in him which are the grounds and causes of his Distempers he will never be freed from it so long as he lives even so is it here to this purpose in Spirituals while men go on in their Trespasses and favour and allow themselves in them all the Duties and Exercises of Religion which are acted and performed by them will in this Case be but in vain unto them Perseverance in Duty is no Protection or Priviledg to any with perseverance in Sin but the one hinders the other That goes on still in his Trespasses This if we please may be further taken by us in a narrower and more restrain'd Sense then as yet we have taken it not so at large for all kind of Sins wherein it holds as a very good Caution but in particular for that sin of Enmity and opposition of the Church of God God will wound the head of his Enemies and the Hairy Scalp of such an one as goes on still in his Trespasses That is who notwithstanding Gods frustrating and disappointing of God in his Assaults which he makes upon it does yet attempt further against it such an one as goes on here God will certainly be avenged upon him Thus was it with Balah and Balant as to the cursing of Israel who though they saw they did but labour in vain yet still went on in their Trespasses And thus now the point will be thus that as all obstinate Sinners in General so all pertinacious Enemies the Church in particular shall especially be punished and destroyed if they are not careful what they can to prevent it Thus Esay 8.9.10 Associate your selves O ye People Gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces c. And wee see it in Pharoah and the Egyptians pursuing the Israelites how going on in it they were overthrown by it God thinks it enough at first for his Enemies to disappoint them but then afterwards when they are not diverted by it he thinks fit to destroy them and to punish them so much the more Therefore let all those which are such be hereby restrained and taken off from it Saul Sau why persecutest thou me says Christ to Him when he was going to Damascus with letters against the Church It is in vain for thee to kick against the Pricks As who should say if thou goest on thou art lost and undone by it God will be sure to have the better of his Enemies let them take what course they please against Him What a madness then is it for mens malice so far to transport them as to go on for all this that those they know labour to no purpose because no Weapon that 's firm'd against the Church shall ever prosper yet they cannot but persist in such attempts as these are as many do and will by no means be taken off from it To set whom all this the more Effectually there is a particle in the beginning of the Text which we translate but but according to the Hebrew it is surely Ak which has a good Emphasis in it to put it out of doubt with us that we might not make any question of it The Spirit of God does meet with mens Infidelity in this regard who do not so easily believe it and give Credit to it but think they may go on and proceed for all that
Professors and Embracers of it Now shall we exempt such Persons as these from being Wicked Men or from being liable to Eternal Damnation Or shall such as these think to flee from the Wrath to come Surely no in no wise they are as deeply engaged in it as any other and are as certainly inovlved in it Therefore Let none flatter themselves in this Particular or think ever the better of themselves in such Circumstances for they have no cause so to do For they are notwithstanding wicked Persons as they are here termed And accordingly shall have the Portion of the Wicked to happen unto them which is to be cast into utter darkness and to have their part in that lake which burns with fire and brimstone For this purpose consider thus much That God looks at the inward frame and temper of their Spirits more than any thing else which is considerable in that And if that be not such as it should be he has no reckoning or esteem of them as such who are little better herein than the Devil himself Take the Devil himself and If he were to live here in Humane Shape upon Earth he would not be a common Drunkard or Swearer or Whore-master or Ranting Person but would in a manner scorn such kind of Brutish and Swinish Sins as those as which would not be so much for his advantage No but he would be rather a secret Envyer and Underminer of the Power of Religion he would oppose and hinder Goodness and Piety all he could he would Scoff and Mock at Christianity and the Principles of it and do his utmost indeavour to draw men from the entertaining of it All this and the like he would do in a fair outward and civil conversation And whiles many others do no more then so and in a manner do as much How can they do other than fall into the condemnation of the Devil which is here mentioned that is To depart into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Matth. 25.41 Therefore though we have Civility and would have others to have it also and to be conscionable in the practise of all the Duties that belong unto it as they are laid down in the Second Table of the Law Yet we would have men to rest or content themselves in such a state as this is without somewhat else added unto it of Repentance and Humility and Self-denyal and Faith in Christ A new and gracious frame and temper of heart causing them to hate all kind of sin considered as sin and for the forsaking of it and to apply themselves to every thing which is Good for Goodness sake To be renewed in the spirit of their minds as the Scipture expresses it To take this part which we are now upon in the full Notion and Latitude of it concerning such Persons as are wicked and shall be turned into Hell we are to take in this as in a special manner belonging hereunto and as principally intended in it namely The Sin of Vnbelief and Disobedience to the Gospel of Christ. Such as are guilty of such Sins as these are the Main and Chief Sinners which are here spoken of as exposed and given up to this Punishment This is the Condemnation says our Blessed Saviour That light is come into the world and that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil Joh. 3.19 And so the Apostle Peter seems to declare unto us in that his quick and convincing Question and Expostulation 1 Pet 4.17 If Judgment begin with us what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of Christ And if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and sinner appear Where by the Ungodly and Sinner he seems to intend more especially such as he had said were disobedient to the Gospel These being such as do in a special manner deserve such names to be put upon them These shall not be able to appear at the General Day of Account with any Confidence or Boldness in themselves Therefore though other Sinners are as we have shewn before included in this Expression of Wicked Persons and so consequently liable to the Judgment which is here passed upon them Yet these are more especially intended above the rest as being mainly concerned in it Vnbelief it is the great Damning Sin because all other Sins besides that do especially damn in the strength of that as giving an Actual Force and Efficacy unto them especially where it is joyned with slighting and contemning of the Mercies and Ordinances and Opportunities of Salvation Here it is damning indeed and puts those who are guilty of it into the lowest place of Hell This our Saviour intimates to us in the Case of Corazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum those Cities wherein most of his mighty Works had been done with little success as to the Improvement of them That it should be more tollerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of Judgment than for them Matth. 11.22 The Tyrians rnd Sidonians and Sodomites they were great and grievous Sinners They were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly as the Scripture tells us Gen. 13.10 But yet these people which repulsed the Gospel and refused to comply with that they were wickeder and greater Sinners than those and are threatned with a hotter place in Hell as belonging unto them And so much may suffice to have been spoken of the Persons here adjudged and condemned in their Comprehensive Representation expressed in that word The Wicked as reduced to three Ranks especially that is Open and Scandalous Sinners Close and Reserved Hipocrites Carnal and Vnregenerate Persons The Second is as they are laid down Emphatically in these Words And all the Nations that forget God Wherein again two Particulars more First The Subjects of the Punishment here mentioned and they are all the Nations Secondly They Guilt which is fastened upon those Subjects as the Ground and Foundation of that Punishment and that is forgetting of God For the First The Subjects of this Punishment here mentioned They are all Nations Those if they prove to be wicked they shall not escape the Judgment of God Neither their Wealth nor Strength nor Power nor Multitude shall in this life be and security to them Why do the Heathen rage and the People imagine a vain thing saith the Psalmist Thou shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them to peices like a Potter vessel Psal 21.9 In Jer. 25.17 It is said That all the Nations were made to drink of the cup of Gods fury And in other places we also read of the Destruction and Desolation of all Nations So as these as well as particular persons are concerned and involved in it And there 's a twofold Ground for it The one is the Great and Almighty Power of God And the other is the Great and Vehement Importunity of sin First Gods Peace and Omnipotency When we consider what the Lord himself is in his
upon them all as so many means to make him better and that in his better part in his Soul and in his inward man and hence it comes to pass that he is no more troubled at them and that because he is perswaded of Gods love and favour to himself A loving and a Gracious God will do every thing in Love and Mercy to those persons whom he does love and therefore nothing we are sure in this case can come amiss unto us either it shall be good in it self or else tending to good in us what ever happens unto us This is that which a child of God is perswaded of Yea and not onely perswaded of it as a thing which he believes in the notion but also sensible of it as a thing which he feels in the experience and has found made good unto him by observation of former particulars Fourthly where there is peace with God there is also an intimation of safeguard and protection for time to come and this is that which wonderfully suppresses and keeps down inordinate feats what is that which does so much disquiet and perplext the minds of people in these dubious and distracting times It is for the most part an uncertainty of their future condition they know not what shall become of them they think if these troubles continue Now here that soul which is in good terms with God hath a wonderful advantage forasmuch as the Lord himself does reveale himself as a defense unto him He that dwels in the secret of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty I will say of the Lord He is my refuge and my Fortress my God in him I trust c. Phil. 4.7 The peace of God which passeth all understanding it is said shall keep our hearts and minds c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word properly signifies to keep as it were in a Garrison those which are in a strong garrison they think themselves safe and secure and this is the condition of those which have this peace of God Lastly where God gives this peace there is also the sweet and comfortable expectation of a blessed and happy condition which a man shall partake of in another world and so withall a weanedness and alienation from all these outward things here below Mens trouble in any affliction is much according to their affection and desires to these worldly contentmen Those which put a great matter in the world they have a great deal of trouble in themselves when they are at any time deprived of it and those which have nothing hereafter they are undone when they loose here But now a Christian which hath this peace of God in him it is otherwise with him He does not place his happiness here and therefore his trouble is not here neither That man which is reconciled to God and enjoyes fellowship with Him he sees he hath somewhat else to hold to when all these outward things fails when health fails and estate fails and friends fails and all seem to be gone yet he hath a better and more induring substance and an inheritance in another world that fades not away And this is that whereby he sustains and supports and keeps up himself in the worst conditions and times And thus we see how and where God gives this quietnesse which we speak of none can make trouble But to make this Point clear unto us It may be here perhaps objected that this is contrary to experience it self for asmuch as even the Godly themselves are sometimes under a great deal of trouble here in this world notwithstanding their inward peace and reconcilement which is drawn betwixt God and their souls To this I answer First If we mean by trouble an afflicted and troubled condition we do not deny it The children of God as well as others are subject and lyable hereunto whiles they carry flesh about them yea they are for the most part subject hereunto above all other men besides There 's no people which have greater troubles upon them oftentimes then Gods dearest servants But this is that which then we say that God does sweetly bare them up in this and assist them and inable them to indure them So that though there be more troubles upon their outward condition then it may be upon other mens yet there is less trouble and perplexity in their spirits and minds as arising from this condition And this is that which seems chiefly here to be intended and pointed out unto us when he gives quietness who then can make trouble Not as if none should thus assault and indeavour to trouble But who can make trouble that is who can actually trouble so as to take away the fruits of this peace Secondly We do also acknowledge that Gods children which have this peace in them have not onely trouble sometime in their condition but likewise as well in their spirit but then he so far forth as this peace is less vigorous in them or as they live in the power and efficacy of spiritual comforts It is true that where God gives quietness there is also a freedom from trouble But because he gives it imperfectly there is therefore but a partial freedom and exemption of us from it The greatness of our tranquillity is according to the strength of our assurance where we have greater and stronger assurance we have the less trouble And then I say so far forth as we live in the power of spiritual comfort When God gives us inward peace and quietnesse and we do not improve it it is no wonder if we have less benefit by it There are many which are guilty of that infirmity which Eliphaz fastens upon Job that the consolations of God are small with them God would comfort them and they will not be comforted And if so t is then no wonder if they have trouble and perplexity indeed it might be better with them in these cases if the fault were not their own The Point being thus cleared and inlarged let us make some use of it And first If this be so that no condition shall be troublesom to that person which is in favour and peace with God We see then how nearly it concerns us to labour and indeavour after this especially in these sad times which at this present are fallen upon us Every one as near as they could be would be freed from the burden of the times and be set in such a condition as wherein they might lest partake of the common miseries which are abroad in the world now we see here what 's the ready and most direct way hereunto namely by making our peace with God and getting him to be reconciled unto us we are apt presently to think of some other courses and wayes for the securing of our selves in these conditions but our best way is to betake our selves to God and to seek shelter from him as David often does Psal 61. verse 2. From the end of
Secondly he taxes them for their presumption in that they durst approach unto him in their sinful indulgence First I say he here challenghs them for their Formality by taking that expression singly and distinctly Will ye come and stand before me in this House c that is Will ye do no more than do so There was no fault in their coming into God's House simply considered nay it was so far from being a fault that it was a Duty It was that which God imposed upon them and required of them The external Duties of Religion they are such as ought to be performed and practised by us praying and reading and hearing and communicating and the like there is no fault in the things themselves Neither does the Lord blame people for them as to the substance of the Actions But this is that which he quarrels with their Affections in the performance of them when men shall do such things as these as to the outward transaction of them and have no workings at all upon the heart when they shall rest in the thing done and not be sensible of their own failings and miscarriages in the doing of them when they shall think to please God with a corporal and bodily service and in the mean time deny him the service of the inward Man This is that which he finds fault with and which he challenges here in this people And so he does likewise in other places as Isa 29.13 which is also alledged by our Saviour Matth. 15.8 This people draw near unto me with their mouth and honour me with their lips but have removed their heart far from me and their fear towards me is taught by the precepts of men so Ezek. 33.31 They come before thee as the people cometh and they sit before thee as my people and they hear thy words but they will not do them This is that which God lays to their charge their outward performances separated from the inward affection which belongs unto them This is that which is odious and abominable in the sight of God and which be cannot endure And that upon this consideration First because it is a piece of Sacriledg it is a robbing of God of his due it is a fraudulent keeping back of that which belongs unto him yea of the principal and chiefest of all We owe to God not only our outward man but also our inward not our bodies only but our souls not only the sacrifice of our lips but the sacrifice also of our hearts Now when we shall satisfie our selves in giving him that without this and which is most considerable we cannot herein but very much displease him As if a Debtor should give his Creditor the Bag and keep the money to himself What kind of payment and couzenage were this a meer couzenage and imposâ—â—re Why thus it is here when men give their â—â—â—ies and not their hearts What 's a body without a soul but a carkass And we know that that â—â—â—full of noysomness and unsavouriness And so are 〈◊〉 the services and performances of formal persons in that regard They are very noysom and unsavoury and loathsome in the nostrils of God and they are displeasing also because they are injurious they are a giving but half for the whole and the worst half of the two There is a piece of Sacriledge and Robbery in it That 's the first Secondly There is Hypocrisie and Dissimulation in it Every Formalist is an Hypocrite upon that very consideration For what is properly an Hypocrite but one that pretends more than he intends thus does a formal person By coming and standing in Gods House and setting upon the outward Exercises and Performances of Religion he pretends the worship of God and serving of him in it but whiles he goes no further than so but denies God the frame of his heart he does in effect not worship him at all and so does no better than dissemble Now God being himself a God of truth he does especially hate dissembling he loves truth in the inward parts he is not taken onely with sacrifice neither does he delight so much in burnt-offerings The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart he will not despise as he hath elsewhere exprest it to us in Psal 51.16 17. Thirdly Formality is so far forth unsatisfactory and displeasing to God as it is unprofitable and ineffectual to the bettering of the persons themselves which are guilty of it Bodily exercise saith the Apostle profiteth little but godliness is profitable to all things We may apply it to this business in hand All the external performances of Religion if a man go no further than them they do a man no good at all as to the qualifying or rectifying of him a man may still be as bad as he pleases for all these as we see here in the very Text and which we hinted before stealing and lying and committing of adultery they are consistent and agreeing enough with it Now that which is thus can never be pleasing or acceptable to God There 's nothing which can be pleasing to God in his Service but that which betters the heart of him that does that Service and does in some manner restrain it from evil now formal performances do not do so they that come not from the heart they do not reach to it and upon that account are here challenged and condemned by God himself Therefore this should teach us not to rest our selves in such things as these are as the manner of too many is though if they come to the House of God and present their bodies before him in his Service and come off to some outward acts of Religion that then they have done enough both for the satisfying of their own consciences and of the approving of themselves also to God No but it will not serve the turn he looks for further obedience from them and will require it at their hands that they should not onely come and stand in his house but that they should bring their hearts with them and that they should not onely set upon the outward performances but approve their hearts in them the one it is an engagement to the other And that 's the first thing which is here tax'd and challenged by God in this People to wit their Formality that they did but come and stand before him by taking this expression singly and solitarily and distinctly alone by it self The second is their Presumption or Impudence by taking these words in Connexion and Conjunction with those which went before Will ye steal and muthrer c. and yet come and stand in my house c Will ye that is indeed Dare ye are ye so bold and insolent as to do so And so it signifies thus much unto us What a presumptuous thing it is for any people to come before God in their sins and carnal indulgences for men to allow themselves in ways of wickedness and profaneness
the name for good understandings now we see here how they may do so and indeed attain hereunto which is by walking in such ways as are good and which tend to everlasting life and salvation This is the great wisdom of all and most to be looked after Who is wise and he shall understand these things Prudent and he shall know them Hos 14.9 Men commonly think it a part of wisdom in them to choose such ways as are best for the world but that 's wisdom in good earnest to choose such ways as are best for Heaven and as may serve to bring a man thither Secondly It is an argument also of a gracious and savoury spirit Men choose commonly according to their affections and there 's much of their spirit in those things which they fasten upon we may see what 's within them and what principles they are acted by according to that which they make choice of A spiritual heart is most affected with spiritual objects and places its greatest delight and contentment in such things as these Thirdly It is an argument of some courage and self-denial and resolution of mind For the better part it is not commonly without opposition and resistance in the world there will still be some or other that will malign it and set themselves against it There 's hardly any man that can make choice of goodness but he shall be sure to have enemies enough for it They that hate me says David are many in number because I do the thing that good is Psal 38.20 Now therefore to make choice of it in such circumstances it argues some kind of boldness and spirit and courageousness in it Lastly It is also an argument of an elect and chosen Vessel It is a sign that God has chosen us when we choose him and such ways as these which are good and pleasing to him For there where God elects he qualifies where he makes choice of any person he does withal confer a disposition suitable and agreeable to such a choice This is that therefore which we should labour and endeavour after and be still careful of to put it in practice In every thing whereunto we apply our selves still to choose that which is best to close with the best persons to cleave to the best causes to take up the best opinions to take the best courses and ways that possibly we can that by so doing we may approve our selves the better to Christ It is the disposition of many people in the world that if there be any way worse than other they 'l be sure to make choice of that and to make it their own Now what a fondness and madness is this we see in other matters for the world how careful men are what they are able to make the best choice that may be and there 's nothing good enough for them so exact and curious are they And how much rather should they then choose the best in spiritual matters The way hereunto is first of all To beg direction of God himself for the guiding of us Alas we are but fools of our selves without his Spirit to teach us and therefore we must have recourse to him Thus the Prophet David for himself Psal 143.8 9. Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning for in thee do I trust Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk for I lift up my soul unto thee And again Teach me to do thy will for thou art my God Thy Spirit is good lead me into the land of uprightness Thus the Apostle Paul prays for the Ephesians that God would give them the spirit of revelation cap. 1. ver 17. And for the Philippians That they might abound in all judgment cap. 1. ver 9. And for the Colossians That they might be fill'd with the knowledg of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding Secondly We must also seriously weigh and compare one thing with another Good election it proceeds from good deliberation Eccles 7.27 Behold this have I found saith the Preacher counting one by one to find out the account or as some expound and read the words weighing one thing after another to find out the reason If we would choose those things that are best we must not take them in their simple proposition or have a slight and superficial view of them but examine them and dive into them and consider them in all their circumstances Thirdly Take in the advice and experience of well-grounded and experienced Christians to help us We see how men do in other matters where they have no skill or very little in such and such Commodities themselves they will take with them those that have to choose for them and so should they learn to do here It is a good rule in doubtful matters to advise with the generation of God's children which in all likelihood should know what is best and be able best to guess at it Quilibet in Arte sua credendus est Lastly To labour to be acquainted with the power of Religion our selves Those things men best choose which they are best verst in A Trades man in his own Commodities and Mysteries and so likewise a Christian And this is the first observation That it is the commendation of a Christian to make choice of such ways as are best and most approvable to Christ as Mary here did The Second is this That we are then good to purpose when we are good upon right Principles namely of judgment and consideration in us when it may be said of us as it was here said of Mary that we have chosen the better part Religion it is a matter of election it is not a business of chance but a business of choice There are many persons sometimes in the world who do not so much choose Religion as rather Religion chooses them and they stumble upon it before they are aware But this should not be sufficient for us neither should we content our selves with it but labour rather to set our selves to it upon due grounds and motives upon us Thus David concerning himself Psal 119.30 I have chosen the way of truth thy Judgments have I laid before me I have stuck unto thy Testimonies c. Beloved It is true indeed it is a great advantage to have gracious opportunities of goodness afforded unto us and we are to acknowledg God's Providence in them and to bless him for them good counsel good example good education good company and the like But yet we are not to rest our selves in these but to have somewhat further to act us We are not to be carried only by others principles but by principles of our own not only to take the better part but to choose the better part that is to take it out of a liking of it and out of an affection to it at least to do so at last and before we have done Indeed I do not deny but those helps which I mention'd before may
as he is God but as he is God-Man as he is the Mediator and Head of the Church in which sense we are here to understand it And so he is variously exprest in Scripture as the Tree of Life as the Bread of Life as the Water of Life Christ he is every way and in all respects Life unto us both in reference to Grace and Glory I am come says he that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly Joh. 10.10 Christ he is both the Author of our life and the matter of our life too He is the root and spring of it in whom it is and from whom it slows unto us And he is the substance of it in whom it consisteth because he only is the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 2.2 He is our life as that which we feed on and are sustained and nourished by as a man is by his natural food in the life of nature His flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed and conveys life indeed by it There 's a threefold life which Christ does convey to all those who are true Believers First the life of Justification Secondly the life of Sanctification And Thirdly the life of Glory And in the conveyance of each of these unto them he is said to be emphatically the life as also in another place The life was manifested and we have seen it in 1 Joh. 1.2 First Christ is the life of Justification as to the pardon and forgiveness of our sins Persons that are condemned they are so far forth said to be dead namely as they are appointed to death they are dead in Law And this is the state and condition of us all by nature by reason of our first transgression there was a sentence of death past upon us and we were adjudg'd thereunto In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye Gen. 3.17 Now Christ he hath reverst this sentence and removed this death from us by dying for us By his obedience and suffering he hath satisfied the Justice of his Father and thereby hath reconciled us and put us into a state of life again Thus Col. 2.13 You being dead in your sins and the circumcision of your flesh hath he quickned together with him having forgiven you all trespasses Mark He hath quickned you by forgiving you I orgiving it is a kind of quickning because it makes a man a child of life who was before a child of death And this is that which Christ hath done for us he hath quickned us thus so far forth as he hath absolved us and set us free from condemnation by taking our guilt upon himself and that 's called a Justification of life Rom. 13.18 Now this it hath another life which is pertinent and belonging hereunto and consequent from it which therefore we may look upon under the same head with it And this is a life of peace and spiritual comfort For as by reason of sin we are plainly and absolutely dead and have a sentence of condemnation past upon us So from hence where it is discovered to us and we are made sensible of it we come to be dejected and cast down in our selves We are not only all dead but we are all a mort likewise Therefore as answerable to one death of sentence we have need of a life of absolution So answerable to the death of despair which is apt to follow upon that death of sentence where it does not appear to be remitted we have need of a life of consolation to be bestow'd upon us And this is Christ also unto us He is our Peace as the Scipture stiles him not only in the thing it self but also in our own consciences not only as to our state but as to our spirit not only as to our state to make it justifiable but as to our spirit to make it comfortable And in that respect also our life Being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and rejoyce c. in Rom. 5.1 c. Secondly As Christ is the life of Justification so he is the life of Sanctification likewise When God pardoned our sins through the Blood of Christ he gives us Grace and Holiness from the Spirit of Christ as a fruit and consequent of that pardon and reconciliation And Christ himself does impart and communicate his Spirit unto us for this purpose He is of God made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 The law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death Rom. 8.2 Not only from the law of death as to matter of guilt and condemnation but also from the law of sin as to matter of filth and pollution and hath put a new and another law into me which is the law of Grace and holiness of the Spirit This is the method wherein we partake of this spiritual life that it is first of all subjected in Christ and from him derived unto us The Spirit of God first sanctifies the humane nature of Christ and from thence sanctifies us and conveys a new nature unto us Christ lives in us by his Spirit Gal. 2.20 And therefore call'd a quickning Spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 This Life is further considerable not only in the principle of it but in the activity of it not only as that whereby we are simply enabled and made capable of doing our duty but also are made vigorous in it Christ is our life so far forth as we have a livelihood in any thing which is good And thus also the life of Sanctification Thirdly The life of Glory Christ is that likewise so far forth as he makes all his Servants to be partakers of it For so he does he raises up their bodies from the grave and he possesses both body and soul with eternal happiness And so the Scripture informs us Thus Joh. 11.25 Jesus said unto Martha I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye c. Christ is the life of the resurrection forasmuch as his resurrection hath an insluence and effect upon ours and is the cause of it Whatsoever is done to us it is done first of all to him He lives and we live in him He is risen again and we shall rise again by him and from him According to that of the Apostle in 2 Cor. 6.14 God hath raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power And again 2 Cor. 4.14 Knowing that he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you And again Phil. 3.22 Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Thus is Christ the life