Christ alone our Life.  
THE GREAT CASE Of Every Man's LIFE and DEATH Determined by the Sentence of God, In 1 John 5.12.  
Opened and applied in a SERMON Preached in the Sessions-House at Northampton, Sept. 9th. 1690. to some Prisoners the Day before their Execution: And now Published with Enlargements, for the further Benefit and Service of Souls.  
With a Narrative of the Behaviour of the Prisoners.  
By EDWARD PIERCE, M.A. Rector of Cottesbrook in Northamptonshire.  
LONDON, Printed for Jonathan Robinson, and are to be Sold by Thomas Pasham Bookseller in Northampton, 1691.   

To the Honourable 

Sir James Langham, Kt and Baronet, my most Honoured Patron.  
Sir William Langham of Walgrave.  
John Thornton of Brockhole, Esq;   Grace, and Eternal Life.  
Most Honoured Sirs,  
THE Reasons for the Honour and Service which I own to every of your Persons, are more than I shall declare, or than you desire should be declared. I should not have graced these few Sheets with your Names, but that I hope to make some advantage of them, for those that shall be in such unhappy Circumstances of the Prisoners, who were the occasion of my preaching upon this Argument, by proposing you as Examples to Gentlemen of Quality and Goodness, who shall bear the Office of High-Sheriffs as you have done.  
The first of you, considering the Charge committed to you by the Law, of the Bodies of Prisoners, and the Power you had over the Prison, judged it to be a great Duty to take care of their precious Souls, as if they had been a part of your Household. Having a large room in the Hearts of able good Ministers, you made use of it, and easily obtained their pains of Preaching Weekly in the Prison. They were all Licenced Preachers, and of Eminency in the Country, beside the Reverend Dr. Ford, than Minister in the Town: But before your Year expired, this Light in the dark place was put out by one, who should rather have set up Light in it, if you had not. It could not be for not reading the Liturgy, which all did; nor for want of a Liturgy, for the Gaoler had got A.B. Laud's, which was sent into Scotland, and put that Kingdom into a Flame. This, Sir, you so tenderly resented, that had it not been so near the end of your Shrievalty, you would have tried his Power in that House, which was as your own for that year. But then, as about three years before, and after, it was the Policy of Rulers to countenance no more preaching, than would consist with the Design then subtly covered, but afterwards revealed: Great care was taken that Zeal in Religion should not disturb the Quiet of the State; and they were made use of to put out the Candles, who were of all men most obliged to keep them burning, in Conscience to God, and Love to Souls. There was then in the Goal a large Room next the great Parlour, which looked to the Street, and a Pulpit in it, with a Gallery above Stairs at one end of it, as I remember, and other Conveniences for the Prisoners and others, (though then it was hard for any of the Town to get admittance, except they were Friends, or could make acquaintance in the House) and there was Six Pound per Annum paid to a Preacher, (for preaching once a Month as I remember) given by Sir Francis Nicholas, and your old Acquaintance in Em. Col. And my sincere Religious Friend Mr. William Holms received it many years for Preaching there. But since the dreadful Fire, there is a very fair House built, that stands in good Air, open to the Fields on one side, which make a pleasant prospect; well contrived for all Offices and Uses; but there is no Room proper nor fit for preaching. I presume the Salary is paid, but it is more than I know, that there is as much as one Sermon in a year preached for it.  
After the Fire, the Goal was removed into a straight House; and since that, more good may have been done in the Prison than I can tell of, by private Visits, especially by the Excellent Dr. Conant, who was much taken up in those private Exercises of his Ministry; but the Office of Salvation, as Martyr Latimer calleth the preaching of the Word, hath been shut up there: And I wish that some like to yourself may open it again, and others keep it open.  
The Second of you in few years succeeded your Elder Brother; and there being no extraordinary Goal in your Year, there was no extraordinary pains to be taken, especially remembering how that compassionate Act of your Brothers was checked and controlled; and you must needs have undergone a Contest with the same Power, which was so lately exerted against the ordinary great means of Salvation, then in the same person, whom you at a public Table heard speak contemptibly of Preaching, and therefore could not expect the favour of a Connivance from him. But, Sir, be pleased to take a share in this little Present, because of the Encouragement you have given me, speaking very kindly of my Performances in this kind, when you have heard first from others, and then took a particular Account of them from myself.  
The Third of you succeeded the Second, the very next year, if I am not much mistaken; and when you saw your time, revived the Exercise, and set up most of the same Lights which had been taken down before in the same place, to show the involuntary Inhabitants of it a way to prevent and escape their greatest Dangers. And you met with no Interruption. It is happy when poor Prisoners fall under the Care and Custody of such Men, as know that there are immortal sinful Souls in those Bodies, of which they must give an account by their Place. The greatest of their Miseries is, That they are shut up from the public Light and means of Salvation, therefore mercy on their Souls is the greatest mercy that can be showed unto them. And when all Acts of Charity shall come in remembrance, even this to the Souls of men, upon which commonly least Cost is bestowed, will be found the greatest. The Lord God of Grace put it into the Hearts of Gentlemen to be thus merciful to Souls in Bonds, whether in Prison or out of Prison. And, Honoured Sirs, whatsoever you have done, or have procured the doing of, in this excellent kind, will turn to your best account. The Objects of all other Charities are mortal Bodies, but the Objects of this are immortal Souls; and to help to ransom them from the power of Devils, is a nobler Work than to ransom Slaves from Heathens, whose greatest misery is, that they are in the hands of the Enemies of Christ: Yet though outward Charities must by no means be neglected nor intermitted; for there is a Charge to be laid upon rich Men, to be rich in good works, 1 Tim. 6.17, 18. And upon all and every man,, 2 Cor. 8.7. Every man according as he hath purposed in his heart, so let him give, etc. yea, even he who laboureth with his hands, that which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth, Ephes. 4.28. But yet Baskets of Spiritual Alms are the most precious; and what is done, as directly tending to the everlasting Salvation of poor Souls, comes next to the love of Jesus Christ to Souls. You have given an Example in this, as in many other kinds; the Prison hath been emptied and filled since your time, and most of your Preachers are gone before you: You are honoured with Age, I pray God enable you more and more to honour him, who only hath Immortality, with your Age and Abilities of doing good.  
But to return to my purpose. The next year after, the third of you, a Gentleman of another County was made Sheriff in this, whose Estate was little known in the County, and so great a Stranger, that he was directed by another where to find out a Preacher. The Preacher humbly desired him to carry on the Work of preaching in the Good as you had done, assuring him, he should find Ministers, though Strangers to him, that would freely bestow their pains. He took the motion kindly; but living out of the County, and taking ill to be put into that Office, who had but very lately served in another County, he did no more than just what was necessary in attending upon the Judges. Soon after, besides the Inconveniency of the Prison after the Fire, Gentlemen were picked out for that place of Trust, who were carved and fitted for the Service of the Court; (and they were active men, till the Eyes of some of them being opened, they turned their Backs upon the Court, and their Faces upon Nottingham) and the chief Persons of Quality were divided, and most of them endangered by that famous Presentment of the 52, (whereof but one was a Papist, and he was sure enough of protection and favour, whatever became of the rest) and while the Country was broken into Parties, there was no regard to such private and pious Exercises as I am speaking of: And all other Exercises, besides reading the Service, and giving the Sacrament, was next to keeping a Conventicle, if not as bad, in the Sense of some of the most favoured Clergy, whose Affections or Interest made them drink down Notions and Objections against the prime Duty of their Office, in which there was little new, and nothing could be strong against it. The chiefest of their Objections were long ago answered either materially or formally, by those Reverend Men, Mr. Attersoll on Philemon, and Mr. Hildersham on Psal. 51. Lect. 152. and on John. Sec. 60. And by Mr. Rob. Bolton, Saints sure and perpetual Guide p. 205. etc.  
If I could turn my Wishes into Petitions, I would beg for poor Prisoners these following Benefits.  
I wish, 1. That able and holy Ministers of Experience, would frequent these close places, to try if they could not recover some that belong to the Election of Grace out of the Chains of Infidelity and Impenitency. Many a Soul hath been called out of a Prison to Grace and Glory. And Holy Men have made it a business to find them out in Goals. Holy Latimer the Martyr hath transmitted this of St. Bilney as he called him, and himself also to our notice; Now after I had been acquainted with him, [Bilney] I went with him to visit the Prisoners in the Tower of Cambridge, for he was ever visiting Prisoners and sick Folk. Latim. 1. Serm. on the Lord's Prayer. Holy Bradford, when he was Prisoner in Southwark, was wont to visit the Thiefs on the other side the Prison. Learned Mr. Perkins preached once every Lord's Day to the Prisoners in the Sessions-House in Cambridge, whither the Gaoler brought them, till he was called to preach in a Church in Town. And so that Reverend and Experienced Exemplary Divine Mr. Richard Rogers, was a Visitor of Prisoners, as may be seen in Practice of Christianity, Of visiting the Sick, p. 698. Edit. Fol.  
2. I wish that all High Sheriffs would be so zealously affected towards the Salvation of poor Prisoners, as to take care to provide the best means and helps to save their Souls from Hell; and in particular, that they would provide well for them, and grant them as much time as they can between Sentence and Execution, that they may not be hurried out of the World under Darkness, and Confusion upon their Souls. Then we may press hard upon them, Turn or Die, when hopes of Life are taken away. Some Learned Men have written against a Late or Deathbed Repentance, with much Severity; and it must be acknowledged to be a very great Sin to neglect Salvation; and I have been under a Temptation to neglect them, because I had so much to do with hard Heads and hard Hearts, and but a little time to do all in. But as I have the great Examples of Divines more exercised and experienced than the former, so I have found that God has been pleased to make the fear of Death a means of Salvation: And why may we not think it to be much more effectual than an Affliction, out of which a man may escape alive? But here is no hopes of Life; and Afflictions have been sanctified means of Conversion; therefore so may the fear and apprehensions of approaching Death and Judgement be. This request is the same in effect that zealous and holy Latimer made to King Edward the 6th. Serm. 4. Here I take occasion to move your Grace, that such Men as may be put to Death, may have Learned Men to give them Instruction and Exhortation. For the Reverence of God, when they be put to Execution, let them have Instructors, for many of them are cast away for lack of Instruction, and die miserably for lack of good preaching. And the forecited Mr. Rogers hath these Word: And this I can say, I have myself visited many Prisoners after they have received Sentence of Death, in whom I saw as good Signs of saved persons, as ever I beheld in such as died in their Beds, not having tasted of Repentance before. And it were to be desired, that as Joshua pitied Achan, when he should be stoned to Death for his Offence, so that he brought him to confess his Faults with hope of Pardon; so that such woeful Prisoners might be provided for, that they might die with comfort. p. before-cited. There is more to be said and done, than Prepare yourself, and I will give you the Sacrament.  
3. I humbly desire that High Sheriffs would give encouragement and leave to willing Ministers to visit Prisoners at all times, and especially the last mentioned time, and command to their Officers to receive them to such an end, and for such a Work: And this I desire not, because I have found any difficulty or disrespect, (but the contrary) but, that none may be thought to intrude into another's man's Province, or questioned for exercising out of his own Parish. I may not be much suspected for making this motion with respect to myself so much, for my distance and manifold occasions at home may excuse me from doing much this way, except when particularly called or desired. And here I have a convenient place to make my most humble and thankful acknowledgements to the Honoured Tho. Catesby, Esq; for his leave and encouragement given to me and Mr. D. to take pains with the last that were Executed: And also I give my public Thanks, with the Offer of my best Services, for the like leave given us, by the very worthy John Creed Esq; our present High Sheriff.  
4. And I would that such piously affected Sheriffs should not think this to be any Augmentation of their Charge; for it is sufficient reward to have the Testimony of a good Conscience for a sincere endeavour to save them that have destroyed themselves. But seeing Sir Francis Nichols gave that pious Example, it would become persons of Estate and Piety to add something to it, which might be an augmentation to some Minister in Town, that shall best deserve it; by taking most profitable pains for it, and that Gift of Sir Fr. would be enquired after.  
5 I wish, that every apartment in the Prison, both for Debtors and Criminals, might be provided for with good Books, a fair Quarto Bible, a good full Catechism, or Body of Divinity, such as Usher's Sum and Substance of Christian Religion, a good Treatise of Conversion or Regeneration, and of Holy Living, of Judgement and Life to come. I will not name any, because I would not direct unasked, but leave the choice to any well-devoted Benefactor. It is a great Inducement to men that have nothing to do, to read, or to hear the reading of good Books, especially on the Lord's Day, when they have them provided for them. These should be booked down, and left in safe Custody when any go away.  
6. I wish all the Masters of Prisons were such as he was, Acts 16. for their own, and the sakes of them who are under their Charge. It is a place which would require Prudence, Gravity, Mercifulness, and a Hand or Gift of Governing the ill bred and corrupted part of Mankind, with a Temper of Mercy and Rigour. I have heard some say, they did not look to far so well at home, as they did in this Prison: O then, that there were nothing wanting for the Life of their Souls! Be kind to the few that are well inclined, and sober; be severe toward the profane and debauched; let not a Prison, a place of Correction for sin, be a School and a Shop for sin.  
7. I wish that were done, which might not be impossible to see done: There are some (too well bred for such a place) that can read; let some privilege or reward be given to such, especially to the more sober and serious, for reading to them that cannot; and let such as cannot, and have no employment, be bound to hear reverently some time every day, but inexcusably every Lord's Day. The loss of Liberty, and impairing of Health is great pay for the madness or pleasure of sin; but to suffer the punishment of eternal Fire is too great for men to expose them to, without effectual application of all possible means to save them from eternal Death.  
8. And because I would not be mistaken, as if I were all for public preaching; I do humbly conceive that there is much good to be done by private and particular Conferences with particular persons, for one man's case may differ from another's. But then this must be well managed and well followed, and requires more time, and therefore more proper for Ministers that live near, and may visit frequently; but when Ministers come from a distance, and cannot make frequent Visits, preaching must needs be best. And why may not leave be given for preaching in the Sessions-House, seeing there is no room convenient in the Goal, and that there is so short and so safe a passage from the Prison to the Bar? Why should it offend any man now to preach in a Sessions-House, when it was so ordinary at Cambridge, a Shire-Town, and an University? And why may not preaching be so public, that many people may hear, who are much affected on such occasions?  
Honoured Sirs, If I were to make any of these Petitions to any of you, you would grant me these, or teach and advise me to make better. I have but one humble request to every of you, That you would pardon my making of your Honoured Names public, without your leaves or knowledge; and that you would accept this little Present: And one Request I have to make to God for you in particular, and for all your Honoured Relations and Families, my most obliging Friends, That you may all so have the Son, and the Beginnings, and Foretastes, and First Fruits of Eternal Life here, that you may have it in its fullness in Heaven.  
Honoured Sirs, Your most obliged Servant in Christ, Edward Pierce.   

Mr. S. D. to the Reader.  
BEing desired by my dear Friend and much Honoured Brother in the Work of the Lord Mr. Pierce, to peruse the Narrative of the occasion of his preaching the Sermon annexed, and of the Behaviour of the Condemned Persons, for whose sakes it was preached: I have diligently read it over, and find that he hath given so faithful and exact an account in every particular, that I remember not any thing necessary to be added by me, but my hearty Thanks to Mr. Pierce for the great pains he took with those poor ignorant Souls in order to their Salvation, and my Humble Requests to Almighty God, that he would raise up more such public Spirits to serve him in their Generation; and that this Sermon (which was then received by the Prisoners, and a Crowd of other Auditors, with so much satisfaction) may now it's published, by the Blessing and Grace of God accompanying it, become effectual to the begetting and increasing of saving Faith and Knowledge in all such as read it. So prayeth  
Thine in the Lord Jesus, S. D.   

The Author being remote from London, the Reader is entreated to amend or pardon the Errata of the Press.   

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1 John V.xii. 
He that hath the Son, hath Life; and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not Life.  
WE that have this Prize put into our hands, of labouring to save your Souls, near the last Day and Hour, and the going down of the Sun of your Lives, are constrained to make short Work, 
As blessed Mr. Perkins did, in calling down a Malefactor from the very Ladder, saying, Man, come down, and thou shalt see what God's Grace will do to strengthen thee. In the Life of Mr. Perkins.  but as true as we can in this little time. If we should hold you under the Conviction Wrath, and Condemnation of the Law of God, for Sin deserving it, we should keep you in the dark Prison of Unbelief, and endanger your everlasting state, by withholding from you the saving Knowledge of Jesus Christ. We have endeavoured faithfully to set before you your Sins, and the Ways of Sin, not to keep you under Terrors, but to draw you to Christ; not to bind upon you the heavy Burden of Ten Thousand Talents, which you own to the Justice of God, and leave you to groan under it without hope of unbinding or releasing your Souls; but that you may come weary and heavy laden to Christ. We have cause of great sadness and heaviness of Spirit, to think how nigh you are to the Judgment-Seat of Jesus Christ, and how long you have been ignorant, careless Despisers of him, in whom you must believe, or perish everlastingly. Oh! How sad and grievous would it be, if you should go out of the World without saving Knowledge and Faith, without turning to God through Jesus Christ, by whom alone you must come to God, and obtain remission of Sin, and everlasting Life? You have now but a little Time left you to learn Christ, and we must now open to you the Kingdom of God, and set forth Jesus Christ before you evidently, for Grace and Life, or leave you in the Dark as we found you. You must take hold of Christ, and of Eternal Life, or sink into the Gulf of Eternity. You are upon the Brink of that boundless Ocean; O now, even now, while there is any part of this Day left, lay hold of eternal Life by Jesus Christ! But how shall you believe, except you hear; and how shall you hear without a Preacher! O now then hear a Sermon of Jesus Christ, and of eternal Life by him! If I were to Preach for my Life, and but one Sermon, and never to Preach more, it should be of God my Saviour, of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is certainly like to be the last that you, for whose sake principally it is designed, shall hear before you die. O! therefore now hearken, for it is for your Life; and by how much the more negligent you have been of your great Salvation, be you the more diligent and attentive now. O harken now, and the Lord open your Hears to attend to what the Lord shall say unto you, from the Text now read to you.  
The Reason why I have chosen this Text, is, because I would drive home the Point which you heard already, 
Preached by Mr. Dudley the Wednesday before in the Prison.  and to purpose handled the other day, That you cannot contend with God, nor stand in his Judgement without Christ, from Job 9.3. If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand; you cannot answer to your Charge, therefore take Counsel: And this being the last Service I shall ever do for you in this kind, the best Service I can do you, that are so near your appointed End, yea, and to all that hear me this day, is to open and apply to you this Text, which I have read unto you.  
In the Words we may find full Resolutions and Answers to the greatest Questions of Concernment to all Men living. The great Case of every Man's Life and Death is determined in them.  
If the Question were asked by any of you, 1. Who is the Man that shall escape in the day of the Lords Wrath, and live happily with God in Heaven for ever? The Answer is, That Man, and that Man only, who hath the Son of God, that is to say, He who hearty believes in him, embraces and receives him, as the Son of God the Saviour. The Decision is plain in few words, He that hath the Son hath Life. 2. If a contrary Question be asked, Who is that wretched miserable Man, who shall not see Life, nor come into the Kingdom of Heaven, but perish everlastingly in Hell, not in respect of his being, but happiness and well-being? The Answer is plain and peremptory, He who hath not the Son of God hath not Life; hath no title nor right to Life, nor any grounds of hope of it.  
3. If the Question be, What a Man shall do to be saved? Or how may a Soul that is convinced of Sin and Death, that is made sensible of his Sin and Misery, that confesseth how he hath sinned, and how he deserves to die for ever for it? How may a Soul, I say, thrust thorough with the fear of the Curse of the Law, as with a fiery Dart, that sigheth and groaneth under the Sentence of Death, and is afraid of dying, and being condemned to Hell when he dieth, come to be cured of his Wounds, and to Hope to see Life? This, this is the way, the Only way, the sure and certain way; let him come to Christ, and have him as he is offered, and then he shall not die in his sins, but have eternal Life: For, He that hath the Son hath Life; as sure as he hath the one, he shall have the other. O then, you that pant for Life, embrace the Son.  
4. Grant it to be true, that such are the Merits, Grace and Power of Jesus Christ the Son of God, that whoever hath him, and believeth in him with a right, hearty, uniting, effectual Faith, hath Life. But may not a Man, who hath not the Son, have Life? Is there no other way, or means of Life and Salvation, but Christ? Harken to the Word, and give Credit to it; it speaks fully to the Question, He who hath not the Son of God, hath not Life. This one Scripture carries Evidence and Conviction with it, to stop the Mouths of all Gainsayers and Cavillers. But this Text is not alone, there are three Scriptures more that conclude in the same Sense, both in the Affirmative and Negative.  
See 1. John 3.36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting Life, (there's the Affirmative, He that hath the Son, hath Life) And he that believeth not the Son, shall not see Life, (there's the Negative, or Contrary, He who hath 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, etc. 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 offered to him.  
I take the Words as Doctrines, 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 Understanding 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 mere 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, etc. 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  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 Prophecy 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. etc. Mr. Estwick's Articles of Mr. Biddle's Faith confuted, p. 211.  
A. B. Usher 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 fill. Dei. cap. 1. p 92. etc.   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, although 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 form in the Virgin's Womb, than 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 mere 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, though 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 Devil's 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, Privileges, 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 Gild of Sin, the Curse of the Law, the Justice of God, ver. 14. In whom we have redemption through 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, showing 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 Firstborn but the only begotten, John 1.14. He is not called the Firstborn, 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, That the Firstborn is of the same Nature with the rest of the Children, thinking thereby to strip him of his Divine Nature and Godhead, and to make him no more than a Man; then he would partake of the Nature of every Creature, as well as Man's; for he is not said to be the Firstborn of Men only, but of every Creature. This therefore is a Title of Dignity and Honour; as much as to say, He is the Firstborn, Heir and Lord of every Creature. He is not a Creature, nor called first, 
Mr. P. Bayn on the Colos. Christianni Schotanni in Collegio Miscellaneorum Theologicorum. Disp. 1. de prim. genitura. Sec. 11, 12. Zanch. in Col.  as though first made, but first and chief in Dignity and Power over all Creatures, Psal. 89.28. I will make him my firstborn, higher than the Kings of the Earth. All things are subject to him, 1 Pet. 3.22. and put under his Feet, Ephes. 1.22. His Dominion is over all. This is the Son of God's Love, manifested in the Flesh, suffering in our Nature even unto Blood, to make Atonement, and to procure us the forgiveness of Sin. O how happy are they who have him!  
5. That he is, not a Creature, not a mere Man, or made God, which implies the greatest Contradiction: Nor a Divine Man; as if he were more like God than other Men, as the Arians and Socinians dream and feign him to be; but that the Son of God, the Son of God's Love is true God, and hath an undoubted Title to the Dominion of all Creatures, is made evident from ver. 16, 17. in which there are these infallible Proofs of his Godhead. 1. All things were created by him that are in Heaven, and that are in Earth, etc. 2. As all things were created by him, so they were created for him. All things were created by him and for him; therefore he was not an Instrument in the Hand of the Creator, but the most High God, and one God, with the Father and Holy Ghost. To us there is but One God, of whom are all things, etc. 1 Cor. 8.6. All things are by Christ, the Son of God; and also for him, as their End, therefore he is the High God. See Rom. 11.36. The Instrument is for the principal Cause: 
That which I, as the Principal, do use my Servant to do, is not for his sake, but my own; but the end of all these things was no less the Honour of Christ than the Father. Reverend Holy Bayn on the Coloss.  If Christ were the Instrument of God the Creator, in the Creation, than all things would not be for him, for his Service and his Glory, who was the Instrument. He was an equal Cause with the Father and the Holy Ghost, because all things are for him, for his Service and Glory; therefore he was not an Instrument, nor an inferior Agent, but one God with the Father: Yet we must observe an Order in the Government and Administration of the Mediatory Kingdom of Christ. Christ as God is one with the Father; but Christ God-Man, as Mediator, hath a respect to God the Father, John 5.8. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much Fruit, so shall you be my Disciples. John 11.4. I have glorified thee on the Earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. John 7.18. He that seeketh the Glory of him that sent him, is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him. And Phil. 2.11. And that every Tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father. 3. And he is before all things, ver. 17. before the World, and all things in it. If he were a mere Creature, he could not be before all things, he could be but the first of Creatures; but being before all Creatures, he should not be degraded and debased to be made but a Creature: But he is before all things that are made, therefore God the Creator of all things; for there can be nothing before All things but God, as before all Time nothing but Eternity. And that Saying of the Reverend Davenant upon these Words, 
Quomodo fuit ante omnia, si ante suam incarnationem non fuit? Quomodo condidit omnia qui ipse non extitit? Expos. Rep. P. ad Colos.  might stop the Mouths of all the Socinians, who make the Conception of Christ to be the Principle and beginning of his Filation, or being the Son of God, grounding their Error upon that Text spoken of before, Luke 1.35. How was he before all things, if he was not before his Incarnation? How could he make all things, who was not himself in being? Saith that clear and learned Man.  
4. By him all things consist: He supporteth and beareth up all things, upholdeth all things by the Word of his Power, Heb. 1.3. All things are continued in their Being, Place, Order and Usefulness by him, by whom all things were made. He beareth up the World, and keepeth things together from falling into confusion and ruin.  
I have been the longer in the Description of the Son, that you may know him, and that knowing him you may desire him, come to him, believe in him, have him, honour him, admire him, and do all that is required of you. Consider, one thing before I go to the next Head. The Son of God is to be had as he is given, and sent of the Father, and as he is said to come into the World. All which Expressions do signify to us his Office and Undertaking of a Mediator, with the Performance and Benefits thereof. The Knowledge of him as such is necessary to, and is the beginning of Eternal Life, John 17.3. This is Eternal Life to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent as Mediator, to mediate Peace between the infinite God and sinful Men. Therefore let me in few Words open to you the meaning of the Word, and the reason and nature of the Office of the Mediator, as he is called, 1 Tim. 2.5. There is one Mediator between God and Man, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a Ransom for all; where observe these things plainly.  
1. The Mediator is a middle Person between Parties. 2. The Parties between whom he dealeth as Mediator, are God and Man. 
Medius Natura Medians Officio, Trelent. & alii.  3. The high Quality of the Mediator is set out by his Humane Nature, and by his Names, the Man Christ Jesus. 4. What he did, he gave himself a Ransom for all. And by this last Particular we understand three things of great Moment. 1. The Condition of all Men; they were guilty of an heinous Transgression against God, and were fallen under the Curse and Justice of God: A miserable Condition! 2. What God required and must have, or sinful Men must abide and perish under the Wrath and Curse of God; there must be a Ransom given and paid for them, and that was the precious Blood of the Son of God, 1 Pet. 1.18, 19 and his Life, Matth. 20.28. Oh! what an inestimable Ransom is that! 3. The Nature of Christ's Mediation. His Work was not so easy and cheap as the Socicinians make it. They make our Mediator to be a Messenger sent from God to make known his Will to the World, 
Catech. Racou. de prophetico Christ. munere.  or an Interpreter of his Mind. But to what End doth the Apostle add this, Who gave himself a Ransom for all, if that was all? But he who is that One, and only Mediator between God and Man, gave himself a Ransom for those who could never have redeemed their own Lives, who lay under the Sentence of Death and Condemnation. Let it not be tedious to you to read and ponder, Heb. 9.14, 15. How much more shall the Blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God? The Offerer or Priest was Christ, the Offering or Sacrifice was Himself, Body and Soul, even unto Death and Blood; that which gave Efficiency and Power to the Offering, was the eternal Spirit, or Divine Nature; he to whom it was offered was God, who in Justice required, and in Mercy accepted it, for them who believe and repent, to purge Conscience from Gild and Pollution, vers. 15. And for this Cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament, that by means of Death, for the Redemption of the Transgressions that were under the first Testament, they which are called may receive the Promise of the Eternal Inheritance. Here we have the Reason or Cause of Christ's Mediatory Office. He is a middle Person dealing between both Parties, God and Men, and for both. To God he gave himself a Ransom, 
Nam ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 officium non minus pertinent hominum vice apud Deum fungi, quam Dei vice apud homines. Grot. de Satisfactione Christi, p. 172.  which is a Satisfaction for Sin, and sinful Men: For them that are called he procured the Promise of the Eternal Inheritance; the means by which he obtained Pardon for the sins of the Hebrews under the First Testament, whereof Moses was a Typical Mediator, and the eternal Inheritance for them who are called and believe, was his Blood, the Blood of Atonement. And this great Work of Christ was performed by him as a Priest, and so he is a Mediator in his Priestly Office, and procures Peace and Reconciliation as a Priest, and therefore as a Priest he is Mediator. As a Priest he offered up himself to God, in our stead, and for our Good; so he stood between us Sinners and the offended God, and made Atonement; and as Priest, he appears for all that believe in him; for he is an Advocate, and makes intercession, which he could not do, if he were not the Propitiation for our sins, 1 John 2.2. And so he is a Mediator between both, for both; for he is the Mediator of the New Testament, having satisfied by his Death and Obedience for the Violation of the first Covenant made with Adam, in the Gild of which all Mankind are involved; and for the sins of the Hebrews under the first Testament made with their Fathers, which no Sacrifice could expiate or satisfy for. All the Mercy and Goodness of God is conferred upon them that are called, and brought to believe and obey him, by a Testament or Covenant; and all that Man is obliged to, as Duty and Obedience, is required in that Testament, whereof Christ is Mediator. And therefore some judicious Divines put this into the Description of the Office of Christ Mediator, that Christ is the Person God-Man, who doth confederate God and Man in the same Covenant of Grace, 

Christianus Schotanus. Disput. 19 De Mediatore.  
Thess. prima. Le Blanc. Thess. 1. An Christus sit Mediator secund. utramque naturam, p. 109. Tileni Syntagma de Incarnatione Fil. Dei. Disput. 1. Thess. 4.   and make them one again.  
The whole Work of Christ as Mediator may be reduced to two Heads.  
1. To satisfy for the Breach of the first Covenant, and redeem sinful Men from the Curse of it.  
2. To bring God and Man into another Covenant, the Covenant of Grace, and to make them one.  
To this end it was necessary, 1. That he should be a Mediator of Redemption and Reconciliation. 2. That as God is one, there should be one Mediator; and so there is one, and but one, 1 Tim. 2.5. 3. This one Mediator is said to be Man in this Text, but not mere Man, nor Mediator as Man only, excluding the Divine Nature; but the Man Christ Jesus: He addeth to the Nature Man the Names Christ Jesus, which contain the Nature and Person of the Son of God, and signify that wonderful Person, 
Pet. Martyr administros Regn. Polonici, L. Com. p. 1113.  our Lord Jesus Christ. The Words do not show according to which Nature Christ is Mediator, but that the Mediator is Man, and that Jesus Christ is Man, who bringeth us to God. It is usual in Scripture to speak of the Person of our Mediator Jesus Christ by one of his Natures, 
Genevenses Thes. Theol. de Christo. Med. Thes. 27. p. 49. Centur. 1.  not excluding the other from the Unity of the Person: So by the Man Christ may be understood that Person who hath that Nature which is truly called Man, and that for divers Reasons. 1. That the Apostle would encourage us to put our Trust and Confidence in him, 
Reverend Mr. J. Ball of the Covenant, p. 269.  as being our Elder Brother. 2. To encourage us in the Duty of Prayer through the Mediator, to which we are exhorted, as knowing the greatness of that Power and Authority which Christ hath with his Father residing in our Nature. 3. That it might appear that our Mediator was the same Christ, or Messiah, which was promised from the Beginning, as the only Restorer of miserable Sinners, the Seed of the Woman, Gen. 3.14. 4. That no man to whom the Gospel is preached, 
Nequis igitur se torqueat ubinam ille quaerendus Mediator, aut qua via ad ipsum perveniendum, hominem nominans, propinquum imo contiguum nobis esse admonet, quandoquidem caro nostra est. Calvin. Instit. l. 2. c. 12. S. 1. & 2.  of any Condition or Quality, whether in Authority or under Authority, high or low, rich or poor, should be discouraged or terrified from seeking and accepting that Salvation, which by the Gospel is proposed and offered to all Conditions of men, seeing there is one Mediator for all, as there is one God over all, and good to all; and that one Mediator is the man Christ Jesus, who is near to us, and bond not only by the bond of Nature as Man, but by Office and Undertaking, as Mediator, Redeemer and Reconciler, to save all that come unto him. Now if you have cause to fear everlasting Destruction for want of a Mediator and Redeemer, nor for want of Tenderness of Compassion, or largeness of Heart towards you, as well as Power to save you: Your Destruction is of yourselves, your Ignorance of him, your Unbelief, and neglect of great Salvation: None of you doubt of the All-sufficiency of Jesus Christ to save you because he is but one, one Mediator and one Man: And how can one save miriads of men; so many as are past number, from their sins which are numberless and infinite, in respect of the Object against whom they are committed? If that Antichristian Cavil of Socinus should come by the Suggestion of Satan, 
Johan. Maccovii Anti-Socinus, c. 2.  to be a doubt in the Heart of any; To help you against that Temptation, and to answer the Cavil of that Man that hath mudded and and disquieted the pure Water of Life, flowing from Jesus Christ, take these Considerations: 1. It must be acknowledged, that all the men in the World cannot satisfy for the Sins of any one man, or redeem any one Soul; much less can any one mere man give a Ransom for all. But the man Christ Jesus our Lord is such a man as gave himself a Ransom, and it was accepted for all; therefore it was all-sufficient. It deserved not to be called a Ransom, if it were not sufficient, nor accepted: But it is called a Ransom for all in common; (all that shall be saved are saved by virtue of the same Mediator, and the same Ransom) therefore it was sufficient. If the Ransom had not been sufficient, Christ could not have been Mediator and Saviour; but he is Mediator and Saviour; therefore his Ransom was sufficient for all. 2. The man Christ is not a particular Person, an Individual, as humane Persons are; but the Son of God took the Humane Nature existing in that one Soul and Body unto Union with his own Divine Person; and taking the entire humane Nature, he is not a particular man subsisting himself, but truly the Seed of the Woman, Gen. 3.15. and so an Head of all that shall be saved; as Adam was the Head of all that died in him. 3. The singular Humane Nature of Jesus Christ was never alone, and separated from the Infinite Person of the Son of God, but was assumed into Personal Union with him, in the instant of his Conception and Creation; and so he was always the Son of God, and the Son of God paid the Ransom, and it was of infinite Value, equal to the Offence of man, and the Justice that required it. 4. Mark, that the Apostle saith, there is one God and one Mediator; as certain as there is one God, so certain there is one Mediator between God and man, and this said long after the Mediator had paid the Ransom, and offered himself without Spot to God, and had obtained the Promise of the Eternal Inheritance. If he had failed in his Undertaking, and not performed all things required for our Redemption, he had been no Mediator, and by consequence there had been no Covenant of Grace between God and man, nor had there been any Advocate with the Father, nor any Promise of the eternal Inheritance; and it must have been as the Apostle argues, If Christ be not risen, our preaching is vain, and our Faith vain, and we had been still in our sins. But there is a Mediator, a Covenant of Grace, an Advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the Righteous, who is the Propitiation for our sins; therefore the ransom which he paid was satisfactory for all that are saved; and by consequence, though Christ be but one Mediator, he is sufficient for all.  
These things being thus explained, I shall draw up the rest into a little room.  
I. The Son of God, whom you must have, that you may live, is by Nature God and man, two distinct Natures, infinitely distant one from another in themselves, are united in one Person, to perform the Office of a Mediator and Redeemer, that by his Mediation and Redemption he may be a Saviour. As the Son of God he is a middle Person in the Trinity, being the Second. As the Son of God in the Flesh, he is a middle Person appointed by God, and by his own voluntary Consent, transacting between God and sinful man, for the Glory of God, and Salvation of them that believe. Thus he is wonderfully sitted for that wonderful work: In him the Godhead and Manhood are one by personal Union. As God, he is concerned to repair the Honour of God; as Man, he is concerned for men, for all that are given him by the Father to be saved. He is distant from both; from man, as he is God; from God, as he is man; 
Reverend and judicious Ball of the Covenant.  and yet with both by the Personal Union of the Divine, and Humane Nature. He is Emmanuel, God with us, God-man. There is no other Mediator but him, for there is none fit for the Work but him. What was inconsistent with the infinite Perfection of God, he did, and suffered for God's Glory, and in man's stead, and for his good, in the Humane Nature; what was above the ability of the Humane Nature to perform and obtain, he was enabled to do as God, The Son of God carried him as man, and as Son of man through all the Difficulties of his Work. 2. The Son of God performed his Office of Mediator or Redeemer in a threefold Capacity; or, he executed his great and general Office in a threefold Office, of Prophet, Priest, and King; and in each of these he acted, and acteth as Mediator between God and man, and for both. And from these particular Offices he is called Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus is his Name is as a Saviour, Mat. 1.21. Christ as the Messiah, anointed by the Holy Ghost, fitting thing him for his Offices, that he might save his People; and Lord, as he is our supreme King, Ruler and Defender; as Prophet, he reveals to us the Will of God by his Word and Spirit, and so he saves us from our Ignorance and Folly: As Priest, he made Atonement, satisfied the Justice of God, and delivered all that believe, from the Curse, and makes continual Intercession, and so we are saved from the guilt of Sin and Condemnation, and obtain the remission of Sin by him: As King, we are subdued and converted to the Obedience of God, governed and preserved to his everlasting Kingdom; and so we are saved from the power of Sin, and the hand of all Enemies. In short, we are taught and persuaded effectually to come to God; we are reconciled, justified and accepted; we are converted and subdued, preserved, governed and kept by him, through Faith to Salvation. The necessity of knowing him, the Excellency of this Knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, and the Honour due to his Name, who hath a Name above every Name, hath kept me thus long upon this Branch of this Excellent Subject, and yet I leave out many things.  
This is the Son. Now followeth the next Particular, What it is to have the Son.  
This Word to have is often used to express Marriage, Union and Relation, John 3.29. 1 Cor. 7.2. Mark 12.22, 23. Luke 20.33. Of which afterwards.  
II. To have the Son, is so to have him, as to have him for Eternal Life, and so to have him as to have Life by him and from him. To have him is unspeakably more, than to have him as some think they have him. To have the Son you shall hear, is more than, 1. To have him in your Eye by reading, in your Ears by hearing, in your Mouths by speaking; you come to have him by means, but many have means who have not him; many have him in the Word and Ministry, in the Church, in the Creed, who have him not in their Minds by spiritual and saving Knowledge, nor in their Hearts by Love. 2. To have him, is much more than to have him in their Mouths and Profession. Oh! how many hear him, and have him standing at the Door, knocking without; and let him stand till he is weary of standing and knocking, and they have no mind nor heart to listen, rise and open, having other Guests, Friends, Companions, and things which they naturally and dearly love, which they love better than him, or that Life, that true happy eternal Life, which he comes to give to them that will have it. Oh! How many have him, as they who cried Lord, Lord, but did not the Will of God: Or not as Thomas had him, with Interest in, and Affection to him, My Lord and my God. Oh! how many have him coming and going in the Word and Ministry, that let him go as he came, in at one Ear and out at another! The Doors of the Heart are as open for him to go out, as they were to let him in. Oh! how many have him in their mouths, as he is in their Belief, in the Congregation, as Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, who study not the meaning of what they say, who show nothing of him in their Conversation: The Devil, and rotten Communication may be oftener in their mouths than he, except it be to tear his Wounds, and profane his Blood, and to cause many to blaspheme that worthy Name by which they are called! Oh! how many have him no further into their Souls than their minds and memories, as a Stranger or Passenger; that have him not in their Hearts as a Ruler or Dweller! They have him as the Papists have the Crucifix, hanging at their Necks, and in their Bosoms, that have him not within them by his Spirit for Life and Salvation. And are they few, who have him but as Judas had him, and carnal and worldly Politicians have him for their private Ends, to make merchandise of him? And to say no more, how many delay to have him till a convenient Season? They say they intent to have him, but they cannot yet determine when, for he is held at too high a rate, they cannot yet come up to the terms of Repentance and Self-denial: When they cannot sin as they were wont, they will repent; and when they are upon a forced remove out of the World, and must leave all, than they will deny themselves. This is plainly the Sense of them, who do not flatly refuse to have him, but are not resolved to have him as they must, or not at all. And that is as followeth.  
Mark the Word itself, He that hath the Son hath Life. First the Son, and then Life by him. First, Christ himself, his Glorious Person full of Grace and Truth, and then Life; both or neither, and both in this order and connexion; of which a little more afterwards. And then observe, that to have the Son is all one as to believe in him, John 3.15, 16. And to believe on the Son with Trust and Reliance, John 3.36. Or to receive him; but to as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the Sons of God, even to them that believe in his Name, John 1.12. They who received first the Son, had the Prerogative and Privilege to become the Sons of God. Upon our having the Son, as invested in the Office of Mediator, for which he put on our Nature, we have Life, the Benefit of his Redemption and Mediation. To have him, is to have him by the Application and Union of Faith. There is a mutual Act between Christ and the Believer; Christ exhibiteth himself unto us, and we adhere and dwell in him, 
B. Reynolds Life of Christ, 4 to. p. 461.  saith one of our best Divines upon the Text. To have him, is to believe and receive him, as to have a Propriety in him, and and after a sort, a Possession of him, as another of our Worthies doth express himself, 
Mr. Ball of the Covenant, p. 287.  not by way of Dominion, for so we are his (1 Cor. 6.19.) but by way of Communion and Propriety. To have him, is to believe and receive him as he is made of God to us Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption, 1 Cor. 1.30. which are the Benefits of Christ as Mediator, 
Worthy Mr. Firmin. Real Christian. Synopsis pur. Theologiae de Officio Christi, S. 38.  and the gracious effects of his Offices, as Prophet, Priest and King. For these things we need him, and these things we have by him. To have Christ, is to act answerably to the Proposal & offer of Christ, and everlasting Life through him. The matter will be more clear in Particulars.  
I. To believe, and to have the Son, is to have him in our Understanding and Minds, by a clear and unfeigned Assent to the Revelation and Proposal of Jesus Christ as Mediator and Redeemer. The Understanding, upon the convincing Evidence of what is reported concerning Christ, and Life by him, doth assent unto it, and doth acknowledge the Wisdom and Grace of God in the way to Life Eternal. That God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself, 2 Cor. 5.19. That God set him forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood, Rom. 3.25. is wonderfully approved of. This is a faithful Saying, that Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners, and it is received and owned as true and worthy to be believed, When a Sinner is convinced of Sin and Death, and that Life is out of his own reach and power, and that he must receive it as a gift of Grace and Mercy, and that the Author and Giver of Life hath set down this for a Law & Rule, That whoever would have Life must have Christ; The Soul lays aside all Thoughts of coming to Life and Happiness any other way, and subscribes to, and approves of this wonderful Contrivance of giving eternal Life by Jesus Christ, and of making it necessary to have Christ. Much of the Nature and Work of Faith is seen in this Assent to, and Approbation of this way of attaining Eternal Life. And thus Faith may be understood to be an Approbation of the way to Life, by its contrary unbelief, expressed by a disallowance of God's prescribed way and means, 1 Pet. 2.4. unto whom coming as unto a Living Stone, disallowed indeed of Men, but chosen of God as precious. They disallowed the living stone, chosen of God and precious, upon whom, as upon a Cornerstone, the Church is built; and that was their Unbelief; they would not have him, but laid him aside and threw him by: He was to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness; but to them that believe Christ the wisdom and power of God. The Believer approves what the Unbeliever disalloweth; the one admireth what the other despiseth.  
II. To have the Son, is to have him highly in our Estimation; it is to have him by a new, spiritual, convincing Evidence in our Minds, and to think highly of him; to esteem so highly of him, as to honour the Son as we honour the Father, John 5.23. Mark the place before quoted, 1 Pet. 2.4. Certainly, saith the Soul, God cannot be mistaken in the choice of a Saviour, a Rock of Salvation for one to build upon for eternal Life. Christ is a Stone perfectly fitted for his Place; he is a Living Stone, that will put Life into all the Stones, the Spiritual Building, as the Church is called, 1 Cor. 3.9. He is chosen of God and precious; therefore the rightly informed and illuminated Soul, esteems him highly, as a living stone as chosen of God, (who perfectly knew his Excellency) and precious. But to you that believe he is precious, 1 Pet. 2.7. Life is precious to him that hath been convicted, and found himself condemned and lost, and the Son that hath Life for him is most precious to him: He can't prise him according to his Worth. The greatest Honour he can do him, is to believe what is testified of him. O how base is every thing in comparison of his Saviour! They that are called (out of Darkness to Light) do see the Wisdom and Power of God in him, 1 Cor. 2.24. They admire him in all his Characters and Properties. They glorify him as the Son of the highest, as the only begotten of the Father, full of Grace and Truth, as the only Name under Heaven given among men whereby they shall be saved. They fall down and worship him, they cannot reach him with their highest Thoughts. As his Name is wonderful, so is he; wonderful in his Person; Emmanuel, God-man; the Holy one of God, the fairest among ten thousand, yea, altogether lovely. They esteem him for himself, for his All-sufficiency, for the greatest and hardest of all Works, that of a Saviour: They esteem him for his Singularity: He is One, and but one, like the Sun in the Firmament, one Sun for the whole World; so he is one Sun of Righteousness, with healing in his Wings, for all that are wounded, and fear the scorching, burning Wrath of the just and holy God. They esteem him as a Pearl of great Price; all the goodly Pearls, sought for by the Merchants, will be given for him at any time by every wise understanding Heart. They who have him count all things but Dung and Loss, that they may win him. There is nothing in him but unsearchable Riches! They who have him have nothing but gains and win by him; yea, though they should lose their Lives for him, they can't lose them, but shall have eternal Life, Mat. 16.25. That I may win Christ, said Paul. O that the World could believe it! Believers are made Partners with him in the Benefits of his Sufferings, Victories, Exaltation and Glory. What things are these? O think of him as he is, that you may have him! O labour to be acquainted with him, that you may set up a Throne for him in your Hearts, as for a Prince and Saviour, that you may prise him! 1. As he who is all, and in all! 2. That you may prise him, according to your need of him, and his fullness and freeness to supply. Mean things are valued when we need them. But Christ is one of incomprehensible Worth; he hath in him the desirableness of all things necessary, and of all things that are called incomparable. 3. Esteem him as your Souls, (Alas! who esteems them, though not to be exchanged for a World?) esteem him as your Life, yea, infinitely better than the longest and happiest Life upon Earth. The highest and dearest thing you can reckon of, is Life, is eternal Life; esteem Christ as that Life; He gave his Life for it, he hath it in his Gift and Power; he brought Life to the Dead, and Life from Death.  
III. He that hath Christ for Life, hath him in his Will and Heart. He doth understandingly, judiciously and hearty receive him. He hath him so as to close with him with a voluntary, entire, gladsome Consent. He hath him with the Approbation of his Mind and Judgement; he hath overcome his Doubts and his Cavils, if he had any; he hath not a Word nor a Thought against him; he is fully satisfied with him, and therefore doth receive him into his Heart, and with it. No man hath the Son for Life, except the Son hath his Heart, that is, the House in which Christ will dwell; That Christ may dwell in your Hearts by Faith, 
The Heart of Faith is wanting till Faith hath the possession of the Heart. Holy Mr. Baxter in that Excellent Treatise Dir. and Persuasions to a sound Conversion, p. 283.  Ephes. 3.17. That is the place of his Rest which he desires to dwell in, who dwells not in Temples that are made with Hands. Such was his Grace and Love, that he came down from Heaven to cast out Devils, fleshly and worldly Lusts out of thy Heart, to make thee free, to recover the possession of thy Heart for himself. O give him thy Heart, he best deserves it! This is the Word of Faith which we Preach, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe with thy Heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved: For with the Heart man believeth unto Righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation, Rom. 10.8, 9, 10. He that believeth with his Heart, that God raised Christ from the Dead for our Justification, Rom. 5.24: is righteous and justified before God. He, and he alone who believeth with his Heart, will have Courage and Boldness in dangerous Times to confess him before men, and call upon him, and he alone shall be saved, and have Life through him. Then Lydia had Christ and Salvation, when the Lord opened her Heart, Acts 16.14. Judas had Christ in his Head, and upon his Tongue as a Preacher, but he had not the Son for Life, because he had him not in his Heart. In the Gospel the Son is set forth in his Names and Properties, which are admirable, commending and inviting all that know him, and believe the Testimonies concerning him: And not only so, but he is propounded and offered by his Ambassadors; yea, he makes gracious Offers, standing at the Door; If any man hear my voice, and open unto me, I will come in to him, etc. The Covenant of Grace is a Marriage-Covenant between Christ and his Church, Rev. 3.20. The only Son of the highest, the Lord of Glory, that one Mediator, is tendered to you: Will you have the Son of God? If you will, you shall live: A Blessing which comprehends all manner of Blessings in it, even the everlasting Inheritance. You hear what is said, your Answer is, will, or will not; if you will not, then that's entered as in a Book of Remembrance. And you will not come to me that you may have Life, John 5.40. But if you will, and consent and say, you will have him for your Husband, your Head, and your Lord; then there is a Covenant between you, and you have Life settled upon you, and you enter upon the First Fruits of it, and have Communion with the Father and the Son, which is Life indeed. O what a Life is this beginning of Life! Till the Soul say, I will, there is no full Answer given; and while you suspend Consent, your Life is in Suspense.  
iv He who hath the Son, hath him in his Affection. And except you have him by Faith in your Heart, how can you affect him? But if you have him in your Hearts, the whole Household of the Affections entertain and come about him. Love, the firstborn and strength of the Heart, receives, and hath him. Desires run and go, clogged as they are now with Infirmities towards him; their Delights and Joys, when they are themselves, and free from the clutter of Strangers and worldly Lusts which quarter upon them, are in him, above all Persons and Things they ever saw or knew. My Beloved is unto me a Bundle of Camphire, of a refreshing virtue. He is a Bundle, and breaths out Grace and Life; he shall lie all Night between my Breasts, he shall be next my Heart; most intimate with me; I will make him a Bed in my very Heart; I will not disturb him, nor offend him, nor make him weary of his Lodging, and so offend him as to make him go away. O happy I when I have him with me! Cant. 1.13. He is altogether lovely, or all desirous: And this is my Beloved, and this is my Friend, O ye Daughters of Jerusalem, Cant. 5. from ver. 10. to 16. They who have him in their Hearts, trust him with the dearest thing they have, with the best of all; yea, their All, that is, their Life in whom ye trusted, Ephes. 1.13. And rejoice in the hope of the Glory of God; and Christ in them is that hope of Glory, Col. 1.27. You cannot have Christ without spiritual strong affections towards him, no more than a faithful chaste Wife can have an Husband. God works upon these Powers of the Soul, when you come first unto Christ to have him, and by lively Affections you hold him, and keep to him.  
5. To have the Son, is by Faith to have him in our Aims. We have him to live by him, to live in Communion with him, not as with an equal, or ordinary Companion, but to live to him, and to make him the scope of our Lives, as well as the lively Rule and Example, That we should not live unto ourselves, but to him who died and risen again, 2 Cor. 5.15. And so the Holy Apostle professed, that to him to live is Christ, Phil. 1.21. That Christ may be enjoyed, obeyed, pleased and glorified in me and by me.  
6. They who have him thus, have him as in their Eye, to love him and to aim at him, so they have him in their remembrance. Can a Maid forget her Ornaments, or a Bride her Attire? Jer. 2.32. Can that Soul who hath the Son of God, who hath taken him, and given herself to him, forget her Ornaments, the Garments of Salvation, wherewith he hath clothed her, the Wedding Garment and best Robe? Can a Bride forget her Attire? If not her Attire, can she forget her Bridegroom? There is a particular great Ordinance appointed to this End, that he should be remembered; and the Church his Spouse must do as he hath commanded in remembrance of him, 1 Cor. 11.25.  
7. They who have him in their Minds, Hearts and Affections, will have him in their Mouths with Honour. Whom do Men say that I the Son of Man am? Some say thou art John the Baptist. But whom do ye say that I am? And Simon Peter answered, Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God, Mat. 16.16. They that have the Son know what to call him, and who he is: Faith must know him distinctly and separately from all other Names and Persons, and eminently above all. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Acts 8.37. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the Dead, thou shalt be saved, Rom. 10.9. What! A Wife and not speak of her absent Husband! While we are present in the Body we are absent from the lord But, not have him in our Mouths to remember and honour him! How many Wonders have you to speak of concerning Christ? How many great Actions, wise Say, Heavenly Doctrines, holy Precepts and precious Promises, and rich Tokens have you to speak of? Have him, have him more in your Hearts, and more in your Mouths, with pure Affection and great Praise, as the Church had him, Cant. 5. from the 10th verse. Have him in your daily Prayers and Praises; have him in your Closets, in your. Houses; have him in your Communication, as the Disciples had him as they walked by the way, Luke 24.  
8. They who have him, have him in their Lives: They cannot live but by having him; I live, yet not I; but the Life that I live in the flesh, I live by the Faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me, Gal. 2.20. You must have the Son, or you cannot have Life: He is our Life, Col. 3.3, 4. Have him in your Lives as the perfect Copy, Exemplar and Pattern of Holy and Heavenly Living; have him in your Lives as the Manna, as the Meat you eat, as the Garments you wear, as the Air you breath in; yea, as the Life you live.  
III. What is that Life which they have who have the Son? By Life all manner of good things, all manner of Blessings are understood; and by Death all manner of Evil. Life and Good are set out together, in opposition to Death and Evil, Deut. 30.15. See, I have set before thee this day Life and Good, Death and Evil. There is some shadow of Death in all manner of Afflictions, Miseries and Sufferings, and all the lesser Streams of Evil run at last into the endless Gulf of Death, whose Springhead is the Curse and Threatening of Death, In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die, Gen. 3.36. That is the Wrath which abideth upon them who believe not: And when we believe, and are justified and pardoned, we are said to pass from Death to Life, John 3.36. John 5.24.  
I have showed you before, that the Son is here considered as Mediator; the Life which they who have him, have with him, is that which he hath as Mediator, which the Father hath given to all that believe, and is put into the hands of the Son, to give unto them. To open this great Mystery the more, you will find, that the Son as God hath Life himself as in a Fountain, yea, he is Life. And as he is Mediator and Redeemer, the Father hath given to the Son to have Life in himself, John 5.26. And gave him power to give eternal Life to as many as he hath given him, John 17.2. And again, John. 6.57. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me shall live by me. Mark the place; Christ was speaking of eating his Flesh; and comparing himself to Bread more excellent than Manna, and of the singular Benefit which they who made use of him by Faith, as Men do eat Bread, they should have Life by him. But how could he give Life to them that believe? He opens that in this, vers. 57 where note, 1. The gracious Act of the Father in sending his Son in our Natures, to be a Mediator and Saviour, with Commission and Power. 2. He who as God the Son had Life in himself, received Life from the Father, by whom he lived; and this Life he did communicate to all that believed. 3. So he that eateth me shall live by me. The Benefit and Blessing derived to them that eat him, that by Faith apply him, is Life; and as eating of Bread is the means of living by Bread, so believing or spiritual eating is the means of living; so he that eateth me, shall live by me. O! How marvellous is the manifold Wisdom of God in the way of Life, as his Grace and Mercy is in bringing forth Life to the Dead in Sin, and in bringing Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel! Our miserable and helpless condition required no small help, but a great and all-sufficient Saviour. And so the Life of our Mediator shows the Death of every Sinner; and our Deliverance from Death must in order go before, though not in time, the free Gift of Life. It was by an easy passage, which seemed wonderful delightful to the deluded minds of our first Parents, that we fell under Condemnation and Death; but the recovery was hard, and two things were to be done for us, to the praise of the Glory of Grace. 1. The Evils under which we lay were to be removed. 2. Our Life and Happiness procured and communicated, and both these are done by our Mediator and Saviour.  
I. The Evils under which we lay are contained under that bitter and terrible Word, Death, which is :  
1. We were dead in respect of the Gild of Sin. We were all Filii Mortis. As in Adam all die. That Threatening, In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die, hangs over our Heads, Gen. 2.17. The Death contained in the Threatening and Curse of the Law, 
Grot. de Satisfac. p. 71.  the eternal Death especially. We are dead and our sed by the Law, and we are all guilty before God, Rom. 3.19.  
2. We are all spiritually dead, dead in Trespasses and Sins, under the power of our Corruptions and sinful Lusts, Eph. 2.1. and 5. And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, dead to God and all spiritual Good. Even when we were dead in sins hath he quickened us together with Christ, making us alive to God and Holiness.  
3. We were dead as to all real and spiritual Comforts, born to misery as the Sparks fly upward. Comfortless without Hope, Eph. 2.12. As Adam was naked and ashamed, thrust through with Fears and Perplexities, driven to invent helpless Shifts for felt necessities. Paul did sadly mistake his condition, when he thought himself alive, and was brisk and well, Rom. 7.9. I was alive without the Law once, I thought myself well and safe, but it was my Ignorance and Senselesness; for when the Commandment came by which I was convinced of Sin, then sin revived, than the Snake appeared to be alive by that Fire, and I died; I was a lost man; I died, and had no hope nor comfort that way.  
4. We are dead, as Death is opposed to Eternal Life in Heaven; dead under God's everlasting Wrath, which is an everlasting Separation from the Presence of God, and the Punishment of the Eternal Fire. This is the wages of sin, Rom. 6.  
II. The good which we need, and which is procured for us, is Life and Happiness: All Blessings are comprehended in, and presented to us, under the sweet and comfortable Word, Life; and this Life is in the Son Christ, and they who have him have it, and every Branch and Distinction of Life, and that in Perfection.  
1. He hath in him the Life of Righteousness, and through his Righteousness they who believe in him are justified, and pardoned; and have their precious Life given unto them, who were under Condemnation. Righteousness and Life are equivalent, to have the one is to be secure of the other, Rom. 5.17 18. Therefore as by the Offence of one Judgement came upon all to condemnation; so by the Righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men to the justification of Life. How came this to pass? See 2 Cor. 5.21. For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him: He paid the Ransom, and endured the Curse of the Law, and as a Sin-offering, bare the punishment of our Sin, that we might be made the Righteousness (the Abstract put for the Concrete) that is, that we might be made fully righteous in his sight, with that righteousness which is of God, complete and acceptable. He was made of God to be righteousness for us, that we might be justified, and not come into Condemnation, 1. Cor. 1.30.  
2. He hath in him the Life of Grace, Sanctification and Holiness. He hath a quickening Power in effectual Calling, raising out of the Death and Grave. of sin, and rolling away the stony Heart, that the dead in sin may rise to a spiritual Life, John 5.25. Verily, verily I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. They shall hear his Voice, and they that hear shall live. O then most mighty Lord, put forth thy Voice and say, Awake thou that sleepest, and rise from the Dead, and Christ shall give thee Life, Ephes. 5.14. And that our Lamps should never want Oil, our Hearts never want Supplies, there is a fullness in Jesus Christ, and that to be communicated to all that receive him. And of this fullness have all we received Grace for Grace, John 1.16. The Life of Holiness conceived and brought forth in Regeneration, is increased and continued by the Mortification and Death of Sin, and living to God, and both these Powers we receive from Christ, Rom. 6.11. Likewise reckon you yourselves 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 itself, 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, etc.  
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 rejoice, (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 anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; glad Tidings to the poor, to the , 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, though 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. Rejoice in the Lord, Phil. 3.1. Verse 3. Rejoice in the Lord, and again I say, rejoice. Phil. 4.4. Rejoice 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, though 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!  
IU. 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 Father's Gift of Freegrace 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 failed and broke, and we were all ruined 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 one's 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 testify 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 joins 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 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 quickening 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, etc. 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 baptised 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 fullness 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 Virtue 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, (though in every relalation there is some kind of Union) but it is such an Union, (though spiritual and mystical, as these Terms are contradistinct to Corporal and Natural) as a third one doth result from it. But he that is joined 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 selfsame 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 quickened 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 joined 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 Catholic or Universal Church, is by the Grace and Operation of the holy Spirit, quickening 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 joined 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 governed 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 aught 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 (though 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 joints and bands having nourishment ministered, 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 ministered, 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 straightest natural Union, 
Cum itaque nostra cum Christo unio sit arctissima, ea propter in Scriptura sub figura utriusque illius unionis nobis quasi adumbratur, etc. 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 Knowledge of Christ, c. 4. s. 1. p. 162. etc. and his Treatise of Spiritual Union. There is no stricter Union in the World than that of Christ to Believers, 'tis therefore compared to all kind of Unions, etc. The Apostle doth mix both these Unions, of Husband and Wife, Head and Members, Ephes. 5.28, 29, 30. The Elaborate and Judicious Mr. Charnock's Disc. Weak Grace victorious, p. 1339.  as between Head and Members, and the closest political Union, as between Husband and Wife: Not that our Union with Christ is wrought after a natural manner, but is like unto it in respect of the closeness and effect of it; the Bonds of our Union with Christ is of all the straightest and indissoluble. Death will separate, and untie all our Joints and Bands of Nature and Marriage-ties; but he who hath the Son, hath Life, and that eternal; and Death is so far from keeping us from it, that it is made an open Door and Passage into it. The Bands of our Spiritual Union with Christ, are such as convey unto us Life and Nourishment from him; and without such an Union as this, by virtue of which we receive Spiritual Life and Power to obey his Commandments, and live under his Government, he might in vain call for Service and Obedience (which is due to him, whether we can pay it or not) or we ever expect the Reward of our Obedience. Christ is an Head for Government; but if our Union with him were only as to a King, Political Head and Governor, we should be related to him only in respect of his Kingly Office, and that only as to the outward administration of that his Kingly Office and Policy. But the Nature of our Union with him is best understood by the effect of it: If we have Life by having him, we so have him, as to have Life in him, and with him and by him; and without the Spirit of Life and Faith, we can never obey him as he requires. Christ infinitely excels all those things to which he is compared; and our Union with him by the Spirit and Faith hath those things singular in it, which cannot be comprehended in any one of those Unions, to which it is compared; it excels the natural Union of Head and Members, 
A. B. usher's Sermon before quoted, p. 19 etc. Immuel added to his Sum. p 438. Sum. and Subst. p. 154. Lyford, 118. Mr. T. Hooker, Serm. Soul's Exaltation, p. 25. etc. Cameron. Praelect. de Ecclesia.  for it is spiritual and everlasting; it excels the political Union between a King and his Subjects, by Compacts and Laws; for Subjects pay Obedience and Tribute of their own, but we are made a willing People by the Power of Grace; and having nothing of our own, we have all in having Christ. The Political Union by Marriage doth more fully express it, but not fully. Hold to this then, that to have Christ is so to have him, as to have Life given us, and maintained by our Union with him. The Wife hath the Benefit of Counsel, Direction, 
Haec Vnionis exempla adumbrant tantum, non satis exprimunt Vnionem nostri cum Christo etc. Cameron. Praelec. de Ecclesia, 225. p.  Government, Protection, Maintenance from her Husband, but not Life; and she doth not live because her Husband lives. But a Believer hath Life as well as Counsel, Protection and Maintenance from Christ; and he is our Life, the Cause of our Life; It is hid or laid up for us in him, Col. 3.3, 4. And because I live, said Christ, ye shall live also, John 14.19. There is a distinction between Christ and his Members, they are not what he is, nor he what they are, notwithstanding this Spiritual Union; but he is said rather to live in Believers, than they to live, Gal. 2.20. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the Life which I now live in the Flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God, who gave himself for me.  
So much of the first Doctrine; attend to the Application of it. I must be short upon many Heads, or else too long for a short Discourse.  
I. Use of Information in many Particulars.  
1. Hence you may learn the true way and method of having eternal Life. Observe the Words, He that hath the Son, hath Life. The Son first, and then Life, and all those Benefits and Blessings which are comprehended in that sweet and precious Word Life. We cannot have any Promises nor Privileges without Christ, nor before we have him by Faith; 
For as none can be made Partakers of the Virtue of the Bread and Wine to his bodily sustenance, unless he do first receive the substance of those Creatures; so neither can any participate in the benefits arising from Christ to his spiritual relief, except he first have Communion with Christ himself. We must have the Son before we have Life. Most Reverend Usher 's Serm. before H. of C. p. 17. His 18 Sermons, p. 421.  not the pardon of Sin, nor Peace, nor Hope, nor any access to God, but by having Christ, and him first in order, though at the same instant and time of having Christ, we have some Benefits for the present, and a Right and Title to all the rest in due time. Whoever shall eat of the Marriage-Feast must have a Wedding-garment, and be married to the Son by Faith first. In vain do all those hope for great things, that care not for the Knowledge of Christ, or having of him. The having of the Son makes Faith effectual, lively and working, because it hath Life; and Faith without Life from Christ can never be but a dead Faith: And this is also the trial of our sincere Love to Christ, when we receive him, and close with him, as he is proposed to us, as altogether lovely: Then do we, like those who marry for Love to the Person, and not for Wealth, as too many do, 
See the clearly judicious and holy Dr. Preston's Treatise of Faith, p. 11 And of Effectual Faith, p. 12, 13. And Mr. Baxter's Dir. and Perswas. to a sound Conversion, p. 286.  who care not for the Person, so they have the Wealth. Hypocrites would have Mercy to pardon them, yea Heaven, that Kingdom, who care not for having Christ as a Saviour, to save them from their Sins: These can forsake him, deny him, be Traitors to him in a time of Danger and Temptation.  
2. Hence learn, That if every one that hath the Son hath Life, than our Faith and our Love are set upon the most holy and glorious Person of the Son of God, but then as invested in the Office of Mediator, for as such he hath received Life from his Father for us. Doth the Word Son here in this Text denote and signify the Person of our Redeemer? Was it the Person of our Saviour that was given us, when it was said, To us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, Isa. 9.6. If it was the Person that was born and given to us; than it is the Person that they have, who have Life, as able to give them Life. 
It is a spiritual and real Union, whereby Christ and a 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 union. 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 Doctrine 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 Usher: 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, (though never so far distant in place each from other) be knit together by those Spiritual Ligatures, the quickening Spirit, and a lively Faith wrought by the same Spirit. A Wife is a Wife joined in Marriage to her Husband's Person, though 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, though they never saw him. But though 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 Catholic 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, etc. quia Christus totius Ecclesiae, & singulorum Ecclesia● 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 Catholic Church. The wise Virgins might as well have given of their Oil to the foolish Virgins, 
All Believers are immediately joined to Christ, one is not more united than another; in the Body every Member is not proximly joined to the Head, but in Christ the meanest and weakest Believer is immediately joined to him. Rev. Mr. Burgess on 17 of John, p. 589.  as the Catholic 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 Catholic Church, nor have Spiritual Communion with it. Do not think of entering 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 yourselves, 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, own 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, prayed, 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? We 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 rendered 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 Destroyer's; 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 Destroyer's 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 fetched out of the Fire, out of Death and Hell! plucked 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, etc. Before I came to Christ I had likewise spent all I had upon ignorant Physicians; they appointed me Fast, Watch, buying of Pardons, and Masses, etc. But at last I heard speak of Jesus, even then when the N. Testament was put forth by Erasmus. At first I was alured 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, etc. 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 learned 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, etc. 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, etc. That whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting Life, etc. 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 persuade 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 persuade you, and then I will answer what you desire to know. Arguments drawn from necessity, and that extreme, 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 persuade you to have the Son for your Saviour? and if you weigh them, all other things are lighter than Vanity, being put in the Balance with them. This one Reason should persuade us to have Christ, because our life, and all those good, great and glorious things, contained in life, is first in Christ, and 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. etc.  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 World, and our indwelling Corruption, labouring to choke 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 World on this side Heaven can show: 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 always 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 prise 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, etc. And will not this move you to have Christ the Son, and life with him! What 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 loathsome Disease, for life and spiritual Health; If you will not deny yourselves 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. Harken 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 Heavenborn life, but encumbered 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, than 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 satisfy 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, than 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 hearty 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 fullness, 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  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 Heart's consent, you subscribe to them all; as the Write 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 Wisdom and Love, Goodness, Mercy and Compassion, and will enable you to do and suffer all that you bind yourself unto.  
Q. But when is the Sinner made glad to have him?  
A. Then, when he seethe, 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 Gild.  
2. When 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 Fullness, 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 baptised: 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 ourselves 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 Alarm of Death and Wrath hastening towards you, awake you? Will not a Cry at Midnight rouse 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 show 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 Gild, 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 ourselves. 3. How we must be restored by Jesus Christ alone, Rom. 5.8, 9, 10, 12. etc. 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 Money, 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 though the Gate be straight, 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 what it is to have the Son, and what follows upon our having of him.  
Q. How may I know that? O that I knew it better what it is to have him!  
A. Beside what I said before in explaining that Head, I pray take notice, that nothing less than having him can save you, and give you Life. It must therefore be your own Personal Act. 1. Whatever Benefit you received as Privilege by Parents, and was granted you by the Ministers of Christ, must become yours by your own Personal Act and Engagement. Faith is a Personal Act of Application and Spiritual Union; every Man that hath him hath him for himself. This having cannot be done by any other for you. The Friends of the Bridegroom and Proxies may treat and propose, but Personal Consent, taking and receiving consummateth this Spiritual Marriage. He that hath him hath him upon his own knowledge, John 4.42. Now we believe not because of thy Saying, for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the World.  
2. You must have the Son, whole Christ altogether. Is Christ divided? No, you must not separate, and take him in one Office, or in one part of his Office, for one Benefit and not for all. You must have him for Life, and if you have him not all, he will not be for Life. They who have him not, would have him for forgiveness of Sin, and Salvation from Hell, but not for Sanctification; they would have him for their Conveniency and Profit, but would part with nothing, and do but what they have a mind to; they would have him for their own Ends, but God who sent and gave him, must have his Ends; he must be glorified in you, as well as you glorified in Christ: Christ will never have you, to his Father's Disgrace, and his own; he is and will be faithful to his Father's Interest, as well as merciful to you. You must have him to save you from your Sin, or else how can he save you from God's Wrath? And if you have him not for Holiness, how can you love him, if you do not love his Image? And how can you love him, that do not love his Image in yourselves? If you love him not all, you have him not at all for Life.  
3. It is a mutual having: And as we must have Christ entirely, 
Ergo in hoc Spirituali conjugio, tota cujusque fidelis persona, anima, sc. & caro, cum tota Christi persona conjungitur, & fit unum cum illo, una caro, unus homo. Zanch. de Spirituali Connubio, c. 3. Explic. c. 5. ad Ephes. Toti jungimur cum toto, uti in matrimonio etc. Hoorn. bek. Theol. Practicae, l. 7. c. 3. p. 796. Norton 's Orthodox Evangelist, p. 285. etc.  so he will have us entire to himself. As in Marriage, the Parties have one another, Cant. 2.16. My Beloved is mine, and I am is his, my Beloved altogether; and well we may so have him, for he is altogether lovely: With him we have the Father, and the Holy Ghost; with him we have unsearchable Riches, and of that Fullness which dwelleth in him; with him we have Life, and Promises, and Privileges, and hopes of a Crown of Life. The Wonder is, that he would have us; Us, that have nothing that is good in us; not one Grace, or attracting lovely Quality; we are made up of all the base and hateful ill Qualities of Sinners. We are vile and poor, till we have him with his Riches; we are blind, and deaf, and dead, till till we have him for Light and Attention, till he open the Heart to attend to the things that are spoken by him, Acts 16.14. We are dead till we have him for Life. And after we are recovered and made alive, we are weak, and faint, and diseased; we are in wants and straits, subject to great Discontents and Complaints. But O! what a Husband is he! He covereth and cureth Infirmities and Defects; he healeth Diseases, supplieth Wants, maketh rich; and what doth he not do, to give full Proofs of his admirable Love, Kindness, Patience, Power, and incomparable Goodness every way, to make us think ourselves happy in him! He hath us not for the Good that is in us, but to make us better: But such as we are he must have us; our Souls, our Bodies, and all our Faculties and Abilities. Believers are a redeemed purchased Wife, therefore altogether his, Ephes. 5.25. He must have that little Wit, Reason, Wisdom; he must have our Memories to be a Cabinet, a Closet, a Store-chamber to lay up, and keep what Goods and Treasure he brings with him: He must have our Wills, our Affections, our Bodies and all our Strength for his Service; and all we have in the World to be at his Command and Dispose, 1 Cor. 6.19, 20. And this the Nature of Faith, as it is sometimes expressed, to give up ourselves to the Lord, 2 Cor. 8.5.  
4. He who hath the Son, as he ought, must have him understandingly and cordially, hath, and must have him for perpetuity and constancy, yea, for Eternity: He hath him not for a time, and then either change him, or cast him off; but we have him considerately, hearty, and therefore resolutely. We are fixed in our purposes of forsaking all we have left; yea, doubtless, and I count all things but Dung; and to have what we account excellent and gainful, that I may win Christ, Phil. 3.8. Christ comes to us not as a Sojourner, but a Dweller, Ephes. 3.17. He must abide in us, and we in him. Read John 15.5.7.9, 10. In a word, you have Christ for everlasting Life, therefore you have him for everlasting. Nothing can tempt you to Reservations, Irresolutions, and Apostasy, but Sufferings; but our Saviour hath armed us against all Encounters and Hazards, Mat. 16.24, 25, 26, 27. and in multitudes of other Scriptures. If you can say, I will have Christ however, for I shall be a Saviour by him, I'll take him with all that follows, and I know I shall make a good bargain, therefore I will have him on any terms, come what will: When a Man can have his Will so perpendicularly bend upon Christ, that he will have him though he leave his Skin behind him; there's a true acceptation of him, 
Redemption by Christ, p. 427.  said that zealous Preacher as well as great Scholar, A. B. Usher in one of his Sermons at Oxford, 1640.  
That I may not be too long for my purpose, I return to my Exhortation to beseech you all, as you fear eternal Death, and as you desire eternal Life, that you would, 1. Make haste to, and humbly and readily accept of Christ, for it is for your Life. 2. That nothing hinder you, or come between you and having Christ, as you have been taught; stick at nothing, for it is for Life. 3. That you would so have him, as to know that you have him: You would not be fully satisfied with some hopes of a Pardon and Life till you were sure of it. 4. As you have him for life, so make use of him for life; not for Notions, for Talk, for Shows, for worldly Advantages, Interest in Parties, and Hypocritical Ends; but for Life, to live to God, and to live with God for ever.  
Consider, I beseech you, what encouragements you have to have Life, that great thing, that one thing needful, Life, Life, Life Eternal: For 1. As Great, as Glorious, as Holy as the Son is, yet you who are poor and humble may have him; you that are so poor that you know not how to live, except he will relieve you, and keep you alive, may have him. I counsel thee to buy of me, (that is, to have of me, at the lowest rate, yea, nothing of worth) Gold tried in the Fire, that thou mayest be rich, etc. Rev. 3.18.  
2. And this you will believe, if you believe, as you may and aught, what his gracious and merciful Design and End was in becoming our Mediator and Redeemer, and what the Father's gracious End and Purpose was in giving and sending him, John 3.16. God so loved the World, (with a love of Benevolence and Compassion) that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting Life. 1 John 4.9. In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because he sent his only begotten Son into the World, that we might live through him.  
3. If you consider his nearness to us in Nature and Blood, though he be the Son of God, God over all blessed for evermore, yet he is the Son in our Nature; and he loveth our Nature, though he hate our Sin; and the hatefulness of our Sins and Corruption doth not hinder his Love nor his Compassions, Heb. 2.14, 15, 16, 17.  
4. If you consider the nearness of his Relation: Mediator and Redeemer include and comprehend all Relations, and those Relations are for Union, and that Union is for Life and Communion. He is as near as a Brother, Heb. 2.11. For which cause he is not ashamed to call them Brethren, etc. yea, as a Father. Vers. 13. And again, Behold I, and the Children which God hath given me. Yea, he is a Beloved, and a Husband, a Bridegroom always in the Fervors of his wonderful pure Love. Christ so loved his Church, as to give himself for it, Ephes. 5.25.32. 2 Cor. 11.2. O! then take encouragement, and come directly to him! O, have him before you go to Bed this Night!  
And now let me direct my Speech to you, who are the occasion of this Assembly in this place. I have opened the Case plainly to you, that you may know where to find Life and Salvation, before you die. I am under some Discouragement and Temptation, because you have lived so long without Christ, and know so little of him, and have no time to live to express your Thankfulness, by holy walking for that unspeakable Gift, Christ, and Life by him: But as late as it is, I know what God can do, and what you must have before the End, or Noon of another Day, or you must die in your Sins; in those for which you are condemned to die, and more than the Hairs of your Head beside, even your Thoughts, Words, Deeds, your Omissions and Commissions; besides those, you know how earnestly you begged for life, and that for God's sake, for Chists sake, and that but for an uncertain, short, beggarly kind of Life with Shame, and many other Evils. How welcome would the hopes of Life be if I had any to give you? Would you not receive the King's Pardon if I brought it to you? Would you not have it, and never ask one hour to deliberate or demur upon it? O that you would have what I have to offer to you, upon this one condition of having it, and that if you had a longer Life to show it, you would manifest that you have it. I come to you in the Name of God, and his Son Jesus the Prince of Life, and make you a free Offer of everlasting life, the life of Justification and Pardon, a discharge from Condemnation. O! the Patience of God, that hath let you live so long! O! the Mercy of God, that hath let you live to this hour, to hear of life, of this life; and that upon this condition of having his Son Jesus Christ. Had you now had him, you had never have come to that place in that Condition. Will you have him before you die, that you may not die ternally? There is but this one way left; you need not make Friends and Interests, nor make Sums of Money for this Pardon and Life: Have the Son, and have life this hour, and life for ever: O what an Act of Grace is Justification and the pardon of Sin! Rom. 3.24. Being justified freely by his Grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. That which cost Christ his Blood, is free to all that are justified. Here, a free Offer upon acceptance; and methinks one of you should acknowledge the difference between this free Offer which will be made good, 
Three were imprisoned for Murder, and 200 l. was promised to one to procure a Pardon; 100 l. was paid, and the other was to be paid whenever the Pardon should come. The two Men were executed, this Woman's Husband, and his Brother-in-law, who both agreed, that the whole Sum should be paid if her Pardon could be obtained.  if you have Christ, and that costly Pardon, which was mightily laboured for, and could not be obtained. Have you not told us, that, to use your own words, Tenscore Pound was promised to obtain your Pardon, and two died without it, and you alone was to have the benefit of it, and miss of it? Now here is Life offered again, and that Life indeed more worth than the World, yea, than a World of Worlds! O do not refuse, but have it. And what I say to you, I say to all present before God, for you must all die, though not as these Persons are condemned to die, and die eternally if you have not Christ; but if you have him, your Souls shall live for ever; and though after your Skin Worms destroy these Bodies, yet in your Flesh shall you see God. O have the Son, and you shall have Life; but if not, you shall not have Life.  
And so I come to the Second Doctrine or Proposition, He that hath not the Son of God, hath not Life.  
These Words carry in them a clear and full Determination of the final Case of all, And every man that hath not the Son of God. As the Word declares, so it shall be with every one that hath not the Son. Unbelief makes Sinners unfit for, and uncapable of everlasting Life. The words are clear and decisive, there is no darkness nor ambiguity in them. Men may think they have many things, which make them presume and hope that they shall not die, but live. But had they all that ever Pretenders had, and have not Christ, this is a ruled case in the Book of God, They are all lost and dead Men, they shall never see Life.  
Not to have the Son of God is a Negative of having him; and not to have Life, is a Privative of having Life. The Reasons and Truth of this Sentence doth spring from the former, He that hath the Son, hath Life; which implies these Propositions or Doctrines. 1. The Son of God hath Life in him, and is the Saviour of all them that believe; and he alone, excluding all other ways or means, or persons; neither is there Salvation in any other. 2. He, whoever he be, that would have Life, must have the Son. 3. He that hath the Son of God hath Life, and none but he: Therefore he who hath not the Son, hath not Life, because he alone hath Life who hath the Son of God: And as God did for his great Love give his Son, made this Law abstract in the first Sentence, so in Justice he hath added this other.  
The words are so plain and certain, that they need no Proof, but only a laying open of the case, that all Men may see into themselves. And the desire of my Soul is, that by seeing how it is, as long as you have not Christ, and how it shall be for ever, if you will not have him, you may be prevailed upon to believe in Christ, to close with him, and cleave to him for Life.  
Beside what was proved in the former Doctrine, from John 3.36. Acts 4.12. Open your Eyes and see, open your Ears and hear, and conclude with the Text upon full Proof and Evidence, both in Jews and Gentiles.  
1. The Jews had Moses and the Prophets, Privileges, Ordinances, Types and Shadows, and Promises of Christ; but if they had not Christ they were lost and undone, for they had not Life: For God declared and enacted this Law or Rule to be followed in giving Life, John 5.24. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my Word, and believeth on him (or him) that sent me, hath everlasting Life, and shall not come into Condemnation, but is passed from Death to Life. And again, John 6.40. And this is the Will of him that sent me, that every one who seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting Life, and I will raise him up at the last day, vers. 36. But I say unto you, ye have seen me and believe not. How could they then have everlasting Life? or escape that Sentence, v. 53. Except ye eat the Flesh, and drink the Blood of the Son of Man, ye have no Life in ye? It is not your eating Bread; and following me for Loaves that can give you Life, but you must by Faith eat of Christ, and live.  
2. All they who believed not are severely threatened with dying in their sins. I said therefore unto you, that ye that die in your Sins; for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your Sins.  
3. All that were sensible of Sin and Death, that were stung in Conscience, were to look to him for Cure, John 3.14, 15. and were invited to come to him; Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, etc. Mat. 11.28. But they who would not come unto him, would not come that they might have Life, John 5.40.  
4. They who put away the Word of God from them, judged themselves unworthy of Eternal Life, Acts 13.46. and were cut off for their Unbelief, Rom. 11.20, 23.  
2. Thus God determined concerning the Jews: Let us pass from them to the Gentiles: Can they have Life who had not Christ? If Life and Immortality were brought to Light by the Gospel, as they were, 2 Tim. 1.10. than they were in Darkness before that was brought to Light; and their state before the Gospel-light did shine, and the Gospel-call did sound in their Ears, is every where described to be miserable and doleful; as, Dead in Sin, as Children of Wrath, Slaves of the Devil, Ephes. 2.1, 3. Out of the way, Rom. 3.10, 11, 12. And without hope. Ephes. 2.12.  
2. After the Gospel was preached, it was still certain, He that believed not, and had not the Son, had not Life. To open this, observe there was and is but one way, one straight Gate for all Flesh to enter into Life. For observe, 1. When the Apostles were to go into all the World, and to preach the Gospel to every Creature capable (as the Jews called the Gentiles by way of Contempt) they were to keep to this Rule, He that believeth and is baptised, shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned, Mark 16.16. And Paul was sent to the Gentiles, to open blind Eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, that they might receive an Inheritance among them that are sanctified by Faith that is in me, Acts 26.18.2. When the Gospel brought forth Fruit, this was the Fruit, they were translated into the Kingdom of his dear Son, Col. 1.13. And as many as were ordained to eternal Life, believed, Acts 13.48. See 1 Thess. 1.9, 10. and 1 Cor. 15.11. So we preach, vers. 3. etc. and so ye believed.  
3. Consider what was the principal Subject-matter of the preaching and writing. Was it not Christ, and him crucified? 1 Cor. 2.2, 5. Was it not Christ Jesus the Lord? 2 Cor. 4.5. Was it not Faith in Christ, the Benefits and Fruits of Faith? Yes certainly. 1. They shown the necessity of Faith, and the Righteousness of God by Faith, Rom. 3.22, 28. 2. The great Blessing, the Justification of Life by Faith, Rom. 3.25, 26, 30. Chap. 5.1. Being therefore justified by Faith, we have Peace with God, etc. and Salvation, which is the Consummation of all Blessedness and Life in Perfection, Ephes. 2.8. By Grace ye are saved, and that through Faith. Receiving the End of your Faith, the Salvation of your Souls, 1 Pet. 1.9. 3. They forewarned all of the danger of Unbelief, Heb. 3.18, 19 c. 4.2, 3. See the Heads of Doctrine preached by Paul to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 15.3, 4, 5. 4. How many Arguments are spent in persuading to Perseverance, and how many flaming Threaten are drawn to deter from everlasting Deaths, from the 23d Verse of the 10th to the Hebrews, to the end of the 12th Chapter? All this serves to convince every considering Person, that as Life and Power to save all Men is in Christ, and that they who would live must have him; so they who have him not, shall certainly perish.  

Application.  
I hope I have cleared and laid open the Case of every Man that hath not Christ; not to leave any Soul that shall read this in that horrid state of Death, but to persuade them to a timely Flight from the Wrath to come, upon all that believe not, and trust not to God through Jesus Christ alone for Mercy; I beseech you, receive the Love of the Truth, that you may be saved.  
1. If all who have not Christ have not Life, than he convinced of the miserable and necessitous condition of all them who are under the Reign of Darkness and Unbelief; whatever their outward Condition is in the World, high or low, rich or poor, young or old; they lie under the heaviest and most intolerable necessity in the World. 1. They want Life, and are under Death; and what Pleasure can they take in Pleasures, Riches, Honours, or the Glory and Enjoyment of all the Delights of the Sons of Men (if they had them all) as long as they have not Life? What ungrateful things should Music, and Songs, and Revellings, Banquet, Masks, Dance, wanton Fashions, the Fooleries of vain Minds, be to a condemned Man? What Pleasure could you take in fulfilling any sinful Desire, gratifying any Lush though in the most secret retirement, if you thought the Devil, the Executioner of God's Sentence of Death, stood at the Door or Stairs-foot to have you away? You are condemned already, and have no Pardon, no Life. 2. They need Jesus Christ for Life. 3. They need Faith for having Christ. Here's nothing but want and misery!  
2. What should be the first and chief endeavour and purpose of every one of our Souls, but to be first out of the Danger of the greatest Loss, and in the way of supplying the greatest want? Therefore apply yourselves to free Grace without delay; pray and cry mightily to God for Life. The Life is more than Meat, and the Body than Raiment; but this Life is more than Meat, Raiment, Body, or the present Life; pray and labour for it.  
3. If this be the sad case of Unbelievers, then let us learn what should be the great study and work of Ministers▪ Oh! Is our state any better than other men's? No, not at all! yea, we are in danger of being further from Salvation than other Men, because we are more apt to conceive and hold Errors concerning Spiritual Death, Adam's Gild, and our own; concerning Christ, and Faith in Christ, than other Men. The greater Men's Parts are without true Light and Grace, the more apt to err, and to flourish out their Errors, and Sophistically to defend them. How should we study for our own Life, and for the Life of as many Souls as we are to watch over! O! how should we labour to save ourselves and them that hear us! To have Christ for our own Life and Salvation, and then to preach Christ, and to draw others to have him for their Life! There are three great Points to be studied by us. 1. Christ the Son of God, and what is written of him. How necessary, profitable and delightful is the study of Christ, who is all in all! 
See that excellent Sermon of the great Preacher Bp. Reynolds at an Ordination, called, the Preaching of Christ Printed at the request of those who were ordained.  2. The only true way of having him for Life; the Benefits of Christ, and the way of partaking of them; his Communication of himself and Benefits, and our Reception of them, and Duties towards him. How offensive and troublesome should all those Notions and Books be to us, which detract from the Glory of Free Grace in Christ, and bring in another Gospel, and speak vain Words of Spiritual Union and Communion, the Nature and Office of Faith, and work of the Holy Ghost upon the Hearts of Men! 3. The state and condition of Souls, what they need, what way they must be saved; what loseth, and what saveth Sinners: As they have or have not Christ, so it must be with them for ever. I cannot pass by this use, when I consider how faithfully and plainly Moses dealt with Israel, Behold this day I have set Life and Death, Life and Good, Death and Evil before you, Deut. 30.15. And when I see the same Spirit of Light and plaindealing in the Divine John; How can we honour Christ, 
It had been sufficient to say, that all should seek to Christ for Life; but lest any should turn aside out of the way, he shuts out all from the hope of Life that seek it not in Christ. Calvin on the Eph.  and be faithful to Souls, that do not preach as he wrote? How can we deal faithfully with Souls, if we have not some spiritual insight into that, by which precious Souls are saved or lost? O how faithful and plain should we be, who have so great Arguments to treat upon, as Christ, and the Life and Death of Souls! And hence will also follow under this Head, that no Man should be ignorant of, but all desirous to learn the way of Eternal Life and Death, and to see in what way they are, whether in the narrow way to Life and Salvation, or in the broad way of Ignorance, Carelessness, Impenitence and Ungodliness, which leadeth to Destruction. But still remember, when we speak of the Terror of the Lord, and say to the wicked, that they shall die, if they turn not, and receive Christ for Salvation, that it may be to persuade Men to be willing to pass from Death to Life, 2 Cor. 5.11.  
4. If he who hath not the Son hath not Life, then in what case are all they that are ignorant and without Spiritual Sense of their Spiritual Death, Unrighteousness, Gild and Condemnation by the Law for transgressing it, and that are ignorant of Christ, save by the Sound or Letters of his Name; they know him not as the Son of God, or how he is so; nor as he is Mediator between God and Man, to bring us to God, as well as to make Reconciliation, and procure forgiveness of sin; nor how he came to be Mediator, nor to what end, nor how he performeth the Part and Office of a Mediator; nor what it is to believe in him, so as to have him for their Life. Many will sometimes say, that he died for them, and hope he will be so good as to save them: But do they know indeed the Nature, Efficacy, and Office of Faith? which they should know; for if they have him not, they shall die in their Iniquities. 2. In what case are they who neglect him and make light of him? Mat. 22.5. They neglect their own Lives that neglect him, Heb. 2.3. 3. What will become of all them that refuse him? John 5.40. And ye will not come unto me that ye may have Life. How shall we escape, if we refuse him who speaketh from Heaven? See Heb. 12.25.  
5. Seeing God himself hath already determined this great Point, and answered this Question, Who shall, and who shall not be saved, it is every Man's Wisdom, and should be his great business to submit to this Sentence of God, concerning every Man's final state; and as many as have any desire and knowledge of eternal Life, or Apprehensions of eternal Death, should apply themselves to the means of Grace, that they may be drawn and brought to Christ. When Men are sure that there are other things more worthy of their Care and Pains, than the Life of their Souls, let them lay aside the Care of their Souls till they are filled with their Vanities, which will never be. But Man! hast thou any Sense left? Any desire of Happiness and Heaven, or fear of Hell? O then take up the serious Thoughts of the Life of the World to come! of Glory and Immortality; and apply thyself to Jesus Christ, not slightly and ineffectually, but betimes and earnestly. Thou shalt find no Discouragement from him, but most gracious Inclinations, and assurance of being received into his Bosom and Arms, as a Saviour of them that believe. And know for certain, that if thou come short of Eternal Life, 
Quamvis fides non fit nisi ex Dei dono, & hominis voluntate, infidelitas tamen non est, nisi ex sola hominis voluntate. Prosp. Responsa ad Cap. Gallorum, p. 330.  it is thy own Sin and Fault, and the remembrance of that thy Sin of making light of Christ, will lie heavy upon thee to Eternity, as the main Cause of thy Damnation.  
6. In what Honour and Reputation should the Son of God be had in the World, seeing, as was Prophesied of him by Simeon to the Mother of our Lord, that should be for the fall and rising again of many in Israel! Luke 2.33. He will raise up all that are humble, and poor, and broken in Heart, that come unto him, that they may have Life; but he will be by his Justice and Power the fall of all them that refuse him. If Christ be so high and great, that the eternal Life and eternal Death of all be in his Hand, O! what seeking should there be unto him for Life and Mercy? What crowding to his Doors? What knocking and lifting up of Eyes, Hands, Voices, Hearts, to the Throne of Grace for Life? And how would Christ be reverenced and feared, admired and magnified, sought unto and loved, if Men would believe that he is the Prince of Life, and the Author of eternal Salvation! Heb. 5.9. O, how would it be said, Happy is that Man that hath him first! It is the Will of his Father, that all Men should honour the Son as they honour the Father; but how true is that, that they who believe not, honour neither the Father nor the Son? no, though he have Life and Death in his Power. How will Petitioners for Pardons from a King gratify even Doorkeepers and Friends, that can make way for them? How will the proudest Knee come down to the King himself?  
7. Then hence be satisfied in the true cause of the Damnation of Sinners. Sinful Man takes himself to be wise in shifting off the true Cause of his Miseries and Sufferings which come upon him from himself upon others; The Woman that thou gavest me, etc. Gen. 3.12. Adam doth not only cast the Blame upon the Woman, but upon God himself, Which thou gavest me. If thou hadst not given me the Woman, I had never eaten.  
But now this Text is of great use to carry us to the proper Cause of Perdition; the true reason why Sinners die, is because they have not the Son. And if this be the Cause of Perdition, then as you love Life, and hate Death, do all that God commands you to prevent your Damnation in the Cause of it. The means of Grace are the open and beaten way of Life; O! keep that way with care and diligence.  
8. Then how inexcusable will all Unbelievers be before God's Tribunal, that have not Life? They shall then know what a Life, what a Pearl they have lost: And the more inexcusable, the greater will the shame of their being placed on the left Hand be; and the more their shame, the more grievous will their Torment be. They should have had Christ, and he was made known and offered as the Author of Eternal Salvation; and Salvation and Damnation were set out before them, but they neglected the Son of God, and lost Eternal Life by wilful neglect. The Cause of the Death of Sinners is slighting of Christ, Mat. 22.5. Neglecting of great Salvation, Heb. 2.3. Refusing to hear Christ, Heb. 12.25. Scriptures quoted but little before. But Soul, to whom I speak, what think you? Is a Saviour to be neglected, when there is but one, and no other? Is the Salvation of Soul and Body to be neglected, when thou hast but one of a kind, one Body and one Soul? Is Life Eternal to be neglected, when there is but one day of Salvation, and when that is once gone, not one moment to be added to it? They who in the Parable of the Wedding-Feast are said to make light of Christ, are the good Husbands and Men of Business in the World, who could spare no time from their careful Occasions to spend in seeking, nay, in accepting the Grace and Favour of God, and Communion with him, who had made great preparation for them. We should let all things lie, rather than neglect the momentous Affairs of a better and more enduring Life. Oh! then how do they neglect it, and make light of Christ, who are Men of Pleasure and Diversion, who have so much time lying upon their hands, that they are glad of such Persons and Occasions as will help them to consume it! And how can they who throw away this Life, save that which is to come! And with what Shame and Confusion will they go out of the World, and come out of their Graves to be judged by the Judge of the whole World, who offered them a dearly purchased Pardon and Life! What a Madman would you account him to be, who hath no more life to spend than what runs between Condemnation in Law, and execution in Judgement, that would spend that precious time, in stead of securing his precious Life, upon his Hair, his , in reading Plays, in Drollery, Songs, Racing, Gaming, the News of the Town, fruitless Disputations, Contentions, Quarrelling and Fight? Oh! What time have we but the time of Patience and long-suffering, which we should count Salvation? 2 Pet. 3.15. That is a time for us to take hold of eternal life. All are condemned already that do not believe, John. 3.18. But if Judgement be not speedily executed, shall we live after the Flesh this time? Then we must die, Rom. 8.13. How bitter will Death be after a Life of Pleasure; and when this shall be a continual Aggravation to make it the more bitter, that eternal life was lost through neglect! How mad are worldly Men with themselves, if they lose a Fortune, as they speak, or a Place of Profit or Honour, by being out of the way at a convenient season. Oh! how will they rave when they go to Hell for the loss of life by negligence and folly?  
9 One Inference more, and so to other Uses. Hence you may plainly see, what is the great Duty and Interest of all Men whatsoever, to whom the Word of Salvation is sent; it is to have, and to secure to themselves the having of Jesus Christ; for have Christ have life, and all spiritual Blessings, all kind of promises of all kind of good; but, no Christ no Life. What is every natural Man's business in the World, but to live in 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 endureth 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 itself; 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 Use. 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, Necessity's 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 show 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. etc. 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 choked by the heat of Sufferings and worldly Affections. And they may say they have Faith, James 2.14. These may have knowledge 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 acknowledgement 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 Doctrine; 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 show 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, newborn 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 blessed 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. Show what you have with your Lamps, and what Oil 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 yourself. 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 yourself, a dead, miserable, lost, cursed state of Gild, Uncleanness, Bondage, and utter Inability to come to Life of yourself? 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 joining 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, hearty 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 allege 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 quickening a dead Palsy 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 joined 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! Woe! woe! 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 hid 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 descent 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 Son, seeing that is no less than to put off the having of Life. Who would run his Life upon such an Hazard, seeing their are so many Enemies that seek our Damnation, and work it by gaining the time of our delaying? Can any Business or Pleasures in the World be thought of that Consequence, as for them to venture the loss of eternal Life? Many Men given much to the Pleasures and Vanities of Life, have cast them off, and fallen to the study of the Law, or to follow their Business, when but some Branch of their Estates have been in Question, much more when the whole was in Danger. Oh! how diligent and wise for the World, and careless for a World to come, are Men? Put on Consideration, and know for certain, that the greatest matters of care and diligence meet in this one Life; for this Life comprehends in it the whole of a Man's Estate. He who hath not Life hath lost all in one; and both these inestimable things, and both these inestimable things, an everlasting Kingdom, an Heavenly Treasure, a Crown of Life and Glory, and that Life in the possession whereof the blessed Saints shall rejoice for ever, and in the privation of which the miserable and damned shall weep and lament for ever.  
And this Punishment of Privation of Life will be the more intolerable, when it shall come upon the Unbeliever for this Cause, of his not having the Son. For not having the Son, who is the Son of God's love, infinitely amiable, and dear to all that love their own Nature; for he is the Son in our Nature, and now in our Nature glorified. All Men think themselves honoured in the Honour of their Blood and Kindred, and esteem the Person that is advanced. But such is the Nature of Unbelief, that it moves to no Estimation, or Love to our Lord in Glory, who hath promised Glory to all that believe and follow him, and can see no excellency in him, who is highly exalted, and hath a Name that is above every Name. The not having of the Son, is upon Refusal and Contempt, in Deeds, if not in Words. And because this Privation of Life is for Unbelief and Refusal, the loss will be the greater; for the Punishment of Unbelief must needs be great, because Unbelief is a great sin, and we need not go further than this Text to prove it. Unbelief and not having, is the undervaluing, neglecting and refusing the only two things that cannot be valued, the Son of God, and everlasting Life. O that I could say something that may enter and stick to the Heart! Hath God been pleased to make manifest the Mystery of Redemption by Jesus Christ, which hath been hid from Ages, Col. 1.26. and now will ye not look into it, but reject the Counsel of God, as the Lawyers did against themselves? Luke 7.30. Hath God so loved the World, that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish; and now he is sent to you, who have as much need of him as any in the World, will you not have him? Is there Salvation in no other, and will you not have him? Do you no more value the Grace and Love of God in his Son Christ? Nor the love of Christ in humbling himself unto Death, even the Death of the Cross for you? And now he is at the Right Hand of God in possession of his Kingdom, and is able to save all that come to God by him, and will you not have him, and Life by him? Oh than you must perish! Then you must have no part in the Tokens of God's everlasting Love; no Saving Benefit of all the Cost our Lord hath been at to redeem you; no Joy or Consolation by the Spirit; no Communion with Saints in Glory, nor Light, Rest, Peace in your own Souls for ever! No pardon of Sin, or Peace and Comfort by it, nor any other Blessing of Grace.  
Obj. But some may say, If I have not Life, than I shall die.  
A. So you shall: But you hope you shall be extinct, and be no more; but that shall not be; eternal Death will not be like the blowing out of a Candle, which shall never be lighted again. No, if you are Unbelievers and Atheists of that sort, the everlasting Pain and Torment shall convince you of your wicked Error, and of the loss of not having Life. And this should be a  
2. A Second effectual Motive to have Christ and Life, for else you shall not have Life, but enough of Death the first moment. Oh! how bitter and dreadful will it be to Eternity! All they that hate me, love Death, Prov. 8. vers. ult. They love the way, and the sins which deserve it. This shall be the Punishment of all Unbelievers. Oh! who would make light of Christ and Life, that shall be condemned, if they have him not, to Death Eternal? Death! A word containing innumerable and endless Evils. The loss of God and Heaven will be a Death. The sight of Hell and Devils, with Millions of Workers of Iniquity under Condemnation, will be Death. Death! not an End of the Sinner, but of his Happiness! If the Flames shall never be quenched, as they shall not, as Christ hath declared, whose word is true, Mat. 25.41. And this everlasting Fire is called everlasting Punishment, vers. 46. If the Punishment shall be everlasting, it will follow, that they who are punished must live in it, and endure it for ever. And Men may as well say, that the blessed of the Father shall not go into everlasting Life, as that the wicked shall not go into everlasting Punishment. As long as the Punishment shall endure, they shall endure that have deserved it, and shall be condemned to it. Oh! what a cursed Death will this be! Oh! how miserable will an immortal Body be with an immortal Soul! All the Miseries of the Damned are set forth by the Name of Death: Every drop of the Rivers of Brimstone, every Spark of the unquenchable Fire, every Tear that the Damned shall drop, every Gnash of their Teeth, every By't of the Worm will be a Death! O Death! How full of Stings! This Death will be a Death of Separation from God and Good: When Christ shall bid the wicked depart from him, than all presumptuous Thoughts, all fond Imaginations, all vain Hopes, all carnal Confidences, and all that ever they deceived themselves withal shall departed from them; and under this Death they shall weep and roar for ever! Now if the Life everlasting with God in Heaven were no better than a Prisoners Life upon Earth, or of a Persecuted Protestant kept from Sleep, and tortured by Dragoons, the Devils black Regiments, and barefaced Wolves; the Consideration of this fearful Death should make all Men that have any Consideration, desire and prefer the Son's Grace before the whole World. But when the Life that is entailed upon Believers is a Son's Life in the Kingdom of God, an Heirs of Life, what desperate Folly and Madness is it for any to refuse him, or any thing enjoined by him! Men have sold their Services, and hired themselves for Slaves; but who ever sold his Life, but Sinners, for no Hire?  
3. But whatever others do, or whatever becomes of others, do not you, to whom the Lord of Heaven and Earth doth make a gracious Tender of his only Son and Eternal Life; refuse not, nor delay to have the Son of God, for you profess, and are engaged to have him. Your Baptismal Covenant binds you to go thorough with the Match you have put him on, Gal. 3.25, 26. O know him as he is, esteem as he deserves, join Hearts and Affections to him, renounce all Friendship with Sin and the World, and receive the Son to dwell in your Hearts, as Sovereign Lord and Master, and cleave to him to the end, and you shall have all that he is gone before to prepare for them that love him.  
4. I know not how to make an end of persuading you, the business is so great and urgent: If there were any Comparison to be made between these two, of having Christ and Life, and not having him and Life, there might be something to be said for choosing the worst, before the best; but there being no comparison between the one and the other, let me urge you, for the love of Jesus, and your own Souls, to have the Son of God. Many a Man may be such a Fool as to choose the worst, and part with the best of it. Esau chose a Mess of Pottage before his Birthright in his Extremity of Hunger and Impatience. Our first Parents thought of bettering themselves by eating the forbidden Fruit. But, mark it, here is no colour for choosing. If the case were, If you have the Son of God, you shall have the best of Lives; but if you have not this Christ the Son of God, you may have another, though not so great and good. But if you have not the Son, you can have no other Saviour; there is no pretence for refusing him. If the Case were, If you have the Son, you shall be justified, and all your Iniquities forgiven; you shall have the Life of a glorious King, a Saint in Heaven, and of perpetual and endless Communion with God in his Glory: But if you have him not, you shall live indeed, though more meanly; you shall live, though barely and poorly, by the sweat of your Brows; you shall live, but between Sickness and Health, Pain and Ease, Peace and Trouble; sometimes you shall be well, but for the most part ill; you shall have no better a Life than Lot had in Sodom, or David in Meseck; some such Life as Sinners have upon Earth you shall have, but the Life of Heaven you shall not have, nor the Life of Faith, nor the Life of Joy and Hope. But now this is the case, If you have not the Son you have not Life, no better Life than the Life of the damned in Hell. What madness of Unbelief is this! Here is no comparison, but direct opposition, and the greatest Contrariety of Good and Evil. Many a Man and Woman do choose the worse for an Husband or Wife. But what a Self-hater is that Man or Woman that would have none of an Abraham, or a Sarah, or any other great and blessed Man or Woman, and have a cursed Branch of some cursed Stock; yea, to lead one's Life with a very Devil. Apply this Consideration, and then you will find worse than the worst Comparison you can make. No Son of God, no Life, not one good Day, or Moment of a Day to Eternity. O that you would hold your Thoughts to some such Illustrations of the greatest Loss, where there is not the least Advantage, the greatest Loss of the greatest Good, to fall into the greatest Misery.  
5. You cannot separate either of these things from the other, both go together. You cannot refuse Christ the Son of God, and yet have Life; and you cannot separate the not having Life from the not having Christ. Christ will make any Soul happy in the highest degree that hath him. But if there were no better a Life to be had with Christ, than Christ with Banishment, Persecution, with with a Cross, yea, many Crosses in this Life; to live as the Apostles did, sometimes in Bonds, Prisons, Stocks; how infinitely is that to be preferred before all other Lovers! The excellent Properties of a Person in Marriage, will make a Wife follow him through the World. The Perfections of the Son of God make him most desirable with all Afflictions and Sufferings. But what! when you have Christ, you have a blessed Life now, and a glorious one hereafter! But you cannot have the Glory without Christ: yea now, if you consider the Life of Glory, you should have Christ, though he were but like a cursed Husband. (O ponder the Comparison and Supposal, it is but to illustrate the Point!) As many a Woman marries a Crab-stick for a great Estate and ample living; fat Sorrow is digested, the Sorrow is swallowed, because it is fat. But Oh! there is nothing but Sorrows and Woe attends them who have him not; nothing to show, be it never so little, that is good, and abides with them; nothing but what will make them as ill at ease in their Minds as their Bodies in Flames of Fire. O! then before I leave you, let me in the Name of Christ, on hi● Behalf, and for your dearest Life sake, beg you to be prevailed, and won this day over to Jesus Christ.  
6. Consider one thing more, whose Work it is to make you averse from Jesus Christ. Oh! the wonderful power of the Devil upon the corrupt Natures of Men! The Devil himself never had the Impudence to belly or slander the Son of God with his own lying Tongue: The Father of Lies did never forge an ill word to the Dishonour of the Lord of Glory: nay, he spoke to his Honour, and yet he works, by means of the World, upon the sinfulness of Man, to dishonour him, to belie him: We remember this Deceiver said; Men spoke what the Devil durst not, yet he was that lying Spirit from whom they speak; he filled the Heart of Judas to betray him, and the Hearts of all others with Prejudices against the embracing of him; he crams them with the Chaff of worldly things, (they (though now gilded, laid over with various Colours, and strewed with Spice) will prove no better) that feeding them to the full, they may lie under the Woe to them that are full, Luke 6. that there may be no room for the Son of God in your Thoughts and Affections. It is he that keeps all he can possibly prevail upon, not to have the Son of God; for Satan must out when the Son of God comes in: Therefore knowing the design of the Devil, be not such Enemies to Christ and your own precious Life, and such Instruments of the Devil against Christ and your own Souls, as to lose Life, and lie under eternal Death through his Temptations and prevailing Power. 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 offered to them as he is to you. Will you choose 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 Father's 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 carelessly 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 pricked 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 itself: Read the Text, and receive 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 hearty 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 quickened, 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 join 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 quickening 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 Judgement 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 mere 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, and the other the Friday. Mr. D. preached the Wednesday, after I had been in private with the Prisoners, clearing some necessary things to them for their Profit; as we had good reason to hope they were not unprofitable Hearers, after hearing that Sermon. When I came about the time appointed on Friday, I did not a little wonder to see so many stand in the Street before the Prison-Gate, and a Crowd within, and the Room in which I did intent to preach, as my Brother had done, so full that there was no getting in. As soon as I came within the Gate, the Mistress of the House, in her Husband's Absence, desired me, (showing a great Concern in her Speech 〈◊〉 Countenance) that I would preach in the Se● house, for the Crowd was too great for the 〈◊〉 I foreseeing what Offence some would 〈…〉 that new thing, and how I should be censu●… 〈◊〉 offered to preach in the Prison-yard, or in any other convenient. place. The Officers of the House pressed me to preach in the Sessions-House, for the Debtors stood in need of, and would be glad of a Sermon as well as others, and they could easily and safely bring all of them into the Bar, (there being a Vault to convey the Prisoners from the Prison to the Bar up a Trap-door.) Being overcome by their Reasons and Earnestness, I consented to that which was most convenient, and safe for the House, the Auditory, and for me, though it was a large place. And to this day I know not how otherwise to have done so well; nor had I any ways to avoid it, either by refusing to preach, because the Assembly was so great, or desiring them to departed and go about other business. If either of these had been suggested to me at that time, I hope I should have rejected the Temptation. I foresaw not the Auditory, nor desired the place. It was not my Zeal nor my Vainglory that led me to the first occasion of visiting, nor to this of preaching. And this may satisfy my Friends, and those others, that they did wisely forbear to give us trouble for this Service, for which we had Authority sufficient to have born us out. The Reasons for Printing this plain Sermon enlarged, are not to vindicate myself, nor condemn others, but purely for the Excellency of the Subject, the very Sum of the Gospel, and pertinency to all, praying that God would pardon its Defects, and make it profitable to many more than those that heard it, several of whom desired a Copy of it, and I could not deny their Request; and some of my Fellow-labourers and Brethren, hearing what the Subject was, have persuaded me to print it. But the prevailing Reason is taken from God's Glory alone, and desire of saving Souls. I have nothing to say to any particular Man; But why so angry? Why so troublesome to themselves? What Evil had I, or my Fellow-Servant done? Know ye not yet what Spirit ye are of? I should be glad if this Evil Spirit were cast out for its own sake. I was very much taken with a Story I read of Mr. John White, a very Judicious Divine. He lived a while in a House that was haunted; his Maid-Servant complained much of the trouble in the House. He chid her for going near the haunted Chambers, and bade her keep within the compass of her own business. One Night the Spectre, after Mr. White was laid down in his Bed, came to his Beds Feet, opened the Curtains, and looked upon him; to which the fearless Minister said, If thou hast nothing else to do, stand there, and I will go to sleep. Was ever poor Ghost more blewed? So I would say to this restless Spirit, If thou wilt not go to rest, and hast nothing else to do, I am resolved to do my Master's Work as well as I can, when called unto it, and not be scared or frighted from it by thee. I trust that he who was a Shield to me from Dangers in Evil Times, will do as much for me in better times. He who walketh uprightly, walketh surely. And so good Night.  
Judge charitably of the Success of our Endeavours, which in short, was as followeth. And first of the Woman. We might have looked for better Fruit from a Branch of that Stock from which she sprang, had her Parents lived to have seen her past the years of dangerous and foolish Youth. Her Parents left her young, with other Children, and her Friends gave 60. l. with her to a Trade in the Exchange. There the old Deceiver and Murderer would soon find her out, and draw out her Inclinations to suitable Actions, and bring her such Confidents and Acquaintance as could serve his Designs upon her. When she came to set up she came into the Country, and followed the Calling of a Milliner, travelling with Horses. Her Husband went about as a Bedder; he had married and buried a Sister of a Family, that for Estate might live reputably at home, but delighted in the rambling course of Gipsies; and this Man had learned the Cant, and followed that kind of Life with his Relations. Some of her Friends betrayed her to this Marriage, as she said, and others were against it; and she and her Family were so well known, that they were constrained to go a great way before they could be married. Because of this Marriage, and meeting sometimes with the Gipsies in their Travels, and being present when (as she constantly affirmed to her Death) the Gipsy, her Husband's Brother-in-law, killed the Innkeeper, she was counted one of that Crew; but she constantly affirmed that she understood not their Cant, nor their way of living and could never endure that her Husband should have any Familiarity with them. She had a ready Wit and Speech, a great stout Spirit, but too little knowledge; she was more apprehensive than the poor Fellow was, but came short of a preparedness to die. After that we had opened the Nature and Desert of Sin in general, we came to those particular Sins for which they were condemned; and when I aggravated their Sins, from the Ignominy of the Punishment, that such Offenders were thought unfit to live among Men; she stomached the Expression, and cried bitterly, through Pride, and the sense of the dishonour of the Death she was condemned to; and slew out in angry Expressions at her Prosecutors. We gave way to her Passion, and made as good use of it as we could for her Consideration of the shamefulness of sin, and a far worse End to come without Repentance. I laboured to convince her of the Truth of what I had said, and went on to other things. She confessed freely, she had been a great Sinner, but not guilty of several sins which she named, nor of that for which she was to die; although Mr. D. told her he was sent for while he left us, by some Persons of Quality upon the Grand Jury, who remembered the Evidence against her, and looked upon her as a very ill Woman; yet she persisted in the Denial of the Murder to the last, as I said before. We opened to her the ways whereby she might participate in the Gild; but still she denied all, saving that she stood at a distance when her Husband's Brother-in-law stabbed the Man; and when he had done the Fact, he told her Husband in their Cant, that he had killed the Man, and threw away the Knife. The next time I came, I found her very much humbled in Spirit, bewailing that she had been a very great Sinner, and with many Tears and loud Cries for sin, she seemed glad that she should go out of a sinful World, in which she desired to live no longer. What? said Mr. D that you may sin no more? Yes, yes, that I may sin no more against a merciful God. The World, said she, was a sinful World. And how are you reconciled to the manner of your Death, said I? Said she, I could bear it, I can suffer it, though all the Friends I have in the World looked on. I judged this to be a considerable degree of Humiliation, remembering how high she was before. While Mr. D. was preparing to preach, I was preparing them for it, and did explain and enlarge upon some things which I was afraid they understood not; she apprehended me, and her Knowledge grew. I remember I told her, That she should not think the way to obtain Pardon was to diminish her Sin, in Number, Nature, and Aggravation; and that Pardon extended even unto Blood, to all penitent Believers; that the Blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God cleanseth from all Sin, and therefore besought her to acknowledge her sin of Bloodguiltiness. She received my Words with meekness and sense, but persisted as before. At Prayer and Sermon she behaved herself with Attention and Reverence, and we hope it was not in vain; she promised to observe our Direction in our absence. Her Demeanour at my Sermon was very attentive, and with Signs of inward Affection. After we had done, Mr. D. desired them to remember what was preached, and to retire, and that we would come again to them that night. When we thought it most convenient, we repaired to them; there were several others in the Room well employed; but she was at Prayers at her Bedside. Her Heart was so full, that she could not refrain from speaking out the Language of her own Heart, with good words and matter, Flames of Fervency, and then with Silence. When she risen up she thanked us for our Pains, and said, She blessed God, now she understood how it was, and must be with her. She understood her Case, and found herself willing to die; and though she had been a great Sinner, she hoped she should find Mercy: She now knew the way, she told us; she was not afraid to see her Coffin, which was brought into the Room. She desired to live no longer to sin in a sinful World. Next Morning we came betimes, and adjusted several matters of Reckon as Offences, that nothing might be a stop in her way. She reproved some, and counselled others. She reproved an old Man for flouting at me when I was wont to visit, There comes, or there goes your Soul-saver, which we took not well, but she spoke well. While we were busy with the poor Fellow, she, the Room filling, fell on her Knees, to secret Prayer, and continued a good space, taking no notice of any thing that might interrupt her. When the Officer came to unlock her Irons, she wept bitterly, and roared, sorrowing; and rejoicing at her end. I applied myself as pertinently as I could to that occasion, upon which she was very quiet and well composed. After a preparatory Preface concerning Prayer, as the last Exercise of the Thief upon the Cross, one of us prayed in the Prison. I told her I would attend her to the place, and bade her, if any Doubt or Fear should arise, that she should let me know it. She went along weeping, praying, confessing and counselling one that held her by the Arm. When once I turned from her to speak to the Fellow, she turned quick and said, O Sir, do not leave me. When she came in sight of the Tree, she burst out into more Tears, and said, O yonder is the place, yonder is the place; but I am to suffer nothing for my Sins, in comparison of what my Saviour suffered for me for my Sins; and was much upon that till we came to the place of her End. There one of us prayed, and she went up the Ladder without Fear or Boldness; spoke little; she desired them all to reverence and hearken to the Ministers of God; confessed she had been a great sinner; and being asked about the Murder, she denied it as before; she prayed a little while, and went off to Eternity.  
The Fellow had disobediently ran away from his Master and Father, who knew not what was become of him. He gave himself to Thieving, and other Sins maintained by his Theft. He was arraigned the foregoing Assizes, and burnt in the Hand before my Lord Chief Justice Pollixfen, who shown by his Countenance and Carriage an unwillingness to condemn him to die, but that he feared there was no hope of his amendment, that would not carry his Warning in his Hand so lately given him.  
We found him grossly ignorant in the three Forms of Religion, the Lords Prayer, Ten Commandments and Creed; he could not repeat them without help: He was ripe in Sin, but slow to take in what was good. He had the same pains taken with him which the other had, if not more; for he stood in need of more. His Face was covered with shame, exceedingly dejected, and he was penitent; something he spoke of Pardon, of Sin, Repentance and Mercy, but understood nothing of Jesus Christ as Mediator, and Salvation by him, or Faith in him. We instructed him in those things, and had some weak Hopes concerning him; but we had cause to fear all would be lost the morning of his Dying Day. Then we instructed him in the knowledge of Christ, the Mercy and Grace of God in the Nature of Repentance, Confession of Sin, that his Repentance and Confession might be full, that God might be glorified, and others might be warned, and called from the Evil of their ways. We pressed him to detect his Complices, and acknowledge the Injuries he had done, and to ask Pardon, who could not restore or compensate. Mr. D. told him, he was at Coventry when he and others had broken into several Houses, when they were going towards Ireland. Here all the signs of Ingenuity and Goodness fell flat, and went in again. An horrid sullen paleness and dulness of Spirit seized him. We told him, his Detection would be no accusation of any, we should make no ill use of what he told us, to endanger any Man's Life; but if it lay in our Power, to warn them, and call them from the way of Death to Life, and break the Knot and Combination. We applied ourselves to him with Mercy and Judgement; we told him of the danger of a partial Confession and Repentance, of the horridness of the Judgement of God, of the sinfulness of having and hiding Sin; and pleaded with him, by the Patience and Mercy of God, by his Grace in affording him the means and helps God had granted him; how that notwithstanding what was done upon him, all would be to no purpose as to his Salvation, but would aggravate his Condemnation. Nothing would stir him, nor a Word come from him. At last I told him, 'twas Satan's Great Design to lock him up for his own, to harden him against Christ; and that we would have him know, and the Devil know, that we were the Ministers of Christ, and must declare his Word, and should leave him to the Judgement of the Great God. We told him, That whose confesseth and forsaketh his sin, shall find mercy; but he that hideth his sin shall not prosper. i e. shall not be blessed or happy, but on the contrary. We spared no Arguments or Pains to recover him out of the hands of the strong Man armed. There were some good People with us, who dealt with him to the same purpose: At last God was pleased to own us, and preserve us from a Foil, and baffle off the Devils; and so he told us, He believed none of his Confederates were living, however he knew of none. And then we went on again: His Heart was melted, his Tears returned, his Ears were opened to further Instruction. As he went along to the place of Execution, he sighed, mourned, wept, groaned, that I never heard the like. Oh! how did he complain of his hard and obstinate Heart! Oh this hard Heart! O mercy, mercy! Oh sweet Jesus have mercy upon me! When he came in sight of the Tree, Oh! there is the place I am going to! Oh! my sins have brought me to it! Oh! my stealing, my drinking, my swearing, my whoring, my Sabbath-breaking, my gaming. I turned to him and said, And your stealing was to maintain your other sins. Oh! Ay, ay. Oh, my hard and obstinate Heart! Oh sweet Jesus, have mercy upon me! Oh Father, have mercy upon me! Oh, pardon my sins! And thus he continued from the Prison to the place of Execution, which is, I suppose, a good Mile or more. He said little upon the Ladder, but desired all present to take Example. He died very soon after he was turned off, so that I believe his Heart was almost broken with Grief before the last stroke of Death.  
This is a plain and true Account of both these Persons, as to the matter, and as to the very Words that are most remarkable. I have but few Remarks upon them, 1. They who are not at all ashamed of the most shameful sins, think the Punishment deserved a great shame to themselves and Kindred. 2. It is a good sign when persons are more grieved for their sins, than ashamed of the Punishment. 3. The Devil will hold out to the last, and baffle Ministers if he can; but we must not suffer it, but resist him with those Weapons that are mighty through God. 4. What Honourable, Reverend, Sweet Words will poor Souls, that have been ignorant Despisers of Christ, give him, when they come to see their need of him. Grace and Mercy to every Reader of what is written.   

Three useful Books written by Mr. Edward Pearse, viz.  

The Best Match, or the Souls Espousal to Christ.  
A Serious Warning to a lively and thorough Preparation for Death.  
A Treatise of God's Unchangableness.    

Books lately Printed.  
A Discourse of Sickness and Recovery. By T. Rogers, M. A.  
A Treatise of Closet-Prayer, by Mr. Slater.  
Heart's Ease in Heart Trouble: A Book useful for those that are in Affliction. By J.B.  
An Abridgement of the Holy History. By S. Clark, Author of the Annotations on the Bible lately Published.  
Sold by J. Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Churchyard.  
FINIS.