3. That he may dispense all necessary supplies to the needs of his servants : Eph. iv. 10, ' When he ascended up on high, he gave gifts to men ; ' that is, all necessary supplies for his servants. As a foun- tain of living waters continually feedeth the stream, so you have a living Christ who will continually supply the streams of grace ; he knoweth your needs, and can supply them. And therefore the apostle maketh the main business of salvation to hang upon the life of Christ : Rom. V. 10, ' For if when we were enemies we were reconciled by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life ; ' that is, can we want anything necessary to salvation, that have a living Christ to go to ? You may be sure, if by his death he could bring you into such a glorious estate, now he is alive he will not be wanting to you.
Use 1. Is information. Learn hence divers truths : —
1. What is the fountain of spiritual life, to wit, the life of Christ ; and, therefore, it is called the life of God, and the life of Christ, in many places of scripture : ' Alienated from the life of God,' Eph. iv. 18 ; It is God and Christ that liveth, and liveth in us, Eph. iii. 17; and Col. iii. 3, ' Your life is hid with Christ in God,' and ' Christ that liveth in me,' Gal. ii. 20. Again, ' When Christ, who is our life, shall appear,' Col. iii. 4. As things are hid in their causes, flowers in their root, till their appearance at spring, so the glory of spiritual life is hid in its cause and fountain.
2. That true believers cannot wholly fall away. Christ liveth for ever, and, therefore, they shall live for ever ; the life of Christ cannot wholly be abolished in them. When you can dig up the spring and fountain, then grace may wither, and you may be lost in a seducement and a temptation, but now you are kept by the power of an endless life. The perpetuity of the saints, if it had no other ground but this, would remain unshaken ; therefore, it is said, ' We are preserved in Jesus Christ,' Jude ] . Christ's life is their life, and Christ's life is
3G0 A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION UPON [IsA. LIIL 8.
3. That Christ is a fit object for worsliip and service. Every being is the more noble, the more lite it hath in it ; the life of things is the commendation of them : Eccles. ix. 4, ' A living dog is better than a dead lion ;' better, that is, more noble. Now, since Christ hath the noblest and the higliest being, he liveth for ever. The scriptures often call upon us to trust in the living God : Ps. xlii. 2, ' My soul thirsteth for the living God.' Who would go to the dead cistern, and leave the living fountain ? Alas ! what is a man the better for a dead idol ? All the satisfaction of the spirit lieth in the life of him whom we worship. Now Christ is not only living, but living for ever. Your hopes in him will not run waste. A prince, whose breath is in his nostrils, may uphold his favourites during his life, but upon his death they may be brought from the crown of their excellency to the dust of scorn and ignominy ; but Jesus Christ never dieth. As Bath- sheba said to David, 1 Kings i. 21, ' When my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders,' All their care and cost is lost ; but it cannot be so with Jesus Christ ; he liveth to make you everlastingly happy.
Use 2. Is for the discovery of hypocrites, that pretend to Christ, but live as if Christ were in the grave still, as if he were a dead Christ, as if there were no life nor virtue in him.
But how shall we know what is the life of Christ? I answer — By three things : there will be freeness, and there will be power, and there will be likeness to Christ.
1. There will be freeness towards God. The heart is sweetly drawn out to comply with the mind of Christ. Christ doth not live in you, if there be not a willingness in you to be like him. The Spirit of Christ supplieth the place of a law in such a soul : Rom. viii. 2, ' For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.' Outward letters and the rule could not make him free, and disentangle him from his corruptions, but the Spirit of the Lord Jesus evangelising the law of God, did. The law is made gospel by the Spirit in the life of Christ; it giveth the heart a sweet liberty and freedom towards God. The tears of those that pray are sweeter than the joys of the theatre.
2. There will be power, there will be something besides cold forms and slight pretences : 2 Tim. iii. 5, ' Having a form of godliness, but denying the power.' That which the apostle calleth the power and force of godliness is a real impression and operation upon the heart ; there will be somewhat besides empty profession and barren specula- tion; there will be somewhat that you may call power and ' mighty working,' as the apostle calleth it everywhere. Now, when there is no working upon the spirit answerable to knowledge or pretences, what a dead Christ do such make him !