Use 2. Let us make conscience of those duties which this relation bindeth us unto ; for if Christ be our head, we must subject ourselves to him, and live by his laws. We preach him a lord : 2 Cor. iv. 5, 'For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.' And our business is to cry up Christ's lordship and sovereign dominion over souls : Col. ii. 6, ' As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.'
1. You must consent to his lordship. God hath appointed him, and the church hath appointed him, Hosea i. 11. God by authority, and the church by consent. We voluntarily acknowledge his dignity, and submit unto him.
2. This consent must be verified by our constant practice ; for Christ is to be owned, not only in word, but in deed also : Luke vi. 46, ' Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say ? ' It was a mockage when they cried, ' Hail, king of the Jews,' and spat upon him and buffeted him. Christ will not accept of empty and superficial compliments.
3. This practice and obedience must be such as will become so great a Lord : Col. i. 10, ' Walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing ; ' that is, the Lord Christ. We must love him, and serve him, and please him in all things ; not in a few only, which are not so cross to our minds and wills, but give up an entire universal obedience to all his laws, which are equitable and good, and enforced by the highest motives, and that with the uttermost of our power and strength.
4. You must obey him, not only in his own proper remedial laws, such
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as faith and repentance, which concern our recovery, Acts xx. 21, but grow complete in all the will of God. Without repentance our case is not conipassionable ; without faith we do not own our Redeemer, by whom we have so great a benefit ; but also the whole moral law of God falleth with great authority on our consciences. Christ saith expressly, Mat. vii. 21, 'Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.' The reason is, because the kingdom of the Mediator is subordinate to the kingdom of God ; and this new right of empire is cumulative, not privative ; beneficial to us indeed, but not destructive of our duty to God.
5. We must not only mind the fundamental laws of entering into his kingdom, but all the rules and statutes which he appointed for the ordering of his house and family. Christ, that came to repeal the law of Moses, did set up ordinances whereby his church might be kept pure. All his laws concerning these must not be slighted ; for his institutions do best preserve his honour in the world. Great chai-ges are left : 1 Tim. v. 2, ' I charge thee, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things ; ' 1 Tim. vi. 14, ' Keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.'
Use 3. Is comfort to those that are in so near a relation to Christ. He is not only a governing head, but a quickening head ; giveth life, and strength, and growth : Eph. i. 22, ' He filleth all in all' He is not only a commanding head, but a compassionate head ; is very tender of the members of his mystical body, sensible of the wrong done to him : Zech. ii. 8, * He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye.' Injuries or benefits done to them redound to him : Mat. xxv. 45, ' Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me.' He not only requireth work, but giveth a recompense ; we shall fare as he did, and enter into his glory : John xii. 26, ' If any man serve me, let him follow me ; and where I am, there also shall my servant be : if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.'
II. I come now to handle the second title, ' He is the saviour of the body.' He must do the part of a saviour as well as a head ; and his dominion over the church is exercised in procuring her good and salvation.
Here I shall show you — (1.) The nature of this salvation; (2.) The manner, or the several ways by which Christ doth accomplish it.
First, The nature of it will be known by several distinctions.
1. The notion of a saviour is doubly applied — First, to him that preserveth that which is already made, that it may not perish and return into nothing, or to him that recovereth a thing that is lost out of a state of perdition. In the first sense it is taken Ps. xxxvi. G, * Thou savest man and beast ; ' 1 Tim. iv. 10, ' God is the saviour of all men, especially of them that believe.' There it is taken for the protection of God's daily providence, which the beasts are capable of as well as men, though it extendeth also to the highest angels, who are still preserved in their first estate by the goodness of God. Thus would Adam have been saved if he had kept himself in a state of innocency. The second acceptation is for the recovery of a thing lost ;