831 Christ's exaltation
or ever a Lord. Beloved, wo do not die at the devotion- and good pleasnro of any man whatsoever. They cannot stir so much as a hair from our head, without the will of this Lord, All the devils in hell cannot stir a hair of our head, I say, nor all men that are acted by the spirit of the devil. They may threaten punishment, but, alas !• they can do no more than this Lord of lords will give them leave. Therefore it is a point of wondrous comfort.
Ohj. Oh but will a poor soul say, Christ indeed is Lord of the living and of the dead, but I find a great deal of corruption in me, &c., and I am a sinner.
Ans. Why, he is Lord over theo. He bath a sweet lordship over thee, as well as a commiuiding lordship. He is not only a king, but a husband, as it is Eph. v. 20, 27, ' Ho gave himself to purge his church,' and to make his church fit by little and little. Thou hast sin and corruption, but thou hast a merciful husband that will bear with the weaker vessel. Doth he command others to do that ; and will he not practise that that he enjoins others ? Undoubtedly he will ; and therefore it is a comfort, it is a sweet government and subjection, as of the husband over the wife. Christ purgeth and cleanseth his church ; he doth not cast it away.
For I beseech you, consider, he that died for his church and children, when they were enemies, will he cast them away now they ai-e poor friends, and desire to please him ? as Saint Paul divinely reasoneth, Rom. v. 10, * Much more shall we be saved by his life.' If he saved us by death, much more now by his life, being in heaven. Consider he rose and lives for ever ; therefore will he cast us away for some imperfections, that died for us when we were enemies ? He that will not ' quench the smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed,' Mat. xii. 20, will he cast away his poor children that strive against their corruptions ? He will not, nay, he hath promised where he hath begun a good work, he will finish it to the day of the Lord, Phil. i. 6, Though it go but slowly forward, yet that beginning is a pledge of proceeding. God will never remove his hand from his own work till he have brought it to perfection. Therefore let any soul comfort itself that will come under this Lord. In a word, what greater comfort can we have than this, that he is such a Lord over us, as is Lord over all other things in the world besides? For he could not be Lord of his church, except he were Lord over hell, and all power were subject to him. Now being so he is such a Lord of the church as can restrain the power of all creatures whatsoever ; because else they might annoy the church and affront him in his government by opposition, if he were not Lord of all things else, as well as of the Church. But this is the comfort of a Christian ; he is under a Lord that is Lord of all the enemies of the church ; and he is so Lord over them till by little and little be make them his footstool. That that is begun in this world shall be consummate hereafter by that lordship ; nay, he will make all the enterprises of the very enemies of his church whatsoever serviceable to his poor church ; for as the apostle saith, ' All things are yours, because ye are Christ's,' 1 Cor. iii. 23. He is such a Lord as that besides himself being ours, he makes all the world ours, yea, the devil is ours; for in spite of him, whatsoever he doth, it is ordained to the salvation of the church. The church's enemies are the servants of the church, the involuntary servants ; for they weakenf the church and scour it. God raiseth them up for the exercise of the church ; and when he hath done, you know what course he takes with them. So then he is Lord, not only over all, but he overrules their actions for the good of the church, * That is, ' option.'— G. t Qu. ' waken ' ?— Ed.
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whatsoever they are ; and he makes all the endeavours and plots of the enemy for the church's good ; all is yours, life and death. Though it be death by tyrants, all kind of death whatsoever, it is yours. What a com- fort is this, that we are under such a Lord as this.
Especially, what a comfort is this at the hour of death, when Christ, that ruled us all our lifetime before, will take then the government and possession of that jewel that he hath bought with such a price, our precious souls ; that when we must part with friends, and part with this sweet body, that the soul so much loved, and with the world and all things in the world, then Christ will own [usj for his when the world will own us no longer. There- fore methinks Christians should be at a point, for life or death. He never goes out of the dominion of Christ ; nay, he is nearer Christ ; he is more Christ's. If there be any comparison to be made when he is dead than when he is alive, * Blessed are those that died in the Lord.'