Now out of this branch of holy security, upon the care and power and lordship that Christ hath over us for the time to come, it riseth that a Christian may be assured of his salvation, of his jjersererance, because Christ is Lord of all. He is Lord of his heart. He is Lord not only of the things without us, but of our spirits within us, and he will enable us to subject ourselves to him, ' that neither things present, nor things to come, or anything, shall ever be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ,' Rom. viii. 39 ; not only from God's love to us, but from our love to God.
Beloved, let this encourage us to come under the government of Christ. There is no security or safety but in his government. We are sure of nothing in this world, but we are sure of this, that Christ, if he be our Lord, is our Lord for ever, and that nothing in the world shall ever be able to separate us from him.
I will close with this. You see Christ is ours, whether * we live or die.' He is ' Lord of quick and dead.' Let us labour to live to him, that he may rule over us while we live, else when we come to die, though we never so much — perhaps out of principles of self-love — desire him to be ours, it is to no purpose. While we live, therefore, let us submit to his government, and if we live to him we shall easily die to him. If we do not inure our- selves by daily self-denying and practising of the duties of obedience to live to him, how shall we come to die to him ? Our life may be snatched from us against our wills ; we may die with a kind of fretting and indignation that we can live no longer, that we can enjoy our pleasures no longer. But to die meekly and quietly, as to a Lord, submitting ourselves to him that is the Lord of life and death, a man can never do it that hath not lived to the Lord. Therefore I beseech you every day be acquainted with the actions of living to the Lord. Whatsoever you do to men, do it as to the Lord, in the Lord's strength to please him, and as it may stand with his favour and no further. And especially take the advantage of your younger
844 Christ's exaltation
years to root out lusts that v>\\\ grow to that head else, that Gotl in his judgment, giving you up to yourselves — after long rebcUiou — you shall never bo able to deny yourselves to live to Christ, and, when death comes, to die to Christ ; therefore let us inure ourselves to deny ourselves in the practice of every holy duty, as to the Lord betimes, that so we may get the upper hand of our llesh in these holy performances, that they may be easy and sweet to us, as indeed the yoke of Christ is after it is worn a while. The subjection of Christ is the sweetest subjection in the world. It breeds the greatest peace and joy and love and contentment to the soul, and which is more than all, a blessed hope for the time to come, lie that is* life is inured to holy duties, and hath overcome the rebellions of his base flesh ; when he comes to die he can say with Simeon, ' Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace,' Luke ii. 29 ; that is. Thou Lord of life, now thou wilt have me die, I am even content to die, to resign myself to thee. AVho can say so but he that makes Christ his Lord all his lifetime ? Then when death comes ho is content to yield unto him as a Lord, else it will be just in the hour of death for Christ to say, as it is Judges x. 14, * Do you come to me and commend yourselves to me ? go to the lords you have served.' You have served the humours of such a one, you have alienated your souls to such a one, you have given your souls to sin and to such men as are instruments of the devil, you have denied your honesty, your faith, your religion ; go to him, go to the gods you have served, they are your lords ; I am not your Lord, I was not all your lifetime. Though these speeches be not uttered, the efiect of them will ; the soul will conclude I have served mine own lusts and the humours of others all my lifetime, how can I look that the Lord should take my soul ? Therefore let it be our daily practice to live to the Lord, to have the chief aim of our life in our eye to direct our actions so as they may be serviceable to the main, else not to perform them.
Herein consists the main happiness of a Christian, that whether he lives or dies he is not his own, but he is his, that can dispose of him better than ever he could of himself ; for if we had the disposing of ourselves, as Adam had, what would become of his ? f What became of Adam when he was master of himself ? He lost himself and all. The ' second Adam ' hath bought us with his blood and life, to rule us for ever. Will he then sufl'er us to be disposed of by ourselves ? No. Whether ' we live or die, we are his,' if we yield ourselves sweetly to his government, in life and death.