and his Son ffefur [hrifi. Life to others ; (o as to be the Lord's of Life, and to be able to bePcow it as we 8;'-../~ pleafe? But thus cloth ChriPc, verj 2 r. For a< the Father raifeth up the Dead,and~ q~tickcneth them ; even fo the So, quicl{_neth whon1 he ••ill. And this Power, to. give Life to others, he ckclares to thiS end, verf 23. That all Men 111ay honour the Son ,u they houour the F,,ther. May this be (aid of 111, poor Thingt that we are? Alas ! We are (o far from having Life thus in our felves, or to be Lords of Life that it is well for us, (take us as we are fallen) if as condemned PerCons we have that Life derived unto us at all; nay, that we have our lives, it is well if we (cape (o. This infinite Grace, 1 as I have thus fet it our, the 24th Ver(e indigitates ; f'erifJ, verily, I fay 1111to you, He that heareth my Word, and believeth on hmt that fent file, hatb everlajltng ~ife, and Jba/1 not come znlo conden_Jnation, but it pajfed from Death to Life : Thus low and flat do we fall, when hiS Life, and Union with his Father, are compared wnh ours. To gather up this; our T enure of Life, is but a Coppy-hold of Life in refpeCl: of our whole dependence for it, by way of influence from him, and as 'tis derived from him, and from his Life ; T enants at Will I may not call us, in regard he hath endowed us with an eternal donation of it, (Why el(e called Eternal Lift?) and ef!ated it on us for ever ; yet llill in regard, both of the Original of it at firf! fi·om him, and his continual influential maintaining it, and k.!eping our Souft in Lift; which is the very Phrafe the Pfdmifl exprelfeth our Life by. There appears an infinite difference and dif!ance between us and him, in that Eternal Life which is his and ours; but upon a differing Tenure, for he is the Lord Paramount of Life, to have life in himfelf: But we are to hold all from him, from firf! to !aft, (though for ever): And if our dependence on him for Life be fo va(l!y different fi·om his in him(elf, then our Union is accordingly an(werable thereto, diftant in inferiority, and fubordination; and fo in like proportion differing, for Life, as the EffeCt flows from Union as the Cau(e. Therefore, good Souls, fee your Hearts at ref!, know your own lumm, your own Bottom, and Jownefs you f!and in, in the bef! Condition, as Saint>, you could have been fet in : Be not deceived neither, to (oar or a(pire too high, upon comceits of Unions which are above you, nor of which indeed you are not capable : You muf! needs acknowledg, that the fetting thefe mutual Unions of Chrif! and the Father in. their ~u~u;Aoc<s, from that of the Saints; and firll: theirt, and then 01m apart by themfelves, that they hold forth, at leaf!, this to you, That though by means of your Union with Chrif!, you have an Union with the Father; yet that Chrif! hath an Union Ceparate from your Union apart by himfelf with the Father, and the Father with him, which you can never attain: Would you be all Chrifts ? ihen let us fee you redeem your 1oft Brethren of the Sons of Men, whom Chrifl: died not for effectually, or who of them have not as yet taken hold of his Death to fave them(elves from Sin and Hell: The 'Pfalmijl fpeaks thus, None it able to redeem hit Brother from the Grave, and to quicken whom be will; no, nor is able to rai(e up himfelf at the Day of Judgment, as Chrif! did. And are you Hypof!atically united to the Perfon of Cbrif! then? You might fee this Truth of the infinite difproportion between thefe two Unions of God and Chrif!, and us and Chrill, in a thou(and other-like Effects, which you might make Demonf!rations, that argue it, if a Man had time to gather them, or indeed to utter them. I come to a fecond Inf!ance like to this. H. ,'/11utHal lntereft, or 'Propriety which the Three Perfons have in the Things of eych other, Mutual lnteref! and Propriety in one another, follows upon Union. Now there IS a vaf! fubordination of the mutual lntercll:s, the one of Chrif! in and with the Father,and that other of ChriPc with us; and fuch therefore muf! there al(o be in the Ceveral Unions: Will you fee your Pedigree Emblazoned ? All thiflgt are _YOIIrt, and ye are Chrijl't, a11d Chrijl it God't, Here is the lnteref!, the Proprtety and Right of a Chriftian to God, Chrif!, all Things; yet in a Chain of Subordination Cet forth thus ; therefore it muf! be (o in the Union al– fo. Chrif! is in the Father, and the Father in Chrif!; and this their mutual In·being, as the ground of their ll1aring in the fame co!llmon Stock, cau(eth an D an-
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