AIM 1$z, I Ephefians, Chap. g, V 2. rfe3° V E R.Z. confumed by the fire of his Spirit, that theymight live to God; thus we are exhorted, Rom I2. I. I befeech you brethren by the mercies of God, thatyou offer upyour fouler andbodies a living facrifice acceptable to God. We fhould be affedied like Mofes and Paul, with our ¡elves ana. themafor Gods glory. Ifone fhould ranfomeus from the galbes, wee would hold our felves his fervancs for ever, fo,&c. It doth teach us that we muff in Tome cafes laydowne our lives one foranother; love like Chrift, who gavehis lifefor us, this S. labn inferreth, I Ioh. 3.t6. Hereby weperceive love, thathe layd downe Ins life for ass, thereforeought we to lay downeour livesfor eur brethren; if we fee their foules in jeopardy, wemay with adventure of our bodily life reach them the hand, as in the plague time, when more profitable members are indangered, we may refcue them from evill with the perill of our owne lives. Saint Pawl witneffeth this, Ram. x 6.4. (pea- kingof i.4quila and Prifcilla, he faith, which for my life have layd downe theirowne necke. So in the naturall body, the hand,though it be ftrickenquite off, will put it felfe up to fave the head : for the com- mon good likewife Heller went and put her life in her hand_ Yet this mutt be knowneby way of caution, that though wee lay downeour lives,yet it is in farre other mannerthen Chrift did : He as a mediator prayed and dyed,to fatisfie thepunifhment which wedid owe to Gods Juftice. 2. Toprocure all good things for us: nowwe doe there things for fubffance, but the propertie is altered, we pray not in our owne wor- thineffe,but in Chrifts; not as an effct1 of mediation, but as a fruite of love; we doe notto fatisfie and redeeme and merit, but to ftr.ngthen the faithof others in himwho hath made fatisfaâidn for them; thus Peter was crucified and Paul was beheaded, and for the Church in this laft fenfe, Col. 5.24. But in the firft fenfe we may fay, Was Peter or Paul crucified for you? r car. r. 13. We mutt then imitate Chrift in laying downe our lives one for another, though the quality of the aétion is farre other in us, then it was in him. It principally concer- neth Paltors andTeachers, this being the property ofa good fhep- heard, to lay downe his life for his flocke. This dothlet us feetoour comfort how we may gather whether we are beloved of God; viz, if we feele our felves intereffed in his death. z. That he is !'aid to give himfelfe unto death : Obferve hence, HowChrift lefts,' our Lard did willingly and readily fnbmit to his fife- rings; he laiddowne his life, it was not taken from him by violence,he fairedbecaufe he would, he humbled himfelfe to the curled deathof the croffe. For thoughhe knewofhis fufferings before, yet hee did not withdraw himfelfe, or feeke places to lurke in, but went to the gardenas he was accuflomed. 2. The ftrong voyce hegave immediatelybefore hisdeath, did fig- nifie that there was more then a naturali power yeelding up thehu- mane nature totafle death. It
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=