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ferings, and
yet
he
is
saved
;
in
all these deaths, and yet
he
lives-:
he
speaks
with a
sort of
admiration, Behold
we live.
He tells
us,
the
apostles carried about the
trea-
eure
of
this glorious gospel
in
earthen
vessels,
2
Ceri
iv.
7.
One
would
wonder
that
his
earthen
vessel
'had
not
been broken to
pieces
long before
:
this makes
him
re-
eemble
his life
to the
life
and
death
of
Christ, for the
life
of
Christ
was
full
of
sufferings
and sorrows.
Q
Cor.
iv.
10,
I
1.
Or
the
words,
Life
of
Christ,
may
be
construed
ill
another
sense,
viz.
'Notwithstanding
all these deaths,
yet I.live,
to shew
that
Christ
is
alive,
and bath power
in heaven to preserve
such
an
earthen
vessel
from being
broken
;
and
that
partly according
to
the
promise
of
Christ, Because
I
live,
ye
shall live also
:"
John
xiv. 19.
Now,
as
it
was with
this
great apostle
in
a most eminent
degree,
so
it
is
in some
measure
with every christian.
lire
appear
as
dying
creatures
in
many
senses,
and
yet
behold, we live.
Give
me
leave to employ your
medita-
tions
this
day, in
paraphrasing
these
words
of
the
apos-
tle
in
a sense
somewhat larger than
is
precisely designed in
my text,
and
accommodating or applying them
to
our
own
case.
First.
We
may be
considered as dying creatures,
with
regard
to
the
natural
life
of
the body.
Secondly.'
With regard
to the
courage
of
our hearts,
and
our
hopes, and
our comforts
in this
life.
Thirdly. With regard
to
our
spiritual
estate, or
the
heavenly
life
that
is
begin
in
us,
which consists
in
holi-
ness
and peace. And though
we
are poor
dying
creatures
in all these
respects,
yet
to
the glory
of
the
grace
of
God,
"
E
Behold
we
live." 'And; as
the
apostle expresses
it,
Acts
xxvi.
22.
"
Having obtained help of God,
we
con-
"
tinue
to this
day."
Under
each
of
these general
heads,
I
shall briefly
represent our
dying circumstances,
and
then
put
you in mind
of
the methods
which
providence
and grace
make
use
of
to
continue
us
in
life.
First.
We are
dying
creatures
with
regard
to the
natural
life
of
this body.
What
continual
need
of
fresh
renewal
of
life,
lest
hunger
and
thirst should
destroy
our
nature
and dissolve
our
frame
?
What
seeds
of
weak-
ness
and disease lurk within
us,
and often break out and
bring
down
our tabernacle near
to the grave
?
And
when
we
think
them gone,
their
symptoms
return
again
with
new.
terror.
What
perpetual danger
are
we
exposed to