A80611:371
Christ the fountain of lifeChrist the fountaine of life
Christ the fountain of life: or, Sundry choice sermons on part of the fifth chapter of the first Epistle of St. John. Preached by that learned judicious divine, and faithful minister of Jesus Christ, Mr. John Cotton B.D. now preacher at Boston in New-England. Published according to Order.Christ the fountaine of life: or, Sundry choyce sermons on part of the fift chapter of the first Epistle of St. John. Preached by that learned judicious divine, and faithfull minister of Jesus Christ, Mr. John Cotton B.D. now preacher at Boston in New-England. Published according to Order.
London: printed by Robert Ibbitson, 1651
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Secondly, It serves to teach us all to bemoan our own estates, or the estates of any of ours, that we yet see in the gall of bitterness, lying in an estate of nature; is it thy self, or thy father, or mother, or thy children or servants? whatever he be, be he never so good a natured man, if he be yet without Christ, there is no life in him; I say, look upon him as thy dead friend; If thou didst look upon thy father, and mother, or children, and see them lye dead before thee, thou wouldest mourn bitterly for them; you know what is said, Zach. 12.10. As a man mourns for his first borne; if our first borne, or any that is near to us dye, we mourn bitterly for them, and refuse to be comforted, as was the case of Rachels mourning for her children, and ⟨p. 170⟩would not be comforted because they were not, Matth. 2.18. they were all dead, and therefore caused a bitter mourning; it was the wounding and rending of her soul. And may not this be the case of many a fruitful mother, many children, and yet all of them dead in Gods sight, not a soul living in the sight of God? And is it not a far more bitter death to be dead in sin, then to be dead in the body, when it is a living soul in Gods sight? then, blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord, for even so saith the Spirit, that never spake words of falsehood, Revel. 14.13. I say therefore, if that our children live to God, and have the life of grace in their hearts, there is no danger of their death; then thy children shall come again to thy hearing, at the resurrection of the just, and thou shalt embrace them with comfort, and fill thy soul with unspeakable joy, and fullness of glory; if they dye in the favour and grace of God, they shall rise to glory, but if they be spiritually dead, no goodness in the world in them, no spiritual life at all, no life of righteousness or holiness, which are the first fruits of the Spirit, and of glory in this world; then weep for these children, and those friends, that husband, or wife, or brother, or sister; weep for every soul that is in an estate of sin and death, they are as so many dead Corps; you may sometimes see a whole house-full of dead creatures, not one of them living to God, not one of thy acquaintance, not one of all thy brothers and sisters;