will not help us out of this pit. And we may
weary ourselves in such exercises in vain; for they will prove but
bodily exercises that profit little. And when in this way we have spent
all our time, parts, spirits, and labour, we shall at length see and
say, that we have spent our money for that which is not bread.

This should put all of us to try what it is which we lean to for life;
and what it is, the consideration whereof giveth us peace and quietness
when the thoughts of death, judgment, hell, and the wrath of God come
upon us and trouble us: For if it be any thing beside Christ that our
soul leaneth to, and that we are comforted by, and found all our hopes
upon, we will meet with a lamentable (oh! for ever lamentable!)
disappointment. Be sure then, that our hearts renounce all other ways
and means of outgate out of this death, besides Jesus, the resurrection
and the life, else it will not be well with us.

III. We see here, that delivery out of this natural state of death is
only had by Christ: For he alone is the life, and the life that is in
him is suitable and excellent. Hence he is called "the bread of life,"
John vi. 35, 48. "The resurrection and the life," John xi. 25. "The
water of life," Rev. xxi. 6, and xxii. 17. "The tree of life," Rev.
xxii. 2, 14. "The prince of life," Acts iii. 15. "Our life," Col. iii.
4. "The word of life, and life itself," 1 John i. 1, 2.

And as he is a suitable and excellent life, so is he an all-sufficient
and perfect life, able every way to help us and to deliver us from all
the parts of our death. For,

1. He delivereth from the sentence of the law, Rom. v. 17, 18,
undergoing the curse of the law, and becoming a curse for us, 2 Cor. v.
21.

2. He taketh away the curse and sting of all temporal plagues, yea, and
of death itself, causing all to work together for good to such as love
him, Rom. viii. 28. He hath killed him that had the power of death, that
is, the devil, Heb. ii. 14; and through him the sting of death, which is
sin, is taken away, 1 Cor. xv. 56, 57.

3. He reconcileth to God, taking away that distance and enmity, 2 Cor.
v. 20; and so he is our peace and peacemaker, purchasing access to us to
the Father, Eph. ii. 14, 16; iii. 12.

4. He also delivereth from the power of sin and corruption, Rom. vii.
24.

5. And from all those spiritual strokes; such as blindness, hardness of
heart, &c. For he is our light; and hath procured a new heart for us,
even a hea