the good of the whole body, and of every member
of the body, that is not quite cut off. And the good that is in the
husband is forthcoming for the relief of the poor wife, that hath not
yet got a bill of divorce. And Christ being life and the Life, he must
be appointed for the relief, the quickening and recovering from death of
such as are given to him, that they may be finally raised up at the last
day; he must present all his members lively in that day.

4. He would by faith wrap himself up in the promises, and lie before
this Sun of Righteousness, till the heat of his beams thaw his frozen
heart, and bring warmth into his cold and dead soul, and thus renew his
grips of him, accepting of him as the Life, and as his life. Christ
himself tells us, John xi. 40, that this is the Father's will, that hath
sent him, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, might
have everlasting life, and he will raise him up at the last day. Faith
closing with him, as it was the mean of life at first, so it will be the
mean of recovery out of a dead distemper afterwards.

5. He would mourn for such sins and provocations, as he discovereth in
himself to have caused and brought on this distemper. Repentance and
godly sorrow for such evils, as have sinned Christ and life away, is a
way to bring life back again.

6. He would be sure to harbour no known sin in his soul, but to set
himself against every known evil, as an enemy to the life and recovery
which he is seeking.

7. He must wait on Christ his life, in the appointed means; for that is
the will of the Lord, that he should be waited upon there, and sought
for there. There is little hopes of recovery for such as lay aside the
ordinances. Though the ordinances without him cannot revive or quicken a
poor soul, yet he hath condescended so far as to come with life to his
people in and through the ordinances, and hath appointed us to wait for
him there; we must be willing to accept of all his condescensions of
love, and seek and wait for him there, where he hath said he will be
found.

8. In going about those ordinances of life, he would beware of putting
them in Christ's room, _i.e._ he would beware of thinking that
ordinances will do his business; as some ignorantly do, who think that
by praying so often a-day, and reading so much, and hearing so much,
they shall recover their lost lively frame, when, alas! all the
ordinances, without him, signify nothing. They, without h