totheEPHESIANS. 387 ~----------~----~~~~~=<:::h~l(,~~r;~::~~~ Now, my Brethren, a mao goeth and trieth all forts of Duties (fometime ~ men do fo) for to get life in themfelves; but they do but fet up new Wares m S•rmon old Shops, while they turn thefe Duties mto a legal way. A man lS not only XXIX. dead to the condemning power ot the Law, bur he iS dead to the Law, as 1t iS a ~ Covenant A man is not dead to 11 m refpect of the Precepts of it, the matter of it, but.in reij,eCl: of r.he form, to the Covenant of it he is dead, And if: you will turn all tile duties of the Gofpel, Repentance, and all forts of qualificatiOns, into works of the Law, a man is dead to them for ever; all .rhel.e will never fetch life into that man agam. Now mark what the Apoflle faith m that fame fccond to theGalatia11s, verfe 1 g. To wbat end was he deadto the Law thus? Th.tt I might live tt11to God, fa.th he. ThiS death was to thiS end , that there migbt come a new life to him from God, and to God; wluch life he defcribeth aftcrwardinvcrf.w. ltisthelifeofFaithinthe Son of God; The "fe that I 11owtive(faith he) I live6y.theFmthof theSoiJoj God. Here you fee now cometh in a RefurreCl:wn, which all the world could not work m l11m. Qead you fee he was ; I am dead tothe Lawfor ever, notbing will recover me, all the Legal waies in the world Will ~ever do Jt, The life I 11ow_ live, zt zs by the R1ithof the So11 of God. Here JS Death and Life, and here lS Fmh, a Refurr«ction from death to li fe. He faith, A man cannot live to God till he iS rhus dead to the Law; and by death to the Law I do not underfiand Terrours, my Brethren, No, they do but fiound a man; but it is a Spiritual iniight into a man's Natural condition, taking him off from whatfoever he is, or can be fuppofed in himfelf to be at prefent, or hereafter, that he can never have life in any of thefc, this is a being dead to the Law. And bcmg fo, he Js now fit for a Refur• redion, to live by theFatth of the SoJt of Godalone. . · Now, my Brethren, there was a m1g_hry P.ower to !<JIJ a man thus; but now there is as great a Power .to ra1fe up th1s mans Soul, to believe only, ~nd purely, and nakedly on Jefus Chnfi, and to come alone to IHm, and to fer lum only in hiseye; there is as great a power as anfwereth his RefurreCl:ion. I will but give you a Scnpture or two for 1t m general, and then make 1t good by Parn• culars. This man being thus dead, twice dead, as I may fay 1 for he is dead in his own Righteoufnefs, pafi, prcfent, and to come; he is dead in the guilt of fin, all fin cometb in upon him (as the deadly Sorrows came in upon Chrifi) to hin– der him from rifing again by Faith; For when a man attempteth to believe, all his fins, like thofe deadly Sorrows you heard fpokcn of in Chrifi's Soul to hinder his Refurredion, revive and come about him. Now, I f•y, to raife this mart up requires a mighty power. Take one lnfiance, it isin 'l'fa/.88, It is a place to the purpofc, for I fl1all quote thofe Scriptures that fpeak in the language of - t he Refurredion, of raifing from death to lite, and that in the bufinefs of Faith, in the point of Juflification, for that is the point in hand. In that Pjalm you JlJall find a Poor man lying in dcfertion, a man that was dead iu his own nppre– hcnfion, killed as Pmdwas. It is Hemm;; he was a go:lly man,but he lay under defcrtion; he had Faith already, he had fome revivings, but yet fo as he was given up to defertion. Now fee what he faith of himfclf, verf.4S· I am coumed with them thatgo dow" i11to the pit, fret amo11g the dead, likt the f!ai?J that lie i11 the G>·ave, whom thott remmzbrej/110 more, His meaning is this: I am a man that do apprehend my fclf to be one of thofe that are free of Hell, fru amo11gthedead; a man that am !lain, fiabbcd with tlle<>uiltof fins reviving, like to thej!ai11, th.1t lie i1t the Grave, that lie in Hell, And wha~ faith he at the rolh verfe, Wilt thou {bew wonders to the dead? Sba/1 tht dead arife m1d prai[e thee? Shallthy loving kind11e{s be decltJred iu the Grave ? Can my Soul ever come to think I fl1alllivc in thy favour, in thy free grace and loving kindnefs, to be jufiiiied by it, to apprehend my felf a living man, and all my fins forgiven? To do this, faith he, is as great a wonder as to raife a man up from death to life; therefore he ufeth that expreillon, Wilt tho" /hew wonders to the dead'! He calleth it a Wonder; for of all works clfe, llill in Scripture you lhall find the Rejim·eelion from the dead hath been counted the grearea wonder. D d d Now,
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