10 dn Exp~fition of the Epifile ~ Himfelf, to live that Life that he liveth. It is therefore called· the Life <>f God -~~ becaufe it lay in the Union of the Soul with God, which was wrought by th~ Holy-Gholl: : And alfo as you know m the Body, there arc Spirits that unite; fo there ts an Image of God, Holmefs and R.1ghteoufnefs, by which God in In– nocency was united to the Spirit of a Man, without which in the State of Grace he would not be united to aMan, nor would dwell in him. That as the Kingdom ofGod is l.1id to confill: in 'I?jghteoufoefs tmd Peace, (o this Life ofGod confifiteth in Joy, in R.ighteoufnefs, in Peace, and in Happinefs, as in God Hinifel£ And all the A[tions that a Man performeth, having this PrincipleofLife, tend to.Com– munion with God, and enjoyment of Him, and therefore are All:ions ofLife. Now then, this Death is the Scpartaion ofthe Soul from God, and the extinl:tson ofthis Image of God in a Man, and cutting off all forts of Influence from God to him either ofComfort, or of Holinefs, further than by the Crea~ures : God may corn~ fort h1m by the Creatures, but he cloth no way comfort h1m by himfelf. And therefore, if you mark it, the Apoll:le, to fhew the kind of this Death what it is he faith, It is a Death in Sin: And what is Sin? The Death of the S~ul becauf~ it cuts a Man off from that Principle ofLife.: That as natural_Death is ;he fepa– ratlon of the Soul and Body, and the exunll:wn of the VItal Spmts; fo, faith the Prophet Efay, chap. 59· 2. YoHr Sms hllVe ftparated between God and you · and hence they come to beStrmgers from the Life ofGod, asit is, Eph. 4.18. No\~ God is not driven, nor was not driven out ofMans Soul by Sin in a natural way,as the Soul is out ofour Bodies. When the Bodyhatha wound, and is frruck to the Heart the Soul goes out, like as the Spider cloth, when the Cobweb is broke ; neithe; cloth the Soul go voluntarily out at any time, but in a natural way, when bodily Spmts fa•l: but God goes out by virtue of hiS own Law, The ftrength of Sin is the Law, as the Apoll:le faith, I Cor. I 5· And t~erefore, when Man flood upon the Legal Covenant only, as foon as ever he broke the leaf! of God's Laws, by God"s Law he died, and God was gone: but the frrength of Grace is the Gofpel, (o that now tho we fin, being in the State of Grace, yet God goes not away ; his Spirit may be grieved, but departeth not. The Apoll:Je explaining this Death, C1ith, we are dead in Sins. When he had fpoken of our Pattern Chrifl, (chap. 1. v. 19, 20.) and of the Power that wrought in railing him up, he faith, it was a raifing up·his Body from corporal Death; but yours was not fo, faith he, your Death was fpiritual, it was a Death in Sin. Only this you may obferve by the way, that even the bodily A[tjons and Sufferings of our Lord and Saviour Chrifi prevail to fpiritual effe[ts; the very railing of his Body there was a virtue in it, to raife Souls out of a Death in Sin. It is fl:range, tha; a bodily A[tion or Paffion, or whatever elfe, lhould have a fpiritual virtue in it, · there being fuch an infinite difproportion between t~at which is ~odily, and that which is fpiritual ; what is the reafon? Becoufe thts Man, Chrtfl: Jefus, was a fpiritual Man, and tho he took Fle!h and Blood, and a Booy, to l.we us, yet that fpiritual Body of his in Heaven was ordained to him; the fecond .Adam, faith the Apofile, was made a q11ickping Spirit. And therefore thts Body, that was thus fpiritual, of fo tranfcending a glory, as it mufr needs be, by the fecond PeriOn dwelling in it, advancing it above the rank of all reafonable ·Creatures, as a Mans Soul would the Body ofa Beofl, ifit were put into it : hence all his A[tions have a fpiritual virtue in them ; the railing his Body up will raife you up from the Death of Sin. But that by the way. Now to explain more particularly this Death. It is, you fee, a Death in SilL Sin hath two Evils in it: there is the Guilt ofSin, and there is the Power ofSin; aod in both thefe refpc[ts a Man in his natural ell:ate is dead in Sin. I. He is dead in refpell: of the Guilt of every Sin he comrnitteth, as a condem– ned Man that is guilty of Murther, or the like, we fay he is a dead Man. You l11all find in Heb. 9· (it is a pertinent place to this purpofe,) that the Blood of Chrifi is faid to pm·ge om· Confciences from dead Wor/;!. Every Sin is • dead Worl{_, and here it is fpoken evidently in refpell: ofSin, becaufe he fpeaks ofpur– ging the Confcience; now the Confcience is that which is the Subjell: of all the Guilt of Sin. And therefore now in Ho[. I3· I. you have a11 excellent place for it, When Ephraim wmt and ojfinded in Baal, he died, faith he; that is, from that time came upon him a Sentence of Death and Condemnauon ; the State fl:ood * fiill,
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