12 An Expofition of the EpiJUe ~ He ,·ofe agailt for our]ujlift.cation ; by his quick.._ning we are quickped. you !hall find ~ in Rom. 7. when a Man is humbled for Sm, he dies : Si" revived, faith he, and J died; that is, I apprehended my felf to be a dead Man, dead in Sins and Tref– paOes; tben cometh Jefus Chrift, and works Faith in the Man, and fo raifeth him up to a Juflification of Life, and now the Man liveth again ; but how cloth he Jive? he liveth by Faith, The Life ":hich I live, it is by Faith, faith he, laying hold of the ji-ee Grace of God, and ]ujlijicat10" by "!Y Lord and Saviour '}efm Cbrijl:. The Apoflle here mtcnds both ; for his Scope 1s, to Illuftratc to the uttermoft the Grace of God towards us, in quickning us : and as in quickning us by Chrift he intendeth freeing u: from all forts of Death ; fo in faying, We are dead i~ Sim and Trejpajfes, he mdudeth all forts of Death alfo. But if :rou ask, which is principally iritend~d here ? I anfwer, Principally, and 111 a !pcc~al manner, IS mtendcd the Death m refpeCl: of the Power of Sin. And my reafon is this, becaufe this Verfe refers to the 19thof the firft Chapter, According to the mighty Pmver which work! m m, according to the Power rvhich rvrougbt i" Cbrift, when he raifed him from the Dead: . And JOlt being dead, faith he, hath he quicl<!zed. So here m th1s fir!t Verfe, and m Verfe 5· Therefore in (ol. 2. Tho it be applied to Forgivenefs, yet there is the Power of Sin menti– oned too, Jim were dead, faith he, in the Vncircumcijion of the Flejh; that is in their original Corruption, in the Power of Sin, as well as in the Guilt of it. Therefore afterwards in this Chapter,. he magnifies the Grace of God, in refpeCl: ofrhaking a new Workmanfh1p 111 h1m, Created m Chrift to good Work!, a new Principle of. Life. So that, I fay, the Apoftle's chief Scope is, to hold forth a Death in refpeCl: of the Power of Sin. And fo I have opened to you what is meant by Life and Death. There is a third Death, which is the confequent of both thefe, (which is cer– tainly meant to0,) and is the Confummation ofboth thefe, and that is Death eter– nal ; even eternal Death is but a beingdead i11 Si11. What is the great Executio· ner of Men in Hell ? The truth is, it is purely the Guilt of a Mans own Sin, and theWrath of God joining with it, that which he lived in here. I will give you a plain Similitude for it: A Fifh liveth naturally in the Water, take that Water and heat it, and put the Filh into it, the Fi!h dies, even in the very fame Wate; it lived in : The Apoftle fpeaks in a m~nner th~ fame, Rom. 7. The Law came; nnd Sin •·evived, a11d I died. So that m Hell It felf, God !hall need no other Executioner, but only thine own Sins, fet on fire by his Wrath, to boil thy Soul. Men fhall but then die in their Sins, and their Sins will be the Infirument. They ne like Gunpowder, (as I may exprefs it) which the Sparks of God'~ Wrath falling into, blows up. Therefore. why cloth the Apoftle fay, I Cor. 1 5· The Sti11g of Death i< Sin ? He fpeaks m relation to Hell after Death. But becaufe Sin is that eternal Sting, you know it is faid, the Worm th•t dies not. Obferve the Analogy, when a Man is dead, his Body breedeth Worms; fo the Sins that arc in a Mans Confcience, they are as fo many Worms that prey upon that dead Soul for ever in Hell. Het·e in this Life, Men fit but in the !hadow of Death. Where Men have a little Light in thii lhadow, to play by, or work by, or fing by, hete they have the Creatures, and God puts Comforts in the Creatures to draw out Mens Lufls ;' but in Hell, when God !hall take away all Comforss, take away all Creat•1rcs, there {hall be utter Dark1cfr, the Blacf<!!cfr of Darkncfr, which is the expreffion for Death, as Light is for Life. Now I will make but an Obfervation or two, tho this Difcourfe bath had Ob· fcrvations ftrewed amongft it all the way. Obferv. r. Look firfl: of all therefore upon every Sin IU Death. He that hateth me, (faith Wifdom, Prov. 8. ;6.) and will follow other W<l)'s, he loveth Death. Ifa Man aj>' prebends he is doing that which he knows will be his Death, it is the greatefi Ar– gument in the World to !bun it; all in Nature rifeth up in him, What! will you have me catch my Death? will yo)l bring me to my Grave? Let us all think fo of Sin. But you will f.1y, A Man that 1s regenerated, he fins not umo death. It is true; that's not the iffue of it; what's the reafon ? Becaufe anothers Death went for it, and that is the Death of Chri!l:. And let that move thee more, than the
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=