40 SERMONS upon Serm. VI. fm in his heart, and be a fervant of fn, he is ftill liable to be condemned, both as a Sid. ner, and an Hypocrite. For he remains a Sinner (till, and is an Hypocrite, inafmuch as he pretends to that Faith by which he fliHuld be juftified from all his other fins, while he bath it not. IV. How is it a Confequent of our dying with Chrift ? There are two forts of men that profefs Communion with Chrifts Death. 1. Thofe that are vifibly baptized into his Name. 2. Thofe that are really converted to God. The profeffed or penitent Believer 5 or the nominal and real Chriftian. r. The vifible Profeffor, it is his duty to look after freedom from fin. All Chriflians do vifibly profefs by virtue of Chrifts Death , to dye unto fin : they are dead by Profef- fion, they are dead by their Baptifmal Vow and Undertaking 5 but this is but in word and in deed ; in (hew not in power , if they do not mind thefe things. The carelefs Chriftian forgetsthe obligation of Baptifm, though he doth not renounce it, 2 Pet. r. 9. He is blind and cannot fie afar of, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his oldjinx. Chrifianity calleth him out ofthofe pollutions that he walloweth in, and affordeth him great helps to avoid them 5 but he undervalued' all, and is little affened with that Par- don and Life, which is offered in the new Covenant , and which by his Baptifm he teemed , and was efteemed , to have a right unto : and as a purblind man cannot fee things at a diftance, they are fo intent upon things worldly and fenfual, that they forget the purification of their Souls , or due preparation for the World to come. Now we cannot fay de folio, that fuch a man is a &wally freed from fin , for he is not truly dead with Chrift 5 but de jare , of right he Ihould mind this dying to fin, that he may no longer ferve fin 5 he cannot comfortably conclude himfelf to be pardoned or fan tified, or one who is made a partaker of this Grace , it is not his Priviledge to be freed from fin, but becaufe of his ingagement to Chrift it is his duty. 2. The next fort is the real Convert, or penitent Believer , who is indeed dead with Chrift, it is both his duty and his priviledge : he bath not only undertaken to dye unto fin,and to renounce his former courfe oflite, but hath ferioully begun it,and by the pow- er of the Spirit of Chrift carrieth on thiswork daily 5 fo that by virtue of Chrifts dying he is dead, and fo really is, and is alto reckoned to be one that is freed from the domi- nion of fin. So the Apofles fpeech in the Text is exaftly parallel with that, r Pet. 4.1. He that pathfuffered in the flefh, bath ceafed fromfin : he that is dead, that is, fpiritually dead here, is the fame with him that bath furred in the flefh5 freedfrom fin, that is, is abfolved from fin, not in regard of guilt but power, is the fame with hath ceafed from fin there 5 fo that one place doth explain another. But let me prove, T. It is his duty to be cleanfed from fin, or freed from the dominion of fin 5 for it is brought to prove that he muf; no longer ferve fin. 1. All our Communion with Chrift is by the Spirit of Chrift : now where-ever the Spirit comes to dwell, he doth infufe a Principle of Grace, which doth not only ftrive againut fin, but conquer fin, at leaft fo far as to take away the dominion of it : Gal. g. 16, 17. Walk in the Spirit, and ye fball not fulfil the lofts of the flefb 5 for the ftefh lnfle:b.againff the Spirit , and the Spirit againfi the flefh 5 therefore they cannot ferve fin as they did before. There are two Principles in us, and accordingly there are two Defires, the one proceeding from the Flefb , the other from the Spirit, which are fo oppofite one to another, that what the one liketh , the other difliketh , and whatfoever you do in compliance with the one, you do it in oppofition to the other: But that which is in predominancy, is the Spirit, which rebuketh the carnal Nature and Principle in us. 2. In our Converton to Chrift there is included an averfion from fin 5 and therefore it muff not bear fway and command , and influence our anions, as it did formerly. It is called Repentance from dead works , Heb. 6. a. not for them only, but from them 5 it breedeth not only a forrow , but a loathing and forfaking of the fin we repent of. Many will fay, they are lorry, and do repent for fin which they have committed 5 but all kind of forrow doth not evidence true Repentance : there is a fort of repenting and forrow for fin in Hell , all do repent, and are lorry for fin at la(t5 when a inner hash lucked out all the carnal fweet that is in fin , and the fling only is left behind, no won- der if he be troubled : this is Attrition, not Contrition, not a forrow that arifeth from love to God , a furrow that doth not break the force of fin 5 they go on ¡till , there is no change of heart or life. 3. There muff be a difference between a man carnal and regenerate , and what is the
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