Vert-. 2 3. the fixth Chapter to the R o M A N S. 2. Let us confider there two Branches apart. Fir[, The Wages of Sin is Death. I. What is meant by Death ? H. How it is faid to be the Wages of Sin ? L What is meant by Death ? There is a twofold Death, É'irft and Second, Temporal and Eternal. 1. Temporal Death , that is alfo the fruit of Sin , Rom. 5. 12. By one man fin entred into the world, and death by fn, and fo death paled upon all men, for that all men have fin- ned. Death is an Evil , for Nature abhorreth it, as appeareth by our unwillingnefs to dye. Now if it be evil, it mull be either the Evil of Sin , or of Punifhment : God threatened it as a punifhment, in cafe of difobedience, Gen. 2. 17. In the day that thou eateft thereof, thou (halt firmly die. It is an Enemy, The fart enemy that (hall be defiroyed it death, 1 Cor.15. a6. Would God give Mankind into the hand of an Enemy , if he had not finned againft him ? Now this Evil remaineth, partly that there might be Come vifible punifhment , and bitter effet of fin in this World ; unknown Torments are de- fpifed , and many flight, Hell as a vain Scarecrow , therefore God bath appointed tem- poral death , to put us in mind of the evil of fin : partly for a paffage into our everlaft- ing condition , that the righteous may enter into Glory, and the wicked go to their own place. It would make Religion too fenfible, if the righteous fhould have all their bleffednefs, and the wicked all their punifbment here ; therefore there mu[ be a paf- fage out into the other World. 2. Eternal Death in oppofition to everlating Life , which is the fruit of Holinefs. The oppo(ite Claufe fheweth what a kind of death it is. This is called the fecond Death, Rev. 20. 6. Blefd and holy is he that bath part in the ftrll refnrreçtion, on fach the fecond death bath no power : and ver. 1¢. Death and hell were call into the lake of fire, this es the fecond death. It is called Death , becaufe death in all Creatures that have fenfe, is ac- companied with pain; Trees and other Vegetables dye without pain, but fodoth not Man and Beall, and death to man is more bitter , becaufe he is more fenfible of the fweetnefs of life than the beats are, and bath Come forethought of what may follow after. Again, it is called Death, becaufe it is a mifery from which there is no releafeg as from the firt death there is no recovery , nor returning into the prefent life. This fecund Death may be confidered as to the Lofs and Pain. FirIl, As to the Lofs , it is an eternal feparation from the prefence of God , and fo an exclufion from all Blifs and Glory : 2 The 1. g. Who (hall be pnnifbed with everlaftïng de- ftrut7ion from the prefence of the Lord, andfrom the glory of his power. So Mat. 25.41: Depart from me, ye turfed, into everlafting fire. Secondly, The Pain is fet forth by two Notions: Marl¿ 9. 44. The worm that never dyeth , and the fire that (hall never be quenched; by which is meant the fling of Confci. ence, and the wrath of God , both which conflitute the fecond Death , and make the Sinner for ever miferable. 1. The fling of Confcience, or the fretting remembrance of their pa[ folly and mad - nefs in following the pleafures of fin, and negleling the promifes of Grace. What a vexing reffe &ion will this be to the Damned to all Eternity ? And befides this, 2.. There are pains inflicted upon them by the wrath of God, and the Body and Soul are delivered over to eternal Torments: Mat. 25.41. Depart from me, ye turfed , into everlafting fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels. There is no Member of the Body, or Faculty of the Soul , but feeleth the mifery of the fecond Death ; for as no part is free from fin, fo none from punifhment : in the fecond Death the pain lyeth not in one place, head or heart, but all over; and though in the firfì Death, the more it prevail - eth , the more we are part feeling; yet in this death there is a greater vivacity than ever; the capacity of every fenfe is enlarged, and made more receptive of pain. While we are in the Body , vehemens fenfibile corrnmpit fenfrem, the fenfe is deadned , the more vehemently and violently the objet ftriketh upon it ; as the Inhabitants about the fall of Vila, are deaf with the continual noife: too much light puts out the eyes, and the tafle is dulled by cutom ; but here the capacity is not deftroyed by feeling , but im- proved. As the Saints are fortified by their Bleffednefs, and happily injoy thofe things, the leaa glimpfe of which would overwhelm them in the World ; fo the wicked are inabled by that power that torments them, to endure more, and all this is eternal with- out hope of releafe or recovery. Il. This Death is Wages, a Debt that will rarely be paid ; for it is appointed by the Sentence of Gods righteous Law. Now here we muff eonfiderl 157 t. The
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