Ver. t o. the 8th Chapter of the ROM A N S. S9 Secondly, I come'now to the concef$on, The hody is dead, becaufe of fin. I ore ob- ferve the Emphafir of the expreflion, the body is dead; not only (hall die, or mutt die, but is dead. He expreffeth himfelf thus for two reafons ; Sift becazf tie fentence is pall, Gen. 2. 1,7. and Heb.. 7. 29. It is appointed for all men once to dir. Therefore as we fay of a condemned man, he is a dead man, by reafon of the Sen- tence pall upon him : So by reafon of this fentence, our body is a mortal body, liable to death, fentenced, doomed to death, and muff one day undergo it. The Union be- tween it and the Soul, after a certain time (hall be diffolved, and our bodies corrupt- ed. The execution is begun; mortalitity hath already feifed upon our bodies, by tl e many infirmities tending to, and ending in the diffolution of nature. We now bear about the marks of Sin in our bodies, the harbingers of death are already come and have. taken up their lodging aforehand. The Apolfle faith, In deaths often; how many deaths do we fuffer, before death cometh to relieve us, by feveral difeafes ? as Collickt, Meagrims, Catarrhs, Gout, Stone, and the like ? all there prepare for it and therefore this body, though glorious in its Stru&ure, as it is the workmanfhip of God, is called a vile body, as it is the fubjett of fo many difeafes ; yea, and its feif is continually dying, Heb. II. 12. therefore fprang there even of one, and him as good as dead. We exprefs it, a man hash one foot in the grave. 2. The reafon is affigned, Becaufe of Sin; death is the moft ordinary thing in the world, but its caufe and end are little thought of; this exprelTion will give us oc. cafiom to fpeak of both ; its meritorious caufe, and its of and end, both are implyed in the clank, Becaufe of Sin. r. It implyeth the meritorious caufe. Death is not a natural accident, but a punifjt. ment; we die not as the beats die, or as the Plants decay ; no, the Scripture telleth us by what Gate it entered into the World, namely, that 'tis an effeta of the ju(tice of God for mans Sin, Rom. 5. I2. By one man, fin entred into the world, and death by fin. And 'cis alto' by Covenant, therefore called wages, Rom. 6. 23. Sin procured it, and the lam ratifies it. I, but doch it fo come upon the faithful ? I Anfwer, though their fins be forgiven, yet God would leave this mark of his difpleafure on all mana kind, that all Adams Children (hall die, for a warning to the World. Well then, fin careyes death in its bofome, and to fome this death is but a ffep to Hell, or death to come; 'tis not fo to the Godly; yet in their inftance, God would teach the World the fure connexion between death and Sin ; whofoever bath been once a (inner, mutt die. 2. Its end and ufe.. The body is deadbecaufe of fin ; That is, the relicks of fin, arè not aboli(hedbnt by death; there is a twofold end and ufe of death to them that are in Chrift. I. To fini,fh tranfgreon, and male an end of Sin ; We groan under the burden of it, while we are in our Mortal bodies, Rom. 7. 24. But when the Believer dyeth, death is the deftrufkion of fin, rather than of the penitent Sinner; the vail of the finful fie(h is rent, and by the fight of God we are purified all in an inftant, and then fin (hall gafp its loft, and our Phyfitian will perfell the cure which he bath begun in us, and we (hall be prefented faultlefs before the prefence of God. 2. To free us from the natural infirmities which render us uncapable of that happy life in Heaven, which is intended to us. The Irate of Adam in innocency was bleflèd, but Terrene and Earthly, a Irate that needed Meat, Drink, and Sleep. If Chrifi would have reftored us' to this life, it may be death had not been neceffary, and the pre - fent Irate of our bodies needed not to be deftroyed, but only purified; but our Lord jefus had an higher aim, Eph: I. 3. Who bath bleffed us with fpiritual bleffngs in Chrifi Adam injoyed God among the beats in paradife; we injoy God among the Angels in Heaven; it' s a divine, and Heavenly Life that hepromifeth, a life like that of thebleffed Angels, where meat, and drink, and Peep, hath no ufe. Now this nature that we now have, is not fitted for this life; therefore Paul telleth us, a Cor. r 5. 5ò. Thal flefb and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. That is that Animal life, which we derived from Adam, cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Therefore we need to bear the image of the Heavenly, which cannot be, till this terrene and ani- mal life be aboli(hed. To this end God ufeth death. So that which was in its fell a puni(hment, becometh a means of entrance into glory ;; the Corn is not quicken- ed unlefs it die, r Cor. 55. 36, 37,'38. The believers that are alive at Chrilts com- ing, inuit be changed, v. 52, 53, Chrift himfelf by death entred into Glory; therefore 8 M what
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