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SERM.
THE
HIDDEN LIFE
OF
A
CHRISTIAN.
149
power
of
sin,
unpardoned and
ilnsanctified, are dead in
trespasses and
sins
;
yet
they live
the
life
of
brutes
in
the
lusts of
the
flesh,
or the
life
of
devils in
the lusts
of
the
mind,
Eph.
ii.
1,
Q.
Those
who
are recovered
from
the
fall,
and
brought
into
a
state
of
grace
by
the gospel
of
Christ, are
said
to
be
dead also
;
that
is,
they
are
dead
tò sin, Rom.
vi. 11.
and they
are
crucified, and
so
dead to the
world,
Gal.
vi. 14.
The
delights
of
sin
are hateful
to them,
so
that
they
allure
them
not,
to forsake
their God
;
and the
lawful
enjoyments
of
life
are
so
far
tasteless
to
the saints,
in comparison
of the
things
of
heaven,
that
they
have
much
less
influence,
than
once they
liad,
to
tempt
them
away from
God,
and
from the
practice
of
holiness.
It
is
in this sense
the christian Colossians
are
said
to
be dead
in
my
text.
But
they have
another, a
new life,
and
that of
a different
kind;
such
as
is
mentioned
in
this
verse,
and
which
is
hid with
Christ
in
God
:
and it
is
this hidden
life
shall
be
the
chief subject
of
my
dis-
course.
These
latter
words
of
the
text
afford
two
plain and
easy
propositions or
doctrines.
I.
That
the
life
of
a christian
is
a hidden
life.
II.
That
it
is
hid with
Christ
in
God.
Let
us
medi-
tate
on
them
in
order.
Doctrine
I. A
christian's
life is a
hidden
life.
Here
we shall,
First,
Consider what
is
this life, which
is
said to
be;
hidden. And,
Secondly,
In
what respects
it
is
so.
First,
What
is
this
life
of
a
christian
which
is
said to
be hidden
Not
the animal
life,
whereby
he eats,
drinks,
sleeps,
moves
and
walks
;
this
is
visible
enough
to all
about
him.
Not
the
civil
life,
as he
stands
in
relation
to
other
men
in the
world,
whether
as
a
son, as a
father,
a
master,
or
a
servant,
a
trader, a labourer,
or
an
officer
in
the
state:
For
all
these
are
public,
and
seen
of
men.
But
the hidden
life
is
that
whereby he
is a
christian
indeed
;
his
spiritual
life,
wherein
he
is
devoted
to
God,
and
lives
to
the purposes
of
heaven and eternity. And
this
is
the same
life,
which,
in
other parts of scripture,
is
called
eternal;
for
the
life
of
grace survives the grave,
L3