1. Let ns take notice of the difference and dissimilitude.
[1.] In ordinary engraffings the stock is base when the plant is noble and generous, as when the branch of a choice apple-tree is planted into a crab-stock. But the case is quite otherwise here ; all the goodness is in the stock or root ; we were * branches of the wild olive-tree,' Kom. xi. 17 ; or * the degenerate plants of a strange vine,' as the prophet speaketh, Jer. ii. 21. Men, when they engraff, seek out the choicest slips or plants, and are wont to send far and near for such ; but God maketh another choice of plants, wild by nature, who can bring forth no good fruit of themselves, and graffeth them into Christ the mediator, ' That they may be filled with the fruits of right- eousness, which are by Christ Jesus to the praise and glory of God,' Phil. i. 11.
[2.] Be the slip generous or base, if it be dead, the engraffing is in vain. Though the stock be never so lusty and growing, it cannot quicken a dead slip. But it is otherwise here : Bph. ii. 1 , ' And you that were dead in trespasses and sins, yet now hath he quickened.'
[3.] The graff bringeth forth fruit according to its own nature and its own kind ; but here the graff is changed by the stock, and followeth the nature of the stock : * We are made partakers of a divine nature,' 2 Peter i. 4, and so live to ^od ; this fruit belongeth to the stock, and wholly cometh from his influence.
2. Let us see the likeness and resemblance.
[1.] As the branch and stock make one tree, so we that are cut off from our old root, and planted into Christ, become one with him : ' I am the vine, ye are the branches,' John xv. 5. We are one with him, not by way of adhesion, as ivy cleaveth to the oak, and receiveth nourishment from it ; but by way of insition and implantation : there is a closer union between the graff and the stock than there is between the ivy and the oak.
[2.] In regard of influence, as plants receive moisture and juice from the root, so do we receive nourishment from Christ. As the
184 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VI, [SeR. IV.
apostle speaketh of the covenant-stock : Kom. xi. 17, ' Thou partakest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree ;' meaning it of the privilege of ordinances and means of grace, which the Gentiles did partake of by becoming Abraham's seed by faith. So it is true of the mediator, or the root and head of the renewed estate ; we partake of his fatness, without which we should soon die and wither : John xv. 4, ' As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me.' The Spirit by the grace of the Redeemer is distributed to believers, as juice to the branches, as long as they abide in their stock, and are not cut or broken off. It is not a bare imitation, but influence.
3. The effects are life, growth, and fruitfulness.
[1.] Life : 1 John v, 12, ' He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life.' We have no life but as planted into Christ, who is our root ; both the life we have and the life we hope for cometh from him : Gal. ii. 20, ' I am crucified with Christ : neverthe- less I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.'
[2.] Growth : Col. ii. 19, ' Not holding the head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.' Every member doth its part, but the influence, whereby they increase, is from the head. Now our growth is either in mortification, when by degrees we get more strength to kill sin, or in vivification, or our rising more and more to newness of life.
[3.] Fruitfulness : John xv. 5, ' He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit ; ' and the wisdom that is from above is said to be full of good fruits, James iii. 17, that is, plentiful in acts of holiness, obedience, and love : to do a little good may be more from chance than nature. Well, then, from the whole we see that the power of dying to sin and walking in newness of life is derived from Jesus Christ, and he should have the praise of all ; for he merited these benefits for us, and efi'ecteth them in us by his Spirit, which we receive by virtue of union with him.
Secondly, That this union is signified and sealed in baptism. I will not speak much of this, because I handled it before in another verse. Only let rue mind you that there is a visible external professed implan- tation into Christ, and an internal and real implantation : the one is by baptism, the other is by the Spirit ; both together make complete baptism : 1 Cor. xii. 13, ' For by ona Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.' One alone is the baptism of water, the other the baptism of the Spirit. The one inferreth an obligation, the other produceth an inclination, to die unto sin and to live unto God. And therefore — (1.) Let us speak of baptism ; and (2.) Of regeneration.