In the words — (1.) A subject ; (2.) A predicate.
1. A subject, ' He that is dead.' A man may be said to be dead properly and naturally, or improperly and metaphorically.
[1.] Properly and naturally, when the body is deprived of the soul : James ii. 26, ' The body without the spirit is dead.*
[2.] Improperly and metaphorically, for death spiritual ; and this either with respect to unbelievers, who are said to be dead in sin : Eph. ii. 1, ' You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins ; ' and ver. 5, ' Even when we were dead in sins hath he quickened us together with Christ.' And therefore, when we come out of that
202 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VI. [SeR. VI.
estate, we are said * to pass from death to life,' 1 John iii. 14 ; or, witli respect to believers, who are dead to sin : Col. iii. 3, ' For ye are dead.' Real believers are dead, not m sin, but to sin, the dominion and reign of it being broken, though it be not totally subdued. This is here intended.
2. The predicate, ' Is freed from sin.' The word SeStKaioirai, the vulgar hath justijicatus est a peccato. Beza, with many of the ancients. liheratus est. Our ti-anslation hath both ; in the text, freed ; in the margin, justified. Whether you take one or the other word, it im- porteth deliverance from the yoke and dominion of sin, so as not to obey its motions and commands. For the apostle doth not speak here of the forgiveness of sin, but the abolition of its power and dominion ; for it is brought as a reason why those whose old man is crucified with Christ should not serve sin ; and the word justified is the ratiher used, because one justified and absolved by his judge is also released and set free from his bonds ; so are we.
Doct. That freedom from sin is the consequentof our dying with Christ.
I shall handle — (1.) The nature of this freedom from sin ; (2.) The degree to which we attain in this life ; (3.) The value of this benefit ; (4.) How it is the consequent of our dying with Christ.
First, The nature of this freedom from sin. I told you before it is an exemption from the dominion and reign of sin.
1. We quit the evil disposition and temper of our souls; we are dis- possessed of every evil habit. Our first work is to put off the habit, and then the act ceaseth. The apostle telleth us, 1 Peter ii. 11, 12, ' Dearly beloved, abstain fiom fleshly lusts that war against the soul, having your conversation honest amongst the Grentiles,' &c. In vain do we lop off the branches till the root be first deadened. The life and reign of sin lieth in the prevalency of our lusts within ; all out- ward sins are but acts of obedience to the reigning lust.
2. We renounce our former course of living ; after the habits, we are free from the acts. We do not, and durst not to live in sin ; the former conversation is cast off, as well as the former lusts : Eph. iv. 22, ' That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.' Sin must not break out in our conversations ; for it is but a deceit to think we have quelled the lust when the acts appear as frequently and as easily as they did before. A change of heart will be made manifest by a change of conversation. So 1 Peter i. 14, ' As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance.' They must not shape and mould their actions and endeavours accord- ing to the sinful motions of their corrupt nature. So 1 Peter ii. 12, ' Having your conversation honest.' If sin be weakened in the heart, the fruit of it will appear in the conversation.
Now this freedom is expressed by a word that signifieth justification, and fitly —
1. Because of the nature of justification, in which there are two branches — liberatio a fcetui, and acceptatto ad vitam. The punishment incurred by the fall is poena damni and p(mia sensus, the loss and the pain. Both may be considered as in this life, or the life to come. To begin with the highest and most dreadful part of the pun-
VeR. 7.] SERMONS UPON ROMANS VI. 203
ishment, the loss of God's eternal and blessed presence, or the fruition of him in glory : Mat. xxv. 41, ' Depart, ye cursed.' The pains are those eternal torments which are appointed for the wicked when they shall fall immediately into the hands of an angry and offended God : Heb. X. 31, ' It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.' But in this life we must also consider the loss and pain. The pains are all those miseries and afflictive evils which came into the world by reason of sin. The loss is loss of God's image : that threat- ening, ' Thou shalt die the death,' Gen. ii. 17, implied spiritual death as well as temporal and eternal. Now we are justified when we are freed from punishment, and among other punishments from the pun- ishment of loss, when God giveth us the blessing which sin had de- prived us of. As for instance, when he giveth us the sanctifying Spirit, this is called ' a receiving the atonement,' Rom. v. 11. We had for- feited it by sin, and God, being pacified in Christ, doth restore it to us. Man brought upon himself spiritual death by sin, and the gift of the sanctifying Spirit is the great and first act of God's pardoning mercy, and a means to qualify us for other parts of pardon. Though the thing be plain of itself, yet to make it more clear to us —