servant, then we shall be like him as the Lord from heaven heavenly. Therefore the life of glory in heaven must not be excluded.
3. The certainty of the inference, Triarevo/jiev. It is not a matter of opinion and conjecture, but of faith ; we are certainly persuaded of the truth of it. We must distinguish of this truth ; for it may be con- sidered two ways —
[1.] As a general maxim or proposition ; so it is absolutely true, ' Those that are dead with Christ shall live with him.' This is an article of faith to be believed^cZe divina.
[2.] As it is applied to us, or as it is ground of our particular confidence ; so it is true hypothetically or upon supposition, and our confidence can be no greater than the evidence of our qualification : ' If we be indeed dead with Christ, we in particular shall also live with him.' It is but a rational conclusion from two premises ; one of which is of divine revelation, the other of inward experience, namely, that ' I am dead with Christ,' therefore ' I believe that I shall live with him.' It is an act both of faith and reason, an act of faith by par- ticipation, as it buildeth on a principle of faith.
Doct. Those that are dead with Christ have no reason to doubt but that they shall also live with him.
1. I shall speak of the condition, ' If we be dead with Christ.'
2. Of the benefit, ' They shall live,' spiritually and everlastingly.
3. Of our certain apprehension, ' We believe.'
First, of the presupposed condition, ' If we be dead with Christ.'
1, Who are dead with Christ.
2. How necessary this order is. The one will show us that it is not an over-strict, but a comfortable condition ; the other, that it is a condition absolutely necessary to subsequent grace.
1. Who are dead with Christ ?
[1.] Such as own the obligation which their baptism and profession puts upon them; that ' reckon themselves dead indeed unto sin,' Rom. vi. 11 ; that make account they are under a vow and bond, wherewith they have bound their souls. The careless mind it not ; but sincere christians acknowledge that the debt lieth upon them, they being solemnly engaged to Christ to do it. The apostle saith, Eom. viii. 12, ' We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.' As the Jew by circumcision is bound to observe all the ritual of Moses, Gal. vi. 3, so christians by baptism are bound to crucify the flesh and obey the Spirit. What say you ? Are you at liberty to do what you list, or under a strict bond and obligation to die unto sin ? Let your lives answer for you.
[2.] They make conscience of it, and seriously address themselves to perform it : Gal. v. 24, ' They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the aff'ections and lusts ; ' they have begun to do it, and still go on to do it more and more ; for this is a continued action, not the work of a day, but of our whole lives. They have not only retrenched the desires of the flesh, but seek to mortify and subdue them, and per- form their promise so solemnly made to God.
[3.] They obtain the effect in such a degree that the reign of sin is broken, though sin itself be not utterly extinct in us. They do no longer live in their old slavery and bondage, as those do who obey
VeR. 8.] SERMONS UPON ROMANS VI. 213
every foolish and hurtful lust that bubbleth up in their hearts. A man's condition is determined by what is in the throne habitually, and governeth our lives and actions. There are two warring principles in us, full of enmity and repugnancy to each other — the flesh and the spirit ; but one reigneth, which constituteth the difference between the carnal and the renewed. In the carnal, flesh reigneth ; but in the regenerate the Spirit hath the mastery, and is superior and most powerful ; so that a christian showeth himself to be spirit rather than flesh ; otherwise it could not be said, ' That which is born of the Spirit is spirit,' John iii. 6. The acts of sin are disowned acts, and he may say with Paul, ' It is not I, but sin that dwelleth in me.' Sin is against the bent and habit of our wills.
[4.] They subtract the fuel of their lusts, as they wean themselves from earthly things, and show such contempt of the world that the good things which they enjoy by God's allowance are not a snare to them. For the apostle saith of those that set their affections on things above, and not on things on earth, ' Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ,' Col. iii, 2, 3. It is the divine and heavenly life which they seek to live. Well, then, here is a brief and plain descrijv tion of those who are dead with Christ in four things — (1.) They make conscience of their solemn vow in baptism, wherein they pro- mised to put off the former lusts of their ignorance, and the corrupt conversation that flowed from them. (2.) They are busily at work in it, and it is their daily endeavour. (3.) They prevail so far that sin is a-dying, and grace groweth in strength and power. (4.) They con- tinue faithful in that purpose ; and their savour of earthly things is deadened, and their hearts are still working towards God and heaven.