VeR. 13.] SERMONS UPON ROMANS VI. 247
3. In both take notice —
(1.) Of the two opposite masters, 'sin and God.'
(2.) The opposite employments are ' righteousness,' and ' unright- eousness.'
(3.) The instrument used by both, and that is * the body,' or ' the members of the body.'
[I.] The two masters, sin and God ; the one is a usurper, the other is our rightful and most gracious Lord. God is our proper Lord, for he is our creator, and therefore our owner and governor ; and he is our most gracious Lord jure heneficiario ; he hath obliged us to him by many benefits ; so that a christian should say, as Paul did : Acts xxvii. 23, ' His I am, and him I serve.'
[2.] The two employments, unrighteousness and righteousness. Unrighteousness is put for all evil works and actions ; for all sin is unrighteousness, whether committed against God or man. By sin we deal unrighteously with God, w^hom we disobey and dishonour : Mai. i. 6, ' If I be a father, where is mine honour ? If I be a master, where is my fear ? ' We deny God his due. We deal unrighteously with ourselves, whom we defile and destroy : 1 Cor. vi. 18, ' He that com- mitteth fornication, sinneth against his own body ; ' and Pro v. viii. 36, * He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul.' And also in many sins we hurt our neighbour, either in soul, body, goods, or good name, as is evident. On the other side, holiness is righteousness, or giving God his due. Righteousness is sometimes taken strictly for that grace which inclineth us to perform our duty to man ; as 1 Tim. vi. 11, 'Follow after righteousness, godliness,' &c. ; Rom. i. 18, 'The ■wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and un- righteousness of men.' Sometimes largely, for newness of life, for all those holy actions which are required of a christian : 1 John ii. 29, ' If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth right- eousness is born of him.'
[3.] The instrument used in both is the body, or the members of the body ; for our body is of a middle nature, wliich may be used well or ill ; and the members of the body are weapons with which the soul is armed to do well or ill ; and it is notable that the word used by the apostle is not opyava, instrumenta, as we render it in the text, but oirXa, weapons or arms, as we translate it in the margin. The work on both sides is a kind of warfare.
(1.) They that serve sin or indulge bodily lusts, fight for sin and the ■devil against God and their own salvation : 1 Peter ii. 11, 'Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul ; ' Rom. vii. 23, ' I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind.' While ye suffer the body to be thus employed, ye wage war against God, whether ye know it, or own it, yea or no.
(2.) The other work is also a warfare ; our graces are called, ' Armour of light,' Rom. xiii. 1'2. Tliough you fight for your duty, you must per- form it.
Doct. That sincere christians should not suffer themselves to be employed by sin, but offer up and present themselves to God to do his will.
1. Let us explain the duty.
248 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VI. [SeR. XI.
2. (Show you the necessity of it.
First, In explaining the duty here enforced, let me observe to- you—
1. That there are two masters wliich divide the world between them — sin and God. Every man doth serve one of these, but no man can serve both. Every man serveth one of these — sin or righteousness,^ God or Satan ; for there is no neutral or middle state ; either their time and strength is spent in the service of the flesh, or in the service of God : Eom. viii. 5, ' They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh ; and they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit: Gal. vi. 8, ' They that sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corrup- tion ; but they that sow to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life ever- lasting.' Now it concerneth us to consider what or who it is that em- ployeth us. Our bodies are worn out, and the vigour of nature is daily spent ; but in what ? In pleasing the flesh in that which it craveth, or in serving, pleasing, and glorifying God? The prophet saith, Isa. Iv. 2, * Wherefore do ye spend your money for that which is not bread ? and your labour for that which satisfieth not?' Every man is at the cost and expense of his time and labour, and bestoweth it on something or other ; but in what? Do not think of compounding the matter ; for as every man serveth one of these masters, so no man serveth both : Mat. vi. 24, ' No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other ; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other ; ye cannot serve God and mammon.' They both require our full strength, and both command contrary things ; therefore, as a man cannot go two contrary ways at once, so he cannot obey these two- masters. If sin reign in our souls, it draweth all things into obedience; the consent of your minds is not enough to satisfy it, but it will employ the body to fulfil its cravings, and especially those two adjuncts of the bodily life, time and strength. And grace doth the like ; the faculties and powers of the soul and body must be employed one way or another ; they cannot lie idle in such an active, restless creature as man is.