414 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. [SeR. III.
ample doth strengthen and increase it : Eph. ii. 3, ' Among whom we also had our conversations in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as others : ' and Isa. vi. 5, ' I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.' (4.) By the devil's craft, who observeth our tempers and inclinations, who suiteth every distemper with a diet proper : 2 Tim. ii. 26, ' That they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.' Now, this is our bondage till we change masters, and devote and give up ourselves to God.
2. By nature men are under the power of sin, and so by consequence under the sentence of death, for sin and death go hand in hand; These two cannot be put asunder, being joined together by the ordina- tion of God's righteous law. If sin rule in us, it will certainly damn Vjs ; for none are freed from the damning power of sin, but those that are freed from the dominion of it. The same law that convinceth of sin, doth also bind over to death ; sin and death suit together like work and wages : Kom. vi. 23, ' The wages of sin is death.' To affect you while we are explaining this matter, consider three things : —
1. The suitableness of death to sin.
2. The certainty of it.
3. The terribleness of this death.
[1.] The suitableness or correspondence that is between sin and death. This suitableness will appear, if we consider the wisdom, justice and holiness of God.
(1.) The wisdom of God, which doth all things according to weight, measure and order, cannot permit the disjunction of these two things, so closely united together as sin and punishment ; but there will be an appearance of deformity and incongruity, if there be such things as good and evil, honum et malum morale, as he is unworthy of the name, not only of a christian, but a man, that denieth it. Again if there be such a thing as pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, as the sense telleth us, or that which we call honum et malum naturale, natural good, and natural evil, then it is very agreeable to the wisdom of God, that these things should be rightly placed and sorted, that a moral evil, which is sin, should be punished with a natural evil, which is pain and misery ; and moral good, which is virtue, should end in joy and pleasure ; or in short, that there should be rewards and punishments. God is naturally inclined, as the creator of mankind, to make his creatures good and happy, if nothing hinder him from it, if there be no impediment in the way. From hence we may see how incongruous it is to the wisdom of God, who permitteth no dissonancy ot disproportion in any of his dis- pensations, to admit a separation of these natural relatives. If there were no other testimony of this, yet the dispositions of our own hearts would evince it, for there we have some obscure shadows of the proper- ties which are in God. We compassionate a miserable man, who is made so by the iniquity of the times, and we esteem him not deserving his misery : and we are moved with indignation against one, who by evil arts is fortunate and successful, but altogether unworthy of the happiness which falleth to his share ; which is an apparent proof that men are sensible of an excellent harmony, and natural order which is
VeR. 2.] SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. 415
between these two things, virtue and felicity, sin and misery, and to see them so suited, doth exceedingly please us. Now this showeth how fitly these two couples are joined, sin and death, grace and life.
(2.) Let us consider the justice of God, as the judge of the world, and so must and will do right : Gen. xviii. 25, ' Shall not the judge of all the" earth do right ? ' It belongeth to his general justice, that it be well with them that do well, and ill with them that do evil. God is readily inclined to provide happiness for man, who is his creature, if there were no sin to stop the course of his bounty ; and if sin had not entered into the world, there had been nothing but happiness in the world ; but v/hen ' sin entered into the world,' death presently trod upon the heels of it : Kom. v. 12, ' As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; so death passed upon all, even for that all have sinned.' Now men are of different sorts ; some recover out of the common apostasy, and their cursed estate by sin, and live holy ; others wallow in their filthiness still. Therefore it is agreeable to God's general justice to execute vengeance on the one, and to reward the other ; at least, the punishment is just : Kom. ii. 9, 10, ' Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil, but glory, honour and peace to every one that worketh good.' So that the justice of God maketh an inseparable connexion between sin and death.