2. I prove it by reasons taken from the scripture. It must needs be so — •
[1.] Because the plaster else would not be as broad as the sore ; nor our reparation by Christ be correspondent to our loss by Adam. We lost not only the favour of God, but the image of God : and therefore till the image of God be restored in us we do not return to our first estate, nor are we fully recovered. The evil nature propagated from him is the cause of the misery and disorder of mankind. Guilt is but the consequent of sin. Now is he a good physician that only taketh away the pain and leaveth the great disease uncured ? Certainly we cannot recover God's favour till we recover his image. A sinful creature, till he be changed, cannot be acceptable to God, neither live in communion with him for the present, nor enjoy him hereafter. We cannot enjoy communion with him now : 1 John i. 5, 6, 7, ' If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.' Will the Lord take us into his bosom while we are in our sins? The new nature giveth us some knowledge of the nature of God. Can a new creature delight in the wicked ? 2 Peter ii. 8, ' Lot's righteous soul was vexed from day to day.' You cannot imagine so, without a reproach to the divine nature ; nor can we be admitted into his blessed presence hereafter : Heb. xii. 14, * Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.' The ungodly, and the unsanctified, are banished out of his presence. Christ came not to make a change in God ; to make him less holy, or represent him as less hating of sin. Otherwise,
[2.] Christ's undertaking would not answer the trouble of a true penitent, nor remove our sorest burthen. A sensible and compunctionate sinner is troubled not only with the guilt of sin, but the power of sin. There is the root and bottom of his trouble ; his language is, Hosea xiv. 2, * Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously.' Pharaoh could say, Take away this plague ; but an awakened, penitent, broken- hearted sinner will say. Take away this naughty heart. Therefore the promises are suited to this double distress : 1 John i. 9, ' If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins : ' Micah vii. 18, 19, ' Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage ? He will return again, and have compassion upon us : he will subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.' They do not
VeR. 4.] SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. 433
only desire pardon and release from punishment, but grace to break the power of sin ; as a man that hath his leg broken desireth not only ease of the pain, but to have it well set again. Therefore to them that are pricked at heart there is offered the promise of the Spirit : Acts ii. 37, 38. A malefactor condemned to die, and sick of a mortal disease, needeth and desireth not only the pardon of the judge but the cure of the physician.
[3.] To make way for the work of the Spirit. For the divine persons work into each other's hands ; as the election of the Father maketh way for the redemption of Christ, so the redemption of Christ maketh way for the sanctification of the Spirit. All the divine persons are glorified in the reduction of a sinner ; and they take their turn. The application of the merit of Christ, and the grace of the Spirit, are inseparable : Titus iii. 5, and 1 Cor. vi. 11. These individual com- panions, sanctification and justification, must not be disjoined. Under the law the ablutions and oblations still went together ; the leaven and the altar, the washings and the sacrifices.
[4.] Christ's undertaking was not only for the benefit of man, but for the glory of God, to redeem us to God : Kev. v. 9 ; and therefore in the work of redemption, our happiness is not only to be considered, but God's honour and interest. Impunity, and taking away the guilt of sin, doth more directly respect our good ; but sanctifying, and fitting us for obedience and subjection to God, doth more immediately respect his glory and honour. That he may be glorified again in mankind, who are fallen from him ; it was for that man was made at first, and for that are we restored and made again. I proceed to the second consideration propounded.
Secondly. That our natures being renewed and healed, we are to walk in newness of life, according to the directions of the law of God ; for principles are given for operation, and habits for acts, and a new heart for newness of life ; and therefore regeneration first maketh us good, that afterwards we may do good. But that which I am to prove, is that this righteousness is to bo carried on according to the law ; for God having made a law, is very tender of it. I shall prove it by four reasons :