10 SERMONS UPON EOMANS VIII. [SeR. XII.
astonisliiuent, because so much wisdom, love, and grace was discovered in it, Eph. iii. 17-19. (2.) Consent must be often renewed to that covenant by which the Spirit is dispensed. Often enter into a resohition to take God for your God, for your sovereign lord, your portion and happiness ; and Christ for your redeemer and saviour ; and the Holy Ghost for your guide, sanctifier and comforter. Every solemn consent renewed dotli both confirm you in the benefit of the Spirit, and bind you and excite you to the duties required by God in all these relations. Your constant work is to love and seek after God as your happiness, and Jesus Christ as your saviour, and the Spirit for your guide and direc- tion. (3.) Dependence upon the love of God, and the merits of Christ, and the power of the Spirit, that you may use Christ's ai)pointed means with the more confidence. That soul that thus sets itself to believe, findeth a wonderful increase of the Spirit in this renewed exercise of faith, assenting, consenting, and depending: Kom. xv. 13, ' Tiie God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Giiost.'
[2.] Your repentance must be renewed by a hearty grief for sin, and resolutions and endeavours against it. The more sin is made odious, the more the Spirit hath obtained his effect in you ; and the more heartily you study to please God in the work of love and obedience, the more you are acquainted with the Spirit and his quickenings, the Spirit and his comforts : Acts ix. 31, ' They walked in the fear of the Lord, and the comforts of the Holy Ghost.' His business is to make you holy ; the more you obey his motions and follow his directions, the moi-e he delighteth to dwell in your hearts.
Use 2 is. self-reflection. Let me put that question to you : Acts xix. 3, ' Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed ? ' Is the first great change wrought ? are you called from darkness to light ? from sin to holiness ? turned from Satan to God ? Are you made partakers of the divine nature ? 2 Pet. i. 4. The change must be perfected more and more by the Spirit: 2 Cor. iii. 18, ' Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into his image from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord.' Do you obey his sanctifying motions ? Eom. viii. 14, ' For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.' His motions all tend to quicken us to the heavenly life, inclining our hearts to things above : 2 Thes. ii. 13, ' But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sauctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth.'
VeR. lO.J SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIIL 11
SEEMON XIII.
A7id if Christ, he in you, the body is dead because of sin, and the Spirit is life because of righteousness. — ^KoM. VIII. 10.
The text is manifestly a prolepsis, or a preoccupation of a secret objection against our redemption by Christ. If believers die as well as others, how are they freed from death ? Questionless, Christ was sent into the world to abolish the misery brought in by Adam's sin ; now death was the primary punishment of sin : Gen. ii. 17, ' In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die ; ' aud this remaineth on believers. The apostle answereth in the words read, —
First, By supposition, ' if Clirist be in you ; ' that he might fix tke privilege on the persons to whom it properly belongeth.
Secondly, By concession, ' The body is dead because of sin.'
Thirdly, By correction, ' And the Spirit is life because of righteous- ness.'
First, The supposition showeth that the comfort of the privilege is drawn from the spiritual union which believers have with Christ : ' If Christ be in you.' Secondly, the concession granteth what must be granted, that death befalleth believers ; their bodies return to the dust as others do. But, thirdly, the correction is, that they are certain to live for ever with Christ both in body and soul ; and this upon a two- fold ground ; first, there is a life begun, which shall not be quenched, but perfected. ' The Spirit is life ; ' the ground and procuring cause is Christ's righteousness. Sin deprived them of the life of grace, and forfeited the life of glory ; but here the righteousness of Christ hath purchased this life for us, and the Spirit applieth it to us.
Doct. That Christ in believers, notwithstanding death, is a sure pledge and earnest to them of eternal life both in body and soul.
This point will be best discii.ssed with respect to the several clauses in the text — the supposition, the concession, the correction, or contrary assertion.
1. The supposition — ' If Christ be in you.' Here I will prove to you, that a true christian is one that doth not only profess Christ, but hath Christ in him : 2 Cor. xiii. 5, ^ Know ye not that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye are reprobates ? ' that is senseless, stupid wretches, not accepted of God: so Col. i. 27, ' Christ in you the hope of glory.' Now Christ is in us two ways, objectively and effectively: objectively, as the object is in the faculty, or the things we think of and love are in our hearts and minds ; so Christ is in us, as he is apprehended and embraced by faith and love ; so he is said, Eph. iii. 17, ' To dwell in our hearts by faith ; ' and again, ' He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him,' 1 John iv. 18. Which is not to be under- stood of the acts only, but the habitual temper and dispositions of our souls ; for else by the ceasing of the acts, the union at least in our hearts would be broken ofi". Secondly, effectively, so Christ is in us by his Spirit and gracious influence. Now, the effects of his Spirit are — first, life, he is become the principle of a new life in us : Gal. ii. 20, ' Christ liveth in me ; and the life that I live in the flesh, I live by