[2.] The second question is in the 7th verse, ' or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead).' In Moses it is, Deut. xxx. 13, ' Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldst say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, that we may hear it, and do it ? ' But the sea is sometimes considered for its latitude and breadth, and sometimes for its profundity and depth ; and so is often put in scripture for the bottomless pit, as opposite to heaven, heaven being highest, and the bottom of the sea lowest ; and is frequently used for the bottomless pit, or the state of the dead. The meaning is. You need not say, Who shall bring up Christ again from the dead ? as if he were yet in the grave, and all hopes of salvation were buried with him, since long ago he is risen from the dead, and ascended into heaven, and hath sent abroad his messengers to pro- selytise the world, endowing them with power from on high for this woik.
2. Positively, 'But what saith it?' Where take notice of— (1.) The words; (2.) The sense.
[1.] What words are put into the mouth of the righteousness which is by faith : ver. 8, ' The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart.' It is 'in thy mouth,' to know it and speak of it ; it is 'in thy heart,' as written there by the Spirit, that we may do the duty it requireth of us with ease and sweetness. It is 'in thy mouth ' to con- fess, and ' in thy heart' to believe and practise. When the new cove- nant is spoken of as opposite to the covenant made with them when they came out of Egypt, it is said sometimes to be put into the mouth, and sometimes in the heart. The words are, Isa. lix. 21, ' As for uie,.
240 SERMON UPON ROMANS X. 5-9.
This is my covenant with them, saith the Lord ; My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.' Meaning thereby that his Spirit and word shall continue with them as a church, to direct them in all necessary things. This for ' the mouth.' Now for ' the heart.' See another promise : Jer. xxxi. 33, * And this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel ; I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people/ Well, then, the excellency of the gospel dispensation is set forth by two things —
(1.) It is more easy to be known and understood, and carried in the memory ; for * the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth.' The drift of Moses' speech tendeth to show that they should have a new cove- nant, the tenor of which was known, and easy to be expressed by all those who were acquainted with it.
(2.) It is more easy to be practised. It is not in our mouths only, but ' in our hearts ; ' which are inclined by the Holy Spirit to obey it; so that the new creature may undertake the duty it requireth of us by the assistance of God, and do it sincerely, though not exactly. [2.] The sense of what it saith. It is explained and exemplified. (1.) Explained: ver. 8, 'This is the word which we preach;' namely, the doctrine of repentance and remission of sins by Jesus Christ.
(2.) Exemplified : ver. 9, ' That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, arid shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.' Confession with the mouth there answers to ' the word is in thy mouth : ' ' believe with thine heart,' that implieth faith ; and Christ's being raised from the dead is in- stanced in, rather than any other article of faith, because that proveth all the rest, and is the great evidence of the truth of Christianity.
Doct That the way of acceptance with God, or obtaining salvation, is so clearly stated in the gospel, that we need not be in doubtful sus- pense, or seek out another religion wherein to find it, or other satisfac- tion than God hath given us in his word.
The sense of this point I shall give you in these propositions — First, That it is the weightiest matter in the world to know how to be accepted with God as to pardon and life. Man, being a guilty creature, needeth pardon ; and the soul dying not with the body, we desire to know the way of life, or what shall become of us when this frail life is at an end. Certain it is that we are haunted with guilty fears ; for we are ' through the fear of death all our lifetime subject to bondage,' Heb. ii. 15. There are some troubles of mind in all of us about our acceptance with God ; not always felt indeed, but soon awakened. Trembling souls, who know what God is, and what themselves are, and are conscious to former guilt and present un- worthiness, cannot easily settle in a confidence of God's mercy to them, especially when they come to die. The fear of death raised our trouble before, but when death cometh indeed, these stings are increased : 1 Cor. xv. 56, 'The sting of death is sin;' and these stings