Apostle preffes the Argument: Chrift being raifed from the Dead, dieth no more: Death bath no more Dominion over him. Likewife reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto Sin, but alive unto God through Jefus Christ our Lord. Let not Sin therefore reign in your mortal Body, ver. 9, 11, 12. As the Refurrection of Chrift was to perpetual Life, never more to be exposed to Death; so must our first Resurrection, according to this Pattern, be to perpetual Holinefs, and a conftant Freedom from Sin.

If we bear in our Minds this Account of the Scripture Language, and of the Reasons upon which it is founded, it will be a Key to open unto us the Meaning of many, otherwise intricate, Paffages of Scripture. For Inftance: We fhall not be to feek, when we find mention made of two Deaths which we muft undergo, of two Refurrections which we must partake in: We fhall easily distinguish between the natural Death of the Body, and the Death unto Sin; between the Refurrection to Life eternal hereafter, and the Resurrection to Holiness and Righteousness in this present World. I am crucified to the World, fays St. Paul, and the World to me. Whofoever is born of God, fays St. John, i. e.

whoever

whoever is begotten to this new Life in Christ by the Power of God, overcometh the World. St. Paul tells us, that the Spirit of God will quicken our mortal Bodies, as well as. our dead Bodies. Which is not to be understood without having Recourse to the first Refurrection, which is to a new Life of Holinefs here, and which must be the Forerunner and Introducer of the fecond Refurrection to Glory. The Apostle to the Philippians tells us, that he willingly suffered the Lofs of all Things, that he might know Chrift and the Power of his Refurrection. And this he defired to know, that he might attain to the Refurrection of the Dead, Phil. iii. 10, 11. Where, if you remember what has been faid of our being made conformable to the Death and Refurrection of Chrift, by rifing to Holinefs and Righteousness, you will not be at a lofs to understand what it is to know, or feel, the Power of Chrift's Refurrection; or to understand, how the knowing the Power of Christ's Refurrection fhould be a Means of attaining to the Resurrection of the Dead. Such is the Power of Chrift's Resurrection, that those who feel it have, as the Apostle in the 20th Verfe informs us, their Converfation in Heaven; whence alfo we look for the Saviour,

Saviour, the Lord Jefus Chrift. This, which St. Paul calls knowing the Power of Christ's Refurrection, and having our Conversation in Heaven, the Author to the Hebrews calls, Tafting the Powers of the World to come, Heb. vi. 5. The Resurrection is indeed one of the Powers of the World to come, which all partake in, and taste of, whose mortal Bodies are quickened by the Spirit of God. In the Verse after this it is faid, that those who fall from their Faith, crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to open Shame. How does he who falls away crucify Christ, or put him to open Shame? This cannot be understood, but by having Recourse to the Scripture Representation already explained. But, if we remember that all who are baptized crucify the old Man with his Deeds; that they put on the new Man created after Holiness; that the Apoftle to the Galatians expressly says, that as many as are baptized put on Chrift; it will readily appear, why it is that those who fall away crucify Christ afreth: For, by receiving the Faith, they put on Christ, and crucified the old Man and his Deeds; but if they defert the Faith, and return to their former Deeds, and again put on the old Man, they do then crucify

Christ again with his Deeds, and put him once more to open Shame.

This Notion of the different States and Conditions of Man, of the Death of the old Man, of a new Creature in Christ, runs through the Precepts, Exhortations and Doctrines of the Gospel, which cannot be understood but by Analogy to this Notion; and therefore I hope I may be excused in spending fo much of your Time in the Illustration of it. You have heard already of our Death, and Burial, and Refurrection with Chrift: But the Apostle in the Text carries the Metaphor still one Degree higher; If ye be risen with Chrift, feek those Things which are above, where Chrift fitteth at the right Hand of God. As if he had faid, It is not enough that ye are rifen from the Dead with Chrift, you must also ascend after him into Heaven; for there is your Life hid in Christ, there are your true Riches, and thither muft you go to take care of them. You are dead to the World, and can no longer live to it; your Life is fpiritual and heavenly: As is your Life, fuch must be the Actions which flow from it, the Inclinations that attend it. Since therefore you are dead to the World, alive to Christ through the Spirit of Holiness, you

Chrift

muft act like Members of Chrift, and fet your Affections on Things above, where Life is afcended. Hence it is your that St. Paul often exclaims against the Abfurdity of a Chriftian's living in Sin. You may just as well fay, that all the Actions of Life may be performed in the Grave, when a Man is dead and buried, as say that a Christian may continue in Sin: For the Christian has crucified and buried the Body of Sin. How then, as the Apostle cries out, shall we who are dead to Sin continue any longer therein? Sin is the only Poison by which the Life of Chrift, which is in us, may be deftroyed. It is a Life which no Man can take from you but yourself. Those who kill the Body cannot reach it: Not all the Powers of Darkness, Sin only excepted, can separate Believers and our Lord. But every unmortified Luft, every unfubdued Vice, is a Cancer that eats into our very Vitals, and, if we do not cut them off, will in the End destroy us quite. Holiness is as neceffary to our spiritual Life, as Eating and Drinking are to our natural; and therefore the Apostle's Conclufion in the Text is just, If we be risen with Christ, if we live with him, we must seek the Things which are above.

DISCOURSE