dye Rom. 5.12 Wherefore as by one man Sin entred into the world and Death by Sin even so Death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Ver. 17. For if by one mans offence Death reigned by one c. here 's Death and the Law of Death too by Sin it hath got a power over men so as to reign over them Had there been no Sin there had been no Death if man had continued in his sinless and innocent state he might have been * Vide Grot. de Sat. c. 1. p. 18. mortal i. e. under a posse mori he being but a Creature and made up of contrary principles but he had not actually dyed much less had he been under a necessity of dying if he had not sinn'd Death did not come into the world upon Gods meer dominion and Soveraignty or meerly upon the frailty of the humane Nature as Pelagians of old and (a) Mors non erat poena vel effectus transgressionis Adami sed conditionis naturalis consequens Socin de Statu primi hominis Vide Praelect Cap. 1. contra Paccium Cap. 5. Socinians of late assert but as the (b) Calov Soc. Prost p. 250. Hoorn Soc. conf vol. 1 l. 3. c. 4. p. 583 c. Franz Scho Sacr. Disp 1. p. 7. fruit and punnishment of Sin Immortality was a part of (c) Molin Enod Grav Qu. de statu Innoc. Tract 3. p. 62. Gerhard Loc. Com. de Imag c. t. 1. c. 4. p. 199. Zâ—â—em de Imag. c. c. 8. Art 2. Moretâ—n's threefold state of man p. 1. c. 2. p. 35. Gods Image at first imprinted upon man that image being defac'd mortality took place You know in Gods dealing with our first Parents how he back'd his Command or Prohibition with the threatning of death Gen. 2.17 Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye they disobeyed this most equitable Commandment and thereby brought death both upon themselves Gen. 3.19 and also upon all their posterity Besides the guilt of this Sin made over to all mankind by imputation there is mens personal sin habitual and actual which renders them yet more obnoxious unto death and that too not onely to temporal but also to eternal death Rom. 6.21 the end of those things is death v. 23. the wages of sin is death The Apostle in James 1.14.15 treats of the first and last of Sin shows where it begins and where it ends sets down its rise progress and final issue But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished it bringeth forth death Sin is the issue of Lust and Death is the issue of Sin So that our Apostle here in the Text might upon very good grounds link and couple Sin and Death Where 't is the Law of Sin there 't is the Law of Death 2. Observe that 't is the Law of Sin and the Law of Death which is here coupled together so that where 't is the Law of Sin there and there only 't is the Law of Death When Sin is reigning and commanding then 't is ruining and condemning 't is the power of Sin that exposes to the power of death Rom. 6.16 Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness 'T is true every sin in its own nature deserves death the Scripture knows no such thing as venial sin it being judge all and every sin is mortal indeed as to event the Apostle saith there is a Sin not unto death 1 Joh. 5.17 but as to merit every Sin be it what it will deserves death Yet God is so gracious as that Sin shall not condemn and end in death where it doth not command 'Pray mark it how in the words the Law of the Spirit is join'd with Life and the Law of Sin with Death as where the power of the Spirit is there is Life so where the power of Sin is there is Death I know the Death in the latter Clause doth not carry a direct opposition to the Life in the former for the Life there referring to Grace and Regeneration and not to Glory hereafter the Death which refers to eternal Condemnation and the misery of the future state cannot be look'd upon as directly opposite to that Life yet there is a truth in the Parallel As upon the Law of the Spirit there is Life spiritual and eternal so upon the Law of Sin there is ' Death spiritual and eternal too Further I know there is a great disparity betwixt the Spirits working Life and Sins working Death the Law of the Spirit works Life in the way of proper Efficiency and Causality the Law of Sin works Death only in a final consequential meritorious way yet here also we may speak by way of Parallel as the power of the Spirit works Life in its way so the power of Sin works Death too in its way That which I drive at is very plain if I be so happy as to express my self clearly about it Regenerate persons are made free from the Law of Death 3. Observe that such who are brought under the power of the regenerating Spirit they are made free from the Law of Death This was Paul's happiness here laid down and 't is the same to all that are regenerate the proof of which I need not insist upon for this deliverance undeniably follows from the former they who are made free from the Law of Sin by that Grace are also made free from the Law of Death it being the Law of Sin which subjects the Creature to the Law of Death The power or right of Death stands or falls by the power of Sin so that if the person be freed from the latter as you have heard every regenerate person is it certainly follows in the course and methods of Gods Grace that every such person shall be freed from the former too for the Law of Death is penal or the effect of the Law of Sin now take away the Cause and the Effect ceases Quest How is this to be understood But a little explication will be necessary How may Regenerate Persons be said to be made free from the Law of Death For answer to this Answ you know Death is either temporal or eternal I do not instance in spiritual Death because though 't is very true that the Saints upon the Law of the Spirit are made free from this Death yet I conceive that is not so much intended here the former lies in the separation of the Soul from the Body for a time the latter in the everlasting separation of both Soul and Body from the love and favour and presence of God This separation from God is
and undefiledness by sin so they did agree He says his Father had prepared him a body Heb. 10. 5. now if the holy God in such a wonderful and immediate manner for such high and glorious ends will prepare him a body to be sure it shall be an holy body and such an one as shall be proper for the attaining of those ends which only an holy body was 'T was indeed upon our account and Christ's putting himself into our stead a passible and mortal body and so far like to sinful flesh but had it not been for that it had neither suffer'd nor dy'd In the Second respect so the whole Humane Nature in Christ was * Habuit Natura Humana quam Christus suscepit speciem peccati non tamen ea revera peccato contaminari potuit P. Martyr sinless He was true and very man but not in the least sinful man he was made man for the sin of man but yet was man without the sin of man That Nature which is so sadly depraved vitiated corrupted in us in him had its primitive original purity and holiness Sin was not so essential or so inseparably twisted into it but that God knew how to separate 'twixt the Nature it self and the deordination of it Christ took the one but not the other The Humane Nature is made up of soul and body both of these in Christ were unstained not having the least macula or spot of sin cleaving to them as 't was an unpolluted undefiled body so 't was also a pure holy spotless Soul The Humane Nature too is attended with such * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. vide Oecum in loc p. 301. affections and such †Particeps factus est infirmitatis non iniquitatis Aug. Trahens de homine mortalitatem non insquitatem Id. tom 3. 〈◊〉 1072. infirmities to all of which Christ submitted so far as they were sinless but no further as to the former he had Anger Sorrow Joy Compassion Love but without the least stain or tincture of sin as to the latter he underwent hunger thirst pain c. but yet under all he was without sin he could suffer but he did not nay he could not sin Hence he 's called God's holy one Psal 16.10 the holy Child Jesus Act. 4.27 the most holy Dan. 9.27 Jesus Christ the righteous 1 Joh. 2.1 God's righteous servant Isa 53.11 He was a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1.19 holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners Heb. 7.26 't is said of him he did no sin 1 Pet. 2.22 he knew no sin 2 Cor. 5.21 he knew it in a way of imputation for he was made sin but as to any inhesion or commission so he knew it not The Apostle saith he was tempted in all things as we are yet without sin that must alwayes be excepted Heb. 4.15 he challeng'd all his enemies which of you convinceth me of sin Joh. 8.46 He says of himself he always did the things which pleas'd his Father Joh. 8.29 and now 't is said of him in him is no sin 1 Joh. 3.5 so that upon all this it appears that 't was but the likeness of sinful flesh A threefold Holiness in Christ Christ as Man had a threefold Holiness Original Habitual Actual 1. He was Originally Holy David bitterly lamented it that he was shapen in iniquity and in sin did his mother conceive him Psal 51.5 and so 't is with every man that comes into the world in the way of common generation the very foundation of our Being is laid in sin But 't was not so with out blessed Saviour in his Conception the first framing and forming of his Humane Nature there was nothing of sin for he was therefore * Haec est similitudo carnis quia cum eadem sit caro quae nostra non tamen ita facta in utero est nata ficut caro nostra Est enim sanctificata in utero nata sine peccato neque ipse in illâ peccavit Ideo enim Virginalis uterus electus est ad pattum dominicum ut in sanctitate differret caro Dommi à carne nostrâ Ambros conceived in the Virgins Womb in an extraordinary manner by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost that he might be preserv'd pure from the common pollution so the Angel told Mary Luk. 1.35 The holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God 2. He was Habitually Holy there was in his Nature nothing but an universal rectitude and conformity to the rule and pattern of holiness he had therein grace all grace nothing but grace without the least mixture of habitual corruption We bring with us into the world Natures most wofully depraved such as are a very seed-plot and seminary of all evil but our Lord Jesus had a quite other Nature one that was perfectly sanctified and not in the least tainted with sin This also was brought about by his miraculous and extraordinary formation for had he been begotten as we are his Nature had bee tainted as well as ours is that which is begotten so I would read it rather than that which is born of the flesh is flesh Joh. 3.6 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one Job 14.4 The liquor will taste of the cask into which 't is put as water when it comes from the fountain may be very pure yet if it runs through a dirty pipe it will contract filth so let the Soul as it comes out of God's hands be never so pure yet upon union with the body begotten and propagated in the usual way both it and the nature of the person too will be defil'd therefore to avoid this Chirst was begotten in another way By which means he was also freed from the imputation of Adam's sin for he not descending naturally and seminally from Adam his sin was not imputed nor imputable unto him The Apostle indeed saith Heb. 2.11 Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one i.e. of one Adam as the common root but they are not both of this one Adam in the same manner for they who are sanctified are of him and from him in a way of seminal propagation but he who sanctifieth was not so whereupon though Adam's sin be imputable and imputed to the former 't is not to the latter As according to the * Alting Theol. Problem prob 8. p. 571. Dr. Pearson on the Creed p. 365. usual illustration Levi being in the loins of Abraham paid †Heb. 7.9 10. tythes in him yet Christ who was also in the loins of Abrabam did not so all men being in the loins of Adam and carnally descended from him sinned in him and became partakers of his guilt but Christ though in some sense he might be said to be in
in action that 's the guide Now take Christless men the persons of whom I am speaking Flesh is the spring and Flesh is the guide of their actings if they think 't is from the corrupt Nature if they speak 't is from the corrupt Nature if they love 't is from the corrupt Nature c. and so all along this is that spring in them which makes all the wheels to move And this is that guide too by which they steer order direct their whole course And it being so their conversation must needs be a fleshly conversation or a walking after the Flesh for that is always denominated from and answerable to its principle and guide if it be a fleshly principle and a fleshly guide it must needs be a fleshly walking And thus it is with persons out of Christ they act from the flesh and by the flesh and so they are said to walk after the flesh But such who are in Christ they do not thus walk corrupt Nature is neither their principle nor their guide there is another Nature in them by which they are acted and guided viz. the Spirit as I shall shew you by and by when I come to the Affirmative part Expositors whom to cite would be endless do variously open and illustrate this walking or not walking after the Flesh but the Most do pitch upon that illustration of it which I have given This concerning Flesh in the general consideration of it But then The Flesh more particularly considered Of Lust the most natural and vital act of the Flesh Secondly It may be considered more particularly with respect to its proper radical most natural and vital act and that is Lust or lusting This Lust is the great act the most genuine issue of the Flesh the stream which does most immediately and directly flow from that fountain the most proper notion of the Flesh is to conceive of it as a lusting thing The Apostle therefore when he was speaking of it presently he puts down this as its most proper and essential act * Gal. 5.17 The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and Rom. 6.12 Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies that ye should obey it in the Lusts thereof Sin here is the Flesh and you see how it works You read of the Lust of the Flesh Gal. 5.16 and of the Lusts of the Flesh Eph. 2.3 Rom. 13.14 Gal. 5.24 These Lusts I say are the most proper issue and the most genuine effects of the corrupt Nature in man Rom. 7.8 Sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of Concupiscence or Lust Eph. 4.22 That ye put off concerning your former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts Observe how the Flesh the old man the corrupt Nature and Lust or Lusts are usually link'd and coupled together To apply this now to the walking which I am upon To walk after the Flesh 't is to live and act as under the full power and strength of unmortified Lust 't is to indulge gratifie obey and comply with the Flesh as a lusting thing or as it puts forth it self in sinful lustings The Apostle 2 Pet. 2.10 having spoken of walking after the Flesh immediately he instances in the gratifying of a particular Lust thereby shewing what that walking after the Flesh is But chiefly them that walk after the Flesh in the Lust of uncleanness c. On the other hand Not to walk after the Flesh 't is to keep Lust under to beat it down to resist it not to give way to it in whatever form or shape it may assault the Soul to live in the daily mortification of it not to suffer such hellish fire to smother and burn in the Soul to let it have no harbour or entertainment in the heart but to thrust it out with abhorrency and detestation c. this is not to walk after the Flesh But this Lust being so near to the Flesh so connatural with it that which issues from it even as heat and burning doth from the fire and the walking or not walking after the Flesh being so much to be measur'd by it I will therefore give you some further explication of it Lust in Scripture as 't is taken in a bad sense for the Spirit hath its lustings as well as the Flesh sometimes notes the habit the root it self viz. the depraved Nature sometimes the Act that cursed fruit which grows upon the forenamed cursed root The Apostle James speaks of it as the Mother sin if I may so express it Jam. 1.4 Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lust and enticed then when Lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin c. Paul speaks of it as the Daughter-sin Rom. 7.8 Sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence or Lust the One considers it as the fountain the Other as the stream In this latter Notion I am to open it and so 't is the bent and propension the eager sierce vehement desire of the Soul after fleshly Objects or sensual things For Lust in its strict and primary sense mainly lies in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the desiring or concupiscible faculty therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word by which it is set forth The Soul of man is a desiring craving thirsting thing 't is a very mass of desires and there 's no faculty more natural to it or wherein it puts forth it self more vigorously than the desiring faculty Now here 's the principal seat of Lust and that which gives it its very being when the Soul is earnestly vehemently impetuously carried out after some sensual good something that will please the fleshly part if it will but do that let it be what it will this is Lust I say it refers principally to the desires as inordinately set upon and drawn out after fleshly things Therefore the Apostle couples them together the Lusts of the Flesh and the desires of the Flesh Eph. 2.3 And the other Apostle speaking of the inordinate desire of worldly pleasure and profit he expresseth it by the Lust of the flesh and the Lust of the eyes 1 Joh. 2.16 I know if you consider Lust habitually and radically there is more in it than this for so 't is the bent and propension of the Soul to whatever is evil and its aversation from whatever is good But if you consider it actually and particularly so fleshly and sensual desires are the main and most proper acts of it Here further you must distinguish of Lust or Lusts Some are more rank and gross such as lie in the sensitive and fleshly part Others are more resin'd and secret such as lie in the upper part of the Soul the Reason Mind and Will You read 2 Cor. 7.1 of the filthiness of the Flesh and of the Spirit where the Apostle describes the Lusts of the lower faculties under the filthiness of the Flesh and the Lusts of
of (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodoret. Confer supra cap. 7.23 24. ubi utriusque Legis neinpe Legis Peccati Mortis mentio facta est Quare non videtur hic esse Figura 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vorstius in Schol. Interpreters open it The Law of Sin is always attended with the Law of Death and freedome from the Law of Sin is always attended with freedome from the Law of Death the power and dominion of Death stands or falls by the power and dominion of Sin But what is this Law of Death * August contra Fortunat. Disput 2. Austine answers the Law of sin is Whoever sins shall dye the Law of Death is Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return * Lex mortis est mortuum perseverare mortuum est de morte non esse reditum ad vitam Cajes Cajetan makes it to be permanentia in morte the abiding or continuance in the state of Death So Believers are freed from it for though they may for a time be subjected under it yet it shad not always have power over them so as to hold them forever as the Word is used concerning Christ Acts 2.24 they shall arise and live again they are not under the Law i. e. the everlasting evercontinuing full power and strength of Death You have Ver. 10 11. the matter of this Explication If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you But to pass these by as the Law of Sin is the power of sin so the Law of Death is that power and right which it hath over Men by reason of sin for it hath its empire and dominion as well as sin Therefore as you read of the reigning of sin so also you read of the reigning of Death Rom. 5.14 But death reigned from Adam to Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it reigned as a King as the word imports Death is either Temporal or Eternal both of which carry that in them which may give them the Title or Denomination of a Law but regenerate persons upon the Law of the Spirit of Life are freed from both From the first not simply and absolutely but onely in a restrained sense viz. as 't is strictly a Curse or the fruit and product of that primitive Curse Gen. 2.17 From the second as it notes eternal condemnation for these two are all * Ut sibi respondeant Mors damnatio Estius one they are absolutely freed This Death they being in Christ and by the sanctifying Spirit delivered from the Law of sin hath no power or authority over them I say no authority for 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 20.6 on such the second death hath no power This is the First General in the Words that Gracious Deliverance from the Law of Sin and Death which they hold forth Second General The Second is the Subject of this deliverance This the Apostle puts down in his own Person The Law of the Spirit c. hath made me free from the Law of sin and death Here is Enallage Personae the change of the Person 't was them in the foregoing Verse 't is me in this I have already observed and I would now more fully open it that our apostle throughout this whole Chapter wherein he mainly treats of the Saints Priviledges speaks altogether in the Plural Number excepting onely this one Verse 'T is true where he is speaking of some high act of Grace as performed by himself there he purs it in the Singular Number as Ver. 18. I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us And so too where he is speaking of some high Assurance a thing not so common there also he expresses it in the Singular Number as Ver. 38. For I am persunded that neither c. But wherever the great and fundamental priviledges of Believers are before him there he always expresses himself in the Plural Number then 't is us altogether And 't is observable that oven where he speaks of himself as to some special act or enjoyment yet even there as to the main Priviledge he takes in all the people of God You may see this made good in the two fore-mentioned places 't is I reckon but 't is the glory that shall be revealed in us and 't is I am persuaded but 't is shall separate us from the love of God Well! here he puts in himself as the Subject of the Priviledge but 't is not to exclade or shut out Others onely he propounds himself as one great Instance of freedome from the Law of sin by the Law of the Spirit here is application and appropriation as to himself but no impropriation or exclusion with respect to Others He that had so much of Faith and Experience as to be able to apply this to himself had withall so much of Knowledge and Wisdom as to know that it was with Others yea with all regenerate persons just as it was with himself And therefore 't is in the * Observandum est in causâ Gratiae nullum esse inter Apostolum quemvis Christianum duntaxat verum discrimen Non est quod dicamus Paulus suit Apostolus nos non item ex eo quod sibi contigit per gratiam Christi probat hoc quod tribuit omnibus Christianis Muscul Continet Argumentum á Testimonio viz. experientia Apostoli ita fimul Argumentum á Pari quod enim Apostolus in se expertus fuerat id pari ratione omnes credentes in se experiuntur nempe operationem illam Spiritus Sancti regenerantis Piseas Non ego solus sed omnes quotquot in Jesu Christo sunt c. Zuingl Me fidelem quemvis Gomar i. e. quemvis verè Chriftianum Grot. Pronomen me demonstrat ipsum in Christo ambulantem c. personam fiquidem talium induit Cajes In corum personâ de se Apostolus loquitur haec verba Estius Soto will be sure to extend it far though for be glosses upon it Me i. e. Gonus humanum persons of all these that he here thus speaks and this me is inclusive not exclusive every Child of God in the world may say as here Paul doth the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death and indeed every Believer should be so well acquainted with the workings of the Spirit of God upon his own heart as to be able to apply this to himself But why doth Paul here particularize himself and speak thus in the Singular Number in this place rather than in Others I ansiver 1. Because he looked upon himself
should be uttered by the heart of man Sinner do'st thou know what thou saist pray thee make a little pause be persuaded to consider what thou do'st is this spoken in good or rather in bad earnest do'st thou resolve upon it wilt thou stick to it ô then thou art a meer vassal thou putt'st thy self under the reign of the worst Tyrant in all the world from this day forward thou must carry chains and fetters about thee from this act of thine Sins reign commences therefore if it be not yet done let it never be done if it be done let it be rescinded speedily but I forget my self The lowest act of the Will in order to the constituting of this Law of Sin is Election or Choice there 's Good and Evil Holiness and Sin set before the Soul and it chooses the evil before the good this is a sad evidence of Sins power Isa 65.12 but did evil before mine eyes and did choose that wherein I delighted not Isa 66.3 4 c. they have chosen their own ways and their Soul delighteth in their abominations c. But though I say that this is the lowest act of the Will in Sins being a Law yet even this is enough to put a person under that Law The godly man chooses the way of Holiness Psal 119.30 I have chosen the way of truth the Sinner chooses the way of Sin this he prefers before the Other Now should there be nothing more than this choice supposing it to be deliberate full and peremptory that would be enough to evince Sins dominion for wherever it hath the preference it hath the power But there are higher acts of the Will than this which do more highly constitute and more fully demonstrate the Law of Sin and which are to be found onely in the Vnregenerate As namely when the Will doth not meerly choose embrace prefer Sin before Holiness but 't is pertinaciously set for Sin its full purpose and resolution is for Sin against Holiness the Sinner says he hath sinn'd and so he will do still he 's fixed and obstinate in his wickedness instead of cleaving to the Lord with full purpose of heart as Barnabas exhorted the Christians at Antioch to do Acts 11.23 he cleaves to Sin with full purpose of heart Jer. 2.25 I have loved strangers and after them I will go Jer. 8.5 They hold fast deceipt they refuse to return Jer. 44.16 As for the word that thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord we will not hearken to thee but we will certainly do whatsoever goeth out of our own mouth c. Now wherever it comes to this that Sin is thus enthron'd in the Will there most certainly 't is the Law of Sin But I must yet go one step further there is one act of the Will higher than this too viz when the heart is wholly set for Sin and is not onely resolvedly but also impetuously carried out after it Eccles 8.11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil Jer. 50 38. They are mad upon their idols Eph. 4.19 Who being past feeling have given themselves ever unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness Jer. 8.6 Every one turned to his course as the horse rusheth into the battel Here the power of Sin rises high indeed when the Will doth not barely consent to it but 't is eager and fierce for it ô this speaks not onely its own great wickedness and most woful depravation but also the Sinners full subjection to Sin this is the Law of Sin with a witness where 't is thus it may easily be known who bears Rule in the Soul Sin never arrives at this heighth of power in the Regenerate this is altogether inconsistent with Grace upon Conversion the Will is sanctified and the sanctified Will can never carry it thus towards Sin You see what that is in the interiour faculties of the Soul which doth constitute and evidence the Law of Sin in unregenerate persons I might instance also in the exteriour parts of the Body for though Sins power doth mainly reside and put forth it self in the Former yet it reaches to these also therefore the Apostle brings them in upon this account Rom. 6.12 Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies c. 13. neither yield you your members instruments of unrighteousness unto sin c. 19. As ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness c. When the Body is prostituted to Sins drudgery the several parts thereof imploy'd in its service as the Eyes to let in external Objects for the exciting and feeding of Lust within the Feet to run on Sins errands the Tongue to utter vanity and frothiness c this is a great demonstration of a mans being under the Law of Sin 'T is true it chiefly reigns in the Heart there 's its imperial Seat or the Pallace where it hath its imperial residence that 's the inward Citadel where its main strength doth lie but yet from thence it issues out its Laws and Edicts to the Body also and that is its out ward Fort or Territory where it hath a great strength and command also Indeed the Law of Sin is best discerned as to Others by its venting of it self in and through the Body for so long as Sin keeps in its power within the interiour Faculties of the Soul 't is known onely to the Sinner himself but when that once breaks out in Sins committed in and by the body as intemperance drunkenness uncleanness c. then it becomes discernible to all to whom such Sins shall be known And though 't is certain that Sin may have its full dominion in the heart without the external eruptions of it in the Life in gross and corporeal acts yet where they are added they infallibly discover that Sin lords and domineers O therefore how evident is it that all who abuse and defile their bodies who use them as instruments for Sin and wear them out in its service are most perfectly under the Law of Sin But 't is not thus with any who are truely sanctified Sin hath not the command of their Bodies they * Rom. 6.19 yield up their members servants to righteousness unto holiness they look upon their Bodies as the * 1 Cor. 6.19 Temples of the Holy Ghost and accordingly they keep them holy they know they are themselves * 1 Cor. 6.20 bought with a price and that their Souls and Bodies are both Gods and therefore both to be imploy'd in the glorifying of God they scorn to let their Bodies be drudges to Sin and Satan and in this respect they are not under the Law of Sin 3. Thirdly the Law of Sin and its different workings in the people of God and Others may be opened by the modification of the act of Sin As 1. Where Sin is committed industriously and designedly there 't is the
himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity Matth. 18.11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost as soon as Man fell Christ was * Gen. 3.15 promis'd as incarnate but not before The truth is had we not been Captives what need would there have been of a Redeemer * Venit Filius hominis quaerere salvare quod perierat si homo non periisset filius hominis non venisset Aug. Serm. 8. de Verbis Apost Nulla causa fuit veniendi Christo Domino nisi peccatores salvos facere tolle vulâ—era tolle morbos nulla est medicinae causa Idem Serm. 9. had we not been sick and wounded what need of a Physician had there been no breach 'twixt God and us what need of a Mediatour in the way of reconciliation As to that which †Smalcius disp 12. contra Franzium See Franzius's answer to him de Sacrif Disp 15. Th. 75. c. Some alledge that Christ might have come though there had been no sin for this end that he might have secured man though in innocency from death that is grounded upon a meer falsehood for had there been no sinning there would have been no danger of dying and consequently no need of one to secure from death in a sinless state I have done with the First thing observed in the Words Christ was sent in Flesh in the opening of which I have been somewhat large but if that be all I hope none will blame me for it for the Incarnation and Manhood of the Son of God being the great foundation of our happiness a thing wherein we have the very pith and marrow of the Gospel the highest demonstation of the love of God surely I could not stay too long upon it 't is an Argument which very * As Athanasâ— de Incarn Verbi Dei tom 1. p. 53. c. p 591 c. de Hum. Nat. susc 595. c. Cyril Alex. tem 5. p. 678. c. Tertull. de Carne Christi contra Marcion Cassian Petav. Theol. Dogm tom 4. Ragusa in 3 part Aquin. with Vasquez c. Zanâ—h Oper. Theolog. tom 8. Gerhard Loc. Com. tom 1. de Pers Officio Christi p. 312. c. et in Uber. Exeg Artic. tom ult lib 4 â—p 424. c. Calvin Instit lib. 2. cap. 12. 13. with inâ—numerable others many have wrote upon and Some very fully but that which I have said as 't was necessary because the Text led me to it so 't is sufficient with respect to my design in this Work Of the Second Head Before I fall upon the application of this Head I must speak something to the Second namely that Christ was sent in the likeness of sinful flesh the Apostle doth not say only God sent him in flesh but he adds in the likeness of sinful flesh In the handling of this I have two things to open 1. Christ was sent in the likeness of sinful Flesh 2. It was but in the likeness of sinful Flesh How Christ was sent in the likeness of sinful Flesh Of the first the Apostle again uses his former Hebraism for in the Greek 't is in the likeness of the flesh of sin which is as much as according to our rendring of it in the likeness of sinful flesh The meaning of it is this as Christ had true Flesh so he was under some appearance of having sinful flesh there was some outward shew as if his Humane Nature had been tainted with sin he externally appeared like a sinner yea as like a sinner as one could do who yet indeed and in truth was none such as look'd upon him and saw how it was with him in his external condition might be apt to conceive of him as they once did Joh. 9.24 We know this man is a sinner There was something about Christ that had some resemblance of sin otherwise Paul would not have called it the likeness of sinful flesh he saith Heb. 9.28 Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation implying that Christ at his first coming was not without some appearance of sin when he shall come the second time there shall not be the least shew or appearance of it in him nothing then but Majesty and Sanctity but Greatness and Goodness shall be seen in him but at his first coming it was otherwise But wherein was it the likeness of sinful flesh I answer if you take it in the restrained notion of the flesh or body of Christ that was like to sinful flesh how why in as much as it was so far like to our flesh which is really sinful as to be * Camem peccatrici similem in paenâ non in culpâ Habet tamen similitudinem carnis peccatâ—icis per passibilitatem mortalitatem August In carnem suam non pecâ—atum transtulit tanquam venenum Serpentis sed tamen transâ—â—lit mortem ut esset in similitudine carnis Peccati paena siue culpâ unde in carne peccati culpa solveretur paena Idem See him lib. 14. c. 5. contra Faustum Manich. Similem carni peccatrici in hoc quod erat passibilis nam caro hominis ante peccatum passioni subjecta non erat Aquin. Si peccatum cum carne accepisset dictus esset missus in Carnem peccati si etiam Carnem immotalem impassibilem sumpsisset qualem modo habet non diceretui missus in similitudinem carnis peccati at qula carnem accepit sine peccato passibilem tamen mortalem qualis est peccatorum caro propter peccatum talis effecta ideo dicitur missus in similitudinem carnis peccati Tolet. passible and mortal passibility and mortality the suffering of pain anguish c. and dying are shrâ—wd signs and tokens of sin Had man continued in his innocent and sinless state his body had not been lyable to either of these but he sinning it became lyable to both and it being so too with Christ's own body here was the likeness of sinful flesh If you take it in the large notion of the whole Humane Nature or Person of Christ as Man so 't was the likeness of sinful flesh in several respects He was truly man and in appearance and likeness he was sinful man for he was * Ut tractaretur quo modo nocentes tractari solent Grot. in Loc. dealt with handled used just as guilty and sinful persons are and that both by God and by Men. By God he charg'd upon Christ the sin of all the Elect †Isa 53.6 the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all ‖ 2 Cor. 5.21 he made him to be sin for us who knew no sin c. He then let out his wrath upon him demanded satisfaction of him would have him to suffer did * Rom. 8.32 not spare
Senses are included in this and do most naturally incorporate with it as you will perceive in the following discourse What is meant by in the flesh 3. There is a Third thing to be opened which in a very few words shall be dispatch'd 't is said here For Sin God condemned Sin in the Flesh now this being indefinitely propounded it may be ask'd of what or of whose Flesh doth the Apostle speak I answer of the Flesh of Christ God sent him in the likeness of sinful Flesh and in that very flesh sin was condemn'd I know * Augustinus exponit de nostra Carne in quâ peccatum tyrannidem possidet extra Christum Muscal Sed melius est ur dicamus debilitavit fomitem peccati in carne nostrâ Aquin Some interpre it of our flesh but the most apply it to Christ's Flesh there is in dafferent respecis a truth in both for in our flesh sin is condemn'd as to the effect and benefit thereof but in Christ's Flesh it was condemn'd meritoriously and causally The Syriack therefore to make this the more express turns it and for sin condemned sin in his Flesh Sin shall be punished and expiated in that Nature wherein it had been committed Man in the flesh had committed sin and God in the flesh of him who was Man will condemn Sin ut caro humana quae peccaverat eadem pro peccato lueret Our Saviours being †Sacerdos noster à nobis accepit quod pro nobis offerret accepit enim a nobis carnem in ipsa Carne victima factus est August in Psal 129. a Sacrifice pointed to his Flesh 't was the Humane Nature wherein he offered up himself and therefore in that God is said to condemn sin And as Sin shall be expiated in that Nature wherein it had been committed so Satan too shall be bafled in that Nature over which he had been victiorious Christ will beat him upon his own ground he had overcome Man and Man shall overcome him O the Wisdom Mercy Power of God! but these things were under the former Head much enlarg'd upon I will only further take notice of two things 1. This condemning of sin is here brought in as God's act God sent his own Son c. and for sin condemned c. But is not this applicable to Christ also yes if you consider him as * Quamvis de Christo ut est Filius Dei posset verè dici eum expiare authoritativè judicialitèr quatenus ipse cum Patre potestatem habet remittendi peccata quia tamen hic consideratur non ut Deus sed ut Mediator ut Sacerdos victima non potest aliter expiatio fieri quam per poenae lationem succedaneam vicariam mortem explicari Turret de Sat. Christi pars 6. p. 204. God and as the eternal Son of God so 't was and is his act as well as the Fathers to abolish acquit and absolve from Sins guilt in an authoritative way but in the Clause which I am opening Christ is not spoken of in that notion as he was God only as he was Man and as a victime and Sacrifice for sin and so he acquits from Sin not authoritatively but as the Way and Means which God made use of for the bringing about of this mercy for Sinners 2. The Flesh of Christ here is not to be considered simply absolutely but under this restriction or special consideration * Hoc factum est per carnem i. e. per mortem quam in carne juxta humanam Naturam passus est Zwingl In Carne i. e. per Carnem Filii sui suspensam mortificatam in Cruce Estius as dying and thereby satisfying divine Justice I would take in his whole humiliation but this being the highest degree thereof therefore eminently by it sin was condemned O when this Flesh of Christ hung upon the Cross then sin received its condemnatory Sentence its mortal wound then when Christ was condemn'd Sin in another sense was condemn'd also This I say was brought about in his flesh as suffering the penalty of Death so the Apostle puts it in Col. 1.22 In the body of his flesh through death I 'le add nothing farther upon this The Observation raised The Words being thus explain'd 't is high time that I come to that Doctrinal Truth which they mainly hold forth that 's this The Lord Jesus submitting to be a Sacrifice for sin and offering up himself as such to God he did thereby take away abolish explate all sin in all its guilt so as that it shall never be charged upon Believers to their eternal ruine In the language of the Text 't is in short For Sin Sin was condemned You heard but now in the opening of the condemning of Sin that that admits of more senses than that one which I now instance in in the Observation yet however this being most agreeable to the nature of a Sacrifice in reference to which Christ is here set forth I therefore only mention it In the handling of this Point which carries me again into the very midst of the Socinians Camp where I should not choose to be but I must follow the Word whithersoever it leads me there are two things to be spoken to 1. To Christ's being a Sacrifice for Sin 2. To the blessed Effect of that blessed Sacrifice viz. the condemnation or expiation of Sin Of Christ's being à Sacrifies for Sin I begin with the first Christ was a Sacrifice for sin Which though in the General none deny yet when we come to particulars about it as namely the true notion of his being so the efficacy ends effects of his Sacrifice the time when and the place where it was offered with several other things which are incident about it there many differences do arise Certainly there are none who believe the Scriptures but in some sense or other they must grant Christ to be a Sacrifice because they are so plain and express about it Isa 53.10 When thou shalt make his Soul an Offering for Sin 1 Cor. 5.7 For even Christ our Passeover is sacrificed for us 2 Cor. 5.21 He that knew no sin was made sin a Sacrifice for Sin c. Eph. 5.2 Walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour where the Apostle seems to allude 1. to the * Cloppenh Schola Sacrif p. 3. Franzius Disp 13. thes 2 3. Mincah and Zebach amongst the Jews the Former of which did refer to their oblations of the Fruits of the Earth set forth here by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latter to the Sacrificing and offering of living Creatures set forth here by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. He alludes to the pleasinguess and gratefulness of the primitive Sà crifices to God Gen. 8.21 And the Lord smelled a sweet savour c. Noah's Sacrifices spoken of Vers 20. were highly
Polemical discourses and also in their Commentaries upon the Text do assert wherein yet to give every one their due they * Hinc Patet persolam Naturam Legem sine gratiâ Christi hominem in hâc corruptione non posse totam legem totumque Decalogum implere A-Lapide differ from the old PELAGIANS For whereas they held that a man by the meer power of Nature might perfectly keep the whole Law these hold that a man cannot do this without the assisting grace of God but that being vouchsafed they say regenerate persons may keep the whole Law Thus they expound the words and then from them they endeavour to prove against us a possibility of perfect obedience to the Law of God by the Saints in this Life insomuch that say they Saints may here live without all Sin Venial sins only excepted which break no squares betwixt God and the Creature that they may do all the good which the Law requires nay that this perfect conformity to the Law is not only possible but easie nay that such who are high in grace may not only do just what the Law demands but that they may superogate and do more than what it demands This is the Doctrine which †Concil Trident Sess 6. c. 18. Bellarm. de Justif l. 4. c. 10 c. Becan Man Controv. l. 1. c. 17. Perer. Disp 3. in c. 8. ad Rom. Ut justificatio Legis c. i. e. ut nos legem impleremus idque faciendo justi essemus quia factores legis justificabuntur Estius Peccato in nobis per redemptionis Christi gratiam abolito factâque cum Deo reconciliatione legem implere nobis est jam possibile facile Tolet. Vide Justinian Catharin Staplet Rhemists in loc c. Nemo miretur quod dixerim posse nos absque omni culpâ absolute esse Nam iterum dico posse per Dei gratiam libetum arbitrium hominem perfectam assequi justitiam coram Deo immunitatem scilicet ab omni peccato modo voluntas ejus non desit adjuvante diviná ope C. Mussu◠they of the ROMISH-Church teach and maintain with great zeal We are not asham'd to declare * See Calvin Instit l. 2. c. 7. sect 5. Chemnit Exam. De bonis Operibus 3. Qu. p. 181. Chamier t. 3. l. 11. Whittak contra Duraeum de Parad. l. 8. p. 201 202. Bradsh de Justif c. 11. our dissent from them in this proud Opinion which in a great measure owns its descent from the old Pharisees We believe that since Adams fall no man Christ only excepted did ever thus in himself fulfil the Laws righteousness Indeed in the state of innocency man had a power to do this but not since and to hold the contrary is to confound the two states and to make little difference between man as standing and man as fallen The Laws righteousness is a draught or copy of mans primitive holiness so that to say that he can now in himself come up to that righteousness is in effect to say he is as holy and righteous as ever he was and no wayes impaired by Adams Fall By that we are all made unrighteous and such as are unrighteous can never perfectly fulfil a righteous Law He must be sinless do no evil who will exactly reach the Laws righteousness but are any * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Constit l. 2. c. 18. such here on earth 1 Kings 8.46 There is no man that sinneth not Eccles 7.20 For there is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not Jam. 3.2 In many things we offend all 1 Joh. 1.8 If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Prov. 20.9 Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin reade Psal 130.3 Psal 142.2 Job 9.2 3. Job 15.15 c. Rom. 3.19 Gal. 3.22 Further he must not only do good all good but he must do it in the most intense and highest degree that he is capable of or else he doth not fulfil the Laws righteousness Matth. 22.37 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy mind but where 's the man who thus loves God now if there be but a * Peccatum est cum non est charitas quae esse debet vel minor est quà m esse debet Aug. de Perfect justitiae gradual defect the Law is not fulfilled It s righteousness extends to the inward man and to the inward acts the Soul as to external acts if evil especially if grossely and scandalously evil 't is possible for one to refrain from them if good 't is possible for one to come up to them but this will not amount to the perfect keeping of the Law unless there be an abstaining from Heart-evils from evil thoughts and concupiscence within so Christ the Maker and Expounder of the Law opens it against the Pharisees Matth. 5. and unless also there be the doing of what is good from a right principle to a right end If the righteousness of the Law did lie only in external acts something might be said but when it reaches to internal acts who can say that there all is right O how great is the Laws strictness Deut. 5.32 Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left And its demands are so severe that if you fail in any one point you are gone you fail in all Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them Jam. 2.10 For whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all and if so he must be strangely arrogant and ignorant too that will pretend to come up in himself to the Laws righteousness If any could so do to him the reward would be reckoned not of grace but of debt Rom. 4.4 his justification would be by works whereas the Scripture excludes any from being justified that way Rom. 3.19 20. Gal. 2.16 his righteousness would be of the Law and so as to him Christ died in vain Gal 2.21 If the Laws righteousness was fulfillable in this sense why did the Apostle in the Verse foregoing speak of the Laws 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or weakness whence doth that proceed but from our weakness and utter inability perfectly to obey it If it be said as it is that Christ came in flesh for this very end to take off this weakness that we might be able fully to keep it in our own persons that we peremptorily deny he came that the righteousness of the Law should be fulfilled for us and in us imputatively but not personally Had he designed the latter 't is strange that we should not have one Instance in all the New Testament of