fen with him through the Faith of the Operation of God, who hath raised him from the Dead: And you being dead in your Sins, and the Uncircumcifion of your Flesh, bath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all Trespasses. From this the Inference in the Text naturally follows: If ye then be rifen with Christ, seek those Things which are above, where Cbrift fitteth on the right Hand of God.

For the Explication of these Words, it will be necessary to set before

you

the Representation which the Scripture makes of the Natural State and Condition of Man, and of his Gospel State upon his becoming a Christian.

In the State of Nature the Scripture represents Men, Eph. iv. 17, 18. as walking in the Vanity of their Minds. Having the Understanding darkened, being alienated from the Life of God, through Ignorance and Blindness of Heart. As walking according to the Course of this World, according to the Prince of the Power of the Air, the Spirit that worketh in the Children of Disobedience, Chap. ii. 2. As Children of Wrath, having their Conversation in the Luft of the Flesh, fulfilling the Defires of the Flesh and the Mind, ver. 3. As Strangers to the Covenants of Promise, as having no Hope, and without God in the World, ver. 12. VOL. III. T

As

As Servants of Sin, yielding their Members Servants to Uncleanness and to Iniquity, unto Iniquity, Rom. vi. 19, 20. And because the End of these Things is Death, therefore this State of Sin is called likewise a State of Death: You hath he quickened, says our Apostle, who were dead in Trespasses and Sins, Eph. ii. 1. The same he repeats at the fifth Verse. Whilst Men were thus dead to God, and unto themselves, they lived only to Sin and Unrighteousness. Sin therefore is said to reign in them, to have Dominion over them. The natural Passions and Affections in this State of Corruption were but the Instruments of Sin, in all things subfervient; and therefore are said to constitute the Body of Sin, that Body over which Sin, as the Soul or active Principle, had entire Rule and Dominion. Thus we read, Rom. vi. 6, The old Man is crucified with him, that the Body of Sin migbt be destroyed, that henceforth we jhould not serve Sin.' And in the second of the. Coloffians, and eleventh Verse, we are said to put off the Body of the Sins of the Flesh. The Members, of which this Body is made up, are in the next Chapter described : Mortify therefore your Members which are upon Earth, Fornication, Unclean

ness,

ness, inordinate Affection, evil Concupiscence, and Covetdusness, which is Idolatry, Eph.iji. 5. This Body is by St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, called the Body of Death, for the same Reason that the State of Sin is called the State of Death: 0 wretched Man that I am, who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death; or, as the Margin renders it, from this Body of Death, Ch. vii. 24. The Body, together with the Soul, which is the active Principle of Life, and the Influencer and Director of the Body and all its Motions, constitutes the Man. From hence therefore, by an easy and natural Metaphor, these depraved Appetites and Affections, which are the Instruments or Members of Sin, and which compose the Body of Sin, together with the evil Principle ruling in us, and directing these. Affections in the Pursuit of all Uncleanness and Iniquity, and which is called Sin, are said in Scripture to be the Old Man; the Man which only lived before the Regeneration by Christ Jesus. Thus, Rom. vi. 6. The old Man is crucified with him, that the Body of Şin might be destroyed. And the Ephesians, Ch. iv. 22. are exhorted to put off, concerning their former Conversation, the old Man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lufts. This is the State of Nature,

T 2

according

according to the Representation and Language of Holy Scripture: And it is easy to see what must become of this old Man, this Man of Sin, upon the Appearance of Christ Jesus, who came to destroy the Works of the Devil, to give Light and Life to those who sat in the Shadow of Darkness and Death ; he and his Works must be destroyed to make

way

for the Spirit of Righteousness, and his holy Works. But thus to destroy the old Man, to root out all the corrupt Affections of Nature, and to implant a new Principle of Life and Holiness, to restore the decayed Image of God, to give new Desires to the Soul, new Affections to the Heart; what is it but to new-make the Man, and by a second Creation to restore him to the Rights and Privileges of the first, which were long since forfeited by Sin and Disobedience? For this Reason the Christian is said to be a new Creature: If any Man be in Christ, he is a new Creature, 2 Cor. v. 17, In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any Thing, nor Uncircumcihon, but a new Creature, Gal. vi. 15. In the second Chapter of the Ephesians, we are said to be the Workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus unto good Works. And in the fourth Chapter, ver. 23 and 24, we are said to be renewed

in the Spirit of our Mind: To put on the new
Man, which after God is created in Righte-
oufness and true Holiness. Nay, we are said
even to put on Christ, from the Similitude
of Will and Affections between Christ and
his true Members: As many of you as have
been baptized, says the Apostle to the Ga-
latians, have put on Christ, Chap. iii. 27.

From this Account it is easy to understand
the Propriety of the Words or Phrases made
use of to express these two Conditions. Some-
times we read, that we were dead before the
Knowledge of Christ: Sometimes, that we
died and were buried with Chrift: Again,
that we rose with Christ, and are alive in him.
Now, to be dead before the Coming of Chrift,
and yet to die with Christ after his Coming,
and
yet

still to be alive in Christ, may seem
to be Assertions inconsistent with respect to
the same Person: And so indeed they are.
But, if we take the same View of Man that
the Scripture does, the Inconsistency will
foon vanish. Man was at first created after
the Image and Likeness of God, with a Rec-
titude of Mind and Will, with Inclinations.
adapted to his true Happiness, and subject to
the Influence and Direction of Reason: This
was Man after the Image of God. But, upon

T3 Disobedience,