of A de11a Religion bear the word prtacaed, and that about thofevery particu· · lar finnes he liveth in, yet he is like.an ldol that bath eyes and feeth not, ~ars and hear' not: Every auditory is a ·Go/go• thA, a plAce ef dead mens. sk.Jtls, as it weree; and they are like E~tkjtls dry brmes, till God breath life into them ; w'ere it poffibte that men fuould hear and kn()W fo much, yet runne into all excefs of riot, but that they are fo many dead corpfes, know not, feel not the bmden upon them. Wonder not then, to ftf men in the fame wretched and fenfelelfe ell:ate they were cncr in; for till God fpeak as he did t.O La~arm, Come out of the grave and live, they apprehend nothing at all. Therefore as it is to be lhewed, IilO duties have life in therm, which arenot accompanied with a fpiritual fenfc and feeling ofour own wsncs, and ofche ~xcellency andfulneffe inChrifi. Thoufands ofduties which thou put tell: fo much confidence in, arc as the Scriptures expreffion 'is, nothing but the he11dof 11 tle~td dtJg, a moll: contemptible and abominable thing, tiU there be the life ofgrace. . i. . ~. As the fiate of fin is death, becaufe of the fenfelefne£Ie :B_ecaure.of tht of it, fo alfo !JecaHfe of the diffolution ofthat union the [oNl had ~ffotu:lOn b 0 ~i.th God, in its creation. Death is the diffolution of that u– tw~e:l~; fo~i gion the foul and body had, a~d fo' this fpi ,rituall death fe~aand God. rates the fo'}l from God; llil fo much that they are fatd, · , Ephe[.3. to be 'Without God, ~tndalienat-ed ftom the life ofGod. They are without Chrill:, and, f-o as branches feparated from. tbe Vine, cannot 13ourifb, or bring forth fruit: God is the life of the fou I, as the foul is the life of the body : Thuuhen / all meo are dead, who are not united toChrin by his Spirit, and therefore let thy duties and Religion be never fo famous in the world, if it come not from the Spirit ofChrill: in thee, uniting thee to him, they are dead and unprofitable duties. ·Thus Rom. 8.xo. The Spirit u life bec.eufe ~f righteoufneffe: ·& V,'Z.[anElific~ttion is called tloe law ·oftheJPirit of life,'AS fome )earned men expound it. As 'long then as thy foul is-thus di– ,vided from Chrift, having no union or communion widi him, thou art in the £bte of dead men, aJld all thy Religion is a dead Religion : It oft be the Spirit of God, , t!lat giveth Jife· . to tlilcc.. · ·
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