( 5'· Becaufe unre.. generated men cannot per• form any vital aCtions. -6. :Be"ufe fuch have no corn• munion with God_or the _ Saints.• 0fA ie4d Beligion more wretched and terrible cltate then I am ? lfi were to be carried eo the grave, all my friends weeping over the hearfe, its not fo miferable as now it is with me; may not all godly friends mourn over me, as a dead man? How l~ng fhall we hear thefe thi-ngs, and yet be as dead men ? Do thou flatter aod applaud thy felf, yet remember thou art in the terrible clhtc of a fpirituall dead ~nd mif~:raple man. 5. They that are in a flare unregcnera-ced may well be cal– led dead~ ~ecan{e they cannot perform any vita,tl aElions. They cannot underfbnd fpiritqall things, they cannot love, will, or imbrace them: Bur as Arijlotle faith, Adead eye,or dead hand, is an equivocall eye or hand, it bath only . ~he name, but not the optration of thofe faculties: Thus it is with all noconvcrted meR, They are believers, they pray, hear, re– pent equivocally, they have the name of thefe things, but not the proper operation; they do not underftand, believe, delight or rejoyce in holy things, and indeed this is properly to perform holy duties, without a principle of fupernaturall _• life, when there are not thofe divine workings and operati· ons1>f the heart in them; The minde is not fpiritualfy inligh– tened, the will is not fantl:ified, the atfetl:ions not mortified, and the whole indued with principles from above. Come we then to the marrow of all godlindfe, fee with what hearty prindples of life all thy duties arc accomplifhed;. Is life in thy minde, in thy will, io t9y a'ff(tl:ioml then God fmels a fweet favour in all thy duties, otherwife thy duties are hut ,as fo many flowers cut from the root, that prefently wither and lofe all their fwcetndfe: Give me thenaChriftiao, th~t befides mcer praying, he:uiog, coming _to Cbmch, doth fpi· ritually underfhnd and powerfu llywill and imbrace heaven· ly things, that he be not a golden image that bath no life within. • . 6. The Scripture cals .this adead efhte, hecaufe"there i& Ho communion or fcllowfbipWith God er the Sr~,ints. For as the dead do no more converfe wi th the living : Therefore He– man defcribing his folicary condition, faith, be was as a dead man, as one forgotttn. The dead and the living can have no focicty or communion together : Therefore the godly are flid,
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