dn Expofition of the EpijUe ~· . Serm. XIV: For Anfwer: He is fo, he is a living Creature to Sin, he is dead and Jiving, ~ both m rcfpell: of Sm. But the quefhon JS, m what refpeCl: ol fpiritual Life in refpeCl: of fpirimal Life, there is nothing at all ofthe Spirit, in that rcfpett a Man is wholly dead till he be called. Brethren, it is not a pi}y!ical Death ofthe Soul whereby the facultie~ of the Soul perifh ; but I fay it is a moral Death. Wherea~ now when the Bt>dy JS dead, all the parts of the Body remain when the Man is dead, yet he is wholly dead in refpetl: of the Life he had before: So tho there be a natural vivacity, and livelihood that is natural to the Soul in the Will and LlnderO:anding, yet fpiritually "there is none. ' Again likcwife, whereas they object, Why then cloth God ufe Exhortations to Men? !ince they are dead, and· have no power to fiir, why cloth he bid them arife? Awa/;£ thou that jleepefl,.fland up frohJ t,~e ded, and Chrifl foal/ give thee ligbt i! That Place certainly is meant of regenerated Men, that kept company with wicked Men, and were aOeep. !let that palS. But I anfwer, Why did ChriO: fay to LazarJH, Ari{e .2 Why did he fpeak to a dead Man? Ifany Man elfe had fpoken it, he had fpoken foolifhly; but ifChriO: fay it, and give power with the Word that goes forth, dead Men !hall live. So the dead j/Ja/1 he'ar the Voice of tbe Son of God, and hve, John 5· 2 5· But they f.1y, There is a defire of Happine!SI eft it~ Man, ~nd a knowledg of Cod, and preparations for the Work of the Spmt upon Mans Heart, and i~ this Man wholly dead ? Brethren, I anfwer, let aMan have never fa much affivity, ancl that towards things that are Spiritual: I mean in thisSence, out ofends of!elf-Love, and the like that they are wrought upon, yet notwithO:anding,O:ill fay I, that Man i1 dead, in refpcCl: ofthat wherein Life lies. For when we fay a Man is dead in Sins, you mufi not underO:and it, in refpect of the Life ofhis own kind. How then? In re– fpeCl: ofSpiritual Life, in refpeCl: offuch a Life, as knits him to God and Chrifi ; in refpeCl: of fuch a Life, as raifeth up the leaO: affell:ion oflove to God above the love to a Man's felf; in rcfpeCl: ofany knowledg that is Spiritual, of God and of ChriO: in a fpiritual way; in refpeCl: of this Light and Life, he is utterly dead, though he may acknowledg a God, and have a deGre after HappineG and the like. So let the Comparifon run, in the fame reft>ell: and kind; apd then a Man though he have neverfo much moral good in him; this is no part ofa Man's Life, though Self-Love never fo much fiirr, ifit be only Self-Love, though to fpiritual things, all rifeth not to Spiritual Life ; there is no degree ofSpiritual Life all the, while. Brethren, to illuO:rate my meaning, (or elfe the comparifon will not hold, it is but a fuppo!ition, it is that that will never be done) a Manhath.;i reafouableSoul as he is a Man: fuppofe the reafonable Soul it felffhould be taken out ofa Man., and yet Man frill retain the fence ofhearing and feeing, and the quickne!S of his Fancy: Such as Apes and Btafis and fuch Creatures have; certainly this Man would be faid to be dead as a Man, ifthe reafonable Soul were gone, in refpeB: of that Life that a Man bath, as aMan bath a reafonable Life, though the brutifh Life were left ; yet take him as a Man he hath no Life at all left in him,ifthe reafonable be departed and gone, and the fenfitive only left. So Brethren it is here, take a Spiritual Man that bath Union with God and ChriO:, and Life flowing thence, and raifing his Heart to God out ofLove, if all thiswere gone, though a Man fhould have left fuch a Principle, as may be wound exceeding high mherwife; yet in refpetl: ofSpiritual Life he were utterly dead. I might enlarge·much this way, in opening and clearing this; It_is evident that all that i• left in Nature, though Jt be wrought on never fo much, 1t cannot umte us to Chrifi, nor to God ; and then certainly there is no part of Life. Why, be– caufeall the parts ofthe Spiritual Life, lye in our Union with God and Chri(}. Now let a Man have never fo many Preparatives, all unite him not to Chrifi, till Faith
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