Hopkins - HP BR75 .H65 1710

The .Nature, 1Janger, a.rtd Cure mon and ordinary ACl:iol!s of this Life; it is from God's immediate Influence that we are enabled to move, to think, to fpc<lk ·; for in him 1ve li'Ve mo.-.;e and have om· being1 : And ch~n we need alfo afpecial Influence, vouchfaferl'only r~ the Children of God, whereby we are enabled ro perform holy and fpirim<tl Atti. ons, as ro love, fear, and obcyGodfincercly; and thisfpecial!tifiumcewc commonly call f!race, whereby. we are enabled to .aa divinelY: and fpi ritu<l!ly : Now the DdferCnce betWiXt common and fpeual Influence lies in this That what God works in us by a ccmmonlnfiuence,rhat is wrought without any Grudo-e or ReluCtancy in Man's Nature to the comrary, but what is wrouv!u in ~s by a fpecial bJjluente ; that is brought to pafs, Nature gainfi1ying and comradiCHng it : Thus when God enables a Sinner to ad: Faith, or Love or any Divine and Heavenly Grace; this is contrary to the Tendency of' corrupt Nature; and therefore this is calleclfeecjal. Grac_e. Now while Man fiood in the State ot Innocency, there was nochmg m hts Nature that contradicted his Fear of God, his Dependance on God, or his Love to God ; and therefore to enable him tO act: all chefe, he needed no JPedal Injlumce of fpecial Grace but only of a common and ordinary Providence. Before cheFall, A dam fto~d in no need at all of any fuch thing as [pecia~ Grace,. as we no\V fi and in need of, hue the fame Affiftance of God, for the Kmd of u, that enabled him ro move or to fpeak, or to think, was fufficient alfo to enable him to perform the ~oft fpiritual Obedience; becaufe then the mofi fpiritual Obedience was no more to him, than thofe ACtions which we call Natural, as Eating_, and Drinking Speaking, Walking, and Thinking are to us now; an~ ~herefore he required no more Affiftance from God for the Performance of fptncual Obedience than we now require from God for our natural Actions. Now, as he had thi~ Perfection of Power to perform what was good, fo he had a Pronenefs of Will alfo to it; but yet in that Pronenefs there was not Perfeverance; he might, "' all afterwards he did, turn afide from God unto Satan, and notwichftanding _' hiS Inclination to Obedience, and Pronenefs to that which was Good ; yet having nota Perfeverante in that Pronenefs, but being Lord over hiS own Will, as he was over the reft of the vifible Creation, he voluntarily and willingly con~ fenced eo the Commiffion of Sin. \Vhy now, Secondly, This voluntary Inclination of Adam to Sin~ hath ever fince by a dreadful, yet righteous Judgment of God, brought upon all his Poftericy a natural and neceffary Inclination unto Sin; fo that now, either whatever they do is Sin, or there is Sin in whatever they do. Now that we may clearly apprehend how Adam's firft Sin and Provocation, committed fo many Thoufand Years ago, caufes fuch firong Propenfions to Sin in all his Pofterityl you muft obferve thefe following Particulars. Firfl, Confider this, That we and all Mankind were in A dam, not only as in our common Parent, from whom we received our Being, but as in our common Head, Stmty, and Repre[tntative, from whom we were eo receive either our\'Vell or our Ill-Being: lle was the Head of the Covenant, both he and we were Partiesin the Covenant, he obeying, we obeyed; and he finni ng, we tranfgreffed: What .tie did, as in this publick Capacity, was not alone his perfonal ACt., but it was ours alfo. Now what Right Adam had to Indent for his Pofterity, and to oblige them to the Terms of the Covenant, I have long fincc opened to you on another Occafion, and I fl1all therefore pafs it by now. Secondly, The Threatning annexed to the C(J'Uenant ofWorks, was Death: In theJaythoueate{fthereof, fays God, _thou. j!Jaltfurelydie, Gen. 2. 17. Now rh.ere is a threefold Death, that by the Violation of this Command, Man was fub]e& unto; A temporal Death, confifting in the Miferies of rh is. Life, an~ at .lafl: a Separation of the Soul from the Body ; An eternal Death, confiftwg m .the evcrlafiing Separation of the Soul from God; And afpiritual Death, confdbng in the Lofs and Separation of God's Image from the Soul: And upon Adam's Sin this thretfoU Death was threamed, namely, temporal, fpiritual, and eternal : Qf chefC Three, rhe{piritual Death was prefendy inflicted upon Man's Fall, confifting in rhe Separation of the Image of God from the Soul ; Man was immediately deprived of that Holine!S and perfect Righteoufncfs \.vherein the Image of God did confift. Then

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