w I c K E D ME N DEAD IN s I N. Book IV. alive, confldering the Subject of whom our Savior fpeaks. Man before his Fall, or the Entrance of Sin, was alive; Death was threatened upon Adam's eattng of the forbidden Fruit: In the Day thou eatejl thereof thou Jhalt Jurely die: The Deprivation of the fpi– ritual Life of the Soul, as well as the Life of the Body, was in the SanC\ion of that Law, 'fhou jhalt die the Death. What Life !Ot:vei· ./!dam had before he fell, he loft it by his TranfgreOion; and in that very Day he eat, he fuffered a Deprivation of the Liaht of God's Countenance and fpiritual Life of God in his Soul. He loft that fu– pe~natural Power of aC\ing towards God lpiritually, or Image of God ihat was in him; ro that it was impofTJble for him to live any more tO God, until quickened by a new Principle of fpiritual Life. And hence unrcgenera~e Men are faid to be dead, &c. Ill. A Man that is dead c<mnot move, aC\, or fpeak; all natural Motions utterly ceafe; that is the ElfeC\ of Death: So unconverted Men have loft all fpiritual vitd AC\s, th<tt is, all Acts and Dmies of holy Obedience, acceptable unto God. There js in them a total Defeft and \<Vant of Power for any li1ch AEts whatfoever, or elfe they are not dead, cannot be fa id to be dead; for when the Soul departS, it leaves the Body tmcapable of any kind of Activity. All the n;;tural Power the Body had, by means of the .Soul's Union with it, is gone, upon the Separation of the one from the othe" So Death falling upon the Soul, or fuffcringa Privation of the lm?.ge of God, or fpi– ritual Life jt had, .all its internal Power to aEt or live to God is gone, the carnal M ind beina e.x,preOy faid to be Enmity again£1: God: Rom. viii. 7· An evil 'free cannot b,.in• forthgood Fruit. In 01orr, there is in all wicked Men, a Difability or lm;)otency um~ all fpiritual Things, to be performed in a fpi1itual Manner; and that it is impofflble for them to aEt and do in a Vvay acceptable to God, till quickened by the Holy Qholt. IV. A dead Man is an unlovely ObjeEt to look on ; for it is Life that puts a B··auty and Glory upon the Body: So an unregenerate Man is an unlovely ObjeEt. It is Grace only, or that fupernatural Principle of fpiri tual Life, that confers Beauty upo~ the in– ward Man, or renders the Soul amiable in God's Sight. V. A dead Man is void of all Senfe, he kes not, feels .not, hears not: If you cal~ Fire in his Face, it is all one to him; or if you run a Sword into his H earr, he will n<lt complain; lay Mountains of L ead upon him, he feels them not, f:ic. fo thofe who are dead in Sin, are fenfelefs Souls. Though the Anger of God is kindled againlt them, and his Wrath burns never fo hot, they regard tt not; nay, thoc;gh you throw as it were H ell Fire into their very Faces, yet they fear it not: Though there are upon them great Mountains of Sin, and horrid Guile, yet they feel them not, &c. VI. A dead M Jn cannot be raifed W Life again, wiihout the mighty Power of God: So the dead in Sin cannot be raifed to Life, without the mighty Power of God's Spirit. Chrift, who railed dead Lazarus out of the Grave, mutt quicken fuch who are dead in Sins and Trdpatres. The Ephejians are faid to believe according to the Work– ing of God's mighty Power, which be wrought in Cbrijl, when .he raifed him from tl<e Dead, Eph. i. 19, 20. VII. A dead Man is loathfome, ~nd fit for nothing but to be .put under Ground, cor buried out of Sight: So the Wicked ·are ·loathfome in God's Sight, and unlels the fooner ·quickened, they will be good for nothi!Jg but to be.caf\ into Hell; fome wick– ..ed Men are .fit to be bucitd, or thrown into.th.atGrave. ·Objetl. It is by fume objected, That there is Hvide Differe:rce bet\Teen Death nat\I– 'l'al and fpiritual: In Death natural, the Soul itfelf is utterly removed and taken away from the Body, but in Death fpiritual it continues: A Man is frill, notwith!tano;ling this ipiritual Death, endowed with an Underll:anding, Will, and Affections, by which thefe Men are enabled to perform th~ir D.mies-to God. Anfw. 1, In Life fpiritual, the Soul is unto the Principle of it, as the Body is unto the Soul in Life natural: For in Life natural, the Soul is the quickening Principle, and the Body is the Principle quickened; when the Soul departs, it Jea.ves the Body with all its own natural Properties. but utterly deprived of them which it had by vir– ·tue of its Union with the ·Soul : So in Life fpiritua), the Soul is not, in and by its ef– fential Properties, the quickening Principle of it, but it is the Principle that is quicken– ed: And when the quickening Prir,ciple of fpiritual Life departs, it leaves the Soul with all its natural J:'roperties entire as to their Etfence, though mortally corrtipted, which is equivalent with Death natural; but of all the Power and Abilities, which ·it had by virtue of its Union with a quickening Principle of fpiritual Lif,, it is de– ;Prived. And to deny there is fuch a quickening .Principle of Life fpiritual, fuper- .added
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