22. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall

all be made alive; and that from his Spirit ; who begins the Removal of it in Regeneration, or quickening of the dead Soul, carries it on in Sanctification, and perfects it in Glorification: John vi. 63. It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I fpeak unto you, they are fpirit, and they are life.' 1 Cor. vi. II. Ye are washed, ye are fanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jefus, and by the Spirit of our God.' Rom. viii. 23 'And not on-, ly they, but ourselves alfo, which have the first"fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grone within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.'

Actual Tranfgreffions are Breaches of God's Law by Omiffion or Commission, in Thoughts, Words, or Deeds. The Fountain which they all proceed from in us, is the Corruption of our Nature: Matth. xv. 19. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,thefts, falfe witness, blafphemies.' Our natural State is a finful State, in respect of actual Tranfgreffions, inafmuch as all the Actions of a natural Man are actual Tranfgreffions, and the Guilt and Filth of them all, and of all his Omiffions of Duty, abide fast on him as long as he is in that Sate: Gen. vi. 5. And God faw that the wickednefs of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.' Eph. ii.1. And you hath he quickened who were dead in trefpaffes and fins.' A Man in his natural State cannot do any thing truly good; because his Nature is wholly corrupt: Matth. vii. 18. A good tree cannot bring forth

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evil fruit: neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.' His natural Actions, fuch as Eating and Drinking, are Sin: Zech. vii. 6. And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did ye 'not eat for yourselves, and drink for your felves?" His civil Actions, fuch as Plowing and Sowing, are Sin: Prov. xxi. 4. The plowing of the wicked is 'fin.' And his religious Actions are Sin, Prov. xv. 8. The facrifice of the wicked is an abomi'nation to the Lord.'

Queft. 19. What is the Mifery of that Eftate whereinto Man fell?

Anf. All Mankind, by their Fall, loft Communion with God, are under his Wrath and Curfe, and fo made liable to all Miseries in this Life, to Death itself, and to the Pains of Hell for ever.

EXPLICATION.

Our natural State is a miferable State too. And all Mankind is in that miferable State by Nature. That comes to pass, by their Fall in Adam: Rom. v. 12. By one man fin entered into the 'world, and death by fin; and fo death paffed up

on all men, for that all have finned. Our natural State is a miserable State, in respect of what Lofs Man fuftains, what he lies under, and what he is liable to, in it.

The Lofs which Man fuftains in his natural State, is the Lofs of Communion with God. Communion with God is a friendly Intercourfe between God and a Soul, arifing from a peculiar Interest

in

in one another: Cant. ii. 16. My beloved is mine, ' and I am his.' Man had fuch Communion with God before the Fall; and that without a Mediator: Gal. iii. 20. Now a mediator is not a me• diator of one; but God is one.' But he loft it, by the Fali: Gen. iii. 8. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the prefence of the Lord God, ' amongst the trees of the garden. And none attain to this Communion again, as long as they are in their natural State, whatever Duties of Worship they go about: Eph. ii. 12. At that ' time ye were without Chrift, being aliens from the commonwealth of Ifrael, and ftrangers from the covenants of promife, having no hope, • and without God in the world." It is recovered, only in the Way of Union with Jefus Chrift, verf. 13. 'But now in Chrift Jefus, ye who sometimes • were far off, are made nigh by the blood of • Chrift."`

What Man lies under in his natural State, is God's Wrath and Curfe. The Wrath of God he lies under, is revenging Wrath: And all Men in their natural State are under that Wrath: Eph. ii. 3. We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.' Juhn iii. ult. He that believeth on the 'Son, hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son, fhall not fee life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.' The Curfe he lies under, is the Sentence of the broken Law, binding over the Sinner to revenging Wrath, to the full : And all Men in their natural State are under it, Gal. iii, 10. Curfed is every one that continueth

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not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.'

What Man is liable to in his natural State, is, all Miferies in this Life, Death itfelf, and the Pains of Hell for ever, in virtue of the Curfe. The Miferies in this Life the natural Man is liable to, are all inward and outward Miseries of Life, laid on in virtue of the Curse: Lam. iii. 39. 'Wherefore

doth a living man complain, a man for the pu 'nishment of his fins? The inward Miferies of Life he is fo made liable to, are fpiritual Plagues, fuch as Blindness of Mind, Hardness of Heart, Vileness of Affections, Horror of Conscience, and the like: Eph, iv. 18. Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, becaufe of the blindaefs of their heart." Rom. ii. 5. But, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasureft up unto thyfelf wrath againft the day of wrath, and revelation of the righte ous judgment of God.' Chap. i. 26. For this 'cause God gave them up unto vile affections." . xxxiii. 14. The finners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness hath furprised the hypocrites: who among us fhall dwell with the devouring fire? 'who amongst us fhall dwell with everlafting burn" ings?' The outward Miseries of Life he is fo made liable to, are fuch as befal the outward Man, as Sickness, Poverty, Difgrace, and the like: Deut. xxviii. 15. to the End. But it fhall come to pafs, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of 'the Lord thy God, to obferve to do all his com'mandments, and his ftatutes which I command thee this day; that all these curfes fhall come < upon thee, and overtake thee. Curfed fhalt thou

'be

be in the city, and curfed fhalt thou be in the 'field, &c.' The Death the natural Man is liable to, is the Diffolution of the Soul and the Body in virtue of the Curfe: Rom. vi. 23. The < wages of fin is death.' That kind of Death is ftinged Death: 1 Cor. xv. 5. The fting of death

is fin; and the strength of fin is the law.' It is true, Believers in Christ also are liable to Miseries in this Life, and to Death itself; but they are not fo made liable to them, not by the Curfe, not with the Sting in them: Cor. xv. 55. O death, "where is thy fting? O grave, where is thy victory? Howbeit, if Man had not finned, he wouldnever have died: Gen. ii. 17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that thou eatest there' of, thou shalt furely die.' The Miferies in this Life, and Death itself, are, to Believers in Chrift, Marks of God's Displeasure with the Sin in them, while yet he loves their Perfons in Chrift: Pfal. xcix. 8. Thou answeredft them, O Lord our God: thou waft a God that forgaveft them, though thou tookeft vengeance of their inven <tions.' Gen. iii. 15. 17. 18. 19. And I will

put enmity between thee and the woman, and 'between thy feed and her feed: it shall bruise thy ' head, and thou fhalt bruise his heel. And unto Adam he said, Becaufe thou haft hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and haft eaten of the tree ❝ of which I commanded thee, faying, Thou shalt not eat of it: curfed is the ground for thy fake; in forrow fhalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles fhall it bring forth to thee and thou shalt eat the herb of the field." In the sweat of thy face fhalt thou eat bread,

⚫ till