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"He is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself," Tit. iii. 11. And with respect to life or motion toward God, he hath none; as the Apostle witnesseth, "You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins," Eph. ii. 1; and I believe the Saviour meant this when he said to one of his disciples, "Let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God;" certainly he meant, let those that are dead in trespasses and sins bury those that departed this life in their sins, or in an unpardoned state.

Cushi. What you have said is true; man, fallen man, is dead in law, and under the sentence of it, and spiritually dead to God, destitute of all good, either feeling, affection, or motion; and as he daily heaps up sin upon sin, so is he treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath. The scriptures represent him as buried in his own transgressions." Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own. land; then shall ye know that I the Lord have

spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord," Ezek. xxxvii. 11-14. Thus, my dear brother, you see the low estate of man, represented by this valley; his spiritual death by the bones, his spiritual death, I say, for these men were not literally dead; the barrenness of his soul, while in an hopeless state, is represented by the dryness of the bones; and the transgressions that his soul is involved in, by the graves; and his spiritual resurrection is by the power of God, I will bring you up out of your graves; and the quickening of his dead soul is done by the Spirit, I shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live.

Ahimaaz. I bless God that ever I met with thee. The Lord has given thee a blessed talent for opening the scriptures. You have made this matter very plain to me. Let the free-willer boast of his will and power as much as he will, God in that vision represents man destitute of both; and a soul dead to God, and buried in his own transgressions, can do no more toward his own spiritual resurrection than a dead corpse can do toward the resurrection of the body. God says he brings them out of their graves, and he puts his spirit in them; no call for this if a man hath will and power sufficient of his own. To the power of God, and the spirit of his grace, is ascribed the quickening and conversion of every saint in the Bible; but not one inspired penman in all God's book ever boasted of his natural will or power, or ever attributed any thing that accompanies salvation to either, but to

the sovereign will and omnipotent power of God only.

Cushi. Why you begin to talk like an orthodox divine; that is a sound speech that cannot be condemned, Tit. ii. 8.

A free-willer can no more raise himself up, and go to the Saviour by his own power, than a dead corpse can raise itself out of the grave and go to the judgment seat. It requires more power to quicken and raise up a dead soul to spiritual life, than it does to raise up a dead body. The mouldered dust will make no more resistance than the passive earth did while God formed Adam; but the rebellious soul will resist to the last; like a desperate criminal under sentence, it will kill or be killed.

No sooner does the eye of justice dart a ray on the guilty conscience, but, like the Egyptians, he flies. The Lord looked upon the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire, so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee, Exod. xiv. 24, 25. Thus the sinner rebels against the light, Job xxiv. 13.

Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved," John iii. 20. Here is the strong opposition from the enmity of the mind; the poor sleeping dust of the body will never make this resistance. When the Lord speaketh, Earth, disclose your blood, and no more cover your slain, Isaiah xxvi. 21, it is done; "they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth," Micah vii. 17.

Here is no more resistance than what the power of the worm represents. But when God comes to raise a dead soul, not only the understanding skulks from the light, but every faculty is engaged in the opposition. Let God give a positive command, and he receives an answer pregnant with the utmost resentment. "Son, go work to-day in my vineyard. He answered, and said, I will not." Let a minister represent the excellency and suitableness of a Saviour, and the answer is, "He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him," Isaiah liii. 2. Thus the carnal understanding shuns the rays of light, the mind discovers its enmity, the will expresses the utmost resentment, and the affections are altogether alienated from God, and fixed upon one idol or other; some dote on pleasure, others on wealth, others upon honour, others upon human learning, and all upon sin. Not one thought for God, until an almighty power take it prisoner, and by love make it a willing captive. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty, through God,-to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ," 2 Cor." x. 4, 5.

Ahimaaz. Why, this is God's testimony of human frailty, and what every eminent saint in the bible has confessed and confirmed, by the long catalogue of their own sinful weaknesses. But is it not amazing that men will daringly give the testimony of God and his saints the lie, by crying

up the will and power of fallen man, to believe, to come, and to close in with the Saviour?

Cushi. As for the Saviour, they ought to leave him quite out of the question. If man is not fallen, there is no call for help; if he be not dead, there is no need of the gift of eternal life; if man has a will, no call for God to make him willing; if he has a power of his own, no call for a divine power to be put forth; and if he be not lost, no call for salvation by grace: but, alas! they are like the Roman catholics, whose hearts may be compared to a field of battle, where pride and conscience are at war all the year round. Ask a papist how he is to be justified? Pride answers, By works. Ask if he can keep the law? The answer is, Yes; I give it an obedience that exceeds the command, even works of supererogation, more than the law requires. Ask conscience what she thinks of justification and acceptance with God by superabounding works; and her answer will be this, You must judge of our heart by our actions. If we thought that our works would justify us, and bring in God himself a debtor to us, as we talk, we should not be at the pains of praying to thirty or forty mediators and intercessors; nor should we buy pardons and absolutions, nor give such large sums to trading priests to pray us out of hell when we are dead; you would hear nothing of this if all were right within; therefore you must judge of our faith by these fruits. Just so it is with an Arminian; let conscience gripe him, and he talks of righteousness

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