2. There is a difference between these lives with respect unto the object of their vital acts, for the life which we now lead by the faith of the Son of God hath sundry objects of its actings which the other had not ; for whereas all the actmgs of our faith and love, — that is, all our obedience, — doth respect the revelation that God makes of himself and his will unto us, there are now new revelations of God in Christ, and consequently new duties of obedience required of us ; as will afterward appear. And other such differences there are between them. The life wliich we had in Adam and that which we are renewed unto in Christ Jesus are so far of the same nature and kind, as our apostle manifests in sundry places, Eph. iv. 23, 24, Col. iii. 10, as that they sei-ve to the same end and purpose.
There being, therefore, this twofold spiritual life, or ability of liv- ing unto God, that which we had in A dam and that which we have in Christ, we must inquire with reference unto which of these it is that unregenerate men are said to be spiritually dead, or dead in trespasses and sins. Now this, in the first place, hath respect unto the life we had in Adam ; for the deprivation of that life was in the sanction of the law, " Thou shaU die the death." This spiritual death is comprised therein, and that in the privation of that spiritual life, or life unto God, which unregenerate men never had, neither de facto nor de jure, in any state or condition. Wherefore, with respect here^ unto they al-e dead only negatively, — they have it not; but with re- spect unto the life we had in Adam, they are dead p)rivatively, — they have lost that power of living unto God which they had.
CHAP. IV.] NATUEAL AND SPIRITUAL, COMPARED, 287
From what hath been discoursed, we may discover the nature of this spiritual death, under the power whereof all unregenerate per- sons do abide: for there are three things in it: 1. A j^rivation of a principle of spiritual life enabling us to live unto God ; 2. A nega- tion of all sjDiritual, vital acts, — that is, of all acts and duties of holy obedience, acceptable unto God, and tending to the enjoyment of him ; 3. A total defect and want of power for any such acts whatever. All these are in that death which is a privation of life, such as this is.
First, There is in it a privation of a principle of spiritual life, namely, of that which we had before the entrance of sin, or a power of living unto God according to the covenant of works ; and a nega- tion of tliat which we have by Christ, or a power of living unto God according to the tenor of the covenant of grace. Those, therefore, who are thus dead have no principle or first power of living unto God, or for the performance of any duty to be accepted with him, in order to the enjoyment of him, according to either covenant. It is with them, as to all the acts and ends of life spiritual, as it is with the body, as to the acts and ends of life natural, when the soul is de- parted from it. Why else are they said to be dead?
It is objected " That there is a wide difference between death natu- ral and spiritual. In death natural, the soul itself is utterly removed and taken from the body; but in death S2)iritual it continues. A man is still, notwithstanding this spiritual death, endowed with an understanding, will, and affections; and by these are men enabled to perform their duty unto God, and yield the obedience required of them."
Ans. 1. In life spiritual 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 leaves the body with all its own natural properties, but utterly deprived of them which it had by virtue of its union with the soid. So in life spiritual, the soul is not, in and by its essential properties, the quickening principle of it, but it is the principle that is quickened. And when the quickening principle of spiritual life departs, it leaves the soul with all its natural projDerties entire as to their essence, though morally corrupted ; but of all the power and abilities which it had by virtue of its union with a quick- ening principle of spiritual life, it is deprived. And to deny such a quickening principl-e of spiritual life, superadded unto us by the grace of Christ, distinct and separate from the natural faculties of the soul, is, upon the matter, to renounce the whole gospel. It is all one as to deny that Adam was created in the image of God which he lost, and that we are renewed unto the image of God by Jesus Christ. Hence, 2. Whatever the soul acts in spiritual things by its
288 - LIFE AND DEATH, [BOOK III.
understanding, will, and affections, as deprived of or not quickened by this principle of spiritual life, it doth it naturally, not sjDiritually, as shall be instantly made to appear.