Where, therefore, this life is not, all the works of men are dead works. AVhere persons are dead in sin, their works are " dead works." They are so all of them, either in their own nature, or with respect unto them by whom they are performed, Heb. ix. 14. They are dead works because they proceed not from a principle of life, are un- profitable as dead things, Eph. v 11, and end in death eternal, James i. 15.
We may, then, consider how this spiritual life, which enableth us unto these vital acts, is derived and communicated unto us: —
1. The original spring and fountain of this life is with God: Ps. xxxvi. 9, "With thee is the fountain of life." The sole spring of our spiritual life is in an especial way and manner in God. And hence our life is said to be "hid with Christ in God," Col. iii. 3; that is, as to its internal producing and preserving cause. But it is thus also with respect unto all life whatever. God is the "living God." All other things are in themselves but dead things ; their life, whatever it be, is in him efficiently and eminently, and in them it is purely derivative. Wherefore, —
292 ^ LIFE AND DEATH, [BOOK III.
2. Our spiritual life, as unto tlie especial nature of it, is specifi- cated and discerned from a life of any other kind, in that the ful- ness of it is communicated unto the Lord Christ as mediator, Col. i. 19 ; and from his fulness we do receive it, John i, ]6. There is a principle of spiritual life communicated unto us from his fulness thereof, whence he quickeneth whom he pleaseth. Hence he is said to be "our life," Col. iii. 4>. And in our life, it is not so much we who live, as " Christ that liveth in us," Gal. ii. 20 ; because we act nothing but as we are acted by virtue and power from him, 1 Cor. XV. 10.
j S. The fountain of this life being in God, and the fulness of it
/ being laid up in Christ for us, he communicates the power and prin-
/ ciple of it unto us by the Holy Ghost, Rom. viii. 11. That he is
' the immediate efficient cause hereof, we shall afterward fully evince
and declare. But yet he doth it so as to derive it unto us from Jesus
Christ, Eph. iv. 15, 16; for he is " the life," and " without him," or
power communicated from him, "we can do nothing," John xv. 5.
4. This spiritual life is communicated unto us by the Holy Ghost, according unto and in order for the ends of the neiu covenant: for this is the promise of it. That God will first write his law in our hearts, and then we shall walk in his statutes; that is, the principle of life must precede all vital acts. From this principle of life, thus derived and conveyed unto us, are all those vital acts whereby we live to God. Where this is not, — as it is not in any that are "dead in sins," for from the want hereof are they denominated " dead," — no act of obedience unto God can so be performed as that it should be an act of the "life of God;" and this is the way whereby the Scripture doth express it. The same thing is intended when we say in other words, that without an infused habit of internal inherent grace, received from Christ by an efficacious work of the Spirit, no man can believe or obey God, or perform any duty in a saving manner, so as it should be accepted with him. And if we abide not in this principle, we let in the whole poisonous flood of Pelagianism into the church. To say that we have a sufficiency in ourselves so much as to think a good thought, or to do any thing as we ought, any power, any ability that is our own, or in us by nature, however externally excited and guided by motives, directions, reasons, encouragements, of what sort soever, to believe or obey the gospel savingly in any one instance, is to overthrow the gospel and the faith of the catholic church in all ages. But it may be objected, "That whereas many unregenerate per- sons may and do perform many duties of religious obedience, if there be nothing of spiritual life in them then are they all sins, and so differ not from the worst things they do in this world, which are but sins; and if so, unto what end should they take pains about
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tliem? Were it not as good for them to indulge unto tlieir lusts and pleasures, seeing all comes to one end? It is all sin, and no- thing else. Why do the disj^ensers of the gospel press any duties on such as they know to be in that estate? What advantage shall they have by a compliance with them? Were it not better to leave them to themselves, and wait for their conversion, than to spend time and labour about them to no purpose?"
Ans. 1. It must be granted that all the duties of such persons are in some sense sins. It was the saying of Austin,^ that the vir- tues of unbelievers are splendida peccata. This some are now dis- pleased with ; but it is easier to censure him than to confute him. Two things attend in every duty that is jDroperly so: — (1.) That it is accepted with God; and, (2.) That it is sanctified in them that do it. But neither of these is in the duties of unregenerate men; for they have not faith, and "without faith it is impossible to please God," Heb. xi. 6. And the apostle also assures us that unto the defiled and unbelieving, — that is, all unsanctified persons, not purified by the Spirit of grace, — all things are unclean, because their con- sciences and minds are defiled, Tit. i. 15. So their praying is said to be an " abomination," and their ploughing " sin." It doth not, there- fore, appear what is otherwise in them or to them. But as there are good duties which have sin adhering to them, Isa. Ixiv. 6, so there are sins which have good in them ; for honum oritur ex integris, malum ex quocunque defectu. Such are the duties of men unre- generate. Formally, and unto them, they are sin; materially, and in themselves, they are good. This gives them a difference from, and a preference above, such sins as are every way sinful. As they are duties, they are good; as they are the duties of such persons, they are evil, because necessarily defective in what should preserve them from being so. And on this ground they ought to attend unto them, and may be pressed thereunto.