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their life is without God in the world; it is alienated from the life of God, and deftitute of real comfort. And therefore, though naturally alive, they are faid to be dead, dead in fin, and even to abide in death.

And there is great reason why an unconverted state fhould be reprefented by the metaphor of death; for there is nothing-in nature that more fitly reprefents it. As in a dead body no vital motions appear; fo in an unrenewed foul, there are no motions of divine life; no breathings after God, and fpiritual enjoyments; no zeal for his glory, or devotion to his intereft. As a dead body is devoid of all fenfe and feeling; fo is the foul of an unconverted finner: infenfible to its mifery and danger, it feels not the wounds which fin has given it, it trembles not at the wrath of God with which it is threatened, and, though standing on the very brink of eternal ruin, will use no means to avoid it. And as a dead body is a ghastly and undefirable object, which cannot be veiwed with any degree of pleasure; fo an unconverted finner, efpecially a profligate and licentious one, is a fpectacle moft loathfome and abominable, in the eyes of a pure and holy God. Upon thefe, and many other accounts, an unregenerate state is fitly reprefented to us under the notion of death.

In a word, we may fay with propriety of every unconverted finner, as the apoftle does of the perfon who lives in impure pleafures, "that he is dead "while he lives; dead in fin, and ignorant of the valuable purposes for which he received existence.

2. He is virtually under a fentence of eternal death. As we commonly fay of a criminal condemned to die, that he is a dead man; fo it may well be faid of an impenitent finner, that he is dead; dead in the eye of the law, as being condemned by its juft fentence. Thus it was with Adam, when by his firft tranfgreffion he incurred that dreadful curfe; "In the day "thou eatest thereof, thou shalt furely die." Thus,

alfo,

alfo, it is with every individual of his pofterity, while unrenewed in their minds. Accordingly, our Saviour speaks of every unbeliever as condemned already; and as one on whom the wrath of God does actually abide: "The wages of fin is death." And finners, as the apoftle emphatically expreffes it, are the children of wrath, heirs of mifery and destruction; fubject to the agonies of the fecond death, and expofed to the lake that burneth for ever with fire and brimstone; living only by reprieve, and liable every moment, at the pleasure of the Sovereign, to be called out to execution. And this is the condition, not merely of the most profligate and abandoned, but of every finner without exception, while he continues. impenitent and unconverted.

But farther a finner before his converfion, is here reprefented not only as dead, but as loft. In which expreffion, there feems to be an allufion to the pa rable of the loft fheep in the beginning of this chapter. A fheep, when it ftrays from the fold is faid to be loft; and with fufficient propriety, for it is then useless and unprofitable to the owner, and besides is in danger of perithing, by becoming the prey of fome wild beaft.

Now, in both thefe fenfes, an unconverted finner may be faid to be loft.

(1.) He is loft to the fervice of God his rightful owner. What the apoftle fays of one finner before his converfion, that" in time paft he was unpro"fitable," may justly be faid of impenitent finners in general. Though they have. many talents committed to them, many privileges and opportunities put into their hands, yet they are negligent and flothful; like the unprofitable fervant in the parable, they hide their talent in a napkin, and stand all the day idle in God's vineyard. Hence they are represented in scripture, as cumberers of the ground. They are compared to briers and thorns which are mischievous, or

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at least unprofitable: nay, they are faid to be trees twice dead, plucked up by the roots. The light of the gofpel fhines round about them, the heavenly dew defcends upon them in a greater or lefs quantity; but all to no purpose, unless, by their own finful abuse, to render them more and more unfruitful. Thus they are loft to the fervice of God, to the good of others, and to the safety and happiness of their own fouls. And what then can they in reafon expect, but to have that dreadful fentence pronounced upon them?" Caft "ye the unprofitable fervant into outer darkness; "there fhall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (a).”

(2.) He is loft, as being every moment in danger of perishing for ever. The father of the prodigal reckoned his fon loft, when he wandered from his obfervation, and abandoned himself to his own purfuits much more may we reckon an impenitent finner loft. For, having wilfully departed from God, he forfeits his care and protection: and being thus left to himself; being, as the Pfalmift expreffes it, " given "up to his own heart's luft," he wanders in his own counfels, and is every moment in danger of plunging into endless mifery. Like a benighted traveller, whose way is near pits and fnares, and who has no able guide to direct him; every ftep he takes is at the peril of his life. Nay, he runs with fatal precipitancy in the way marked out for him by Satan, or by his own corrupt heart. And what will the end of these things be! Surely the way in which the finner walks, leads down to the gulph of endless mifery; for indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguifh, fhall be the everlasting portion of every foul that doth evil.

This, then, is the deplorable cafe of the finner before his converfion. He is deftitute of fpiritual life, and bound over by his guilt to eternal death. He is loft to the fervice of God his rightful owner, and every moment in danger of perithing for ever.

(a) Matt. xxv. 30.

II

II. I now come to prefent to you a more bright and defireable fcene, the happy change produced in the finner's ftate and practice upon his conversion. "He that was dead is made alive again, and he that ་ was loft is found."

1. He that was dead, is now made alive; that is, he is restored to fpiritual and divine life, and thereby` raised to the hope of eternal life.

(1.) The finner, upon his converfion, is restored to fpiritual and divine life. He that was formerly a natural man, is now made fpiritual and alive to God. He that by fin was a child of the devil, is now made a child of God. As it was faid of Caleb, that he had "another spirit with him (a);" fo may it justly be faid of a real convert, that he is a man of another fpirit, being quite altered and changed from what he was before. His understanding, that formerly was blind and infenfible, is now, in fome measure, favingly enlightened. The ftubborn and rebellious will is rendered obedient and fubmiffive to the will of God. The affections that before were diforderly, impure, and fenfual, are now elevated to heavenly objects. His great conflict is against the remains of fin, the fnares of life, and the oppofition of Satan in his Chriftian courfe. His heart breathes after God, and Chrift and holiness; and the chief ftudy and bufinefs of his life is to walk in a manner becoming the gospel. In a word, he now lives, not to himself, but to God; he is quickened from his death in fin, and recovered to a holy and heavenly life. And,

(2.) He is thereby raised to the hope of eternal-life. For those principles of holinefs implanted in his foul, are the feed of a blefed immortality. Accordingly, they are represented by our Saviour, as a well of water fpringing up to everlasting life. A finner, upon his converfion, has the Spirit within him, as a fure pledge and earneft of his future inheritance. That 2 F fpiritual

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fpiritual light fet up in his mind, is to him the dawning of eternal day; that grace fown in his heart, is as the bud of eternal glory; and that inward peace which he enjoys, is the first-fruits of everlafting hap pinefs. Nay, he has fometimes thofe lively foretaftes of heaven, thofe refreshing views of the better country, which in appearance carry him for a while above the world, enable him to rejoice, in hope, and even to long to depart and be with Chrift. Hence, he that was once dead, dead to all comfortable hope, as well as dead in fin, may now be truly faid to be made alive.

But, 2. Upon the converfion of a finner, he that was loft is now found. He is found,

(1.) In respect of God, to whofe fervice he re

turns.

Formerly, he was as a fheep going aftray, but he is now returned to the compaflionate Shepherd and Bifhop of fouls. Formerly, he was under the dominion of fin, and tyranny of Satan; the power of luft was predominant in him, and led him captive at its pleafure but now he is recovered from this miferable bondage, and devotes himfelf to the fervice of his God. Formerly, the current of his defires run ftrong toward fome worldly good; but now the language of his heart is, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I defire. befides thee: Lord, lift upon me the light of thy countenance." Formerly, the powers of his mind were alienated from God, and directed to the gratifieation of his lufts; but they are now dedicated to the honour of his God, and employed in his praise. In a word, “As he is not now his own, but bought "with a price, he glorifies God in his body, and in "his fpirit, which are his (b)."

1

(2.) refpe&t of his own true advantage. For now he lucked as a brand out of the fire; he is

(1) `T Cor, vi. 30.

refcued

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