Religion & morality > Human nature in its four-fold state ... in several practical discourses

200 Man unable State I.
the Things of the Spirit .of God, he cannot know
them, for they are • [piritually difcerned, i Cor. d*
14. Nay, whofog'vcr will, he is welcome; let hi*n
come. Rev. xxii. 17. But there muft be a Day of
Power on the Sinner, before he’ll be willing, Pfai.
cx. 5.
Secondly, Man naturally has nothing, where¬
withal to improve, to his Recovery, the Help
brought in by the Gofptl. He is call away in a
State of Wrath ; but is bound Hand and Foot, fq
that be cannot lay hold o\\ the Cords of Love,
thrown out to him in die Gofpel. The moft skil¬
ful Artificer cannot work without Inftruments; nor
Can the moft cunning Mufician play well on an In-
ftrumcnt that’s out of Tune. How can one Be¬
lieve, How can he Repent, whofe Underftanding
is Darknefs, Eph. v. 8. whofe Heart is a ftony
Heart, inflexible, infenfible, Ezek. xxxvi. 26.
whofe Affections are wholly difordered and di¬
stempered ; who is averfe to Good, and bent tqE-
vil ? The Arms of natural Abilities are too fhoi t,
to reach fupernatmal Help : Hence thofe who
moft excel in them, are oft-times moft eftranged
from fpiritual. Things, Matth. xi. 25. ‘fhou haft f id
thefe ‘things from the Wife and Prudent.
^thirdly, Man cannot work a faying Change on
hinifelf: But fo changed he muft be, elfe he can
neither believe nor repent, nor ever fee Heaven. No
Action can be without a fuitable Principle. Belie-t
ving, repenting, and the like, are tire ProduCt of
the new Nature ; and' can never be produced by
the old corrupt Nature. 'Now, what can the na¬
tural Man do in this Matter ? He muft be regene¬
rate, begotten again unto a lively Hope : But as the
Child cannot be atii'M in his own Generation; fo