ltead I. · The r:orruption of the Will~ ~j him; furely in whatever he is, he -!hould be to him; as the waters which come from the fea, do of cour fe return thither again. And thus man was created, direCtly looking to God, as his chief end: but falling into fin, he fell o,ff from . Go.d, and .turoed into h'imfelf; and like a traitor ufurping Jhe throne, he gathers in the rents of the crown to himfelf. Now, this infers a total apoftafy and univerfal corruption in man ; for where the duefand la(f end is chaaged, tbeFe can ., be· no goodnefs there. This is the cafe of all n1en in their natural !late, P[al. xiv. =, 3· 'The Lord looked down-t• .fee if there were any that did-feek · God. TIJ.ey -are ·all .. .gone ajide, to wit, from God; they feek not God, but them- . ie!Yes, And tho' many fair (hreds of mo_rality, are' to be founq amongfi them, yet4here is none that doth gosd, no not one; for tho.' fome of them run well, they ar'e fl:ill off • the way; they never aim at the right mark. They are lovers of their own[elve/·(2 Tim. iii~ 2.) more_ than God, .werf~ 4· Wherefore Jefus Chrifi, 1 having come into the ·world, to bring men .ba·ck to God again. came to bring them out of themfelves, i.n the f1i;Jl place, Matth xvi. 2 5· The ,gor:l y grone under the re,mains of this woful difpofition of ; the heart: they aeknowledge it, and fet themfel ves again(l: • it, in its fubtile and dangerous infiouations. The unregene– rate, tho' moll: infenfible of it, a,re under t!1e power 'there– of; 'and wbitherfoever thy turn themfelves, they cannot ri1ove. without _the circle ·of felf: they feek themfelves,_ they act for therufeives; their natural, civil, and religious ..aCtions, from whatever fpring they come, do all run into, .and meet in, the dead fea of felf. , 1 . Moll: men •are fo far from making Go,d their chief end, in . their natural and civil actions ; that in thefe matters, God is not in all their thoughts. fhei r eatiQg and drinking, apd . fuch like natural 1aetions, are for themfelves; their own pleafure or neceffity, without any higher end; Zech. vii. 6 . Didye not eat foryourfolv~.I? They have oo eye to th~ glory ofGod in thefe things. as they ought' to have, 1 Cer. x. 3 I. They do n•ot eat and drink, to keep up~ their .bodies for the Lord's fervid:; they do them not becaufe God has fa id, Thou Jhall not kill: nei,ther do thefe drop! of fweetnefi God has put into the creature, iaife up their fouls towards that ocean of delight that is i~ the Creator, tho~
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=