54 The Corru}tion!Jf the UnderjlandiiJg. State H: . •.ve may fee that fit{! article of the devil's c1eed, Ye jha!l. ·net fure~r die, Gen. iii. 4· which was obtruded by him on ou r Jidt parents, and by Jh'em received; naturally embra– ced ~y their p-ofierity, _and held Lift, till alight from hea• ven oblige :hem :o quit it. It fpreads itfelf thr'ough the– li ves of natural men; who, till their confciences be awak– ened, walk atter their own lufis ;- ftill retaining the prio– c:pJe, 'That they jha!t not furely die. And this is often im– p~ oved to that per ftuioo, that the man can fay, 'Over the .l?elly of the d-enounced curfe, Ifoal/ havepeace, tho' I r,_valk in the imagination of mine hear~, to aad drunken11efl t~ · t hit:Jl, Dtut. xxix. 19. Whatever advantage the truths of q.od l1ave over enor by means of education, or otherwife; .~rror has always, with the natural man, this advantage a– gaint1: truth, . namely; That .there is fomethirig within bin~ which fays, 0 that it r,:.;ere true ; fo tbflt the mind lies fair for affenting to it. And here is the reafon of it: The true - " (!.oCl:rir:e is!le doflrine that is according togod/i;. _/j, J Tim; ':i: 3· and thi truth which i:· after godlinefi, Tit, i. 1. :Error, is the,(;locltine w.hich is -f€Cordmg to ungodlinefs; f9r tbf:re is never an enor :in the mind, nor an untruth , .vented in the ·world (in matters ot religio_n) , but w~at has :ati'-affin)ty with .one ,corrnption of the heart o'r other: ac-< corging to that of the apoftle, 2 Thdf ii. 21. They believed / not the truth, but .had pleafure in unrighteoufnifr · So that .. t' uth and error being otherways attended with equal advan– ~ages for .their reception, error, by this means~ has .moll-·· r.:: ady accefs into the -minds . p:f~ men in their n~turalltare.- : 'Vhe refore, it is no.~hing Hrange that men negletl: the Gm- . ... f·Iicity of ·gofpel tr,uths and infhtutior.s, and g1eedily em- · brace error and external pomp in religion; feeing they are . fo . a-Qreeahle to the lu!h of the heart, and \be vanity ,of the · · 'ftllnd oLthe natu;al man. 1\nd from hence alfo·it is,_ that . )fo m?.n'y embrace atheifl:ical principles ; for none do it but in compli<.:nce with their irreguiar paHlons: none but thefe < wJwfe advantage it would be that there were no God. · LaflJy; 1.\lan is mnurally high -minded ; for when the go• fpd comes in power to him, it i~ employed i,n cafling doru.•1z ' imaginations ~ and e·very h'igh 'thing that exalteth itfe/j a- · gpinj2 tl.·e- knowled,ge ofG~d, 2 Cor . x. s. Luwlinefs of mind ' . i~. liot 'a flowc:r that g!0\1-'t in .the fidd of na~ore : · but i9 ·; nte.dJ
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