The Corruption of tl:e TJ/i/1~ State IC ap·pears we are reafonable creatures, it. appears we are finful creatures·, Pfa/. lviii. 3. The wickedcrre eflranged from .the rwomb.: thC'J go afiray a1joon~J they be born. Prov. xxii, IS, Foolijhnefl iJ bound in the heart sfa child; but the ··rpd' of cr;rreBionjhall drive itfor from him. .Folly ·is -bouod in the heart, ids woven inlo our very nature. ·: Th_e knot will .not l.oofe, th.ey mufi be broken afnnder by fbokes. Words, wiU not do it,.the rod muft be taken to drive it :\way: -and .. if.it be not far away,',the -heart and .it will meet and .knit ;lgain. Not that.tl e ro.d of itfelf wi-ll do this: the fad ex– perience of many parents teJhfies the contrary ; . and .Solo• .·':" . •mon hirnfelf tells you, Prov. -xxv~i . 22•. 'lho'.thoujhouldefl ,. ; /;r,ay a fool in a mortar, among· wheat;. with a peflil, yet ~JJi!! not hiJ fool!jhnefi departfrotJl,,,hfJ!fl . it is. fo boutto in J1is heart, But the, rod is an ordin{nce'of God appointee\ for ..- th1t end ; which, . like the word, iS'- made cffetl:qa], by t~e ,... .Spirit '$accomp~nyiog hi.s own ordinance. Ancf this, -by the way, {hews that pa.rents, in admioi!hing -cor·retl:ion t.o their -Ghildren, .- b~ve need, firfi of all, to ~orreCl: their own irregu– lar paffions ; ' and look upoh it as a matter C?f awful folem· nity, fettin-g about it with mllch pepend:rnce on the Lord, and fo llowing it with. prayer for the ·bldliog,.. if they would have it effeetual. , · . Evid. '2. ,How:eafily ar,e.men led afide to fin··! :'T'he .chil- , .'.dren; wh9are nut perfuaded to goad, at;e, otherwife, fimple– ,ooes; , e~.!ily wrought upon; thofewhom t,h7 word cannot draw to hoJinefs, are led by Satan at hir pleafure. Profane Ejatt, tha.t cunning man (Gen. xxv . 27.) was .as · eafily .. cheated _of .the hleffing. as. if he ·had been a fool pr an idiot, The more.natural. a thing is, it is the .mor,e eafy: fo ChriO:'s yoke is eafy, to the faints,. in fo far as they are partakers ~f the divine .n.ature: and fin is eafy.to the unreoewed man ; but to learn to do good, q.s .difficult as for the Ethiopian· ttJ > change hiJ fl-ip; . becaufe the will natu.rally han.gs towards evil, but is aver(e to good •. A,dlil<Lcan ..caufe a r6.un.d thing to run; while he cannot, move..c~. fquare thing of the fam~ , weight; for ' the roundnefs inakes.idit for .m~tion, fo th~t.' .-it"gHes with a touch.< Even fo, when -men·'find the hea'rt · . eafily car.ried towards fin-, while it is as a rl:::ad weight in ,. t.he way to holinefs; we •mufi. b~ing the reafon of this f~o~ ; '_ tpe ·natural fet aod difpofition of the heart, whereby n ,1s "' · '· '~ · · · · , prone
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=