Sef government efential to Wifdom. 237 lions of our own minds ; and it may be S ERIK. juftly faid, not only that rule over the fpirit IX. bath a connection with wifdotn in the mo- `" ral and religious fenfe, but that it is the very thing itfelf. This, my brethren, giveth us juft occafion to confider with regret the degeneracy of mankind ; Solomon faith, Ecclef.' vii. 29. That God made man upright, but they have fought out many inventions. The integrity of our nature confifteth in the dominion of the fu- perior powers, and the fubordination of the appetites and pallions to them ; but it is de- formed when, on the contrary, the lower affections get the afcendant, and reafon and çonfcience are dethroned, which experience as well as the fcripture fheweth to be the unhappy cafe of finners who are difobedient, and deceived, ferving divers lulls and plea- lures, the brutal part ruleth over the roan ; pafhons indulged become untractable and impetuous ; and cuftom in finning is a prin- ciple firong as nature itfelf. The prophet reprefenteth the difficulty of reforming ha- bitually vicious and wicked men, by com- paring it to a natural impollibility ; Jèr. xiii. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his 'kin, or the leopard his 'pots, then may ye alfö do good who are accuflomed to do evil? But;
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