inCunt hhtng sratt3 ikbemption. 49 Mind for the dire&ing the Will and condu&ing the Chap. 1V. Life. And if the light that is in us be darknef, how fV-®,_1 great is that darknefs ? How irregular and dangerous Mat, 6.23. mult our motions be ? Not only the lower part of the Soul is under a dreadful diforder 5 but the Spirit of Ephef. 4 23' the mind, the divinefl part is depraved with Ignorance and Error. The Light of Reafon is not pure ; But as the Sun when with its beams it fends down peflilen- tial Influences, and corrupts the Air in the enlightning it, fo the carnal Mind corrupts thewhole Man, by re- prefenting good as evil, and evil as good. The Wif- Rom. n. 7. dome o f theflefh is enmityagainfi God. And the Apo - file defcribes the fiate of theGentileWorld, That their Ephef. 4 r r. underiandings were darkened, being alienated from the life ofGod, through the ignorance that is in then, be- caufe of the blindnefs of their hearts. The corrupti- on of their Manners proceeded from their Minds. For all Vertues are dire&ed by Reafon in their Exercife, fo that if the Underfl:anding be darken'd, all vertuous Operations ceafe. Betides, corrupt Man being without Light and Life can neither difcern, nor feel his Mifery; The carnal Eph. 4. 19. Mind is infenfible of its Infirmity, ignorant of its Ig- r Cor. 2. 14. norance, and fu$èrs under the incurable extreans of 2 Gor.4.6. being blind, and imagining that 'tis veryclear -lighted. More particularly the Reafons why the carnal Mind hathnot a due fence offinful Corruption are, Y. Becaufe 'tis natural, and cleaves to theprinciples ofour being, from the Birth and Conception, and na- tural things do not affeè us. 2. 'Tis confirmad by Cuflone, which is a fecond Na- ture, and hath a ftrange power to flupifie Confcience and render it infenfible. As the Hiflorian oblèrved concerning the Roman Soldiers, that by confiant ufe their Arms were no more a burthen to them than their natural Members. H ?. In
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