inContain sib an'g3aeb option. 59 not leffen theguilt ; which will appear by confidering, Chap. IV. there is a twofold Impotence. z. There is a natural Impotence which prote&s from the feverity of Juftice. No Man is bound to flop the suns in its courfe, or to remove Mountains : For the hu- mane Nature was never endued with Faculties to do thofe things. Theyare inculpablywithout our power. Now the Law enjoins nothingbut what Man had in his Creation an original Power toperform. 2. There is a moral Impotence, which arifes from a perverfedifpofition of the Will, and is join'd with a delight in Sin, and a thongavertion from theholy Com- mands of God g and the more deep and inveterate this is, the more worthy 'tis of punifhment. Arillode af- Ethic. 3. ferts, That thofe who contra& invincible Habits by Cuftome, are inexcufable though they cannot abftain from evil. For fince Libertyconfifts indoingwhatone wills, this impoffibility doth not deftroy Liberty; the depravation of the Faculties dothnot hinder their vo- luntary operations. The Vnderflanding conceives, the Willchoofes, theAppetite delires freely. A diftraá- ed Perlon that kills is not guilty ofMurder, and there- fore fecure from the Sentence of the Law. For his Vnderftanding being diftemper'd by the diforder of the images in hisFancy, it doth not judge aright, fo that the a&ion is involuntary, and therefore not cul- pable. But there is a vaft difference between thecaufes of Diflraelion, and thofe which induce a carnal Man to fin. The firfi are feated in the diflemper of the Brain, over which the Will hath no Power : whereas there fhould be a regular fubje&ionof the lower appe- tite to the Will enlightned and dire&ed by the Mind. TheWill it fellis corrupted andbrought into Captivity by things pleating to the lower Faculties : It cannot difintangle it fell, but its impotence lies in its obftinacy. I 2 This
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