'lhe Daoger of Profperity. ~::~~.~i~::;,:~~dx~~t~a~~ rl:t~~~f~~;:~ eo~~~ ::e~~: i.~!J~,""fe;t~~~~:ds 'fo::'l/"" l · ,., /Je reproved; d>at is, by the inihucted. ancLawakned Confcience. Men love Elarkneis ro cover their Nakednefs and foul Deform1ry. They are avetfe from kn9wmg thm Duty, and will not fearch, lefr they ihould difcove~ fuch temble Truths that crols their fenfual Humour. T he Apofl:le foretels, That Scoffers jhould come in the lajl days, IVho are' P<t. l · s. 10i/lingly ignorant of the beginning and end of the World, as 1f there were no Dtvinc Maker of all things, who has power to defuoy them, and confequent!y no Judge to whom Men mull be accountable for their Difobedience to his Laws ; They aifenr to the rnofl: evident Abfurdity, that all things were and fhall continue in the ,Jame tC!lOt_: and the caufe of their willing Ignorance is infinqatcd_in the Chara~er tha~ defCribes them; that they might walk after their own Luf/s, more fccurely, freely, and joyfully·. 2 . Senfual Lulls do not only hinder Mens fearch after Knowledge, bur obicure the Light of Confcience, and corrupt its Judgment. There is f'uch an inrimate Communion between r~e Soul and the Body, that interchangably they corrupt one another , the Sins of the Fleih fmk into the Spirir, and corrupt the moral Principles, from whence the fenfible Confcience fprings of Good and Ev1!. And the Sins of the Spim, Infidelity, Incogitancy, Error, Security, break out in the D eeds of tbe Body, and make rhc Flefh Ticus r. ~s. more outragious in its Defires. St. Paul declares, ~hat · unto the defied and unb~lievh~~' nothing is pure; but even their Mind and Confcience 1S defied. A purged Heart !S reqUJfite for a clear Mind; but where Lufl: dwells, It tames and pcrvercsrheprathcal Judgmenr, from whence fo many Diforders follow in the Life. The natu~al Confcicnce in many Cafes, in its fimple judgment of things, 1inc~rely d~clares what IS to qe done, and whar to be avoided; but when compounded and ilam'd w!th a tincture of Senfuality, itj udges . according to the defires. The rebellious Ifraehres in the Wildcrnefs are defcnbed, It is Pr:!.l. S7· to: a People that Jo err in tbeir Hearts: The Heart was the erroneous Founta~n of all their ~;;~:~ri:!~;.;J'iJ.ji~ht~·:~d 1;r~ni~i~1C~0n1e~e~~c~h:r~0 r~;~~~fs1~~i:s:v~~e;r~,~); dile&ve and judging Faculty is carnal in its Apprehenfions. A repro~ate Mind, and 'Vile A !fellions, are naturally and judicially the Caufe and Effect of one anotl1e,. Even natural Truths tl1atare plain and bright, as the eifential Diilinction between moral Good and Evil, between Vertue and Vice, and the belief of a Judgment tocqme, .rhat is infeparably connext with it; yet through the pervetfnefs and crookednefs of Mens Hearts, are flrangely darkned..Men wiflt according to their carnal Inrereil; and what. they wiih; they would fam belteve ; and as when there was no king tn lftael, every one did what cl~~cf~iC!:r~~~c;:'7alit~ itt1~1~~~~:~; ~~e ~f:fl~:e~t~~~~~~ rt!~1 a;e0~~1;ei~!r!:?d~fx~~ and if not feared by the pangs of a throbbing Confcience, will be fo in their Thoughts. ' The Heathens cancell'd t!te Law of Nature, and tranfgrefs'd all the Rules of Duty and Decorum; they fecurely indulg'd thofe Lulls that are a derogation and debafement to the reafonable Creature, and make Men below Men. The Reafon of dtis prodigioUs .. . . , degeneracy was, their Manners corrupted their Mmds. St. Paul charges the EphejiqnS, Ephef:, i · 17, not to walk as the other Gentiles , in the 'Vanity of their Minds, httVing the Underf/.anding 18 • 19· d4rkned, being alienated from tbe Life of God, through the Ignorance that it .in; them, ~e, ~;tt:::,y;;;,~nt: !i":!! !r~t::n~.;s"~i~zi~;et:i~f;,~lirit t.~'deg:;;~~~:t:~:t ::;;rfolute Life, are infeparable. And how many that are ftirrounded ,with the Celeilial Beams of the Gofpel, are as impure and imf>$'nitent, as diofe in the black Night of Paganifm? They iland at the Entrance of the ·bottomlefs Pit, yet do not fmell the Brimilone that ittrages the Fire there : the Flames of their Lulls, have feared their Confd- . ences to a defperate degree of hardnefs and infenfibiliry. . Of fuch the Apofl:lc fpeaks, 1 Por. ;_;,; But theft, as natural brute Beaf/s, made to be taken and def/royed, JPeak e'Vit of the things '1· they underf/and not, and fhall utterly .perijh in their own corruptiOn i and jhall rect.i'Ve the ReovardofUnri)!,hteoufnefs, as t7., tkat count .it pleafure to riot.ln the day time; JPots they ~l;e;·~~f~~:f~fi ~~'¥;tr:~~~;;,~e~n'dit::;;~~n~:no1":!:/:!a~' :::f~:,h?t,f;a~'d~~l~!i the mgeniious Baihfuliiefs of the hutnane Nature, and pleas'd themfelves in -their falfe hcenMus Principles, whereby they endeavoured to juilifie their. enormous Actions, and rer a fuper~cial glofs upon their foul Deformities. Now a feducedand feducing Mind,. make the Converfion of a Sinner moll difficul,t. Whilil the Judgment condemns what the Affectwns approve, Men are not fo invincibly and irrecoverably !oil ; the. inlighrned Confc1ence 1s i"' Earneil of their Return to their Duty. But when the Spirit 1sdeCCJved, the Fleih always prevails l and Men ate tnoil diifolure, <orrupr, and defperarely wic~Jj
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