Head I. ir torrupted, ptovtn. 3;. lo Sa!i:m. Men might often come fair off; if they would dif– mifs temptations wit'h 21bhorrence~ when firfl: they appear; if they would nip them 'i~ ~he bud, they .would foon die away: but alas' ! when we fee the train laid ft)r us, and · £re pPt to 'jt, yet we 'ftand till it run al6og, and we be blown up' with its force. · . . . 4thly, Do not the eyes in our head often blind the eyes f>f the mind ? And was not this the ~ery cafe of, our firfl: parents? Gen. iii. 6. Man is O€ver more blind than when he is looking on the objeCts that are moft pleafing to fenfe. Since tlte eyes of our firfi parents were opened to the for– bidden fruit, mens eyes have been the gates of deftru&ion to . their fouls; at which impure imagination_s and £inful de- ' . :tires have entered the heart, -to the wounding of the foul, wafting of the'confcience, and bringing difmal effeCts fome• 'limes on whole focieties, as in Achan's ea.[~, -Jcjh. vii. 2 {. Holy Job was aware of this danger, frorri thefe two little rowling bodies, which a yery fmall fplinter of wood will , make ufel~fs; 'fo as (with that kir,gwhod:.Jrftnot, _ ~vithhis ten· thoufand, meet him that came with twenty tnoufand ag::~inWhim, Luke xiv. 3I. 32'.) he fendeth and defireth • conditions of pea~e, Job xxxi. I. I have made a covt– nant with mine eye~, &c. · / 5th!y, Is it not natural for us·, to care far the body, even .at the ex pence of the foul! This waz one ingredient in the , fin o~ our ndl: parents , Gen. iii. 6,- 0 how happy might we be, if we were but at half the pains about our fouls, that we befiow tlpon our bodies ! if that queftion, · lF'hat mufl 1 do to befaved? (ARs xvi. 30.) did 1un but near ~soft ' , through our minds, as thefe other quefiions do,.. What jha/1 #l}Je eat? rwhat jhall we 4rink.? w,~ererwit:hal}ball ewe bt elotbed? Mat. v'i, 2 I. many a (now) bopelefs cafe. ~ould . turn ·very hopefuL But the truth is, mofi men li.ve as if they were nothing but a iump of flefh: or as if their foul ferved for no other ufe, but like fah to keep the body from corrupting. The)' ar.eflcfh, John iii. 6 .. theymindthe thing1 if the f!ejh, Rom. ~iii. 5. and they liw after th~ jlejh, ver. 13'\' If the confent of the ilefh be got to an aCtion, the co.pfent of the _confcience is rarely waited for: yea, the • body is often ft:~ved~ when the coufc;ience has entered a diifent, . -. .
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