SECT. VII. The Counterfeit of inbereAft grace. 339 doe not enclineus to good truely , and upon a right ground , yet by themWe ate curbed from aétingall the wickedneffe our hearts would accomplifh; and fo are thereby as Wolvesand Tygars eyed up in chains. The Apoftle fuppofeth this, when he faithof the Heathens, Rom. s. That they detain the truth in unrigbteouf- neee; That is, thenatural knowledge which they had of God and righteoufneffe, would have provoked them to what is holyand good; but they violently de- tained this Truth ; they kept it from being aéìire, and hurtling out like fire in their lives, Is not Medea,: cafe , the cafe of many men , They fee better things, and approve them , but they follow the wotft. Oh confider thy Pelf, Doeft not thou inwardly think there is a better life to be lived then I live ; a better courfe robe taken for Heaven then I take : But frill thy fns and corruptions turn thee out of the way, Oh it is to be feared that this is a - reigning univerfal fin; for Men having lived fo long under the Gotpel , cannot become fo bruitifh and ftupid in their imaginations , but that they know when they finne and when they doe well , How then can they endure to live againft Con- fcience, The caufe.r of the Senfelefnelfi , Silence, and Stupidity of the Confciences of mofl cnLl'en. BLt youwill fay, If God kath left thefe principles in us , HoW comes it s- bout that in many men they areafleep ? Do not all Men almoll runne into thole fins which theLaw of Nature forbids i How is it that Men (wear; lye, commit whoredomes, and do injuflice, ifthey have fuch a School-matter within to teach them ? Who would not fay by the lives of molt men , That thefe are overwhelmed and quite buried? and if it were among Heathens, it were no great wonder ; but that it fhould be amongft Chriftians , is the great amazement : For they have not onely this Natural light inbred in theme but fupernatural light allo revealed unto them. So that for menunder theGofpell , tobecome fo fottithand fenfeleffe about what is good , and what is fin , is beyond all expreffìon intollerable. The grounds of this fei;felefneffe and flupifathion of Confcience may be thefe, Fief, Id education, and long continued enflame inevifi, for thefe things be- IIIeducai;on come a fecond nature quickly ; and the firft Nature is obliterated as it were. steuito,n ie Men that live conflanely bygreat Noyfes , they regard them not; but ftrangers lint are much difquieted with them : So what men have been brought up in ; they taw nothing but wickedneffeand prophanneffe in their parents lives , and in the families where they were taught ; this takes away the horror of finne t They fee their Anceftours, and learned men , and great men , they have made no matter of Godlinefle , but finned as they pleated ; this roots out all aw of finne in the Confcience : Some Heathens banifhed out all Poem, and Comedies , and Tragcedies upon this ground , becaufe their Gods were brought in , doing fome wickedneffe or other : Now they well argu- ed , That men would be much more hardened in their impieties , when they had their Gods forapattern. And thus it is here, Children, for the molt part, and fervants, they have no other God then their Parents or Matters ; and if they obferve them eo drink , and (wear , and be naught , they immediately conclude, they may do it alto: fo that if you ask, How is it that fomany men livewithout any fenfe of a God, or Confcience about fine, enquire into their Education ; ask how they Xx z have
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