Chap. 25 . Exprfrekn trpsn tlx Book of J O ii. Verf. 6. 717 upon theearth, and lives in the bowels of it is good enough to make compariton withhim. See that roan hzrh iotf by fn ! fee how he is degraded and fallen from Iris ¡fete and ftatelynefs 4 yea I may fay that man by fin is not onely fallen from that ftstcand datelynes wherein be was created, but he is tallen below the nate of the loweft creature. Man (by, fin) is not onely a wee me but worfe then a worme; A worm is not capable ofMoral volution a toad bath natural poyfon, but than bath moral poyfon in him, which is worfe then natural! poyfon ; and which makes thecon- dition of man yet more vile, his moral poyfon (tin I mane) is to him natural!. it is his mifery and his difhonostr that he bath ir, and it is his greater miferyand difiionour, that he loves it, and that it is not to much his difeafe as his defire: and as the fir& fin, the fin of nature bathdebated all mankind at once ;fo every man that goeth on inand multipiyeth ( with defire ) the as of ¿in, debafeth himfelfe yet more, and maketh himfelfe not only lower then the worm,which is the loweft of living things,but even low - er then the loweft things that have no Iife.Sencclefs livçleffe crea- tures are bettes then finfull men, tuch I mane as live in fin, and better it had been for any never tohave had a being, or not to have lived at all, then to dye in fin, Seeing then fin bath degraded us, and placed us amongand be- losv the worm es, who were once next to Angels, how are we engaged to Jefus Chri&,who by becoming a worm for us, bath railed us tobe heirs of bleAèdneffe with the holy Angels for ever, and bath lifted us up to that bight of honour, that even the holy Angels m sifter to us as long as we are here. And how fhould we drive to raife our felves up h gher & higher in the Improvement of all that gracewhich is freely offered tous in Chrift,even tó our dayly converfation in heaven, And our fitting together in hePvenly places in Cvnrii Nits, as the Apof3le fpeaks (Epk. 2. s 6.) It is fad for any man who is but a worme, to be lifted up in himleife, but it is the duty ofevery man to ftrive that lac may be lifted up, not onely above the wormes, but above the heaven% We may quickly in feeking our own exaltation in a worldly, But the mere we leek our exaltation in a heavenly ftate, the more holy, yea the more humble we are. We never aá as thofe who know they are but wormes here on earth, till we have an ambition to be like the Angels who are inheaven Thu
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