i3, 14. 335 tarred, yet he hath not a total and univerfal defilement of Confcience ; and therefore the eftec`s of that unclean - nefs, pollution and defilement, follow not totally and univerfally on him. I (hall only fay, for ufe of this, i. O that ye knew what an abominable thing fin is ; and how dreadfully dangerous it is thereby to defile and pollute the Confci- ence, which is the molt noble thing in you ! Sin would Pure be more abhorred and fled from. 'Tis really a won- der that men íhould love dead works fo, when there is no botch nor plague fo infe &ions and contagious, fo hurtful and deftru &ive to the bodies, as it is to the fouls of men. 2. This we may alto fee, that 'tis no marvel that men who are given to fin, be hard to be wakned and reclaimed ; for continuance in fin makes the Confci- ence full of holes, as it were, that all flips and falls thorow it ; or (as the apoftle fpeaks) it makes the Confcience `to become cauterized, fenflefs and feelinglefs, as the flefh is that a chirurgeon defigns to confume away : So, I fay, continuance in fin deadens and eats out the very life and feeling of the Confcience, tho' it will be found to be a Confcience !till, and a Confcience that will fpeak, and fpeak aloud one day, albeit in God's righteous judg- ment it be filent now. 3. We may alto fee here the rea- fon why many perlons are fo very filthy, that fin be_ comes a delight to them, fo that the fin that others could not fleep with, they caL1not fleep till they get it commit- ted, because, thorow a cuftom of, and continuance in fin- ning, their mind and Confcience is defiled. 2dly, Obferoe, That a man, before he be purged by Chrift's blood, bath his Confcience wholly defiled, not only in part (as we faid of the believer) but wholly Before he be in Chrift, and be purged by his blood, he is like that wretched infant defcribed, Ezek.16. 5. which defcription fets forth to the life what thefe people were before God entred in covenant with them, Cal out in the open field, to the lothing of their perfons, unfalted and unfwaddled, with their navels uncut, wallowing in their own blood, and having no eye to pity them. And thus are all men and ,women, without exception, before they be in covenant with God ; they are wholly in a Bate of ir-- re-
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