to the E PH E S I AN S. this conviction be wrought UiiJn ~ man's Underflanding; Self-love w!ll ilnke ~ in prefently and all the atfed,ons in a man, the whole heart Will be exceedmgly Srrmon fer on work,' and carried on to Spiritual things revealed m the.Word, though not XXVIC, asSpirituaJ as l fl1alllhewyouanon, Dobutonceawal!en SelJ-love, make1t~ but appreh~nfiveof the danger he is in of the wrath of God l make Sdf.love apprehenfivc of a Saviour and a Jledee'?er; ( wh1ch now he remembreth; and fee rh he !lands in need of,) and a happmefs that c~meth With lum, befides the avoiding of danger. This natural pnnciple of Stlt-love w!ll buflle and fer all other principles afloat~ and yet remainetlltmre&enerate. . For the Reafon is this; Unreoeneracy heth 10 the predommancy of Self-love. Now, what will this man fay ou~ of Self-love? ls there a l?hyfician to heal me, will he fay; fend for him, Oh, who will help me to htm! lt may be he loves not the Phyfician. It is one thing to fend for him to many lum, another thing to fend for him to heal one; m this extremity, Self-love wdl.make a man do the one, but it mull be Grace to make you do the other. It IS Nature dorh this, .Skin for skin, andaft tbat a mall hath wiltbe?>ivrfor hu IJfe; all that he bath in hot blood, when he IS put upon 1t, Th1s Is Nature, and tillS nature il~rred ·to Spiritual things, to things out of this World, fo l lhould rather cxprefs it. To give you a plain Scripture for it. It is P[a/.78. H• and n. Verfes comp~• red: When heflew them,thm they remembred that God wtu tbeJr Redumer,che <remembreth that Chrifl: is his Redeemer;) what followeth, Neverthe!efs they didjl.111er him with their molllh. What is the meaning 'ofjf,lltering? It 1s this, when one fceks one meerly out of Self·love. You know there is .Amor amicitit£, a feeking of one out of friendfhip; and when one hath an enemy, if he have need of him, he will feek him; but it is but ft,ttlery, it is out of Self– love: Thus they fought after God, and remembred that he WM their Re– deemer. This, my Brethren, Nature calleth for; if a man be in any extre~ mity, if nature be ilirred, if Confcience be made thus tick, Nature calleth for it, . . I will give you a Scripture for it; Jonah I. ). when they were all in a Storm; (and men are often Sea-'fick at a Sermon, and remain fo a Joog while aftor) what do they do? The Text faith, They cried every mmt tmto hu god; and Verfe 6. They awakmed'Jonah, a11d bad him arife tmdcalt ttfOII hi! God, if fa be that Godwouldthink tJfOIIthem, th<1t they perzjbt not, A man's Confcience being convinced that Chrifl is the Mediatour and Redeem<r, remembring him. Selr• 'love be.ing this ilirred, will put a man upon it to feek after Jefus Chrlil; and Oh '- what fl1all l give for this Phyfician ! ' Efpecially in the Second place, when he heareth too that Jefus Chrifl bringetlt .happmefs with him. Balaamyou know was enlightned to fee the happy ettate. of the People of God hereafter, Numb. 24. then nature works this, Oh th,lf I might dte the death of tbt righteow! There is a princ:ple in nature; if once ftirred, that will defire this happinefs for Selfs-fake. And if but for Stlfs-fake (mark it) ilill a man is an unregenerate man i for the predominan•y of Self.lo;·c I< th~ very bottom of Ongmal fin, whether tt be turned to worldly things, or to thmgs out ot tl11s world, It rs all one, Therefore you read in Jvhn 6. ~~,when nur Saviour Chrifl: had told him that he was the Breadcf lt[r, and that he was able to make them hoppy; Ob, fay they, Lord tvtrmorr give tu thu Bread, Yet he tells them, verf l6. that they dtd 11ot belirvt, and verj: 4r. they mt1rmt1red at bim, and v .66. M'"'Y vf them wmt back, andwatleedt~o mo>·e with bim. . Well,when Jefus Chrifl is fent for,the Phyfic:an eometh to treat with the Soul; he prefcribeth to him (for fo the Word of God doth ;) fir{\ li1ith he, you mufl: leave thefe and thefe fins. He is fick, be hath took a Vomit, as I told you before. Well, it lhall all come up. Peter telleth of fome that efcaprd thr poltiJiions of the world through the knowldgr of Chrrfl; it is an expreilion of inen that fall .away, whom he calletll afterward Swine and 'Dogs, unchanged for all this, Na– tur":remaineth corrupt; yet through the knowledge of Chrifl, through the di– datos of the holy Commands of Chrifl they leave thefe fins, refrain from wh2t they have a mind to, . . Yea;
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