to the E PHE SI A :Ns. I opened firfr in general, .the .Nature of ~hefe Luflings. I .told.you, that~. God bath made the Soul of Man, m the elfenttal confr1tutton of 1t, meer empti• ~ nefS, to be fill'd up by fomething elfe. It is all things i'?- c•p~city, but.it is nothing, not in happinefs, or pleafure, or comfort, unleCs 1t be JOmed wuh famething elfe. The Soul of Man 1: nothmg but a Chaos of defires, a me~rStomach, as I may exprefS it, meer Appetite, meer Hunger ; and all the Faculties, both of Soul and Body, like (o many Birds in a Nefr, frand gaping for fome good. Who will f!Jew tn any good ? ( Pfal. 4· ) is the voice of all Mankind. Now this being the original confritution of th~ ~oul of M~n, if you ask me in the. general, What L11ft or L11.ftings are ? Why 1t JS the movmg, or extendmg,or puttmg forth ofany £1cultyorpower in Soul or Body, in defires and longings after any Objeff agreeable thereunto, and m wh1ch lt may find pleafure .and conrentn;~nt. . It is; . I fay, the goings forth of thiS Soul, or of. any power ofn, to any ObJel.l: fuuable unto it ; this in the general Nature JS lufrmg. Now the Soul that God thus made meer emptineCs, and fromach, and appetite, he put into a Body, (for our Souls they are cloathed with flefh) and when he firfr made us in the frate of Innocency, he did, for ObjeCts to fill up this Soul in this Body, firfr ordain hinifelf to fatisfy the defires of it ; he did ordain himfelfto be the chiefefr good and happineCs to this Soul. And fecondly he made a World of Creatures, which we fee and behold with our eyes, which are all fuited to the variety of defires of Man's Soul, dwelling in this Body. Therefore Solomon faith, He hath placed the World in Man's Heart. There is nothing in the World, but is fuited to Man ; and there is nothing in Man, but there is fomething .in the World fuited .unto it. And then thirdly, God did put into Man's Soul, this principle, to lofe l;limfelf, as well as to love God, and in loving God to love himfelf mofr; and fo to rejoice; when as his defires were fatisfied with God himfelf, or with the Creatures; in a fubordinate way unto Him. Here now is the natural confritution and condition of the Soul of Man. Now I mull: fhew you the SinfulneCs of all thefe lufrings and delires. if I mull fhew you the SinfulnefS, I mull: !hew you firfr, wherein the HolinefS of them layi whilfr we were in the State of Innocency ; for one contrary isknown by another. Now the HolinefS of all the Defires of the Soul of Man, ( which was nothing ia it felf but defires) it lay in this, that God touched ( I fo exprefS it ) all theie defires of the Heart of Man, as the Iron of the Needle is touched with the Load!l:one ; he did put a magnetick virtue into it, his own Image of Hoiinefs; which did guide and carry all thefe defires unto himfelf. And there being holi" nefS then in the Soul, the holy God was fuited to this Soul, and all the defires thereof, to fatisfy and·fill·it ; and fo by the guidance of this magnetick virtue, the Heart frill went God-ward. And then fecondly, the HolinefS that God did implant and framp upon all the defires and lufrings of Man's Heart, it did regu– late, and order, and fubordinate all other defires that we had to Creatures, tci <':omforts here below, it d.id fubje<'l: them all unto God, that we lhould feek no· thing.abo,ve God, we !hould feek nothing but in order unto God, not have a de• fire frir, but as it related unto him. · · · · Now then the Sinfulnefs of all thefe Lufrs and Iilefires is eaflly i:o k known~ For how the Image. of God being gone, the Heart having !of~ ~>thin. magnetic!!; virtue, that virtue of the I.:oaclfto.ne Jhat once touched it, it is how' meer dlill• Iron, and now it mo:veth not at all" unto God : .neither unto him, as .its chieti good ; nor unto him, as its chief end: nay, it is oppofite unto·him. Saith tlii!' Apoftle, in Rpm, 3· fpeaking of all Mankind by Nature; No11e '11nder..ftandeth; ( namety, norie underfiandeth God,) noJle doth feel<_ after God. .Noiv altho that· HolinefS that d.id carry us out to God ,he gone, yet all1:he Defires reinaih ftlll the faillll, ( I fpeak foe ~he natural confi:itut\on of them ) the Soul is nothing but de– fires ftill: Now, as I told you before, that God did not only fuit fhis Soui to. himfelf, 'hut to aU:Creatures and Co.mforts here below in this vifible World ; riow when God is go!lf,<ta!ld a Man is.w:ithont God ·in the ,World, (as it:li! in the 1216 Verfe.of thisCbapt~r}.what .doth his defires'do7, They an;:all'J•ftto them,; ·- fel':!". ~o run whiOIMitay,they ·w,ill, ·-to ibis Creatiare, imd ·to' tHat:Creature, as• thau(chtefeft good,nto ba,~,happ.in~fsjn tl1em. 'And·JGod being:gone; and all ~V!l
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=