88 An Expojition of the Epijlle ~ love unto him being gone, there _is nothing left but Self~love; which is the great ~ Original Delire in Man, and whtch feeks after Comfort m all thmgs meerly for it felf; and for pleafure's fake. .In this lies the linfulnefs of all the lu!lings ofMan's heart; that now when God IS gone, the way to God IS !lopped, the heart runs a thoufand ways, to this and that Creature, to this and that Comfort, and doth it meerly for pleafure's fake, cloth it meerly out of that nat~ral Jelire of Self.!ove whi~h (Love unto God being gone) is the next Heir in the Heart ofMan. ' Now then, as the Corruption ofthe Heart is therefore calledFlr:fb (as I n1ewed whenJ opened that phrafe) becaufe it is carried out to the things of the Fltfh; and rake God out of any thing, and it is a thing of the Flefh : fo take but God out of the World, and let the Lufts ofthe Heart then go whither they will go, tbo they run to things in themfelves lawful, yet becaufe they run to them without God, and in fiead ofGod, and but for themfelves, hence they are all linful and abominable Lufts in the light of God. Now then, look how many things there are that are not God, or that may be fought or defired without Him, fo many lufrs are there in the heart ofMan: Not only all things that nre evil, as Fornication, and the like (as in I Cor. 10. it is faid, Y"" lujlcd after c~11 tLingJ, \peaking of their riling up to play) things that are forbidden; but all things lawful, without God, whether Honours or Riches, or Beauty, or Pleafures ofany kind, which in themfelves are lawful, all thefe, take God out ofthem, and let the delires ofMan's heart be carried to them without God, and fubordinate unro Him, and i~ refe– .rence unto Him, they are all finful lufts. Therefore Chrift, in Mark.+· 1 5· faith, the carCJ ofthe World, and the luf!J ofother thing1 ; mark that phrafe, [ the l11f1s of other thing1 J be they what they will be, if they be lufis, that is, if they be inor– dinate Jufts, not fubjeCl:ed unto God as the chiefefi Good, rafting Him in them, and fubordinated unto Him as our chiefeft End, they are all lofts which will choak the Word, and undo the Soul. I !hall illufirate the linfulnefs of thefe Lufts to you by this ordinary Compari– fon, in all the parts ofit: Go take a Man now that is out of health, that is in a Feaver, whofe Stomack and Palat is vitiated (as I told you, the Soul is nothing but Stomack) fuppofe this Stomack to be a vitiated and difiempered Stomack ~nd Palat, as a Man in a Feaver bath.) I ground my Similitude upon that in Ecc!ef. 5·'7· fpeaking of Man by Nature, All hi< days, faith he, he eateth in dark.nef!, and he hath nmch forrow and wrath with hi1jic/,pef!. A Man leadeth but a lick life that leadeth a life of Lufis, Jiving upon the Creature, and he bath much anguifh and farrow and vanity with it. Now take a Man that is fick ; wherein lieth his dif– temper: (you !hall fee the like explaineth fully the Corruptions that are in Man's Heart.) It ·]ieth, 1. In this, That by rcafon ofthatdifiemper that is in him, Ire is taken off from delighting in what is good and wholfom, and is the natural nourifhment to him. Bring him Meat, his Stomack rifeth at it, at the Jeaft fcent of it; if he either hear it fpoken of, or ifhe think of it, the reprefenting it any way to his Fancy, ;turns his Stomack. So now take the Soul of Man by Nature, that is thus difiempered in his Lufis, wh~n God and HolinetS is gone, whatfoever holdeth forth God to him in a fpiritual way, to bring him to communion and fellown1!p with God, in any duty,· his heart rifeth againft it, againfi Holinefs, again(( the Spiritual L:iw, againfi the fpiritual part ofReligion, the power of Godlinefs: why ? becaufe he i$ nothing but Lufis diftempered : thefe were once the natural food and nouriili11terit of his Soul, but now he is cliftempered. So that now here is a privation with an oppolition unto God. 2. Take a Man that is diftempered, and his Stomack thus vitiated, fucb things as will hurt him, fuch things he mightily and greedily longeth for; as alfo what· ever elfe he delires, be cloth it with a violence, with a thirft beyond natural thirfi. So now doth the Soul of Man by Nature, whilfi it bath nothing but Lutl's m 1t, He both lufieth after what is contrary to the Will of God, and fuch Creatures.., God did make for Man, and are lawful for him to ufe in themfelves, J yet his'heart is carried out to them with a vehemency oftnirfr.: The ex'preffion is in Dct:t. 29. it is.called, adding dr 11 nf<snneft to'thir{f, ' And th~ reafon•is this, becaufe the.Soul havmg been made for God, and widened for Htm, now that God ts gone~ y:0u ~n no m9rc 6lhbefe De!ires with the Creatufes, than you can fill a Ciflcrn w•t!t . ~
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