Tenth Commandment. thus the Soul nOt being able without Grace, and the Image of God, ro raife irs Operations unto God, pircheth opon what it can, viz. low, finful Obje8:s, to the Negle£1 and Slighting ofGnd, and the great Concernment s of Heaven: And this is in the general that inordinate Difpofirion of the Soul which is here called Covering or Concupifcence. Now there are Four Degrees of this finful Concupifcence. . . . Firfl, There is the Mar m prima primi, the 6rfi Film and Shadow of an Evil Thought, the lmperfe<t Embrio ofa Sin before it is well lhaped in us, or ha rh received any Lineaments and Features. And thefe the Scripture calls the Imaginations of the Thoughts ofMens Hearts, Gen. 6. 5· Godfow that every Imagination of rbc Thoughts D{ Man's Hearr Wilt only Evil contmually: That is, the very firft figment and flufh. ing of our ThoughtS is evil and corrupt : Indeed fome of rhefe are injetled by the Devil. Many rimes be a!faulrs rbe dearefi of God's Child ren with horrid ati:l black Temptations, and importunately cafts into their Minds fi.range Th oughts of queflionjng the very Being of God,_ the Truth of the Scriptures, the Immortality of the Soul, fu(ure Reward aPid Punifhmenrs, and fuch other blafphemous, hideous and un{hapen, Monllers, againll the very Fundamentals of Religion, for the Truth of which they would willingly facrifice their very Lives as a Teftimony to them. Thefe indeed are not their Sins, although they are their great Tfouhlcs and Affii£Hons ; for they come only from a Principle without them, and they are meerly Paffive and Sufferers hy them, fo long as they are watchful to abhor and refift them, and eo cafi thefe fiery Darrs of the Devil back again into his Face. But then th~re are other 6dl: Motions arifing up in our Hearts towards thofe Sins, which are more ddightful and plea~ fant ro our fenfual Inclinations : Thefe, ( whatfoever the P api!ls fay to rhe contrary,) a:s foon as ever they do hut begin to heave and ftir in our Breafis, are truly Sins, and do in their Meafure pollute and defile the Soul. For the Soul of Man is like a dear Mirrour, upon which if you only breathe you fully ir, and leave a dimnefs upon it; fo truly the very firft Brearhings of an evil Thought and Defire up in our Souls do fully their Beauty, and dim their Lu!lre, and render the I mage of God lefs confpicuous in them than it was befOre. Secondly, A farther Degree of this Concupifcence is:, when thefe Evil Motions: ate entertained in the fenfual Mind with fome Meafure: of Complacency and Delight. When a fingle Obje<t offers irfelf to a Carnal Heart there is a kind of inward pleaflog TirillariDn, that affetls it with Delight, and begers a kind of Sympathy between rbem; that look as in natural Sympathies, a Mao;, taken and delighted with an Obje£\ before he knows the Reafon why he is fo; fo likewi fe in <his finful Sympath)l: rbar is between a Caroal Heart and a Senfual Obje<t, the Heart is raken and delighted with it before it bath had Time to c;onfider what there is in it that fhould fo mov~ and alfe<t ir. Arrhe very llrfl Sig&r and Glimpfe of a Per fon we many rimes find rhar we conceive fome more particular Refpe£\ for him t han pollibly for a whole Croud of others, though all may be equally unknown un to us : So upon the very lirfi Glimpfe and Apparition of a finful Thought in our Minds we find that t here is fomething in it that commands a particular Regard from us, rhar unbofomi and unlocks our very Souls unto it, even before we have the Lto:ifure to ~xamiae why. Thirdly, Hereupon follows Alfcnt and Approbation of rhe Sin in the Pra£\ica! Judgment; which being blinded, and forcibly carried a..a y by rhe Violence of cor-. ruptandfarnal AffeEli.ons, commeods the Sin to the executive Faculties. The Uo~ der!landing is the grear Trier of every deliberate AElion, f o that nothing pa!ferh into Af< which bath nor firfi pafs'd Examination and Cenfur e there. Whether this or that AC.l:ion is w be done is the grear Queftion canvafred in this Cour.r; and all rhe Powers and Faculries of the Soul wait what Definitive Sentence will be here pronoun.. ced, and ro accordingly proceed. Now here Two Things d o ufually appear, and put in their Plea to rhe Judgment againft Sin, God's Law, and God's Advocate, Confcience. The Law condemns, and Confcience cites that Law: But then the Affc£tio ns Rep in, and brib~ the Judge with Profit, or Pleafure, or Honour, and thereby corrupt the Judgment ro give its Vote and A!fent unto Sin. Fourthly, When any finful Motion barb rhus gotten an Allowance and Pafs from rho Judgment, then it berakes irfdf ro the Will for a Decree. The Judgment approves it, and therefore the Will mull now refolve to commit ir: An d then the Sin is fully pe" fetled and formed within, and there wants nothing but Opponupiry to bring it forth into a<t. · An4
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