rf .Prejumptuota Sins. goes on reckoning up foul and horrid Sins, and exhorts them.to n~orrific thefe Sins, who were eo appear with Chrift_inGlorJ; rhofe who never h~ed m rhe~1_, .not at Ieafi after their Convcrfion ; Is It not ftrange, that fuch e.mt~em Chnfbans as chcfe were, iliould need Exhortations againfi fuch foul Sms: Why, there's man'y a Perfon, in a State of Narur~, that would ~oum rhe1r Morals muc.h wronged, if you OlOuld be officiou!ly tmpormnate Wtth them ~lOt to ~omnut Adu!ttr'l' or Blafphcmy, not to be CIYUetous or Drunkards, or the hke; .thiS they would look upon as an Injury done to them,, chat you ihoul~ fu(pett fuch things as thefe are of them· Would not they fay, as Haz-ael fatd ro the Pro.. pbets, What are thy Servants bogs, tkat t~ey Jhould do {uch gre~t thi11g1 M thcfe are? .flur rhe Apoftle knew chat t~e ln~lmattOns of. the Deft were coo ftrong, e~en to rhofe Sins ch:tt a perfect Morahil: would thmk Scorn that th<:-y fhou!d be fufpected of, and theref~re he exhorts ~hem with all Earneftnefs, and frequent Importunity to rnorufie fuch foul Srns as rhefe are. Third ly, ft appearJ. alfo from tht_ irrit~ting Power that the La,v bath: .Even in r:::::,~: che beft of God's Chtldrenrhere 1s a~c1d:mally, chroughou.r Corruption, fuch Power~ a ma\ign Influence (if I may fo call1r) m the Holy, J uft, and Good Law of the Latt~. God chat inftead of'quel\ing Sin, it dorh the more enrage and provoke ir.) and :his we call rhe irritating Power of the Law. Thus the Apoftle tells us in Rom. 7· II, I 3· That Sin taktJ occtJ/iot~ bJ the Law to work in11J all manner ofCcncupi{cenct. Why, now were ir pollibleth~r Sin fhould grow.fi;ong b¥ rhar Law char was given on purpofe to deftroy 1t, bur that there IS m us VIOlent Propenlions cowards what is forbidden us, and eager Defiresafter char which God bath denied us? So ftrangely depraved are our corrupt Natures, that we fwell with our Yoke, and. labour to throw off whatever may lay a Reftraint upon us; li ke green Sticks, which being bent one way, by n;~tural Stren~ch we ftart as far back the orher w-ay. Can none of us call ro mind fonte Sins that poffibly we fhould never have committed, had they nor.been forbidden to us? The Command ofcencimes gives Corruption a Hinr; · in what, and how it may offend God : And is not rhis therefore a clear Demonfhation of that mighry Pronenefs char there ·is in all of us unto Sin, when that Law that forbids Sin fhall prove an InCentive to it ? The more will a high-n'iettled Horfe foam and fling, the harder you· Rein him in: And if you ftop' a River in its Courfe, ir wil l rife and fwellrill it overflows its Banks: And whence is this, but becaufe there is a natural Pronenefs in it to run .towards the Sea ? And when God cafts bisLaw before Men as a Stop corbem in their finful Courf~::, they fwell the higher, rill they have born down or overftown all rhofe Bounds and·Dams that God harh fer ro bound rhem in: And whence proceeds all this, bur only becaufe there is a natural Tendency and Propenlion in Men's Hearts to Sin? And therefore the more they are oppofed, rh~:; higher frill do our Corruptions fwell, and rhe more do they rage : And altho' rhe Force of rh is finful Propenfion may be in fome of God's Children in a good mcafure broken, yet in the Yery beft of them is there fC?me degree or other of rh is _irritating Po·wer of the Law eo ftir them up roSin, even by forbidding of them to fin ; and char's the laft Demonftrarion. The next thing propounded, was to enquire into the original Cau[e, · whence 1 f.l'k ·e .t thi; finful Iuclination proceedJ; Ho•v it come; to paJI that there is in all Men, and u tl~~ 1 e'Uen in the bejf Cbrifl'ianJ, [tub 11 ft rong Propmfion unto Sin. Chri./fiant Now in che Enquiry inro this, 11hall1ead you on gradually by thefe fol- have a !owing Steps. J!rontlleft Firft, In Man's firft Creation the Will had in it a natural Power ro determine ~~:ohte':~,:f the Specifiqcion of its own ACts; that is,freely to fway irfelf, either unroGood s;,~. or Evil, which of them it pleafed; and if there was any .Biafs in it ro draw it more one way rhan another, as fome there was, irwas .an Inclination ro rhac which is Good ; for ~1an's Faculties were then entire and perfect, his Knowle~ge clear t9 di(ce.rn whar~vas his ~hief Good, and his higheft HaJ?pinefs, his W~ll free ro ~hu·fc ts, a.nd hts A_ffeCh~ns ready to embrace and clafp about it : Hts Love, h1s Fear, hts J oy, hts Dehghr, were all of them cemer'd in God · that which is now in us from Grace, was in him from Nature : Since rh~ Fa~l we need a twofold Affiftance, one a common Injlttence and Affiftanu, fuch · as 1S vouchfafed to all Men, to enable rhem to the Performance of rhe comK k k k lllQJl
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