if Prifumptuous Sins. 435 [ameJ/ipers knotting and fprawling wirhin,thatc~wl forth in orhersLives;rhere is Rancom·, and Malice, and Hatred, andSlaughlen, :md Adulteries, and the whole Spawn of ~ll rhoiC black Sins chat have made Men either infamous in Story, or mighty in Torment ; and char we have not yer our~ finned all the Copies that ever were fer us, rhar we have nor yet cl if covered fome new unknown 'Vickedncfs t'o the World, is not becaufe our Inclination eo Sin, or our Stock of Corruption fails us; but becaufe God's Grace eirher preventing or renewing, fails not. Where then is rhe G_hriftian tha~ ha~h not c~ufe to go mourning to his Grave? Can you blame lum ro fee hun fad and difconfotarc, when he harh no lcfs Rea!On for it, than a Heart brim-full of Sin ? Certainly that Man neither loves God, nor his own Soul, that can hear that there is in hirfi fuch a 'Violent Propenfton eo injure the one, ::ind ruin the other, without exclaiming with the Prophet, Woe is me, for I am 1mdone, ·becaufe I am a Man if an unclean Heart, and of po!Jured Lip.t. ~t is but jufi, yea,. ic is al~ the reafon in rhc World, char while our Beans connnue to be Foumams of Sm, our Headsfhould continue to be Folimains of Tears. Thirdly, Is there in rbe Beft a ftriJng PriJnenejl to the 711orjl Sim ? What cau[e have That 1ve 1ben to Jo,lg and breathe tJ[ter Hea'Uen ? For not till then j1Ja!l7ve be free from it. In- Prone_ne[s dwelling Sin ha rh raken a Leafe of our Souls, and holds them by our own that. u u~ · Lives; it will be in us ~o the laft Gafp;. an.d as the Hear~ i~ the la.fi that dies, 7,~~~:;~:~ fo alfo is char Corrupnon that lodgeth m u; buc yet dte It muft, and die it jhould . {hall : And this is the Comfort of a Child of God, chattho' he brought Sin with mal:e r/;em him into the World, yer he n1all not carry it wirhhim out of the World: God long for hath fo' wifely ordered and appointed it, char as Death came in by Sin, fo alfo Heaven. lhall Sin it felfi;e deftroyed,by Dearb, As Worms, when they creep into thei,r Holes, leave their Slime and their Dire behind them : Why truly 10 is it-with a Chriftian ; when he dies, he leaves all his Slime, all his Filth and CorruptiOn ac the Mouch of the Grave, and his Soul gets free from that Clog, and mounts up into the Bofom of God; and rh ere alone is it that ic flutll no more ftrive and ftruggle againftjinfulPropen.Jions and Incnnations; there ihall it be eternally fix'd and confirm'd, noconly in Glory, bur in. HolinefS alfO ; we iliall there be out of the reach of Satan's Temptation.~. \Ve read indeed, that fometimes the Dwil appears before God as an Accufcr; but we never read, that he comes there as a Tempter; we fhall no more feel the fir it Rilings and Streamings up of Corruption there; nomorefhall we caft k!nd GlancesuponourSins, nor have hovering ~ho~ghcs coward th_em. 0 bleffed Necej]ity, wbm the Soul Jlut!l be tied up to tme aiJ-fatufpng Gootl i when 't jJJ::tlJhave tH natural a Pronenejfand Ardour to deligbt in God, '"to lfJ'Ve it [elf, and to delight in it.t 'O'JV11 Happinefi ! ~And who then would defire to linger any longer here Below, and to fpin out his wretched Life wherein Sin and Sorrow thall have the gre:ueft fhare ? Here the Beft of u~ are in perpetual Cembats and Quarrels betwixt Sin and Grace; the one will not yield, and the other cannot: Corruption, t~a~ compels one 'way, and Grace commands another: Hafte therefore, 0 Cbrifttan, out of tbi.t Scuffle; make ha{le to Hea'Ve11, and there the ContrO'Uerfte ?vill be for e'Ver decided; thtre Jludt thott no m~re five in fear of n"v Sins, nor yet in Sor_row for old Sin.t; but all Sorrrnv and S1ghmg Jh.a!J flee away ; a/J Tear1 fludJ be w1ped from ottr Eyes) and all Sin j1Jail be rooted out oj our Hearts, and 1vejl~all be perfeflty holy, even tl! tbe Angels themfehles are. · Lafrly, Is there [ucb a .flrong Pronenejf in the beft tot he wor(! Sins? This :benjlJOttld .A P , teach U: carifi1lly to a'V~id all T~mptatiom t~ S~n, lmtl whate'Ver m~1 ~e a11 Occajion to nefsr~:e11s Jraw Jortb that_Corruptton that lm latent nnthm us: Wherefore ts tt that one Pe- roSin ticion of thofe few rhat Chrift caught his DifCiples, was, That Go"d would}hg"ld not lead them into Tempration,but becaufe he knew there is in all of us Jinful ':'ak~ f Natures, that do too too well correfpond with Temptations? And he knew :;;;;o:c:. that ifwe were b~·ought i:-ro Temptations-?. ic is very feldom chat we are brought/ions ofSitt. off from them without Stn. \V ere we as tree from inhtrent Sin, as Adam was ar firft ; or were we confirmed in Grace, as rh~ Sain.t in Heaven now are \\"e might rhen repel all Temptations wich eafe; and therefore our Saviour \;hofe Narurc w:ts fporlefS, by an extraordinary Conception, and whofe Holihefs was fecurc .to h~m by ar~ unfpeakable Union of rh~ Go1hea~, he tells us, in John 4 . 13· T~· .Prmr;to[&bBWorlrlwme, anJfcuntlnothmg m htm. TheDwilcame m tempt
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