r9S rug MANNER OF CONVERSION EXPLAINED. pose. Yet some things must yet be added--con.''''''' animusinfantium: 'Those irregular and perverse the effects of that depravation, which will conduce unto agitations of mind, and of the will or appetite, not yet the right understanding of theway And manner whereby under the conduct of reason, which appear in infants, the Spirit of God proceedeth for the healing and remov- with the indignation and littleself-revenges wherewith al of it, .which we have now under especial considera- they are accompanied in their disappointments, when tion. And we may observe; all about them do not subject.themselves unto their in- Sect. 3. -1. That the corrupt principle of sin;. the clinations, it may be to their hurt, are from the obliquity native habitual inclination that is in us unto evil, work. of our nature, and effects of that depraved habit of sin, eth early in our natures, and, for the most part, pre- wherewith it is wholly possessed. And by the frequency venteth all the actings of grace in us. Though some of these lesser actings are the mind and will prepared may be sanctified in or from the womb, yet, in order for those more violent and impetuous motions, which,. of nature, this native corruption hath first place in them; by the improving, of their natural capacities, and the for a clean thing cannot be brought out of an unclean, incitation of new objects presented unto their corrup- but that which is born of the flesh is flesh. Psal. Ivüi.. 3. tions, they are exposed unto and filled withal. God. The wicked ore estrangedfrom the womb,. they go astray did not originally thus create our nature, a condition as soon as they be born, speaking lies- It is to no- par- , worse and inferior unto that of other creatures; in whose pose to say that he speaks of wicked men; that is, such young ones there are none of these disorders, but a re- who are habitually and profligately so: For whatever gular compliance with their natural instinct prevails in any man may afterwards run into by a course of sin, all them. And as the dying of multitudes of infants, not. men are morally alike from the womb, and it is an as withstanding the utmost care for their preservation, gravation of the wickedness of men, that it begins so whereas the young ones of other creatures all generally early, and holds- an uninterrupted course. - Children live, if they have whereby their nature may be sustain - are not able to speak from the womb, as soon as they ed, argues the. imputation of sin unto them;.for death are born. Yet here are they said to speak lies- It is entered by sin, and passedupon all, inasmuch as all have therefore the perverse acting of depraved nature in in- sinned; so those irregular actings peculiar unto them, fancy that is intended. For every thing that is irregu- prove sin inherent in them, or the corruption of their lar, that answers not the law of our creation, and rule nature from their conceptions. of obedience, is a lie. And, among the many instances Sect. 4.-2dly, With the increase of our natural fa- collected by Austin of such irregular actings of naturein culties, and the strengthening of the members of our its infantstate, one is peculiarly remarkable. or, Confess. bodies, which, by nature, are become ready instruments "lib. 1. cap. 6. Paulatim sentiebam ubi essem; et vol. ofunrighteousness unto sin, Rom. v. 13. this perverse untates meas volebam ostendere eis per quos imple- principle acts itself with more evidence, frequency, and renter, et non poteram; itaque jactabam membra, et success, in the production- of actual sin, or inordinate s voces signa similia voluntatibus mein, pence gum po. actings of the mind, will, and affections. So the wise teram et qualia poteram; et cum mihi non obtemper- man tells us, that childhood andyouth are vanity, Eccl.. abatur, vel non intelligendo, vel ne obesset, indigna- xi. 10. The mind of man, in the state of childhood " bar non subditisMajoribus, et liberis non servienti- and youth, puta itself forth in all kinds of vain actings, .a bus, et mede illisflendo vindicabam." This he again in foolish imaginations, perverseand froward appetites, repeats. a Cap. 7. An pro tempore illo bona errant, falseness in words, with sensibleeffects ofcorrupt ineli- < fendo petere etiam quod noxie daretur, indignari nations in everykind. Austin's first bookof Confessions acriter non subjectis hominibus liberis, et majoribus; is an excellent comment on that text, wherein the va- bisque.a quibus genitus est, multisque peterea pre- nity of childhood and youth are graphically described, dentioribus, non ad nutum voluntatis obtemperanti- with pathetical self-reflecting complaints concerning the t4 bus, feriendo nocere mihi quantum potest, quia non guilt of sin which is contracted in them. Some, per- " obeditur imperiis gaibus perniciose obediretur? Its Naps, may think light of those ways of folly and vanity, . imbecillitas membrorum infantilium innocens cst, non wherein childhood loth, or left alone, would consume
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