OUR CONDITION IN TIIIS WORLD. 381 tional appetites, inordinate desires, self -disquieting and torturing passions, act continually in our depraved na- tures. See account hereof, Rom. iii. 10, 11, 12, 13, I4, 15, 16, 17, 18. How full is the world of disor- der, confusion, oppression, rapine; uncleanness, vio- lence, and the like dreadful miseries? Alas! they are but a weak and imperfectrepresentation of the evils that are in the minds of men by nature: for, as they all pro- ceed from thence, as our Saviour declares, Matth. xv. 8, 19. so the thousandth part of what- is, conceived therein is never brought forth and acted.. a' From " whence come wars and fightings among you, come theynot hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?-ye lust, and have not; ye kill, and de- " sire to have, and cannot obtain; ye fight and wan, yet you have not," James iv. I, 2. All evils pro- ceed from the impetuous lusts of the minds of men, which, when they are acted unto the .utmost, areas unsatisfied as they wereat their first setting out... Hence the prophet tells us, that wicked men, under thepower and disorder of depraved nature, are like a troubled sea that cannot rest, whose: waves cast up mire and dirt, and have no peace, Isa. lvii. 20, 21. The heart is in continual motion; is restless in its figments and imagina- tions, as the waters of the sea, when it. is stormy and troubled; and they are all evil, only, evil continually, Gen.. vi. 5. Herein doth it cast up mire and. dirt. And those who seem to. have the greatest advantages aboveothers in.power and opportunity to give satisfaction unto their lusts, do but increase their awn. disquietness and miseries, Psal. lix.. 14. . For. as these- things are . evil in themselves, and unto others, .so they are penal unto those in whom. they,are,.especially,in. whom they abound and reign. And iftheirbreasts were opened, it would appear, by the confusion and horror they live in, that theyare on the very confines of hell. Sect. 3.Hence is the life of man full of vanity, . trouble, disappointments, vexations, and endless self- dissatisfactions, which those who were wise.among the heathens saw, complained of and attempted in vain re- liefs against. All .these things proceed .from. thedepra- vation ofour natures, and the disorder that is come upon us by sin. And as(if they are not cured and healed) they.will assured issue in everlasting misery, so they are woful and calamitous at present. 'True peace, rest, and tranquillity,of mind, are strangers unto such and sufficiently confirmed. And I do not now consider it as to the disabilityof living unto God, or enmityunto him, which is come upon us thereby, nor yet as to the future punishment which it renders us obnoxious unto: but it is the present misery that is upon us by it, (un- less it be cured,) which I intend. For the mind of man, being possessed with darkness, vanity, folly, and instability; the will, under the power of spiritual death, stubborn and obstinate, and all the affections carnal, sensual, and selfish, the whole soul being hurried off from God, and so out of its way, is perpetually filled with confusion, and perplexing disorder. It is not un- like that description which Job gives of the grave, A landofdarkness, andof the shadowofdeath, withoutany order, and where the light is as darkness, chap. x. 2.1, 22. WhenSolomon set himselfto search out thecauses of all the vanity and vexation that is in the world, of all the troubles that the life of man is filled withal, he affirms thatòthis was the sum of his discovery, God made man upright, but they have sought out many, inventions, Eccles. vii. 29.. that is, cast themselves into endless entanglements and confusions. What is. . sin in its guilt, is punishment in its power, yea, the greatest that . men are liable unto in this world. Hence, God, .. for the guilt of some sins, penally gives many up to the power of others,. Rom. i. 24, 26, 28.- 2Thess. And this he doth, not only to secureand aggravate, their condemnation at the last day,' but to give them in this world a recompense of their folly in themselves:. for there is no greater misery nor slavery, than to he under the power of sin. Sect. 2.. This proves the original depravation of our nature, the whole soul filled with darkness, disorder, and confusion, being brought under the power of vari- ous lusts and passions, captivating the: mind and will unto their interests,,.,in the vilest drudgeries of servi- tude,and. bondage.. No sooner doth themind begin to act any thingsuitably unto thesmall remainders of light in it, but it is immediately controlled by-impetuous lusts and affections, which darken its directions, and silence its commands. Hence is the common saying, not so common as what is signified by it: Video Meliora proboque, Deteriora sequur Hence.the.wholesoul is filled with fierce contradictions and conflicts.. Vanity, instability, folly,, sensual irra-
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