398 the NATURE and POWER and contrivances in reference to their affairs private and publick ; great deceit in their words and a&ings : the world is full of deceit and fraud. But all this is nothing to the decir that is in man's heart towards him - felf, for that is the meaning of the expreflion in this place, and not towards others. Now incomparable deceitfulnefs added to unfearchable- nefs,givesa great addition andencreafeof ftrength to the law of fin, u on theaccount of its feat and fubjed. I fpeak not t of the deceitfulnefs of fin itfelf, but the deceitfulnefsofthe heart where is feated. Prov. xxvi. 25. There are fovea abominations in the heart ; tha is, not only many, but an abfolute°complete number, asfevendenotes : and they are filch abominati- ons as confift in deceitfulnefs ; fo the caution foregoing infinuates, truff him not; for it is only deceit that Ihould make us not to truft in that degree and meafure which the objed is capable of. Now this deceitfulnefs of the heart, whereby it is exceedingly advan- taged in its harbouring of fin, lies chiefly in theft two things. [n] That it abounds in contradi&ions, fo that it is not to be found and dealt withal according to any confiant rule, and way of procedure. There are foine men that have much of this from their natural conftituti- on, or from other caufes in their converfation. They feem to be made up of contradi&ions; fometimes to be very wife in their affairs, foinetimes very foolifh, very open, and very refereed ; very facile, and very obfIi- siate ; very eafy to be entreated, and very revengeful, all in a remarkable heighth. This is generally accounted a bad character, and is feldom found but when it proceeds from fome notable predominant lufi. But in general, in refpe& of moral good or evil, duty or fin, it is fo with the heart of every roan ; flaming hot, and key cold ; weak, and yet ftub- born ; obftinate, and facile. The frame of the heart is ready to contra- did itfelf every moment. Now you would think you had it all for filch a frame, fuch a way ; anon it is quite otherwife : fo that none know what to expel from it. The rife of this is the diforder that is brought upon all its faculties by fin. God created them all in a perfe& harmo- ny and union. The mind and reafon were in perfe& fubjedion and fubordination to God, and his will ; thewill anfwered in its choice of good, the difcovery made of it by the mind ; the affections conftantly and evenly follwed the underftanding and will. The mind's fubjedion to God was the fpring of the orderly and harmonious motion of the foul, andall the wheels in it. That being difturbed by fin, the reft of the faculties move crofs and contrary one to another ; the will chufeth not the good which the mind difcovery ; the affections delight not in that, which the will chufeth, but all jar and interfere, crofs and rebel againfi each other. This we have got by our falling from God. Hence fome- times the will leads, the judgment follows: yea, commonly theaffections that Ihould attend upon all, get the fovereignty, and draw the whole foul captive after them. And hence it is, as I faid, that the heart is made up of fo many contradi&ions in its a rings. Sometimes the mind retains its fovereignty, and the affections are in fubjedion, and the will ready for its duty. This puts a good face upon things. Immediately the rebellion of the affe&ions, or the obffinacy of the will take place and prevail, and the whole fcene is changed. This, I fay, makes the heart deceitful above all things ; it agrees not at all in itfelf, is not con- fiant to itfelf, hath no order that it is confiant unto, is under no certain condu& that is {table, but if I may fo fay, bath a votation in itfelf, where oft-times the feet lead and guide the whole. [2.] Its'
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