4,56 The NATURE and POWER Kt59SiQfft03pMOlqEE0litK03i6EValEaT6+tÉIO3f6 EIW4:ti153QlCS% CHAP. XI. The working of Sin by Deceit to entangle the Affeíi- ons. The ways whereby it is done. Means of their prevention. H E fecond thing inthe words of the apoltle afcribed unto the deceitful workingof fin, is its enticing. A man is drawn away and enticed. And this feems particularly to refpeftthe affeftions, as drawing away doth the mind. The mind is drawn away from duty, and the affeftions are enticed unto fin. From theprevalency hereof a man is faid to be enticed, of entangled as initia a bait; fo the word imports. For there is an allufion in it unto the bait wherewith a Ella is taken on the hook which holds him to his deftruftion. And concerning this effeft of the deceit offin, we íhall briefly Thew two things. 1. What it is to be enticed, or to be entangled with the bait of fin, to have the affeftions tainted with an inclination thereunto; And whenthey are fo. 2. What courfe fin takes, and what way it proceedeth in, thus to entice, enfnare, or entangle the foul. s. For the firft, (t.) The affeftions are certainly entangled when they Itir up fre- quent imaginations about the propofed objelt which this deceit offin leadeth and enticeth towards. When fin prevails, and the affeftions are gone fully after it, it fills the imagination with it, pólfefftng it with,,, images, likeneffes, appearances ofit continually. Such perfonsdevife ini- quity and work evil on their beds, which they alfo praftife when they are able, when it is in the power of their hand, Mk. n. I. As in particular, Peter tells us that they have eyesfull of an adulterefr, and they cannot ceafe from fin, 2 Pet. ii. sq.. that is, their imaginations are poffeft with a con- tinual reprefentation of the objeft of their lofts. And it is fo in part 'where theaffeftions are in part entangled with fin, and begin to turn afide unto it. John tells us that the things that are in the world, are the laß of the efh, the Izefl of the eyes, and the pride of life, 1 Ephef. ii. 14. The luft of the eyes is that which by them is conveyed unto the foul, Now" it is not the bodily fenfeof feting, but the fixing of the imagination from that fenfe on fuck things that is intended. And this is called the eyes, becaufe thereby things are contlantly reprefented unto the mind and foul, as outward objefts are unto the inward fenfe by the eyes. And oftentimes the outward fight of the eyes is the occafion of thefe imaginations. So Achan declares how fin prevailed with him, Jojh. vii. 21. firft hefase the wedge of gold, and babilonifb garment, and then he coveted them. He rol- led them, the pleafores, the profit of them, in his imagination, and then fixed his heart upon the obtaining ofthem. Now the heart may have a fetled, fixed deteftation of fin but yet if a man find that the imaginati- on of the mind is frequently foliated by it, and exercifed about it, Such a one may know that his affeftions are fecretly enticed and en- tangled. (z,)
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