502 The NATURE and PowEn a cate for the prefervationand nourifhing of their young : many brute creatures will die for them, fome feed themwith their own flefh andblood; all deprive themfelves ofthat foodwhich nature dire&s them to as their heft, to impart it to them ; and a&ing in their behalf to the utmoft of their power. Now fuck is the efficacy, power, and force of indwelling fin in man, an i.nfe&ion that the natureof other creatures knows nothing of that in ma- ny it prevails to'4op this fountain, to beatback the ftream ofnatural affedi+ ons, to root up theprinciples of the law of nature, and to drive them unto a neglect, a deftru&tonof the fruit of their own loins. Paul tells us of the old Gentiles, that they were ósopyo, Rom. i. 31. without natural affeflion; that which he aims at is, that barbarous cuftom among the Romans, who oftentimes to fpare the trouble in the education of their children, and to be at liberty to fatisfy their lulls, deftroyed their own children from the womb. So far did the ftrength of fin prevail to obliterate the law of nature, and to repel the force and power of it. Examples of this nature are common in all nations; amongft ourfelves, of women murdering their own children, through the deceitfulreafoning of fin. And herein fin turns the ftrong current of nature, darkensall the light ofGod in the foul, con- trouls all natural principles, influenced with the power of the command and will of God. But yet this evil hath, through the efficacy of fin, re- ceived a fearful aggravation. Men have not only flain, but cruelly'facri- ficed their children to fatisfy their tufts. The apoftle reckons idolatry, and fo confequently all fuperftition, among the works of the flefl, Gal. v. ao. that is, the fruit and produ& of indwelling fin. Now from hence it is thatmen have offered that horridand unfpeakable violence to the lawofna- turementioned. So the pfalmift tells us, Pfal.cvi. 37, 38. The fame is again mentioned, Pfal. vii. 31. and in fundry other places. Thewhole manner of that abomination I have elfewhere declared. For theprefent it may fuffice to intimate, that theytook their childrenand burnt them to afhes in a foft fire ; thewicked priefts that aífifted in the facrifice affording diem this re- lief, that theymade a noife and clamour, that the vile wretches might not hear the woful moans and cries of the poor dying tormented infants. T foppofe in this cafe we need no farther evidence. Naturalifts can give no rational account, they can only admire the fecret force of that little fifh, which, they fay, will flop a flip in full fail in the midit of the fea. And we muff acknowledge, that it is beyond our power to give an account of that fecret force, and unfearchable deceit that is in this inbred traitor, fin ; that cannot only lop the courfe of nature, when all the fails of it that carry it forward are fo filled, as they are in that of affedions to chil- dren ; but alfo drive it backward with filch a violence and force, as to caufe men fo to deal with their own children, as a good man would not be hired with any reward to deal with his dog. And it may not be to the difadvantage ofthe belt, to know and confider, that they carry that about them, in them, which in others bath produced thefe efléds. The like may be fpokenof all other fins againft the prime dilatesof the law of nature, that mankind is, or bath been Rained and defamed withal. Murder ofparents and children, ofwives and husbands. Sodomy, inceft, and the like enormities ; in all which, fin prevails in men againít the whole law of their being and dependance upon God. What fhould Ireckon up the murders ofCain and Abel, the treafon of yudae, with their aggravati- ons ; or remind the filth and villany ofNero, in whom fin feemed to de- fign an inftance of what it could debafe the nature ofman unto: in a word, all the ftudied, premeditatedperjuries; all the defigned, bloody revenges; all
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