31O POWERS ,AND CONTESTS XOS FLESIH AND SPIRIT. peevish, more slothful, or proud and haughty, than it is in others, according to the various mixture of the bloodand-hu- mours, and the different ferments that arise thence, whereby the soul is early impressed and governed, and habituated to particu- Iar vices betimes. Though we are all conceived in sin, and shapen in iniquity Ps. li. 5. yet there are some who are emphatically wicked in their very constitutions, whoare more remarkably estranged to all that is good from the womb, andgo astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies; Ps. lviii. 3. Whereby the psalmist may seem to intimate that some persons have wickedness more emi- nently running through their families ; they are born and bred utter strangers to God, honesty, and goodness ; and they have a sort of craft and knavishness mipgled with their temper, that they practise lying as soon as they can speak.. It is evident enough to the observation of every man, that some persons areof amore temperate, more chaste, more modest, more friendly and kind disposition, even in animal nature : they are more plain-hearted, and of a more honest and sincere make from their very infancy ; they have more of the dove and of the lamb in thelp, than ofthe fox, the bear, orthe lion; and the soul' is not led astray to the practice of the contrary vices, either so far, or so early, as those who, perhaps, from their immediate parents, have received flesh and blood more tainted with these iniquities. And if this be called a different degree of original sin, 1 will not stand now to contest the word, nor can I utterly deny the matter. But still it is abundantly evident also concerning every one of us, who are sons or daughters of Adam, how sinful or how holy soever our immediateparents were, that we bring vicious propen- sities enough with our flesh and blood into this world, that if we encourage acid indulge them, and walk after thefresh, we shall soon be found sufficiently wicked there, and grow meet for a just condemnation hereafter ; and thiswill be thecase of the best con- stitution, unlessa mighty change pass upon nature, by the power of renewing and sanctifying grace. All that is born ofthe flesh fsflesh, or sinful ; and except es man be born ofwater and the spi- rit, that is, regenerated by the Spirit ofGod, which is typified by baptismal water, he cannot enter into the kingdomofGod; John iíi. 3, 5, 6. Quest. V. Whether the same sin always carries equal guilt with it in different persons, who have the same advantage or the same degrees of knowledge ? Answ. It seems tobe supposed in the question, that different means or different measures of know- ledge make the sinner more or less guilty in the sight of God ; and indeed our Saviour himself has determined that point beyond all dispute; Mat, xi. 21, 22. Chorazin and Betheaida having
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