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of curfed Cain, but thofe of holy Seth: the wickedness of man was great. And then it is added, in the earth (1) To vindicate God's feverity, in that he not only cut off finners, but defaced the beauty of the earth; and fwept off the brute creatures from it, by the deluge; that as men had fet the marks of their impiety, God might fet the marks of his indignation, on the earth. (2.) To fhew the heinousness of their fin, in making the earth which God had so adorned for the ufe of man, a fink of fin, and a ftage whereon to act their wickedness, in defiance of heaven. God faw this corruption of life, he not only knew it, and took notice of it, but be made them to know, that he did take notice of it; and that he had not forfaken the earth' tho' they had forfaken heaven.

vii. 21, 22.

Secondly, Corruption of nature. Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. All their wicked practices are here traced to the fountain and fpringhead; a corrupt heart was the fource of all. The foul which was made uprightin all its faculties, is now wholly difordered. The heart, that was made according to God's own heart, is now the reverse of it, a forge of evil imaginations, a link of inordinate affections; and a flore houfe of all impiety, Mark Behold the heart of the natural man, as it is opened in our text. The mind is defiled; the thoughts of the heart are evil; the will and affections are defiled: the ima gination of the thoughts of the heart (i. e. whatsoever the heart frameth within itself, by thinking, fuch as judgment, choice, purposes, devices, defires, every inward motion); or rather, the frame of thoughts of the heart (namely, the frame, make, or mould, of these, 1 Chron. xxix. 18.) is evil. Yea, and every imagination, every frame, of his thoughts, is fo. The heart is ever framing fomething; but never one right thing: the frame of thoughts, in the heart of man, is exceeding various: yet are they never call into a right frame: But is there not, at leaft, a mixture of good in them? No, they are only evil, there is nothing in them truly good and acceptable to God: nor can any thing be fa that comes out of that forge: where not the Spirit of God, bat the prince of the power of the air worketh, Eph. ii. 2. Whatever changes may be found in them, are only from evil to evil: for the imagination of the heart, or frame of thoughts

thoughts in natural men, is evil continually, or every day; From the first day, to the last day in this ftate, they are in midnight darkness; there is not a glimmering of the light of holiness in them; not one holy thought can ever be produced by the unholy heart. O what a vile heart is this! O what a corrupt nature is this! the tree that always brings forth fruit, but never good fruit, whatever foil it be fet in, whatever pains be taken on it, muft naturally be an evil tree : and what can that heart, whereof every imagination, every fet of thoughts, is only evil, and that continually? Surely that corruption is ingrained in our hearts, interwoven with our very natures, has funk into the marrow of our fouls; and will never be cured, but by a miracle of grace. Now fuch is man's heart, fuch is his nature, till regenerating grace change it. God that fearcheth the heart faw man's heart was fo, he took fpecial notice of it and the faithful and true witnefs cannot mistake our cafe; tho' we are most apt to mistake ourselves in this point, and generally do overlook it.

Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, faying, What is that to us? Let that generation of whom the text fpeaks, fee to that. For the Lord has left the cafe of that generation on record, to be a looking-glafs to all after generations; wherein they may fee their own corruption of heart, and what their lives would be too, if he reftrained them not; for as in water face anfwereth to face, fo the beart of man to man, Prov. xxvii 19. Adam's fall has fra med all mens hearts alike in this matter. Hence the apostle, Rem. iii. 10. -proves the corruption of the nature, hearts, and lives of all men, from what the Pfalmifi lays of the wicked in his day, Pfal. xiv. 1, 2, 3. Pfal. v. 9. Pfal. Cal. 3. Pfal. x, 7. Pfal. xxxvi. and from what Jeremiah faith of the wicked in his day, Jer. ix. 3. and from what Haiah fays of thofe that lived in his time, Ifa. Ivii. 7, 8. and concludes with that, ver. 19, Now we know, that ruhat things foever the law faith, it faith to them that are under the law: that every mouth may be flopped, and all the world may become guilty before God, Had the hiftory of the deluge been tranfmitted unto us, without the reason thereof in the text, we might thence have gathered the corruption and total de pravation of man's nature for what other quarrel could a

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holy and juft God have with the infants that were by the flood, feeing they had no actual fin? If wife man, who having made a curious piece of w heartily approved of it when he gave it out of his fit for the ufe it was defigned for, rife up in wrath it all in pieces when he lacked on it afterward we not thence conclude the frame of it had been red, fince it went out of his hand, and that it doe for that ufe it was at firft defigned for? How n when we fee the holy and wife God, deftroying t his own hands, once folemnly pronounced by him may we conclude that the original frame thereof marred, that it cannot be mended, but it mul new made, or loft altogether? Gen. vi. 6, 7. And the Lord that he had made man on the earth, an bim at his heart: and the Lord faid, I will deftr blot him out as a man doth a fentence out of a cannot be corre&ted, by cutting off fome letters, words, and interlining others here and there needs be wholly new framed. But did the delu this corruption of man's nature? Did it mend No, it did not. God, in his holy providence. mouth may be stopped, and all the new world guilty before God, as well as the old. permits the of nature to break out in Noah, the father of the after the deluge was over. Behold him as and finning in the fruit of a tree, Gen. ix 20, 21. a vineyard, and he drank of the wine, and u and he was uncovered within his tent. Mor God gives the fame reafon against a new delus gives in our text for bringing that on the wo not, (faith he,) again curfe the ground any m fake, for the imagination of man's heart is evil Gen. viii, 21. Whereby it is intimated tha mending of the matter by this means and th always take the fame courfe with men thar he would be always fending deluges on the the corruption of man's nature remains fill. food could not carry off the corruption of pointed at the way how it is to be done; men must be born of water and of the Spir

spiritual death in fin, by the grace of Jefus Chrift, who come by water and blood; out of which a new world of faints arise in regeneration, even as the new world of finners out of the waters, where they had long lain buried (as ́ it were) in the ark. This we learn from 1 Pet. iii. 20, 21. where the apofile fpeaking of Noah's ark, faith, Wherein few, that is, eight fouls, were faved by water. The like figure whereunto, even baptifm doth also now fave us. Now the waters of the deluge being a like figure to baptifm; it' plainly follows, that they fignified (as baptifm doth) the walking of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. To conclude then, thefe waters, tho' now dried up, may ferve us for a looking glats, in which we may fee the total corruption of our nature, and the neceffity of regeneration. From the text thus explained, arifeth this weighty point of DOCTRINE, which he that runs may read in it, viz. Man's nature is now whelly corrupted. Now is there a fad alteration, a wonderful overturn, in the nature of man: where, at first, there was nothing evil; now there is nothing good. In profecuting of this doctrine, 1 fhall,

Firft, Confirm it.

Secondly, Reprefent this corruption of nature in its feveral parts.

Thirdly, Shew you how man's nature comes to be thus corrupted.

Laftly, Make application,

That Man's Nature is corrupted.

FIRST, I am to confirm the doctrine of the corruption of nature to hold the glass to your eyes, wherein you may fee your finful nature? which, tho' God takes particular Dotice of it, many do quite overlook. And here we shall confult, 1. God's word, 2. Mens experience and obfere vation.

1. For fcripture proof, let us confider,

Firft, How the fcripture takes particular notice of fallen Adam's communicating his image to his pofterity, Gen. v. 3.

Ada

Adam begat a fon in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth. Compare with this ver. 1. of that chapter, In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him, Behold here, how the image after which man was made, and the image after which he is begotten, are oppofed. Man was made in the likeness of God: that is, a holy and righteous God made a holy and righteous creature: but fallen Adam begat a fon, not in the likeness of God, but in his own likeness; that is, corrupt finful 4dam begat a corrupt finful foo. For as the image of God bore righteoufnefs and immortality in it, as was cleared before, fo this image of fallen Adam bore corruption and death in it, 1 Cor. xv. 49, 50, compare ver. 22. Mofes, in that fifth chapter of Genefis, being to give us the first bill of mortality, that ever was in the world, ushers it in with this, that dying Adam begat mortals, Having finned, he became mortal, according to the threatning; and fo he begat a fon, in his own likeness finful, and therefore mortal: thus fin and death paffed on all. Doubtless, he begat both Cain and Abel in his own likeness, as well as Seth. But it is not recorded of Abel; because he left no iffue behind him, and his falling the first facrifice to death in the world, was a fufficient document of it: nor of Cain, to whom it might have been thought peculiar, becaufe of his monstrous wickedness; and befides, all his posterity was drowned in the flood: but it is recorded of Seth, because he was the father of the holy feed; and from him all mankind since the flood has defcended, and fallen Adam's own likeness with them.

Secondly, It appears from that scripture text, Job xiv. 4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one Our first parents were unclean, how then can we be clean? How could our immediate parents be clean? Or, how fhall our children be fo? The uncleannefs here aimed at is a finful uncleannefs; for it is fuch as makes man's days full of trouble and it is natural, being derived from unclean parents; Man is born of a woman, ver. 1. And how can he be clean that is born of a woman? Job xxxv. 4. Ar omnipotent God whofe power is not here challenged, could bring a clean thing out of an unclean; and did fo, in the cafe of the man Christ; but no other can. Every person that is born

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