out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetoufnefs, &c. The natural man's affections are wretchedly mifplaced; he is a fpiritual monster. His heart is there, where his feet fhould be, fixed on the earth; his heels are lifted up againfi heaven, which his heart fhould be fet on, Acts ix. 5. His face is towards hell, his back towards heaven; and therefore God calls him to turn. He loves what he thould hate, and hates what he should love: joys in what he ought to mourn for, and mourns for what he fhould rejoice in; glorieth in his fhame, and is afhamed of his glory; abhors what he fhould defire, and defires what he should abhor, Prov. ii. 13, 14, 15. They hit the point indeed (as Caiaphas did in another cafe) who cried out on the apoftles as men that turned the world upside down, Acts xvii. 6. for that is the work the gospel has to do in the world, where fin has put all things fo out of order, that heaven lies under, and eartha top. If the unrenewed man's affections be fet on lawful fubje&s, then they are either exceffive, or defective. Lawful enjoyments of the world have fometimes too little, but mostly too much of them: either they get not their due; or, if they do it is meafure preffed down, and running ever. Spiritual things have always too little of them. In a word, they are always in, or over; never right, only evil.

Now here is a threefold cord against heaven and holinefs, not eafily broken; a blind mind, a perverfe will, and diforderly diftempered affections. The mind fwelled with felf-conceit, fays the man fhould not ftoop; the will oppo. fite to the will of God, fays he will not; and the corrupt affections rifing against the Lord, in defence of the corrupt will, fay, he fhall not. Thus the poor creature ftands out against God and goodnefs; till a day of power come, in which he is made a new creature.

IV. The conscience is corrupt and defiled, Tit. i. 15. It is an evil eye, that fills one's converfation with much darknefs and confufion; being naturally unable to do its office; till the Lord, by letting in a new light to the foul, awaken the confcience; it remains fleepy and unactive. Confciencecan never do its work, but according to the light it hath to work by. Wherefore feeing the natural man cannot fpirijually difcern spiritual things, (1 Cor. ii. 14. the confcience

F 3

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Daturally is quite ufelefs in that point; being caft into fuch a deep fleep, that nothing but a faving illumination from the Lord, can fet it on work in that matter. The light of the natural conscience in good and evil, fin and duty, is wery defective: therefore tho' it may check for groffer fins; yet as to the more fubtile workings of fin, it cannot check for them, because it discerns them not. Thus confcience will fly in the face of many, if at any time they be drunk, fwear, neglect prayer, or be guilty of any grofs fin; who other wife have a profound peace; tho' they live in the fin of unbelief, are ftrangers to fpiritual worship, and the life of faith. And natural light being but faint and languishing in many things which it doth reach, confcience in that cafe shoots like a ftitch in one's fide, which quickly goes off; its incitements to duty, and checks for and ftruggles against fin, are very remifs, which the natural man eafily gets over. But because there is a falfe light in the dark mind, the natural confcience following the fame will call evil good, and good evil, Ifa. v. 20. And so it is often found like a blind and furious horfe, which doth violently run down himself, his rider, and all that doth come in her way, John xvi. 2. Whofoever killeth you, will think that he doth God fervice. When the natural confcience is awakened by the Spirit of conviction, it will indeed rage and rore, and put the whole man in a dreadful confternation, awfully fummon all the powers. of the foul to help in a strait; make the fliff heart to tremble, and the knees to bow; fet the eyes a weeping, the tongue a. confeffing; and oblige the man to caft out the goods into the fea, which it apprehends are like to fink the ship of the foul, tho' the heart ftill goes after them, But yet it is an evil confcience, which natively leads to defpair, and will do it effectually, as in Judas's cafe; unless either lufts prevail over it, to lull it asleep, as in the cafe of Felix, Acts xxiv. 25. or the blood of Chrift prevail over it, fprinkling and purging it from dead works, as in cafe of all true converts, Heb. ix. 14. and. x. 23.

Laftly, Even the memory bears evident marks of this coxruption What is good and worthy to be minded, as it makes but flender impreffion, fo that impreffion easily wears off; the memory, as a leaking veflel, lets it flip, Heb. ii. 1. As a fieve that is full, when in the water, lets all go when

t is taken out; f is the memory, with respect to spiritual things. But how does it retain what ought to be forgotten? Naughty things fo bear in themselves upon it, that though men would fain have them out of mind, yet they stick there like glue. However forgetful men be in other things, it is hard to forget an injury. So the memory often furnishes new fuel to old lufts; makes men in old age to re-act the fins of their youth, while it prefents thern again to the mind with delight, which thereupon licks up the former vomit. And thus it is like the riddle, that lets through the pure grain, and keeps the refuge. Thus far of the corruption of the foul.

The body itself alfo is partaker of this corruption and defilement, fo far as it is capable thereof. Wherefore the Scripture calls it finful fleth, Rom. viii. 3. We may take this up in two things, (1) The natural temper, or rather diftemper of the bodies of Adam's children, as it is an effect of original fin; fo it hath a native tendency to fin, incites to fin, leads the foul into fnares, yea, is itself a fare to the foul. The body is a furious beaft, of such metal, that if it be not beat down, kept under, and brought into subjection, it will caft the foul into much fin and mifery, 1 Cor. ix. 27. There's a vilenefs in the body, (Phil. iii. 21.) which as to the faints, will never be removed, until it be melted down in a grave, and caft into a new mould, at the refurrection to come forth a fpiritual body: and will never be carried off from the bodies of thofe, who are not partakers of the refurrection to life. (2.) It ferves the foul in many fins. Its members are inftruments or weapons of unrighteousness, whereby men fight against God, Rom. vi. 13. The eye and ears are open doors, by which impure motions and finful defires enter the fool; the tongue is a world of iniquity; James iii. 6. an unruly evil, full of deadly poifon,' ver. 8. By it the impure heart vents a great deal of its filthiness. 'The throat is an open fepulchre, Rom. iii. 13. The feet run the devil's errands, ver. 15. The belly is made a god, Philip. iii. 19. Not only by drunkards and riotous livers, but by every natural man, Zech. vii. 6. So the body naturally is an agent for the devil; and a magazine of armour against the Lord.

To conclude, man by nature is wholly corrupted: From the fole of the foot, even unto the head, there is no foundness

in him. And as in a dunghill, every part contributes corruption of the whole; fo the natural can, while in flate, grows ftill worfe and worfe. The foul is made by the body, and the body by the foul: and every facu the foul ferves to corrupt another more and more. much for the fecond general head.

How man's nature was corrupted.

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THIRDLY, I fhall fhew how man's nature comes thus corrupted. The heathens perceived that man's n was corrupted: but now fin hath entred, they cou! tell. But the fcripture is very plain in that point, v. 12. By one man fin entered into the world, ver. 19 one man's disobedience, many were made finners. fin corrupted man's nature, and leavened the whole lu mankind. We putrified in Adam, as our root. The was poifoned, and fo the branches were envenomed vine turned the vine of Sodom and fo the grapes be grapes of gall. Adam, by his fin became not only g but corrupt; and fo tranfmits guilt and corruption pofterity, Gen. v. 3. Job xiv. 4 By his fin he ftript felf of his original righteoufnefs, and corrupted himfel were in him reprefentatively, being reprefented by hi our moral head, in the covenant of works; we werei feminally, as our natural head; hence we fell in him, by his disobedience, were made finners, as Levi, in the of Abraham paid tithes, Heb. vii. 9, 10. His firft imputed to us; therefore justly are we left under the of his original righteoufnels, which, being given to hin common perfon, he caft off, by his fin; and this is farily followed, in him and us, by the corruption of whole nature; righteousness and corruption being two traries, one of which muft needs always be in man, fubject capable thereof. And Adam our common fathe ing corrupt, we are fo too; for who can bring a clean out of an unclean?

Although it is fufficient to evince the righteoufnefs c difpenfation, that it was from the Lord, who dot things well; yet to filence the murmurings of prou ture, let thefe few things further be confidered, (1) 1

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covenant wherein Adam reprefented us. eternal happiness, was promised to him and his pofterity upon condition of his, that is, Adam's perfect obedience, as the reprefentative for all mankind whereas, if there had been no covenant, they could not have pleaded eternal life, upon their most perfect obedience, but might have been, after all, reduced to nothing notwithstanding, by natural juftice, they would have been liable to God's eternal wrath, in case of fin, Who in that cale would not have confented to that reprefentation? (2.) Adam had a power to ftand given him, being made upright. He was as capable to stand for himself, and all his pofterity, as any after him could be for themselves. This trial of mankind, in their head, would foon have been cver, and the crown won to them all, had he ftood; whereas, had his pofterity been independent on him, and every one left to act for himself, the trial would have been continually a-carrying on, as men came into the world. (3.) He had natural affections the ftrongeft to engage him, being our common father. (4.) His own flock was in the fhip, his all lay at flake as well as ours. He had no feparate intereft from ours; but if he forgot ours, he behoved to have forgot his own. (5.) If he had flood, we fhould have had the light of his mind, the righteousness of his will, and holiness of his affections, with entire purity tranfmitted unto us; we could not have fallen; the crown of glory, by his obedience, would have been for ever fecured to him and his. This is evident from the nature of a federal reprefentation; and no reafon can be given why, feeing we are loft by Adam's fin, we fhould not have been faved by his obedience. On the other hand, it is reasonable, that he falling, we fhould with him bear the lofs. Laftly, Such as quarrel this difpenfation, muft renounce their part in Chrift, for we are no otherwife made finners by Adam, than we are made righteous by Chrift; from whom we have both imputed and inherent righteoufnefs. We no more made choice of the fecond Adam, for our head and reprefentative in the fecond covenant; than we did of the firft Adam in the first

Covenant

Let none wonder that fuch an horrible change would be brought on by one fiu of our firft parents, for thereby they turned away from God, as their chief end, which neceffarily