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Vol. II. not in him. And fo by degrees we arrive at a reprobate Senfe, we doat upon those Sins which at firft we were troubled for, we commit with Greediness and Confidence what we did at firft with Relu&tancy and Fear; and the Allurements which at firft could scarcely and with much Difficulty tempt us, have at length obtain'd an abfolute Command and an arbitrary Sovereignty over us; and God, whom we at firft fhunn'd for a Moment out of Guilt and Shame, is now downright forfaken out of downright Averfion and Alienation of Mind; Modesty before kept us from the Prefence of an injur'd God, but now Filthinefs and Senfuality from the Presence of a holy one. O deteftable Nature of Sin! Where doft thou begin, and where doft thou end? Thou beginneft in a flighting of God, and endeft in the Hatred of him: Thou beginneft in Folly and Shame, and endest in Obduracy of Heart and downright Wickedness. Is this the thing which you call harmless and innocent? Is this the thing which you would have pafs as a flight Defect, or a harmless Fancy and Humour, voluntarily to tranfgrefs the Law of God, to contemn his Majefty, to flight his Mercy, to defy his Wrath, to hate his · Holiness

1

Sin a Depravation of our Nature.

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Holiness and Goodnefs? Who can efti- Ser. VI. mate the Greatness of our Guilt? But,

III. Sin implies the utmoft Depravation of our Nature. And here I fhall

fhew you,

Ift. That it doth Deprave. And,

2dly, How ugly this Depravation renders us, and how juftly it fubjects us to the Wrath of God, and to the Punishment of Hell.

1. It does deprave: Whereas Holiness and Vertue ftamp the Divine Image upon us, Sin defaces it; the one makes us like God, the other as like Brutes or Devils as we can be: The Holy Spirit dwells and reigns in the Vertuous, but the wicked Spirit works mightily in and rules over the Vicious; no wonder then if Life and Glory be the Portion of the one, Corruption and Death of the other, for they are fitted and qualified for thefe different States. But I muft confider this matter more fully and diftinctly.

How far we are fallen by the Sin of our first Parents, from the Excellency of our Original; whether we are now but the Ruines of the Structure which God himself form'd out of the Duft, and infpir'd with a living Soul, is not now my business to determine. I enquire not after Original, as they call it, but Actu

al

Vol. II, al Sin; not after involuntary Defects, but voluntary Corruptions of our Nature; and nothing is more evident than this, that how defective foever our Nature be, it is made much worse, much more deform'd and diseased by Sin.

The Health and Beauty of Humane Nature confifts efpecially in two things, the clearness of Understanding, and liberty or rather power of Will, which is as much as to fay Light in the Superior Man and Subjection in the Inferior; or in few words, Prudence and Power, a Wife and Gracious Sovereignty in the Mind of Man: But what can be more repugnant to this than Sin? What doth more directly tend to fubvert this beautiful Order in Man, to overthrow the Dignity of the Mind of Man, to invert the Subordination of the Inferior to the Superior and governing part than Sin doth? What doth more obfcure the Understanding, or pervert the Affections of Man, what doth more infatuate the Judgment, or infeeble the Power of the Mind of Man than Sin? What Truths can be fo plain or important that Sin will not tempt us to call into queftion or reject? What Maxims, what Rules, what Counfels can be fo wife and fafe that Sin will not defpife? What Duties can be fo plain

or

or neceffary that Sin will not violate? Ser.VI. What Affections can be fo natural that Sin will not extinguish? When Lufts and Paffions reign, no Talent is rightly imploy'd, no Truft faithfully discharged, no Reafon is hearken'd to, natural Affecti on is loft in Parents and Children, Faith and Love in Husbands and Wives, Subjects grow wanton in their Plenty and are weary of their Peace, Princes have no Tenderness for their People and indure no Bound to their Power; and in one word, Man who feems to have been made on purpose to Admire, Love, Worship and Glorify God, becomes unfit for any thing like this and averfe to it. Man who seems made for Society and fhould be a kind and generous, a fociable and ingenuous Creature, becomes Selfish, Envious, Contentious, Injurious, Fraudu lent, Senfual, Lawlefs and Irrational. Now if Sin caufes fo great a Depravation in our Nature, this we

2dly, Muft needs render us exceeding ugly and deform'd. All vicious Actions, like the Motions of a diftorted or infirm Body, have no Gracefulness or Beauty in them. How mean, how fordid is Covetoufnefs and Falfhood? How fhameful and brutish is Luft and Intemperance? How favage and barbarous is Wrath and

Cruelty?

Vol. II. Cruelty? How felfifh and infolent is Pride and Ambition? And in a word, how reproachful is Injuftice, and how contemptible is Folly? But on the other hand, How Godlike an Excellence is Charity? How Seraphical, Devotion? How Human and Sociable, Juftice? What Erectness and Gracefulness, What Majefty and Authority, What Charm and Sweetness may we behold in that Character, which is made up of a Combination of the Graces and the Vertues of the Gofpel?

From this Natural Beauty, which there is in Vertue, and from this natural Deformity, which there is in Vice, it proceeds that Men affect to be thought Vertuous, that they act what may look like Virtue upon the open Scene; but retire within Curtains and Shades, within Darkness and Night to commit. Sin. Hence it is, that Men love and reverence fuch as have a well-grounded Reputation for Goodness, tho' unfeen, unknown to 'em; as if their diftant Reflection had a a kind of fhine in it, which did warm and delight 'em, But on the other hand, Men contemn and avoid fuch as are any way notorious and infamous for Vice, as if they had fomething of french and infetion in them. From the fame ground