(2.) Untenderness towards thofe that fall: Many in that cafe caft off all bowels of Chriftian compaffion; for they do not confider themfelves, left they also be tempted, Gal. vi. 1. Men's paffions are often highest against the faults of others, when fin fleeps foundly in their own breasts. Even good David, when he was at his worst, was most violent against the faults of others. While his confcience was afleep under his guilt, in the matter of Uriah; the Spirit of the Lord takes notice, that his anger was greatly kindled against the man, in the parable, 2 Sam xii. 5. And on good grounds, it is thought, it was at the fame time that he treated the Ammonites fo cruelly, as is related, ver. 31. Putting them under faws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and making them pafs throw the brick kiln. Grace makes men zealous against fin in others, as well as in themselves: but eyes turned inward to the corruption of nature, clothe them with pity and compaffion; and fill them with thankfulness to the Lord, that they themfelves were not the perfons left to be fuch fpectacles of human frailty. (3.) There are not a few, who, if they be kept from affliction in worldly things, and from grofs out-breakings in their converfation, know not what it is to have a fad heart. If they meet with a cross, which their proud hearts cannot stoop to bear, they will be ready to fay, O to be gone: but the corruption of their nature never makes them long for heaven. Lufts fcandaloufly breaking out at a time, will mar their peace: but the fin of their nature never makes them a heavy heart. (4.) Delaying of repentance, in hopes to fet about it afterwards. Many have their own appointed time for repentance and reformation: as if they were fuch complete masters over their lufts, that they can allow them to gather more strength, and yet overcome them. They take up refolutions to amend, without an eye to Jefus Chrift, union with him, and strength from him; a plain evidence they are ftrangers to themfelves; and fo they are left to themselves, and their flourishing refolutions wither; for as they fee not the nëceffity, fo they get not the benefit of the dew from heaven to water them (5.) Men's venturing frankly on temptations and promifing liberally on their own heads. They caft themselves fearlefly into temptation, in confidence of their coming off fairly: but were they fenfible of the corruption of their nature, they would beware of entering on the devil's ground: as one girt about with bags of gunpowder, would be loth to walk where fparks of fire are flying, left he fhould be blown up. Self-jealoufing well becomes Chriftians. Lord, is it I? They that know the deceit of their bow, will not be very confident that they fhall hit the mark. (6.) Unacquaintednels with heart-plagues. The knowledge of the plagues of the heart, is a rare qualification. There are indeed fome of them written in fuch great characters, that he who runs may read them; but there are others, more fubtile, which few do difcern. How few are there to whom the bias of the heart to unbelief, is a burden? Nay, they perceive it not. Many have had fharp convictions of other fins, that were never

M

to

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to this day convinced of their unbelief, tho' that is the fin specially aimed at in a thorough conviction, John xvi 8, 9-He will reprove the world of fin,because they believe not on me. A difpofition to establish our own righteoufnefs is a weed that naturally grows every man's heart: but few fweat at the plucking of it up: it lurks undifcovered. The bias of the heart to the way of the covenant of works, is a hidden plague of the heart to many. All the difficulty they find is, in getting up their hearts to duties: they find no difficulty in getting their hearts off them, and over them to Jefus Chrift. How hard is it to ftave men off from their own righteousness? Yet it is very hard to convince them of their leaning to it at all. Lastly, Pride and felf-conceit. A view of the corruption of nature would be very humbling; and oblige him that has it, to reckon himself the chief of finners. Under the greatest attainments and enlargements, it would be ballaft to his heart, and hide pride from his eyes. The want of thorough humiliation, piercing to the fin of one's nature, is the ruin of many profeffors: for digging deep makes great difference betwixt wife and foolith builders, Luke vi. 48, 49.

1

II. I will lay before you a few things, in which ye fhould have a fpecial eye to the fin of your nature. (1.) Have a special eye to it in your application to Jefus Chrift. Do you find any need of Chrift, which fends you to him as the Physician of fouls? O forget not your difeafe when you are with the Physician. They never yet knew well their errand to Christ, that went not to him for the fin of their nature: for his blood to take away the guilt of it, and his Spirit to break the power of it. Tho' in the bitterness of your fouls, you fhould lay before him a catalogue of your fins of ommiffion and commiffion, which might reach from earth to heaven; yet if the fin of your nature were wanting in it, affure yourselves, you have forgot the best part of the errand a poor finner has to the Physician of fouls. What would it have availed the people of Jericho, to have let before Elifba all the veffels in their city full of the water that was naught, if they had not led him forth to the fpring, to caft in the falt there? 2 Kings ii. 19, 20, 21. The application is easy. (2.) Have a special eye towards it in your repentance, whether initial or progreffive, in your firft repentance, and in the renewing of your repentance, afterwards. Tho' a man be fick, there is no fear of death, if the sickness ftrike not his heart; and there is as little fear of the death of fin, as long as the fin of our nature is not touched. But if ye would repent indeed, let the ftreams lead you up to the fountain; and mourn over your corrupt nature, as the caufe of all fin, in heart, lip, and life. Pfal. li. 4, 5. Against thee, thee only have I finned, and done this evit in thy fight-Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in fin did my mother conceive me. (4.) Have a fpecial eye upon it, in your mortification. Gal. v. 24. And they that are Chrift's have crucified the flesh. It is the root of bitterness, that must be ftruck at, which the ax of mortification must be laid to; elfe we labour in vain. In vain do men go

about

about to purge the ftreams, while they are at no pains about the muddy fountain: It is vain religion to attempt to make the life truly good, while the corruption of nature retains its ancient vigour, and the power of it is not broken. Laftly, Ye are to eye it in your daily walk. He that would walk aright, muft have one eye upwards to Jefus Chrift; and another inward to the corruption of his own nature. It is not enough that we look about us, we must also look within us. There the wall is weakeft; there our greatest enemy lies; and there are grounds for daily watching and mourning.

III. I fhall offer fome reafons, why we fhould efpecially notice the fin of our nature.

1. Because of all fins it is the most extensive and diffufive. It goes through the whole man, and fpoils all. Other fins mar particular parts of the image of God; but this doth at once deface the whole. A difeafe affecting any particular member of the body is ill; but that which affects the whole is worfe. The corruption of nature is the poifon of the old ferpent, caft into the fountain of action: and fo infects every action, every breathing of the foul.

1. It is the cause of all particular lufts, and actual fins, in our hearts and lives. It is the spawn which the great Leviathan has left in the fouls of men; from whence comes all the fry of actual fins and abominations. Mark vii. 21. Out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, &c. It is the bitter fountain: particular lufts are but rivulets running from it: which bring forth into the life, a part only, and not the whole of what is within. Now the fountain is ftill above the ftreams: fo where the water is good, it is beft in the fountain; where it is ill, it is worft there. The corruption of nature being that which defiles all, itself muft needs be the most abominable thing.

3. It is virtually all fin: for it is the feed of all fins which want but the occafion to fet up their heads: being in the corruption of nature, as the effect in the virtue of its caufe. Hence it is called a body of death, (Rom. vii. 24) as confifting of the feveral members, belonging to fuch a body of fins, (Col. ii. 11.) whofe life lies in fpiritual death. It is the curfed ground, fit to bring forth all manner of noxious weeds. As the whole neft of venemous creatures must needs be more dreadful, than any few of them that come creeping forth; fo the fin of thy nature, that mother of abominations must be worfe than any particular lufts, that appear ftirring in thy heart and life. Never did every fin appear in the converfation of the vileft wretch that ever lived; but look thou into thy corrupt nature, and there thou mayeft fee all and every fm in the feed and root thereof. There is a fulness of all unrighteoufnefs there, Rom. i. 29. There is atheism, idolatry, blafphemy, murder, adultery, and whatsoever is vile. Poffibly none of thefe appear to thee in thy heart: but there is more in that unfathomable depth of wickednefs, than thou knoweft. Thy corrupt heart is like an ant's neft, on which, while the ftone lieth, none of them appear: but take off the ftone, ftir them up, but with the point

of a straw, you will fee what a fwarm is there, and how lively they be. Juft fuck a fight would thy heart afford thee, did the Lord but withdraw the restraint he has upon it, and fuffer Satan to ftir it up by temptation.

4. The fin of our nature is, of all fins, the most fixed and abiding. Sinful actions, tho' the guilt and stain of them may remain, yet in themselves they are paffing. The drunkard is not always at his cup, nor the unclean perfon always acting lewdnefs. But the corruption of nature is an abiding fin: it remains with men in its full power by night and by day, at all times, fixed as with bands of iron, and brass: till their nature be changed by converting grace; and the remains of it continue with the godly, until the death of the body. Pride, envy, covetousness, and the like, are not always ftirring in thee. But the proud, envious, carnal nature is still with thee: even as the clock that is wrong, is not always ftriking wrong; but the wrong fet continues with it, without great intermillion.

5. It is the great reigning fin, Rom. vi. 12. Let not fin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lufts thereof. There are three things you may obferve in the corrupt heart. (1.) There is the corrupt nature; the corrupt fet of the heart whereby inen are unapt for all good, and fitted for all evil. This the apoftle here calls, fin which reigns. (2.) There are particular lufts, or difpofitions of that corrupt nature, which the Apostle calls the lufts thereof; fuch as pride, covetoufnefs, &c. (3.) There is one among thefe, which is (like Saul amongst the people) higher by far than the reft, namely, the fin which doth fo easily befet us, Heb.xii. 1. This we ufually call the predominate fin, because it doth, as it were, reign over other particular lufts; fo that other lufts muft yield to it. These three are like a river which divides itfelf into many ftreams, whereof one is greater than the reft. The corruption of nature is the river-head, which has many particular lufts, in which it runs: but it mainly difburdens itself into what is commonly called one's predominate fin. Now all of these being fed by the fin of our nature; it is evident that fin is the great reigning fin, which never lofeth its fuperiority over particular lufts, that live and die with it, and by it. But as in fome rivers, the main, ftream runs not always in one and the fame channel: fo particular predominants may be changed, as lufts in youth may be fucceeded by covetoufnefs in old age. Now, what doth it avail to reform in other fins, while the great reigning fin remains in its full power? What tho' fome particular luft be broken? If that fin, the fin of our nature keep the throne, it will fet up another in its ftead: as when a water-courfe is ftopt in one place, while the fountain is not dammed up, it will ftream forth another way. And thus fome caft off their prodigality, but covetoufnefs comes up in its ftead: fome caft away their profanity, and the corruption of nature fends not its main ftream that way as before: but it runs in another channel, namely, in that of a legal difpofition, felf-righteousness, or the like, fo

that

that people are ruined by their not eying, the fin of their nature. Laftly, It is an hereditary evil, Pfal. li. 5. In fin did my mother conceive me. Particular lufts are not fo, but in the virtue of their cause. A prodigal father may have a frugal fon: but this disease is neceffarily propagated in nature, and therefore hardest to cure. Surely then the word fhould be given out against this fin, as against the King of Ifrael, 1 Kings xxii. 31. Fight neither with small nor great, fave only with this: for this in being broke, all other fins are broken with it; and while it ftands entire, there is no victory.

IV. That ye may get a view of the corruption of your nature, I would recommend to you three things. (1.) Study know the fpirituality and extent of the law of God, for that is the glafs wherein you may fee yourselves. (2.) Obferve your hearts at all times, but efpecially under temptation. Temptation is a fire that brings up the fcum of the vile heart: do ye carefully mark the first rifings of corruption Laftly, Go to God through Jefus Chrift, for illumination by his Spirit. Lay out your foul before the Lord, as willing to know the vilenefs of your nature: fay unto him, That which I know not, teach thou me: and be willing to take in light from the word. Believe, and you fhall fee. It is by the word the Spirit teacheth, but, without the Spirit's teaching, all other teaching will be to little purpose. Tho' the gospel fhould fhine about you, like the fun at noon-day; and this great truth be never so plainly preached: you will never see yourselves aright, until the Spirit of the Lord light his candle within your breast: the fulness and glory of Chrift, the corruption and vilenefs of our nature, are never rightly learned, but where the Spirit of Chrift is the teacher.

And now to fhut up this weighty point, let the confideration of what is faid, commend Chrift to you all. Ye that are brought out of your natural state of corruption unto Chrift, be humble; ftill coming to Christ, and improving your union with him, to the further weak, ning of the remains of this natural corruption. Is your nature changed? It is ut in part fo. The day was, ye could not ftir; now ye are cured: but remember the cure is not yet perfected, ye ftill go halting. And tho' it were better with you than it is; the remembrance of what you were by nature, fhould keep you low. Ye that are yet in your natural ftate, take with it: believe the corruption of your nature: and let Chrift and his grace be precious in your eyes. O that ye O that ye Would at length be serious about the ftate of your fouls! What mind ye to do? Ye muft die; ye muft appear before the judgment feat of God. Will ye ly down, and fleep another night at ease, in this cafe? Do it not: for before another day you may be fifted before God's dreadful tribunal, in the grave cloaths of your corrupt ftate; and your vile fouls. caft into the pit of destruction, as a corrupt lump, to be for ever buried out of God's fight. For I testify unto you all, there is no peace with God, no pardon, no heaven for you, in this ftate: there is but a step. betwixt you and eternal deftruction from the presence of the Lord: