Doct. 1. That it is God alone that sets our hearts right, or inclines them from their carnal bent to his own testimonies.
That I shall illustrate by these considerations : —
First, The heart of man must have an object unto which it is in- clined or whereunto it doth cleave ; for it is like a sponge, that being thirsty in itself, sucks in moisture from other things ; it is a chaos of ■desires, seeking to be filled with something from without. We were made for another, to be happy in the enjoyment of a being without us ; therefore man must have something to love ; for the affections of the soul cannot lie idle and without an object : Ps. iv. 6, ' The many will say, who will show us any good ? ' "\Ye all hunt about for a match for our affections, for some good to satisfy us.
Secondly, The heart being destitute of grace, is wholly carried out to temporal things. Why ? Because they are next at hand, and suit best with our fleshly natures. I say, out of a despair of meeting with better, we take up with those objects that we are most conversant about, which are carnal contentments, the good of which we can appre- hend and relish with our natural faculties. There are two reasons of the addictedness that is in man's heart to temporal things — (1.) Natural inclination; and (2.) Inveterate custom.
1. Natural inclination. That there is a greater proneness in us to evil than good is clear, not only by scripture but by plain experience. Now whence is it that we are thus viciously disposed ? The soul be- ing created by God, he infuseth no evil into it, for that would not stand with the holiness of his nature. I answer — Though the soul be created by God, yet it is created destitute of grace or original right- eousness ; and being destitute of the image of God, or original right- eousness, can only close with things present and known, having no other light and principle to guide it. Now things known and things pre- sent, they are the pleasures of the body, as meats, drinks, natural gener- ation, wealth, and honour. Now, these being wholly minded, avert us from the love and study of supernatural things. It is true these things are good in themselves, and that self-love which carrieth us out
VeR. 36.] SERMONS UPON TSALM CXIX. 373
to them is naturally good ; but thoup^h it be naturally good, it proves morally evil when the love of these things destroys the love of God, which must needs be if we be destitute of grace. The love of our- selves and outward things necessarily grows inordinate, not being guided and directed by grace. It is a rule among divines, Si non incst quod inesse deheret, necessario inerit quod non inesse deheret — a privation falling upon an active subject (such as the soul of man is) doth necessarily infer disorder and irregularity in its operations. Take away light from the air, it must be dark, and when the sun is down it must be night. So it is if grace be taken away. The great work of grace is to make God our last end and our chiefest good. Now, this last end being changed, all things must needs run into disorder with man. Why ? For the last end is ijrincipium universalissimum, the most universal principle upon which all moral perfections depend. Look, as Adam and Eve, after they had eaten the forbidden fruit, for- feited the image of God, and were polluted, so we. Why ? Did God infuse pollution and filthiness in them? or had the fruit any such poisonous quality ? No ; their last end was changed, which is the great principle that runs through all our actions ; and when our end is changed, then all runs to disorder. They fell from God, whom be- fore they made their chiefest good, and their last end. I say, they fell from God as envious, false, and wishing ill to them ; and by the devil's instigation turned to the creature to find happiness in them, against the express will and command of God. As the first man was infected, so are all men wholly perverted, for sin still consists in a conversion from God to the creature, Jer. ii. 13 ; 2 Tim. iii. 4. By the change of our end all moral goodness is lost, for all means are subordinate to •the last end, and are determined by it. Now necessarily thus it will be without grace ; there will be a conversion of a man to the creature and the body, with the conveniences and comforts thereof ; the interest and concernments of the body are set up instead of God. For though the soul Cometh down from the superior world, yet it soon forgets its divine original, and being put into the body, it conforms itself to the body, and only adheres to objects visible and corporeal. As water, being put into a square vessel, hath a square form, into a round vessel, hath a round form, so the soul, being infused into the body, is led by it, and accommodates all its faculties and operations to the welfare of the body. And thence comes our ignorance, averseness of soul from holiness, unruliness of appetite, and inclination to sensual things. In short, without grace, a man's mind is carried headlong after worldly vanities. As water runs where it finds a passage, so the soul of man, being destitute of the image of God, finds a passage towards temporal things, and so runs out that way.