Some, indeed, give such an account of this text as if the apostle had said, "Do not ye live after the manner of the heathens, in the vilenessof those practices, and in their idol -worship. That long course of sin hav- ing blinded their understandings, so that they see not that which by the
1 " Quomodo nempe lux incassum circumfundit oculos ccecos vel clauses, ita animalis homo non percipit ea quae sunt Spiritus Dei." — 1 Gov. ii. 14; Bernard. Ser. i. sup. Cantic.
2 " Si quis per naturaa vigorem bonum aliquod quod ad salutem pertinet vit£e reter- niB, cogitare ut expedit, aut cligere, sive salutari, id est, EvangcliciB prs^dicationi con- sentirc posse confirmat, absque illuminatione et inspiratione Spiritus Sancti, qui dat omnibus suavitatem cousentiendo et crcdendo veritati, bieretico fallitur spiritu." — Cone. Arausic. ii. can. 7.
" Ideo dictum est quia nullus bominum illuminatur nisi illo luminc veritatis quod Dens est; ne quisquam putaret ab eo se illuminari, a quo aliquid audit ut discat, non dico si quenquam magnum boniinem, sed nee si angcluni ei contingat babcre doctorcm. Adbibetur enim scrmo veritatis extrinsecus vocis niinisterio corporali; verumtamen neque qui plautat est aliquid, ueijue qni rigat, sed qui increnientum dat Dcus. Audit quippe bomo dicentem vel homincm vel angelum, sed ut scntiat et cognoscat verum esse quod dicitur, illo lumine mens ejus intus aspergitur, quod setei*- num manct, quod etiam in tenebris lucet." — August, de Peccat. Meritis jetrfifeili;6'''C'T"'- lib. i. cap. 25.
250' COKEUPTION Oil DEPRAVATION [bOOK III.
light of nature tliey are enabled to see, and, by tliat gross ignorance and obduration of heart, run into all impiety, [they] are far removed from that life which God and nature require of them." It is supposed in tliis exposition, — (1.) That the apostle hath respect, in the first place, to the practice of the Gentiles, not to their state and condition. (2.) That this j)ractice concerns only their idolatry and idol-worship. (3.) That what is here ascribed unto them came upon them by a long course of sinning. (4.) That the darkness mentioned consists in a not discerning of what might be seen by the light of nature. (5.) That their alienation from the life of God consisted in running into that im- 2nety which was distant or removed from the life that God and nature require. But all these sentiments are so far from being contained in the text as that they are expressly contrary unto it; for, — (1.) Al- though the apostle doth carry on his description of this state of the Gentiles unto the vile practices that ensued thereon, verse 19, yet it is their state by nature, with respect unto the "life of God," which is first intended by him. This is apparent from what he prescribes unto Christians in opposition thereunto, — namely, " The new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness," verse 24. (2.) The "vanity" mentioned is subjective in their minds, and so hath no respect to idol-worship, but as it was an effect thereof. The "vanity of their minds" is the principle whereof this walking, be what it will, was the effect and consequent. (8.) Here is no mention nor intimation of any long course of sinning, much less that it should be the cause of the other things ascribed to the Gentiles ; whereof, indeed, it was the effect. The description given is that of the state of all men by nature, as is plain from chap. ii. 1-3. (4.) The " darkness" here mentioned is opposed unto being " light in the Lord," chap. V. 8 ; which is not mere natural light, nor can any by that light alone discern spiritual things, or the things that belong to the life of God. (5.) The life of God here is not that life which God and nature re- quire, but that life which God reveals in, requires, and communi- cates by, the gospel, through Jesus Christ, as all learned expositors acknowledge. Wherefore the apostle treateth here of the state of men by nature with respect unto spiritual and supernatural things. And three heads he reduceth all things in man unto: — 1. He men- tions Tov vovv, the "mind;" 2. Tnv didvoiav, the " understanding;" and, 3. Triv zapdiav, the " heart." And all these are one entire principle of all our moral and spiritual operations, and are all affected with the darkness and ignorance whereof we treat.
1. There is' 6 vovg, the " mind." This is the rh r;'ys/Mvr/.6v, the lead- ing and ruling facidty of the soul. It is that in us which looketh ;out aft^proper objects for the Avill and affections to receive and embrace. Hereby we have our first apprehensions of all things,
CHAP. III.] OF THE MIND BY SIN. 251
whence deductions are made to our practice. And hereunto is as- cribed iMaratoTTii, " vanity :" " They walk in the vanity of their mind." Thino-s in the Scripture are said to be vain which are useless and fruit- less. MttT-a/os, " vain," is from iMarriv, " to no purpose," Matt. xv. 9. Hence the apostle calls the idols of the Gentiles, and the rites used in their worship, i^draia, "vain things," Acts xiv. 15. So he ex- presseth the Hei)rew, ^''^•"V^n^ Jonah ii. 8, " lying vanities," or n.^?; which is as much as avoi(pi'kig, a thing altogether useless and unpro- fitable, according to the description given of them, 1 Sam. xii. 21, r\m !inh-''3 ^h'^'S^ ^h\ ^''yi''"^!' nj^'S inhn^ — " Vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain." There is no profit in nor use of that which is vain. As the mind is said to be vain, or under the power of vanity, two things are intended: — (1.) Its natural inclina- tion unto things that are vain, — that is, such as are not a proper nor useful object unto the soul and its affections. It seeks about to lead the soul to rest and satisfaction, but always unto vain things, and that in great variety. Sin, the world, pleasures, the satisfaction of the flesh, with pride of life, are the things which it naturally pur- sues. And in actings of this nature a vain mind abounds; it multi- plies vain imaginations, like the sand on the sea-shore. These are called "The figments of the hearts of men," Gen. vi. 5, which are found to be only "evil continually." These it feigns and frames, abundantly bringing them forth, as the earth doth grass, or as a cloud pours out drops of water. And herein, (2.) It is unstable; for that which is vain is various, inconstant, unfixed, light, as a natural mind is, so that it is like hell itself for confusion and disorder, or the whorish woman described by Solomon, Pro v. vii. 11, 12. And this hath be- fallen it by the loss of that fixed regularity which it was created in. There was the same cogitative or imaginative faculty in us in the state of innocency as there remains under the power of sin; but then all the actings of it were orderly and regular, — the mind was able to direct them all unto the end for which we were made. God was, and would have been, the principal object of them, and all other things in order unto him. But now, being turned off from him, the mind in them engageth in all manner of confusion; and they all end in vanity or disappointment. They offer, as it were, then- service unto the soul, to bring it in satisfaction. And although they are rejected one after another, as not answering what they pretend unto, yet they constantly arise under the same notion, and keep the whole soul under everlasting disappointments. And from hence it is that the mind cannot assent unto the common principles of religion in a due manner, which yet it cannot deny. This will be farther cleared afterward. Hereon in conversion unto God, we are said, .tg-b'^ye. our minds renewed, Rom. xii. 2, and to be " reiiewed in the spirit