Religion & morality > Human nature in its four-fold state ... in several practical discourses

4a That Mans- Nature State II,
it may be, thank God with a whole Heart, that ye j
are not like thefe other Men: And indeed ye have !
better Reafon for it, than, I fear, ye are aware of; 1
for as, in Water, Face anjhjereth Face, fo the Heart \
of Man to Man, Prov. xxvii. 19. As looking into
clear Water, ye fee your own Face; fo looking into
your Heart, ye may fee other Mens there: And look¬
ing into other Mens, in them ye may fee your own.
So that the moft vile and profane Wretches that are
in the World, fhould ferve you for a Looking-glafs;
in which you ought to difcern theCorrnption of your .
own Nature: A.ftd if you do fo, ye would, with a
Heart truly touched, thank God, and not your
felves, indeed, that ye are not as other Men, in your
Lives; feeing the Corruption of Nature is the fame
in you, as in them.
Fourthly, Caft your Eye upon thefe terrible Con-
•vulfions, the World is thrown into, by the Lulls of
Men. Lions make not a Prey of Lions, nor Wolves
of Wolves : But Men are turned Wolves to one a-
nother, biting and devouring one another. Upon
how flight Occafions will Men Iheath their Swords
in one anothers Bowels ? The World is a Wilder-
nefs, where the deareft Fire Men can carry about
with them, will not fright away the wild Beafts that
inhabit it, (and that becaufe they are Men, and not
Brutes) but one Way or other they will be wounded.
Since Cain fhed the Blood of Abel, the Earth has
been turned into a Slaughter-houfe; and the Chafe
has been continued fince Nimrod began his Hunt¬
ing ; on the Earth as in the Sea, the greater ftill de¬
vouring the lefler. When we fee the World in fuch
a Ferment, every one ftabbing another with Words
©r Swords, we may conclude there is an evil Spirit
among them. Thefe violent Heats among Adam*s