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

68 The Corruftion of State II.
Bird got loofc out of the Cage, skipping from Bufh
to Bufh ; fo that, in effeft, the Man never comes t«
himfelf, till he begone from the Prefence of the Lord.
Say not, 'tis impoflible to get the Mind fixed.
’Tis hard indeed, but not impoflible. Grace from
the Lord can do it, Pfal. cviii. i. Agreeable Ob¬
jects will do it. A pleafant Speculation will arreft
the Minds of the Inquifitive : The worldly Man’s
Mind is in little Hazard of wandering, when he is
contriving of Bufinefs, catting up his Accounts, or
telling his Money; If he anfwer you not at firft, he
tells you, he did not hear you, he was bufy ; his
Mind was fix’d. Were we admitted into the Pre¬
fence of a King to petition for our Lives, we would
be in no Hazard of gazing thro’ the Chamber/ of
Prefence. But here lies the Cafe, the carnal Mind,
imployed about any fpiritual Good, is out of its
Element, and therefore cannot fix.
Evid. 5. But however hard it is to keep the
Mind on good Thoughts, it flicks as Glew to what
is evil and corrupt like itfelf, 2 Pet. ii. 14. Having
Eyes fvU of Adultery^ and that cannot ceafe from
Sin. Their Eyes cannot ceafc from Sin (fo the
Words are conftru&ed) that is, their Hearts and
Minds venting by the Eyes, what is within, are like
a furious Beaft, which cannot be held in, when once
it has got out its Head. Let the corrupt Imagina¬
tion once be let loofe on its proper Objed ,• ’twill
be found hard Work to call it back again, tho’
both Reafon and be for its Retreat. For then
it is in its own Element; and to draw it off from
its Impurities, is as the drawing of a Fifh out of
the Water, or the renting of a Limb from a Man.
It runs like Fire fet to a 1 rain of Powder, that reft-
cth not till it can get no further.
Evid. 6,