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

14.2 Why Jtis to be, &c. State IL
tis, Heb. xii. i. This we ufually call the predomtll
nant Sin, becaufe it doth, as it were, reign over o-
ther particular Lufts ; fo that other Lufts muft yield:
to it. Thefe three are like a River, which divides
itfelf into many Streams, whereof one is greater than,
the reft. The Corruption of Nature is the River
Head, which has many particular Lu is, in which’
it runs; but it mainly disburdens itfelf into -what
is commonly called one’s predominant Sin. Now all
of thefe being fed by the Sin of our Nature; ’tis e-J
vident, that Sin is the great reigning Sin, which ne¬
ver lofeth its Superiority over particular Lufts, that !
live and die with it, and by it. But as in fome j
Rivers the main Stream runs not always in one and
the lame Channel; fo particular 'Predominants may
be changed, as Luft in Youth, may be fucceeded by |
Covetoufnefs in old Age. Now what doth it avail :
to reform in other Things, while the great reigning
Sin remains in its full Power ? What tho’ fomc ;
particular Lufi be broken ? If that Sin, the Sin of :
our Nature, keep the Throne, it will fee up another \
in its ftead ; as when a Water-courfe is ftopt in one |
Place, while the Fountain is not damm’d up, it j
will ftream forth another Way. And thus fome
caft off their Prodigality, but Covetoufnefs comes up
in its ftead : Some caft away their Profanity, and ]
the Corruption of Nature fends not its main Stream j
that Way as before; but it runs in another Chan¬
nel, namely in that of a legal Difpofition, Self-Kigh- |
teoufnefs, or the like. So that People are ruined, by |
their not eyeing the Sin of their Nature.
Laftly, Tis an hereditary Evil, Pfal. li. 5. In
Sin did my Mother conceive me. Particular Lufts |
are not fo, but in the Virtue of their Caufc. A
prodigal Earlier may have a frugal Son : But this ;
Vi-