Fifteenth Argument.
slip into unchastity or dishonesty changes a modest woman into a strumpet, or an honest man into a thief. Again:
Ought not reason to have as absolute a command over appetite as a skilful rider has over a well-broken horse? But suppose we saw all horsemen universally mastered, one time or other, by their beasts; and forced, though but for a few minutes, to receive the bit, and go or stop at the pleasure of the wanton brutes: should we not wonder, and justly infer, that man had lost the kind of superiority which he still maintains over domestic animals? And what then, but the commonness of the case, can prevent our being shocked, when we see rational creatures overcome and led captive by carnal appetites? Is not this the wanton, rebellious beast mounting upon his vanquished, dastardly rider?
We may then conclude that the universal rebellion of our lower faculties against our superior powers, and the triumphs of sense over reason, demonstrate that human nature has suffered as fatal a revolution as these kingdoms did when a degraded king was seen bleeding on the scaffold, and a base usurper lording it in the seat of majesty.
FIFTEENTH ARGUMENT.
Happy would it be for us if our fall manifested itself only by some transient advantages of sense over reason. But, alas! the experience of the best demonstrates the truth of Isaiah’s words: “The whole head is sick.” To say nothing of the gross stupidity, and unconquerable ignorance, that keep the generality of mankind just above the level of brutes, how strong, how clear is the UNDERSTANDING of men of sense in worldly affairs! How weak, how dark in spiritual things! How few idiots are there but can distinguish between the shadow and the substance, the cup and the liquor, the dress and the person! But how many learned men, to this day, see no difference between water baptism and spiritual regeneration, between the means of grace and grace itself, between “the form” and “the power of godliness!” At our devotions is not our mind generally like the roving butterfly: and at our favourite diversions and lucrative business, like the fastening leech? Can it not fix itself on any thing sooner than on “the one thing needful;” and find out any way before that of peace and salvation? What can be more extravagant than our IMAGINATION? How often have we caught this wild power forming and pursuing phantoms, building and pulling down castles in the air! How frequently hath it raised us into proud conceits, and then sunk us into gloomy apprehensions! And where is the man that it never led into such mental scenes of vanity and lewdness, as would have made him the object of universal contempt, if the veil of a grave and modest countenance had not happily concealed him from public notice?
And has our MEMORY escaped unimpaired by the fall? Alas! let us only consider how easily we forget the favours of our Creator, and recollect the injuries of our fellow creatures; how little we retain of a good book or pious discourse, and how much of a play or frivolous conversation; and how exactly we remember an invitation to a party of pleasure, while the loudest calls to turn to God and prepare for death are no sooner heard than forgotten. Let us, I say, consider these things, and we shall be forced to confess, that this useful power loses like a sieve the living water of truth, drinks in like a sponge the muddy streams of vanity, and is never so retentive as when it is excited by revenge, or some other detestable temper. “A wretch that is condemned to die to-morrow cannot forget it,” says Baxter; “yet poor sinners, who are uncertain to live an hour, and certain speedily to see the majesty of the Lord, to their inconceivable joy or terror, can forget these things, for which they have their memory; and which, one would think, should drown the matters of this world, as the report of a cannon does a whisper, or as the sun obscures the poorest glowworm. O wonderful stupidity of an unregenerate soul! O astonishing distraction of the ungodly! That ever men can forget eternal joy, eternal wo, the eternal God, and the place of their unchangeable abode; when they stand even at the door, and there is but the thin veil of flesh between them and that amazing sight, that eternal gulf, into which thousands are daily plunging!”
Nor does our REASONf28 make us amends for the defects of our other faculties. Its beams, it is true, wonderfully guide some persons through the circle of sciences, and the mazes of commercial or political affairs. But when it should lead us in search of “the truth which is after godliness,” unless it is assisted from above, how are its faint rays obstructed by the gross medium of flesh and blood, broken by that of passion, and sometimes lost in that of prejudice! Wise sons of reason, learned philosophers, your two hundred and eighty-eight opinions concerning the chief good, are a