A fourth volume containing one hundred and fifty sermons on several texts of Scripture…

1. By Lusts are meant carnal Affections, or the risings of corrupt Nature, or all sorts of evil Desires: for it is usual in the New Testament to express Sins by ⟨p. 43⟩Lusts; partly, because Lusts are more corrupted than the Thoughts; or than the Counsels are, as appears by constant Experience. There is more Light left in the Heart of Man concerning God, than there is Love to God; and many are convinced of better that do worse; they see more than they are able to perform, because they are over-set by their Lusts. Reason giveth good Counsel, but it is overmastered and disregarded: as in a Mutiny the Gravest cannot be heard. And we see, that when we give Counsel to another in a thing in which we have no Interest, we give commonly good Counsel; but when the Matter concerneth our selves, we act otherwise, because our Desires carry us another way: therefore the Scripture expresseth Sin, rather by Lusts, than by Counsels and Imaginations; partly, because Lusts are the most vigorous commanding and swaying Faculty of the Soul. The desiring part of the Soul, is as the Stern to the whole Man, it is either the best or the worst part of the Man: a Man is as his Lusts are. For it is Desire that draws us to Action, we do not act because we know, but because we desire; as the Eye doth not carry the Body to a far Country, but the Feet. All Affections have their rise from some inclination and tendency of the Desire towards the Object; Amor meus pondus meum, It is Love or Desire that poiseth and inclineth the Heart. We are directed by the Judgment, but pressed and carried to a thing by the Heart. So Austin, Non faciunt bonos vel malos mores, nisi boni vel mali amores; A Man is not Good or Evil by his Thoughts, but by his Desires. It is true, before Man sinned, his Desires and Appetites were under Rule, and did not stir but at the Command of Reason; but now since the Fall, Desire doth all in the Soul, and Man consulteth with his Desires rather than any thing else, and there all Action and Pursuit beginneth. Thus you see the Reasons, why the word Lusts is used in this Case.

2. The next Term is, Worldly Lusts. Sometimes they are called Fleshly Lusts, and sometimes Worldly Lusts: