the Creature doth only broach the Barrel, gives vent to our Desires, and we run dreggy and filthy. Were it not for Lust, nothing in the World could harm us. All other things are conquered with ease, if a Man could subdue his own Affections; and all Temptations are so far under us, as we are above our selves. Again, it is Lust that doth hinder our Peace. How quietly and happily would Men live, if they were more mortified? Men desire more than they have, and so are made poor, not by Want, but by Desire. He that expects little, is soon satisfied; and certainly he will never storm at Injuries, that hath overcome his own Passion: whereas a froward Man is at the command of others, because he hath not the command of himself: he doth not storm at Disgrace, that hath not set too high a price upon himself. If a Man be vile and little in his own eyes, when others contemn and slight him, they do but ratify his private opinion of himself; and who is angry with another, because he is of the same judgment with himself? But usually this is the cause of Discontent and Trouble, we set too high a price upon our selves; and when others will not come up to it, we are troubled: Take away the Lust, and Trouble ceaseth. No Man is hurt but by himself. It is a Man's own Affection and Feeling that makes the Misery: Always the fuller of Lust, the fuller of Discontent. What need Haman be troubled, that Mordecai would not bow the Knee, but that he looked for it, and set a value and esteem upon it? The Inordinateness of Affection causeth the Greatness of the Affliction; and because Lust is not mortified, the Life is full of Trouble: We would have more than God allows us, and so our ⟨p. 55⟩Trouble doth increase. Again, as Lusts deny them, for Lusts will end in gross Sins, and gross Sins in public Shame: and therefore as Elisha cast Salt into the Spring, to cure the Brackishness of the Water; so look to Lusts, they are the Spring and Rise of evil Actions. Let any Lust alone, (either Pride, or Envy, or Worldliness) if you do not destroy it, it will prove a bitter Root to some gross Sin, and it may be of final Apostasy and Desperation. A Man that is given to worldly Lust, one time or other is put upon the trial; if we find the Sin, Providence will find the Occasion, and then he comes off with visible Shame and Dishonour. There is the Root within;
the Creature doth only broach the Barrel, gives vent to our Desires, and we run dreggy and filthy. Were it not for Lust, nothing in the World could harm us. All other things are conquered with ease, if a Man could subdue his own Affections; and all Temptations are so far under us, as we are above our selves. Again, it is Lust that doth hinder our Peace. How quietly and happily would Men live, if they were more mortified? Men desire more than they have, and so are made poor, not by Want, but by Desire. He that expects little, is soon satisfied; and certainly he will never storm at Injuries, that hath overcome his own Passion: whereas a froward Man is at the command of others, because he hath not the command of himself: he doth not storm at Disgrace, that hath not set too high a price upon himself. If a Man be vile and little in his own eyes, when others contemn and slight him, they do but ratify his private opinion of himself; and who is angry with another, because he is of the same judgment with himself? But usually this is the cause of Discontent and Trouble, we set too high a price upon our selves; and when others will not come up to it, we are troubled: Take away the Lust, and Trouble ceaseth. No Man is hurt but by himself. It is a Man's own Affection and Feeling that makes the Misery: Always the fuller of Lust, the fuller of Discontent. What need Haman be troubled, that Mordecai would not bow the Knee, but that he looked for it, and set a value and esteem upon it? The Inordinateness of Affection causeth the Greatness of the Affliction; and because Lust is not mortified, the Life is full of Trouble: We would have more than God allows us, and so our ⟨p. 55⟩Trouble doth increase. Again, as Lusts deny them, for Lusts will end in gross Sins, and gross Sins in publick Shame: and therefore as Elisha cast Salt into the Spring, to cure the Brackishness of the Water; so look to Lusts, they are the Spring and Rise of evil Actions. Let any Lust alone, (either Pride, or Envy, or Worldliness) if you do not destroy it, it will prove a bitter Root to some gross Sin, and it may be of final Apostacy and Desperation. A Man that is given to worldly Lust, one time or other is put upon the trial; if we find the Sin, Providence will find the Occasion, and then he comes off with visible Shame and Dishonour. There is the Root within;
