The Nature, Power, Deceit, and Prevalency of Indwelling Sin

Examples of this nature are common in all Nations; amongst our selves, of women murdering their own children, through the deceitful reasoning of sin. And herein sin turns the strong current of nature, darkens all the light of God in the soul, controls all natural principles, influenced w•th the power of the command & will of God. But yet this evil hath, through the efficacy of sin, received a fearful aggravation. Men have not only slain, but cruelly sacrificed their children to satisfy their lusts. The Apostle reckons Idolatry, & so consequently all superstition, among the works of the flesh, Gal. 5. 20. that is, the fruit & product of indwelling sin. Now from hence it is that men have offered that horrid and unspeakable violence to the Law ⟨p. 270⟩of Nature mentioned. So the Psalmist tells us, Psal. 106. 37, 38. The same is again mentioned, Psal. 7. 31. and in sundry other places. The whole manner of that abomination I have elsewhere declared. For the present it may suffice to intimate, that they took their children and burnt them to ashes in a soft fire; the wicked Priests that assisted in the sacrifice affording them this relief, that they made a noise and clamour, that the vile wretches might not hear the woeful moans and cries of the poor dying tormented Infants. I suppose in this case we need no farther evidence. Naturalists can give no rational account, they can only admire the secret force of that little Fish, which, they say, will stop a ship in full sail in the midst of the Sea. And we must acknowledge, that it is beyond our power to give an account of that secret force, and unsearchable deceit that is in this inbred Traitor, Sin; that cannot only stop the course of nature, when all the sails of it that carry it forward are so filled, as they are in that of affections to children; but also drive it backward with such a violence & force, as to cause men so to deal with their own children, as a good man would not be hired with any reward to deal with his dog. And it may not be to the disadvantage of the best, to know and consider, that they carry that about them, in them, which in others hath produced these effects.

Examples of this nature are common in all Nations; amongst our selves, of women murdering their own children, through the deceitful reasoning of sin. And herein sin turns the strong current of nature, darkens all the light of God in the soul, controuls all natural principles, influenced wth the power of the command & will of God. But yet this evil hath, through the efficacy of sin, received a fearful aggravation. Men have not only slain, but cruelly sacrificed their children to satisfie their lusts. The Apostle reckons Idolatry, & so consequently all superstition, among the works of the flesh,