A Body of Practical Divinity

1. An aversion from Good: Man hath a desire to be happy, yet opposeth that which should promote his happiness; he hath a disgust of holiness, he hates to be reformed. Since we fell from God, we have no mind to return to him.

2. A propension to Evil. If as the Pelagians say, there were so much goodness in us since the Fall, then why is there not as much natural proneness to Good, as there is to Evil. Our own experience tells us, that the natural bias of the Soul hath a tendency to that which is bad. The very Heathens by the Light of Nature saw this; Heriocles the Philosopher said, [Greek or Hebrew], 'tis grafted in us by Nature to sin: Men roll sin as honey under their Tongue.—They drink iniquity as water, Job 15.16. Like an hydropical person, that thirsts for drink and is not satisfied, so they have a kind of drought on them, they thirst for sin. They sin [Greek or Hebrew], Eph. 4.19. Though they are tired out in committing sin, yet they sin; Jer. 9.5. They weary themselves to commit iniquity; as a Man that follows his game while he is weary, yet he delights in it, and cannot leave off. Though God hath set so many flaming Swords in the way to stop Men in their sin, yet they go on in sin, which all shows what a strong Appetite they have to the forbidden Fruit.

2. A propension to Evil. If as the Pelagians say, there were so much goodness in us since the Fall, then why is there not as much natural proneness to Good, as there is to Evil. Our own experience tells us, that the natural biass of the Soul hath a tendency to that which is bad. The very Heathens by the Light of Nature saw this; Heriocles the Philosopher said, 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, 'tis grafted in us by Nature to sin: Men roll sin as hony under their Tongue.—They drink iniquity as water,