The Touchstone of Sincerity, Chapter 6
CHAP. VI.
…ewing Indwelling sin to be to grace, what fire is to gold; and how the soundness and unsoundness of our hearts are discovered by our Carriage toward it.
…ECT. 1.
PRosperity and adversity put sincerity to the tryal, but nothing …akes a deeper search into our bosomes, …thing sifts our spirits more narrowly, or …lls us what our state is more plainly than … behaviour towards that corruption that wells in us; the thorn is next neighbour … the rose: sin and grace dwell not only … the same soul, but in the same faculties. …he Collier and Fuller dwell in one room, …hat one cleanseth the other blacks: of … the evils God permits in this world, none … more grievous to his people than this: …ey sometimes wonder why the Lord will …ffer it to be so; why, surely among other …ise and holy ends of this permission, these …e some.
They are left to try you, and to humble …; there is no intrinsecal goodness in sin, … how…ver in this it occasions good to us, …at by car carriage towards it we discern … sincerity. The touch-stone is a worthless one in it self, but it serves to try the gold: Joh. 3. 9, 10. Whosoever is born of God; doth … commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God; in … the Children of God are manifest, and the …dren of the Devil; q. d. in respect of their …riage towards sin, the one & other is plai… manifested: this is that which separates… dross from the gold, and shews you what true state of Mens Persons, and tempe… their hearts is. By not sinning we are no… understand a total freedom from it in … World, as if it implied any such perfect… of the People of God in this World, th… the Popish and Pelagian sense: nor yet … we take it in the Arminian sense, who … void the Argument of the Orthodox, will …derstand it of the sin against the Holy Gh… what a strange thing would it be to … that a Characterstical note of distinction …twixt the godly and ungodly, which so … few even of the most ungodly are e… guilty of?
But the manner of our behaviour tow… sin, and our carriage towards it before, under, or after the commission of it; in … the Children of God are manifest, and Children of the Devil.
Now there are five things relating … that discriminate and mark the state of Persons: the difference is discernable,
In our
1. Abstinence for Sin.
2. Hatred of Sin.
3. Troubles about Sin.
4. Subjection to Sin.
5. Opposition of Sin.
SECT. II.
THe Grounds and Motives of our abstinence do very clearly manifest … state of our souls; what they are in the …generate, and unregenerate, is our next …rk. And let it be considered,
… First, Tha… an unsound and unrenewed …art may abstain from one sin, because it … contrary to, and inconsistent with ano…er sin: for it is with the sins of our na…es, as it is with the diseases of our bodies: …ough all diseases be contrary to health, yet …e diseases (as the Feaver and Palsie) are …ntrary to each other. So are prodigality … Covetousness, Hypocrisie, and Prosane…ss: these oppose each other, not for mu…l destruction as sin and grace do, but for …eriority, each contending for the throne, … sometimes taking it by turns: it is with … persons as with that possessed man, …. 17. 15. whom the spirit cast some…es into the fire, sometimes into the water: … if one subdue the other, yet the heart is … subdued to the vassalage of that lust that …ppermost in the soul.
2. Secondly, An unrenewed soul may … kept from the commission of some sin; … because there is a principle of grace with… him, but because of some providential … straint without him, or upon him: For it ofte… falls out, that when men have conceived … and are ready to execute it, providen… claps on the fetters of restraint, and hinde… them from executing it.
This was the case of Abimeleck, Gen. 2▪ 6. and 17. compared, I withheld thee: A… though persons so restrained, have not … good of such providences, yet others hav… for by it a world of mischief is prevented… the world, which otherwise would bre… out; & to this act of providence we owe … lives, liberties, estates & comforts in this wor…
3. Thirdly, An unsound heart may … commit some sins; not because he truly ha… them, but because his constitution incli… him not to them: these men are rather … holding to a good temper of body, than a gracious temper of soul. Some men cann… be drunkards if they would; others cann… be covetous and base▪ …hey are made …è meli…luto of a more refined metal than others; … chast and liberal, just & sober nat…re, … nature still: the best nature in all is end…ments, is but nature at the best.
4. Fourthly, A graceless heart may be… strained from sin by the force of educa… … principles of morality that way instilled … it. Thus Iehoash was restrained from … 2 Kings 12. 2. and Iehoash did that which … right in the sight of the Lord all the dayes …erein Iehojadah the Priest instructed him. … fear of a Parent or M…ter, will do …reat deal more with some in this case, … the fear of God. The influence of a …ct education nips off the excrescencies of …ding vice. The way we are taught when …, we keep when old: this is the influ…e of man upon man; not the influence …he regenerating spirit upon men.
…. Fifthly. A Graceless heart may be kept …n some sins by the fear of the events, both …his world, and that to come. Sin that is …owed with infamy and reproach among …, may on this ground be forborn; not …use God hath forbiden it, but because hu…e laws will punish it, and the sober world … brand us for it: and some look farther, …e punishment of sin in hell: they are not …id to sin, but they are afraid to burn.
…ere sin is like a sweet rose in a brake …orns: fain we would have it, but are … to …ear our flesh to come by it. It's … that in is prevented any way, but to …ept on this ground from sin, doth not …e the estate of the person to be good: … you see some of the grounds on which …al men are restrained: & in this the children … devil are manifest.
SECT. III.
BUt there are grounds of abstinence … sin, by which the children of God a… manifested, and such are these that follo…
1. First, A sincere heart dares not sin cause of the eye and fear of God which i… on him: So you find it in Iob 31. 1. … 4. he durst not allow his thoughts to sin cause he lived under the awe of Gods Nehemiah durst not do as former Gover… had done: though an opportunity prese… to enrich himself; because of the fear … God, Nehem. 5. 15. The soul that live … the awe of this eye will be as co…entious where no discovery can be mad… Creatures, as if all the world looke… Levit. 19. 14. Thou shalt not curse the… nor put a stumbling block before the blind▪ shalt fear thy God, I am the Lord.
What if a man do curse the deaf, the cannot hear him; and what if he do … stumbling block before the blind, the … cannot see him: true, but God sees… God hears him, that's enough to a man… hath the fear of the Lord upon his …
2. Secondly, As the fear of Go… so … of God, is a principle of restraint from … the soul that is upright. This kept Ioseph from sin, Gen. 39. 9. How can I … great wickedness, and sin against God!
I? he speaks as a man that feels himself …nd up from fin by the goodness and love God that had been manifested to him, q. …ath he delivered me from the pit into …ch my envious brethren cast me? hath …n so miraculous a way advanced me to …his honour and power in Egypt? and …, after all his kindness and love to me, … I sin against him? O how can I do … against so good, so gracious a God? Psal. 97. 10. ye that love the Lord hate evil. …e will cry ou… in the hour of Temp…ati…s this thy kindness to thy friend? Dost … thus requite the Lord for all his kind…es?
…. Thirdly, As the love of God, so the insecal evil and filthiness that is in sin keeps … the gracious soul from it, Rom. 12. 9. …or that which is evil, foreign, … it as hell it self: or as the French Tran…n hath it, be in horrour: as the appre…sions of hell, so the apprehensions of sin …ress horrour upon the mind that's sancti…: nothing more loathsome to an holy … Its aversations from it are with the hest indignation and loathing.
…. Fou…thly, The renewed Nature of a … rest…ains him from sin, Gal. 5. 17. The … lusteth against the flesh, so that ye cannot … thing that ye would: Ye cannot, why …not ye? because it is against your new …ure.
Beloved, This is a very remarkable thi… in the experience of all renewed men, … upon the renovation of mens principles, th… delights, and their aversations and loathin… are laid quite cross and oppostie to wh… they were before. In their carnal state, va… company, and sinful exerci…es were their …ight. To be separated from these, and ty… to prayer, meditation, heavenly discourse, company; O what a bond…ge would … have been! Now be tyed to such carnal…ciety, and restrained from duties of godline and the society of the godly, becomes a mu… sorer bondage to the soul.
5. Fifthly, Experience of the bitterness of … is a restraint to a gracious heart. They th… have had so many sick dayes, and sorrows… nights for sin as they have had, are loth … taste that wormwood and gall again, whi… their soul hath still in remembrance, 2 C… 7. 11. In that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, wh… carefulness it wrought! he would not grapp… with those inward troubles again, he wou… not have the cheerful light of Gods Cou… tenance eclipsed again for all, and much mo… than all the pleasures that are in sin▪
6. Sixthly, The Consideration of the Suff… ings of Christ for sin, powerfully withholds gracious soul from the Commission of it Rom. 6. 6. Our old man is Crucified with hi… that the body of sin might be destroyed, th… …enceforth we should not serve sin. Were there … knife or sword in the house that had been …hurst through the heart of your Father, would …ou ever endure the sight of it? sin was the …ord that pierced Christ, and so the death of Christ becomes the death of sin in his …eople. Thus the Children of God, and …he Children of the Devil are manifest, in …he principles and reasons of their abstinence …rom sin.
SECT. IV.
(….) SEcondly, They are also manifested by their hatred of sin: this puts a clear distinction betwixt them: for no false or …nregenerate heart, can hate sin as sin; he …ay indeed,
1. First, Hate sin in another, but not in himself: thus one proud man hates another, Calco superbiam Platonis, said Diogines; when …e trampled Plato's fine cloaths under foot; … spurn the pride of Plato: Sed majori super…iâ, as Plato smartly replyed, Thou tramp…est upon my pride, but it is with greater …pride. Why (saith Christ to the Hypocrite) be…holdest thou the mote in thy brothers eye, but co…sidere…t not the beam that is in thine own eye? Matt. 7. 3. how quick in espying, and rash in censuring the smallest fault in another, is the Hypocrite! it was but one fault, & that but a small one, but a mote that he could find in another; yet this he quickly discerns: … may be there were many excellent graces in him, these he overlooks, but the mote he plainly discerns.
It may be that mote in his brothers eye had drawn many tears from it; but these he takes no notice of; and mean while there is a beam (i. e.) a great horrid flagitious evil in himself; but it is too near him to be discerned, or bewailed: this is a sad symptome of a naughty heart.
2. Secondly, He may hate it in its effects, & consequents; not in its own nature: as the Thief hates the Gallows, not the wickedness that he hath done. It is not sin in it self, but sin in its connection with Hell, that is frightful to him.
The unsound professour could wish that there were no such threatnings in the Bible against sin: when sin tempts him, I would saith he, but I fear the consequence. O sin, could I separate thee from hell, nothing should separate thee and me.
3. Thirdly, He may hate it in a mood or pang, but not with a rooted habitual hatred. It's plain from 2 Pet. 2. 22. that sin may sometimes lye upon the conscience of an unregenerate man, as a load lyes upon a sick stomach; and so he may discharge himself of it, by reformation, restitution, &c. but a little time reconciles the quarrel betwixt him and his Lust again: if they fall out they will fall in again; the dog is …turned to his vomit, and the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire.
But an upright soul hates sin in another manner, and in this hatred of sin the Children of God are manifest.
1. First, the opposition of sin to God, is the very ground and formal reason upon which a gracious soul opposes and hates it: if it be opposite to the holy nature and law of God, it cannot but be odious in his eyes: This put Davids heart, Psal. 51. 4. Against thee, thee only have I sinned: q. d. I have wronged Uriah greatly, I have wronged my self and family greatly; but the wrong I have done to others is not worth naming, in comparison of the wrong I have done to thee.
2. Secondly, The upright soul hates sin in himself, more than he hates it in any other: as a man hates a Serpent in the hedge, but much more in his own bosome: Rom. 7 23. But I see another Law in my members: and ver. 21. I find then a Law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me: q. d. I'don't know how others find it, but I am sure I find sin in my very bosome, in my very bowels, it is pr…sent with me. O wretched man that I am! a gracious soul can mourn to see in others; but to find it in himself, pierceth him to the very heart.
3. Thirdly, The gracious soul hates not only this or that particular sin, but the whole kind, Arist. Rhet. lib. 2. cap. 4.every thing that is sinful. True hatred is foreign, of the whole nature or kind, Psal. 119. 104. I hate every false way; his reasonings proceed à quatenus ad omne, from sin, as sin; concluding against every sin. Sins that are profitable, and pleasant, as well as sins that have neither profit nor pleasure: sins that are secret as well as sins that are open, and will defame him.
And before this tryal a false heart cannot stand; for he alwayes indulges to some Lust: there is an iniquity which he cannot be separated from.
4. Fourthly, The sincere soul hates sin with an irreconcileable hatred: there was a time when sin and his soul fell out, but there never will be a time of reconciliation betwixt them again.
That breach which effectual conviction once made, can never be made up any more: they will return no more to folly, Psal. 85. 8. & indeed it seems to them that have suffered so much for sin, that have endured so many fears and sorrows for it; the greatest … in the world to return to sin again: no, no▪ they admire the mercy of their escape from sin, to their dying day; and neve… look back upon their former state but with shame and grief.
Ask a Convert, would you be back again where once you were? would you be among your old companions again? would you be fulfilling the lusts of the flesh again? and he will tell you he would not run the hazard to abide one day or one night in that condition again, to gain all the Kingdoms of the world the next morning.
5. Fifthly, The sincere soul hates sin with a superlative hatred: he hates it more than any other evil in the world besides it. Penal evils are not pleasant themselves, but yet if he must endure them, or sin; then sufferings to chuse: Heb. 11. 25. Chusing rather to suffer affliction than enjoy the pleasures of sin; the worst of sufferings, rather than the best of sin.
6. Sixthly, To conclude, so deep is the hatred that upright ones bear to sin, that nothing pleases them more than the thoughts of a full deliverance from it doth: Rom. 7. 34. I thank God, through Iesus Christ our Lord. What doth he so heartily thank God for? O for a prospect of his final deliverance from sin, never to be intangled, defiled, or …roubled with it any more: and this is one thing that sweetens death to the Saints, as much as any thing in the world can do, except Christs victory over it, and lying in the grave for us. To think of a grave is not pleasant in it self, but to think of a parting time with sin, that's sweet and pleasant indeed.
SECT. V.
(3.) THirdly, The Children of God an… the Children of the Devil, pur… Gold, and vile dross are manifest as in ha…tred of sin, so in their troubles, and sorrow about sin.
All trouble for sin argues not sincerity some have reason to be troubled even fo… their troubles for sin. So have they.
1. First, That are only troubled for th… commission of some more gross sins tha… startle the natural Conscience, but not for in…ward sins that defile the soul. Iudas wa… troubled for betraying innocent blood, bu… not for that base Lust of Covetousness tha… was the root of it, or the want of sincer… love to Iesus Christ: Matth. 27. 4, 5. Out…ward sins are sins major is infamiae, of greate scandal; but heart-sins are oftentimes major… reatus, sins of greater guilt: to be trouble for grosser sins, and have no trouble for ord…nary sins daily incurred, is an ill sign of a ba… heart.
2. Secondly A graceless heart may be muc… troubled at the discovery of sin, when it … not troubled for the guilt of sin, Jer. 2. 26▪ As the Thief is ashamed when he is found, so … the house of Israel ashamed: Hence it is tha… they stick not to commit ten sins against God, …o hide one sin from the eyes of men▪ It is a mercy that sin is the matter of mens shame, & that all are not arrived to that height of impudence to declare their sin as Sodom, and glory in their shame; but to be ashamed only because men see it, and not with Ezra to say, O my God I am ashamed, and blush to look up unto thee, Ezra 9. 6. ashamed that thou seest it, is but Hypocrisie.
3. Thirdly, A graceless heart may be troubled for the rod that sin draws after it, but not for sin it self as it provokes God to inflict such rods.
But the troubles of upright ones for sin are of another kind and nature.
1. First, They are troubled that God is wronged, & his Spirit troubled by their sins. So the penitent Prodigal, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, Luk. 15. 21. Against heaven, (i. e.) against him whose Throne is in Heaven, a great, glorious, and infinite Majesty: a poor worm of the Earth, hath lifted up his hand against the God of Heaven.
2. Secondly, They are troubled for the defilement of their own souls by sin: hence they are compared in Prov. 25. 26. to a troubled fountain; you know it's the property of a living spring when any filth falls into it, or that which lies in the bottom of its chanel is raised and defiles its streams, never to leave working till it have purged it self of it, and recovered its purity again.
So it is with a righteous man; he loves purity in the precept, Psal. 119. 140. and he loves it no less in the principle and practice: he thinks it is hell enough to lie under the pollution of sin, if he should never come under damnation for it.
3. Thirdly, They are troubled for the estrangements of God, and the hiding of his face from them because of their Sin. It would go close to an ingenuous spirit to see a dear and faithful friend whom he hath grieved, to look strange and shy upon him at the next meeting; as if he did not know him: much more doth it go to the heart of a gracious man to see the face of God turned from him, and not to be towards him as in times past. This went to Davids heart after his fall, as you may see, Psal. 51. 11. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy spirit from me; q. d. Lord, if thou turn thy back upon me, and estrange thy self from me, I am a lost man: that is the greatest mischief than can befal me.
4. Fourthly, Their troubles for sin run deep, to what other Mens do. They are strong to bear other troubles, but quail and fain… under this: Psal. 38. 4. other sorrows may for the present be violent, and make more noise; but this sorrow soaks deeper into the soul.
5. Fifthly, Their troubles for sin are more rivate and silent troubles than others are; …heir sore runs in the night; as it is Psal. 77. 2. …ot but that they may, and do open their roubles to Men, (and it is a mercy when …hey meet with a judicious, tender, and expe…enced Christian to unbosom themselves …nto:) but when all is done, it is God and …hy soul alone that must whisper out the …atter: ille verè dolet, qui sine teste dolet: that … sincere sorrow for sin indeed, which is ex…ressed secretly to God in the Closet.
6. Sixthly, Their troubles are incurable …y creature comforts: it is not the removing …ome outward pressures and inconveniencies, …hat can remove their burden; nothing but …ardon, peace, and witnessed reconciliation …an quiet the gracious heart.
7. Seventhly, Their troubles for sin are ordi…ate and kept in their own place; they dare not stamp the dignity of Christs blood upon …heir worthless tears and groans for sin: Lava achrymas meas domine, Aug. Lord, wash my …inful tears in the blood of Christ, was once …he desire of a true Penitent. And thus our …rouble for sin shews us what our hearts are.
SECT. VI.
…4.) FOurthly, the behaviour and carriage of the soul with respect to subjection …o the commands of sin, shews what our estate and condition is. This will separat… dross from gold. All unregenerate men ar… the servants of Sin, they subject themselves … its commands. This the Scripture sometime calls a Conversation in the lusts of the flesh, Eph▪ 2. 3. sometimes the selling of themselves to sin 1 King. 21. 20. Now as a judicious Divin… observes, tho' the Children of God com…plain with Paul, Rom. 7.14, 15. that they are sold under sin, Dr. Reynoldsyet there is a vast difference betwixt these two the Saints are sold to it by Adam, but other by their own continued consent. But to she… you the difference in this matter, I conceiv… it necessary to shew, wherein the reignin… power of sin doth not consist, and the… wherein it doth: that you may plainly dis…cern who are in subjection to the reignin… power of their corruptions, and who ar… not. Now there be divers things commo… both to the regenerate and unregenerate and we cannot say the dominion of sin lie… in any or in all of them, viz. abstractly an… simply considered.
1. First, Both one, and other having Or…ginal Corruption dwelling in them, may all find this fountain breaking forth into gro… and scandalous sins: but we cannot say th… because original Corruption thus breaks fort into gross and scandalous-sins in both; there…fore it must needs reign in the one, as we … in the other: a righteous Man may fall …efore the wicked, as it is Prov. 25. 26. he may all in the dirt of grosser iniquities, and fur…ish them with matter of reproach. So did …avid, Peter, Abraham, and many more of …he Lords upright hearted ones, whose souls …evertheless sin did not reign over, by a vo…ntary subjection to its commands, nor must his embolden any to sin with more liberty.
2. Secondly, Tho' an upright Soul fall once …nd again into sin, tho' he reiterate the same …ct of sin, which he hath repented of before; … it cannot meerly from thence be con…uded, that therefore sin reigns over him, … it doth over a wicked Man that makes it … daily trade. I confess every reiteration of …, puts a farther aggravation upon it: and … sad we should repent, and sin; and sin, … repent: but yet you read, Prov. 24. 16. … just man falleth seven times, and riseth up a…in: Iob's Friends were good men, yet he …lls them, These ten times have ye reproached …, Job 19. 3. This indeed shews a heart that …eally needs purging; for it is with relapses … spiritual, as it is with relapses into na…ral diseases: a recidivation or return of the …sease shews that the morbifique matter was … duly purged; but tho' it shew the foul…ss, it doth not always prove the falseness of … heart.
3. Thirdly, Though one may be impatient of the reproof of his sin, as well as the other; yet that alone will not conclude sin to be in full dominion over one, as it is over the other▪
It's pity any good Man should storm at … just rebuke of sin; that such a precious Oy… as is proper to heal, should be conceited to break his head: but yet flesh will be tender▪ and touchy; even in good men. Asa was … good man, and yet he was wroth with the Prophet who reproved him; as you find 2 Chron. 16. 10. yet I doubt not but their Consciences smite them for it, when pride suffers not another to do it: a reproof may be ill tim'd, and ill managed by another; and and so may provoke; but they will hear the voice of conscience in another manner▪
4. Fourthly, Tho' in both some one parti…cular sin may have more power than another yet neither doth this alone conclude tha… therefore that sin must reign in one, as it doth in another: indeed the beloved Lust of eve…ry wicked man is King over his soul; bu… yet a godly mans constitution, calling, &… may incline him more to one sin than an…other; and yet neither that, nor any othe… may be said to be in dominion; for th…'▪ D… vid speaks of his iniquity, (i. e.) his special si… Psal. 18. 23. which some suppose to be … sin of lying, from that intimation, Psal. 11… 29. yet you see in one place he begs God … keep him from it, and in the other he tells … he kept himself from it, and both shew he was not the Servant of it.
5. Fifthly, Tho' both may sin against knowledge, yet it will not follow from thence, that therefore sins against knowledge must needs be sins in dominion in the one, as they are in the other: there was too much light abused, and violenced in Davids deliberated sin; as he confesses, Psal. 51. 6. and the sad story it self too plainly shews; and yet in the main, David was an upright Man still, tho' this consideration of the fact shrewdly wounded his integrity: and stands upon record for a caution to all others.
SECT. VII.
WE have seen what doth not infer the dominion of sin in the former particulars, being simply considered; I shall next shew you what doth; and how the sincere and false heart are distinguished in this trial. And
1. First, Assent and Consent upon delibera…ion notes the soul to be under the dominion of sin: when the mind approves sin, and the will gives its plenary consent to it; This sets … sin in its Throne, and puts the soul into sub…ection to it: for the dominion of sin consists … its authority over us, and our voluntary …ubjection to it. This you find to be the cha…acter of a wicked graceless Person; Psal. 36. 4. He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good, he abhorreth not evil.
The best Men may fall into sin through mistake, or be precipitated into sin through the violence of Temptation; but to devise mischief, and set himself in an evil way; this notes full assent of the mind, and then not to abhor evil, notes full consent of the will, and these two being given to sin, not only antecedently to the acting of it; but also consequently to it: to like it afterward, as well as before; this puts the soul fully under the power of sin; what can it give more?
This (as one saith) in direct opposition to the Apostle, Rom. 12. 1. is to present their bodies a dead Sacrifice,Mr. Caryl. unholy, and abominable to God; acceptable to the Devil, which is their unreasonable service: all Men by nature are given to sin, but these men give themselves to it.
2. Secondly, The customary practice of sin, subjects the soul to the Dominion of sin: and so he that is born of God, doth not commit sin, 1 Joh. 3. 9. Fall into sin, yea the same sin he may, and that often; but then it's not without reluctance, repentance, and a protest ent…ed by the soul in Heaven against it: So that sin hath not a quiet possession of his Soul; he is not the servant of sin, nor doth he willingly walk after its Commandments: but so do its own Servants; it's their daily practice: Ier. 9. 3. They proceed from evil to evil.
3. Thirdly, Delight in sin proves the dominion of sin. So the Servants of sin are described, Isa. 66. 3. They have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
Look as our delight in God is the measure of our holiness; so our delight in sin is the measure of our sinfulness. Delight in sin is one of the uppermost rounds of the Ladder, & much higher the soul of a sinner cannot go, till it be turned off into Hell. It's a sport to a fool to do mischief. Prov. 10. 23. Never merrier than when he hath the Devil for his play-fellow, saith one upon that place: Mr. Trap.
4. Fourthly, Impatience of Christs Yoke and Government, argues the soul to be the subject of sin. This is clear from the Apostles reasoning in Rom. 6. 17, 18. But God be thanked that ye were the Servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine which was delivered you: being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness: where you see plainly, that no man can have his manumission or freedom from sin, that comes not into Christ's service, and yields himself up to his obedience.
So then to fret at Christ's Laws that tie us up from our Lusts, to be weary of all spiritual imployments as a burden intolerable, never to be in our Element and Centre till we are off from God, and plunging in the world, and our lusts; this is a sad note of a soul in subjection to sin.
Object. But may not an upright soul find some weariness in spiritual things?
Sol. Doubtless he may, for he hath flesh as well as spirit, and tho' the spirit be willing, the flesh is weak: he is sanctified but in part, and his delight in the Law of God is but according to, or after the inner man, Rom. 7. 22. but he sees another law in his members, (i.e) contrary inclinations. However, if he be weary sometimes in the duties of Godliness, to be sure he is more weary out of 'em, and is not Centred and at rest till he be with his God again: But the Carnal heart is where it would be when it is in the service of sin: and as a Fish upon dry land, when ingaged in spiritual duties. Especially such as are secret, and have no external allurements of reputation to engage him to them.
But what surprisals or captivities to sin soever may befal an upright soul, yet it appears by these eight following particulars, that he is not the servant of sin, nor in full subj…ction to it. For,
1. First, Tho' he may be drawn to sin, yet he cannot reflect upon his sin without shame and sorrow; which plainly shews it to be an involuntary surprize. So Peter wept bitterly, Mat. 26. 75. and David mou…ned for his sin heartily; others can fetch new pleasures out …f their old sins by reflecting on them: and …me can glory in their shame, Phil. 3. 19. …ome are stupid and senseless after sin, and …he sorrow of a carnal heart for it, is but a …orning dew: but it is far otherwise with God's people.
2. Secondly, Tho' a Saint may be drawn … sin, yet it is not with a deliberate and full …nsent of his will: their delight is in the law … God, Rom. 7. 22. They do that which they …ould not, ver. 16. (i. e.) there are inward …islikes from the new nature: and as for that …ase of David, which seems to have so much … counsel and deliberation in it; yet it was …t in a single act; it was not in the general …ourse of his life: he was upright in all things (i.e.) in the general course and tenour of his …fe, 1 King. 15. 5.
3. Thirdly, Tho' an upright soul may fall …to sin, yet he is restless and unquiet in that …ondition; like a bone out of joynt: and …at speaks him to be none of sins Servants: … on the contrary, if a Man be ingaged in …e external duties of Religion, and be rest…ss and unquiet there; his heart is not in it, …e is not at rest till he be again in his earth… business; this Man cannot be reckoned …hrists Servant: a gracious heart is much …ter that rate imployed in the work of sin, …at a carnal heart is when imployed in the ork of Religion: that's a good rule, ea tantum dicuntur inesse, quae insunt per modum qui tis: that's a mans true temper wherein … is at rest: poor David fell into sin, but he h… no rest in his bones because of it, Psal. 51.1… 11, 12. if his heart be off from God and d…ty for a little while, yet he recollects hi…self, and saith, as Psal. 116. 7. Return unto t… rest O my soul.
4. Fourthly, Tho' a sincere Christian f… into sin, and commit evil; yet he proceeds … from evil to evil, as the ungodly do: Ier. 9. but makes his fall into one sin, a caution prevent another sin. Peter by his fall got est blishment for time to come: if God w… speak peace to them, they are careful to … turn no more to folly, Psal. 85. 8. In that sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness wrought? yea what fear? 2 Cor. 7. 11. It is … so with the Servants of sin, one sin lea… them much more disposed to another sin.
5. Fifthly, A sincere Christian may be dra… to sin, but yet he would be glad with all heart to be rid of sin. It would be more him than thousands of gold or silver, that might grieve and offend God no more; a… that shews sin is not in dominion over hi… he that is under the dominion of sin, is l… to leave his Lusts. Sins servants are not …ling to part with it, they hold it fast, and fuse to let it go, as that Text expresses it, 8. 5. but the great complaint of the upri… …s expressed by the Apostle according to the …rue sense of their hearts, in Rom. 7. 24. Who …hall deliver me from the body of this death?
6. Sixthly, It appears they yield not themselves willingly to obey sin, in as much as it is …he matter of their joy when God orders any …rovidence to prevent sin in them: Blessed …e the Lord (said David to Abigail) and blessed …e thy advice, and blessed be thou, that hast kept …ne this day from shedding blood, 1 Sam. 15. 32, 33.
Here's blessing upon blessing for a sin-preventing providence. The Author is blessed, …he Instrument blessed, the Means blessed. O it's a blessed thing in the eyes of a sincere man to be kept from sin: he reckons it a great deliverance, a very happy escape if he …e kept from sin.
7. Seventhly, This shews that some who may be drawn to commit sin, yet are none of the Servants of sin, That they do heartily …eg the assistance of grace to keep them from …in: keep back thy servant from presumptuous … (saith the Psalmist, Psal. 19. 13.) let them …ot have dominion over me; q. d. Lord, I find …ropensions to sin in my nature; yea, & strong …nes too; if thou leave me to my self, I am …arried into sin as easily as a Feather down …e Torrent. O Lord keep back thy servant: …nd there is no petition that upright ones our out their hearts to God in, either more …equently, or more ardently than in this, … be kept back from sin.
8. Eightly, and Lastly, This shews the soul not to be under the dominion of sin, that it doth not only cry to God to be kept back from sin, but uses the means of prevention himself; he resists it, as well as pray aginst it, Psal. 18. 23. I was also upright before him, and kept my self from mine iniquity, So Iob 31. 1. I have made a Covenant with mine eyes; and yet more fully in Isa. 33. 15. he shaketh his hands from holding bribes, and stoppeth his ears from hearing blood; and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil. See with what care the portals are shut at which sin useth to enter. All these things are very relieving considerations to poor souls questioning their integrity under the frequent surprisals of sin. And the next tryal no less.
SECT VIII.
(5.) FIfthly, Our opposition to and conflict… with sin, discover what we are gold, or dross.
There are conflicts with sin both in the regenerate, and in the unregenerate; but there is a vast difference betwixt them, as will appear in the following account.
1. First, There is an universal, and there … a particular opposition to sin; the former … found in regenerate, the latter in unregene…rate souls: a gracious heart hates every false way, Psal. 119. 104. and must needs do so because he hates and opposes sin as sin; s… …at he can no peccatum in deliciis; no ex…epted or reserved Lust; but fights against …e whole body, and every limb and mem…er of the body of sin.
But it is not so with the Hypocrite or car…l Professor: he hath evermore some reser…d sin, that he cannot part with.
2. Secondly, There is an opposition be…ixt the new nature and sin, and there is an …position betwixt natural Conscience and sin; …e former is the case of an upright soul, the …ter may be of a self-deceiver.
A regenerate Person opposeth sin, because …ere is an irreconcileable Antipathy betwixt and the new nature in him, as is clear …om Gal. 5. 17. The flesh lusteth against the spi…, and the spirit against the flesh; and these are …trary the one to the other: by flesh under…nd corrupt Nature; by spirit not only the …irit of Man, but the spirit of God, or prin…le of Regeneration in Man: by the lust… of these two against each other, under…nd the desire and endeavour of each others …struction and ruine: and the ground of all …s is the contrariety of these two natures.
These are contrary one to the other: there is wofold opposition betwixt them, one for…l, their very natures are opposite; the …er effective, their workings and designs are posite, as it is betwixt fire and water.
But the oppositions found in unrenewed Souls against sin, is not from their nature for sin is suitable enough to that; but from the light that is in their minds and conse ences which scares and terrifies them. Suc was that in Darius, Dan. 6. 14. He was so displeased with himself, and set his heart on Dani to deliver him; and laboured till the going dow of the Sun to deliver him: here the contest wa… betwixt sense of honour upon one side, an conviction of Conscience on the other sid…
Sometimes a generous and noble disposit on opposes sordid and base actions: maj… sum, & ad majora natus; quam ut corpor is m sim mancipium. I am greater, and born … greater things; than that I should be a slaw to my Body, said a brave Heathen.
3. Thirdly, There is a permanent, and the… is a transient opposition to sin; the former the case of God's People, the latter of …en… porary and unsound Professors.
The Saint when he draws the sword this warfare against sin, throws away th scabbard; no end of this combate with sin t… life end; their life and their troubles are nished together, 2 Tim. 4. 7. I have fought t… good fight, and have finished my Course.
But in other Men it is but a transie quarrel; out with sin one day, and in an… ther; and the reason is plain by what w… noted before; it is not the opposition two natures: it is like the opposition of t… Wind and Tyde, these may be contrary and make a stormy sea to day; but the wind may come about, and go as the T-yde goes …o morrow: but in a Christian it is as the …pposition of the river and the dam, one must give way to the other, there's no reconciling them: but the other like the dog, …eturns to his vomit, 2 Pet. 2. ult.
4. Fourthly, There is an opposition to he root of sin, and an opposition to the fruits of sin. A gracious soul opposeth root and fruit, but others the latter only. The great design of an upright soul, is not only to lop off this or that branch, but to kill the root of sin which is in his nature, Rom. 7.
24. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? but the great care and endeavours of others is to suppress outward acts of sin, and escape the mischievous consequents of it: yea, their study is as Lactantius phraseth it, Potius abscondere, quam abscindere vitia: to hide, rather than to kill their Lusts.
5. Fifthly, There is an opposition to sin, in the strength of God, and an opposition to sin, in our own strength: The former is proper to a real Christian, the later is found frequently with unsanctified persons: when a Christian goes forth against any sin, it is in the strength of God: So you read their rule directs them, Eph. 6. 10. Be strong in the Lord, and the power of his might: take unto you the whole armour of God: and suitab… you shall find them frequently upon the… knees begging strength from heaven again… their Lusts; 2 Cor. 12. 8. For this cause I b… sought the Lord thrice, saith Paul (i. e.) Ofte… and earnestly, that the temptation mig… depart from him.
But Others go forth against sin only i… the strength of their own resolutions; so di… Pendleton in our story: these Resolutions, o… vows which they have put themselves unde… are as frequently frustrated, as made.
6. Sixthly, There is a successful oppositio… to sin, and an opposition that comes to n…thing. The former is that of true Christian… the later is found among unregenerate me…
The work of Mortification in the Saint… is progressive, and increasing: hence Rom. 6. 6 Our old man is Crucified with him, that the bo…dy of sin might be destroyed. Sin dyes in be…lievers much what as crucified persons use t… …ye; viz. a slow, lingering, gradual, bu… sure death: its vigour and life expires by degrees: or as a consumptive person dyes for to that also he alludes here: there is … disease which is called Consumptio totius, a Consumption of the whole, and those tha… dye of that disease languish more and more, till at last they drop sensim, sine sensu, by imperceptible degrees and steps into the grave.
But in the unregenerate whatever conflicts they have with sin; no corruption falls before it: it may be said of them, as the Church in another case complains of her self, Esa. 26. 18. We have been in▪ pain, we have as it were brought forth wind, we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. So it fares with these professours, they pray, they hear, they vow, they resolve; but when all is done, their lusts are as strong and vigorous as ever: no degree of mortification appears after all.
And thus much of the tryal of our sincerity by our carriage towards sin.