The Application of Redemption, Book 7
BOOK VII.
ROM. 8. 7.
The Wisdom of the flesh, is Enmity against God, it is not subject to the Law, neither indeed can be.
WE heard there were three Particulars wherin the Dispensation and Gods Manner of working upon the soul when he will prepare it for himself was discovered.
1 The Soul Naturally is setled in the security of a sinful estate. And of that before.
2 That being thus lodged in his lust, and brought … bed in his sinful distempers, it's wholly unwilling to be severed from them.
3 By a holy kind of Violence (as it were) the soul is driven out of this condition, and drawn … the Lord Christ by God the Father.
We are now to attend the discovery of this second Divine Truth; the Explication whereof makes way for the mysterious manner of Gods dealing with the sinner when he would bring him from under the power … of his lusts. And for this purpose we have chosen this Text, as that which will afford us foothold for our following discourse.
The Aim and Scope of the Words is by force of Argument to fortifie the conclusion formerly expressed in the foregoing verse, i. e. To mind the things of the flesh, is death, which is thus proved: That which is Enmity against God, will undoubtedly bring death, as opposing the God of Life and Comfort, but the wisdom of the flesh, is enmity against God, therefore to mind this, or to be led by this, is present death: The minor is thus again confirmed, because it submits not to the Law, and that is not for a present push only, and out of a surprizal of some temptation, but it's certain it will never, nay, it can never be other, because it's beyond its power, nay, cross to its Nature so to do, so that it hath no ability nor will for to do it, nor can it of it self attain any sufficiency thereunto.
To make way for the collection of the Point of which we purpose to speak, there be two words in the Text to be attended for Explication sake.
1 What is meant by The Wisdom of the flesh, or to be Carnally minded: The Original word foreign, is of large compass, and in truth comprehends in this place the frame of the Reasonable Faculties, the Understanding and Will in the extent of their full work, what he understands and plots by Reason, the Will effects, and this latter of necessity implies the other, for so the word whence it comes is taken.
1 For the work of the Understanding, Acts, 28. 22. We desire to know what thou thinkest: they would understand his Opinion and Judgment touching the way of Christianity, so the Apostle speaks when he would confine our Reason to the compass of the Wisdom of the Scripture, and Gods Counsel therein revealed; he adviseth, We should not be wise above that which is written, 1 Cor. 4. 6.
2 Again, It's used, and that often, to express the work of the Will, and therefore it is … translated by Care, Phil. 4. 10. I rejoyced that your Care of me again flourisheth: Somtimes by the work of Seeking, If ye be risen with Christ, … those things which are above, 3. Col. 1. Or by the act of tasting or savouring, Mat. 16. 21. Get thee behind me Satan, thou savorest not the things … be of God: And therefore Beza is constrained to Paraphrase, and lay out the compass of it in a … of words: That which the carnal man savors, is enmity, that is the frame of the plotting of the minds and affecting of the hearts of carnal men is enmity against God.
2 Enmity, as we say in the abstract, made up of nothing but malice and hatred, and that in an extream manner against the Lord, more than against any thing in the world: And if it be enquired, how that doth appear, and can be proved? The Evidence is added in the next words; It is not subject to the Law: As the heart is to the Law, so it is to the Lord; as it is to the Word of God, so it is to God himself. It wholly shakes off the Sovereignty and Authority of the Law; and it is not a pang only of a temptation that carries it, nor a push or … of some present infirmity that overbears it, but in truth it is the very Nature of a naughty and … …; That which is born of the flesh is flesh, John, 3. 6. and nothing else but …, and therefore it can do nothing but oppose the Spirit, and the Law which is Spiritual; every thing will do, and in … can do no … but its Nature. And this denyal … only of the Act of Subjection, but the very Power of Subjection shews the height of that opposition, that is in the heart against the Law, and so against … Lord himself, for subjection is one degree lower … obedience; it's possible for a Servant not to … the command of his Master, and yet he may in … and subjection submit himself to his authority, to bear what he will inflict upon him with …, though not to do what he requires of him: A Patient may be subject in silence and meekness to … the launcings of the Chyrurgion, to cut him and so cure him when he can in no wise help …: and yet a carnal heart will not do this, for his … of subjection implies.
1 It doth not acknowledg the Authority and … of the Law.
2 It will not obey the Rule of it.
3 It will not bear the Power of it; whereby it would redress the sinfulness of our hearts, and reform the disorders and miscarriages of our lives, and pluck away that sin from us that would pluck away our hearts from God. He hath no right to challenge … sovereignty, no reason to exercise it, no Lawful power but usurped that doth maintain it; and … I do not acknowledg this right, nor obey that Rule, nor bear that Power saies the Will, it would take away my lusts, and so take away my content … life, and I will rather die than yield, rather be … than abide my pleasing distempers to be crossed by the Law. Hence then the Point is plain.
The frame of the whol heart of a Natural Doct.man, is wholly unwilling to submit to the Work of the Lord that would sever him from his sins.
I say the frame of the whol man, to the words of the Text, and interpretation of them, each plotting of the Mind, each affecting of the Will, the … current of the carriage of the inward man; and … is not only unable to follow the direction of the Law and of the Lord, but not willing to bear the power thereof, to force it to the reformation of those … and sins unto which it subjects it self, and sets it self resolutely to keep. So the Lord professed of Nimrod and his company when they had set themselves upon the building of Babel, out of their pride and self confidence, Gen. 11. 6. Now nothing will … restrained from them which they have imagined to do, let us go down and confound their Language: It's in vain to perswade them, in vain to send Messengers and shew Arguments never so sad and weighty to stop them, only confound their language that they may not be able to do what they would. It's the Scope of that Parable, Matth. 21. from 33. to 41. wherein the waywardness of the hearts of the sons of men, and their desperate unteachableness is apparantly discovered: Messenger is sent after Messenger, all variety of means provided and continued, they beat one, evil entreat another, slay a third; and when the Son himself is sent, that Reason would have concluded that which the Master of the Vineyard conceived, they will reverence my Son; they were most outragious against him, because happily he was more instant and importunate, to press them to Sanctification, the rendring of the fruit (your fruit in Holiness, and the end eternal Life, Rom. 6. 22.) they express greater opposition against him because he most of all opposed their sins, Come, say they, this is the Heir, let us kill him, and the Inheritance will be ours. Nor was this the guise of some graceless forlorn persons, but the disposition of all men; it's part of that Curse we inherit from the Loyns … our first Parents, Gen. 6. 5. The frame of the imagination of our hearts are evil, and only evil, and that continually: It's part of that Image received from the first Adam, and that Seed of wickedness in which we were warmed, which was born with us, and grows up with us, and will go to our graves with us, and to Hell afterwards unless the Lord relieve and deliver. And therefore … expresseth the Pedegree of this perversness of Spirit, Acts, 7. 51. Ye stiff-necked and hard-hearted, ye have ever resisted the Spirit of God, as your Father did, so do ye.
See this unwillingness expressing it self in the several degrees of it.
A carnal heart is unwilling to make out after the discovery of the Truth, and like Bats, live most at ease when they have least light, fly abroad in the night: the less knowledg they have, the less trouble they find, and therefore they are willing to make no enquiry to know that they are not willing to do: Rom. 3. 11. It's one part of the description of a Natural mans condition, There is none that understands, none that seeks after God: or if they do somtimes seem to express some pains this way, to seek after the Truth, it is as a Coward pursues his enemy: he is afraid to find, and therefore keeps aloof off, not willing to take notice of that which may be troublesom, and therefore looks after that which least concerns him, for the rest, he lets it lie by; 2 Pet. 3. 3. They are willingly ignorant, content not to know, that which they will not do if they did know.
If yet the Lord bring home wholsom Counsels and Directions even to their doors sends out the light of his Truth by the Ministry of his faithful Servants, to shine in their faces, and the sound thereof to beat in his Ears, they are loth to hear of the Ear, Ioth to shew their unfeigned acceptance, and readiness of Spirit to take acquaintance of the Truth: As you may have seen somtimes a Churl, when he hath seen some body coming that might happily have deserved entertainment, and the Law of Honesty and common Humanity might have caused him to lodg them, he presently slips aside and turns away, that he may not meet them, and see them, and salute them, lest he be forced to receive them: So these men when they perceive the evidence of some troublesom Truths are like to meet with them in the mouth (as we say) they are-not able to avoid the power of them, and yet not able to take up the practice of them, like troublesom guests put them to charges, and lie heavy upon them, they are desirous to make an escape from the power of such Arguments, play least in sight, and loth they are to meet a Truth that comes attended with constraining Reasons, Job, 22. 14. They say to the Almighty depart from us, we desire not the knowledg of thy …: yea, Isa. 30. 10, 11. They say to the Seers, see not, and to the Prophets, … not, cause the holy One of Israel to cease from us: the presence of the Truth is marvelous grievous, they look at it as an overpassing burden, as he of Elias, Hast thou found me O … Enemy? Were it not for shame they could be willingly content to give a Discharge, and Pass, for its departure; as he to Amos, chap. 7. ver. 12. … away to thy own Country and prophesie there.
If yet the Lord will continue the Truth, and him under it, he begins to clip the wings of the Truth, and breaks as it were the strength of the blow, that it may not enter so deep, to the dividing of the Marrow and the …, and take away such secret and sweeter evils, stops as it were the passage of the Truth, that it cannot proceed so far, and prevail so much as it would: they will keep the truth in a … as we … prisoners at a door, look abroad, but not at liberty; so they are not willing the Truth should be at liberty; as they dealt with our Savior, he made as though he would have gone further, but they … Luk. 24. 28, 29.him, and as it were with-held him by force: So men deal with the Truth which is of a large extent, and would go through a mans life in his several occasions, these men are not willing to serve the Truth, but make it serve …, and their turns: Thus many hold General Rules, but bring such down to Particular Practices, in the several Branches, there they are not willing the jurisdiction of the Truth should extend so far: Thus corrupt hearts deal with the Truth, as sick men of weak and … ick eyes deal with the light, some light they would have, but to have it come clearly and … upon them, they are not able to brook that, therefore they say, draw the Curtain, there the Sun comes full in mine eyes; … not drunk with Wine wherein is excest, Eph. …. 18. they yield to the Evidence of the Text, and letter of the Scripture, therefore be not drunk with the world, do not affect that too much, … stay there. To take and deta in another mans goods is open theft … the acknowledgment of all, Thou shalt not steal; therefore to Covenant, and not to keep; to borrow, and not to return; to owe, and not to pay, is … detain that which is not …, therefore it's … theft; …, draw the Curtain, … the Sun … full in my face, Deut. 12. 31. Thou shalt not worship the Lord thy God as the Heathen Idolaters, … the Truth have his full scope now, therefore not as … …; …, draw the Curtain a little … that way: Fashion not your selves according to the world, Rom. 12. 2. … … in loose locks and long Hair, therfore not in your Garments neither, why should you imitate their vanity in the one, or in the other, since both are worldly?
If yet the Power of the Truth, and the evidence of the Argument take off all these pretences, and would seem to compel the Judgment, then a corrupt heart calls in all Forces, leavies new Armies of Arguments to maintain its own Station, and withstand the …, and therefore though the thing be plain, and be see it, yet he will not be satisfied, but seeks … as hoping to … some Dispensation for it self, or some evasion out of the Word; Numb. 23. Balaam consults again with God after he sufficiently understood the mind of God. Now therefore I pray you stay with me this night that I may know what the Lord will say unto me more: why, he knew before, and the Lord had told him plainly, … shalt not go, thou shalt not curse; he wel understood Gods mind, but he would have had him of another mind; therefore he devises waies still to try, verse 14. here he must have seven Altars; if he might bribe God with his Sacrifices to give him leave to go and curse them. But if he can find no allowance to dispense with the Truth, then he begins to invent Cavils and carnal Reasonings against it: he cannot get it by running, he will get it (if he can) by doubling; he is not willing to yield, therefore is resolved to quarrel and wind away from under the force of the Argument, and to make an escape, Acts, 17. 18. They encountred Paul, they came into the field with Cavils against his Doctrine: observe how careful an unwilling heart is to invent a shift, and how content to take it; and if yet he fail of his hopes, and is not able to make his party good with the …, he unlocks all the Devils Chests, and … his Skul for devices; and though the Reasons be of no weight nor worth, nor strength, yet he is well … to be cozened with them, though there be scant any appearance of a pretence, when the yong man had professed all readiness to follow the Command of the Lord, and saw nothing would serve turn unless he sold all, overpowered with the Authority of the Truth, he left it in the plain field,Mat. 19. 21, 22. and went away sorrowful.
If yet the … that's rivetted in his resolution to hold his own, cannot … the Truth, then he falls to flat opposing of it, Jer. 44. 16. As for the word which … hast spoken to us in the Name of the Lord, we will not hearken to it; that is the short and the long: they then begun to be plain and peremptory, Jer. 18. 12. They said there is no …, but we will do after our devices, and we will walk every man after the imagination of his own heart. If they cannot undo the Bonds, they will break the Bonds of Gods Commands, Come (say they …. 2. 2.) let us break … Bonds, and … … their cords from us: Thus the Jews when they saw the Word of the Lord to prosper in the … of Paul and …, they were filled … envy, and … against those things that were spoken by Paul, contradicting and …; in so much that Paul professed they put away the … that would have plucked away their sins … them, Acts, 13. 46. John must … his … rather than Herod will part with his Harlot: When … cannot get leave of God to do what he desired, he goes without leave, Numb. 24. 1. he … his … to the …, as if he would prevent Gods …, and curse … before God … be aware of it. To have their … … tormented and kept upon the …, and themselves crossed in their corrupt courses, so that either they dare not keep their lusts, or else have no quiet if they do, they fly in the face of the Truth, it's a hard saying, who can hear it? who can … it? Acts, 19. 28. see what an uproar, and what a dust Demetrius raiseth against Pauls Doctrine: Masters, you know, that by this craft we get our living; therefore what they wanted in Argument, they would carry it in clamors, There was an … for the space of two hours, Great is Diana of the Ephesians: So they dealt with the two …, Revel. 11. 10. they were never content before they were removed, they could not have their … in quiet, as long as they had their lives, for they tormented them with their witness: the Truth is dreadful, and torments carnal men, that cannot bear the light and power of it.
If yet the Conscience be not seared with a hot Iron, but there remain any sence of common Principles in it, they will be dayly quickened and awakened by the Power of the Word: and that will be daily vexing, provoking, and pressing the heart; you know, saies Conscience, this is the Command, your Duty, and will be your Comfort to yield obedience thereunto; you may oppose, but you will perish for it; you may do what you please, but it will be your destruction, God wil require it at your hands when you will not be able to answer for what you have done, nor bear what God will inflict. The … then endeavors to still the clamors, and to stop the mouth of Conscience, and to weary it out … impudency in wickedness, and stifling the … of it, and not suffer it to take place, and so by custom in sinning, he takes away the sence of sin, and so it befals them as those the Apostle speaks of, they become past feeling, Eph. 4. 19. This is to hold … the Truth in unrighteousness, Rom. 1. 18. Truth is pressing, this ought, this should, this must be done, or else you die for it; you see the Word pregnant, the way plain, the Duty undeniable; say nothing saies unrighteousness in the heart, I do love it, I must follow it, therefore speak not a word more, I cannot hear it, nor bear it, as they said Judg. 18. 25. when … … after them for his gods, Let not thy voyce be heard amongst us, left angry fellows fall upon thee: Thus you see how this unwillingness to be subject to the Truth shews it self. They seek it not, receive it not, stop the passage of it, defeat the Power and Evidence of it, they professedly oppose it, and privily stifle the … of the Truth which may trouble them in sinning, until their … be without sence, and they without care, or purpose to reform their evil waies.
But are not the wicked many times willing to partObject. 1 with their corruptions? see how far they speak, how freely they profess, Deut. 5. 27. All that thou hast spoken, we will do. Jer. 42. 5. The Lord be Judg … thee and us, enquire at the mouth of the Lord for us, and whatever it be, whether good or evil, we will do it: what more can be desired? what more could be expressed?
I Answer in Three Things.Answ.
The Text denies not, nor doth the Doctrine, that Natural men are willing to profess subjection to the Law of God: but that they neither do, nor can, nor will do what they say, therefore it is added in Deut. 5. 28, 29. This People have said well, but O that there were such a heart in them; there was good words, but they wanted good hearts, they said wel, but their wils and endeavors were not answerable, they professed fair with their lips, but dissembled with their hearts, so the Prophet Jeremiah told them to their faces, Ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye said enquire of the Lord for us, Jer. 42. 20.
It's possible, nay ordinary for a corrupt heart when it doth most reform sin outwardly, then most of all to love, and to give himself to the practice of some sin secretly; because then all the streams are turned into one Channel, he neglects all other that he may wholly bestow and lay out his heart upon that one; and when he professeth against sin, he conceives he may sin without suspition, and distraction, without suspition from others, and without distraction in himself, when by confessions and reformations, he will put in Bail upon his Conscience, and agree with it as Bankrupts use to do with their Creditors.
When it co nes to a streight and a justle, that the Word meets him (as the Angel met Balaam) he cannot pass unless he part with his beloved lust, his Isaac, his …, his …, he will then shew and discover his falsness.
But are not the Servants of the Lord many timesObject. 2 unwilling to bid adieu to their special and ancient …, that have been bred and born with them, brought up and lived with them a long time together?
There is two men in a regenerate man, a heart and…. a heart, a will and a will, Rom. 7. last, Paul delighted in the Law of God after the inward man, but in his lust after the corrupt man; With my mind I serve the Law of God (saies he) but with my … the Law of Sin; or as our Savior, The Spirit … willing, but the Flesh is weak, Matth. 26. 41. the spiritual part is ever prest, and ready, and wholly willing for good, for he that is born of God so, sins not, and Paul professeth, it's not I, but sin in me; but saies he, The good that I would, I do not, and the evil that I would not, that I do, Rom. 7. 18. still the heart and will of a regenerate man stands God-ward, against every sin, and for every good that he is convinced of.
The Reasons of the Point are Four, and they are of great weight.
The First is taken from the Nature of the Will ofReas. 1. man, which since the Fall, is wholly tainted, and totally infected with corruption, which universally overspreads the whol man; As he in another case, the whol head is sick, the whol heart is faint, the whol man wholly possessed with sin, no soundJob, 2. 7. part: As Jobs contagion wherewith the Devil infected his Body and Natural man, he was all one botch from the crown of the head, to the sole of the foot: So in regard of thr Spiritual man, the whol man is as it were a man of sin, called therefore the old man, Eph. 4. 22. As though a corrupt heart were made up of nothing else but Apostacies, backslidings, and departings from God, and swervings from his righteous Law, Whatsoever is born of the flesh, is flesh, John, 3. 6.that is sinful and sensual, and we are all of us altogether so born, and have nothing of the Spirit of Grace in us; so the Apostle Jude, verse 19. These are sensual, having not the spirit: The Sons of Adam are (all of us) partakers of his Image, and hence also called the Seed of the Serpent, Gen. 3. 15. that as each Creature and Plant answers the Seed whereof it is made, hath no more in it but that; so mens hearts are only framed and constituted out of that corrupt … whereby Satan carried aside our first Parents, Paul so professeth of himself, In me (… is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing, Rom. 7. 11. nothing that is spiritually, savingly, and … good; and therefore in the old Law, our corrupt Nature is signified by the Leprosie, which overspread the whol man: The sin of Adam had in it this peculiar to it self more than any, nay, I may … say more than all the sins that ever was committed, in that it was the Deordination of the whol Nature of man, and that against the whol Law of God. For Adam did not sin as a particular man (so as all the Sons of Adam do sin) but as a common stock, as one who was in the room of all, and had the Humane Nature as the common stock of all Man-kind; so that the Nature of Man, as one would say Humanity in Adam, as it was under the Covenant of the Law, so it went wholly against the holy and righteous Law of God, and therefore the whol Nature of man broke when it made a breach upon the Law: As he that justles his finger against a rock breaks that only, he that runs his hand unjoynts that; but if all the whol body fall from a steep place upon it, it breaks all the whol frame of Nature in pieces: So it is comparatively between the sin of Adam, and the sin of any of the sons of Adam: They sin personally; one is unjust, and he makes a breach against Justice, and so far that disposition of heart is perverted, and so unfitted for the work of Justice; but in Adam the whol Nature of Mind, and Will, and Affections, which was the subject of all Grace, it comes against the Law, and so brings a ruine upon the whol Frame of Grace? Ad hereunto (to make up the Evidence) that this was indeed against the whol Law; as that wherein he neither loved God nor himself, nor … neighbor: But take it here, he made a breach upon the seal of the Covenant, and trampled that under foot, and so consequently made voyd and … upon the Covenant wholly, and cast it behind his back as not worth caring for: Now Reason … that as the Seal confirms and ratifies the …, and all the Conditions of it joyntly, so the … of that nullifies and makes void the whol Covenant. So that this transgression of Adam let … a Deluge of Sin, that as in Noahs Flood when the Windows of Heaven were opened, and the great depths were broken up, the waters covered the face of the whol Earth that no dry Land appeared: So … is here, when the deeps are broken up (as it were) the whol Law opposed by the whol Nature of man, the Deluge of corruption spreads it self over the whol face and frame of Nature: Therefore the Apostle first Summarily gives in his Judgment, in the 3. to the Romans, the 9. verse, That all are under sin: And then Particularly, They are all become abominable, there is none that doth good, no not one, their throat is an open Sepulchre, vents nothing but venemous steams of deadly distempers; the poyson of Asps is under their tongues, their feet swift to shed blood, 12, 13, 14, 15. vers. And if all the Parts be such, what is the heart within that acts all, vents all, fills all these? That as it befel the Temple of Jerusalem, after the destruction of it, there was not a stone left upon a stone; so with the soul in regard of that glorious frame of Grace which was in it in the first Creation, there is not a stone left upon a stone; nothing but pollution and corruption remains in the whol Nature of every man.
But you will say, Are there no Reliques left of Object.that glorious Image of God in the Will and Understanding?
There is somthing left of the Law, but nothingAnsw. left whereby a man can be enabled to do any thing as an act of Spiritual Life that may be acceptable to God: In a word, there are these Two things to be attended, and may be observed in every man naturally at the lowest and the worst (as I look at these poor Indians, amongst whom we live, as the very ruines and rubbish of mankind, the forlorn Posterity of Adam.) 1 They are made for another, and for a better. 2 They ought to yeild obedience to that other, and better: But to know the Will of God and do it, to be able to close with God, and to do that which is acceptable unto him, this is far estranged from all the sons of men by nature. If a man came where the Temple of Jerusalem was, and saw some ruines of the Buildings, and the rubbish of it, he would say, This was a glorious Temple, and here was the holy of holies, and it was thus, and so specious and beautiful, though it be not so now: So when we look upon the rubbish of the Image of lost Adam, we may say so, and conclude so, There was a glorious Image of God here, and by that which is left, we may see, That man is made for another, and a better; for this man Rules all the Creatures, they all serve him, and therefore he should serve another and a better; the whole frame of the soul tells a man this: But to have any ability to close with God, and to be subject to him, that is not to be found in the nature of lost man.
That soul which is wholly acted and carried by the power of sin, is not, cannot be willing to be severed from it, But so it is with the soul. That's the first Reason.
The Second Reason is taken from the RevengingReas. 2 Justice of God, which having been dishonored and … by the sin and Apostacy of Adam, it hath delivered up the soul (according to his just Judgement, and the souls just desert) unto the … Jer. 25. 14.of sin: Thus the Lord rewards man according Psal. 18. 11.to his works, and recompenceth his own ways upon his own head. They would none of God, they should none of him then, they would have their sins, and they should have them. And as the Lord … in another like case, Man receives a righteous and proportionable recompence to his own proceedings.
Adam turned from God to the Creature (there was in his sin, Aversio a Deo & Conversio ad Creaturam) God also turned from him, and left him to the Creature: He would act from himself, and the Lord left him to himself to settle upon the deluded conceit of his own sufficiency. Adam went away from God, God with-drew himself from him, and took away that Wisdom which he despised and would not follow, and took away that Holiness and Righteousnes by which he would not be ruled: He plucked his Livery over his ears (as they say) because of his Rebellion and Treachery: Stripped him naked of those glorious Ornaments of his Image, wherewith he had at the first beautified and honored him.
But that's not all.
Adam by his transgression coming in opposition to his Holy and Righteous Will, by the strength of his infinite Justice the Lord pushed him away from him, and delivered him wholly unto the … and authority of his Apostacies and distempers of his Spirit: As if he had said, Thou wilt not be guided by my Wisdom, but hast followed the temptation of Satan, and thy own device; be thou for ever therefore deluded, and blinded; take him Ignorance and Folly, and take possession of him for ever: Thou wilt not be Ruled and Governed by my Holy and Just Will, be thou for ever therefore perverted, and led captive, by the way ward stubbornness and Rebellion of thine own Will, take him perversness and stiffness of Spirit, and take possession of him for ever: Thus Sin comes armed with Commission from Divine Justice, to do what it will, and wholly to captivate the soul unto it self: Thus it is said,Eccles. 7. 29. God made man right, fitted for himself and his righteous Will, and ready to be acted by it; and while he had gone under the stream of his Providence, he should have hit the right way, and arrived at the right end. But he found out many inventions, He would not follow Gods invention and the way that he had found out, that he might have found rest and peace in himself, for peace shall be upon all those that walk according to this Rule, Gal. 6. 16. But he found out many findings, wayes of his own fancying, and finding; and God fills him full of these findings and devices of his; and hence it is that each man is led by his own self-deluding spirit to his own end.
It was a deep and a sweet Speculation of Austin, It was in the power of the mutability of Adams Will, to have used his Will either well or ill, God would not hinder him and his work, and no Creature could hinder him: and because he did use this liberty and mutability ill, therefore God put him under the power of that perverted mutability … he never should, nor could do any thing but evil. It was not a fault to be mutable, had he kept himself under the stream of Gods holy and … will, he had never been hurt; but he that will pervert his own mutability to go against the Law, he shal ever be perverted by it. This is the ful and proper meaning of that Text, which carries a mysterious … with it, Rom. 7. 8. Sin taking occasion by the Commandement, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence, for without the Law sin was dead: Namely, when Adam went against the Law (and to Gods Justice) the Lord by an Almighty revenging act of Justice, in way of contrary, broke him in …, turned him aside, pushed him away from him, bad his blindness and stubbornness take ful Commission, and exercise Authority over him for ever: Sin takes this occasion, steps in, and while God is pushing of him away, takes advantage, and carries headlong the sinner from God, to act al manner of evil upon al …. Hither belongs that also, Rom. 6. 14. Sin shall not have … over you, because you are not under the law, but under Grace: that is, You are not under the Covenant of the Law broken, for that gives Commission to sin to exercise soveraign Jurisdiction over the Sinner.
The Glass that is brittle, yet doth not break; … doth not prevail against it while it is in a mans … and kept from harm, but if it fal against a stone, the hardness of the stone severs the parts of it, brittleness takes occasion by that blow, and steps in and shatters it al in pieces: It breaks because brittle, for things that are not such, though they do fall, do not break; but that would not domineer & prevail but because of that blow: so it was with Adam, a glassie …, a mutable man, he falling against the Law; that opposing, pusheth him aside and delivers him up to the power of his corruptions, and they have dominion over him by reason of that act of the Law delivering him up to his sins. … is also the meaning of that place, 1 Cor. 15. 56. The strength of sin is the Law: Sin is as strong as the provoking and opposing power of the Law, for it fals in with it, and takes occasion to act the soul by it; and hence it is you shall ever find it, so far as we act by our own principles as under a Covenant of works, so far sin ever prevailes. This lastly is the meaning of that text, Rom. 7. 6. wherein a man is said to be married to his sin, for the comparison holds. As long as the Husband lives, so long the Wife is bound, and is subject to him: so while we remain in our natural condition, under the Covenant of Works, we are in Covenant with our sins, and married to them so, that we cannot be to any other, we are hand-fasted and cannot part. 1 Sin claims a propriety in the soul. 2 Takes possession of it. 3 It wholly orders and acts it. (as the woman hath not power over her self but the man) On the … side the Soul 1 Gives it self away to it. 2 Submits to the authority of it. And, 3 Is wholly acted by it.
Therefore it is, That they that are in the flesh cannot please God, Rom. 8. 8. The act of Sin cannot please, but the Spiritual … of the Soul is acted by Sin; therefore it cannot please God while a man is in his … ….
This KEY will Open many Doors.
Hence it follows, Original Sin is not a meer Privarion, or want of Original Righteousness, but an active …, or running wrong of all (the wheels) the Faculties of the Soul of man, … … not only take away his Image, but … up the soul to the power of Corruption, and … its discovered by the actions of Fighting, …. 5. 7. The Flesh lusts against the Spirit. …, Rom. 7. 21. The Law of Flesh … against the law of my mind, captivating the …, erecting and setting up a soveraignty, and height … jurisdiction in the soul, there is a law of sin and …, Rom. 8. 2.
As Adam actually by his own Fault and Folly … away the Holiness and Righteousness of God: … himself to the sinful distemper of his own …, so he doth also Meritoriously work, i. e. by … sin deserve that God should take away the one, … deliver up to the power of the other: And if …, then also Actually; for to work a … meritoriously, is so to do a thing according to … of Covenant our selvs, and that we should … another should do to us, or for us, what is sutable … the Covenant either broken or kept. In a word, As Adam works his own death by …, so also … procures both the loss of the Image of God, & the … of Corruption to take possession of him and …, for both these are included in that, Thy … is of thy self, Oh Israel, Hos. 13. 9.
Hence also it comes about, That the law is the … of sin, 1 Cor. 15. 56. and sin as strong as the Law, because the Law of God gives … to sinful distempers to take possession of it. So … look what power the Kings Commission is of in … hand of the High Sheriff, the same power hath … Sheriff when he hath that Commission. So look what strength there is in the Commission from Divine Justice, the same strength sin hath, which hath that Commission.
Hence again, All sins Original and Actual which follow therefrom, are punishments of the … of Adam, as they come from God: Its … with God, That he that wil reject his Wisdom … Holiness, should be deprived of it: its just, that … that wil chuse his own Delusions and … before Gods directions and Covenant, should be delivered up to the power of them, and staked … in them. Thou wouldst be so, why remain so …: And every putting forth of Original Corruption takes occasion from this act of revenging … pushing the soul away from him: But as they … from Adam, so they are sins properly called. For Adam doth not properly punish himself, he … not the execution of any act of Justice, … is it … that he doth evil, but it is his delight, … takes content therein, even to depart from God, which is the sentence of the second Death.
Hence lastly, There is no possibility that a … should be recovered by any power he hath, or by … vertue of any Creature, to deliver the wil of a … from under the power of his sin, or from … carried with it: Because he is sealed up under … by the Curse of the Covenant broken, and the … of it in a righteous Course: For as … could be no other reward of a good work, but to … immutably carried by the Spirit of the Lord, and enabled to work so for ever. (We can go no farther than the last end, to please God is the last end … chief good of the Creature, the immutable … and constancy in that, is al the good we … have. Do, and Live: That is, Do and Do; … me once, and please me for ever; that is, Thou shalt be enabled for ever to please me, and to be happy in so doing.)
So contrary wise, The Curse of the breach of the Covenant is for ever to be acted by the power of sin, … break it, Do not, and Die: that is, Displease … by Disobedience and be so accursed, that thou … ever displease me.
The just punishment which is answerable to our … of the Lord, and our chief good is, that … shal ever reject it. For if a man could please God and so … his end after his Disobedience and … of Covenant, he might then be happy, and … be in his sin, and so never be punished for it, which is impossible.
The Sum of this Argument in short returns to thus much, That if the Will of a man be under Commission of. Divine Justice, and is delivered up to … power of Sin to be possessed of it, and acted by it; therefore it is not, nay, cannot be willing to be … from its sins.
The Third Reason of the Doctrine, is taken fromReas. 3 the Power which Satan hath to lead, and so to … all sinners wholly according to his own desire, … the lord hath given him allowance thereunto. As … said to Satan touching Job, All that he hath is … thy hand, Job, 2. 6. So al these that wil not be my Subjects, but are turned Traytors, lo they be in … hand, they shal be thy slaves. Thus he rules in the Children of disobedience, Eph. 2. 2. Thus he … them at his will, 2 Tim. 2. last. He is the strong man that maintains possession in the Soul, and the sinner goes as he is led, 2 Cor. 12. 2. Malefactors are the Kings Prisoners, but under the keeping of the …: so sinners have their Mittimus, and they are put into Satans hand, he keeps them in the chayns of …, and reserves them to the … of the … day, if they be not rescued out of his hand by Jesus Christ.
The last Reason is taken from the NaturalnessReas. 4 and neer Alliance there is between our hearts and our lusts, that we count it death to part with them; nay, we cannot be without them: hence in Scripture they are called as the members of our body (Col. 3. 5. mortifie your members) and those the dearest and tenderest, the right eye, and the right hand, Mark 9. 43. 47. They are as the skin of our hearts, Jer. 4. 4. circumcise your hearts: They are as our selves, hence we are commanded to deny our selves, that is our lusts, Matt. 16. 24. If any man will be my …, let him deny himself; the old man. Rom. 6. 6. Our old man is crucified: Nay, they are our very lives, 1 Tim. 5. 6. they that live in sin: our very heaven and happiness; the yong man went away sorrowful when he should exchange his Possessions for the Kingdom of Heaven: So that first the corrupt Will must cease to be, or else it cannot but be willing to maintain its distempers, for every thing labors to preserve it self, for to destroy itself is to be contrary to it self, and therefore the corrupt Will cannot but preserve its Corruption, for it is it self, and it cannot destroy it self. So that now to gather up al,
If the dominion of sin wholly possesseth the soul, the power of Satan wholly leads it, the naturalness of sin wholly contents it; then it is not possible that ever the carnal heart should be willing to part with his Corruptions. Here's a dominion that cannot be gainsaid, a power that cannot be opposed, a contentment that cannot be bettered; therefore there is no other expectation but that the corrupt Will should be unwilling to be severed from its sins.
Hence we may learn: It is the heaviest plague inUse 1. the world for a natural man to have his own will: It is the direful dread of the vengeance of the Lord when he delivers a man up to the distemper of his own heart, to follow it, aud to have it, and to be under the power of it; and that follows thus. To be severed from God, and never to be severed from his sins, is the greatest plague in the world: But … man naturally wil never be severed from his sins, this is the desire of his heart: therfore to have this, is the heaviest plague that can befal a man in this world. As it is in Psal. 81. 11. Israel would none of me, so I gave them up to the lusts of their own hearts, to walk in their own counsels: Is it so? That as they did, thou dost; and as they would, thou wouldst; that thou professedst the same inwardly, I wil none of the wayes of God, but I wil have my own wil and my own lusts, then this is the plague of God upon thy soul, thou shalt have thy …, and Hell with them too; thou shalt have nothing of God, nothing of his Grace here, nor of his Glory hereafter. Hath the Lord so ordered it towards thee, That as its said of David, he never displeased Adonijah, never crost him of his wil, so thou hast had thy wil stil, and hast prospered in a … course, this is a sign that God never intends good to thy soul, that he hath thus delivered thee up to the distempers of thy own heart. When Physitians give men for gone, they leave them, and say, Let him eate what he wil, if he cal for Milk, or Drink, let him have it, he's but a dead man, live he cannot. Is it so with thee? That God hath given thee over, and left thee to thy self, that now thou hast what thou wilt, and dost what thy corrupt wil carries thee to. This is the most dreadful plague of al, Thou dost walk in the counsels of thine own heart, to thy own eternal ruine.
Hence its also cleer: The Will of a Natural manUse 2. is the worst part about him. The worst thing he hath, and the greatest Enemy he hath, is his own Heart and Will. It follows thus, It is that which maintains al the sinful distempers of his soul, it keeps the whole Army of Corruptions al in their Ranks, that Victuals them, and provides for them, that hinders a man from using the means, or from getting good by al the means of Grace: Its the corrupt wil of a man that keeps him under the power of his sinne, and keeps off the power of an Ordinance, that would procure his everlasting good. I speak it the rather to dash that dream of wickedmen, when they do ill, and speak ill; yet (say they) my heart is good. Its true, I cannot speak so wel, nor do so wel, nor make such a shew as others can, but my desires are good. No truly, If thy Life be naught, thy Heart is worse. Its the worst thing thou hast about thee. Matt. 12. 34, 35. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh: And an evil man out of the evil treasure of … heart brings forth evil things. There is a treasury of evil in thy heart, variety and abundance of wickedness there: The Heart is the store-house, a mans carriage in his life is but the shop; men do not use to bring out al into their shop, but keep it in their store-house that is ful stil: So be it known unto you, you who in your speeches and carriages discover it, you are desperately proud, and wordly, and carnal, and prophane; there's a thousand times more of that wickedness in your hearts; there's a treasury, a store-house of al abominations. Nay, the deceitfulness of the Heart is above al; the masterfulness of the Heart is beyond al that we can conceive: A man may discern a mans life, and perceive what is there sutable, or cross to the Will of God; but the heart is desperate decentful, who can know it? Jer. 17. 9. The Will of Man is uncontroulable. That which the Apostle James speaks of the tongue, That it is an unruly evil ful of deadly poyson, none can tame it, Jam. 3. 8. It is much more true of the heart, for whatever wickednes is vēted by the tongue, its first in the heart; and its there much more: men may gag a mans mouth, and fetter his hands and feet, but Oh the corrupt will of man, who can restrain that? The truth is, it wil stand out against al Reasons and Arguments, and nothing can move the wil except God work upon it. As they said, in 1 Sam. 8. 19. When Samuel gave them Reasons against Monarchy; they say not, Your Reasons are not good, we wil Answer them, and bring better Reasons for what we desire; No, but we will have a King. And as the Lord saies to the House of Israel, Ezek. 33. 11. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil wayes, why will you die? Give me the reason of it: It is not my wil you should die, I forbid it; its not sutable to reason, that gain-say it; its not agreeable to nature that abhors it, to have your sins, and to have the plagues of them for ever: nay, but we wil have our sins whatever come of it. This is the nature of the Corrupt wil of every carnal man.
Hence again we may see how cross to Reason andUse 3. common sense the corrupt carriage of ungodly men is, when they be left to their own wils: we look at it, not as a part of weakness, but a madness in truth; if a Malefactor wil lie in the Dungeon, when means of deliverances is afforded; for a man to chuse his fetters, and to keep on his chains and bolts, when he may be freed: yet this is the case and condition, yea the disposition of men who are not willing to be severed from their sins, nor to be set free from those chains of darkness wherewith they are fettered, and go up and down imprisoned in the world. Sin is compared to a deadly poyson; the poyson of Asps is under their tongue, Rom. 3. 13. that is, Such … which is deadly and venomous which admits no remedy, no cure, no recovery: Now, shouldest … see a Patient that should be offended with the Medicine that would Cure him, or with the Physitian that would counsel him, and recover him out of … Disease? Or take it heinously, and grievously that any should keep him from drinking the Poyson that would destroy him? Each man would conclude that his brain were more distempered than … body, as doing that which is directly cross even to nature, which desires the preservation of it self, even in unreasonable Creatures. Turn but the tables as we say, consider aright thine own carriage, … thou wilt confess it is thy case, thou art the man Thou art poysoned with the loathsom, and … lusts of thine own Heart, which threaten thy everlasting ruine, and that beyond recovery in … course of ordinary means; Thou art not able … hear the Counsel that would direct thee for … Cure, nor bear a savory and seasonable … which would take away the poyson of those … distempers: Thou canst not endure to be severe from that which wil sever thy soul from God: … canst not abide the Word, or the Messengers … would take away that from thee which wil take … way thy peace, thy comfort, thy happiness and a Thus Herodias waited for the Baptists life, … he endeavored to cross her in her Incestuous … and loathsom abominations, Mark 6. 19. Therefore Herodias had a quarrel, a secret grudg again him, and would have killed him: She lay at … she was watchful and covetous to observe and … any hint of opportunity offered to do him harm, because he desired, and endeavored to do her the greatest good that he could. A type of this we may … in the Israelites when their own hearts could tel them, and their own experience could testifie, and that unto their own sense, it was the greatest pressure that ever they found, the … of the wrath of Pharoah, and that they sighed under it, and their groans went up to heaven. And yet they would return to their own ruine, and to the house of bondage: And, Would God, said they, we had died in Aegypt: Aegipt typifyed the kingdom of darkness, the state of sin and death; and Pharoah was a type of Satan, who exerciseth the fierceness of his fury upon the souls of those that are under his power: somtimes men wil cry unto the Lord by reason of the hard usage they find from Sin and Satan, yet when God comes by his Word and the Counsels of his Servants to pluck them out of their sins, and out of their bondage, they cannot endure that, they wil rather return again unto, and lie down under the bondage of sin and Satan, than be delivered from it.
John 5. 40. Our Savior Christ tels the Jews there, You will not come to me, that you might have life: Christ hath Purchased it, and Promised it, and Offred it; yet saies he, You wil not come to me, you wil not, though you may have life and happiness for the coming for.
Here's also a ground of Tryal. We may henceUse 4. discern, and that undeniably, and easily, what our condition is, Whether we be yet in our Natural estate, so far from the interest and possession of Christ, or any saving work of his Spirit, as that indeed we have not attained any through preparation hereunto.
We need not send up to Heaven to look into the Cabinet Counsels of Gods everlasting Decrees: duplicate page duplicate page what is … concerning us. Descend thou into thy own soul, thou hast that in thy bosom wil be the best discovery of thy condition: Ask but honestly, plainly, and in earnest thy own heart, and that wil cast the ballance, and that beyond al question. Such as thy will is, such is thy condition; look what thou wouldest be, that thou art in truth, and in the account of the Almighty. The Lord cares … for al the Court Complements thou canst express in the wayes of Christianity; he … not for … thy fair …, and the quaint appearances of …; was thy carriage gilt over with the most glorious shews of Godliness, and thy tongue tipped with the language of heaven; this wil not do the deed. This would not answer the Lords expectation, nor thine own hopes and comforts in the issue. It was said concerning Eliab, Davids elder brother, when it was conceived that he should be the man appointed for the Kingdom, and indeed holy Samuel was deceived in his goodly stature, Surely this is the Lords Annointed: The Lord himself checks his judgment, Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh upon the heart, 1 Sam. 16. 7. Look we then as God looks, and judge we as he judgeth, if we would have comfort and truth in our judgment, that we may not fail in that, and so our hopes and happiness and al fail in the issue. Thou saiest, Thy … is savory and free, thy understanding large, thou art able to search the Mysteries of Grace, thou knowest in a great … the things of Grace, and art able fully to express what thou knowest; and thou pretendest readmess and zeal for the service of the Lord. Thou … al these are thus. And I say, What is thy heart thou lookest to these? I say, Look to thy heart, and then to these, that is Gods way. The people in Deut. 5. 28. made as full and free a profession as all the world could desire, but the Lord desired somwhat more, … went further, They have well said, but Oh that … were such a heart in them, v. 29. It is the heart then that gives the casting Evidence of a mans condition, and wil not deceive.
The Woman that hath two Suiters that make love and express their … to her, if she ask her own Spirit, that will easily speak which is the man that must be her Husband; the Answer which will … it is this; Such a one hath her heart, he hath got her good will, and therefore hath gained the woman, … is his; to give one all good language, and … entertainment, that is nothing, if another hath the heart. So if the Question be (which is indeed a Question of the greatest consequence in the world) Whether art thou to be matched to thy Sin, or to thy Savior? to thy Lusts, or to the Lord Jesus? This will put it beyond peradventure, hath some bosom lust got the will of thy soul, and holds it to this day? thou art certainly a corrupt and carnal wretched Creature. All thy … carriage and … entertainment, or good language … … the Lord Jesus, it's nothing, thy lusts have thy heart, and Satan hath thy heart by means of them, and this is thy condition to this very day. It's …, as experience proves it, that he that is the Owner of a Country, may be forced by the power of an Enemy … in upon him, to forsake the Skirts and Borders of it; but if yet the strong Places, …, and Citadels be in his possession, which command the Country, each man concludes he is Lord and … of the Country still, hecause he hath these …, and strong Forts, whereby he can command it at his pleasure. As in the Country, so in the Rule of a mans Carriage and Conscience; possible it is, nay ordinary that there may come some … Power and Evidence of Truth, and the Lord may so mightily assault the soul with the Battery of his Word, and levy such Forces of Arguments against the prevailing power of sin, in our practice, as that … may cause our corruptions to retire and forsake the Frontiers, and out-works, the tongue, and hand, and behavior; but if yet the will, which is the main Castle, and hath command of all, if that, I say, be still at league with our Lusts, and the power of corruption is there entertained and acknowledged, thou art yet under the power of Satan, and possession of thy sin. The unclean Spirit may now and then go on walking, and be cast out from exercising that Sovereignty and extent of Jurisdiction, as to act the hand, and eye, and tongue to the practice of evil; but as long as his house is swept and garnished, the soul willing to give way, and welcom to any bosom distemper, he returns again and prevails as much, nay, more than ever, Matth. 12. 43, 44, 45. Whatever thou hast received, if thou hast not a heart against thy sin, thou hast nothing will do thee good. Whatever thou givest to God, or doest for him, unless thou givest thy heart unto him, and bestow that upon his Service, thou doest nothing that will stand thee in any stead: The want of this was that which Moses so heavily complained of, Deut. 29. 3, 4. You have seen all that the Lord hath done for you, the signs and wonders that he hath wrought for you, yet the Lord hath not given you an heart unto this day: As who should say, all these will but aggravate your sins, and encrease your plagues, your naughty hearts will abuse all, and bring a Curse upon all the Blessings you enjoy: All thy Services without a heart severed from thy sins, is but as a dead Sacrisice, which the Lord loaths: As she to Sampson, though he pretended all love, yet this she looked at as an evidence of want of love, because his heart was not with her; How canst thou say thou lovest me, when thy heart is not with me? So the Lord to all the fair pretences of fals-hearted Professors; How can you say you love me, when your hearts are not with me? you wil not part with your Lusts.
But you will reply, This is a hard saying, whoObject. can hear it? who can bear it? this is all we have to bear up and support our hearts and hopes with. True it is, our Natures are naught and corrupt, our distempers strong, infirmities many, and failings great; we cannot deny that which our actions discover, we are too frequently and shamefully snatched aside, and surprized by our corruptions, and our distempers overbear us; yet the Lord knows, and we would have you to know, we would be other, we want power against our distempers, yet we want not will to be severed from them.
So said, and so done, well and good: You profess so, prove what you profess, and it …; I…. wish it were so, and that's the worst I wish you: but try it then, and be sure you do not fail, for you are brought to the lowest and the last cast; it's as the Book to the Malefactor: This is the very Door of Grace, and the Gate of Heaven, to be willing to be severed from sin: God never wrought upon you for good, unless this be wrought in you.
The Evidences are Four.
He that is willing to part with his sin, is speedy and unweariable in seeking and improving of those means whereby he may get rid of it, and which may remove it from him. The Will is the great Wheel which sets all, and keeps all a going, and will cause a man to break through all discouragements and … that can be cast in the way, neither difficulties nor oppositions be they what they will be, can either daunt it wholly, or put it upon delaies; the hands may be bound, the feet fetter'd, either want of liberties or opportunities may prejudice a … practice, or the opposition may be so … and fell, that may force a man for the while to cease the performance of his work, but if the will be setled and resolved that cannot be removed: So the Apostle, Rom. 7. 18. To will is present with me: though he cannot do what he is enjoyned, God requires, and Duty …, yet he can will what he cannot do: so the Prophet David, Psal. 119. 4, 5. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy Precepts, Oh that my heart were so upright, and my waies so directed that I might keep them; I do not, I cannot do as my Duty is, but Oh that I could do so; I cannot do as I should, yet I cannot but wish it. This you shal find when the faithful are at the greatest under, when some spiritual damps and qualms come over their hearts, yet these privy yernings of their hearts towards God and the waies of his Grace will appear: As in a swound, when al the acts of the Sences are bound up, and the Pulse is not to be perceived, yet hold a glass to the mouth of a fainting man, and you shal perceive some … breathing ever: So it is when al abilities, enlargements seem to fail; when temptations, desertions, and violent surprizal of some venemous distempers, take away sence and feeling, power and performance; yet you shall perceive his breathing, if you bring the soul to a Command or a Promise, Oh that my heart were so upright, Psal. 119. 20. My soul breaketh for the longing it hath to thy Commandements at all times, … David: and … Paul, Rom. 7. 19. The good I would, I do not, the evil I would not, that I do: I do evil, but I would not do it; I do not the good, but I would do …. And therefore, as blind Bartimaeus when his heart was set to seek the recovery of his sight, as soon as he heard that Christ passed by, he cryed out, Jesus Mark, 10 47, 48, 49.thou son of David have mercy upon me; they rebuked him, and he cried yet more earnestly, thou son of David have mercy on me; and our Savior asked him, what ailest thou? what was his will set upon? Oh Lord that I may receive my sight. So it is with a sinner whose wil is set to seek relief against his sins, if there be any opportunity offred, means afforded, any occasion that may lend relief against his sin, how speedily upon the least inkling will he listen to it? If Christ pass by, in Conference, in Communion, in publick or private, in set seasons, or such as could not be expected; whereby the healing vertue of the blood of Christ may be dispensed, they greedily repair thither: and if the question be what wouldest thou? the Answer of the soul is, Oh Lord that I may receive power against my sin: and if he get it not he will be unweariable to pursue the Lord, until he hath attained it. So the lamenting Church they took unto themselves words, the sum and substance of all their requests, Hos. 14. 3. Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously; not take away the punishments that pinch us, not the Judgments and terrors that may justly perplex us, in the times of our necessities, but take away our iniquities: A wicked man may have a velleity, some sleepy wish for a turn against his sin, for the attainment of his end, but it's but for a fit, and not for the removal of his sin, but some evil that it brings: Nay, the heart of an ungodly man holds counsels against the holy Commandements of the Lord, and plots how he may sitly put by the authority of the Truth that would take away his evil, Job, 22. 18. The Counsel of the wicked is far from me. There is a … purpose of Spirit to maintain some distemper which cannot be in a godly man.
He that is willing to part with his sin, he takes greatest delight in those means which either discover his sin more fully, and work most kindly upon the heart, that godly sorrow which causeth Repentance never to be repented of, and are the most piercing and powerful to remove it from him. For it's the greatest delight that can befal a man to have his will and desires answered: that which the Will desires most to have when it wants, it delights most in when it hath it. It is so in the diseases of the Body, when the blood is foul and so feaverish, and fit to cause a Pleuresie, the Humors gross and …, and molest the stomach, so that Nature desires to be unburdened; he that hits the right vein, and that Physick which works kindly and strongly upon the right humor: the Patient receives marvelous ease, and Nature special relief and refreshing; that which takes away most of the burden, bring most ease. So it is with a soul truly willing to be severed from his sin, being burdened and infested with the venemous pollution thereof, it finds most delight in that Ordinance that works most kindly and effectually upon it; the saddest counsel, the sharpest reproof, the most searching tryal, that ransacks every corner of a corrupt conscience, now a man hath his Will, and is marvelously pleased with it.
So David when Abigail met him and reproved him, and counselled him against his sin, 1 Sam. 25. 32, 33. saies he, Blessed be thou, and blessed be thy counsel, and blessed be the Lord, which hath kept me this day from shedding blood; that hast kept me this day from venting this distemper, and hast met me so … and spake so effectually unto my soul. … heart that finds his special corruption his greatest … wherewith he is most pestered, is therefore … willing to be rid of that, which is most … to him, and therefore the word that meets … directly, and works most powerfully, his will, … Gods will meet there fully, and therefore he is … pleased: When a reproof stabs him to the …, Oh more of that Lord; and that comfort … would remove his main discouragement, he … the continuance of that: That exhortation … would awaken his sluggish spirit, and put life … vertue into his soul, he saies, speak home there Lord, Prov. 2. 10. When wisdom entreth into thy …, and knowledg is pleasant unto thy soul: Oh … hath wished this, longed for, looked for this, and … now he hath his will, and his hearts desire, … is pleased at the heart; when the Lord brings off his spirit kindly that was awk and wearish in duty, … the best day that he hath seen a long time; Oh … he that I had such a heart still, ever to be in this …, for God and against my sins: and still he … in that frame; Psal. 85. 8. I will hear what God will speak to my soul: whereas a corrupt heart when the Word meets with his beloved lusts … the heart is in league, and indeed would not only pinch, but pluck it away by main force; it's death to him, and so distastful as that he cannot endure it, though he can hear many Counsels, receive some general Reproofs, and listen to many …, yet this he bears not: It is as though a man should rent a member from his Body, or pluck one part from another; the sinner riseth up with fell opposition here: As she said when she had lost her Darling, and conceived that the Man of God had a hand in it, What have I to do with thee, thou man of God? 1 Kings, …. 18.So what have … to do with that Reproof, that …, that Admonition, that Examination: thus … Acts, 22. 22. They heard Paul till he came to … word that was most cross to them, and then they cried out away wich him, they could bear him … longer then. When Demetrius his Trade was … to fall, he could not want his gain, and … not renounce his Idol, all is in an uproar, Acts, … there was an outcry by the space of two hours, … is Diana of the Ephefians; they would not … with their Gain, nor with their …. So … dealt with Stephen when he came close to them, … discovered the rebellion of their hearts and lives; Acts, 7. They were not able to bear it, but stop … Ears, and run upon him, and he must lose his … rather than they be disturbed in their lusts: this … the guise of the heart of every Natural man who … not willing to part with his sin.
If the sinner be seriously willing to part with … sin, he is restless, and unsatisfied until it be … and taken away from him, he finds nothing that … can have any sweet contentment in as long as he … that distemper which is cross to his will, and Gods will also. As Haman when he had all the caps in the Country uncovered to him, and al knees … before him, yet al this was nothing to him, … avails all this (saies he) so long as I see Mordecai … in the Kings Gate? Esther, 5. 13. So had he all abilities, did God vouchsafe unto him al enlargements, had he the hearts and approbation of all … in the world, to honor him, to esteem him, yet … dasheth all, what avails it so long as this Pride, … peevishness, this frothy vain heart remains within me? When the heart is assaulted with some sudden qualm or deadly fume that assaults the spirits, … ye drive it from his heart, nothing will do him good, Oh he is sick at the heart, now I thank the Lord it's gone from my heart: So it is with the plague of … that assaults the heart, a man that knows it, and … …, and is really sick of the lusts and corruptions that are in his heart, he can never be at quiet till he find his heart in some measure freed from the power and poyson of those sinful distempers: as Rebecca said, If Jacob should take a wife of the Daughters of Heth, what good shall my life do me? Gen. 27. last: So what good wil my credit, my profit, my profession, all my priviledges and performances do me, if my heart be married to any base lust? … my corrupt will, and my wayward; peevish, stiffness, and malignancy of heart continue with me still.
But thou that canst lift up thy head and know all these evils in thee, that God knows and thou knowest there are such bosom abominations which thy heart finds and takes contentment in, thou canst live with them, talk with them, lie down and sleep with them, and arise with them again; nay, and thy corrupt heart is restless if it may not be pleased and satisfied with thy lusts: Amon is sick of Incest, Ahab of Covetousness, unless they may enjoy … lusts, they cannot enjoy their lives. Grace! I would not trouble my self, or spend any time to prove that such have any grace.
When a mans sins are so far from being his vexation, that it is his vexation that he cannot have free … to commit his sins, that he is vexed with the word that discovers his evil, vexed with Conscience that checks him for it, plagued and tormented with all that come in his way that will cross him in his lusts: if there be a graceless heart in Hell thou art one to this very day, thou didst never know what it was to put off the will of sinning.
Observe where the will takes up its last stand, and what it looks at as that which lastly satisfies its desire either in pretended parting with sin, or in performance of duties, or improvement of means. The end steers the action, and gives in evidence of the goodness of it: The Merchant and the Pyrate goes in the same channel, useth the same wind to carry them, the same Compass to direct the one about his honest Affairs to serve Gods Providence and his own Duty, and the other to serve his own covetous and unlawful lusts of Theevery and spoiling: So here, I speak it for this purpose, because it's one of the cunning cheats of a deceitful heart, he will perform such Duties, and forsake such sins, not because he either loves the Duty, or loaths the sin, but because he would land himself at the place where he would be, at some other end of his own. Nay, it's possible and ordinary for a man to part with his sin for a push, when indeed it is only that he may keep his sin: As Paul spake of Onesimus, he departed from him for a season that he might be received for ever; and as the Adultress chides her mate before others, that she may enjoy him more freely without fear or suspition; so it's usual for a false heart to chide with his corruptions, and to speak great words against them, when yet the secret … is but to enjoy them more freely by that means: therefore let not the Devil cozen you with colors, your confessions and resolutions, your prayers and tears against your sins, and that in secret, and that unto God; if your hearts … these but as means for your own ends, you never were willing to part with sin.
The … of a gracious heart is, Never to take up his stand till he come to God and the guidance of his Grace and Spirit, Hosea, 14. 2, 3. &c. Take away all iniquitie and receive us graciously, what have I to do any more with Idols? &c. and the heart wil never more have to do with these sins, but with God; he sees these evils, sorrows for these, … to have these removed that he may be under the power of God and his Grace; As Samuel said to Israel, 1 Sam. 7. 3, 4. If you do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away your gods, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only: So if you be indeed resolved to forsake your sins, and renounce your corruptions, then abandon them, and al occasions leading to them, and al beginnings of them, and submit your selves, your thoughts and affections to the Lord, and to his Word, and serve him only: Lodg thy soul here, and let it never take up its stand until it come hither.
The last Use is of Exhortation and Direction bothUse 5. together: It should guide us, and it should perswade us, to take the right way of Reformation: Never leave thy prayers, and tears, and sorrows, and remorse, until thou come to thy very heart; thy tongue professeth fair, and thy hand forbears the practice of evil, but ask thy heart, Heart what sayest thou? Shame may prevail with thee, Authority of men may constrain thee, and conscience may force thee to abstain from evil; I but, what saies thy Heart? art thou willing to part with thy sin? I do not do it, I dare not do it; but Will, what sayest thou? Heart, what sayest thou? Never cease before you be able to answer, I am really willing to part with every sin I am convinced of. It was the great complaint of Moses concerning the People of Israel, that notwithstanding al that the Lord had done for them, yet they had not a heart to fear him, …. 29. 4.and to walk in obedience before him: So … may say, God hath crowned thee with …, honored thee with encouragements, thou hast the Esteem of others, thou hast all Liberties and opportunities to be as good as thou shouldest be, but truly all these will do thee no good, unless thou hast a heart for God and against thy sin, therefore rest no where until thou hast this. The great Fort that must be taken, is the Will, or else all the rest is as good as nothing: he that wil cure a disease must not only skin it over, but must take away the core of it, if he think to heal it throughly, and cure it fully: So here, it is not enough to wash a mans mouth, and to wipe his hands, but the core of a mans corruptions must be got away, thy soul must be brought off from the Will of sinning, as wel as from the Practice of sinning, or else thy soul will never be brought home to God: stay not therefore till thou comest hither, and be sure to make sound work here. Men that cleer ground, they content not themselves to lop off the tops of trees, but they stub up the roots, then they make cleer work: So here, be sure you stub up the heart and will of sinning (that's the root of all) or else al that you do is in vain; it was our Saviors expression to the Pharisees, Luke, 11. 39. Ye fools that make clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness: they began on the wrong side, they contented themselves to … the …, their outward conversation to manward, and left corruption in their hearts unsubdued, unremoved, and therefore our Savior Christ calls them fools and hypocrites for their labor: What can you say to my life? what hath any man against me? if thou hast no more … say for thy self than that comes to, thou hast nothing at al; … thy heart be not clensed from those iecret corruptions of thine.
Let me leave Two or Three Directions here, that are just in my way, not interfering with any thing to be spoken afterward.
Know that the greatest work of Reformation, Repentance, and the comfort of a mans spiritual condition, it lies mainly in the Will: the greatest work and the greatest difficulty lies here, Brethren. If you look at it as a matter of ease, that thou canst do it with the turning of a hand, and make wash-work of it, thou never knewest it, and thou shalt never attain it: It's one of the Devils greatest delusions whereby he cozens thousands, to perswade men it's an easie matter to be Religious: No, … know it, unless you find it the greatest work in the world, you will never find endeavors suitable, nor success answerable for the comfort of your own souls. Oh therefore that every man would go home convinced and perswaded, God hath helped me to temper my tongue, and to keep my hands, the Lord hath given me an enlightened Judgment, a reformed life, but Oh the difficult work is behind, this wretched heart of mine, the hardness of that, the impossibility of that! conclude it therefore, and resolve upon it, it wil cost me hard work, and unless the Lord enable me, and set in mightily and constantly upon my soul, the work will never be done: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, Jer. 17. 9. there is no hope of it, as it were, the hand, and eye, and tongue may be reformed, but the heart is desperate, who can know it? who can mend it? who can overpower it? If thou hast found it easie, nay, if thou didst never stand amazed at the difficulty of the work about thy heart to get that severed from thy sins, thou never hadst the right discerning of it to this day. Paul cried out of the Body of Death, Rom. 7. last, who shal deliver me from it? not from the eye, or the hand, but from the heart, the will of Pride, the wil of Uncleanness, the will of …, and here he is at a stand, at an amaze with himself, who shal deliver me!
Beleaguer thy heart and will with the cleer evidence of the Truth of God, that it may not be able to make an escape from under it. It is with subduing the Will, as it is in winning a strong Hold; it's marvelous hard to … unto it, no battery can be made against it, those that are, do not prevail, … … taking of it; then they besiege it, so that none shall come in to bring any help, … none go out to find any relief, then in time they will be famished out, and so forced to surrender. Do so with thy soul, thou hast a crooked proud … will that hath outbid al the Ordinances of God, no battery could ever prevail against it; therefore labor to besiege it with the Evidence and plainness of undeniable Arguments of Truth from the Word, that nothing may come in nor out; listen not to any carnal Reasons within, suffer not either honor, or profit, or pleasure from without to enfeeble the power of the Truth, but so besiege it with the Evidence of the Word, that the soul may say, this is my sin, this is my plague, this is my state, it will be my ruine unless the Lord shew mercy to me, this wil tire the heart of a man, and there is no other way in the world: and it's certain that the heart wil either lay down his corruption or his conviction; but this is our misery, that some go out, and some come in, and so the heart is relieved and holds the siege long.
The last Direction (which may prepare us for the next Point, viz. The hand of the Lord to work this for us) When thou art perswaded this stubborn heart will cost me many a prayer and tear, and bring me often upon my knees, it wil never do else, if I think it's easie I never knew what it was, and when thy heart is so besieged that it finds no relief; Then Brethren look often up to Heaven, He only that made the heart can frame the heart to the blessed obedience of his own wil; al that we can do, is to use the means, and lie under the Ordinances that God may do that for us which he requires of us. It's the Lords own Promise, Ezek. 36. 26, 27. I will take away the heart of stone, and give a heart of flesh; therefore go and cry to Heaven, and say, Lord it is not in our hands to do it, but thou hast said thou wilt give unto thy servants a heart to hate sin, we come and beseech thee deny it not unto us: Look to him we should in whose hand our hearts are that he may do that for us which we cannot do for our selves.