The Sinners Last Sentence, Chapter 41
CHAP. XLI. The grand cauſe of ſins of Omiſſion. An unregenerate heart, with the cure of it; a renewed nature.
I Proceed now to the ſecond and third particulars, viz. The cauſe and cure of ſins of Omiſſion; I ſhall recite one more general and principal Cauſe, others more ſpecial, and leſs principal, and joyn the Cure to the Cauſe.
1. The grand Cauſe of theſe ſins of Omiſſion, is an unregenerate Heart. Where the ground is unplowed, and lieth fallow, no Fruit can be expected; Weeds may grow, good Corn cannot grow there: When the Heart is not broken up by Repentance, but hardned through cuſtom and continuance in ſin, no fruits of Righteouſneſs, no Faith, no Love, or Humility, &c. can be expected there. Can the Leopard change his ſpots, or the Blackamore his skin? no more can he that is accuſtomed to do evil, learn to do well, Jer. 23.13. Natures Fruit will be according to its Root, whether ſweet or ſowr. There muſt of neceſſity be a good Foundation laid, before there can be a good Superſtructure of Holineſs rear'd. An unrenewed Heart hath no tendency towards it, and Nature will work little farther than its own inclination. The Water will run as the Tyde carrieth it. Nay, the unregenerate Heart is contrary to religious Duties, hath an hatred and abhorrency of them, no wonder then if it live in the Omiſſion of them. The Carnal Mind, Lady Reaſon her ſelf, the chief and principal faculty of man, is enmity againſt God, It is not ſubject to the Law of God, neither indeed can be, Rom. 8.7. He who is an enemy to a mans Perſon, will never be a friend to his Precepts; much leſs will he who is enmity againſt Gods Life, be ſubject to his Law. There is an impoſſibility hereof, Neither indeed can be. Till the Heart be changed, it will never like the Divine Commands, that are ſo contrary to its luſts; and till it be brought to love them, it will neglect Obedience to them. When the Will, the great Commander, is ſet againſt the Laws of God, how can any of the other faculties ſubmit to them? As in fleſhly luſts, the titillation is from ſenſe and appetite; but the conſent of the reaſonable Will, is, that which makes it a vice; ſo unto good, the inclination may poſſibly be from example or education, but the royal aſſent of the Will is that which makes it a virtue. The Devil finds it no hard work to part Sin and his Duty, whoſe Will never choſe it, and whoſe Heart never loved it; but it will be much eaſier to part him and his Duty, whoſe Will and Heart have an enmity and reluctancy againſt it. If a Lads calling doth not ſuit his genius, he ſeldom comes to do any thing well, or to be expert at it; much leſs when he hates it. The Scholar who loves not his Book, will hardly proceed from the degree of a Dunce; much leſs he who loatheth his Book. If the nature of a man be contrary to God, and his Ways, the preſence of God is troubleſome to him, Job 21.14. They ſay to God, depart from us; and the Worſhip of God is tedious to them. When will the new Moon be gone, and the Sabbath be over. And the Precepts of God are Fetters and Cords to them, Pſal. 2.3. Let us break their bonds aſunder, and caſt away their cords from us. Common gifts of the Spirit, as Illumination, Convictions, ſudden flaſhes of Affection may do ſomewhat againſt this diſtemper of Nature, but the virtue of that Phyſick is ſoon ſpent, and then it returns to its former illneſs. Colours not laid in Oyl, will ſoon be waſht off.
Indeed, how can it be expected, that a Body ſeparated from a Soul ſhould ſtir or move; and much leſs can it be expected, that a Soul without Chriſt, its life, ſhould pray, or hear, or watch, or do any thing according to the Will of God. Paul tells us, I live, i. e. to God, according to his Will, doing what is good: But how comes this about, at whoſe coſt doth he keep houſe; yet not I, but Chriſt liveth in me. I may thank my Lord Jeſus, I am beholden unto him for all ability unto ſacred actions: And the life that I live in the Fleſh, is by Faith in the Son of God. It's from Chriſt alone that I receive ſupplies of ſtrength and virtue to live to God. What will then become of the Unregenerate perſon, who is without Chriſt, Epheſ. 2.12. He who hath not the Son, hath not life. And he who hath not life, I am ſure cannot live to God. The Apoſtle fitly joyns them together, Trees without fruit, twice dead, i. e. certainly dead, or dead indeed, Jude, verſ. 12. Where the ſtock is dead, the branches muſt needs wither; and if they wither, there is little likelihood of fruit.
Beſides, an unregenerate Soul is neceſſitated (as to internal Omiſſions, in regard of his want of ſpiritual life, ſo) to external Omiſſions, in regard of his engagements to his carnal intereſt. One is poſſibly married to Profit, and when that calls him, he muſt go, though Cloſet or Family, or any other Duties bid him ſtay, Matth. 8. No man can ſerve God and Mammon, but he will love the one, and hate the other; or diſpiſe the one, and cleave to the other. When once there comes a competition between godlineſs and gain in the life, it will quickly appear which hath the greateſt ſway and predominancy in the heart. The young man would not follow Chriſt, becauſe his Eſtate denied to give him leave. Had he been leſs rich, he had been (probably) more religious; but having once eſpouſed the intereſt of his Wealth, he could not leave it, though he left God, and Chriſt, and Heaven for it. Another is ingaged to Pleaſures, and when they require his preſence, it cannot be ſuppoſed that he will deny them for the exerciſes if Religion, which are ſo painful to him. Herod may pretend fair for Religion, and profeſs ſome kindneſs to the Baptiſt, but when his Dalilah commands, his love to her over-comes his fear of John; and inſtead of doing many things, or any thing that was good, he cuts off that Head which had a Tongue in it ſo bold, as to reprove him for his ſin. A third is wedded to Honour, and if that be inconſiſtent with Holineſs; as ſometimes the caſe may be, he will neglect his Duty to God, to pay his Homage to this Diana. Jehu will do one good work, becauſe Gods and his intereſt were both conjoyned. His ſlaughter of Ahabs Sons and Prophets tended to ſettle him the firmer in his Throne, and ſo his ambition call'd for the ſame with Gods Command. But Jehu will omit another good work, he will not deſtroy the Idolatry at Dan and Bethel, becauſe there his intereſt and Gods were divided; for though God enjoyned the deſtruction of Idols in one place as well as another, yet Jehu was fearful as his Predeceſſor Jeroboam, that the Crown would not be faſt on his Head, if the people ſhould have gone up to Jeruſalem to Worſhip; therefore when his carnal intereſt forbids what God commands, he diſobeys God, to ſerve that. There is no unſanctified perſon in the World, but hath ſome worldly intereſt of his own ſuperiour and paramount; nay, in many things oppoſite and contrary to the intereſt of God; and therefore though he may obey God, while both thoſe Intereſts can agree and walk together in the ſame way, yet when there is a neceſſity of their parting, he will cleave to that which hath the predominancy within him. Where God hath ſome reſidence, and is entertain'd but as an underling to the Fleſh, when it comes to this paſs, that one muſt be turn'd out of doors (for they cannot agree long together) you may eaſily gueſs which it ſhall be.
The Cure of this, Reader, muſt be (if thou art not born again) to get a new heart. An old heart will never ſerve for, or enable unto the acts of new Obedience. The water will riſe no higher than the Fountain head a whence it floweth. If you would have a Clock to move regularly, and the hand without to go true, you muſt have the wheels and poizes right within. A good temperament of Body may cauſe a propenſity to ſome things that are honeſt; but that excellency muſt be of little worth, that hath its Original from mans baſeſt part, (as thoſe materials are me…, which ariſe out of the potentiality of the matter,) and truly that honeſty deſerves not the name of Virtue, being not quickened with the command of Reaſon. An exact Conſtitution may help a man to be mild, meek, courteous, modeſt, ſhame-faced; but theſe cannot be adopted into the Family of goodneſs, becauſe here, as they ſay, in the motion of the Serpent, the tayl leads the way to the Head; the Body rules and governs the Soul, and the mans perfection is from his meaneſt and worſt part. Beſides, the cauſe of all this ſeeming-virtue is mutable and mortal. Age, or Sickneſs, or change of Air, or of Condition, may alter a mans good nature; and then where is his Religion? Truly, as a Comet, it came without giving notice, and goeth away without giving warning. The Cauſe being taken away, the Effect ceaſeth.
Improved Reaſon will do more towards Religion, than a ſound bodily Conſtitution; but yet the Moraliſts, for all their Reaſon, were far enough from being religious. Indeed, reaſon rightly improved, is a ſpecial help, a ſerviceable Hand-Maid to Religion; but as they uſed it, or rather abuſed it, it became an Oppoſite and Enemy to Religion. The Mind or Underſtanding, which is the ſupream faculty of the Soul, they ſet up in defiance of Revelations, and with it they out-face Illumination. foreign, the natural man, animalis homo, he that hath no more than a reaſonable Soul, perceiveth not the things of God, for they are fooliſhneſs unto him; neither can he know them, becauſe they are ſpiritually diſcerned, 1 Cor. 2.14. Natural Light will not help a man to ſee ſpiritual Objects; (becauſe there is no proportion between the Faculty and the Object) and becauſe it cannot apprehend them, therefore it condemneth them as fooliſh and ridiculous. It hath its high thoughts, and carnal reaſonings, and vain imaginations, in which ſtrong holds, Luſt ſhelters it ſelf againſt all the Convictions of our own Spirit. And as the Moraliſt deifieth his Underſtanding in oppoſition to Faith, ſo he idolizeth the liberty of his Will in oppoſition to the ſpecial Energy and Virtue of the Holy Ghoſt. Liberty, ſaith the Philoſopher, I have by Nature; that is, a freedom to chooſe Good or Evil, I have in common with the reſt of Mankind, but goodneſs to that liberty, or an application of it to the choice of good rather than evil; this I have from my ſelf, my Reaſon, and I am beholden to my ſelf for it. So that, as Auſtin ſaith, if this be true, Si nobis poteſt libera voluntas ex deo eſt, quoad hoc poteſt eſſe, vel bona, vel mala, bona vero voluntas ex nobis est; melius eſt id quod a nobis quam quod ab illo eſt, De peccat. merit. lib. 2. cap. 18. If our Will be free from God, it may be good or bad; but if it be good from our ſelves, better is that which we have from our ſelves, than that which we have from God. In ſhort, this moral Votary differs from the natural, that the Original of the latters Religion, is the Conſtitution of his Body, of the formers is the chief faculty of his Soul; but neither of theſe can make a man religious, for where the Vitals are tainted, and the inward parts infected, it's in vain to uſe Plaiſters or outward Medicines. Indeed, here is the great fault of both the former, that they take no notice of the depravation of mans nature, which alone would convince them of the neceſſity of a change. They who have crazed Principles, and crackt Brains, cannot ſee any defects in themſelves, being prepoſſeſt with an Opinion of their own perfection. Both the Naturaliſts and the Moraliſts are ſo far from knowing the plague of their own hearts, that they count every thing of Nature rather lovely than loathſome. And as among the Moors, blackneſs is counted a beauty, becauſe it's common and general, and they ſee no other. So with theſe men, the vitioſity of Nature, which is the ſeed of all evil, is commended for the ſpring of Virtue. Indeed, they are in love with their Diſeaſe, and inſtead of Health, have this unhappineſs, that they feel not their own ſickneſs; ſo that neither the one nor the other can be religious, or perform thoſe Duties which God requireth.
Regeneration is abſolutely requiſite to this; He that layeth not that for his Foundation, can never build a Temple for God, he muſt needs prove a Bankrupt; that is, worſe than naught when he begun. Some tell us, that Trees ſhoot above ground as much and no more than they do under ground. I am ſure there is no more godlineſs outwardly in the Life, than there is inwardly in the Heart. If the fear and love of God be the great ſpring to ſet all the wheels a going in the ways of Religion, then all is right, but till then nothing is right. If there be not the Oyl of ſolid Grace in the Veſſel of the Heart, to feed Profeſſion in the Lamp and Holineſs in the Life, both will quickly ſail.
When God intends that his people ſhould walk in his Statutes, keep his Judgments, and do them; what doth he for them to prepare them and enable them thereunto? truly this, he regenerates them, and changeth them, and putteth a new principle into them: I will give them a new Heart, and a new Spirit, Ezek. 36.26. I will caſt them in the fire of my Word, and though they are old, tough untoward metal, I will melt them, and ſoften them, and they ſhall run into my mould. But how can this be? Nature will ſtill run into its old temper; though it may be a little alter'd in its form, yet it will ſtill continue the ſame in ſubſtance and matter. No, I will put my ſpirit into them, and they ſhall walk in my Commandments, and do them. My Spirit ſhall renew and quite alter their Spirits, it ſhall turn the ſtream of their Hearts from the World and Fleſh unto God, and ſhall be in them a principle of ſpiritual life and motion, ſrengthening them to walk in my Statutes, and to keep my Commandments, and do them. The natural Spirit would have ſerved to done natural actions. The Spirit of the World would have ſerved for a man to have walked according to the courſe of the World; but no leſs than a new Spirit can ſerve for a new life, and nothing below the Spirit of God can help unto a faithful walking with God.
Two things, Reader, I would ſpecially commend to thee, without which thou canſt never rightly obey any poſitive Precept; and they are to make ſure of a change in thy Judgment and thy Heart.
1. Make ſure of a change in thy Judgment concerning Sin and Obedience. By nature thou haſt lookt on Sin, as Achan on the Wedge of Gold, and David on Bathſheba as lovely and deſirable; thou haſt beheld it through the Devils Spectacles, and ſo haſt judged it elegible, if ſtill thou art of the ſame mind; though thou mayſt for ſhame or fear forbear it a while, yet as two Lovers parted by their Parents contrive and conſpire how to meet together, and do find ſome opportunity or other concurring with their deſires; ſo thou wilt find ſome time to give thy old beloved Luſts a viſit, and as cloſe and fond embraces as ever. There is a neceſſity of being renewed in the Spirit of thy Mind, if thou wouldſt not be conformable to the World in ſin and folly, Rom. 12.2. Formerly thou haſt lookt on Holineſs as a mean contemptible thing, as a fooliſh ridiculous thing, as a fruitleſs unprofitable thing, Joh. 7.48, 49. 1 Cor. 2.14. Job 21.15. Mal. 3. and thereupon haſt turn'd thy back upon it: If thou art ſtill of the ſame Opinion, thou will be ſtill of thine old ungodly Converſation. Till thy Mind be enlightned to ſee the beauty of Holineſs, the excellency of Obedience, the equity of the Divine Precepts, the Right and Title that God hath to thy Perſon and Service, thou wilt never perform Duties to any purpoſe.
Till thou art turn'd from Darkneſs to Light, thou canſt never be turned from Satan to God, Acts 26.18. They must be renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created them, who would put on the new man, which is after God, is created in righteouſneſs and true holineſs, Col. 3.10. Epheſ. 4.24. This illumination is requiſite in order to the ſecond thing; there muſt be a change in the Judgment, before there can be any in Affections.
2. Get thy Heart changed about Sin and Obedience: If there be not a loathing in thee of Sin, and a love in thee to Holineſs, thou wilt not much or long forſake the one, or follow after the other. By nature thou loveſt Sin as thy Meat and Drink, Prov. 4.17. as thy Dainties, Pſal. 141. as thy Members, Col. 3.5. as thy right Hand and right Eye, Matth. 18. as thy ſelf, Matth. 16.24. Now whilſt this love continueth, thou canſt never leave ſin. As the Dog may forbear the meat on the Table whilſt the Servants eye is on him, for fear of the Cudgel. But when he can come at it alone and ſcape, he will fall to it greedily. If from a Conviction of the great evil of Sin, thy Heart be not brought to abhor it; though ſome qualm of Conſcience, or ſharp Providence may make thee deſiſt from it at preſent; yet when theſe Diſtempers (as thou counteſt them) are gone, thy Stomach will come; and as one recovered of an Ague, thou wilt fall too more greedily, and feed on it more largely than ever. By Nature thy heart is ſet againſt Obedience. Thy Voice is, I will not have this man to Rule over me. The Voice of thy Heart, which was the Voice of their Lips; for they ſpoke plain Engliſh. As for the word that thou haſt ſpoken to us in the Name of the Lord, we will not do it, Jer. 44.16. Both the King and his Laws are odious to thee, and how then ſhall they be obey'd? If thy Heart continue thus bent againſt Holineſs, doſt thou think thou canſt mind it? All thy ſhews, and ſhadows, and flouriſhes, and profeſſion, and privilegdes, and purpoſes, and promiſes, will ſignifie nothing for Holineſs, or againſt Sin; till thou canſt ſay with David, I hate every falſe way: but thy Law do I love, Pſal. 119. He is hardly ſeparated from his Maſter, be he God or Satan who is bound and faſtened to him with the heart-ſtrings of love. And the Devil ſhall find it a tough taſk to rob Chriſt of that Servant, who takes pleaſure and delight in his work. Therefore, Reader, thy judgment muſt be alter'd, that thou mayſt judge of Sin and Holineſs aright, and thereby thy heart be brought out of love with Sin, and in love with Holineſs; and then the work of Piety will go on pleaſantly, and thou wilt chearfully obey the Divine Commands. His Statutes will be thy Songs, whilſt thou art in this houſe of thy Pilgrimage, Pſal. 119. O how readily wilt thou ſet about thy buſineſs, when the Laws of God are the joy of thy heart, Pſal. 119.111. And thy delight is in his Law, Pſal. 1. when thou haſt a nature in thee that inclines, and inableth, and ingageth thee to godlineſs, when thou canſt ſavour and reliſh Duties and Ordinances, and taſt them more pleaſant to thy Soul, than ever the greateſt Dainties have been to thy Body.
If thou wouldſt be truly and poſitively holy, thou ſeeſt, Reader, a neceſſity of Converſion; without it thou canſt no more act holily, than a dead man can move, or a ſtone walk, or the Tyde of it ſelf turn backward, when in its full ſtrength and career. What then wilt thou do? For I muſt confeſs withall, that this regenerating Work, which is a reſurrection from the Dead, and a new Creation, is altogether beyond thy power. Thou canſt as ſoon ſtop the Sun in its courſe, and Seal up the influence of the Stars, as convert thy ſelf. But to encourage thee, know that there is help to be had; God hath proclaimed himſelf the Author of it; James 1.18. Of his own will begat he us, (and his Word and Miniſters the Inſtruments of it) by the word of Truth. ſo Acts 26.18. 1 Cor. 4.15. So that thy work muſt be to wait on God in his Word, and to beg hard of him, that he would be found of thee in his own way. Alas, how ſhouldſt thou fill Heaven and Earth night and day with thy Cries, and Groans, and Tears, and Prayers; when thou conſidereſt, except thou liveſt to God, and walkeſt after the Spirit, thou art loſt for ever; and without a new Heart and new Spirit thou canſt not live or walk ſo, and none but God can do this for thee. O Friend, fall down on thy knees before him, acknowledge thy unworthineſs; urge God with his Promiſe, I will give you a new heart, and a new Spirit will I put into you; and I will take away your hearts of ſtone, and give unto you hearts of Fleſh. And I will put my Spirit into you, and cauſe you to walk in my ways, &c. Ezek. 38.26, 27. God cannot deny his own hand-writing, he will make good what he hath ſpoken. Look up to Jeſus Chriſt to plead for thee, who died to purchaſe Holineſs, and delights to ſee that paid which he hath bought; and hath God engaged to him, That he ſhall ſee the travail of his Soul, to his ſatisfaction, Iſa. 53.10. and perſevere in ſo doing, knowing thou ſhalt reap in time, if thou fainteſt not.