Chapter 6

Section 1.

Prosperity and adversity put sincerity to the trial, but nothing makes a deeper search into our bosoms, nothing sifts our spirits more narrowly, or tells us what our state is more plainly than our behavior toward that corruption that dwells in us; the thorn is next neighbor to the rose: sin and grace dwell not only in the same soul, but in the same faculties. The collier and the fuller dwell in one room, what one cleanses the other blackens: of all the evils God permits in this world, none is more grievous to his people than this. They sometimes wonder why the Lord will allow it to be so; why, surely among other wise and holy ends of this permission, these are some.

They are left to try you, and to humble you; there is no intrinsic goodness in sin, yet however in this it occasions good to us, that by our behavior toward it we discern our sincerity. The touchstone is worthless in itself, but it serves to try the gold. (1 John 3:9-10): 'Whoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God; in this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil' — that is, in respect of their behavior toward sin, the one and the other is plainly manifested: this is that which separates the dross from the gold, and shows you what the true state of men's persons, and the temper of their hearts is. By 'not sinning' we do not understand a total freedom from it in this world, as if it implied any such perfection of the people of God in this world in the Popish and Pelagian sense: nor yet do we take it in the Arminian sense, who to avoid the argument of the orthodox, will understand it of the sin against the Holy Ghost — what a strange thing would it be to make that a characteristic mark of distinction between the godly and ungodly, which so very few even of the most ungodly are ever guilty of?

But the manner of our behavior toward sin, and our demeanor toward it before, under, or after the commission of it; in this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil.

Now there are five things relating to sin that discriminate and mark the state of persons; the difference is discernible:

In our: 1. Abstinence from sin. 2. Hatred of sin. 3. Troubles about sin. 4. Subjection to sin. 5. Opposition of sin.

Section 2.

The grounds and motives of our abstinence very clearly manifest the state of our souls; what they are in the regenerate, and unregenerate, is our next work. And let it be considered:

First, that an unsound and unrenewed heart may abstain from one sin, because it is contrary to, and inconsistent with another sin: for it is with the sins of our natures, as it is with the diseases of our bodies: though all diseases are contrary to health, yet some diseases (as the fever and the palsy) are contrary to each other. So are prodigality and covetousness, hypocrisy and profaneness: these oppose each other, not for mutual destruction as sin and grace do, but for superiority, each contending for the throne, and sometimes taking it by turns. It is with such persons as with that possessed man (Matthew 17:15), whom the spirit cast sometimes into the fire, sometimes into the water: and if one subdue the other, yet the heart is in the vassalage of that lust that is uppermost in the soul.

Secondly, an unrenewed soul may be kept from the commission of some sin; not because there is a principle of grace within him, but because of some providential constraint without him, or upon him: for it often falls out, that when men have conceived sin and are ready to execute it, providence claps on the fetters of restraint, and hinders them from executing it.

This was the case of Abimelech (Genesis 20:6, 17, compared): 'I withheld you.' And though persons so restrained have not the benefit of such providences, yet others have; for by it a world of mischief is prevented in the world, which otherwise would break out; and to this act of providence we owe our lives, liberties, estates and comforts in this world.

Thirdly, an unsound heart may not commit some sins; not because he truly hates them, but because his constitution inclines him not to them: these men are rather beholden to a good temper of body, than a gracious temper of soul. Some men cannot be drunkards if they would; others cannot be covetous and base. They are made of a more refined metal than others; but chaste and liberal, just and sober by nature — it is nature still: the best nature in all its endowments, is but nature at the best.

Fourthly, a graceless heart may be restrained from sin by the force of education and principles of morality instilled into it that way. Thus Jehoash was restrained from evil (2 Kings 12:2): 'And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.' The fear of a parent or master will do a great deal more with some in this case, than the fear of God. The influence of a strict education nips off the excrescences of budding vice. The way we are taught when young, we keep when old: this is the influence of man upon man; not the influence of the regenerating Spirit upon men.

Fifthly, a graceless heart may be kept from some sins by the fear of the consequences, both in this world, and that to come. Sin that is followed with infamy and reproach among men, may on this ground be forborne; not because God has forbidden it, but because human laws will punish it, and the sober world will brand us for it: and some look farther, to the punishment of sin in hell: they are not afraid of sin, but they are afraid to burn.

Here sin is like a sweet rose in a brake of thorns: fain we would have it, but are loath to tear our flesh to come by it. It is well that sin is prevented any way, but to be kept on this ground from sin, does not prove the estate of the person to be good. And here you see some of the grounds on which carnal men are restrained: and in this the children of the devil are manifest.

Section 3.

But there are grounds of abstinence from sin, by which the children of God are manifested, and such are these that follow.

First, a sincere heart dares not sin because of the eye and fear of God which is upon him: so you find it in Job 31:1, 4; he dared not allow his thoughts to sin, because he lived under the awe of God's eye. Nehemiah dared not do as former governors had done: though an opportunity presented itself to enrich himself; because of the fear of God (Nehemiah 5:15). The soul that lives under the awe of this eye will be as conscientious where no discovery can be made by creatures, as if all the world looked on (Leviticus 19:14): 'You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God, I am the Lord.'

What if a man does curse the deaf, they cannot hear him; and what if he puts a stumbling block before the blind, they cannot see him: true, but God sees him, God hears him, that is enough to a man that has the fear of the Lord upon his heart.

Secondly, as the fear of God, so the love of God, is a principle of restraint from sin in the soul that is upright. This kept Joseph from sin (Genesis 39:9): 'How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God!'

He speaks as a man that feels himself bound back from sin by the goodness and love of God that had been manifested to him: 'Has he delivered me from the pit into which my envious brothers cast me? Has he in so miraculous a way advanced me to this honor and power in Egypt? And shall I, after all his kindness and love to me, sin against him? O how can I do this against so good, so gracious a God?' (Psalm 97:10): 'You that love the Lord hate evil.' He will cry out in the hour of temptation, 'Is this your kindness to your friend?', 'Do you thus repay the Lord for all his kindnesses?'

Thirdly, as the love of God, so the intrinsic evil and filthiness that is in sin keeps the gracious soul from it (Romans 12:9): 'Abhor that which is evil' — hold it in horror as hell itself: or as the French translation has it, 'be in horror'; as the apprehensions of hell, so the apprehensions of sin's filthiness press horror upon the mind that is sanctified: nothing is more loathsome to a holy soul. Its aversions from it are with the highest indignation and loathing.

Fourthly, the renewed nature of a Christian restrains him from sin (Galatians 5:17): 'The Spirit lusts against the flesh, so that you cannot do the thing that you would.' You cannot — why cannot you? Because it is against your new nature.

Beloved, this is a very remarkable thing in the experience of all renewed men, that upon the renovation of men's principles, their delights, and their aversions and loathings are laid quite crosswise and opposite to what they were before. In their carnal state, vain company, and sinful exercises were their delight. To be separated from these, and tied to prayer, meditation, heavenly discourse, and godly company; O what a bondage that would have been! Now to be tied to such carnal society, and restrained from duties of godliness and the society of the godly, becomes a much sorer bondage to the soul.

Fifthly, experience of the bitterness of sin is a restraint to a gracious heart. They that have had so many sick days, and sorrowful nights for sin as they have had, are loath to taste that wormwood and gall again, which their soul has still in remembrance (2 Corinthians 7:11): 'In that you sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it worked!' He would not grapple with those inward troubles again; he would not have the cheerful light of God's countenance eclipsed again for all, and much more than all the pleasures that are in sin.

Sixthly, the consideration of the sufferings of Christ for sin, powerfully withholds a gracious soul from the commission of it (Romans 6:6): 'Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.' Were there a knife or sword in the house that had been thrust through the heart of your father, would you ever endure the sight of it? Sin was the sword that pierced Christ, and so the death of Christ becomes the death of sin in his people. Thus the children of God, and the children of the devil are manifest, in the principles and reasons of their abstinence from sin.

Section 4.

Secondly, they are also manifested by their hatred of sin: this puts a clear distinction between them: for no false or unregenerate heart, can hate sin as sin; he may indeed,

First, hate sin in another, but not in himself: thus one proud man hates another. Diogenes said, 'I spurn the pride of Plato' — when he trampled Plato's fine clothes under foot; but as Plato smartly replied, 'You trample upon my pride, but it is with greater pride.' 'Why,' said Christ to the hypocrite, 'do you behold the mote in your brother's eye, but consider not the beam that is in your own eye?' (Matthew 7:3). How quick in espying, and rash in censuring the smallest fault in another, is the hypocrite! It was but one fault, and that but a small one, a mere mote, that he could find in another; yet this he quickly discerns. It may be there were many excellent graces in him; these he overlooks, but the mote he plainly discerns.

It may be that mote in his brother's eye had drawn many tears from it; but these he takes no notice of; and meanwhile there is a beam, that is, a great, horrid, flagrant evil in himself; but it is too near him to be discerned, or bewailed: this is a sad symptom of a naughty heart.

Secondly, he may hate it in its effects, and consequences; not in its own nature: as the thief hates the gallows, not the wickedness that he has done. It is not sin in itself, but sin in its connection with hell, that is frightful to him.

The unsound professor could wish that there were no such threatenings in the Bible against sin: when sin tempts him, 'I would,' said he, 'but I fear the consequence.' 'O sin, could I separate you from hell, nothing should separate you and me.'

Thirdly, he may hate it in a mood or fit, but not with a rooted habitual hatred. It is plain from 2 Peter 2:22 that sin may sometimes lie upon the conscience of an unregenerate man, as a load lies upon a sick stomach; and so he may discharge himself of it, by reformation, restitution, etc., but a little time reconciles the quarrel between him and his lust again: if they fall out they will fall in again; 'the dog is returned to his vomit, and the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire.'

But an upright soul hates sin in another manner, and in this hatred of sin the children of God are manifest.

First, the opposition of sin to God, is the very ground and formal reason upon which a gracious soul opposes and hates it: if it be opposite to the holy nature and law of God, it cannot but be odious in his eyes. This put David's heart in anguish (Psalm 51:4): 'Against you, you only have I sinned': as if to say, 'I have wronged Uriah greatly, I have wronged myself and family greatly; but the wrong I have done to others is not worth naming, in comparison of the wrong I have done to you.'

Secondly, the upright soul hates sin in himself, more than he hates it in any other: as a man hates a serpent in the hedge, but much more in his own bosom. (Romans 7:23): 'But I see another law in my members'; and verse 21: 'I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me': as if to say, 'I don't know how others find it, but I am sure I find sin in my very bosom, in my very inmost parts, it is present with me. O wretched man that I am!' A gracious soul can mourn to see sin in others; but to find it in himself pierces him to the very heart.

Thirdly, the gracious soul hates not only this or that particular sin, but the whole kind, everything that is sinful. True hatred is of the whole nature or kind (Psalm 119:104): 'I hate every false way'; his reasoning proceeds from sin as sin; concluding against every sin. Sins that are profitable, and pleasant, as well as sins that have neither profit nor pleasure; sins that are secret as well as sins that are open, and will defame him.

And before this trial a false heart cannot stand; for he always indulges some lust: there is an iniquity which he cannot be separated from.

Fourthly, the sincere soul hates sin with an irreconcilable hatred: there was a time when sin and his soul fell out, but there never will be a time of reconciliation between them again.

That breach which effectual conviction once made, can never be made up any more: 'They will return no more to folly' (Psalm 85:8); and indeed it seems to them that have suffered so much for sin, that have endured so many fears and sorrows for it; the greatest folly in the world to return to sin again. No, they admire the mercy of their escape from sin, to their dying day; and never look back upon their former state but with shame and grief.

Ask a convert, would you be back again where once you were? Would you be among your old companions again? Would you be fulfilling the lusts of the flesh again? And he will tell you he would not run the hazard to abide one day or one night in that condition again, to gain all the kingdoms of the world the next morning.

Fifthly, the sincere soul hates sin with a superlative hatred: he hates it more than any other evil in the world besides it. Penal evils are not pleasant in themselves, but yet if he must endure them, or sin; then sufferings are his choice (Hebrews 11:25): 'Choosing rather to suffer affliction than enjoy the pleasures of sin'; the worst of sufferings, rather than the best of sin.

Sixthly, to conclude, so deep is the hatred that upright ones bear to sin, that nothing pleases them more than the thoughts of a full deliverance from it does (Romans 7:25): 'I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.' What does he so heartily thank God for? O for a prospect of his final deliverance from sin, never to be entangled, defiled, or troubled with it any more: and this is one thing that sweetens death to the saints, as much as anything in the world can do, except Christ's victory over it, and lying in the grave for us. To think of a grave is not pleasant in itself, but to think of a parting time with sin, that is sweet and pleasant indeed.

Section 5.

Thirdly, the children of God and the children of the devil, pure gold, and vile dross, are manifest as in hatred of sin, so in their troubles, and sorrow about sin.

All trouble for sin does not argue sincerity; some have reason to be troubled even for their troubles for sin. So have they who:

First, are only troubled for the commission of some more gross sins that startle the natural conscience, but not for inward sins that defile the soul. Judas was troubled for betraying innocent blood, but not for that base lust of covetousness that was the root of it, or the want of sincere love to Jesus Christ (Matthew 27:4-5). Outward sins are sins of greater scandal; but heart-sins are often times sins of greater guilt: to be troubled for grosser sins, and have no trouble for ordinary sins daily incurred, is an ill sign of a bad heart.

Secondly, a graceless heart may be much troubled at the discovery of sin, when it is not troubled for the guilt of sin (Jeremiah 2:26): 'As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed.' Hence it is that they stick not to commit ten sins against God, to hide one sin from the eyes of men. It is a mercy that sin is the matter of men's shame, and that all are not arrived at that height of impudence to declare their sin as Sodom, and glory in their shame; but to be ashamed only because men see it, and not with Ezra to say (Ezra 9:6), 'O my God, I am ashamed, and blush to look up to you' — ashamed that God sees it, is but hypocrisy.

Thirdly, a graceless heart may be troubled for the rod that sin draws after it, but not for sin itself as it provokes God to inflict such rods.

But the troubles of upright ones for sin are of another kind and nature.

First, they are troubled that God is wronged, and his Spirit troubled by their sins. So the penitent prodigal: 'I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight' (Luke 15:21). 'Against heaven,' that is, against him whose throne is in heaven, a great, glorious, and infinite Majesty: a poor worm of the earth, has lifted up his hand against the God of heaven.

Secondly, they are troubled for the defilement of their own souls by sin: hence they are compared in Proverbs 25:26 to a troubled fountain; you know it is the property of a living spring when any filth falls into it, or that which lies in the bottom of its channel is raised and defiles its streams, never to stop working till it has purged itself of it, and recovered its purity again.

So it is with a righteous man; he loves purity in the precept (Psalm 119:140), and he loves it no less in the principle and practice: he thinks it is hell enough to lie under the pollution of sin, if he should never come under damnation for it.

Thirdly, they are troubled for the estrangements of God, and the hiding of his face from them because of their sin. It would go close to an ingenuous spirit to see a dear and faithful friend whom he has grieved, to look strange and shy upon him at the next meeting; as if he did not know him. Much more does it go to the heart of a gracious man to see the face of God turned from him, and not to be toward him as in times past. This went to David's heart after his fall, as you may see (Psalm 51:11): 'Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your holy Spirit from me': as if to say, 'Lord, if you turn your back upon me, and estrange yourself from me, I am a lost man: that is the greatest mischief that can befall me.'

Fourthly, their troubles for sin run deep, compared to what other men's do. They are strong to bear other troubles, but faint and quail under this (Psalm 38:4). Other sorrows may for the present be violent, and make more noise; but this sorrow soaks deeper into the soul.

Fifthly, their troubles for sin are more private and silent troubles than others are; their sore runs in the night (Psalm 77:2). Not but that they may, and do open their troubles to men (and it is a mercy when they meet with a judicious, tender, and experienced Christian to unbosom themselves to); but when all is done, it is God and your soul alone that must whisper out the matter. That is sincere sorrow for sin indeed, which is expressed secretly to God in the closet.

Sixthly, their troubles are incurable by creature comforts: it is not the removing of some outward pressures and inconveniences, that can remove their burden; nothing but pardon, peace, and witnessed reconciliation can quiet the gracious heart.

Seventhly, their troubles for sin are ordinate and kept in their own place; they dare not stamp the dignity of Christ's blood upon their worthless tears and groans for sin. Augustine once prayed: 'Lord, wash my sinful tears in the blood of Christ,' — that was once the desire of a true penitent. And thus our trouble for sin shows us what our hearts are.

Section 6.

Fourthly, the behavior and carriage of the soul with respect to subjection to the commands of sin, shows what our estate and condition is. This will separate dross from gold. All unregenerate men are the servants of sin; they subject themselves to its commands. The Scripture sometimes calls this a conversation in the lusts of the flesh (Ephesians 2:3); sometimes the selling of themselves to sin (1 Kings 21:20). Now as a judicious divine observes, though the children of God complain with Paul (Romans 7:14-15) that they are sold under sin, yet there is a vast difference between these two: the saints are sold to it by Adam, but others by their own continued consent. But to show you the difference in this matter, I conceive it necessary to show, wherein the reigning power of sin does not consist, and then wherein it does: that you may plainly discern who are in subjection to the reigning power of their corruptions, and who are not. Now there are diverse things common both to the regenerate and unregenerate, and we cannot say the dominion of sin lies in any or in all of them, namely, abstractly and simply considered.

First, both one and other having original corruption dwelling in them, may all find this fountain breaking forth into gross and scandalous sins: but we cannot say that because original corruption thus breaks forth into gross and scandalous sins in both; therefore it must necessarily reign in the one, as well as in the other. A righteous man may fall before the wicked, as it is Proverbs 25:26; he may fall in the dirt of grosser iniquities, and furnish them with matter of reproach. So did David, Peter, Abraham, and many more of the Lord's upright-hearted ones, whose souls nevertheless sin did not reign over, by a voluntary subjection to its commands; nor must this embolden any to sin with more liberty.

Secondly, though an upright soul falls once and again into sin, though he reiterates the same act of sin, which he has repented of before; yet it cannot merely from thence be concluded, that therefore sin reigns over him, as it does over a wicked man that makes it his daily trade. I confess every reiteration of sin, puts a further aggravation upon it: and it is sad we should repent, and sin; and sin, and repent. But yet you read (Proverbs 24:16): 'A just man falls seven times, and rises up again.' Job's friends were good men, yet he tells them (Job 19:3): 'These ten times have you reproached me.' This indeed shows a heart that really needs purging; for it is with relapses in spiritual matters, as it is with relapses into natural diseases: a recidivation or return of the disease shows that the morbific matter was not duly purged; but though it shows the foulness, it does not always prove the falseness of the heart.

Thirdly, though one may be impatient of the reproof of his sin, as well as the other; yet that alone will not conclude sin to be in full dominion over one, as it is over the other.

It is a pity any good man should storm at a just rebuke of sin; that such a precious ointment as is proper to heal, should be considered to break his head: but yet flesh will be tender and touchy; even in good men. Asa was a good man, and yet he was wroth with the prophet who reproved him (2 Chronicles 16:10). Yet I doubt not but their consciences smite them for it, when pride suffers not another to do it: a reproof may be ill-timed, and ill-managed by another; and so may provoke; but they will hear the voice of conscience in another manner.

Fourthly, though in both some one particular sin may have more power than another, yet neither does this alone conclude that therefore that sin must reign in one, as it does in another. Indeed the beloved lust of every wicked man is king over his soul; but yet a godly man's constitution, calling, etc. may incline him more to one sin than another; and yet neither that, nor any other may be said to be in dominion. For David speaks of his iniquity, that is, his special sin (Psalm 18:23), which some suppose to be the sin of lying, from that intimation in Psalm 119:29; yet you see in one place he begs God to keep him from it, and in the other he tells us he kept himself from it, and both show he was not the servant of it.

Fifthly, though both may sin against knowledge, yet it will not follow from thence, that therefore sins against knowledge must necessarily be sins in dominion in the one, as they are in the other. There was too much light abused and overridden in David's deliberated sin; as he confesses (Psalm 51:6), and the sad story itself too plainly shows; and yet in the main, David was an upright man still, though this consideration of the fact severely wounded his integrity, and stands upon record as a caution to all others.

Section 7.

We have seen what does not infer the dominion of sin in the former particulars, being simply considered; I shall next show you what does; and how the sincere and false heart are distinguished in this trial.

First, assent and consent upon deliberation marks the soul to be under the dominion of sin: when the mind approves sin, and the will gives its full consent to it; this sets sin in its throne, and puts the soul into subjection to it: for the dominion of sin consists in its authority over us, and our voluntary subjection to it. This you find to be the character of a wicked graceless person (Psalm 36:4): 'He devises mischief upon his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not abhor evil.'

The best men may fall into sin through mistake, or be precipitated into sin through the violence of temptation; but to devise mischief, and set himself in an evil way; this notes full assent of the mind, and then to not abhor evil notes full consent of the will; and these two being given to sin, not only antecedently to the acting of it, but also consequently to it: to like it afterward, as well as before; this puts the soul fully under the power of sin; what can it give more?

This, as one says, in direct opposition to the Apostle (Romans 12:1), is to present their bodies a dead sacrifice, unholy, and abominable to God; acceptable to the devil, which is their unreasonable service: all men by nature are given to sin, but these men give themselves to it.

Secondly, the customary practice of sin subjects the soul to the dominion of sin: and so 'he that is born of God, does not commit sin' (1 John 3:9). Fall into sin, indeed the same sin, he may, and that often; but then it is not without reluctance, repentance, and a protest entered by the soul in heaven against it: so that sin has not a quiet possession of his soul; he is not the servant of sin, nor does he willingly walk after its commandments. But so do its own servants; it is their daily practice (Jeremiah 9:3): 'They proceed from evil to evil.'

Thirdly, delight in sin proves the dominion of sin. So the servants of sin are described (Isaiah 66:3): 'They have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations.'

Look as our delight in God is the measure of our holiness; so our delight in sin is the measure of our sinfulness. Delight in sin is one of the uppermost rungs of the ladder, and much higher the soul of a sinner cannot go, till it be turned off into hell. 'It is a sport to a fool to do mischief' (Proverbs 10:23). Never merrier than when he has the devil for his playmate, says one upon that place.

Fourthly, impatience of Christ's yoke and government, argues the soul to be the subject of sin. This is clear from the Apostle's reasoning in Romans 6:17-18: 'But God be thanked, that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine which was delivered to you; being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness': where you see plainly, that no man can have his freedom from sin, that does not come into Christ's service, and yield himself up to his obedience.

So then to fret at Christ's laws that tie us from our lusts, to be weary of all spiritual employments as an intolerable burden, never to be in our element and center till we are off from God, and plunging in the world and our lusts; this is a sad mark of a soul in subjection to sin.

Objection: But may not an upright soul find some weariness in spiritual things?

Answer: Doubtless he may, for he has flesh as well as spirit, and though the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak: he is sanctified but in part, and his delight in the law of God is but according to, or after the inner man (Romans 7:22); but he sees another law in his members, that is, contrary inclinations. However, if he is weary sometimes in the duties of godliness, to be sure he is more weary out of them, and is not centered and at rest till he is with his God again. But the carnal heart is where it would be when it is in the service of sin: and as a fish upon dry land, when engaged in spiritual duties, especially such as are secret, and have no external allurements of reputation to engage him to them.

But whatever surprises or captivities to sin may befall an upright soul, yet it appears by these eight following particulars, that he is not the servant of sin, nor in full subjection to it.

First, though he may be drawn to sin, yet he cannot reflect upon his sin without shame and sorrow; which plainly shows it to be an involuntary surprise. So Peter wept bitterly (Matthew 26:75), and David mourned for his sin heartily. Others can fetch new pleasures out of their old sins by reflecting on them: and some can glory in their shame (Philippians 3:19); some are stupid and senseless after sin, and the sorrow of a carnal heart for it, is but a morning dew: but it is far otherwise with God's people.

Though a saint may be drawn into sin, yet it is not with a deliberate and full consent of his will. Their delight is in the law of God (Romans 7:22). They do that which they would not (verse 16), that is, there are inward dislikes from the new nature. As for the case of David, which seems to have so much counsel and deliberation in it, yet it was not in a single act; it was not in the general course of his life. He was upright in all things — that is, in the general course and tenor of his life (1 Kings 15:5).

Though an upright soul may fall into sin, yet he is restless and unquiet in that condition, like a bone out of joint. And that speaks him to be none of sin's servants. On the contrary, if a man is engaged in the external duties of religion, and is restless and unquiet there, his heart is not in it. He is not at rest until he is again in his earthly business — this man cannot be reckoned Christ's servant. A gracious heart is much better employed in the work of sin than a carnal heart is when employed in the work of religion. That is a good rule: that which is truly in a thing is what rests in it by nature. That is a man's true temper in which he is at rest. Poor David fell into sin, but he had no rest in his bones because of it (Psalm 51:10-12). If his heart is off from God and duty for a little while, yet he recollects himself, and says as in Psalm 116:7, 'Return unto your rest, O my soul.'

Though a sincere Christian falls into sin and commits evil, yet he does not proceed from evil to evil as the ungodly do (Jeremiah 9:3), but makes his fall into one sin a caution to prevent another sin. Peter by his fall got establishment for time to come. If God will speak peace to them, they are careful to turn no more to folly (Psalm 85:8). 'In that you sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it worked — yes, what fear?' (2 Corinthians 7:11). It is not so with the servants of sin; one sin leaves them much more disposed to another sin.

A sincere Christian may be drawn to sin, but yet he would be glad with all his heart to be rid of sin. It would be more to him than thousands of gold or silver, that he might grieve and offend God no more. And that shows sin is not in dominion over him. He that is under the dominion of sin is loath to leave his lusts. Sin's servants are not willing to part with it — they hold it fast and refuse to let it go. But the great complaint of the upright is expressed by the apostle according to the true sense of their hearts in Romans 7:24: 'Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?'

It appears they yield not themselves willingly to obey sin, in as much as it is the matter of their joy when God orders any providence to prevent sin in them. 'Blessed be the Lord,' said David to Abigail, 'and blessed be your advice, and blessed be you, that have kept me this day from shedding blood' (1 Samuel 25:32-33).

Here is blessing upon blessing for a sin-preventing providence. The author is blessed, the instrument blessed, the means blessed. It is a blessed thing in the eyes of a sincere man to be kept from sin. He reckons it a great deliverance, a very happy escape, if he is kept from sin.

This shows that some who may be drawn to commit sin yet are none of the servants of sin — that they heartily beg the assistance of grace to keep them from sin. 'Keep back your servant from presumptuous sins,' says the Psalmist (Psalm 19:13), 'let them not have dominion over me.' As if to say, 'Lord, I find propensities to sin in my nature — yes, and strong ones too; if you leave me to myself, I am carried into sin as easily as a feather down the torrent.' 'O Lord, keep back your servant.' And there is no petition that upright ones pour out their hearts to God in, either more frequently or more ardently, than to be kept back from sin.

This shows the soul not to be under the dominion of sin — that it not only cries to God to be kept back from sin, but uses the means of prevention itself. It resists sin as well as prays against it (Psalm 18:23): 'I was also upright before him, and kept myself from my iniquity.' So Job 31:1: 'I have made a covenant with my eyes.' And yet more fully in Isaiah 33:15: he shakes his hands from holding bribes, and stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil. See with what care the portals are shut at which sin is used to enter. All these things are very relieving considerations to poor souls questioning their integrity under the frequent surprises of sin.

Section 8.

Fifthly, our opposition to and conflict with sin discovers what we are — gold or dross.

There are conflicts with sin both in the regenerate and in the unregenerate, but there is a vast difference between them, as will appear in the following account.

First, there is a universal and there is a particular opposition to sin. The former is found in regenerate, the latter in unregenerate souls. A gracious heart hates every false way (Psalm 119:104), and must needs do so because he hates and opposes sin as sin. So he has no sin held in delight, no excepted or reserved lust, but fights against the whole body and every limb and member of the body of sin.

But it is not so with the hypocrite or carnal professor — he has evermore some reserved sin that he cannot part with.

Secondly, there is an opposition between the new nature and sin, and there is an opposition between natural conscience and sin. The former is the case of an upright soul; the latter may be of a self-deceiver.

A regenerate person opposes sin because there is an irreconcilable antipathy between it and the new nature in him, as is clear from Galatians 5:17: 'The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other.' By flesh understand corrupt nature; by spirit, not only the spirit of man, but the Spirit of God, or the principle of regeneration in man. By the lusting of these two against each other, understand the desire and endeavor of each for the other's destruction and ruin. And the ground of all this is the contrariety of these two natures.

These are contrary to one another. There is a twofold opposition between them: one formal, in that their very natures are opposite; the other effective, in that their workings and designs are opposite, as it is between fire and water.

But the oppositions found in unrenewed souls against sin are not from their nature, for sin is suitable enough to that, but from the light that is in their minds and consciences, which scares and terrifies them. Such was that in Darius (Daniel 6:14): he was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him, and labored until the going down of the sun to deliver him. Here the contest was between sense of honor on one side, and conviction of conscience on the other.

Sometimes a generous and noble disposition opposes sordid and base actions. 'I am greater, and born for greater things, than that I should be a slave to my body,' said a brave heathen.

Thirdly, there is a permanent and there is a transient opposition to sin. The former is the case of God's people; the latter of temporary and unsound professors.

The saint, when he draws the sword in this warfare against sin, throws away the scabbard. There is no end of this combat with sin until life ends. Their life and their troubles are finished together (2 Timothy 4:7): 'I have fought the good fight, and have finished my course.'

But in other men it is but a transient quarrel — out with sin one day, and in again another. The reason is plain from what was noted before: it is not the opposition of two natures. It is like the opposition of the wind and the tide — these may be contrary and make a stormy sea today, but the wind may come about and go as the tide goes tomorrow. But in a Christian it is as the opposition of the river and the dam — one must give way to the other, there is no reconciling them. But the other, like the dog, returns to his vomit (2 Peter 2:22).

Fourthly, there is an opposition to the root of sin, and an opposition to the fruits of sin. A gracious soul opposes root and fruit, but others oppose the latter only. The great design of an upright soul is not only to lop off this or that branch, but to kill the root of sin which is in his nature (Romans 7:24): 'Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?'

But the great care and endeavors of others is to suppress outward acts of sin and escape the mischievous consequences of it. Indeed, their study is, as Lactantius phrases it, to hide rather than to kill their lusts.

Fifthly, there is an opposition to sin in the strength of God, and an opposition to sin in our own strength. The former is proper to a real Christian; the latter is found frequently with unsanctified persons. When a Christian goes forth against any sin, it is in the strength of God. So you read their rule directs them (Ephesians 6:10): 'Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might; take unto you the whole armor of God.' And suitably, you shall find them frequently upon their knees, begging strength from heaven against their lusts. 'For this cause I besought the Lord three times,' says Paul (2 Corinthians 12:8) — that is, often and earnestly — that the temptation might depart from him.

But others go forth against sin only in the strength of their own resolutions. These resolutions, or vows which they have put themselves under, are as frequently frustrated as made.

Sixthly, there is a successful opposition to sin, and an opposition that comes to nothing. The former is that of true Christians; the latter is found among unregenerate men.

The work of mortification in the saints is progressive and increasing. Hence Romans 6:6: 'Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed.' Sin dies in believers much as crucified persons used to die — a slow, lingering, gradual, but sure death. Its vigor and life expires by degrees. Or as a consumptive person dies — for to that also he alludes here. There is a disease called a consumption of the whole, and those that die of that disease languish more and more until at last they drop by imperceptible degrees and steps into the grave.

But in the unregenerate, whatever conflicts they have with sin, no corruption falls before it. It may be said of them, as the church in another case complains of herself (Isaiah 26:18): 'We have been in pain; we have, as it were, brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.' So it fares with these professors — they pray, they hear, they vow, they resolve; but when all is done, their lusts are as strong and vigorous as ever. No degree of mortification appears after all.

And thus much of the trial of our sincerity by our carriage toward sin.