needs be fins in dominion in the one, as they are in the other: there was too much light abused, and violence offered in David's deliberated fin, as he confeffes, Pfal. li. 6. and the fad flory itself too plainly thews; and yet, in the main, David was an upright man ftill; though this confideration of the fact fhrewdly wounded his integrity, and ftands upon record for a caution to all others. WE SECT. VII. E have feen what doth not infer the dominion of fin in the former particulars, being fimply confidered; I shall next fhew you what doth, and how the fincere and false hearts are diftinguishin this trial. And, 1. First, Affent and confent upon deliberation notes the foul to be under the dominion of fin, when the mind approves fin, and the will gives its plenary confent to it, this fets up fin in its throne, and puts the foul into fubjection to it; for the dominion of fin confifts in its authority over us, and our voluntary fubjection to it. This you find to be the character of a wicked graceless perfon, Pfal. xxxvi. 4. He devifeth mifchief upon his bed; he fetteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil." The beft men may fall into fin through mistake, or precipitated into fin through the violence of temptation; but to devife mischief, and fet himself in an evil way, this notes full affent of the mind; and then, not to abbor evil, notes full confent of the will; and thefe two being given to fin, not only antecedently to the acting of it, but also confequently to it, to like it afterwards, as well as before; this puts the foul fully under the power of fin; What can it give more? This (as one faith) in direct oppofition to the apostle, Rom. xii. 1. is to prefent their bodies a dead facrifice, unholy, and abominable to God; acceptable to the devil, which is their unreafonable fervice: all men by nature are given to fin, but these men give themfeives to it. 2. Secondly, The cuftomary practice of fin fubjects the foul to the dominion of fin; and fo " he that is born of God doth not commit "fin," 1 John iii. 9. Fall into fin, yea, the fame fin he may, and that often; but then it is not without reluctance, repentance, and a proteft entered by the foul in heaven against it; fo that fin hath not a quiet poffeffion of his foul; he is not the fervant of fin, nor doth he willingly walk after its commandments; but fo do its own fervants; it is their daily practice, Jer. ix. 3. "They proceed from *evil to evil." 3. Thirdly, Delight in fin proves the dominion of fin. So the fervants of fin are defcribed, Ifa. Ixvi. 3. "They have chofen their own ways, and their foul delighteth in their abominations." • Mr Caryl. Look, as our delight in God is the measure of our holiness, fo our delight in fin is the measure of our finfulness. Delight in fin is the uppermoft round of the ladder, and much higher the foul of a finner cannot go, till it be turned off into hell; "it is a fport to a fool to do "mifchief," Prov. x. 23. Never merrier than when he hath the devil for his play-fellow, faith one upon that place. 4. Fourthly, Impatience of Chrift's yoke and government, argues the foul to be the fubject of fin. This is clear from the apoftle's reafoning in Rom. vi. 17, 18. "But God be thanked that ye were "the fervants of fin, but ye have obeyed from the heart the form "of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from "fin, ye became the fervants of righteoufnels." Where you fee plainly, that no man can have his manumiffion or freedoin from fin, that comes not into Chrift's fervice, and yields himself up to his obedience. So then, to fret at Chrift's laws, that tie us up from our lufts, to be weary of all fpiritual employments as a burden intolerable, never to be in our element and centre till we are off from God, and plunging in the world and our lufts; this is a fad note of a foul in fubjection to fin. Object. But may not an upright foul find fome weariness in spiritual things? Sol. Doubtlefs he may, for he hath flesh as well as fpirit; and though the spirit be willing, the fleth is weak: he is fanctified bur in part, and his delight in the law of God is but according to, or after the inner-man, Rom. vii. 22. But he fees another law in his menbers, i. e. contrary inclinations. However, if he be weary fometimes in the duties of godlinefs, to be fure he is more weary out of them, and is not centered and at reft till he be with his God again: but the carnal heart is where it would be, when it is in the fervice of fin; and as a fish upon dry land, when engaged in fpiritual duas; efpecially fuch as are fecret, and have no external allurements of reputation to engage him to them. But what furprifals or captivities to fin foever may befal an upright foul, yet it appears by thefe eight following particulars, that he is not the fervant of fin, nor in full subjection to it. For, 1. First, Though he may be drawn to fin, yet he cannot reflect upon his fin without fhame and forrow; which plainly thews it to be an involuntary furprize. So Peter wept bitterly, Matth. xxvi. 75. And David mourned for his fin heartily. Others can fetch new pleasures out of their old fins, by reflecting on them; and fome can glory in their fhame, Phil. iii. 19. fome are ftupid and fenfelefs after fin; and the forrow of a carnal heart for it, is but a morning dew: but it is far otherwife with God's people. 2. Secondly, Though a faint may be drawn to fin, yet it is not with * Mr Trap. a deliberate and full confent of his will; their delight is in the law of God, Rom. vii. 22. "They do that which they would not," ver. 16. i. e. there are inward diflikes from the new nature: and as for that cafe of David, which feems to have fo much of counsel and deliberation in it, yet it was but in a fingle act; it was not in the general courfe of his life; he was upright in all things, i. e. in the general courfe and tenor of his life, 1 Kings xv. 5. 3. Thirdly, Though an upright foul may fall into fin, yet he is reftlefs and unquiet in that condition, like a bone out of joint; and that speaks him to be none of fin's fervants; as, on the contrary, if a man be engaged in the external duties of religion, and be restless, and unquiet there, his heart is not in it, he is not at rest till he be again in his earthly business; this man cannot be reckoned Chrift's fervant: a gracious heart is much after that rate employed in the work of fin, that a carnal heart is employed in the work of religion. That is a good rule, Ea tantum dicunter ineffe, que infunt per modum quietis: That is a man's true temper, wherein he is at reft. Poor David fell into fin, but he had no reft in his bones because of it, Pfalm li. 10, 11, 12. If his heart be off from God and duty for a little while, yet he recollects himself, and faith, as Pfal. cxvi. 7. "Return to thy reft, O my foul." 4. Fourthly, Though a fincere Chriftian fall into fin and commit evil; yet he proceeds not from evil to evil, as the ungodly do, Jer. ix. 3. but makes his fall into one fin a caution to prevent another fin. Peter by his fall got establishment for the time to come. If God will speak peace to them, they are careful to return no more to folly; Pfalm lxxxv. 8. "In that ye forrowed after a godly fort, what "carefulness it wrought? Yea, what fear?" 2 Cor. vii. 11. not fo with the fervants of fin, one fin leaves them much more difpofed to another fin. 5. Fifthly, A fincere Chriftian may be drawn to fin, but yet he would be glad with all his heart to be rid of fin: it would be more to him than thousands of gold and filver, that he might grieve and offend God no more; and that shews fin is not in dominion over him: he that is under the dominion of fin, is loth to leave his lufts. Sin's fervants are not willing to part with it, they hold it faft, and refuse to let it go, as that text expreffeth it, Jer. viii. 5. But the great complaint of the upright is expreffed by the apostle according to the trne sense of their hearts, in Rom. vii. 24. "Who fhall deliver me "from the body of this death?" 6. Sixthly, It appears they yield not themfelves willingly to obey fin, inafmuch as it is the matter of their joy when God orders any providence to prevent fin in them: "Bleffed be the Lord, (faid Da vid to Abigail) and bleffed be thy advice, and bleffed be thou that "haft kept me this day from thedding blood," 1 Sam. xv. 32, 33. Here is bleffing upon bleffing for a fin-preventing providence. The author is bleffed, the inftrument bleffed, the means bleffed. O.it is a bleffed thing in the eyes of a fiacere man to be kept from fin! he reckons it a great deliverance, a very happy efcape, if he be kept from fin. 7. Seventhly, This fhews that fome who may be drawn to commit fin, yet are none of the fervants of fin, that they do heartily beg the affiftance of grace to keep them from fin: "Keep back thy fervant "from prefumptuous fins," (faith the Pfalmift, Pfalm xix. 13.) "let "them not have dominion over me;" q. d. Lord, I find propenfions to fin in my nature, yea, and strong ones too; if thou leave me to myself, I am carried into fin as eafily as a feather down the torrent. "O Lord, keep back thy fervant." And there is no petition that upright ones pour out their hearts to God in, either more frequently or more ardently than in this, to be kept back from fin. 8. Eighthly, and Laftly, This fhews the foul not to be under the dominion of fin, that it doth not only cry to God to be kept back from fin, but uses the means of prevention himself; he refifts it, as well as prays against it; Pfalm xviii. 23. "I was alfo upright before "him, and kept myself from mine iniquity:" So Job xxxi. 1. " I "have made a covenant with mine eyes," and yet more fully in Ifa. xxxiii. 15. “He shaketh his hands from holding bribes, and ftoppeth his ears from hearing blood, and fhutteth his eyes from "feeing evil." See with what care the portals are shut at which fin ufeth to enter. All these things are very relieving confiderations to poor fouls questioning their integrity under the frequent furprifals of fin. And the next trial no lefs. (5.) FE SECT. VIII. IFTHLY, Our opposition to, and conflicts with fin discover There are conflicts with fin in both the regenerate, and in the unregenerate; but there is a vaft difference betwixt them, as will appear in the following account. 1. First, There is an univerfal, and there is a particular oppofition to fin: the former is found in regenerate, the latter in unregenerate fouls a gracious heart hates every falfe way, Pfal. cxix. 104. and muft needs do fo, because he hates and oppofes fin as fin; fo that he can have no peccatum in deliciis, no excepted or referved luft, but fights against the whole body, and every limb and member of the body of fin. But it is not fo with the hypocrite or carnal profeffor; he hath overcome fome referved fin, that he cannot part with. 2. Secondly, There is an oppofition betwixt the new nature and fin, and there is an oppofition betwixt a natural confcience and fin; the former is the cafe of an upright foul, the latter may be a felf-deceiver. A regenerate perfon oppofeth fin because there is an irreconcileable کس antipathy betwixt it and the new nature in him, as is clear from Gal. v. 17. "The flesh lufteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the "flesh; and thefe are contrary the one to the other." By flesh, understand corrupt nature; by fpirit, not only the spirit of man but the Spirit of God, or principle of regeneration in man. By the lufting of these two against each other, understand the defire and endeavours of each other's deftruction and ruin; and the ground of all this is the contrariety of all these two natures. These are contrary one to the other; there is a twofold oppofition betwixt them, one formal, their very natures are oppofite; the other effective, their workings and defigns are oppofite, as it is betwixt fire and water. But the oppofition found in unrenewed fouls against fin, is not from their natures, for fin is fuitable enough to that; but from the light that is in their minds and confciences, which fcares and terrifies them. Such was that in Darius, Dan. vi. 14. "He was fore "difpleafed with himfelf, and fet his heart on Daniel to deliver "him; and laboured till the going down of the fun to deliver him." Here the conteft was betwixt fenfe of honour upon one fide, and , conviction of confcience on the other fide. Sometimes a generous and noble difpofition opposes fordid and base actions: Major fum, et ad majora natus; quam ut corporis mei fim mancipium. I am greater, and born to greater things, than that I fhould be a flave to my body, faid a brave heathen. 3. Thirdly, There is a permanent, and there is a tranfient oppofition to fin; the former is the cafe of God's people, the latter of temporary and unfound profeffors. The faint when he draws the fword in this warfare against fin, throws away the fcabbard; no end of this combat with fin till life end; their life and their troubles are finished together; 2 Tim. iv. 7. "I have fought the good fight, and have finished my course." But in other men it is but a tranfient quarrel; out with fin one day, and in another; and the reafon is plain by what was noted before; it is not the oppofition of two natures; it is like the oppofition of the wind and tide, thefe may be contrary and make a stormy fea to-day, but the wind may come about, and go as the tide goes tomorrow; but in a Christian it is 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 Pet. ii. ult. 4. Fourthly, There is an oppofition to the root of fin, and an oppofition to the fruits of fin. A gracious foul oppofeth root and fruit, but others the latter only. The great design of an upright foul is not only to lop off this or that branch, but to kill the root of fin, which is in his nature; Rom. vii. 24. "Who fhall deliver me from the bo"dy of this death?" But the great care and endeavours of others is to fupprefs outward acts of fin, and escape the mischievous confequences of it: Yea, their ftudy is, as Lactantius phraseth it, Potius |