beam, i. e. great horrid flagitious evil, in hinfelf; but it is too near him to be difcerned or bewailed : This is a fad fymptom of a naughty heart.

2. Secondly, He may hate it in its effects and confequents; not in its own nature; as the thief hates the gallows, not the wickedness that he hath done. It is not fin in itself, but fin in its connexion with hell, that is frightful to him.

The unfound profeffor could wish that there were no fuch threatening in the Bible against fin. When fin tempts him, I would, faith he, but I fear the confequence. O fin, could I feparate thee from hell, nothing should separate thee and me.

3. Thirdly, He may hate it in a mood or pang, but not with a rooted habitual hatred. It is plain from 2 Pet. ii. 22. That fin may fometimes lie upon the confcience of an unregenerate man, as a load lies upon a fick ftomach; and fo he may discharge himself of it by reformation, reftitution, &c. but a little time reconciles the quarrel betwixt him and his luft again: If they fall out, they will fall in again: "The dog returned to his vomit, and the fow that was wafhed to "her wallowing in the mire."

But an upright foul hates fin in another manner; and in this hatred of fin the children of God are manifeft.

1. First, The oppofition of fin to God, is the very ground and formal reafon upon which a gracious foul opposes and hates it. If it be oppofite to the holy nature and law of God, it cannot but be odious in his eyes: This cut David's heart, Pfal. li. 4. "Against thee, "thee only have I finned," q. d. 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 thee.

2. Secondly, The upright foul hates fin in himself more than he hates it in any other; as a man hates a ferpent in the hedge, but much more in his own bofom : Rom. vii. 23. "But I fee another law in "my members ;" and ver. 21. "I find then a law, that when I "would do good, evil is prefent with me:" q. d. I do not know how others find it, but I am fure I find fin in my very bofom, in my very bowels, it is prefent with me. O wretched man that I am! A gracious foul can mourn to fee it in others, but to find it in himself pierceth him to the very heart.

3. Thirdly, The gracious foul hates not only this or that particular fin, but the whole kind, every thing that is finful. True hatred is προς τα γένη, * of the whole nature or kind;' Pfal. cxix. 104. " I hate every falfe way." His reafonings proceed a quatenus ad omne, from fin as fin, concluding againft every fin; fins that are prefitable and pleafant, as well as fins that have neither profit nor pleasure; fins Vor

V.

4 B

• Arift. Rhet. lib. 2. cap. 4.

that are fecret, as well as fins that are open, and will defame him. And, before this trial, a falfe heart cannot ftand; for he always indulges fome luft: There is an iniquity which he cannot be repa

rated from.

4. Fourthly, The fincere foul hatcs fin with an irreconcileable hatred. There was a time when fin and his fcul fell out, but there never will be a time of reconciliation betwixt them again.

That breach, which effectual conviction once made, can never be made up any more: "They will return no more to folly," Pfal. lxxxv. 8. And indeed it feems to them that have fuffered fo much for fin, that have endured fo many fears and forrows for it, the greateft fol ly in the world to return to fin again: No, they admire the mercy of their escape from fin to their dying day, and never look back upon their former flate but with fhame and grief.

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

5. Fifthly, The fincere foul hates fin with a fuperlative hatred; he hates it more than any other evil in the world befides it. Penal evils are not pleafant in themfelves, but yet if he must endure them, or fin, then fufferings he chufes; Heb. xi. 25. " Chufing rather to "fuffer affliction than enjoy the pleafures of fin;" the worf of fufferings rather than the best of fin.

6. Sixthly, To conclude; fo deep is the hatred that upright ones bear to fin, that nothing pleafes them more than the thoughts of a full deliverance from it doth; Rom. vii. 34. "I thank God, through "Jefus Chrift our Lord." What doth he fo heartily thank God for? O for a profpect of his final deliverance from fin, never to be entangled, defiled, or troubled with it any more: And this is one thing that fweetens death to the faints as any thing 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 pleafant in it:cif; but to think of a parting-time with fin, that is fweet and pleafant indeed.

TH

SECT. V.

(3.)HIRDLY, The children of God and the children of the devil; pure gold and vile drofs are manifeft as in hatred of fin, fo in their troubles and forrows about fin.

All trouble for fin argues not fincerity; fome have reafon to be troubled even for their troubles for fin: So have they,

1.

First, That are only troubled for the commiffion of fome more grofs fins, that ftartle the natural confcirce but not for inward fins that defile the foul. Judas was troubled for betraying innocent blood, but not for that bafe luft of covetoufnefs that was the root of it, or the want of fincere love to Jefus Chrift; Matth. xxvii. 4, 5. Out

ward fins are fins majoris infamia, of greater fcandal; but heart-fins are oftentimes majoris reatus, fins of greater guilt. To be troubled for groffer fins, and have no trouble for ordinary fins daily incurred, is an ill fign of a bad heart.

2. Secondly, A graceless heart may be much troubled at the discovery of fin, when it is not troubled for the guilt of fin; Jer. ii. 26. | "As the thief is afhamed when he is found, fo is the house of If"rael aflamed." Hence it is that they ftick not to commit ten fins against God, to hide one fin from the eyes of men. It is a mercy that fin is the matter of men's fhame, and that all are not arrived to that height of impudence to declare their fin as Sodom, and glory in their fhame But to be afhamed only becaufe men fee it, and not with Ezra to say, "O my God, I am afhamed, and blush to look up unto "thee," Ezra ix. 6. afhamed that thou feeft it, is but hypocrify.

3. Thirdly, A gracelefs heart may be troubled for the rod that fin draws after it, but not for fin itfelf, as it provokes God to inflict

rojs.

But the troubles of upright ones for fin are of another kind and

nature.

1. First, They are troubled that God is wronged, and his Spirit troubled by their fins: So the penitent prodigal, "I have finned "against heaven, and in thy fight," Luke xv. 21. Against heaven, that is, against him whofe throne is in heaven, a great, glorious, and infinite Majesty! a poor worm of the earth hath lifted up his hand against the God of heaven.

2. Secondly, They are troubled for the defilement of their own fouls by fin: Hence they are compared in Proverbs xxv. 26. to a troubled fountain. You know it is the property of a living fpring, when any filth falls into it, or that which lies in the bottom of its channel, is raifed and defiles its ftreams, never to leave working until it hath purged itfelf of it, and recovered its purity again.

So it is with a righteous man, he loves purity in the precept, Pfalm cxix. 140 and he loves it no lefs in the principle and practice: he thinks it is hell enough to lie under the pollution of fin, if he fhould never come under damnation for it.

3. Thirdly, They are troubled for the eftrangements of God, and the hidings of his face from them because of their fin. It would go clofe to an ingenuous fpirit to fee a dear and faithful friend whom he hath grieved, to look ftrange and fhy upon him at the next meeting, as if he did not know him: much more doth it go to the heart of a gracious man to fee the face of God turned from him, and not to be towards him as in times paft. This went to David's heart after his fall, as you may fee, Pfalm li. 11. "Caft me not away from thy "prefence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me;" q d. Lord, : if thou turn thy back upon me, and eftrange thyfelf from me, I am; a lost man; that is the greateft mifchief that can befai me.

4. Fourthly, Their troubles for fin run deep to what other men's

do. They are strong to bear other troubles, but fink and faint under this: Pfalm xxxviii. 4. Other forrows may for the present be violent, and make more noife, but this forrow foaks deeper into the foul

5. Fifthly, Their troubles for fin are more private and filent troubles than others are, "their fore runs in the night," as it is Pfalm lxxvii 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 Chriftian to unbofom themselves unto) but when all is done, it is God and thy foul alone that must whisper out the matter. Ille vera dolet, qui fine tefte dolet: This is a fincere forrow for fin indeed, which is expreffed fecretly to God in the closet.

6. Sixthly, Their troubles are incurable by creature-comforts. It is not the removing fome outward preffures and inconveniences that can remove their burden; nothing but pardon, peace, and witnessed reconciliation, can quiet the gracious heart.

7. Seventhly, Their troubles for fin are ordinate and kept in their own place; they dare not ftamp the dignity of Chrift's blood upon their worthless tears and groans for fin: * Lava lachrymas, Domine: Lord, wash my finful tears in the blood of Chrift, was once the defire of a true penitent. And thus our trouble for fin fhews us what our hearts are

(4.)

SECT. VI.

OURTHLY, The behaviour and carriage of the foul with our estate and condition is. This will feparate drofs from gold. All unregenerate men are the fervants of fin, they subject themselves to its commands. This the fcripture fometimes calls a "converfation

in the lufts of the flesh," Eph. ii. 3. Sometimes the "felling of "themfelves to fiu," 1 Kings xxi. 20. Now, as a + judicious divine obferves, though the children of God complain with Paul, Rom. vii. 14, 15. that they are "fold under fin," yet there is a vaft difference betwixt thefe two: The faints are fold to it by Adam, but others by their own continued confent. But to fhew you the difference in this matter, I conceive it neceffary to fhew wherein the reigning power of fin doth not confift, and then wherein it doth; that you may plainly difcern who are in fubjection to the reigning power of their corruptions, and who are not. Now there be divers things common both to the regenerate and unregenerate; and we cannot lay the dominion of fin lies in any or in all of them, viz. abftractly and fimply confidered.

1 First, Both one and the other having original corruption dwelling in them, may alfo find this fountain breaking forth into grols and fcandalous fins: But we cannot fay that because original corrup

C

tion thus breaks forth into grofs and scandalous fins in both, therefore it must needs reign in the one as well as in the other; a righteous man may "fall before the wicked," as it is, Prov. xxv. 26. He may fall into the dirt of groffer iniquities, and furnish them with matter of reproach. So did David, Peter, Abraham, and many more of the Lord's upright-hearted ones, whofe fouls nevertheless fin did not reign over by a voluntary fubjection to its commands, nor muft this embolden any to fin with more liberty.

2. Secondly, Though an upright foul fall once and again into fin, though he reiterate the fame act of fin which he hath repented of be- ! fore; yet it cannot merely from thence be concluded, that therefore fin reigns over him as it doth over a wicked man that makes it his daily trade. I confefs every reiteration of fin puts a further aggravation upon it: And it is fad we should repent and fin, and fin and repent but yet you read, Prov. xxiv. 16. " A juft man falleth seven "times, and rifeth up again:" Job's friends were good men, yet he tells them, "Thefe ten times have ye reproached me," Job xix. 3. This indeed fhews a heart that greatly needs purging; for it is with relapfes into spiritual as it is with relapfes into natural difeafes: A re- bo cidivation or return of the disease fhews that the morbific matter was not duly purged; but though it fhew the foulnefs, it doth not always prove the falfeness of the heart.

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

It is pity any good man should storm at a just rebuke of fin; that fuch a precious oil as is proper to heal, fhould be conceited to break his head but yet flesh will be tender and touchy, even in good men. Afa was a good man, and yet he was wroth with the prophet who reproved him, as you find, 2 Chron. xvi. 10. yet I doubt not but their confciences fmite them for it, when pride suffers not another to do it; a reproof may be well-timed and ill managed by another, and fo may provoke, but they will hear the voice of confcience in another

manner.

4. Fourthly, Though in both fome one particular fin may have more power than another, yet neither doth this alone conclude, that therefore that fin must reign in one, as it doth in another. Indeed the beloved luft of every wicked man is king over his foul; but yet a godly man's conftitution, calling, &c. may incline him more to one fin than another; and yet neither that nor any other may be faid to be in dominion; for though David fpeaks of his iniquity, i. e. his special fin, Pfalm xviii. 23. which fome fuppofe to be the fin of lying, from that intimation, Pfalm cxix. 19. yet you fee in one place he begs God to keep him from it, and in the other, he tells us he kept himfelf from it, and both fhew he was not the fervant of it.

5. Fifthly, Though both may fin against knowledge, yet it will not follow from thence, that therefore fins againft knowledge muft

x*