34 Temptati91lS to take mortql ji11s for ilzfirmities. wilful ignor:mce as this excufe you? No, it doth make your fin the greater. It fheweth the greater dcminion of fin, when it can ufe thee as the Philijl-inu did Sampfon, put out thy eyes, and make a Crudge of thee ; a11d conquer thy Reafon, and make thee believe that evil is good, and good is evil. Now it hath rnallen:d the principal forrrefs of thy foul, when thy underftanding is mallercd by ir. Hr is reconciled indeed w his enemy, who takerh him to be a friend : D o you noc know, that God lhould have your heart, and Heaven Chould have your chicfelfcare and diligence ; and that you lhou-!d mal<e the Word of God your Rule, and your delight and meditation day and night> If you know not rhefe things, it is becaufc you would not know them. And it is a miferablecafe to be given up to a blinded mind! Take hetd lefiat lafi you commit the horridfi fins, and do not know them to be fins. for fuch there arc that mock at Godlinefs, and perfecutc Chriflians and Minifiers of Chrill, and know not that they do ill, but 1hinil, they do God firvicc, John r6. 2• If a man will make himfelfdrunk, and then kill, and tlcal, and abu{f his neighbours, and fay, I Jtnew not that I did ill, it fhall not excufe him: This is your cafe. You are drunken with the love of fle(hly pleafure and worldly things, and rhefe carry you fo away, that you have neither heart~ nor time to fiudy the Scriptures, and hear, and think what God faith tO you, and then fay, that you did not Jtnow. 7empt. 7• ~· 74· Tempt. 7· But,{aith the 1empter, it can11otbe a mortal rtigning fin, becaufe it i.r not committed with the whole heart, nor :without fame jlrugli11g a11d refrftance: Dofl thou not feel the Spirit flriving againjf thejlcjh? And fo it i.r tvitb the Regenerau, Gal. 5· IJ· Rom. 7· 20, 2 1, 22, 23· Tht goodwhic/j thou, deft not do, thou wott!dJi do; and the evil, which thou dojf, thou wouldji mt do: [o then it i.r 1ZQ more thou that dojt it, but fin th.zt dwellttb i;z tbee. [;z a {e1t{ual unregenerate ptr{o1t, there Ubut one par~ ty, tb."Te i.r notbi~rg butfieftJ ; bttt thou feellft tbe combat between the Fltjh &nd the Spirit withiJ:J thee. 1Jil'elJ. 7• 9· 15· 1Jirdl. 7· This is a fnare fo fubtile and dangerous, that you have need of eyes in your head to fcapeit.Underttaud therefore, J.Tbat as to thetwo Texts ofScriprure much abufed by rhe Tempter, rhey {peak not at all of mortal reigning fin, but of the unwilhng infirmitit.r of fuch as had fnbdued all '< , {uch fin, and walked not after the tltili, but after the Spirit; and whofe wills were habimally bent to good; and fain would have been perfcU, and not have been guirty of an idle thought, or word, or of any imperfeCtion in their holiefi fervice, but lived up 'to all that the Law requircth: but this they could not d<>, becaufe .~he fle(h did calt many flops before the will in the performance. But this is nothing to the cafe of Ol)e that liveth in gr;oji fin, and an ungodly life, and hath Jhivings and con– victions, and undftCtual wifhes to be better and to turn, but never doth it : This is but G'nning ' againfi Confcience, and refilling the ~pirit that would convert you; and it maketh you worthy of many firipes, as being rebellious agaiofi the irnportunitiCs of Grace. Sin may be refljled, where it is never conquered : It may Rcig1t neverthclefs for fome ~ontradillio,. "'Every one that Yt[iffelh the Kittg, doth not depoft him from Ius Throne. It's a dangerous deceit to think that every good dtfire that contradicteth tin, doth conqu.er it, and is a. frgn of faving ~face. It mull be a dfjire afrer a jfate of godline[.r and an tjfBliual drfire too. There are degrees ot Power : forne may have a lifi and limited po~cr a~d yet be Rttler.r. As the evil Spirits that poifdfed mens bodies, weie a Legion in one, and What Rcfibut 01 ;e in others yet both were poffeifed : So ~s it here. Grace is not without tdi!tance in a holy ~-~'be0~11~~e Soul: there is fo:nc tem,nants of co~,r~p~io.u ~n the will it felf, tefiiling thegood ; a~d yc.r it. foll_ow– un;odly. eth not, that Grace .dot h. not Rule: So IS lt m th~ fin o! the unregeneratt>. No ~an ~n thts hfe IS fo good, as he will be 111 Heaven, or fo bad, as he will be 111 Hell: Therefore none 1S VOid of aU moral gDOd. And the leaft good will re(lft evil, in its degree, as Light doth darknefs. As in thefe cafes, §.. 7 6. 1 • There is in the~nregenerate a remnant of natural knowledg:e and confcicnce: fomedif.. coveries of God and his will there are in his works; God hath not left himfelf without wirnefs. See A{ls 14· LJ· & IJ· 2'J.· Rom. I· 19, 2q. & 2· 7, 8,9. This Light and Law of Nature governed the Hearhens: And this in its meafure refifi.eth tln, and aifilleth confcienc 1 e. . §. 7 7 • 2· whenfuP.•''II'Iural txlrinficii,Revelation in the Scripture, is added to the Lighl and Law ofNatwe, and the un!!fj~ly have all the fame Law a.s the bell ; it may do more. . §. 7 s. 3· Moreover an ungodly man may live _u.Q.der a moft powerful Prtar:ber, that wtll never let him alone in his fins, and may !Hr up. much fear in him, and many good purpoles, and almon per– fwadc him to be a true Chrj{han, and not only to have fome uncffectual wi'fbings and frrivings a5ainft f.in, but to do many things after the Preacher, as Herod did after John, and to efcape the commod. pollutions of the world, 2 Pet. 2· 20. . · §.7 9 • 4 . Some (harp ailliCl:ion added to the refl, may make him [eem to others a true penitent: when he is fiopt in his courfe of fin, as Bal.umwas.by the Angel with a drawn Sword, and feeth that he cannot go on but in cla~get of his life; and thaJ God is flill meeting him with Come_ crofs, a!1<I hedging up his way with thorns (for fuch mercy he fhe"\'etb to forn~ ot the ungpdly ) thrs may not only br$ed reflfiance of fio, but iome: rcfoimation. When the BabylonianJ were planted in Samllria, they feared not God, and he fent Lyons.among them ; and then they feared him, and fet up fome kit1d. of fetvice to him, perfo[med by a bafe fort of Priefis; they feared the Lord, and{ervcd tbcir own God.t, thinking it was fafell to pleafe all, 2Kings '7· 25, 32, 33• Alllicnon maketh bad men, likefi to the good. , . • §. 8o. 5· Good education and company may do very much: It may help them to much knowledge, and make them profdfors of !hid: Religion ; and confian( companions with rhofe rhar fear fin, and avoid it; and therefore they mutl needs., gq f.u then, as Joajb did all the dayes of Jehojada, 2 Chron. 24 , 2 , As plants and fruits change with t/le foil by ~ran!plantation, and as the Climate maketh fame Blackmoqrs and fome White, fo educatioo.aud converfe have !0 great a power on tl.e mind, that mey ,erne nqxt to gra"• and arc oft the means o£ it<
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