134 S E R M 0 N S upon Serm. XIX, imprifoned exercifed with many vexations, and forrows : But the relicks of the cot, ruption were his grease(] burden ; not, when (hall I come out of thefe aft &ions ? but who (hall deliver me from this body of death? 2. Ey endeavours and ftriving again(} it. There may be fome dillike of fin. in a natural heart, for confcience will tome- times take Gods part,and quarrel againft our tuffs ; otherwifea wicked man could not be felf- condemned, and hold the truth in unrighteoufnefs; but checks of confcience are diflin& things from the repugnancies of a renewed heart : a wicked mans confcience telleth him he ( hould do otherwife, when his heart inclineth him to do fo (till. But a renewed heart hateth fin, and therefore there is a confiant earneft endeavour to get it fubdued ; and doth watch, pray, plead for God, ufemeans; dare not yell in ftn,or live in fio..Yea, 3. Prevail againft it fo far, that the heart is never turned away from God to fin, t John' 3. 9. Whofoever is born of God, doth not commit fn: for his feed re- mainetb in him : and he cannot fn, becasrfe he is born of God. His heart cannot eafily be brought to it, he looketh upon it as a monftrous incongruity, Gen. 39.9. How can I do this great wicIednefs,, and fn againfi God ! a Cor. t3. 8. For we can do nothing again(? the truth : and Ads 4. 20. For we cannot but fpeak the things which we have feen and heard. There is a natural cannot, and a moral cannot : the natural cannot, is an utter impolfibility; the moral cannot is a great abfurdity, the new life breedeth fuch an averfion of heart and mind from fin, fuch confiant rebukes and dillikesof the new nature. A Child of God is never in a right pofture, till he doth look upon fin, not only as contrary to his duty, but his nature ; they have no fatisfation in themfelves, till it be utterly de(troyed. 3. As a'fpirit of love ; the great work of the fpirit is to reveal the love of God to us, and to recover our love to God ; for the fpirit cometh to us as the fpirit of Chrift, by vertue of his redemption ; now the infinite goodnefs and love of God doth thine moft brightly to us, in the face of our Redeemer, in the great things which he bath done and purchafed for us, and offered to us ; we have the fullea expreffton and de- montration of the love of God, which we are capable of, and which is moo apt to kindle love in us to God again, Rom. 5. 8. God commendeth his love to us, that while we were yet inners, Chrifi died for us ; and t John 2. 1, 2. My little children, thefe things write I unto yon, that ye fin not : and if any man fin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jefes Chrifl the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our fur, and not for ours only, but alfo for the fins of the whole world : and Eph. 3. 18, t9. That you may beroot- ed and grounded in love, and comprehend with all Saints, what i.e the breadth, and length, and depth, and height ; and may know the love of Chrifi which paf tb aflknowledg. Now the fpirit attending this difpenfation, Cutely his great work and office is to flied abroad the love of God in our hearts, Rom. 5. 5. and Gal. 4. 6. And becaufe ye are fops, God bath font forth the fpirit of bis fon into our hearts, crying, Abba Father : That being perfwaded of Gods fatherly love, we may love him again, and fully to pleafe him. Therefore nothing doth air us up againft fin, fo much as the fenfe of Gods love in Chria : (hall fin live, which is fo contrary to God ? Shall I take delight in that which is a grief to his Holy Spirit ?cherith that which Chria came to defiroy ? Live to my felf,whoam fo manyways oblged to God ? difpleafemy father to gratify thefleth? Alas!how many read and hear ofthis,whoare no way moved into an indignation againft fin ? 'Tis not the love of God called to mind by a few cold thoughts of ours, that worketh fo,but the love of God (bed abroad in our hearts bythe fpirit,that melts the heart, maketh us a teamed of our unkindnefs to God, and flirreth up an hatred againft fin. 6. After converfion, and the f irits becoming ofpirit of light, life, and leve to us ;after grace is put into our hearts to weaken fin, /lilt we need the help of the fpirit ; partly, Becaufe habitual grace is' a created thing, and the fame grace that made us new creatures, is neceffary to continue us fo : For no creature can be Good independently, without the influence of the prime good: all things depend in effi, confervare, & operavi, on him that made them. In him we live, and move, and have our being, Ac's 17. 28. If God fut. pend his influence, natural agents cannot work ; as the fire cannot burn, as in the cafe of the. three Children , much lefs voluntary; and if there be this dependance in na- tural things, much more in fupernatural, Phil. 2. 12, 13. Will and Deed àre from God, firfl principles of operation, and final accomplifhment : Partly, becaufe in the very heart there is great oppofition againft it, there is fle(h (till, the warring law, Rom: 7. 23. gratia non totaliter fatiat. The cure is not total as yet, but partial ; therefore they need the fpirit to 'guide, and quicken, and ftrengthen them. Partly, as it meeteth with much oppofition within, fo it is expofed to temptations without; Satan watcheth all ,advantages againa us, and the foul is trangely deluded by the treachery of the fenfes, and
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