418 / 504
C.
XV.
Difference
between
Believers
and
others
in
their finning.
362
from
all
a
&wall
finnes
or
open
committing
offinne
all
his
dayes,yet
if
he have
any habituall
delight
in finne, and
defileth
his
foule with
delightfullcontem-
plations
of
finne,
he liveth
to
finne,
and not toGod,
which
a
Believer
cannot
do,
for he
is
not under the Law but under
Grace.
To
abide
in this
(fate,
is
to
Weare
thegarmentfpotted with
the
flefh.
But now
take
another Perfon, however
heightned,
and wrought up by
convictions,
unleffe it
be when Confcience
is
flirted up,
and
fomeaffrightment
is
put
upon
him,
he
can
as
his
leifure
af-
fords,give
his
heart the
fwing in
inordinate
affe&ìons,or
what
elfe
pleafeth
St
fuiteth
his
fiate, condition, temper
and
the
like.
2. A
Believer
is
exceedingly
troubled,
upon
the
account
of
his
being
at
any time
led
captive to the
power
of
finne in this
kind
;
and the
review
of
the
frame
of
his
fpirit,
wherein
his
affections
were by
delight
conformed to
any
finne,
is
a
matter
of
fore
trouble
and deep humiliation
to
him-
I am
of
Au-
ftins
mind,
De Nap.Coneupif.
cap.a: that
it
is
this
perpetrating offinne,
and
not
the
a&uall
committing
ofit,
which
the
Apoffle complaineth
of
Rom.
7.
Two
things perfwade me hereunto. Firft,
That
it
is
the
ordinary
courfè
and
walk-
ing
of
a
regenerate man, that
Paul
defcribeth in
that
places
and
not
his extra-
ordinary falls
and
failings,
under great and extraordinary temptations.
This
is
evident from
the
whole manner
of
his
difcourfe,
and
fcope
of
the
place.
Now
ordinarily,
through the grace
of
God
,
the
Saints
doe
not
doe
outwardly,
and
Praitically,
the
things
they
would
note
that
is,
commit
finne actually,
as
to
the
outward aft; but
they are
ordinarily
only fwayed
to
this
entanglement,
by
the
baits
'offinne.
,
Secondly,
It
is
the
folewarke
of
Indwelling
fnne,
that
the
Apoffle
there defcribeth,
as
it
is
in
its felfe,
and not
as
it
is
advantaged
by
ow
ther
Temptations;
in which
it
carrieth not
Believers
out to
a&uall finites , as
to
fuch
ace-ompbfhtnent
of
them,
which
is
their
fiate
in
refpeft
of
great temp-
tations
only.
It
is
then
I fay
the great
burthen
of
their
Cowles,
that
they
have
been
in
their
affections
at
any
time dealing with
the
baits
of
finne, which
caufeth thetñ
t0
cry
out
for
helpe, and
filleth
them
with
a
perpetual)
felfe
-ab-
horrency
and condemnation.
3.
In fuchfkrprifalls
of
finne,
although the
Affe
&ions
may be infnared,
and
the
judgement, and
Confcience by
their tumultuating, dethroned
for
a
feafon, yet the will,
frill
maketh
head
againfi
finne in Believers
,
and crieth
out, that
whether
it
will
or
no,
it iscaptived, and violently overborne,
calling
for
reliefe,
like
a
manfurprized by
an
enemy.
There
is
an aelive
renitency in
the
Will,-againft
the
finne, whole bait
is
expofed
to the Soule,
and where
-
with
it
is
inticed, allured,
or
ìntangled; when
of
all
the
faculties
of
the Souk,
if
any
thing be
to
be done
in
any
a&
offinne
in
Vivregenerate
men, the
will
is
the
ringleader. Confcience
may
grumble,
and
Judgement
may plead,
but the
Will runneth
headlong
to
it
-And
thus farre have
I
(by
way ofdigrefiìs
n)
pro-
ceeded
in
the
difference
there is,betwixt Regenerate
and Unregenerate men,
as
to the root
and foundation offinne,
as
allo
to
their ordinary
walking: what
is
farther added by the
Apoffle, in
the two
following degrees
,
in
the
place
mentioned,
becaufe thence alto may fomelight be
obtained
to
the bufne(le
in
hand,
(hall
be briefely
infifted on.
4.55
The
next thing
in
the
Progrefjë
of
frnne,
is
Lulls
conceiving.
When
it
hath
turned
off
the heart
from
ifs
Communion with God
,
or
confiderarion
of
its
duty,
and
intangled
or hampered the
Affe
&ions , in
delight with the
Gnfull
objet.propofed,
prevailing with the
foule
to
dwell with fome
complacency
upon the thoughts offinne,
it
then falieth
to
conceiving;
that
is,
it
marines,
fo-
ments, cherifheth
thoughts and delights
of
the
finne
entertained
,
untill it
fo
farte
prevaile upon the will,
(in
them
in
whole
wills
there
is
an oppofition
unto
it)that
being wearied
out
with the follicitations
of
the
1eth,
it
giverh
over