)1.7_ Of INÍ ELLtNG SIN. 391 equivalent unto it whence it is faid ßxzae6a,-, to reign as a Xing, Rom: vi. ta. and novit"ew to Lord it, or have dominion, v. 14. as a law in general is faid to have, chap. vii. a. But becaufe it bath loft its compleat dominion, in reference unto believers ofwhom alonewe fpeak, I ¡hall not infift upon it in this utmoft extent ofits power. But even in them it is a law flit!, though not a law unto them î yet, as was Paid, it is a law in them. And though it have not a compleat, and as it were a rightful dominion over them, yet it will have a dominion as to force things in them: It is (till a law, and that in them, fo that all its adings are the actings of a law i that is, it alts with power, though it have loft its compleat power of ruling in them. Though it be weakned, yet its nature is not changed. It is a law dill, and therefore powerful. And as its peculiar workings (which we fhall after- wards confider) are the ground of this appellation, fo the term it felf teach- ethus in general, what we are to expect from it, and what endeavoursit willufe for dominion, to which it Bath been accuftomed. Secondly, A law, as a law, hath an efficacy to provoke thole that ate obnoxious unto it, unto the things that it requireth A law hack rewards and punifhments accompanying of ir. Titefe fecretly prevail on them to whom they are propofed, though the things commanded be not much de- ferable. And generally all laws have their efficacy on the minds of men, from the rewards and punifhments that are annexed unto them. Nor is this law without this fpringof power : it bath its rewards and punifh- ments. The pleafures of fin are the rewards of fin i a reward that mod men lofe their fouls to obtain. By this the law of fin contended in Mofer againft the law of grace, Heb. xi. 25, 26. He chofe rather to fufet. aflitlions with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleafures offsrd for a feafon g for be looked unto the recompense of reward. The coined was in his mind between the law of fin, and the law of grace. The motive on the part of the law of fin, wherewith it fought to draw him over, and wherewith it prevails on the mod, was the reward that it propofed unto him, namely that he fhould have the prefent enjoyment of the pleafures of fin. By this it contended againft the reward annexed unto the law of grace, called the recompence of reward. By this forry reward doth this lawkeep the world in obedience to its commands. And experience fhe}vs uS, of what power it is to influence the minds of men. It Bath alto punifhments that it threatens men with, who labour to cad of its yoke. What ever evil, trouble, or danger in the world attends Gofpel obedience; what ever hardship or violence is to be offered to the fenfual past of our natures in a lirict courfe of mortifica- tion, fin makes ufe of, as if they were punishments attending the neglect of its commands. By thefe it prevails on the fearful, who fhall have no thare in life eternal, Rev. xxi. 8. And it is hard to fay by whether of tilde, its pretendedrewards, or pretended punishments, it dotti mod prevail, in whether of them its greateft ftrength doth lie. By its rewards it intìceth men to fins ofcommiflion, as they are called, inways and actions tending to the fatisfaftion of its lulls. By its punifhments it induceth -men to the omitting of duties, acotirfe tending to no lets a pernicious event than the former. By which of thefe the law of fin hath its greased fuccefs in and upon the fouls of men, is not evident, and that becaufe they are feldom or never feparared, but equally take place on the fame perfons. But this is certain, that by tenders and promifes of the pleafures of fin on the one band, by threats of the deprivation of all fenfual contentments, and the indictionof temporal evils on the other, it hath an exceeding efficacy on the minds of men, oftentimes of believers tliemfelves: Unlefs a man be pre-
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