Of INDWELLING SIN. 425 this is fo in their heart, that it rifeth up unto madnefs: The Holy Ghoft exprelfeth this rage of fin by a fit fimilitude which he ufeth in fundry places, as Jar. ii. 24. Hof. viii. 9. It maketh men as a wild afs fhe traverfeth her ways, and fnuffeth up the wind, and runeth whether her mind or.luIl leads her. And he faith of idolaters enraged with their lofts, that they are mad upon their idols, Jer, v. 38. We may a little confider what lies in this madnefs and rage of fin, and how it rifethup thereunto. r. For the nature of it, it feems to confift in a violent, heady, perti- nacious preffng unto evil or fin. Violence, importunity and pertinacy are in ir. It is the treating and torturing of the foul by any fin to force its confent, and to obtain fatisfaftion. It rifeth úp in the heart, is denied by the law of grace, and rebuked; it returns and exerts it poifon again; the foul is ftartled, rafts it off; it returns again with new violence and importunity, the foul cries out for help and deliverance, looks round about to all fprings of Gofpel grace and relief, trembles at the furious affaults of fin, and rafts itfelf into the arms of Chrift for deliverance. And if it be not able to take that courfe, it is foiled and hurried up and down through the mire and filth of foolifh imaginations, corrupt and noifome lofts: which rend and tear it, as if they would devour its whole fpiritual and power. See i Tim. vi. 9, no. 2 Pet. ii. rç It wasnot muchotherwife with them whom we initanced in before, Ifa.lvii. 17. They had an inflamed, inraged, luft working in them; even covetoufnefs, or the love of this world, bywhich, as the apoftle fpeaks, men pierce themfelves through with many forrows. God is angry with them, and difcovereth his wrath by all the ways and means that it was poffible for them to be made fenfible thareof. He was wroth and fmote them; but though it may be this flag- gered them a little, yet they went on. He is angry, and hides himfelf from them, defects them as to his gracious, aflìfting, comforting prefence. Doth this work the effeft? No they go on frowadly !till, as men mad on their covetonfnefs. Nothing can put a flop to their raging tufts. This is plain madnefs and fury. We neednot feek far for inftances, we fee men mad on their lulls every day; and which is the worft kind of madnefs, their lufts do not rage fo much in them, as they rage in the purfuitof them. Arethofe greedy purfuits of things in the world, which we fee force men en- gaged in, though they have other pretences, indeed any thing elfe but plain madnefs in the purfuit oftheir lufts? God who fearcheth the hearts ofmen, knows that the inoft of things that are donewith other pretences in the world, are nothing but the aftings ofmen, mad and furious inthe purfuit of their lofts. 2. That fin rifeth not unto this heighth ordinarily, but when it hash got a double advantage. (i) That is beprovoked, enragedand heightned by forcegreat temptation. Though it be a poifon in itfelf, yet being inbred in nature, it grows not violently outragious, without the contribution of force new poifon of fatan unto it in a fuitable temptation. It was the advantage that faran got againft David, by a fuitable temptation that raifed his lufts to that rage and madnefs, which it went forth unto in the bufinefs of Batbßheba and Uriah. Though fin be always a fire in the bones, yet it flames not, unlefs fatan come with his bellows to blow it up. And let any one in whom the law of fin arifeth to this height of rage, ferioufly confider, and he may find out where the devil ftands and puts in, in the bufinefs. (a) It mutt be advantaged by force former entertainment and preva- lency. Sin grows not to this height at its 1ìrí1 affault. Had it not been fuffered to make its entrance, had there not been fume yielding infthe PPPPP
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