Of INDWELLING SIN. +65 to be defired to make one wife. What fhould the do then but eat it ? Her will confented and the did fo accordingly, Pleas for obedience are laid out of the way, and only thepleafures of fin are taken under confiderati- on. So faith Ahab, r Kings xxi. Naboth's Vineyard is near my baufe, and I may make it a gardenof heárbs, therefore I muff have it. Thefe confederations a deceived mind impofed on his will ; until it made him obftinate in the purfuit of his covetoufnefs through perjury and murther, to the utter ruin of himfelf and his family. Thus is the guilt and tenden- cy of fin hid under the covert of advantages and pleafures, and fo is con- ceived or refolved on in the foul. As the mind being withdrawn, to the affe&ions being anticed and en- tangled, do greatly farther the conception of fin in the foul by the con- fent of the will ; and they do it two ways. (r. By fume huffy impulfe and furprifal being themfelves flirted up, in- cited, and drawn forth by foamviolent provocation, or fuitable temptation, they put the whole foul as it were into a combuftion, and draw the will into a confent unto what they are provoked unto and entangled withal. So was the cafe of David in the matter of Nabal. A violent provoca- tion from the extreme] unworthy carriage of that foolilh cliurle, ftirs him up to wrath and revenge, t Sam. xxv. 13. He refolves upon it, to deftroy an whole family, the innocent with the guilty, ver. 33, 34. Self revenge, and murther, were for the feafon conceived, refolved, confented unto, until God gracioufly took him off. His entangled, provoked affeftions, furprifed his will to confent unto the conception of many bloody fins, The cafe was the fame withÁfa in his anger, when he fmote the prophet, and with Peter in his fear when he denyed his matter. Let that foul which would take heed of conceiving fin, take heed of entangled affe&i- ons. For fin may be fuddenty conceived, the prevalent confent of the will may be fuddenly obtained, which gives the foul a fixedguilt, though the fin itfelf be never aftually brought forth. (a. Enticed affeflions procure the confent of the will by frequent fo- licitations, whereby they get ground infenfibly upon it, and enthrone themfelves. Take an inftance in the funs of Yacob, Gen. xxxvii. 4. They hate their brother, becaufe their father loved him. Their affeftions be- ing enticed, many new occafions fall out to entangle them farther, as his dreams and the like. This lay rankling in their hearts, and never ceafed foliciting their wills, until they refolved upon his death. The unlawful- nefs, the unnaturalnefs of the a&ion, the grief of their aged father, the guilt of their own fouls, are alllaid afide ; that hatred and envy that they, had conceived againft him ceafed not until they had got the corifent of their wills to his ruin. This gradual progrefs of the prevalency of cor- rupt affeltions to folicite the foul unto fin the wife man excellently del- tribes, Prov. xxüi 31, 32, 33, 34, 35. And this is the common way of fin's procedure in the deftruftion of fouls which feein to have made foine good engagements in the ways of God. When it bath entangled them With one temptation, and brought the will to faine liking of it, that prefently becomes another temptation, either to the negleft of fume duty, or to the refufal of more light; and commonly that whereby men fall off utterly from God, is not that wherewith they are firft entangled. And this may briefly fuffice for the third progreflive all of the deceit of fin, Ie contains the wills confent unto its conception, and by this means are mul- titudes of fins conceived in the heart which very little lefs defile the foul, or taufe it to contrail very little lofs guilt, than if they were aftually committed. Bbbbbb t3ntel
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