so our delight in sin is the measure of our sinfulness. Delight in sin is the uppermost round of the ladder, and much higher the soul of a sinner cannot go, till it be turned off into hell. "It is a sport to a fool to do misHe is never merrier than when he

chief," Prov. x. 23.

has the devil for his playfellow.

4. Impatience of Christ's yoke and government, argues the soul to be the subject of sin. This is clear from the apostle's reasoning in Rom. vi. 17, 18; "But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." Where you see plainly, that no man can have his manumission or freedom from sin, who comes not into Christ's service, and yields himself up to his obedience. So then to fret at Christ's laws that tie us up from our lusts, to be weary of all spiritual employments as a burden intolerable, never to be in our element and centre till we are off from God, and plunging in the world and our lusts-this is a sad note of a soul in subjection to sin.

But it may be said, May not an upright soul find some weariness in spiritual things? Doubtless he may, for he has flesh as well as spirit; and "though the spirit be willing, the flesh is weak :" he is sanctified but in part, and his delight in the law of God is but according to or "after the inner man;" but he sees another law in his members, that is, contrary inclinations. If however he be weary sometimes in the duties of godliness, he is more weary out of them, and is not centered and at rest till he be with his God again: but the carnal heart is where it would be, when it is in the service of sin, and as a fish upon dry land, when engaged in spiritual duties, especially such as are secret, and have no external allurements of reputation to engage him to them.

But what surprisals or captivities to sin soever may befall an upright soul, yet it appears by these eight following particulars, that he is not the servant of sin, nor in full subjection to it

1. Though he may be drawn into sin, yet he cannot reflect upon his sin without shame and sorrow, which

plainly shows it to be an involuntary surprise. So Peter wept bitterly, Mat. xxvi. 75; and David mourned for his sin heartily. Others can fetch new pleasures out of their old sins, by reflecting on them; and some can glory in their shame; some are stupid and senseless after sin; and the sorrow of a carnal heart for it, is but a morning dew: but it is far otherwise with God's people.

2. Though a saint may be drawn into sin, yet it is not with a deliberate and full consent of his will. "Their de

light is in the law of God," Rom. vii. 22. They do that which they would not:" there are inward dislikes from the new nature. And as for the case of David, which seems to have so much of counsel and deliberation in it, yet it was but in a single act; it was not in the general course of his life; he was upright in all things, that is, in the general course and tenor of his life, 1 Kings xv. 5.

3. Though an upright soul may fall into sin, yet he is restless and unquiet in that condition, like a bone out of joint; and that bespeaks him to be none of sin's servants; as on the contrary, if a man be engaged in the external duties of religion, and be restless, and unquiet there, his heart not being in it, he not being at rest till he is again in his earthly business; this man cannot be reckoned Christ's servant. A gracious heart is much after that rate employed in the work of sin, that a carnal heart is employed in the work of religion. That is a good rule, that is a man's true temper, wherein he is at rest. Poor David fell into sin, but he had no rest in his bones because of it, Psal. li. 10, 11, 12. If his heart be off from God and duty for a little while, yet he recollects himself, and says, "Return to thy rest, Ο my soul."

4. Though a sincere Christian fall into sin and commit evil, yet he proceeds not from evil to evil as the ungodly do, Jer. ix. 3; but makes his fall into one sin a caution to prevent another sin. Peter by his fall got establishment for the time to come. If God will speak peace to them, they are careful to return no more to folly. "In that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought! yea, what fear!" 2 Cor. vii. 11. It is not so with the servants of sin. One sin leaves them much more disposed to another sin. Div. No. XIX.

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5. A sincere Christian may be drawn into sin, but yet he would be glad with all his heart to be rid of sin. It would be more to him than thousands of gold and silver, that he might grieve and offend God no more: and that shows sin is not in dominion over him. He who is under the dominion of sin, is loth to leave his lusts. Sin's servants are not willing to part with it; they hold it fast, and refuse to let it go, as that text expresses it, Jer. viii. 5. But the great complaint of the upright is expressed by the apostle according to the true sense of their hearts, in Rom. vii. 24. "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

6. It appears that they yield not themselves willingly to obey sin, inasmuch as it is the matter of their joy when God orders any providence to prevent sin in them. "Blessed be the Lord," said David to Abigail, " and blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou that hast kept me this day from shedding blood," 1 Sam. xv. 32, 33. Here is blessing upon blessing for a sin-preventing providence. The author is blessed, the instrument blessed, the means blessed. O it is a blessed thing in the eyes of a sincere man to be kept from sin! He reckons it a great deliverance, a very happy escape, if he is kept from sin.

7. This shows that some who may be drawn to commit sin, are yet none of the servants of sin, that they do heartily beg the assistance of grace to keep them from sin: " Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins," says the Psalmist, "let them not have dominion over me," that is, Lord, I find propensities to sin in my nature, yea, and strong ones too; if thou leave me to myself, I am carried into sin as easily as a feather is carried down the torrent. O Lord, keep back thy servant. And there is no petition that upright ones pour out their hearts to God in, either more frequently or more ardently, than in this, to be kept back from sin.

8. This shows the soul not to be under the dominion of sin, that it does not only cry to God to be kept back from sin, but uses the means of prevention itself. It resists it, as well as prays against it. "I was also upright before him, and kept myself from mine iniquity," Psal. xviii. 23. So Job xxxi. 1; "I have made a covenant with

mine eyes;" and yet more fully in Isa. xxxiii. 15; “He shaketh his hands from holding bribes, and stoppeth his ears from hearing blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil." See with what care the portals are shut at which sin is accustomed to enter.

All these things are very relieving considerations to poor souls questioning their integrity under the frequent surprisals of sin. And the next trial is no less so.

SECTION VIII.

Our opposition to, and conflicts with sin discover what we are, gold or dross.

There are conflicts with sin both in the regenerate and in the unregenerate; but there is a vast difference betwixt them, as will appear in the following account.

1. There is a universal and there is a particular opposition to sin. The former is found in regenerate, the latter in unregenerate souls. A gracious heart hates every false way, Psal. cxix. 104; and must needs do so, because it hates and opposes sin as sin; so that it can have no excepted or reserved lust, but fights against the whole body, and every limb and member of the body of sin. But it is not so with the hypocrite or carnal professor. He has some reserved sin, that he cannot part with.

2. There is an opposition betwixt the new nature and sin, and there is an opposition betwixt a natural conscience and sin; the former is the case of an upright soul, the latter may be a self-deceiver.

A regenerate person opposes sin because there is an irreconcileable antipathy betwixt it and the new nature in him, as is clear from Gal. v. 17; "The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other." By flesh, we are to understand corrupt nature; by spirit, not only the spirit of man but the Spirit of God, or principle of regeneration in man. By the lusting of these two against each other, we are to understand the desire and endeavour of each other's destruction and ruin; and the ground of all this is the contrariety of these two natures. These

are contrary one to the other. There is a twofold opposition betwixt them; one formal, their very natures are opposite; the other effective, their workings and designs are opposite, as it is betwixt fire and water.

But the opposition found in unrenewed souls against sin, is not from their natures, for sin is suitable enough to that; but from the light that is in their minds and consciences, which scares and terrifies them. Such was that in Darius; "He was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him," Dan. vi. Here the contest was betwixt sense of honor on one side, and conviction of conscience on the other side. Sometimes a generous and noble disposition opposes sordid and base actions. "I am greater, and born to greater things, than that I should be a slave to my body," said a brave heathen.

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3. There is a permanent and there is a transient opposition to sin. The former is the case of God's people, the latter of temporary and unsound professors.

The saint when he draws the sword in his warfare against sin, throws away the scabbard. No end of this combat with sin till life end. His life and his troubles are finished together; "I have fought the good fight, and have finished my course," 2 Tim. iv. 7. But in other men it is but a transient quarrel; they are out with sin one day, and in with it another; and the reason is plain by what was noted before-it is not the opposition of two natures. It is like the opposition of the wind and tide; these may be contrary and make a stormy sea to-day, but the wind may come about, and go as the tide goes to-morrow. In a Christian it is the opposition of the river and the dam, one must give way to the other; there is no reconciling them; but the other "like the dog, returns to his vomit."

4. There is an opposition to the root of sin, and an opposition to the fruits of sin. A gracious soul opposes root and fruit, but others the latter only. The great design of an upright soul is not only to lop off this or that branch, but to kill the root of sin which is in his nature,