iteration of fin puts a further aggravation upon it: And it is fad we fhould repent and fin, and fin and repent; but yet you read, Prov. xxiv. 16. “A juft man falleth feven times, and "rifeth up again :" Job's friends were good men, yet he tells them, "These ten times have ye reproached me," Job xix. 3. This indeed fhews a heart that greatly needs purging; for it is with relapfes into fpiritual as it is with relapses into natural di feafes: A recidivation or return of the disease fhews that the morbific matter was not duly purged; but though it shew the foulnefs, it doth not always prove the falfenefs of the heart.

3. Thirdly, Though the one may be impatient of the reproof of his fin, as well as the other; yet that alone will not conclude fin to be in full dominion over the one, as it is over the other.

It is pity any good man fhould ftorm at a juft rebuke of fin; that fuch a precious oil as is proper to heal, fhould be conceited to break his head: but yet flesh will be tender and touchy, even in good men. Afa was a good man, and yet he was wroth with the prophet who reproved him, as you find, 2 Chron. xvi. 10. yet I doubt not but their confciences fmite them for it, when pride fuffers not another to do it; a reprocf may be welltimed and ill managed by another, and fo may provoke, but they will hear the voice of confcience in another manner.

4. Fourthly, Though in both fome one particular fin may have more power than another, yet neither doth this alone conclude, that therefore that fin muft reign in one, as it doth in another. Indeed the beloved luft of every wicked man is king over his foul; but yet a godly man's conftitution, calling, &r. may incline him more to one fin than another; and yet neither that, nor any other may be faid to be in dominion; for though David fpeaks of his iniquity, i e. his fpecial fin, Pfalm xviii. 23. which fome fuppofe to be the fin of lying, from that intimation, Pfalm exix. 19. yet you fee in one place he begs God to keep him from it, and in the other he tells us he kept himfelf from it, and both fhew he was not the fervant of it.

5. Fifthly, Though both may fin against knowledge, yet it' will not follow from thence, that therefore fins against knowledge must needs be fins in dominion in the one, as they are in the other: there was too much light abused, and violence offered in David's deliberated fin, as he confeffes, Pfal. li. 6. and the fad story itself too plainly fhews; and yet, in the main, David was an upright man ftill, though this confideration of the fact fhrewdly wounded his integrity, and ftands up on record for a caution to all others.

W

SECT. VII.

E have feen what doth not infer the dominion of fin in the former particulars, being fimply confidered; I fhall next fhew you what doth, and how the fincere and false hearts are diftinguished in this trial. And,

1. First, Affent and confent upon deliberation notes the foul to be under the dominion of fin; when the mind approves fin, and the will gives its plenary confent to it, this fets up fin in its throne, and puts the foul into fubjection to it for the dominion of fin confifts in its authority over us, and our voluntary subjection to it. This you find to be the character of a wicked graceless perfon, Pfal. xxxvi. 4. "He devifeth "mischief upon his bed; he fetteth himself in a way that is "not good; he abhorreth not evil.”

The best men may fall into fin through mistake, or be precipitated into fin through the violence of temptation; but to devise mischief, and set himself in an evil way, this notes full affent of the mind; and then, not to abhor evil, notes full confent of the will; and these two being given to fin, not only antecedently to the acting of it, but also confequently to it, to like it afterward, as well as before; this puts the foul fully under the power of fin": What can it give more ?.

*

This (as one faith) in direct oppofition to the apostle, Rom. xii. 1. is to present their bodies a dead facrifice, unholy, and abominable to God; acceptable to the devil, which is their unreasonable service: all men by nature are given to fin, but these men give themselves to it.

2. Secondly, The customary practice of fin, subjects the foul to the dominion of fin; and fo "he that is born of God "doth not commit fin," 1 John iii. 9. Fall into fin, yea, the fame fin he may, and that often; but then its not without reluctance, repentance, and a proteft entred by the foul in heaven against it; fo that fin hath not a quiet poffeffion of his foul; he is not the fervant of fin, nor doth he willingly walk after its commandments; but fo do its own fervants; it is their daily practice, Jer. ix. 3. "They proceed from evil to evil."

3. Thirdly, Delight in fin proves the dominion of fin. So the fervants of fin are described, Ifa. lxvi. 3. "They have cho"fen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abomi"nations."

Look, as our delight in God is the measure of our holiness, fo our delight in fin is the measure of our finfulness. Delight in fin is the uppermost round of the ladder, and much higher the foul of a finner cannot go, till it be turned off into hell; "It is a fport to a fool to do mifchief," Prov. x. 23. Never merrier than when he hath the devil for his play-fellow, faith one upon that place. *

4. Fourthly, Impatience of Chrift's yoke and government, argues the foul to be the subject of fin. This is clear from the apoftle's reasoning in Rom. vi. 17, 18. " But God be "thanked that ye were the fervants of fin, but ye have obey"ed from the heart the form of doctrine which was delivered દ you. Being then made free from fin, ye became the ser"vants of righteoufnefs." Where you fee plainly, that no man can have his manumiffion or freedom from fin, that comes not into Christ's service, and yields himself up to his obedience.

So then, to fret at Chrift's laws, that tie us up from our lufts, to be weary of all fpiritual 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 lufts; this is a fad note of a foul in fubjection to fin.

Object. But may not an upright foul find fome wearinefs in Spiritual things?

Sol. Doubtlefs he may, for he hath flesh as well as fpirit; and though the spirit be willing, the flesh is weak: he is fanctified but in part, and his delight in the law of God is but according to, or after the inner-man, Rom vii. 22. But he fees another law in his members, i. e. contrary inclinations. However, if he be weary fometimes in the duties of godlinefs, to be fure he is more weary out of them, and is not centred and at reft till he be with his God again: but the carnal heart is where it would be, when it is in the fervice of fin; and as a fish upon dry land, when engaged in spiritual duties; efpecially fuch as are fecret, and have no external allurements of reputation to engage him to them.

But what furprifals or captivities to fin foever may befal an upright foul, yet it appears by these eight following particulars, that he is not the fervant of fin, nor in full fubjection to it. For,

1. First, Though he may be drawn to fin, yet he cannot reflect upon his fin without fhame and forrow; which plainly

*Mr, Trap.

thews it to be an involuntary furprize. So Peter wept bitterly, Matth. xxvi. 75. And David mourned for his fin heartily. Others can fetch new pleasures out of their old fins, by reflecting on them; and fome can glory in their shame, Phil. ii. 19. fome are ftupid and fenfelefs after fin; and the forrow of a carnal heart for it, is but a morning dew: but it is far other wife with God's people.

2. Secondly, Though a faint may be drawn to fin, yet it is not with a deliberate and full confent of his will; their delight is in the law of God, Rom. vii. 22. "They do that which they "would not," ver. 16. i. e. there are inward diflikes from the new nature, and as for that cafe of David, which feems to have fo much of counsel and deliberation in it, yet it was but in a fingle act; it was not in the general course of his life; he was upright in all things, i. e. in the general courfe and tenour of his life, 1 Kings xv. 5.

3 Thirdly, Though an upright foul may fall into fin, yet he is restless and unquiet in that condition, like a bone out of joint; and that speaks him to be none of fin's fervants; as, on the contrary, if a man be engaged in the external duties of religion, and be reftlefs, and unquiet there, his heart is not in it, he is not at reft till he be again in his earthly business; this man cannot be reckoned Christ's fervant: a gracious heart is much after that rate employed in the work of fin, that a carnal heart is employed in the work of religion. That is a good rule, Ea tantum dicuntur ineffe, quae infunt per modum quietis: That is a man's true temper, wherein he is at reft. Poor David fell into fin, but he had no reft in his bones because of it, Pfalm li. 10, 11, 12. If his heart be off from God and duty for a little while, yet he recollects himself, and faith, as Pfal. cxvi. 7. "Return to thy reft, my foul."

4. Fourthly, Though a fincere Chriftian fall into fin, and commit evil; yet he proceeds not from evil to evil, as the ungodly do, Jer. ix. 3. but makes his fall into one fin a caution to prevent another fin. Peter by his fall got establishment for the time to come. If God will fpeak peace to them, they are careful to return no more to folly; Pfalm lxxxv. 8. "In that "ye forrowed after a godly fort, what carefulness it wrought? "Yea, what fear?" 2 Cor. vii. 11. It is not fo with the fervants of fin, one fin leaves them much more difpofed to another fin.

5. Fifthly, A fincere Chriftian may be drawn to fin, but yet. he would be glad with all his heart to be rid of fin: it would

be more to him than thousands of gold and filver, that he might grieve and offend God no more; and that shews fin is not in dominion over him: he that is under the dominion of fin, is loath to leave his lufts. Sin's fervants are not willing to part with it, they hold it fast, and refuse to let it go, as that text expreffeth it, Jer. viii. 5. But the great complaint of the upright is expreffed by the apostle according to the true fenfe of their hearts, in Rom. vii. 24. "Who fhall deliver me from the body "of this death ?"

6. Sixthly, It appears they yield not themselves willingly to obey fin, in as much as it is the matter of their joy when God orders any providence to prevent fin in them: "Bleffed

be the Lord, (faid David to Abigail) and blessed be thy advice, "and bleffèd be thou, that haft kept me this day from fhed"ding blood," 1 Sam. xv. 32, 33.

Here is bleffing upon bleffing for a fin-preventing providence. The author is bleffed, the inftrument bleffed, the means bleffed. O it is a blessed thing in the eyes of a fincere man to be kept from fin! he reckons it a great deliverance, a very happy efcape, if he be kept from fin.

7. Seventhly, This fhews that fome who may be drawn to commit fin, yet are none of the fervants of fin, that they do heartily beg the affiftance of grace to keep them from fin: "Keep back thy fervant from prefumptuous fins," (faith the Pfalmift, Pfalm xix. 13.) " let them not have dominion over "me;" q. d. Lord, I find propenfions to fin in my nature, yea, and ftrong ones too; if thou leave me to myself, I am carried into fin as eafily as a feather down the torrent. "0 "Lord, keep back thy fervant." 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 fin.

8. Eighthly, and Laftly, This fhews the foul not to be under the dominion of fin, that it doth not only cry to God to be kept back from fin, but uses the means of prévention himself; he refifts it, as well as prays against it; Pfalm xviii. 23. “I "was alfo upright before him, and kept myself from mine ini<quity:" So Job xxxi. 1. “I have made a covenant with "mine eyes;" and yet more fully in Ifa. xxxiii. 15. "He fhaketh his hands from holding bribes, and ftoppeth his ears from hearing blood, and fhutteth his eyes from seeing evil." See with what care the portals are fhut at which fin useth to enter. All these things are very relieving confiderations to