It may be that mote in his brother's eye, had drawn many tears from it, but thefe he takes no notice of; and mean while there is a beam, i. e. a great horrid flagitious evil, in himself; but it is too near him to be difcerned or bewailed: This is a fad fymptom of a naughty heart.

2. Secondly, He may hate it in its effects and confequents; not in its own nature; as the thief hates the gallows, not the wickedness that he hath done. It is not fin in itself, but fin in its connexion with hell, that is frightful to him.

The unfound profeffor could wish that there were no fuch threatening in the Bible against fin. When fin tempts him, I would, faith he, but I fear the confequence. O fin, could I separate thee from hell, nothing fhould feparate thee and

me.

3. Thirdly, He may hate it in a mood or pang, but not with a rooted habitual hatred. It is plain from 2 Pet. ii. 22. That fin may fometimes lie upon the confcience of an unregenerate man, as a load lies upon a fick ftomach; and so he may discharge himself of it by reformation, reftitution, &c. but a little time reconciles the quarrel betwixt him and his luft again: If they fall out, they will fall in again: "The dog re"turned to his vomit, and the fow that was wafhed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

t

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But an upright foul hates fin in another manner; and in this hatred of fin the children of God are manifest.

1. First, The oppofition of fin to God, is the very ground and formal reafon upon which a gracious foul oppofes and hates it. If it be oppofite to the holy nature and law of God, it cannot but be odious in his eyes: This cut David's heart, Pfal. li. 4. "Against thee, thee only have I finned," q. d. I have wronged Uriah greatly, I have wronged myself and family greatly but the wrong I have done to others is not worth naming, in comparison of the wrong I have done to thee.

2. Secondly, The upright foul hates fin in himself, more than he hates it in any other; as a man hates a ferpent in the hedge, but much more in his own bofom : Rom. vii. 23.

But I fee another law in my members ;" and ver. 21. "I "find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is prefent "with me:" 7: d. I do not know how others find it, but I am fure I find fin in my very bofom, in my very bowels, it is prefent with me. O wretched man that I am! A gracious foul can mourn to fee it in others, but to find it in himself pierceth him to the very heart.

3. Thirdly, The gracious foul hates not only this or that particular fin, but the whole kind, every thing that is finful, True hatred is рas ayun, * of the whole nature or kind; Pfal. cxix. 104. "I hate every falfe way." His reafonings proceed a quatenus ad omne, from fin as fin, concluding against every fin; fins that are profitable and pleasant, as well as fins that have neither profit nor pleasure; fins that are fecret, as well as fins that are open, and will defame him.

And, before this trial, a falfe heart cannot ftand; for he always indulges fome luft: There is an iniquity which he cannot be separated from.

4. Fourthly, The fincere foul hates fin with an irreconcileable hatred. There was a time when fin and his foul fell out, but there never will be a time of reconciliation betwixt them again.

That breach, which effectual conviction once made, can ne ver be made up any more; "They will return no more to fol "ly," Pfal. lxxxv. 8. And indeed it seems to them that have fuffered fo much for fin, that have endured so many fears and forrows for it, the greateft folly in the world to return to fin a gain: No, no, they admire the mercy of their efcape from fin, to their dying day, and never look back upon their former state but with thame and grief.

Afk a convert, Would you be back again where once you were? Would you be among your old companions again? Would you be fulfilling the lufts of the fleth again? And he will tell you, he would not run the hazard, to abide one day or one night in that condition again, to gain all the kingdoms of the world the next morning.

5. Fifthly, The fincere foul hates fin with a fuperlative hatred; he hates it more than any other evil in the world befides it. Penal evils are not pleafant in themfelves, but yet if he muft endure them, or fin, then fufferings to chufe; Heb. i. 25. Chufing rather to fuffer affliction than enjoy the "pleafures of fin" the worst of fufferings rather than the best of fin.

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6. Sixthly, To conclude; fo deep is the hatred that upright ones bear to fin, that nothing pleases them more than the thoughts of a full deliverance from it doth; Rom. vii, 34. “I

thank God, through Jefus Chrift our Lord." What doth he fo heartily thank God for ? O for a profpect of his final deliverance from fin, never to be entangled, defiled, or troubled with

• Arift. Rhet. lib. 2. cap. 4.

it any more: And this is one thing that sweetens death to the faints as much as any thing in the world can do, except Chrift's victory over it, and lying in the grave for us. To think of a grave is not pleasant in itfelf; but to think of a parting-time with fin, that is fweet and pleasant indeed.

SECT. V.

Hirdly, The children of God and the children of

the devil; pure gold and vile drofs, are manifeft, as in hatred of fin, fo in their troubles and forrows about fin. All trouble for fin argues not fincerity; fome have reason to be troubled even for their troubles for fin: So have they,

1. First, That are only troubled for the commiffion of fome more grofs fins, that startle the natural confcience, but not for inward fins, that defile the foul. Judas was troubled for be traying innocent blood, but not for that base luft of covetousness that was the root of it, or the want of fincere love to Jesus Chrift; Matth. xxvii. 4, 5. Outward fins are fins majoris infamia, of greater fcandal; but heart-fins are oftentimes majoris reatus, fins of greater guilt. To be troubled for groffer fins, and have no trouble for ordinary fins daily incurred, is an ill fign of a bad heart.

2. Secondly, A graceless heart may be much troubled at the discovery of fin, when it is not troubled for the guilt of fin; Jer. ii. 26. "As the thief is afhamed when he is found, fo is "the house of Ifrael afhamed." Hence it is that they stick not to commit ten fins against God, to hide one fin from the eyes of men. It is a mercy that fin is the matter of men's fhame, and that all are not arrived to that height of impudence to declare their fin as Sodom, and glory in their fhame: But to be ashamed only because men fee it, and not with Ezra, to fay, "O my God, I am afhamed, and blush to look up unto "thee," Ezra ix. 6. afhamed that thou feeft it, is but hypocrify.

3. Thirdly, A graceless heart may be troubled for the rod that fin draws after it, but not for fin itself, as it provokes God to inflict fuch rods.

But the troubles of upright ones for fin are of another kind and nature.

1. First, They are troubled that God is wronged, and his Spirit troubled by their fins: So the penitent prodigal, " "have finned against heaven, and in thy fight," Luke xv. 21. Againft heaven, that is, against him whofe throne is in heaven, a great, glorious, and infinite Majefty! a poor worm of the' earth hath lifted up his hand against the God of heaven.

2. Secondly, They are troubled for the deflement of their own fouls by fin: Hence they are compared in Proverbs xxv. 26. to a troubled fountain. You know it is the property of a living fpring, when any filth falls into it, or that which lies in the bottom of its channel, is raised and defiles its streams, never to leave working until it hath purged itself of it, and recovered its purity again.

So it is with a righteous man, he loves purity in the precept, Pfalm cxix. 140. and he loves it no lefs in the principle and practice he thinks it is hell enough to lie under the pollution of fin, if he fhould never come under damnation for it.

3. Thirdly, They are troubled for the estrangements of God, and the hidings of his face from them because of their fin. It would go close to an ingenuous spirit to see a dear and faithful friend whom he hath grieved, to look ftrange and fhy upon him at the next meeting, as if he did not know him: much more doth it go to the heart of a gracious man to see the face of God turned from him, and not to be towards him as in times paft. This went to David's heart after his fall, as you may fee, Pfalm li. 11. "Caft me not away from thy presence, "and take not thy holy Spirit from me;" q. d. Lord, if thou turn thy back upon me, and eftrange thyself from me, I am a loft man; that is the greatest mischief that can befal me.

4. Fourthly, Their troubles for fin run deep, to what other mens do. They are ftrong to bear other troubles, but fink and faint under this: Pfalm xxxviii. 4. Other forrows may for the prefent be violent, and make more noife, but this forrow foaks deeper into the foul.

5. Fifthly, Their troubles for fin are more private and filent troubles than others are," their fore runs in the night," as it is Pfalm lxxvii. 2. Not but that they may, and do open their troubles to men (and it is a mercy when they meet with a judicious, tender and experienced Chriftian to unbofom themfelves unto) but when all is done, it is God and thy foul alone that muft whisper out the matter. Ille vere dolet, qui fine tefte dolet: That is fincere forrow for fin indeed, which is expreffed fecretly to God in the closet.

6. Sixthly, Their troubles are incurable by creature-comforts. It is not the removing fome outward preffures and inconveniencies, that can remove their burden; nothing but pardon, peace, and witneffed reconciliation, can quiet the gracious heart.

7. Seventhly, Their troubles for fin are ordinate and kept in their own place; they dare not stamp the dignity of Christ's

blood upon their worthless tears and groans for fin: * Lava lachrymas, Domine: Lord, wafh my finful tears in the blood of Chrift, was once the defire of a true penitent. And thus, our trouble for fin fhews us what our hearts are.

(4.)

SECT. VI.

Ourthly, The behaviour and carriage of the foul, with refpect to fubjection to the commands of fin, fhews what our estate and condition is. This will feparate dross from gold. All unregenerate men are the fervants of fin, they fubject themselves to its commands. This the fcripture fometimes calls a "conversation in the lufts of the flesh," Eph. ii. 3. Sometimes the "felling of themselves to fin," 1 Kings xxi. 20. Now, as ta judicious divine obferves, though the children of God complain with Paul, Rom. vii. 14, 15. that they are "fold under fin," yet there is a vaft difference betwixt these two: The faints are fold to it by Adam, but others by their own continued confent. But to fhew you the difference in this matter, I conceive it neceffary to fhew wherein the reigning power of fin doth not confift, and then wherein it doth that you may plainly difcern who are in fubjection to the reigning power of their corruptions, and who are not. Now there be divers things common both to the regenerate and unregenerate; and we cannot fay the dominion of fin lies in any or in all of them, viz. abstractly and simply confidered.

1. First, Both one and other having original corruption dwelling in them, may also find this fountain breaking forth into grofs and scandalous fins: But we cannot fay that because original corruption thus breaks forth into grofs and fcandalous fins in both, therefore it must needs reign in the one as well as in the other; a righteous man may "fall before the wicked," as it is, Prov. xxv. 26. He may fall into the dirt of groffer iniquities, and furnish them with matter of reproach. So did. David, Peter, Abraham, and many more of the Lord's upright-hearted ones, whofe fouls nevertheless fin did not reign over by a voluntary fubjection to its commands, nor muft this embolden any to fin with more liberty.

2. Secondly, Though an upright foul fall once and again into fin, though he reiterate the fame act of fin which he hath re-. pented of before; yet it cannot merely from thence be concluded, that therefore fin reigns over him as it doth over a wicked man that makes it his daily trade. I confess every re