Again, as the guilt remains, so the power of those lusts remains, so long as thou art an unbeliever, however they may disappear in the outward act. Thy heart is not emptied of one sin, but the vent stopped by restraining grace. A bottle full of wine, close stopped, shews no more what it hath in it, than one that is empty ; and if that is thy case, how is it possible thou shouldst truly mortify any one lust, that hath no faith, which is the only victory of the world? In a word, if under the convincement of thy unbelief, thou wilt find, how little a sin soever now it is thought by thee, that there is more malignity in it than in all thy other sins. Hast thou been a liar? that is a grievous sin indeed; hell gapes for every one that loveth and maketh a lie. Rev. xxii. 15. But know, poor wretch, the loudest lie which ever thou toldest is that which by unbelief thou tellest ; here, thou bearest false witness against God himself, and tellest a lie, not ' to the Holy Ghost,' as Ananias did, but a lie of the Holy Ghost ; as if not a word were true he saitli in the promises of the gospel. If ' he that believes sets to his seal, that God is true ; ' judge you, whether the vuibeliever makes him not a liar. Hast thou been a murderer, yea, had thy hand in the blood of saints, the best of men ? This is a dreadful sin, I confeps ; but by thy unbelief thou art a more bloody murderer, by how much the blood of God is more precious than the blood of mere men. Thou killest Christ over again by thy unbelief, and treadest his blood under thy feet ; yea, throwest it under Satan's feet to be tranvpled on by him.
Section 11. — Quest. But how can unbelief be so great a sin, when it is not in the sinner's power to believe? — Answ. By this reason the unregenei-ate person might wipe off any other sin, and shake off the guilt.of it, with but saying. It is not my fault that I do not keep this commandment or that, for I have no power of myself to do them. This is true ; he cannot perform one holy action holily and acceptably ; ' Tli?y that are in the flesh cannot please God,' Rom. viii. 8. But, it is a false inference, that therefore he doth not sin, because he can do no other. First, Because this inability is not created by God, but con- tracted by the creature himself. ' God made man upright, but they sought oi-t many inventions,' Eccles. vii. 29. Man had not his lame hand from God; no, he was made a creature fit and able for any service his Maker would please to employ him in; but man crippled himself ; and man's favdt cannot ^Jrejudice God's right. Though he hath lost his ability to obey, yet God hath not lost his power to command. Who among ourselves thinks his debtor discharged, by wasting that estate whereby he v/as able to have paid us? It is confessed, had man stood, he should not, indeed could not have believed on Christ for salva- tion, as now he is held forth in the gospel ; but this was not from any disability in man, but from the unmeetness ofsuch an object to Adam's holy state. If it had been a duty meet for God to command, there was ability in man to have obeyed. Secondly, Man's present impotency to jdeld obedience to the com- mands of God, and in particular to this of believing, (where it is promulged,) doth afford him no excuse ; because it is not a simple inability, but complicated with an inward enmity against the command. It is true, man cannot believe : but it is as true, man will not believe : ' Ye will not come unto me, that you might have life,' John v. 40. It is possible, yea, ordinary, that a man may, through some feebleness and deficiency of strength, be disabled to do that which he is very willing to do, and this draws out our pity ; such a one was the ' poor ci-ipple,' who lay so long at the ' pool,' John v. 5. He was willing enough to have stepped down, if he could but have crept thither; or that any other should have helped him in, if they would have been so kind. But, what would you think of such a cripple, that can neither go himself into the pool for healing, nor is willing any should help him in, but flies in the face of him that would do him this friendly office ? Every unbeliever is this cripple ; he is not only un- potent himself, but a resistcr of the Holy Ghost, that comes to woo and draw him unto Christ. Indeed, every one that believes, believes willingly ; but he is beholden, not to nature, but to grace, for this willingness ; none are willing till the day of power comes, Psa. ex. 3 ; in which the Spirit of God overshadows the soul, and by his incubation fas once upon the waters) he new-forms and moulds the will into a sweet compliance with the call of God in the gospel.
456 ABOVE ALL, TAKING THE SHIELD OF FAITH.
CHAPTER VIII.
CONTAINS A SECOND DIRECTION FOR THE OBTAINING FAITH.