[8.] Eighthly and lastly. Consider ivhcut some refined heathens and civilised pagans have done in this very case. There are stories of heathens that would not look upon excellent beauties, lest they should be ensnared. Democritus plucked out his own eyes to avoid the danger of uncleanness. Socrates ' speaketh of two young men that Hang away their belts, when, being in an idol temple, the lustrating water fell upon them, detesting, saith the historian, the garment spotted by the flesh. Alexander would not see the woman after whom he might have lusted. Scipio Africanus, warring in Spain, took New Carthage by storm, aure victor, at which time a beautiful and noble virgin fled to him for succour to preserve her chastity; he being four-and-twenty years old, and so in the heat of youth, hearing of it, would not suffer her to come into his sight for fear of temptation, but caused her to be restored in safety to her father. So .when Demosthenes the orator was asked an excessive sum of money to behold the beautiful Lais, he answered, He would not buy repentance so dear, neither was he so ill a merchant as to sell eter- nals for temporals, Nor Cffisar would not seai'ch Pompey's cabinet, lest he should find new matters of revenge. Memorable is the story of the children of Samoseta, that would not touch their ball, but burnt it, be- cause it had touched the toe of a wicked heretical bishop as they were tossing and playing with it. Now shall some refined heathens, shall civilised pagans abstain from the appearance of evil, from occasions and temptations to sin ? and shall real Christians fall sliort of tliem ? Shall blind nature do more than grace ? Shall men fallen in the first Adam do more than those that are raised and enlivened by the second Adam? But to prevent all mistakes, let me add, though many heathens have abstained from the appearance of some evil, yet they have not abstained from the appearance of all evil ; neither have they abstained from the appearance of any evil out of a hatred of evil ; nor from any principles of saving light, or life, or love ; nor out of any regard to any royal law of God ; nor out of any regard to the honour or glory of God, but either out of vain-glory and popular applause, the pole-stars by which they steered all their actions, or out of hypocrisy, which set a tincture and dye upon all their actions. What writer hath more golden sentences than Seneca against the contempt of gold ; yet if Tacitus and others ot
* Tlio Ecclesiustical IJistoriiiu. — G.
Chap. II] a cabinet of jewels. 831
his contemporaries may be credited, none more rich, none more covet- ous than he, as if out of design he had persuaded others to cast away their money, that he himself might come and gather it up again, &c. And thus you see that there are very great reasons why eveiy Christian should avoid the very show, suspicion, or appearance of evil, &c. But,
[11.] Eleventhly and lastly, He that sets himself resolutely, mostly, habitually, against his bosom sins, his constitution sins, his Tnost prevalent sins, &c., he has ceiiainly a saving work, a ^powerful wai'k of God upon his soul, Ps. xviii. 26. True grace will make a man stand stoutly and stedfastly on God's side, and work the heart to take part with him, against the most darling sins, though they be as right liands or as right eyes. True grace will lay hands upon a man's most beloved lusts, and cry out to heaven, Lord, crucify them, crucify them, down with them, down with them even to the ground. Lord, do justice, do signal justice, do speedy justice, do exemplary justice upon this head lust, this master sin ! Lord, hew down root and branch ' let the very stumps of this Dagon be broken all in pieces ! Lord, curse this wild fig- tree, that never more fruit may gi'ow thereon ! Certainly God and Christ is set up highest in that man's heart, who bends most of his thoughts, strength, and endeavours against his constitution sins, against the sins of his place, calling, condition and complexion. It is very ob- servable that the Jews, after they had been in the Babylonish furnace for idolatry, they ever hated and feared that sin, as much as the burned child dreads the fire ; yea, they would die any death rather than admit an idol. Josephus tells us how stoutly they opposed Pilate and Petronius, that would have set up Caesar's statue in their temples, offering their throats to the sw^ords of the soldiers, rather than they would endure that idol in God's house.^ Oh when once the heart of a Christian comes thus to be set against all his golden and silver idols, then we may safely say, ' Behold a true Israelite, in whom there is no guile." He that finds his lusts, his bosom, his darling lusts, begin to fall before him, as Haman once begun to fall before Mordecai, Esther vi. 13, he may safely and confidently conclude that he is of the seed of the Jews, and that the seed of God abideth in him, 1 John iii. 9. But having discoursed so largely as I have concerning bosom sins, darling lusts, head corruptions, in my other writings, I need say no more at this time. And thus you see that there are eleven particulars in re- gard of sin and a Christian's actings about it, that speaks out a true saving work of grace to be in the souls of the saints. But, &c.
II. Secondly, Where tJie constant, ordinary, standing, and abiding 2)urpose, disposition, fram/i, and general bent of a man's heart, soul, spirit, desires, and endeavours are fixed and set for God, for grace, for holiness in heart and life, there is a most sure and infallible ivorh of God 'passed upon that man's soul.^ The constant bent and the settled purpose of a true child of God, is for God, for grace, for holiness in heart and life : Ps. cxix. 112, 'I have inclined my heart to keep thy statutes always, even to the end.' Verse SS, ' Stablish thy Avord unto
1 The Jewish War, B. ii. c. x — G.
2 Ps. xl. 8, xxxix. 1, ci. 3 ; 2 Cor. i. 12 ; Ps. cxix. 4, 5, 20; 2 Chrou. xix. 3, xxx. 18, 19 ; Neh. i. 11; Isa. xxvi. 8, 9.
.332 A CABINET OF JEWELS. [ChAP. II.