Ans. 1. (1.) First, In the cdienation and imvard aversation and drawing off of the soul from the love and liking of all sin, and from all free and voluntary subjection unto sin, the heart being filled with a
420 A CABINET OF JEWELS. [ChAP. III.
loathing and detestation of all sin, Ps. cxix. 104, 128, as that which is most contrary to all goodness and happiness.
(2.) Secondly, In the ivill's detestation and hatred of all sin. When the very bent and inclination of the will is set against all sin, and opposes and crosses all sin, and is set upon the ruin and destruction of all sin, then the penitent is turned from all sin, Rom. vii. 15, 19, 21, 23 ; Isa. XXX. 20, 'Thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it. Get thee hence.' Hosea xiv. 8, ' Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols V When the will stands upon such terms of defiance w^ith all sin as that it will never enter into a league of friendship with any sin, then is the soul turned away from every sin. When the will is set upon avenging itself upon all sin, and upon daily endeavours to mortify and crucify all sin, then is the penitent turned from all his sins. When those sins that were once to the will as Delilah to Samson, are now to the will as Tamar to Amnon, then is the soul turned from sin with a witness.
(3.) Thirdly, In the judgment's turning away from all sin, by dis- approving, disallovjing, and condemning of it: Rom. vii. 15, 'For that which I do, I allow not ; for what I would, that do I not ; but what I hate, that do L' Oh, saith the judgment of a Christian, sin is the greatest evil in all the world ; it is the only thing that God abhors, and that brought Jesus Christ to the cross, that damns souls, that shuts heaven, and that has laid the foundations of hell. Oh, it is the pricking thorn in my eye, the deadly arrow in my side, the two-edged sword that hath wounded my conscience, and slain my comforts, and separated between God and my soul. Oh, it is that which hath hindered my prayers, and embittered my mercies, and put a sting into all my crosses ; and therefore I cannot but disapprove of it, and disallow of it, and con- demn it to death, yea, to helL, from whence it came. I thus preach and thus think, saith Chrysostom, that it is more bitter to sin against Christ, than to suffer the torments of hell. Plutarch reports of Marcus Cato, that he never declared his opinion in any matter in the senate but he would close it with this passage, Methinks still ' Carthage should be destroyed.' So whenever a penitent looks upon his sins in his judg- ment, he is still saying, Methinks those sins should be destroyed ; me- thinks this pride, this unbelief, this earthly-mindedness, this hypocrisy, this vainglory, &c., should be destroyed.
(4.) Fourthly, In the pu7'pose and resolution of the soul, tJte soul sincerely purposing and resolving never willingly, wilfully, or wickedly to transgress any more. Ps. xvii. 3, ' I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.' The general purpose and resolution of my heart is not to transgress. Though particular failings may attend me, yet my resolutions and purposes are firmly fixed against evil. Ps. xxxix. 1, ' I said I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue : I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked are before me.'' David highly resolves so to bridle and muzzle up his mouth, that he would not break out into any impatient or unbeseem- ing speeches, that might give the wicked any advantage to reproach
■ The true ]»enitent holds up his purposes and resolutions to keep off from sin, and fo keep close with God, though he be not able in everythiui;, and at all times, to make guud his purposes and resolutions, &c.
Chap. III.] a cabinet of jewels. 427
religion, or to blaspheme the Holy One of Israel, &c. Anselm was a man of a holy resolution : ' I had rather,' saith he, ' go to hell pure from sin, than to heaven polluted with that filth/' And saith another, ' I will rather leap into a bonfire, than wilfully to sin against God.' When Valens the emperor threatened Basil v/ith imprisonment, banishment, death : ' Threaten,' says he, ' your boys with such fray-bugs, and your purple gallants, that give themselves to their pleasures ; I am resolved neither menaces nor fl^atteries shall silence me, or draw me to betray a good cause, or a good conscience,' &c.
(5.) Fifthly, In the earnest and unfeigned desires, and careful endea- vours of the soul to abandon all sin, to forsake all sin, to he rid of all sin, Rom. vii. 22, 23. Now where God sees this frame of spirit, there he will certainly pardon the failings, and pass by the imperfections ot his people ; and he ' will spare them as a man spareth his son that serveth him,' Mai. iii. 17. Now you know, when a prudent, tender, indulgent father sees his child to fail and come short in that which he enjoins him to do, yet knowing that his desires and endeavours is to please him and serve him, he will not be harsh, rigid, sour, or severe towards him, but will spare him, and exercise much tenderness and indulgence towards him ; and will God, will God whose mercies reach above the heavens, and whose compassions are infinite, and whose love is like himself, carry it worse towards his children than men do carry it towards theirs ? Surely no. God's fatherly indulgence accepts of the will for the work, Heb. xiii. 18, 2 Cor. viii. 12, as a father will accept in his child the desire for the deed, and if there be a blemish in his child, he will pity it, and cast a mantle of love over it. A sick man is not more desirous to be rid ol all his diseases, nor a prisoner to be freed from all his bolts and chains, than the true j)enitent is desirous to be rid of all his sins, Ac.
(6.) Sixthly and lastly, In the ordinary declining, shunning, and avoiding of all known occasions, temptations, 'provocations, induce- ments, and enticements to sin, &c. That royal law, 1 Thess. v. 22, ' Abstain from all appearance of evil,' is a law that is very precious in a penitent man's eye, and commonly lies warm upon a penitent man's heart ; so that take him in his ordinary course, and you shall find him very ready to shun and be shy of the very appearances of sin, of the very shows and shadows of sin.^ Job made a covenant with his eyes. Job xxxi. 1 ; and Joseph would not hearken to his bold tempting mistress, to lie with her, or to be with her. Gen. xxxix. 10 ; and David, when him- self, would not sit with vain persons, Ps. xxvi. 8—5 ; and at another time he refused to take the threshing-floor, oxen, and threshing instruments of Araunah as a gift, but would buy them, because he would avoid the very show of covetousness, as some conceive, 2 Sam. xxiv. 20, seq. Austin being often ensnared in uncleanness in his younger days, before his con- version, he was exceeding careful to avoid all occasions of it afterwards.