2 Sam. xxiii. 17. Not to deny ourselves in what we affect and covet, lust grows into a wanton, and bold and imperious, and so prescribes upon ns, and we are ' brought under the power ' of these things.
2. The business and cares of this world; for these immoderately followed, and not in obedience to God, are a sore burthen, and makes the soul heavy, and allows no time and strength for God and his service, and those happy opportunities of private communion with him. When we are ' encumbered with much service,' we neglect that * one thing necessary,' Luke x. 42 ; and therefore Christians must take heed that the lean kine do not devour the fat, that Sarah be not thrown out of doors instead of Hagar, that religion be not thrust to the walls, which should be our prime and chief business, while every business hath its time and course. The scriptures, knowing the proneness of our hearts to temporal things, deal with us as we do with a crooked stick ; we bend it so much the other way, and therefore some- times they forbid necessary labour : John vi. 27, ' Labour not for the meat which perisheth,' &c. The meaning is, not chiefly, but it bends the stick another way : ' Set not your affections on things on the earth.'
HeB. XII. 1.] FAREWELL SERMON. 417
A man must have some kind of affection to his work here below ; hut we had need to be bent the other way. We may gather this from this precept : It is better to encroach upon the world, than the world sliould encroach upon godliness. In short, things are a burthen and clog to us, according as our delight and scope is. If the pomp and increase of the world be our end and scope, then religion will be looked upon as a burthen, that will be a weight, and all duties of godliness as a melancholy interruption ; as they, Amos viii. 5, ' When will the sabbath be over ?' The exercise of godliness will be a troublesome thing, and we shall go about the work of religion as if we went about it not. But on the other side, if heaven and heavenly things be our scope, then the world is a burthen, and then we shall use it in the way, but not abusing, as taking up our rest here, 1 Cor. vii. 31, 32. Man hath a body and soul, and he doth provide for both ; but for one in subordination : the soul is the chief, and therefore we must not so look after the interests and concernments of the bodily life as to forget the interests of the soul, or to neglect them. Many will not so grossly idolise present things so as to renounce things to come. Ay ! but they so often follow the things of the world that they neglect their eternal concernments. The happiness of a people lies in communion with God, and therefore that must be looked after ; we must take heed that tlie cares of the world have not such a hand and power over us as either to divert us from, or unfit us for, these higher and nobler ])ursuits, the enjoyment of God in Christ. This is the first thing the apostle speaks to these spiritual racers, to lay aside every weight ; that is, the delights of the flesh and the cares of the world.
Secondly, The next thing to be laid aside is ' sin, which doth so easily beset us.' As we must guard against things without, so we must mortify our corrupt inclinations within, or else it will soon make us weary of our heavenly race, or faint in it. Sin, you know, is two- fold— original and actual. Actual sin is not meant primarily, for that is not ijeccatum agens, sin that easily besets us, but peccaium transiens, the sin that passes from us; and original sin is that which is emphati- cally called sin, Kom. vii. 8, Now this original corruption may be considered as merely native, or as acquired and improved into evil customs and habits ; for according to men's tempers and constitutions, as they are severally disposed, so by the corruption of nature they are inclined to one sin more than another : as the channel is cut, so corrupt nature finds a vent and issue. In every man there is some predominant sin, and in every regenerate person some relics of that sin, from whence is the greatest danger of his soul ; thus David speaks of Ms iniquity, Ps. xviii. 23. Well, then, this is that sin that doth easily beset us ; original sin improved into some tyranny or evil custom, which doth increase and prevail upon us more and more. Now, this is said easily to beset us for three reasons. Partly because it hath a great power and restraint over us, and implies the whole man, the members of the body, the faculties of the soul ; so great an interest hath it acquired in our affections, it doth easily beset us, it hath great power and command over us. Partly because it sticks so close that we cannot by our own strength lay it aside : Jer. xiii. 23, ' Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots ?' &c. A