[2.] It is seen by striving, or serious resistance in the temptation. A Christian is not always to be measured by the success, but by con- flict; he fights it out: Rom. vii. 15, 'The evil which I hate, that do I.' Though they be foiled by sin, yet they hate it. An enemy may be overcome, yet he retains his spite and malice. Sin doth not freely carry it in the heart, neither is the act completely willing : Gal. V. 17, ' Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh ; for,' saith he, ' the flesh lusteth against the S[)irit, and the Spirit
58 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. CX.
against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so tliat ye cannot do the things that ye would ;' that is, you cannot sin with such pronenessand full consent and bent of heart as others ; they have a principle of opposition, a rooted enmity in their souls against sin.
[3.] By a bitter grief after the temptation ; as Peter, when he had fallen foully, ' he went out and wept bitterly,' Mat. xxvi. 75. They do not lie in sin, but recover themselves by a kindly remorse ; it is the grief of their souls that they have fallen into God's displeasure, grieved his Spirit, and hazarded their communion with him. Oh ! sin is grievous to a gracious heart, and this makes them groan and complain to God, ' 0 wretched man ! ' &c.
■ 4. It is such an enmity against sin as aims at the utter extermina- tion and expulsion of it, that endeavoureth to destroy it both root and branch. Hatred is all for mischief ; annihilation, that is that which hatred aims at. Anger worketh trouble, but hatred mischief. It is an implacable affection, that continues to the death, that will not be appeased till the thing which we hate be abolished. So where there is this hatred of sin, it follows sin close till it hath gotten the life of it. As by the grace of justification they have obtained such favour with God, ne damnet, it shall not damn ; by the grace of sanctifi- cation, ne regnet, sin shall not reign ; and still they are aspiring and looking after the grace of glorification, ne sit, that sin may no longer be ; therefore they are longing and groaning under the relics of cor- ruption : Eom. vii. 24, ' 0 wretched man ! ' &c. Many scratch the face of sin, but they do not seek to root it up, to destroy the body of death ; it is their constant grief that anything of sin is left in the heart, as enemies are not satisfied till they have the blood of each other. Where there is hatred it is not enough to stop the spreading, weaken the power of sin, but labouring to destroy the being of sin ; as David said of his enemies, ' I pursued them till they were destroyed ;' so when we set against sin with an aim not to give over till we have the life of it ; or as God said concerning the Canaanites, Deut. vii. 23, ' I will destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed ;' so doth a renewed heart war against sin, that he may leave neither root nor fruit within them.
Use. If this be to hate sin, how few can say with David, ' I hate every false way'! how few are of David's temper! Some love sin with all their heart, that ' hide it as a sweet morsel under their tongue,' Job XX. 12. The love of sin, that is the life of it ; it dies when it begins to be hated ; but when you have a love to it, it lives in the soul and prevails over us. And as they testify their love of sin, so they misplace their hatred. What do they hate? Not sin, but the word that discovers it. They ' hate the light, because their deeds are evil,' John iii. 20. They do not hate sin, but God's messengers that plead against it : 1 Kings xxii. 8, ' I hate him,' saith Ahab concerning Micaiah, ' for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil/ They hate the faithful brother that reproves them ; he is hated because he will not hate his brother, to see sin upon him. They hate the magistrate that would reform, the faithful Christian that condemns them by his exact walking: Johnxv. 19, ' Because I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.' They hate God's
VeR. 104.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXTX, ' 59
image in his people, and cannot endure to be condemned by tlie liglit that shines out from their conversations. Godly men are objects reviving guilt, therefore they hate them. Thus shamefully are a man's affections transposed ; we love where we should hate, and hate where we should love. And then if we come to the other sort of men, a degree above these, many are frightened out of their sins by slavish fear, but yet their hearts are in league with them still ; and as they get out of the stocks of conscience they enlarge themselves in all manner of carnal liberty : these are not changed, but awed ; sin is not mortified, but only lurks to watch a safe opportunity when it may discover itself with more advantage.