Secondly, That it is a great evil, &c. It must needs be so — 1. Because it is a renouncing of the government of Christ. We transfer the kingdom from him to Satan, and take the sceptre out of his hands, when we give way to the reign of sin. What though we do not formally intend this, yet virtually we do so, and so God will account it. It is finis opei'is, though not operantis. Look, as the setting up of a usurper is the rejection of the lawful king, so the setting up of sin is the setting up of Satan, John viii. 44, and by consequence a laying aside of Christ ; for every degree of service done to him includeth a like degree or portion of treason and infidelity to Cin-ist. For a man cannot serve two masters, Mat. vi. 24, cannot have two chief goods at the same time ; therefore he that cleaveth to the one refuseth the other. If you cleave to sin, you renounce Christ ; and though we profess Christ to be our Lord, that will not help the matter, Mat. vi. 21 ; we are, for all that, as true bondmen to Satan as the heathen that offered sacrifice to him. A drunken or wanton Christian giveth the devil as much interest in him as those that sacrificed to
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Baccliiis or Priapus or Venus ; for he doth as absolutely dispose and command your affections as he did theirs : you are his by possession and occupation ; the bond of your servitude to Satan is altogether as firm and strong as their rites of worship. Now we that know Christ's right both by purchase and covenant, cannot but know what a great sin this is. By purchase we are his: 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20, ' Ye are not your own ; ye are bought with a price.' The buyer hath a power over what he liath bought. We were lost and sold ; we sold ourselves against all right and justice, and Christ was pleased to redeem us, and that with no slight thing, but with liis own blood, 1 Peter i. 18, 19. How can you look your Kedeemer in the face at the last day ? If you have any sense and belief of Christian mysteries, you should be afraid to rob Christ of his purchase : 1 Cor. vi. 15, ' Shall I take the mem- bers of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.' He hath bought you to this very end, that you may be no longer under the slavery of sin, but under his blessed government and the sceptre of his Spirit : Titus ii. 14, ' He hath redeemed us from all iniquity.' This was his end, to set us at liberty, and to free us from our sins ; therefore, for us to despise the benefit, and to count our bondage a delight, yea, to build up that which he came to destroy ; this is as great an affront to Christ as can be. But we are not only his by purchase, but his by covenant: Ezek. xvi. 8, 'I entered into a covenant with thee, and thou becamest mine.' This was ratified in baptism, where we dedicated ourselves to the Lord's use and service ; and shall we rescind our baptismal vows, and give the sovereignty to another, after we have resigned ourselves to Christ, and the hands of consecration have passed upon us? When Ananias had dedicated that which was in his power, and kept back part for private use, God struck him dead in the place. Acts v. 5. And if we alienate ourselves, who were Christ's before the consecration, of how much sorer vengeance shall we be guilty? God's complaint was just : Ezek. xvi. 20, ' Thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast born unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured.' And if Satan hath a full interest in you by doing his lusts, as he had in them by that rite of worship, is not the wrong done to God the same?
2. It is a sure note of a carnal heart ; for it is not only incon- gruous that a renewed man should let sin reign, but impossible. De jure it ought not, de facto it shall not be. The exhortation and pro- mise : Kom. vi. 12, with xiv. 12, ' Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies.' There is the exhortation ; while you have these mortal bodies, sin will dwell in you, but let it not reign over you. God suffereth it to dwell in us for our exercise, not our ruin. Then the promise, ver. 14, ' Sin shall not have dominion over you ; for ye are not under the law, but under grace.' Let not, shall not. It is true sin remaineth in the godly, but it reigneth not there. It is dejectum quodammodo, non ejectum tainen. Cast down in regard of regency, not cast out in regard of inherency. Like the beasts in Daniel, chap, vii. 12, ' They had their dominion taken away, though their lives prolonged for a season ;' some degree of life, but their reign broken. The Israelites could not wholly expel the Canaanites, yet they kept