Vers. 3, 4.] sermons upon matthew xxv. 339
This is opposite to dulness, sleepiness, listlessness, or wearisomeness in our service, opposite to aicrjSia, which the schoolmen make to be one of the seven deadly sins, a remiss, cold will, hanging off from God.
[3.] An earnest impulsion, which quickeneth us to all holy endea- vours of obedience ; this is sometimes called the activity or working of grace : ' Faith worketh by love,' Gal. v. G ; sometimes zeal, or an earnest burning of affection towards God, or that holy ardour whereby we repress those affections, unruly motions, and desires which are contrary to his will, and do excite and stir up ourselves more and more to honour him and please him : Titus ii. 14, ' Zealous of good works ;' sometimes alacrity and cheerfulness, as we prevail in striving against sin, and our love to God increaseth, 1 John v. 3, 4. All these are so many degrees. First we can make conscience of doing our duty, but that is not enough : a convinced man may have his conscience stirring and plead- ing for God ; but a converted man, or a renewed heart, hath an incli- nation, and not only an inclination but some fitness, and not only some fitness but there is an impulsion, which discovereth itself either by stirring or exciting to that which is good (though with difficulty), which is the lowest degree. All grace is stirring, and would fain break out into action ; for it is not a dead and sleepy habit, but seeketh to break forth, and is called by the apostle, ' The lustings of the spirit,' Gal v. 17. Another degree is zeal and love to the glory of God, whom they honour and desire to exalt continually, which maketh them complain of corruption, and to strive against it, and to shake off sloth- fulness, and the weights of sin that hang upon us, when the Spirit gets the upper hand, but the flesh is not easily subdued. Then we are more at liberty to serve God, and so alacrity followeth, when a man hath pleasure in good actions, and the flesh is so overcome and sub- dued that it can make little or no opposition, and so we perform our duty with more ease and delight, which is the highest degree.
SERMON III.
They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them : but the xoise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. — Mat. XXV. 3,4.
I come now to the second effect.
Secondly, A habitual aversation to that which is evil : Ps. xcvii. 10, ' Ye that love the Lord, hate evil.' It is as natural to grace to hate evil as to love good. As love was made for God, and the things which he hath commanded, and tends to the enjoyment of him, so hatred was made for sin, and what is contrary to God. Man hath an eschewing faculty as well as an embracing and choosing faculty, and grace falleth upon both, and sanctifieth the one as well as the other : Amos v. 15, ' Hate the evil, and love the good.' Love was given us for good, and hatred for evil ; love was made for the chiefest good, and all things that tend to it ; and hatred for that which is truly and pro-
340 SERMONS UPON MATTHEW XXV. [Ser. III.
perly evil. Now concerning this effect of grace, I shall observe these things.
1. Grace produceth a hatred of sin, not a bare abstinence from it. Sin may be restrained by foreign reasons not proper to grace, as a clog that hath a mind to the bait may abstain lor fear of the cudgel. So men may abstain because of the penalty of laws, infamy, shame in the world, or other reasons ; as Hainan refrained himself, that he might the better take revenge upon the whole race of the Jews. Men may refrain from sin, when there is not a rooted enmity against it ; whereas in the saints there is a constant principle of resistance against it, 1 John iii. 9, airep^xa pevov, ' The seed of God abideth in him.' The grace of sanctiflcation doth change the nature of a man, and his heart is set against that he loved before. Look, as the Lord will not respect men's external practice of good, when it may be their hearts abhor and loathe it, and are bent on other courses — he requireth chiefly that they be rooted in the love of good and delight in it — so he will not accept a simple not doing or forbearing evil, while it may be their hearts are going a- whoring after it, but will have them really hate and detest it, that there should be an abiding enmity in their hearts against it ; and where it is so, that there is a habitual love of good and hatred of evil, Christ will pass by many failings in practice ; as you may see, Roni. vii. 22-25, that is the case there, ' The evil that I hate, that do I ; and I delight in the law of God in the inward man.' Clear these two once, and the remainders of sin will not be your ruin.