VeR. 14.] SERMONS UPON ROMANS VI. 259
2. De facto, it is not fully obeyed ; it doth not absolutely get the victory, and bear rule in our hearts, but is weakened more and more in them who have given up themselves to the regimen and government of grace. Here —
[1.] What is the dominion of sin ?
[2.] What need the children of God to take heed it be not set up in their hearts ?
[3.] What hopes and encouragements they have by the gospel or grace of Jesus Christ whilst they are striving against it ?
First, What is the dominion of sin ? That will be best known by some distinctions and propositions.
1. We must distinguish between the being and reign of sin. The apostle doth not say, ' Ye shall not sin any more, because ye are not under the law, but under grace;' but ' sin shall not have dominion over you,' it shall not get the better. Sin doth remain and dwell in the saints, though not reign over them ; as the beasts in Dan. vii. 12, their dominion was taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. It is cast down in regard of regency, but not cast out in regard of inherency ; grace doth not wholly extinguish it, but only repel the motions of it. Sin will rebel, but it shall not reign ; they do not give way to it, nor actually obey and embrace the commands of it ; they do not do all that sin would have them to do. If the apostle had said, Let not sin he in your mortal bodies, as long as we carry flesh about us, he would not have expected the exhortation to have been fully answered ; but he saith, Let it not reign, which as well can as it ought to be com- plied with.
2. Sin doth reign when either it is not opposed, or when it is opposed weakly and with a faint resistance. Where it is not opposed, there it remaineth in its full strength ; and where it is opposed weakly, and without any victory and success, it argueth only a sense of duty, but no eflFect of grace.
[1.] Sin reigneth when it is not opposed, when a man doth yield up himself to execute all the commands thereof, and doth fulfil and obey its lusts ; as the ambitious, the worldly, and the voluptuous do what- soever their lusts command them, with a miserable bondage, yea, they willingly walk after it : Prov. vii. 22, ' He goeth after her straightway as an ox to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks.' Sin is as a guest to evil men, but as a thief and robber to the godly, welcome to the one, but the other would not have it come into their hearts. It is one thing to wear a chain as an ornament, another as a bond and fetter ; to give way to sin, or to have it break in upon us ; to put it on willingly, or to have it put and forced upon us. It may be they may be sensible of it, they may purpose not to do it, or may com- plain of it ; but this is a constant truth, that we oftener complain of sin than we do resist it, and oftener resist it than prevail against it. It is not enough for men to see their sins, or blame them in themselves, or to purpose to amend them and forsake them, but they must strive to overcume them, and in striving, prevail. But we speak now of the first complaining of sin. There is a double deceit of heart, whereby men harden themselves in complaining of sin without resistance of it. (1.) Either men complain of other sins, and not the main, as if a man
260 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VI. [SeR. XII.
should complain of an aching tooth when the disease hath seized upon the vitals ; or of a cut finger when at the same time he is wounded at the heart ; of wandering thoughts in prayer when at the same time the heart is habitually averse or estranged from God, through some idols which are set up there : Ezek. xiv. 3, 5, ' Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face ; should I be inquired of at all by them ? ' and ver. 5, ' That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.' They complain of want of quickening grace, when it may be they want con- verting grace, as if we would have the Spirit of God to blow to a dead coal. So when we pray for strengthening grace, when we should ask renewing grace, and confess only the infirmities of the saints, when we should bewail the misery of an unregenerate carnal estate ; and we cry out of some incident weaknesses, when we should first see that our habitual aversion from God is cured. As Moses pleaded many things why he should not be sent to Egypt, he was not eloquent, and the like : Exod. iv. 19, 'Go return into Egypt, for all the men are dead which sought thy life ; ' he had never pleaded this, but God knew where the pinch was, and that was the main ground of his tergiversation, and therefore gently toucheth his privy sore. So some complain of other things, this and that is amiss, but the main thing is neglected and lightly passed over. (2.) We rather complain than give over sin- ning ; resistance is certainly a greater evidence of a sincere heart than complaining. We should not be so haunted with temptations if we did resist more : James iv. 7, ' Resist the devil, and he shall flee from you.' Satan only hath weapons offensive, as fiery darts ; he hath none defensive, as a christian hath, namely, sword and shield ; and we should not be so much troubled with the ill consequents of sin. Who will pity that man that complains of soreness and pain, and doth not take the gravel out of his shoe ? If you wound and gore yourselves, no question but your smart and trouble is real, you do not complain in hypocrisy ; but who is to be blamed ? your business is to remove the cause. We read of the young man, Mat. x. 22, ' He was sad at that saying, and went away grieved, for he had great possessions.' His grief was a real grief, but the cause was in himself ; he would have Christ, and yet keep his love to the world still ; so many complain of their lusts, not as a burden, for they indulge them, but because of their inconvenience ; they cannot reconcile their sense of duty with those corrupt affections which it apparently disproveth.