VeR. 16.] SERMONS UPON ROMANS VL 311
saving grace. All men would be liappy ; none can be happy but by ■Christ. When we count all things dung and dross that we may gain Christ, then we are really converted. Now before this, here is some knowledge, some assent, some value for Christ. Do not these things make a middle estate? Ans. — No ; though they have some thoughts bubbling up in their minds concerning the goodness of God, the neces- sity of a saviour, the love of Christ, and the joys of heaven, yet they Are not so rooted in the heart, as to become a new nature in them, or the habit and principle of their daily course of life ; they do not gain the heart to Christ, and engage us resolvedly to do his will, and there- fore they are to be reckoned among the carnal and unsanctified, though not among the profane. So the young man had a great deal of good in him, for which Christ ' loved him ; ' ' but he went away grieved, for he had great possessions,' Mark x. 21, 22. And we read of another to ■whom Christ said, ' Thou art not far from the kingdom of God,' Mark xii. 34, that is, from being a christian, but really was not so ; for he put the question to Christ temptingly. Many that come near never •enter, and though they be almost christians, yet, if not altogether, they are not converted, and so to be reckoned among the obedient servants of God. So that this needeth not stop our way ; though they have some convictions of the good of holiness and evil of sin, and some mind to part with it, yet there is no saving change till their hearts be sub- •dued to a resolute obedience.
[2.] That no man can serve both. This is asserted by our Lord in 80 many words : Mat. vi. 24, ' No man can serve two masters ; for •either he will hate the one, and love the other ; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other : ye cannot serve God and mammon.' Where the masters are opposite, and differ in their employments and •designs, it is impossible that a man can comply with both. Indeed, if two men or more do consent to employ one and the same man in the self-same business and service, then, as we say, many stones make but one load, and many things of several weights but one burden. Thus two or three men or more concurring in the same designs make but one master ; but to execute the will of men that differ in their designs is as impossible as to go hither and thither at once. If their com- mands were subordinate one to another, they might both have their answerable obedience, God in the first place, sin in the next ; but their •commands are contrary, and both require our full strength of mind, heart, and life ; therefore it is impossible that he that serveth sin should be a servant of God, for God will have the heart and mind and whole man to do what he requireth, whatever the consequence be, and sin will have the whole mind, heart and endeavour, whatever come of it. So that a man must needs be divided between his obedience to God and his obedience to sin, and forsake the one and cleave to the other, if he will in good earnest serve either master. So much as he giveth to sin, so much his mind and heart must be drawn away from God and obedience to him, and he must offend God when his lust craveth it of him. Or else, on the other side, he must always be alien- ating his heart from sin, and devoting it to God, if he be a true ser- vant of the Lord. Many would compound these things, that are so irreconcilable ; they liope to please the flesh and God too ; it may be
312 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VI. [SeR. XVIL
they have something that is good in them, but much more that is bad ; the bent of their hearts is more for sin than against it ; the good i» controlled by the evil, which hath the chief power in the soul ; for certainly it hath so when we wittingly or willingly continue in any sin, and take on a little religiousness either to hide it or feed it, as in many their religion maintaineth their lusts, and they take the more liberty to live in sin because they have some kind of love to God, and do some good thing that he hath required of them, to excuse the bad.
[3.] All of us by nature were servants of sin ; it is grace that maketh us servants of 'God. So it followeth, ver. 17, ' But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.' God created us, and therefore was our rightful Lord ; but sin hath invaded man- kind and reigned over them, and by a right of recovery God seeketh to recover the creature to himself, and to possess his own again. Therefore, in the consultation about the choice of a master, we must not take it as if the heart of man were a mere waste, occupied by none, but left to the next comer to seize upon. No; there is a usurper there already, sin commandeth and employeth our time and strength, and we must be made free from sin before we can become servants to God. The business is whether we have changed masters, and are willing that God should be restored to his right, out of which he hath been so long kept. They have a notion in the civil law which they call jus postUminn, a right of entering upon their own again after it had for a long time been possessed by another : this- favour was granted to captives when carried into a foreign country, but denied to fugitives that ran away out of treachery or for some crime : afterwards it was enlarged to those who were driven away by famine, or removed themselves whilst an inundation of enemies whom they could not resist possessed their country ; they had a right of entering again upon their houses and lands, though by reason of their long absence they were possessed by another. This was the case of the Shunamite, who having left her country for seven years to avoid the famine, her house and land was seized on, 2 Kings viii., ix. 5, which upon intercession was restored. This is not directly the case ia hand, only so far, that other lords have had dominion over us, which is not only by our departure from the Lord, but by our rebellion ;, only in reason his right should be owned by repentance and resigna- tion of ourselves to his use and service : 1 Thes. i. 9, * Ye turned ta God from idols, to serve the living and true God.' So much for the third consideration, that, morally spealcing, there are but two masters — sin and obedience.