[2.] Suppress all ungodly thoughts and motions, all gross thoughts of God : Ps. xiv. 1, ' The fool hath said in his heart. There is no God.' Shame may lay a restraint upon the tongue, but such thoughts and whispers do arise in the heart. Again, that God is not so harsh as he is represented : Ps. 1. 21, ' These things hast thou done, and I kept silence ; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself.' That God cannot see through the dark cloud: Job xxii. 12, 13, 'Is' not God in the height of heaven, and behold the height of the stars how high they are ? And thou sayest, How doth God know ? can he judge through the dark cloud ? ' These are the thoughts of carnal and ungodly men. Have a care of giving them the least entertainment ; suppress them when they first rise in the heart.
[3.] Mortify vile affections. As the air in some countries is seldom clear, but dark and foggy, so it is with the minds of carnal men. Vile affections steaming in the heart cloud the understanding and judgment, and beget ungodly thoughts ; as a filthy stomach sends up fumes to the head.
[4.] Keep close to God's institutions ; these keep up his honour and preserve his memorial. Divine truths breed godliness. False worship and multitude of ceremonies darken the nature of God. Images beget a gross opinion of God, as if he were a poor senseless thing that could do little good or harm. God knows what is best, and how he will be worshipped ; do not presume to be wiser than God ; his own institutions keep up the repute of his nature and essence.
[5.] Let us exercise ourselves unto godliness: 1 Tim. iv. 7, 'But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.' Give God the honour due to him ; let him have your love, delight, trust, and fear ; do all things with an aim to his glory ; and worship him not out of custom, but out of conscience. So should we exercise ourselves unto godliness.
SERMON V.
And loorldly lusts, dc. — Titus ii. 12.
Grace, that teacheth us to deny ungodliness, doth also teach us to deny worldly lusts. These are fitly coupled. Ungodliness feedeth worldly lusts, and worldly lusts increase ungodliness.
1. Ungodliness feedeth worldly lusts, because when we leave God, the chiefest good, then our hearts go a- whoring after every base com- fort: Jer. ii. 13, ' My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and have hewn them out
VeE. 12.] SERMONS UPON TITUS II. 11-14. 91
cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.' If men are ignorant of Grod, or do not seek after God, the heart Hes open to every object ; as when a worthy match is refused upon some groundless dislike, in a fond humour the next suitor is entertained, how base and unworthy soever. It cometh to pass partly by man's wickedness. When God is refused, anything serves the turn instead of God, to put the greater affront and despite upon him. And partly by God's just judgment. To evidence our baseness and folly, God suffereth us to match our affections with anything that comes next to hand. _
2. On the other side, worldly lusts cause ungodliness, for they with- draw our hearts from God, and deliver them up to the creature ; as a sensual man that loveth his pleasure maketh his belly his god : Phil, iii. 19, 'Whose god is his belly ;' and a base-hearted worldUng, who suffereth outward profits to intercept his care, his delight, and his trust, makes mammon his god ; and therefore he is fitly called ' an idolater,' Eph. V. 5 ; and a proud man makes himself his god, and so is both idol and idolater ; as the sea sendeth forth waves, and then sucketh them into itself. All their esteem, all their restless projects, are to exalt themselves and set up themselves ; and so ' they set then- heart as the heart of God,' Ezek. xxviii. 2. All that they think, speak, and do, is to set up the idol of self, their own worthiness and esteem. So that if we would deny one, we must deny both ; not only ungodliness, but worldly lusts. A man that is given to worldly lusts will surely be ungodly ; and a man that is ungodly will be given to worldly lusts.
I shall prosecute this second branch in this method. I shall inquire —
1. AVhat are worldly lusts.
2. How they are to be denied.
3. The difficulty of denying them.
4. The grounds or encouragements so to do, or what course grace teacheth to draw us off from them.
First, What are worldly lusts ? Two terms are to be explained lusts, and loorldly.
1. By lusts are meant carnal affections, or the risings of corrupt nature, or all sorts of evil desires ; for it is usual in the New Testament to express sins by lusts ; partly because lusts are more corrupted than the thoughts, or than the counsels are, as appears by constant exper- ience. There is more light left in the heart of man concerning God than there is love to God ; and many are convinced of better that do worse ; they see more than they are able to perform, because they are overset by their lusts. Eeason giveth good counsel, but it is overmastered and disregarded ; as in a mutiny the gravest cannot be heard. And we see that, when we give counsel to another in a thing in which we have no interest, we give commonly good counsel ; but when the matter concerneth ourselves, we act otherwise, because our desires carry us another way. Therefore the scripture expresseth sin rather by lusts than by counsels and imaginations ; partly because lusts •are the most vigorous commanding and swaying faculty of the soul. The desiring part of the soul is as the stern to the whole man ; it is either the best or the worst part of the man. A man is as his lusts are ; for it is desire that draws us to action. We do not act because we