VeR. 12.] SERMONS UPON TITUS IT. 11-14. 95
and is tlie root of every sin ; it is the devil's bait, and tlie sauce of every temptation. Men take a pleasure in their proud thoughts, in their worldly and carnal practices. Other sins are rooted in sensuality and love of pleasure. Again, it is a sin most opposite to the gravity and severity of religion. A garish frothy spirit, that is addicted to carnal delights, is not fit for such a grave thing as religion, which requires a solid grave frame of spirit ; and yet, as contrary as it is, it is very natural to us. We had but two common parents, Adam and Noah, and both fell by pleasure, they miscarried by appetite ; Adam by eating, and Noah by drinking. And when the apostle gives us a catalogue of the lusts of the flesh, Gal. v. 19-21, it is filled up in a great part with the fruits of sensuality, as adultery, fornication, unclean- ness, lasciviousness, drunkenness, revellings. We are mighty prone to this, because pleasures are tasted by the senses, and virtue is found out by searches of reason ; therefore we are very apt to be carried away by our senses. You must subdue this, or else you are utterly unfit for religion or any high work. The heart of man is melted and dissolved, and all vigour is quenched, and the soul doth grow gross and dreggy, not fit for the chaste consolations of the gospel, for the flagons of spiritual wine, for the fulness of the Spirit, and for the sweetness of the hidden manna.
[2.] ' The lust of the eyes,' or an inordinate desire of riches, when we can see nothing but we must wish for it ; as Ahab falleth sick for Naboth's vineyard. The heart of man naturally is all for a present good, and therefore nothing is more delightful and pleasing to our corruption than the glory and bravery of the world. Heaven, as it is set forth, is a fine place to a carnal heart, but it is to come ; so men look upon it but as a dream and notion, they shall have time enough to consider it hereafter ; but the world is at hand. This was Demas* bait, the present world : 2 Tim. iv. 10, ' Demas hath forsaken me, having loved the present world.' Things at a distance, though never so glorious, lose somewhat of their worth and esteem because they are so : 2 Peter i. 9, ' They are blind, and cannot see afar off/ All natural men are troubled with a short sight ; they can see nothing but what is before them ; they can see no excellency in things to come. With- out the perspective of faith we cannot look within the vail, and there- fore hunt after present interests with all earnestness and greediness. Covetousness is a radical evil : 1 Tim. vi. 10, ' The love of money is the root of all evil.' A soul is fit for anything that is subdued and captivated with the love of the world. Look, what the root is to the tree, that is covetousness to all sin. All the branches are nourished with the sap which the root sucketh from the ground ; so this is that which maintains the carnal state. Covetousness is a sin more danger- ous, because all other evils bewray themselves by some foul action, which bringeth shame and remorse of conscience, and therefore they are sooner wrought upon ; but this is close and reserved ; men are more serious than profane. Oh ! but this must be renounced. Lessen your esteem of worldly things ; they are not your portion. Christ gave the bag to the worst of the apostles, and it brought him to the halter.
[3.] The next radical evil, or worldly lust, is ' pride of life.' This grows upon anything, gifts, graces, parts, estate. Paul's revelations
96 SERMONS UPON TITUS II. 11-14. [SeR. V.
were like to puff him up : 2 Cor. xii. 7, ' Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there Vfas given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.' It is a sin that sticks very close to us. It was the main ingredient in Adam's disobedience, and still it runs in the blood. Pride is natural ; we suck it in with our milk. There is pride in every sin, a lifting up of the creature against the crea- tor: ' The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be,' Kom, viii. 7 ; and therefore the great work of grace is to subdue the pride of the spirit, not only to sanctify, but to humble us. Look, as sensuality is the great corruption of the brutish part or appetite, so pride is of our understanding or the angel- ical part. Man is in part an angel and in part a beast ; his appetite he hath in common with the beasts, but his understanding in common with angels. Now look, as inordinate love of pleasure is the corruption of the brutish part, so is pride the corruption of the angelical part. By being sensual we sink as low as the beasts ; and by being proud we lift u]) our hearts as the heart of God. Sensual men are called beasts : 2 Peter ii. 12, ' These, as unnatural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things they understand not, and shall utterly perish in their own corruption.' And the worldly and covetous are called mere men : 1 Cor. iii. 3, ' Are ye not carnal, and walk as men ? ' But by pride we are made devils : 1 Tim. iii. 6, ' Not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil ; ' when we are puffed up with self-conceit, and do all we do for self-esteem. This is one of the last sins we shake off ; we leave it not till we come to heaven ; and therefore it is mentioned in the last place. One of the heathens doth compare it to our shirt, which we put off last. In heaven only, when we are most holy, we are most humble. It is a sin that encroacheth upon God's prerogative, therefore mightily hated by God: Prov. vi. 16, 17, ' These six things dotli the Lord hate ; yea, seven are an abomination to him : A proud look,' &c. ; Prov. viii. 13, ' Pride and arrogaucy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth do I hate.' Pride is as much hated by God as sensuality by us, and infinitely more.