2. Grace goes to work by way of opposition ; it planteth opposite principles in the heart and maketh use of an opposite power. It
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planteth opposite principles : we have a new divine nature, and so escape the corruptions of the world through lust : 2 Peter i. 4, ' Whereby aye given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped t^e corrup- tions that are in the world through lust.' Lusts follow the nature ; as the nature is, so are the desires. The old man is full of deceitful and carnal lusts, and the new man is full of spiritual and heavenly desires. Then it makes use of an opposite power, of the help and supply of the Spirit of God : Gal. v. 16, ' Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.' There are two principles, flesh and spirit, that are always warring one upon another, and that weaken one another. The Spirit, as a never-failing spring of holy thoughts, desires, and endeavours, doth dry up the contrary issue and spring of corruption. So Rom. viii. 13, ' If ye through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.' The mortifying of the body of sin must be done through the Spirit. A natural man may see better, but without the Spirit's help he can do nothing. All the reason in the world will not tame lust. We may declaim against it, but nothing in heaven or earth will change our dispositions, or work out our corruptions, but only the Spirit of God. We have by the Spirit not only direction, but a continued influence and supply of power.
3. Grace goes to work by way of argument and persuasion. Grace out-reasons and out-pleads lu^t, and so it cannot obtain a grant from the soul, but is denied. The chief argument which grace urgeth is the unsuitableness of lust to our condition, that so it may shame the soul. Those things that become lis while we are children, as toys and rattles, will not become us when we are men ; so certainly those things that suited well enough with us while we were mere men, become us not when we are christians : 1 Peter iv. 1-3, ' He that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God : for the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries ; ' Eom. xiii. 11, ' And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep.' It is high time to leave worldly lusts. For a man after grace to be addicted to lusts, it is a relapse into a spiritual disease ; and in all diseases, relapses you know are dangerous ; as a man that falls into a distempered heat, after he is recovered out of a fever : 1 Peter i. 14, ' As obedient children not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance.' These were your former lusts, w^hen you were under spiritual distempers, and were only fit for you then.
But how are they unseemly and unsuitable to our condition ?
[1.] They are unsuitable to our privileges, and to our interest in the death of Christ: Rom. vi. 2, 'How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein ? ' He argues not ab impossihili, but ah incon- gruo ; it is an unfit thing for such to live in sin. We disparage the death of Christ when we are not the better but the worse for it. Hath, he redeemed us from sin that we might yet serve it ? Did he humble himself for our sakes that we should be proud ? Did he put such, contempt on the world that we should loosen the reins to worldly lusts ?
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Was he at all this pains to make ns worse ? You hereby put a con- tumely and reproach upon Christ's death, and disparage his purchase.
[2.] It is contrary to the example of his life. We do not worship the god of this world, nor mammon, but Christ. Christ by his own choice hath put a disgrace on the world. He chose a mean estate, not out of necessity, but design. He came not in worldly pomp : Mat. viii. 20, ' The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head ; ' John xviii. 36, ' My kingdom is not of this world.' Who is more able to judge what is best, we or Christ ? John xvii. 14, ' They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.' Who is fitter to choose, or wiser to choose, Christ or we ? Who is in an error, Christ or we ? If there was so much in the world as we fancy, Christ was in an error to despise it.