Use 2. Of reproof of those that do not deny worldly lusts, but feed and serve them ; they act for their sins rather than against them.
104 SERMONS UPON TITUS II. 11-14. [SeR. V.
Nature is bad of itself, and we need not make it worse ; these tempt temptations, and cater and purvey for sin. Therefore the apostle useth that phrase : Kom. xiii. 14, ' Make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.' Men make it their business to satisfy their bound- less desires, forecast to fulfil their sinful desires and affections. We must provide for the body, but not to fulfil every wanton lust and loose desire. This may be done by outward provocations, when men feed their distempers, and make nature moi'e lustful and more wrathful: James v. 5, ' Ye have lived in pleasure on earth, and been wanton ; ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.' The heart is the seat of desires ; they reared up their concupiscence by excess and dainty morsels, and all those courses by which lust seemeth to be satisfied but is indeed inflamed. As salt water wets the palate but inflames the stomach, so they nourished lust by voluntary casting themselves on occasions of sin. He who truly desireth to shun sin will shun the occasions of it. Who would bring fire to a barrel of gunpowder ? Gen. xxxix. 10, * And it came to pass as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.' As he would not yield to the sin, so not to the occasion. Or else it may be done by meditation and thoughts. By thoughts the heart and the temptation are brought together, as a match is first propounded before it is closed with. Thoughts are sin's spokesmen, and fasten the temptation on the heart, as worldly thoughts, admiring outward excellences : Ps. cxliv. 15, ' Happy is the people that is in such a case ! ' Wrathful thoughts debase men ; every circumstance aggravates the injury and offence, and so inflames their spirits. Or else by a free and uncontrolled use of j the senses : Mat. v. 28, ' Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.' Death getteth in by the windows. Eve saw the fruit : Gen. iii. 6, ' And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat.' David saw Bath- sheba : 2 Sam, xi. 3, ' From the roof he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon ; ' and this inflamed his heart. Solomon bids us, Prov. xxiii. 31, ' Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.' The senses must be bridled. Job made a covenant with his eyes, chap. xxxi. 1, ' I made a covenant with mine eyes ; why then should I think upon a maid ? ' No man is above these rules. The eyes transmit the object to the fancy, the fancy to the mind, the mind to the heart.
VeR. 12.] SERMONS UPON TITUS II. 11-14. 105
SERMON VI.
And ivorldly lusts, &c. — Titus ii. 12.
Use 3. Exhortation. Let us deny these worldly lusts. I shall urge arguments both on grace's part, and then on the part of worldly lusts.
1. On grace's part. Grace hath denied us nothing ; it hath given us Christ, and all things with him ; and shall we stick at our lusts, that are not worth the keeping ? Certainly God loved Christ with an inex- pressible affection ; it was infinitely more than we can love the world. Though nature be much addicted to these lusts, and though we be carried out with great strength of affection to the world, yet we cannot love the world as much as God loved Christ, for his love to Christ is infinite and unlimited, like his essence ; and God found a full compla- cency and satisfaction in Christ, yet God gave up the Son of his love. Grace counteth nothing too dear for us, not the blood of Christ, not the joys of heaven ; and shall we count anything too dear for grace ? A right eye or a right hand cannot be so dear to us as Christ was dear to God. At what cost is grace to redeem and save us ? And shall grace be at all this cost for nothing ? If God had commanded us a greater thing, ought we not to have done it ? If God had commanded thee to give thy body to be burnt, or to ofter thy first-born for the sin of thy soul ; considering his absolute right over the creature, he might have required thy life, and thy children's lives ; but he only requires thy lusts, things not worth the keeping, things that will prove the bane of thy soul, and things that we are bound to part with to preserve the integrity and perfection of our natures. If God had never dealt with us in a way of grace, we should have parted with our lusts ; and shall grace plead in vain when it presseth to deny lusts ? It will be the shame and horror of the damned to all eternity that they have stood with God for a trifle, and that they would not part with dung for gold, with a stable for a palace, especially being so deeply pre-engaged by God's mercy in Christ.