496 SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. [SeR. VI.
it into onr hearts. And on our part there is repentance, or a hitter dislike of sin, with which is a purpose of new obedience, or of forbear- ing the evil which the law forbiddeth, and doing the good which the law requireth ; a returning to the allegiance we owe our sovereign Lord: Acts xvii. 30, 31, 'He hath commanded all men to repent, because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained.' Surely they that enter into the Mediator's kingdom, and do seriously and solemnly engage to be faithful to him, are strongly bound to be exceeding tender of doing anything against the law and will of God ; partly because they now owe obedience not only to God as creator, but Christ as redeemer, who is their new lord by a beneficial right and title : Rom. xiv. 9, ' To this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord of dead and living.' And their disobedience is a double trans- gression, and so a double displeasing of God ; for bonds are multiplied by benefits. Partly because in their repentance, if it were serious, sin was complained of as the greatest burden that lay upon their con- sciences, the grievance from whence they sought ease, the wound which pained them at the heart, the disease their souls were sick of ; and their purpose seemed firmly set to please God in all things. Now, if men cast off all care of righteousness and holiness, and take occasion from the grace of Christ to live in sin, and to build again what they have destroyed, they cast off their claim, and so make themselves trans- gressors of the law before God : Gal. ii. 17, ' If I build again the things which I have destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.' It is a kind of outlawing ourselves from the law of grace.
3. None are so exact with God in the obedience of his law, but that still they need the same grace that brought them into the family to keep them in the family, and to pardon their daily failings. Not to sin is the fixed purpose of christians ; but who can watch so severely, and keep such a strict guard over his own heart, but that he doth often sin and fall ? But God will not deal in anger with us, and cast us out of his favour and family for every sin, through the weakness and frailty of our natures; but though we often forget the duty of children, he doth not forget the mercy of a father : Ps. ciii. 13, 'Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him ; ' Mai. iii. 17, ' I will spare them as a father spareth his only son that serveth him.' He hath mercy in Christ for all such as do sincerely endeavour to please God, and serve him, and do not indulge themselves in delibe- rate sin.
4. Though God's adopted children may through infirmity break his law, yet there is a manifest difference between them and others that live in a state of sin, either in enmity to godliness, or in a course of vanity, sensuality, or any kind of rebellion against God, rejecting his counsels, calls, and mercies, which should reclaim them. There are some who sin with fulness of deliberation : Micah ii. 1, 'Woe to them that devise iniquity, that work evil upon their beds : when the morning is light they practise it, because it is in the power of their hands.' With freeness of consent : Prov. vii. 22, ' He goeth after her straightway.' With strength of resolution : Eccles. viii. 11, ' Their heart is fully set in them to do evil ; ' Jer. xliv. 17, ' But we will certainly do whatsoever
VER. 4.] SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN HI. 497
goeth out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the city of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem ; for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.' Frequency of action : 2 Peter iii. 3, ' Walking after their own lusts.' Accustomed to do evil : Jer. xiii. 23. Skill and dexterity in sinning : Jer. iv. 22, ' They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.' Now these are not as God's children, who have a few failings.
Use 1. To show the dangerous condition of those who live in a course of sin ; the Holy Ghost pronounceth them breakers of the law. But now the children of God, those that are taken into God's family, have sin dwelling in them, but not reigning ; remaining, but not reserved ; they are often foiled, but it is besides their purpose, which is the differ- ence between them and others, the habitual bent of their hearts being against sin. The prevailing and overpoising heart is for God ; their wills are fixed, and set to please him : Heb. xiii. 18, ' We trust we have a good conscience.' But with the carnal it is not so ; sin is more loved than hated. A man is not determined good from his conscience, but from the prevalent bent of his will. It is not enough to have a conscience rightly informed from the word of God concerning any duty, but there must be a bent, a fixed purpose to obey God in all things ; which doth still put us on to do good and to avoid evil. The will is the imperial power in the soul, and the first mover and principle of all moral actions ; and as it standeth disposed and constantly bent, so is the life good or evil ; and where the heart is predominantly bent on righteousness, we may take comfort in our condition, though forced to grapple with .remaining weaknesses. But if bare conscience calleth for that we have no mind to, though some dislikes, some feeble resistance be made, and soon suppressed, it will not excuse us from being transgressors of the law. The conscience of a convinced man is for God, but the heart and will of a renewed man is for God. A convinced man may have an imperfect will to be better, a velleity, but not a perfect volition ; but in a converted man there is a will and a delight in God : ' To will is present with me, and I delight in the law of God in the inner man,' Rom. vii. 22.