VeR. 13.] SERMONS UPON PSALM XIX. 13. 367
SER]\ION IV.
Let them not have dominion over me. — Ps. xix. 13.
We have handled the first branch of David's prayer as it is absolutely considered. I now come to speak of the second, which is conceived upon supposition and by way of reserve, that if he should fall into those sins, yet that they might not have full dominion over him. Or, if you will, in the first branch, sin is considered in the cause and rise of it, pride and rebellion against God ; here in the fruit and effect of it, ' Let them not have dominion over me.' The former notion represented sin as an offence to God, a presuming of the creature upon him or against him ; this clause, as a mischief to the creature, as that which exer- ciseth a tyranny upon us, ' Let them not have dominion over me.'
Doct. It concerneth the children of God to take care that sin get not dominion over them.
Here I shall inquire — (1.) When sin is said to have dominion over us ; (2.) Why we are to take care that this mischief doth not befall us.
The first I shall open in these propositions —
First, In every man by nature all sin doth reign ; for where there is no principle of grace set up, sin remaineth in its full strength. There- fore carnal men are said in scripture to be under the power of darkness : Acts xxvi. 18, ' To turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God ; ' Col. i. 13, ' Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness.' As long as man continueth in his natural estate, he is kept in slavery under the power of sin and Satan. His corrup- tions have a great power over him, and he liveth in a peaceable, willing, uncontrolled subjection to them : Titus iii. 3, ' Serving divers lusts and pleasures.' Sundry men have their sundry lusts, but all are in servitude and bondage, wholly free from the yoke of righteousness : Eom. vi. 20, ' For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were fi-ee from righteousness.' They do voluntarily and without opposition live in a trade of all sin, and under the slavish tyranny thereof. Till Christ come to trouble them, all is in peace ; wind and tide go together. This should put us upon looking after a change, and to see if the power of sin be broken. There are two contrary kingdoms — of sin and Satan, Christ and righteousness. We are either in the one or the other. Doth sin yet reign in you ? It did in all by nature ; when and how was it broken ?
Secondly, Though sin doth reign in every one by nature, yet this dominion doth appear more evidently in some than in others, who are judicially given up to be visibly under the dominion of sin, as the just fruit of their voluntary living under that yoke, that they may become warnings to the rest, and instances of this woful slavery. They are apparently and iti conspeciu hominum outrageous sinners, led up and down the world by the devil ; so that every man that seeth them, and is acquainted with their course of life, may without breach of charily say, There goeth one who declareth himself to be a servant of sin ; cither to sin in the general, or to some particular sin.
368 SEKMONS UPON PSALMS XIX. 13, [SeR. IV.
1. To sin in the general. He that, instead of trembling at God's word, scoffeth at it, and maketh more account of the course of the world than of the will of God, of the fashions of men than of the directions of the word, and thinketh the scorn of a base worm that would deride him for godliness a greater terror than the curse of God, and the love of his carnal companions more valuable than communion with God, and, instead of working out his salvation with fear and trembling, runneth into all excess of riot, and carelessly neglects his precious soul while he pampereth his frail bod}^, and doth voluntarily and ordinarily give up himself to serve his corruptions without resistance, or crying to Christ for help, this man is in the eye of all the world a slave to sin : Eom. vi. 16, 'Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness ? ' It is an apparent case. A man thatgiveth up himself to go on in the way of his own heart, restraining himself in nothing which it affects, he is one of sin's slaves, so our Lord Christ telleth us, John viii. 34, ' Verily, verily I say unto you. Whoso- ever committeth sin is the servant of sin.' There is no further 'doubt nor debate about the matter. He that goeth on in a trade of sin, and maketh that his work and business in the world, without looking after other things, he is one in whom sin reigneth.
2, To some particular sin. As we have instances of carnal wretches in the general, so of some poor captive souls that remain under the full power and tyranny of this or that lust, and are so remarkable for their slavery and bondage under it, that the world will point at them, and say. There goeth a glutton, a drunkard, an adulterer, a worldling, a proud or an envious person. Some are remarkable for covetousness, others for gluttony, another for ambitious affection of greatness ; one whose god is his belly, a slave to appetite ; another famous for his worldliness and arts of gaining : 2 Peter ii. 19, 'Of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.' They grow proverbial for giving up themselves wholly to such a conquering and prevailing lust. As in the natural man, some are famous for a strong sight, a quick ear, a nimble tongue, so are these for notable excesses in some corruption ; or as the saints are eminent for some graces, Abraham for faith, Moses for meekness. Job for patience, Joseph for chastity, Timothy for temperance, so these are notorious for contrary blemishes.