Thirdly, As to the godly, sin remaineth in them, but reigneth not there. It is cast down in regard of regency, though not cast out in regard of inherency, like the beasts in Daniel, chap. vii. 12, ' Their dominion was taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.' There is some degree of life, but their reign is broken. The Israelites could not wholly expel the Canaanites, yet they kept them under. There will be pride, earthiness, unbelief, and sensuality, dwelling, moving, and working in them ; but it hath not its wonted power over them. It is not only incongruous that it should be so, con- sidering their advantages by grace, but also in some sense impossible. De jicre, it ought not ; but de facto it shall not. We have the apostle's exhortation, Eom. vi. 12, ' Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof.' While ye have these mortal bodies, sin will dwell in you ; but let it not reign over
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you. God sufferetli it to dwell in you for your exercise, not your ruin. We have a promise, Rom. vi. 14, ' For sin shall not have dominion over you ; for ye are not under the law, but under grace ; ' as, let it not, so it shall not. Christ will not reckon men slaves to sin by their liaving sin in them, nor yet by their daily failings and infirmities, or by their falling now and then into foul faults by the violence of a temptation, unless they make a constant trade of sin, and be under the dominion of it without control.
Fourthly, The not reigning of sin in the children of God will be understood by these distinctions —
1. There is a predominancy of one sin above another sin, and the pre- dominancy of sin over grace. In the first sense, renewed men may be said to have some reigning corruption or predominant sin ; namely, in comparison of other sins, as appeareth by the great sway or power they bear in commanding other evils to be committed or forborne, accord- ing as they may contribute to advance them. By violent and frequent relapses of the saints into them, or their unwillingness to admit of admonition and reproof for them, or their falling into them out of an inward propensity, when outward temptations are none, or weak, or very few ; some sins that are less mortified than others, or into which they are hurried by natural inclination, constitution, or education. Thus David had his iniquity, Ps. xviii. 23, be it hastiness, distrust of the promise, or an inclination to revenge himself. Some sins that men favour most, and are most urgent and importunate upon them, and steal away their hearts most from God ; the ocean into which the other streams of iniquity do empty themselves ; that sin which outgroweth all the rest, as the tall trees take away the nourishment from the under shrubs ; that which is loved and delighted in above other sins. Thus, in regard of other sins, one may reign in the throne of the heart, and be beloved more than another ; but not in regard of predominancy over grace, for that is contrary to the new nature, that sin should have the upperhand constantly and universally in the soul ; for any one thing habitually loved more than God will not stand with sincerity : Luke xiv. 26, ' If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.' If we must not love our natural com- forts above Christ, certainly not our carnal lusts : Mat. vi. 24, * No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other ; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye can- not serve God and mammon.' It is a dispossessing Christ to put any- thing in his stead ; to love anything with him or above him.
2. The next distinction is in reference to sins prevailing over grace. There is a twofold prevalency — actual or habitual. Actual is only for a time ; habitual for constancy. Though a regenerate man be not one that letteth sin reign over him habitually, yet he too often letteth sin reign over him actually, as to that particular act of sin ; when we do that which is evil against our consciences, or yield pro hie et nunc, at the present time, to obey sin in the lust thereof, or upon its command run into any particular wickedness. By presumptuous acts a man doth for that time put the sceptre into the hands of sin ; for con- sent to sin maketh it reign. This a child of God may do for a fit,
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but as to the general state and frame of their hearts, they are at liberty.
3. The next distinction is of sins reigning with a full and plenary consent, or with reluctancy and contradiction ; as Herod reigned over the Jews for many years by mere force, they opposing and contradict- ing him, but afterward they willingly consented to his government. So sin reigneth in some who readily and willingly obey the lusts thereof, and take its bonds and chains upon them. But now sin doth sometimes prevail on the godly, yet not quietly and without blows : Eom. vii. 15, ' What I hate, that do I.' They are in combat and con- flict with it. The virgin that cried out was innocent; it was a ravishment, not a consent. Feccatum loatitur, non facit — He suffers sin, but does not do it, saitli Bernard. The seed of God is disliking and opposing : 1 John iii. 9, ' Whosoever is born of Grod doth not com- mit sin ; for his seed remaineth in him : and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.' They are sometimes foiled, but they keep up their resistance. Sin gets the mastery, but as a tyrant, not a lawful possessor. You groan under that oppression, and strive for liberty and freedom. Chrysostom hath an expression on that of the apostle, Eom. vi. 12, ' Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lust thereof ; ' ovk enre, yJq Tupavvelro), aXka /x?) /Bacrtkevero). He does not say, Let it not tyrannise ; but, Let it not rule. Sin will play the tyrant in the best heart, but you must not let it have a quiet reign and government. Sin, taking advantage of some present distempers and difficulties, may encroach upon us, but it hath not our hearts. Whereas otherwise, if a man be not in arms against it, but liveth in peace and good contentment under the vigour and life of his lusts, there is no opposition, unless it be some checks of a natural conscience, or a few thoughts of fear and shame ; there is no opposition of a renewed heart ; sin reigneth in them, though there be some risings against it, as a mischief and inconveniency, not a hatred or resistance of it as it is an offence to God.