And it is good to renew our resolutions again and again : for every new resolution brings the soul closer to God, and getsfiu-ther in him, and brings fresh strength from him ; which, if we neglect, our corniption joining with outward hindrances vdll carry us further and further backward, and this will double, yea multiply our trouble and grief to recover ourselves again. We have both wind and tide against us, we are going up the hill, and, there- fore, had need to arm ourselves with resolution. Since the fall, the motion of the soul upward, as of heavy bodies, is violent, in regard of corruption which weighs it downward, and, therefore, all enforcement is little enough. Oppose, therefore, with David, an invincible resolution, and then doubt not of prevailing. If we resolve in God's power and not our own, and be ' strong in the Lord,' Eph. vi. 10, and not in ourselves, then it matters not what om- troubles or temptations be either from within, or without, for trust in God at length will triumph.
Here is a gi-eat mercy, that when David had a little let go his hold of God, yet God would not let go his hold of him, but by a spirit of faith draws him back again to himself. God turns us unto him, and then we return. ' Turn us again,' saith the psalmist, ' cause thy face to shine upon us, and we shall be saved,' Ps. Ixxx. 19. When the soul leaves God once, it loses its way and itself; and never retui-ns till God recalls it again. Animus ager semper errat. If moral principles, cherished and strengthened by good education, will enable the soul against vicious inclinations, so that, though some influence of the heavens work upon the air, and the air upon the spfrits, and the spii'its upon the humours, and these incline the temper, and that inclines the soul of a man such and such ways, yet breeding in the refineder sort of civil persons will much prevail to draw them another way. What, then, may we think of this powerful grace of faith which is
202 THE soul's conflict.
altogether supernatural ? Will not this carry the soul above all natural inclinations whatsoever, though strengthened by outward occasions, if we resolve to put it to it ? David was a king of other men, but here he shews that he was a king of himself. What benefit is it for a man to be ruler over all the world, and yet remain a slave to himself?
§ IX. 8. Again, David here doth not only resolve, but presently takes up his soul, before it strayed too far from God. The fm'ther and the longer the soul wanders from God, the more it entangles itself, and the thicker dark- ness will cover the soul, yea, the loather it is to come to God again, being ashamed to look God in the face after discontinuing of acquaintance with him ; nay, the stronger the league grows betwixt sin and the soul, and the more there groweth a kind of suitableness betwixt the soul and sin. Too long giving way to base thoughts and aflections, discovers too much com- placency and liking of sin. If we once give way, a little grief will turn into bitter sorrow, and that into a settled pensiveness and heaviness of spirit ; fear will grow into astonishment, and discouragement into despair. If ever we mean to trust God, why not now? How many are taken away in their offers and essays, before they have prepared their hearts to cleave unto God ! The sooner we give up ourselves to the Lord, the sooner we know upon what terms we stand, and the sooner we provide for our best security, and have not our grounds of comfort to seek when we shall stand most in need of them. Time wiU salve up grief in the meanest of men ; reason, in those that will suffer themselves to be ruled thereby, wiU cure, or at least stay the fits of it, sooner; but faith, if we stir it up, will give our souls no rest, imtil it hath brought us to oui- true rest, that is, to God. Therefore we should press the heart forward to God presently, that Satan make not the rent greater.
§ X. 9. Lastly, here we see, that though the soul be overborne by passion for a time, yet if grace hath once truly seasoned it, it ivill work itself into free- dom again. Grace, as oil, will be above. The eye when any dust falls into it, is not more tender and unquiet, till it be wrought out again, than a gracious soul is, being once troubled. The spirit, as a spring, will be cleans- ing of itself more and more. Whereas the heart of a carnal man is like a standing pool, whatsoever is cast into it, there it rests. Trouble and dis- quietness in him are in their proper place. It is proper for the sea to rage and cast up dii't. God hath set it down for an eternal rule, that vexation and sin shall be inseparable. Happiness and rest were severed from sin in heaven when the angels fell, and in paradise when Adam feU, Gen, iii., and will remain for ever separated, until the breach be made up by faith in Christ. Jussisti Domine, et sic est, ut omnis inordinatus affectus slbi sit pcena. — Aug.