Let every one therefore make use of it in their calling. Those that are entrusted with God's message, let them know that God's ambassadors are to be faithful in their message, for they sen^e a greater Lord than is upon the earth ; and let them shew their true hatred of ill, and the danger of sin, wheresoever they find it. And for those that are governors of others, let them not think that they hate sin in themselves except they hate sin also in all that belongs to them, and reform it. For we see here an evi- dence of conversion. When Ephraim was converted, ' What have I any more to do with idols?' and, 2 Cor. vii. 11, there is an excellent descrip- tion of the nature of repentance, by many parcels. The Corinthians had repented : how is this evidenced ? ' Oh, behold,' saith he, ' this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you ; yea, what clearing of yom'selves ; yea, what indignation ; yea, what fear ; yea, what vehement desire ; yea, what zeal ; yea, what revenge ! ' What revenge and indignation against sin ! A kind of extremity of hatred, a hatred quickened and kindled, the height of hatred. What indignation ! Insinuating that wheresoever there is the truth of conversion, there will be indignation against sin in ourselves. As David confesseth of himself, having sinned, ' So foolish was I, and ignorant : I was as a beast before thee,' Ps. Ixxiii. 22. When he suflered such a thought to lodge in his breast, that it was better with the children of the world than with the church of God, he was troubled for it. But when he went into the church
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of God, and saw the end of wicked men, then he saw his own foolishness in being so deceived, and speaks against himself with indignation. So wheresoever there is true conversion, there is hatred with indignation against ourselves. As in that place before alleged, they shall say unto their idols, ' Get thee hence,' Isa. xxx. 22, what have I any more to do with you ? Which is a phrase of speech shewing a disposition of hatred to the utmost extension, ' Get you hence.' So Christ to the devil, ' Get thee behind me, Satan.' This is the right temper of a truly converted Christian, expressed by divers phrases in Scripture : by a denial of our lusts, by killing and crucifying, by pulling out the eye, and cutting off the right hand. "^Tiich phrases, do they not imply a gi'eat strength of hatred and indignation, when we must, as it were, pull out our own eyes ; that is, our beloved sins, which are as dear to us as our eyes, and as useful as our right hands unto us ? Yet these must be cut off, mortified, crucified, and denied, Col. iii. 5. Therefore let us not deceive ourselves ; but let us judge of the truth of our conversion by our true hatred to sin in ourselves and others, and in all who are committed to our charge.
If this be so, what shall we judge of a cold, lukewarm temper ? It is the nature of cold, to gather heterogeneal bodies together. As we see in the ice, there are straws, and stones, and heterogeneal things incoi-porated, because the cold congeals them together ; but where there is fii'e, there is a separating of the dross from the good metal. So where the Spirit of God is, it is not so cold as to jumble sin and sin, this and that together ; but it purgeth away that which is ill, and that which is good it makes bet- ter. For in what proportion the fii-e of God's Spirit stirs up that which is good, in that proportion there is a hatred of that which is ill. They are unparalleled afiections. Those that love God, they hate evil. Those that are alike to all things, do shew that they have not this active true hatred against sin. No ! ' Ephraim shall say, "What have I any more to do ^^ith idols ?'
Quest. But now. How shall we come to get this hatred against sin, and holy revenge and indignation against ourselves for that which is amiss in us ?
Ans. First, we must every day labour to get a clearer sight of the excels- lency of that which is good, and a nearer communion with God hy j)rayer and meditation. And then, when we have been with God, it will work an abo- mination of whatsoever is contrary unto him. Thus Moses, when he had talked with God in the mountain, at his return, seeing them dancing and sacrificing to the calf of gold, Exod. xxxii. 19, what did Moses? He brake the tables asunder. So it is with those that have communion with God, who is ' light itself, and in whom is no darkness,' 1 John i. 5, who is holi- ness and pui'ity itself. Those who have efiectually conversed with God in his ordinances, meditation, prayer, and the like, when they look upon sin, which is contrary to God, they look upon it with a more perfect hatred. So Isaiah vi. 5. When God appeared to the prophet, and touched his ■tongue* with a coal from the altar, saith he, ' Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips,' &c., ' for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.' Thus, when once he had communion with God, he began to loathe himself. So, if we would hate evil, let us labour more and more to be hoty, and to increase in that divine afiection of love. For in what measure we love that which is good, in that measure we hate the evil : as it is, Ps. xcvii. 10, ' Ye that love the Lord, hate evil ;' insinua-