Take heed of laying the fcmlt upon this occasion, or that occasion, \ when we find ourselves faulty. No. Say it was thou, my proud heart ! it was thou, mine angry heart ! my base worldly heart ! The occasion did but help ; the principal was mine own heart. Let us labour, therefore, to be acquainted thoroughly with our heart, that is wondrous unfaithful. There is a mj'stery of deceit in it.
What is the reason that God's children sometimes fall into sins that they never thought of, and that naturally they are not prone to ?
Sol. Because there is no man that sufiiciently knows the depth of the falsehood of his own heart. For Moses to become an angry man, that was the meekest man on earth, it was strange, yet at the waters of sti'ife he brake forth into passion. Num. xx. 10. For David, that had his heart touched for cutting off the lap of Saul's garment, it was strange to come to murder, 1 Sam. xxiv. o, 2 Sam. xi. 15, seq. Now, who would have thought that murder had lodged in David's heart ? For Peter, that loved Christ so much, to come to deny and to forswear his Master ; who would have thought that forswearing had lurked in the heart of Peter? Mat. xxvi. 72. Beloved! , ->, we know not what corruption lurks in our hearts. Nay, sometimes we shall \ find, if we search our hearts narrowly, those corruptions therein that at \ other times we are not prone to, so deceitful is our heart. And therefore, H^ in all breaches outwardly, in speech or carriage, be sm"e to run to the heart to condemn sin, and to strike at it there.
Well, thus we see some directions how to carry ourselves. It is not, beloved, the having of corruption that damns men, but the affections ive carry towards our corruptions. The best of us have corruptions, but mark how we do carry ourselves towards them. A carnal man pleads for his corrup- tions, he strengthens them ; and another man hath corruption, but it is hardly used. Corruption is ditierently used in the heart of a carnal and of a gracious man, for in the one it is fostered, cherished, and pleaded for : in a civil, carnal man ; | in the other man it is indeed, but it is subdued and mortified, it is judged and condemned. As we say of a man, when judg- ment is passed upon him, he is a dead man, though he be not dead, be- cause the sentence of death is passed upon him, who, when he comes to
1 Misprinted ' for' in C. — G. f ' Upon this or that occasion' in B, C— G.
* ' To' not in B, C. — G. J ' In a civil . . . man' omitted in B, 0. — G.
88
JUDGMENT S REASON.
be executed, by little and little he dies, till he be perfectly dead ; so it is when corruption is judged by us and condemned in our hearts, it is as it were dead, because wo have passed the sentence on it, wo have condemned it, and because^ we have begun the execution that shall end in death; and therefore, as we would difl'erence ourselves from the world, let us labour more and more, that though wo have corruption, yet to carry ourselves thus towards it, to make it more hateful by all means. Wo cannot make it too hateful to us ; it doth us all the mischief in the world ; it is the ill of ills. All other ills are but the fruits ^ of it ; it puts a fiery, venomed sting into all things ; it makes things comfortable uncomfortable : as the hour of death, that should be thought on as our entrance into heaven ; and the day of judgment, the consideration whereof should be our joy. What makes these things terrible ? Oh ! it is sin, the sin that wc cherish and love better than our souls ; it is that that makes things that are most comfortable uncomfort- able. What a thing is that that makes us afraid to go to God I to think of a gracious God ! that hinders us in our best performances ! that makes us backward and dull ! Labour, by all moans, to make sin odious, I say. In the best commonwealth in the world there will be lurking rebels, base people. What ! doth the commonwealth bear the blame ? In^o. The laws are against them, and they are executed when they are found out. So in the best heart there will be rebellious thoughts, evil thoughts, but let it not be laid to the charge of God's people. There are laws against them ; they labour to find them out and to execute them. Here is the comfort of God's children, that though they groan under many infirmities, yet they look upon them as enemies, and as objects of their mortification.
Well, to hasten : again, in judging ourselves, let us labour to jndr/e our- selves for those things that the vorld takes no notice of ; for spiritual, for in- ward things : as for stirring of pride, of worldliness, of revenge, of security, unthankfulncss, and such like ; unkindness towards God, barrenness in good duties, that the world cannot see. Oh, let these humble our hearts ! For want of judging ourselves'for these, God gives us up to outward breaches, and justly too. AVhen we make not conscience of spiritual sins, God gives us up to open sins, that stain and blemish our profession.