A SENSE OF THE EVIL OF SIN KEQUIRED. 55
upon such a soul, if it desire to be freed from the entanglement of its lusts.
3. Consider the evils of it; I mean its present evils. Danger re- spects Avhat is to come; evil, what is present. Some of the many evils that attend an unmortified lust may be mentioned : — ■
(1.) It grieves the holy and blessed Spirit, which is given to be- lievers to dwell in them and abide with them. So the apostle, Eph. iv, 25—29, dehorting them from many lusts and sins, gives this as the great motive of it, verse 80, " Grieve not the Holy Sjoirit, Avhereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." " Grieve not that Spirit of God," saifch he, "whereby you receive so many and so gi'eat benefits;" of which he instances in one signal and comprehensive one, — " sealing to the day of redemption." He is grieved by it. As a tender and loving friend is giieved at the unkindness of his friend, of whom he hath well deserved, so is it with this tender and loving Spirit, who hath chosen our hearts for a habitation to dwell in, and there to do for us all that our souls desire. He is grieved by our harbouring his enemies, and those whom he is to destroy, in our hearts with him. " He doth not afHict willingly, nor grieve us," Lam. iii. 83 ; and shall we daily grieve him? Thus is he said sometimes to be " vexed," some- times " grieved at his heart," to express the greatest sense of our pro- vocation. Now, if there be any thing of gracious ingenuity left in the soul, if it be not utterly hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, this con- sideration will certainly affect it. Consider who and what thou art ; who the Spirit is that is grieved, what he hath done for thee, what he comes to thy soul about, what he hath already done in thee ; and be ashamed. Among those who walk with God, there is no gi-eater mo- tive and incentive unto universal holiness, and the preserving of their hearts and spirits in all purity and cleanness, than this, that the blessed Spirit, who hath undertaken to dwell in them as temples of God, and to preserve them meet for him who so dwells In them, is continually considering what they give entertainment in then- hearts unto, and rejoiceth when his temple is kept undefiled. That was a high aggi-a- vation of the sin of Zimri, that he brought his adulteress into the congi'egation in the sight of Moses and the rest, who were weeping for the sins of the people, Numb. xxv. 6. And is it not a high aggra- vation of the countenancing a lust, or suffering it to abide in the heart, when it is (as it must be, if we are believers) entertained under the peculiar eye and view of the Holy Ghost, taking care to preserve his tabernacle pure and holy?
(2.) The Lord Jesus Christ is ivounded afresh by it; his new creature in the heart is wounded; his love is foiled; his adversary- gratified. As a total relinquishment of him, by the deceitfulness of sin, is the " crucifying him afresh, and the putting of him to open
56 MORTIFICATION OF SIN IN BELIEVERS.
shame;" so every harbouring of sin that he came to destroy wounds and grieves liim.
(3.) It will take away a man's usefulness in his generation. His works, his endeavours, his labours, seldom receive blessing from God. If he be a preacher, God commonly blows upon his ministry, that he shall labour in the fire, and not be honoured with any success or doing any work for God ; and the like may be spoken of other con- ditions. The world is at this day full of poor withering professors. How few are there that walk in any beauty or glory ! how barren, how useless are they, for the most part! Amongst the many reasons that may be assigned of this sad estate, it may justly be feared that this is none of the least effectual, — many men harbour spirit-devouring lusts in their bosoms, that lie as worms at the root of their obe- dience, and corrode and weaken it day by day. All graces, all the ways and means whereby any graces may be exercised and improved, are prejudiced by this means; and as to any success, God blasts such men's undertakings.
This, then, is my second direction, and it regards the opposition that is to be made to lust in respect of its habitual residence in the soul : — Keep ahve upon thy heart these or the like considerations of its guilt, danger, and evil ; be much in the meditation of these things; cause thy heart to dwell and abide upon them ; engage thy thoughts into these considerations ; let them not go off nor wander from them un- til they begin to have a powerful influence upon thy soul, — until they make it to tremble.
CHAPTER XI.
A
The THIRD direction proposed: Load thy conscience with the guilt of the perplexin"' distemper — The ways and means whereby that may be done — The foiiutii direction : Vehement desire for dchverance — The fifth ; Some distempers rooted deeply in men's natural tempers — Considerations of such distempers ; ways of dealing- with them — The sixth direction : Occasions and advantages of sin to be prevented — The seventh direction: The first actings of sin vigor- ously to be opposed.