ROMANS VIT. 21 EXPLAINED. 161
disposition thereof will the general course of our actings be suited. Good things will proceed from the good treasures of the heart. Nor can this disposition be evidenced to be in any but by its fruits. A will of doing good, without doing good, is but pretended.
Foui'thly, There is yet another thing remaining in these Avords of the apostle, arising from that respect that the presence of sin hath unto the time and season of duty: " When I would do good," saith he, " evil is present with me."
There are two things to be considered in the will of doing good that is in believers: —
1. There is its habitual residence in them. They have always an habitual inclination of will unto that which is good. And this ha- bitual preparation for good is always present with them ; as the apostle expresses it, verse 18 of this chapter.
2. There are especial times and seasons for the exercise of that principle. There is a " When I would do good," — a season wherein this or that good, this or that duty, is to be performed and accom- plished suitably unto the habitual preparation and inclination of the will.
Unto these two there are two things in indwelling sin opposed. To the gracious principle residing in the will, inclining unto that which is spiritually good, it is opposed as it is a law, — that is, a con- trai'y principle, inclining unto evil, with an aversation from that which is good. Unto the second, or the actual willing of this or that good in particular, unto this " When I would do good," is opposed the presence of this law: " Evil is present with me," — 'E/xw rh xaxoi/ rrapd/isirar evil is at hand, and ready to oppose the actual accomplish- ment of the good aimed at. Whence, fourthly, Indwelling sin is effectually operative in rebelling and inclining to evil, when the will of doing good is in a particular manner active and inclining unto obedience.
And this is the description of him who is a believer and a sinner, as every one who is the former is the latter also. These are the contrary principles and the contrary operations that are in him. The principles are, a will of doing good on the one hand, from grace, and a law of sin on the other. Their adverse actings and operations are insinuated in these expressions: " When I would do good, evil is present with me." And these both are more fully expressed by the apostle, Gal. v. 1 7, " For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other; so that I cannot do the things that I would."
And here lie the springs of the whole course of our obedience. An acquaintance with tliese several principles and their actings is the l^rincipal part of our wisdom. They are upon the matter, next to
VOL. VI. 11
1 62 THE NATURE AND POWER OF INDWELLING SIN.
the free grace of God in our justification by the blood of Christ, the only things wherein the glory of God and our own souls are con- cerned. These are the springs of our holiness and our sins, of our joys and troubles, of our refreshments and sori'ows. It is, then, all our concernments to be thoroughly acquainted with these thing;?, who intend to walk with God and to glorify him in this world.
And hence we may see what wisdom is required in the guiding and management of our hearts and ways before God. Where the subjects of a ruler are in feuds and oppositions one against another, unless great wisdom be used in the government of the whole, all things will quickly be ruinous in that state. There are these con- trary principles in the hearts of believers. And if they labour not to be spiritually wise, how shall they be able to steer their course aright? Many men live in the dark to themselves all their days; whatever else they know, they know not themselves. They know their outward estates, how rich they are, and the condition of their bodies as to health and sickness they are careful to examine; but as to their inward man, and their principles as to God and eternity, the}^ know little or nothing of themselves. Indeed, few labour to grow wise in this matter, few study themselves as they ought, are acquainted with the evils of their own hearts as they ought; on which yet the whole course of their obedience, and consequently of their eternal condition, doth depend. This, therefore, is our wisdom; and it is a needful wisdom, if we have any design to please God, or to avoid that which is a provocation to the eyes of his glory.
We shall find, also, in our inquiry hereinto, what diligence and watchfulness is required unto a Christian conversation. There is a constant enemy unto it in every one's own heart ; and what an enemy it is we shall afterward show, for this is our design, to discover him to the uttermost. In the meantime, we may well bewail the woful sloth and negligence that is in the most, even in professors. They live and walk as though they intended to go to heaven hood-winked and. asleep, as though they had no enemy to deal withal. Their mistake, therefore, and folly will be fully laid open in our progress.