That which I shall principally fix upon, in reference unto our pre- sent design, from this place of the apostle, is that which was first laid down, — namely, that there is an exceeding efficacy and power in the remainder of indwelling sin in believers, with a constant inclina- tion and working towards evil.
Awake, therefore, all of you in whose hearts is any thing of the ways of God ! Your enemy is not only upo7i you, as on Samson of old, but is m you also. He is at work, by all ways of force and craft, as we shall see. Would you not dishonour God and his gospel ; would you not scandalize the saints and ways of God; would you not
INDWELLING SIN A LAW, AND ITS POWER.- 163
wound your consciences and endanger your souls; would you not grieve the good and holy Spirit of God, the author of all your com- forts ; would you keep your garments undefiled, and escape the woful temptations and pollutions of the days wherein we live; would you be preserved from the number of the apostates in these latter days ; — av/ake to the consideration of this cursed enemy, which is the spring of all these and innumerable other evile, as also of the ruin of all the souls that perish in this world!
CHAPTER 11.
Indwelling sin a law — In what sense it is so called — What kind of law it is — An inward effective principle called a law — The power of sin thence evinced.
That which we have proposed unto consideration is the power and efficacy of indwelling sin. The ways whereby it may be evinced are many. I shall begin with the appellation of it in the place before mentioned. It is a law. " I find a law," saith the apostle. It is be- cause of its poAver and efficacy that it is so called. So is also the principle of giace in believers the " law of the Spirit of life," as we observed before, Rom. viii. 2 ; which is the " exceed insf oa-eatness of the power of God" in them, Eph, i. 19. Where there is a law there is power.
We shall, therefore, show both what belongs unto it as it is a law in general, and also what is peculiar or proper in it as being such a law as we have described.
There are in general two things attending every law, as such : —
First, Dominion. Rom. vii. 1, " The law hath dominion over a man whilst he liveth : " Kvpisusi rov avdpuTov — " Itlordeth it over a man." Where any law takes place, xvpnusi, it hath dominion. It is properly the act of a superior, and it belongs to its nature to exact obedience by way of dominion. Now, there is a twofold dominion, as there is a twofold law. There is a moral authoritative dominion over a man, and there is a real effective dominion in a man. The first is an affec- tion of the law of God, the latter of the law of sin. The law of sin hath not in itself a moral dominion, — it hath not a rightful dominion or authority over any man ; but it hath that which is equivalent unto it; whence it is said ^affiXiUiv, "to reign as a king," Rom. vi. 12, and Kupnvsiv, "to lord it," or have dominion, verse 14, as a law in general is said to have, chap. vii. 1. But because it hath lost its complete dominion in reference unto believers, of whom alone we speak, I
164 THE NATURE AND POWER OF INDWELLING SIN.
shall not insist upon it in this utmost extent of its power. But even in tliein it is a law still; though not a law unto them, yet, as was said, it is a law in them. And though it have not a complete, and, as it were, a rightful dominion over them, yet it will have a domina- tion as to some things in them. It is still a law, and that in them ; so that all its actings are the actings of a law, — that is, it acts with power, though it have lost its complete power of ruling in them. Though it be weakened, yet its nature is not changed. It is a law still, and therefore powerful. And as its particular workings, which we shall afterward consider, are the ground of this appellation, so the teiin itself teacheth us in general what we are to expect from it, and what endeavours it will use for dominion, to which it hath been ac- customed.
Secondly, A law, as a law, hath an efficacy to provoke those that are obnoxious unto it unto the things that it requireth. A law hath rewards and punishments accom])anying of it. These secretly prevail on them to whom they are proposed, though the things commanded be not much desirable. And generally all laws have their efficacy on the minds of men, from the rewards and punishments that are an- nexed unto them. Nor is this law Avithout this spring of power: it hath its rewards and punishments. The pleasures of sin are the re- wards of sin; a reward that most men lose their souls to obtain. By this the law of sin contended in Moses against the law of grace. Heb. xi. 25, 26, " He chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; for he looked- unto the recompense of reward." The contest was in his mind be- tween the law of sin and the law of grace. The motive on the part of the law of sin, wherewith it sought to draw him over, and where- with it prevails on the most, was the reward that it proposed unto him, — namely, that he shoidd have the present enjoyment of the pleasures of sin. By this it contended against the rewai'd annexed unto the law of grace, called " the recompense of reward."