From what hath been spoken it will ensue, that, if there be such a law in believers, it is doubtless thek duty to find it out, to fi.nd it so to be.
The more they find its power, the less they will feel its effects. It will not at all advantage a man to have an hectical distemper and not to discover it, — a fire lying secretly in his house and not to know it. So much as men find of this law in them, so much they will abhor it and themselves, and no more. Proportionably also to their discovery of it will be their earnestness for gi-ace, nor will it rise higher. All watchfulness and diligence in obedience will be answer- able also theretmto. Upon this one hinge, or finding out and experi- encing the power and the efficacy of this law of sin, turns the whole course of our lives. Ignorance of it breeds senselessness, careless- ness, sloth, security, ami pride; all which the Lord's soul abhors. Eruptions into great, open, conscience- wasting, scandalous sins, are
SEAT OF SIN IN THE HEART. 169
from want of a due spiritual consideration of this law. Inquire, then, how it is with your souls. What do you find of this law? what ex- perience have you of its power and efficacy? Do you find it dwell- ing in you, always present with you, exciting itself, or putting forth its poison with facility and easiness at all times, in all your duties, " when you would do good?" What humiliation, what self-abase- ment, what intenseness in prayer, what diligence, what watchfulness, doth this call for at your hands! What spiritual wisdom do you stand in need of! What supplies of grace, what assistance of the Holy Ghost, will be hence also discovered ! I fear we have few of us a diligence proportionable to our danger.
CHAPTER III.
The seat or subject of the law of sin, the heart — What meant thereby — Proper- ties of the heart as possessed by sin, unsearchable, deceitful — Whence that deceit ariseth — Improvement of these considerations.
Having manifested indwelling sin, whereof we treat in the re- mainders of it in believers, to be a law, and evinced in general the power of it from thence, we shall now proceed to give particular in- stances of its efficacy and advantages fiom some things that generally relate unto it as such. And these are three : — First, Its seat and sub- ject; Secondly, Unnatural properties; and, Thirdly, Its opera- tions and the manner thereof ; — which principally we aim at and shall attend unto.
First, For the seat and subject of this law of sin, the Scripture everywhere assigns it to be the heart. There indwelling sin keeps its especial residence. It hath invaded and possessed the throne of God himself: Eccles. ix. 3, " Madness is in the heart of men while they live." This is their madness, or the root of all that madness which appears in their lives. Matt. xv. 19, " Out of the heart pro- ceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false wit- ness, blasphemies," etc. There are many outward temptations and provocations that befall men, which excite and stir them up unto these evils;, but they do but as it were open the vessel, and let out what is laid up and stored in it. The root, rise, and spring of all these things is in the heart. Temptations and occasions put nothing into a man, but only draw out what was in him before. Hence is that summary description ot the whole work and effect of this laAV of sin, Gen. vi. 5, " Every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart
170 THE NATURE AND POWER OF INDWELLING SIN.
is only evil continually;" so also chap. viii. 21. The whole work of the law of sin, from its first rise, its first coining of actual sin, is here described. And its seat, its work-house, is said to be the heart ; and so it is called by our Saviour " The evil tretisure of the heart:" Luke vi. 45, " An evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth evil things." This treasure is the prevailing principle of moral actions that is in men. So, in the beginning of the verse, our Saviour calls grace " The good treasure of the heart" of a good man, whence that which is good doth proceed. It is a principle con- stantly and abundantly inciting and stirring up unto, and conse- quently bringing forth, actions conformable and hke unto it, of the same kind and nature with itself. And it is also called a treasure for its abundance. It will never be exhausted ; it is not wasted by men's spending on it; yea, the more lavish men are of this stock, the more they draw out of this treasure, the more it grows and abounds ! As men do not spend their grace, but increase it, by its exercise, no more do they their indwelling sin. The more men exercise their grace in duties of obedience, the more it is strengthened and increased; and the more men exert and put forth the fruits of their lust, the more is that enraged and increased in them ; — it feeds upon itself, svvallows up its own poison, and grows thereby. The more men sin, the more are they inclined unto sin. It is from the deceitfulness of this law' of sin, whereof we shall speak afterward at large, that men persuade themselves that by this or that particular sin they shall so satisfy their lusts as that they shall need to sin no more. Every sin in- creaseth the principle, and fortifieth the habit of sinning. It is an evil treasure, that increaseth by doing evil. And where doth this treasure lie? It is in the heart; there it is laid up, there it is kept in safety. All the men in the world, all the angels in heaven, can- not dispossess a man of this treasure, it is so safely stored in the heart.