DECEITFULNESS OF INDWELLING SIN. 215
this reproof, in the words mentioned he discovers the true causes of the rise and whole progress of sin, manifesting that the whole guilt of it lies upon the sinner, and that the whole punishment of it, if . not gTaciously prevented, will be his lot also.
We have, therefore, as was said, in these words the whole progress of lust or indwelling sin, by the way of subtlety, fraud, and deceit, expressed and limited by the Holy Ghost. And from hence we shall manifest the particular ways and means whereby it puts forth its power and efl&cacy in the hearts of men by deceitfulness and subtlety; and we may observe in the words, —
Fii'st, The utmost end aimed at in all the actings of sin, or the tendency of it in its own nature, and that is death : " Sm, when it is finished, bringeth forth death," — the everlasting death of the sinner ; pretend what it will, this is the end it aims at and tends unto. Hiding of ends and designs is the principal property of deceit. This sin doth to the uttemiost ; other things innumerable it pleads, but not once declares that it aims at the death, the everlasting death of the soul. And a fixed apprehension of this end of every sin is a blessed means to prevent its prevalency in its way of deceit or beguiling.
Secondly, The general way of its acting towards that end is by temptation: "Every man is tempted of his own lust." I purpose not to speak in general of the nature of temptations, it belongs not unto our present purpose ; and, besides, I have done it elsewhere.^ It may sufiice at present to observe, that the life of temptation Hes in deceit ; so that, in the business of sin, to be effectually tempted, and to be beguiled or deceived, are the same. Thus it was in the first temptation. It is everywhere called the serpent's beguiling or de- ceiving, as was manifested before: "The serpent beguiled Eve;" that is, prevailed by his temptations upon her. So that every man is tempted, — that is, every man is beg-uiled or deceived, — by his own lust, or indwelling sin, which we have often declared to be the same.
The degrees whereby sin proceedeth in this work of tempting or deceiving are five; for we showed before that this belongs unto the nature of deceit, that it works by degi'ees, making its advantage by one step to gain another.
The first of these consists in drawing off or drawing away : " Every man is tempted Avhen he is drawn away of his own lust."
The second is in enticing: " And is enticed." ■ The third in the conception of sin: " When lust hath conceived." AVhen the heart is enticed, then lust conceives in it.
The fourth is the bringing forth of sin in its actual accomplish- ment : " When lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin." In all which there is a secret allusion to an adulterous deviation from conjugal 1 See the previous treatise on Temptation.
21 G THE NATURE AND TOV/ER OF INDWELLING SIN.
duties, and concuiviug or biiuging forth children of -whoredom and fornication.
The fifth is the fmiahincj of sin, the completing of it, the filling up of the measure of it, whereby the end originally designed by lust is brought about: " Sin, when it is finishcxl, bringeth forth death." As lust conceiving naturally and necessarily bringeth forth sin, so sin finished infallibly procureth eternal death.
The first of these relates to the mind; that is drawn off or drawn away by the deceit of sin. The second unto the affections; they are enticed or entangled. The third to the ^v^ll, wherein sin is conceived ; the consent of the will being the formal conception of actual sin. The fourth to the conversation wherein sin is brought forth; it exerts itself in the lives and courses of men. The fifth respects an obdurate course in sinning, that fiuisheth, consummates, and shuts up the whole work of sin, whereon ensues death or eternal ruin.
I shall principally consider the three first, wherein the main strength of the deceit of sin doth lie ; and that because in believers, whose state and condition is principally proposed to consideration, God is pleased, for the most part, graciously to prevent the fourth instance, or the bringing forth of actual sins in their conversations; and the last always and wholly, or their being obdurate in a course of sin to the finishing of it. What ways God in his grace and faithfulness makes use of to stifle the conceptions of sin in the womb, and to hinder its actual production in the lives of men, must afterward be spoken unto. The first three instances, then, we shall insist upon fully, as those wherein the principal concernment of believers in this matter doth lie.
The first thing which sin is said to do, working in a way of deceit, is to draw away or to draw off; whence a man is said to be drawn off, or " drawn away" and diverted, — namely, from attending unto that course of obedience and holiness which, in opposition unto sin and the law thereof, he is bound with diligence to attend unto.