224 THE NATURE AND POWER OF INDWELLING SIN.
CHAPTER IX.
The deceit of sin in drawing off tlie mind from a due attendance unto especial duties of obedience, instanced in meditation and prayer.
How^ sill by its deceit eudeavours to draw off tlie mind from at- tending unto that holy frame in walking with God wherein the soul ought to be preserved, hath been declared ; proceed we now to show how it doth the same work in reference unto those especial duties by Avhich the designs, workings, and prevalency of it may in an es- pecial manner be obviated and prevented. Sin, indeed, maintains an enmity against all duties of obedience, or rather with God in them. " When I would do good," saith the apostle, " evil is ^^resent with me;" — " Whenever I would do good, or what good soever I would do, (that is, spiritually good, good in reference unto God), it is present with me to hinder me from it, to opj^ose me in it.'' And, on the other side, all duties of obedience do lie directly against the actings of the law of, sin; for as the flesh in all its actings lusteth against the Spirit, so the Spirit in all its actings lusteth against the flesh. And therefore every duty performed in the strength and grace of the Spirit is contrary to the law of sin: Rom. viii. 13, "If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh." Actings of the Spirit of grace in duties dotli this work. These two are contrary. But yet there are some duties which, in their own nature and b}^ God's ap- pointment, have a peculiar influence into the weakening and sub- duing the whole law of sin in its very principles and cliiefest strengths; and these the mind of a believer ought principally in his whole course to attend unto; and these doth sin in its deceit endeavour principally to draw off the mind from. As in diseases of the body, some remedies, they say, have a specific qualit}'- against distempers; so, in this disease of the soid, there are some duties that have an especial virtue against this sinful distemper. I shall not insist on many of them, but instance only in two, which seem to me to be of this nature, — namely, that by God's designation they have a special tendency towards the ruin of the law of sin. And then we shall show the ways, methods, and means, Avhich the law of sin useth to divert the mind from a due attendance unto them. Now, these duties are, — first. Prayer, especially jDrivate prayer; and, secondly, Medita- tion. I put them together, because they much agree in their general nature and end, differing only in the manner of their performance; for by meditation I intend meditating upon what respect and suit-
' At tlic head of this paragraph the numeral 2. ought to have stood, in order to un- fold the division he?;un on page 'IM, line 20. Great complexity would be occasioned in tlic subsc(iucnt numcnition if it were insei ted, and it docs not appear in the orioinal edition. Each cliaptcr is generally made to coutaiu its own ucries of numerals — Ed.
THE MIND DRAWN OFF FROM DUTY BY SIN, 225
ableness there is between the word and our own hearts, to this end, that they may be brought to a more exact conformity. It is our pondering on the truth as it is in Jesus, to find out the image and re- presentation of it in our own heai'ts; and so it hath the same intent with prayer, which is to bring oiu' souls into a frame in all things answering the mind and will of God. They are as the blood and spirits in the veins, that have the same life, motion, and use. But yet, because persons are generally at a great loss in this duty of me- ditation, having declared it to be of so great efficacy for the control- ling of the actings of the law of sin, I shall in our passage give briefly two or three rules for the directing of believers to a right perform- ance of this great duty, and they are these: —
1. Meditate of God with God; that is, when Ave woidd undertake thoughts and meditations of God, his excellencies, his properties, his glory, his majesty, his love, his goodness, let it be done in a way of speaking unto God, in a deep humiliation and abasement of our souls before him. This will fix the mind, and draw it forth from one thing to another, to give glory unto God in a due manner, and affect the soul until it be brought into that holy admiration of God and delight in him which is accej^table unto him. My meaning is, that it be done in a way of prayer and praise, — speaking unto God.
2. Meditate on the luord in the ivord; that is, in the reading of it, consider the sense in the particular passages we insist upon, looking to God for help, guidance, and direction, in the discovery of his mind and will therein, and then labour to ha^ve our hearts affected with it.
3. What we come short of in evenness and constancy in our thoughts in these things, let it be made up in frequency. Some are discouraged because their minds do not regularly supply them with thoughts to carry on their meditations, througli the weakness or im- perfection of their inventions. Let this be supplied by frequent returns of the mind unto the subject proposed to be meditated upon, whereby new senses will still be supplied unto it. But this by the way.