And this is the first way whereby the law of sin acts its deceit against the soul: — It draws off the mind from attendance unto its charge and oflSee, both in respect of duty and sin. And so far as this is done, the person is said to be "drawn away" or drawn off. He is"tempted ;" every man is tempted, when he is thus drawn away by his own lust, or the deceit of sin dwelling in him. And the whole effect of this Avorkinsf of the deceitfulness of sin may be reduced unto these three heads: —
1. The remission of a universally loatchf id frame of spirit unto every duty, and against all, even the most hidden and secret, act- ings of sin.
2. The omission, of peculiar attending unto such duties as have an especial respect unto the weakening and ruin of the whole law of sin, and the obviating of its deceitfulness.
THE WORKING OF SIN BY DECEIT. 245
S. SpiritiLal sloth, as to a diligent regard unto all the especial concernments of duties and sins.
When these three thino^s, with their branches mentioned, less or more, are brought about, in or upon the soul, or so far as they are so, so far a man is drawn off by his own lust or the deceit of sin.
There is no need of adding here any directions for the prevention of this evil; they have sufficiently been laid down in our passage through the consideration both of the duty of the mind, and of the deceit of sin.
CHAPTER XL
The working of sin by deceit to entangle the affections — The ways whereby it is done — Means of their prevention.
The second thing in the words of the apostle ascribed unto the deceitful working of sin is its enticing. A man is " drawn away and enticed." And this seems particularly to respect the affections, as drawing away doth the mind. The mind is drawn away from duty, and the affections are enticed unto sin. From the prevalency hereof a man is said to be " enticed," or entangled as with a bait : so the Avord imports ; for there is an allusion in it unto the bait wherewith a fish is taken on the hook which holds him to his destruction. And concerning this effect of the deceit of sin, we shall briefly show two things: 1. What it is to he enticed, or to be entangled with the bait of sin, to have the affections tainted with an inclination there- unto ; and when they are so. 2. What course sin takes, and what way it proceedeth in, thus to entice, ensnare, or entangle the soul : —
1. For the first, —
(1.) The affections are certainly entangled when thei/ stir up fre- quent imaginations about the proposed object which this deceit of sin leadeth and enticeth towards. When sin prevails, and the affec- tions are gone fully after it, it fills the imagination with it, possessing it with images, likenesses, appearances of it continually. Such per- sons "devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds;" which they also "practise" when they are able, when "it is in the power of their hand," Micah ii. 1. As, in particular, Peter tells us that " they have eyes full of an adulteress,^ and they cannot cease from sin," 2 Pet. ii. 1 4, ■ — that is, their imaginations are possessed with a continual represen- tation of the object of their lusts. And it is so in part where the ' Marginal reading in the authorized version. — Ed,
246 THE NATURE AND POWER OF INDWELLING SIN.
affections are in part entangled with sin, and begin to turn aside unto it, Jolin tells us that the things that are " in the world" are " the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," 1 Epist. ii. 16. The lust of the eyes is that which by them is conveyed unto the soul. Now, it is not the bodily sense of seeing, but the fixing of the ima- gination from that sense on such things, that is intended. And this is called the "eyes," because thereby things are constantly represented unto the mind and soul, as outward objects are unto the inward sense by the eyes. And oftentimes the outward sight of the eyes is the occasion of these imaginations. So Achan declares how sin prevailed with him. Josh. vii. 21. First, he saiu the wedge of gold and Bab}^- lonish garment, and then he coveted them. He rolled them, the pleasures, the profit of them, in his imagination, and then fixed his heart upon the obtaining of them. Now, the heart may have a settled, fixed detestation of sin; but yet, if a man find that the imagination of the mind is frequently solicited by it and exercised about it, such a one may know that his affections are secretly enticed and en- tangled.
(2.) This entanglement is heightened when the imagination can prevail with the mind to lodge vain thoughts in it, with secret dehght and complacency. This is termed by casuists, " Cogitatio morosa cum delectatione," — an abiding thought with delight ; which towards forbidden objects is in all cases actually sinful. And yet this may be when the consent of the will unto sin is not obtained, — when the soul would not for the world do the thing, which yet thoughts begin to lods^e in the mind about. This "lodging of vain thoughts" in the heart the prophet complains of as a thing greatly sinful, and to be abhorred, Jer. iv. 14. All these thoughts are messengers that carry sin to and fro between the imagination and the affections, and still increase it, inflaming the imagination, and more and more entangling the affec- tions. Achan thinks upon the golden wedge, this makes him like it and love it; by loving of it his thoughts are infected, and return to the imagination of its worth and goodly show; and so by Httle and little the soul is inflamed unto sin. And here if the will parts with its sovereignty, sin is actually conceived.