(2.) As to the object of your affections, in an especial manner, let it be the cross of Christ, which hath exceeding efficacy towards the disappointment of the whole work of indwelling sin: Gal. vi. 14, " God forbid that I should glory, .save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." The cross of Christ he gloried and rejoiced in; this his heart was set upon; and these were the effects of it, — it crucified the world unto him, made it a dead and undesirable thing. The baits and pleasures of sin are taken all of them out of the world, and the things that are in the world, — namely, " the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and tiio pride of life." These are the things that are in the world; from these doth sin take all its baits, whereby it enticeth and en- tangloth our souls. If the heart be filled with the cross of Christ, it casts death and un desirableness upon theiu all; it leaves no seeming l)eauty, no aj»])oaring pleasure or comeliness, in them. Again, saith he, " It crucifieth me to the world ; makes my heart, my affections, my desires, dead unto any of these things." It roots up coiTupt lusts and affections, leaves no princii)]o to go forth and make ])rovision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. Labour, therefore, to fill your hearts with the cross of Christ Consider the sorrows he underwent, the curse he bore, the blood he shed, the cries he put forth, the love that was in all this to your souls, anil the mystery of the grace of God therein. Meditate on the vileness, the demerit, and punishment of sin as represented in the cross, the blood, the death of Christ. Is Christ crucified for sin, and shall not our hearts be crucified with him unto sin? Shall we give entertainment imto that, or hearken unto its
POWER OF SfN TO CONCEIVE SIN. 251
dalliances, which wounded, which pierced, which slew our dear Lord Jesus? God forbid! Fill your affections with the cross of Christ, that there may be no room for sin. The world once put him out (jf the house into a stable, when lie came to save us; lot him now turn the world out of doors, when he is come to sanctify us.
2. Look to the vigour of the affections towards heavenly things; if they are not constantly attended, excited, directed, and warned, they are apt to decay, and sin lies in wait to take every advantage against them. Many complaints we have in the Scripture of those who lost their first love, in suffering their affections to decay. And this should make us jealous over our own hearts, lest we also should be overtaken with the like backsliding frame. Wherefore be jealous over them; often strictly examine them and call them to account; supply unto them due considerations for their exciting and stirring up unto duty.
CHAPTER XIL
The conception of sin through its deceit — Wherein it consisteth — The consent of the will unto sin — The nature thereof — Ways and means wherehy it is obtained — Other advantages made use of by the deceit of sin — Ignorance — Error.
The third success of the deceit of sin in its progressive work is the concej)tion of actual sin. When it hath drawn the mind off from its duty, and entangled the affections, it proceeds to conceive sin in order to the bringing of it forth : " Then when lust hath conceived, it bringoth forth sin." Now, the conception of sin, in order imto its perpetration, can be nothing but the consent of the will; for as with- out the consent of the will sin cannot be committed, so where the will hath consented unto it, there is nothing in the soul to hinder its actual accomplishment. Cod doth, indeed, by various wa3'S and means, frustrate the bringing forth of these adulterate conceptions, causing them to melt away in the womb, or one way or other prove abortive, so that not the least part of that sin is committed which is willed or conceived; yet there is nothing in the soul itself that remains to give check unto it when once the will hath given its consent. Ofttimes, when a cloud is full of rain and ready to fall, a wind comes and drives it away; and when the will is ready to bring forth its sin, Cod diverts it by one wind or other: but yet the cloud was as full of rain as if it had fallen, and the soul as full of sin as if it had been com- mitted.
252 THE NATURE AND POWER OF INDWELLING SIN.
This conceiving of lust or sin, tlien, is its pre valency in obtaining the consent of the will unto its solicitations. And hereby the soul is defloured of its chastity towards God in Christ, as the apostle in- timates, 2 Cor. xi. 2, 8. To clear up this matter we must observe, —
1. That the will is the principle, the next seat and cause, of obedi- ence and disobedience. Moral actions are unto us or in us so far good or evil as they partake of the consent of the will. He spake truth of old who said, " Omne peccatum est adeo voluntarium, ut non sit peccatum nisi sit voluntarium ;" — " Every sin is so voluntary, that if it be not voluntary it is not sin.'' It is most true of actual sins. The formality of their iniquity ariseth from the acts of the will in them and concerning them, — I mean, as to the persons that com- mit them ; otherwise in itself the formal reason of sin is its abeiTa- tion from the law of God.