2. There is a tivofold consent of the will unto sin: —
(1.) That which is full, absolute, complete, and upon deliberation, — a prevailing consent; the convictions of the mind being conquered, and no principle of grace in the will to weaken it. With this con- sent the soul goes into sin as a ship before the wind with all its sails displayed, without any check or stop. It rusheth into sin like the horse into the battle; men thereby, as the apostle sj)eaks, "giving themselves over to sin with greediness," Eph. iv. 19. Thus Ahab's will was in the murdering of Naboth. He did it upon deliberation, by contrivance, with a full consent; the doing of it gave him such satisfaction as that it cured his malady or the distemper of his mind. X uitT'lS' "ut^t.t consent of the will which is acted in the finishing and completingV of sin in unregenerate persons, and is not required to the single biTiinging forth of sin, whereof we speak.
(2.) There 'ids a consent of the will which is attended with a secret renitency and : volition of the contrary. Thus Peter's will was in the denying of bias Master. His will was in it, or he had not done it. It was a voluntary action, that which he chose to do at that season. Sin had not been liprought forth if it had not been thus conceived. But yet, at this verjv time, there was resident in his will a contrary prin- ciple of love to livhrist, yea, and faith in him, which utterly failed not. The efficacy of it ^vas intercepted, and its operations suspended actu- ally, through the violent urging of the temptation that he was under ; but yet it was in hisi will, and weakened his consent unto sin. Though it consented, it was not done with self-pleasing, Avhich such full acts of the will do produce.
3. Although theie may be a predominant consent in the will, which may suffice fcf the conception of particular sins, yet there can- not be an absolute, total, full consent of the will of a believer unto any sin; for, —
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(1.) There is in his will a principle fixed on good, on all good: Eom. vii. 21, " He would do good/' The principle of grace in the will inclines him to all good. And this, in general, is prevalent against the principle of sin, so that the will is denominated from thence. Grace hath the rule and dominion, and not sin, in the will of every believer. Now, that consent unto sin in the will which is contrary to the inclination and generally prevailing principle in the same will, is not, cannot be, total, absolute, and complete.
(2.) There is not only a general, ruling, prevailing principle in the will against sin, but there is also a secret 7'eluctanci/ in it against its own act in consenting imto sin. It is true, the soul is not sensible sometimes of this reluctancy, because the present consent carries away the prevailing act of the will, and takes away the sense of the lusting of the Spirit, or reluctancy of the principle of grace in the will. But the general rule holdeth in all things at all times: Gal. v. 1 7, " The Spirit lusteth against the flesh." It doth so actually, though not always to the same degTee, nor with the same success ; and the prevalency of the contrary principle in this or that particular act doth not disprove it. It is so on the other side. There is no acting of grace in the will but sin lusts against it ; although that lust- ing be not made sensible in the soul, because of the prevalency of the contrary acting of grace, yet it is enough to keep those actings from perfection in their kind. So is it in this renitency of grace against the acting of sin in the soul ; though it be not sensible in its operations, yet it is enough to keep that act from being" full and complete. And much of spiritual wisdom lies in discerning aright between the spiritual renitency of the principle of grace in the will against sin, and the rebukes that are given the soul by conscience upon conviction for sin.
4. Observe, that reiterated, repeated acts of the consent of the will unto sin may beget a disposition and inclinableness in it unto the like acts, that may bring the will unto a ])roneness and readiness to consent unto sin upon easy solicitations; which is a condition of soul dangerous, and greatly to be watched against.
5. This consent of the will, which we have thus described, maj^ be considered two ways: — (1.) As it is exercised about the circum- stances, causes, means, and inducements unto sin, (2.) As it re- spects this or that actual sin.
In the first sense there is a virtual consent of the will unto sin in every inadvertency unto the prevention of it, in every neglect of duty that makes way for it, in every hearkening unto any temptation leading towards it; in a word, in all the diversions of the mind from its duty, and entanglements of the affections by sin, before mentioned: for where there is no act of the will, formally or virtu-