This, therefore, is the general design of sin in all its actings. These actings are various, according to the variety of lusts in the minds of men; but its general design - in them all is dominion. Where any one is tempted and seduced of his own lusts, as the apostle James speaks, be it in a matter never so small or so unusual, the temp- tation whereunto may never occur again, the design of sin lies not in the particular temptation, but to make it a means to obtain do- minion over the soul. And the consideration hereof should keep believers always on their guard against all the motions of sin, though the matter of them seem but small, and the occasions of them such as are not like to return; for the aim and tendency of every one of them is dominion and death, which they will compass if not stopped in their progress, as the apostle there declares, James i. 14,15. Be- lieve not its flatteries:—“ Is it not a little one?” “ This is the first or shall be the last time;” “ It requires only a little place in the mind and affections;” “It shall go no farther.’ Give not place to its ur- gency and solicitations; admit of none of its excuses or promises; it is power over your souls unto their ruin that it aims at in all.
3. There are two ways whereby, in general, sin acts its power and aims at the obtaining this dominion, and they are the two only ways whereby any may design or attain an unjust dominion, and they are deceit and force, both of which I have fully described in another dis- course; with respect whereunto it is promised that the Lord Christ shall “ deliver the souls of the poor that cry unto him from deceit and violence,” Ps. lxxii. 12-14,
These are the two only ways of obtaining an unjust dominion; and where they are in conjunction they must have a mighty prevalency,
1 See his discourse on Indwelling Sin, vol. vi—Ep.
508 OF THE DOMINION OF SIN AND GRACE.
and such as will render the contest hazardous. There are few be- lievers but have found it so, at least in their own apprehensions. They have been ready to say, at one time or another, “We shall one day fall by the hand of this enemy ;” and have been forced te cry out unto Jesus Christ for help and succour, with no less vehemency than the disciples did at sea when the ship was covered with waves, “Lord, save us; we perish,” Matt. viii. 24-26. And so they would do did he not come in seasonably to their succour, Heb. ii. 18. And herein the soul hath frequently no less experience of the power of Christ in his grace than the disciples on their outcry had of his sovereign authority, when “he rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.” ;
This dominion of sin is that which we have here security given us against. Though it will abide in us, though it will contend for rule by deceit and force, yet it shall not prevail, it shall not have the dominion.
And this is a case of the highest importance unto us. Our souls are, and must be, under the rule of some principle or law; and from this rule our state is determined and denominated. We are either “servants of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness,” Rom. vi. 16. This is the substance of the discourse of the apostle in that whole chapter,—namely, that the state of the soul, as unto life and death eternal, follows the conduct and rule that we are under. If sin have the dominion, we are lost for ever; if it be dethroned, we are safe. It may tempt, seduce, and entice; it may fight, war, per- plex, and disquiet; it may surprise into actual sin: yet if it have not the dominion im us, we are in a state of grace and acceptation with
God. e
CHAPTER IL
The inquiries for understanding the text proposed—The first spoken to, namely, What is the dominion of sin, which we are freed from and discharged of by grace.
WE shall inquire into three things from the words of this text:— I. What is that dominion of sin which we are freed from and dis- charged of by grace. II. How we may know whether sin hath the dominion in us or not. III. What is the reason and evidence of the assurance here given us that sin shall not have dominion over us,—namely, because we are “not under the law, but under grace.”
I. As unto the first of these, I shall only recount some such pro- perties of it as will discover its nature in general; the particulars wherein it doth consist will be considered afterward.
NATURE OF THE DOMINION OF SIN. 509
First, The dominion of sin is perverse and evil, and that on both the accounts which render any rule or dominion so to be; for,—
1. It is usurped. Sin hath no right to rule in the souls of men. Men have no power to give sin a right to rule over them. They may voluntarily enslave themselves unto it; but this gives sin no right or title. All men have originally another lord, unto whom they owe all obedience, nor can any thing discharge them from their allegiance thereunto; and this is the law of God. The apostle saith, indeed, that “to whom men yield themselves servants to obey, his servants they are to whom they obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness,” Rom. vi. 16. And soit is. Men are thereby the proper servants of sin; they become so by their own vo- luntary subjection unto it. But this gives sin no title against the law of God, whose right alone it is to bear sway in the souls of men; for all that give up themselves to the service of sin do live in actual rebellion against their natural liege Lord. Hence sundry things do follow :—