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judgment, he is embraced, and it may be admired. This is not zeal for God, but for a man's self. It is not * The zeal o? thine house hath eaten me up,' but ' Master, forbid them because they follow not with us.' Better it were doubtless for men never to pretend unto any zeal at all than to substi- tute such wrathful selfishness in the room of it.
(2.) Is men's delight in the ordinances and worship of God the same as in former days? Do they find the same sweetness and relish in them as they have done of old '? How precious hath the word been to them formerly ? What joy and delight have they had in attendance thereon? How- would they have run and gone to have been made partakers of it, where it was dispensed in its power and purity, in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit? Did they not call the sabbath their delight, and was not the approach of it a real joy unto their souls ? Did they not long after the converse and communion of saints ? and could they not un- dergo manifold perils for the attainment of it ? And doth this frame still abide upon them? Are there not decays ahd declensions to be found amongst them? May it not be said. Grey hairs are here and there upon them, and they perceive it not? Yea, are not men ready to say with them of old, 'What a weariness is it?' Mai. i. 3. It is even a burden and a weariness to be tied up to the observation of all these ordinances. What need we be at all so strict in the observation of the sabbath ? What need we hear so often ? What need this distinction in hearing ? Insensibly a great disrespect, yea, even a contempt of the pleasant and excellent ways of Christ and his gospel, is fallen upon many professors.
(3.) May not the same conviction be farther carried on, by an inquiry into the universal course of obedience, and the performance of duties that men have been engaged in? Is there the same conscientious tenderness of sinning abiding in many, as was in days of old ? the same exact per- formance of private duties ? the same love to the brethren ? the same readiness for the cross? the same humility of mind and spirit ? the same self-denial ? The steam of men's lusts, wherewith the air is tainted, will not suffer us so to say.
We need then go no farther than this wretched genera-
160 THE NATURE AND POWER
tion wherein we live, to evince the truth of the observation laid down, as the foundation of the instance insisted on ; the Lord give repentance before it be too late.
Now ail these declensions, all these decays that are found in some professors, they all proceed from this root and cause, they are all the product of indwelling sin, and all evince the exceeding power and efficacy of it. For the proof whereof I shall not need to go farther than the gene- ral rule which out of James we have already considered ; namely, that lust or indwelling sin, is the cause of all actual sin, and all habitual declensions in believers. This is tliat which the apostle intends in that place to teach and de- clare. I shall therefore handle these two things, and shew. [l.J That this doth evince a great efficacy and power in sin. [2.] Declare the ways and means whereby it brings forth, or brings about this cursed effect ; all in design of our general end, in calling upon and cautioning believers to avoid it, to oppose it,
[1.] It appears to be a work of great power and effi- cacy, from the provision that is made against it, which it prevails over. There is in the covenant of grace plentiful provision made, not only for the preventing of declensions and decays in believers, but also for their continual carry- ing on towards perfection. As,
1st. The word itself, and all the ordinances of the gos- pel, are appointed and given unto us for this end, Ephes. iv. 11 — 15. That which is the end of giving gospel officers to the church, is the end also of giving all the ordinances to be administered by them. For they are given for the work of the ministry, that is, for the administration of the ordinances of the gospel. Now what is, or what are, these ends? They are all for the preventing of decays and declensions in the saints, all for the carrying them on to perfection ; so it is said, ver. 12. In general it is for the perfecting of the saints, carrying on the work of grace in them, and the work of holi- ness and obedience by them ; or for the edifying of the body of Christ, their building up in an increase of faith and love, even of every true member of tlie mystical body. But how far are they appointed thus to carry them on, thus to build them up ? Hath it bounds fixed to its work ? doth it carry them so far, and then leave them ? No, saith the apostle,
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