7. For all this time, he is the servant of sin. He commits sin, more or less, day by day. Yet he is not troubled: He “is in no bondage;” (as some speak) he feels no condemnation. He contents himself, (even tho’ he should profess to believe that the Christian revelation is of God) with, “Man is frail. We are all weak. Every man has his infirmity.” Perhaps he quotes scripture: “Why, does not _Solomon_ say, ‘The righteous man falls into sin seven times a day?’ And doubtless, they are all hypocrites or enthusiasts who pretend to be better than their neighbours.” If at any time a serious thought fix upon him, he stifles it as soon as possible, with, “Why should I fear, since God is merciful, and Christ died for sinners?” Thus he remains a willing servant of sin, content with the bondage of corruption; inwardly and outwardly unholy, and satisfied therewith; not only not conquering sin, but not striving to conquer, particularly that sin, which doth so easily beset him.
8. Such is the state of every _natural man_; whether he be a gross, scandalous transgressor, or a more reputable and decent sinner, having the form, tho’ not the power of godliness. But how can such an one be _convinced of sin_? How is he brought to _repent_? To be _under the law_? To receive the _spirit of bondage unto fear_? This is the point which is next to be consider’d.
II. 1. By some awful providence, or by his word applied with the demonstration of his Spirit, God touches the heart of him that lay asleep in darkness and in the shadow of death. He is terribly shaken out of his sleep, and awakes into a consciousness of his danger. Perhaps in a moment, perhaps by degrees, the eyes of his understanding are opened, and now first (the veil being in part removed) discern the real state he is in. Horrid light breaks in upon his soul; such light, as may be conceived to gleam from the bottomless pit, from the lowest deep, from a lake of fire, burning with brimstone. He at last sees the loving, the merciful God, is also _a consuming fire_; that he is a just God and a terrible, rendering to every man according to his works, entering into judgment with the ungodly for every idle word, yea, and for the imaginations of the heart. He now clearly perceives, that the great and holy God is _of purer eyes than to behold iniquity_: that he is an avenger of every one who rebelleth against him, and repayeth the wicked to his face; and that _it is a fearful thing, to fall into the hands of the living God_.
♦3. The inward, spiritual meaning of the law of God now begins to glare upon him. He perceives the _commandment is exceeding broad_, and _there is nothing hid from the light thereof_. He is convinced, that every part of it relates not barely to outward sin or obedience, but to what passes in the secret recesses of the soul, which no eye but God’s can penetrate. If he now hears, _Thou shalt not kill_, God speaks in thunder, _He that hateth his brother is a murtherer_. He that saith unto his brother, _Thou fool, is obnoxious to hell-fire_. If the law say, _Thou shalt not commit adultery_, the voice of the Lord sounds in his ears, _He that looketh on a woman, to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart_. And thus in every point, he feels the word of God _quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword_. It pierces even _to the dividing asunder of_ his _soul and spirit_, his _joints and marrow_. And so much the more, because he is conscious to _himself_ of having neglected so great salvation; of having _trodden under foot the Son of God_, who would have saved him from his sins, and _counted the blood of the covenant an unholy_, a common, unsanctifying _thing_.
4. And as he knows _all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do_, so he sees himself, naked, stript of all the fig-leaves which he had sewed together, of all his poor pretences to religion or virtue, and his wretched excuses for sinning against God. He now sees himself, like the ancient sacrifices, τετραχηλισμένον, cleft in sunder, as it were, from the neck downward, so that all within him stands confest. His heart is bare, and he sees it is all sin, _deceitful above all things, desperately wicked_; that it is altogether corrupt and abominable, more than it is possible for tongue to express: that there dwelleth therein no good thing, but unrighteousness and ungodliness only; every motion thereof, every temper and thought, being only evil continually.
5. And he not only sees, but feels in himself, by an emotion of soul which he cannot describe, that for the sins of his heart, were his life without blame, (which yet it is not, and cannot be: seeing _an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit_) he deserves to be cast into _the fire that never shall be quenched_. He feels, that the _wages_, the just reward _of sin_, of his sin above all, _is death_; even the second death, the death which dieth not, the destruction of body and soul in hell.