Evidence of the uprightness of the heart because he that really keeps himself from his iniquities doth it from grounds and principles from a respect to God's Glory he keeps from them as things that do peculiarly dishonour God transgress his holy Law are committed against Christ grieve and quench the Holy Spirit of God For these are the right scriptural spiritual grounds and motives of our keeping our selves from sin Now men's own sins dishonouring God opposing Christ and grieving the Spirit in a more than ordinary manner to keep from some sins and not from these would arguea rotten heart II. Because for persons to keep themselves from their iniquities either reigning or prevailing corruptions is one special act fruit and effect of true Evangelical Sorrow and Repentance Now it is our duty to exercise all the acts and bring forth all the effects and fruits of true Repentance but without this our Repentance is not truly Evangelical for there is an effential part and actof it wanting viz. that of taking an holy revenge on our sins and on our selves for them 2 Cor. 7.11 Tea what revenge This is the only case in which revenge is lawful and here it is commendable yea our great and necessary Duty This our prevailing corruption as you saw under the last Head is that by which we have most dishonoured God most wounded and pierced Christ grieved quenched and vexed the Spirit of God and hath most wounded our own Consciences defiled our Souls and defaced God's Image in them therefore we should keep our selves from these our iniquities that we may take revenge on them for the wrong they have done to God and our own Souls by being the death of those sins which have in a more eminent manner been the cause of the Death of Christ and would be the Death of our Souls if not repented of pardoned and subdued as to their reigning power by how much any sin has been more delightful to us formerly the more hateful it should be to us for the time to come What Amnon unjustly did by Tamar we may justly do by our beloved sins Thus have true Penitents expressed their Repentance so did Mary Magdalen when she Washed Christs Feet with her Tears to take a revenge on those Eyes of hers that had been Doors and Windows Outlets and Inlets to Lust and Wantonness as to her self and by Wanton Glances had stirred up Lust in others and she took a Revenge on those Hairs that had been Nets and Snares to catch Men when she wiped Christs Feet with the Hairs of her Head Thus Arch-bishop Cranmer who had subscribed a Recantation when he was recovered from his Fall and brought to the Stake first put that Hand into the Flames that had Subscribed the Recantation III. Because to keep your selves from your iniquities will be an Evidence of the power as well as the truth of your Repentance and of the Work of Gods Sanctifying Spirit and Grace upon your Hearts therefore we should keep our selves from these our iniquities These are the Master-sins the Lordly-Lusts we should do by these as the King of Syria gave order to his Captains about the King of Israel 1 Kin. 22.31 Fight neither with small nor great save only with the King of Israel They were to fight with others but against him chiefly So we must fight against every sin but we must aim our Arrows and Blows most peculiarly against our King Lusts to take them Captive yea to kill and slay them As it would be an Evidence of Falseness and Treachery in Officers and Souldiers in an Army to shoot at the Common Souldiers amongst their Enemies but when they see Captains or the General to let them escape and not make a shot at them no less will it be a sign of a false rotten Hypocritical Heart to keep from some sins but not from its special sins But on the other hand it is a sign of sincerity when Men keep themselves from these their most predominant sins as those that are the greatest Enemies to God and their Souls Yea thus to keep from our special most prevailing sins will be an evidence of the power of Grace in the Heart as it is an evidence of the power of a Prince when he is got into the Heart of his Enemies Country and takes his Forts and Strong-holds so it will be a sign of the strength of Grace when you keep from and subdue your formerly beloved or most prevailing corruptions for these are the Strong-holds that Sin the World and Satan have in your Hearts therefore it will be an evidence that the Weapons of your Warfare are mighty through God when they pull down those Strong-holds and bring down every high thing into captivity 2 Cor. 10.4 5. These your special sins are the Strong Man Armed that keep the House but now when you keep your selves from these sins it proves Grace to be stronger than sin when it overcomes these strong corruptions IV. Another reason why we should keep our selves from our special prevailing sins and why it will be an evidence of our uprightness so to do is because this will be an evidence of the truth and strength of our love to God and Jesus Christ when we will deny them nothing but are ready to pluck out right eyes cut off right hands keep and mortifie those sins which are by nature by custom and by their profit or pleasure as dear to us as those members of body are and indeed he who is inabled by grace to part with his most beloved or prevailing sins will by the same grace be inabled to part with his life for God if called thereunto for Mens beloved lusts are dearer to them than their lives yea than their Souls naturally But if Men do not keep themselves from their beloved iniquities they have no true love to God at all yea if they do not set themselves with all their might against prevailing corruptions it is a sign there is little love to God and Jesus Christ I now proceed to the Application of this Doctrine and much that hath been mentioned in the Explication and Confirmation of the Doctrine may be helpful to us in and serve instead of the Application of it what hath been already said shewing where men may seek for and find their special sins either beloved and reigning lusts or prevailing iniquities may be useful by way of Direction to help you to find out what your iniquities are and what hath been spoken in the Application shewing what it is for persons to keep themselves from their iniquities may be helpful to you in Examination whether you have this mark and evidence of the Uprightness of your hearts before God and what hath been insisted on as Reasons of the Doctrine may serve as Motives to inforce the Exhortation to all of us to keep our selves from our peculiar Iniquities But I shall make however some more particular Application by way of Examination Exhortation and Direction I. Let us
sins which are beloved sins in the ungodly and too often tyrannizing sins and prevailing corruptions even in the godly in whom they are not beloved or reigning lusts 3. Shew what it is to keep mens selves from their iniquities 4. Give the Reasons of the Doctrine 5. Apply it 1. To lay down some Propositions more fully and clearly to understand the Doctrine Prop. I. Every sin that any person doth commit is and may properly be called his own as flowing from his own heart and nature and his corrupt will and affections and he ought to lay it at his own door to charge it upon himself and not to put it off from himself and lay the blame on others either on Satan or on Companions alluring persuading or drawing him to it and least of all should men dare yea they should tremble at and abhor the very thought of it viz. to father their sins on the infinitely good and holy God and lay these Bastard births of their own begetting at God's door Yet this is that all men are ready to do and they have learned this vile practice from our first Parents Gen. 3.12 13. The Man lays the blame on the Woman and the Woman on the Serpent yea Adam in effect lays it upon God himself when he says The Woman thou gavest me she gave me and I did eat q. d. If thou hadst not given me the Woman and she persuaded me I had not eaten Therefore charge not thy sins on others persuading alluring or threatning of thee They may be instruments and occasions of drawing thee to sin but thy sins are thy own acts Nay lay not the blame of thy sins so much upon Satan as on thy self he may tempt and strongly suggest but he cannot force it is thou thy self that consentest to Satan's suggestions and so the sin comes to be committed But above all take heed of charging thy sins upon God he may permit and doth order the sins of men but he is by no means the Author of sin Jam. 1.13 God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man no it is thy own lust that draws thee aside and entices thee v. 14. Our sins are our own ways Isa 53.6 We have turned every one to his own way so that in this respect every sin thou art guilty of is thine Iniquity but this is not the principal sense intended in the Text under the expression of Mine Iniquity tho' it be a true Sense and a great Truth and therefore you are to keep your selves by Repentance Prayer and Faith and most vigorours endeavours from all Sins as those which will be your own Iniquities if you commit them Prop. II. Original Corruption that Body of Sin and Death that every Son and Daughter of Adam by ordinary generation brought into the World with them and still dwells in them is and may properly be called a Man's own Iniquity By reason of this there is in the Hearts and Natures of all meer Men a Proneness to all kinds of Sin and unto the most Heinous acts of them tho' through preventing restraining and renewing Grace they may be and often are kept from breaking out into outward acts Original Corruption is the Seed and Root of all Actual Sin of Thought Word and Deed of Omission and Commission and of all the Iniquities that cleave to our Holy things Mat. 15.19 Out of the Heart proceed evil Thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts False-witness Blasphemie Original Sin is the Mother-Sin in every Man the Fountain of all other Sins Yea it is alike in all in the Root tho' upon the fore-mentioned account it is not alike in the Fruits And some would have this understood by this term Mine Iniquity in the Text and the Doctrine is a great and certain Truth in reference to this sin it is certainly the Duty of all the People of God by Faith Prayer Watchfulness and most vigorous endeavours to keep themselves from this Iniquity at least tho' they cannot keep themselves wholly from its motions and actings yet from its Reign and Dominion to keep it under and to lay the Ax to this Root of sin And this will be an Evidence of the sincerity of the Heart and of the Truth yea the Strength of Grace and Men are never rightly Humbled for sin nor do Mortifie it till the Streams and Branches of sin lead us to the Fountain and Root sc this Original Corruption so as to be Humbled for and Mortifie that But yet I think this is not the only Iniquity or that chiefly intended in the Text. Therefore Prop. III Tho' there be the Seeds of all sins in every Man yet there is a Propensity in every Man and Woman to some particular sins more than to others There are in Men some Master-Captain-Sins which are as Lords Paramount by which the Body of Sin doth exercise its Dominion and Reigning Power in the Unconverted and its Tyranny even in the Godly It is with the Body of Sin as it is with the Natural Body in that there is the Seed and Root of all Diseases yea of Death it self by reason of the different Humours in it when any of them becomes excessively predominant yet there are also some particular Diseases which some are more prone to than others according to the prevalency of some particular Humour as some to Agues Fevers Plurisies some to Dropsies some to Palsies Lethargies Apoplexies some to Consumptions some to Stone Gout c. so in reference to the Body of Sin besides a general disposition to all sin there are particular sins persons are more strongly inclined to some to Gluttony some to Drunkenness and unclean Lusts others to Anger Wrath Malice Revenge another to Covetousness there is some predominant sin or other And as in a compleat perfect Man there are all the Faculties Senses Members of a Man yet some excel in one some in another some in quickness of Apprehension some in solidity of Judgment others in strength of Memory others in strength of Body or the quickness of the Senses So in reference to sins all have the Seed of every sin in them this Man of Sin hath all its Faculties Senses Members but yet every one is more inclined to some particular sins which may be more properly stiled our own Iniquities our own way and our doings Jer. 18.11 such sins as are compared to a Right Hand a Right Eye Mat. 5.29 30. Sins as near and dear to them and that they are as unwilling to part with as those Members in the Body This Sin is stiled the weight that presses us down and the Sin that easily besets men which expressions as they may have respect to the Body of Sin and natural evil Concupiscence so they may have a special respect to and be fitly said of that particular sin that men are most inclined to and often and most easily overtaken by for this sin hath them at every turn and besets them with the greatest advantage And upon
to you when you lye under it and render Death and the Thoughts of it most unwelcome yea dreadful to you It is the guilt and prevalency of this sin above all others that will put a Sting into Afflictions and into Death and the Thoughts of it This adds weight to the burden of Affliction and makes it much more insupportable than otherwise it would be when Conscience shall upbraid thee that this or that Affliction is the Punishment of such a sin that thou hast indulged and cherished in thy bosom or at least too much connived at If you keep not your selves from these your peculiar sins you will not be able to entertain your Afflictions patiently and much less will you be able to bear them chearfully as it becomes you to do Nor will you be able to bear the Thoughts of Death comfortably or indeed without dread and terror upon your Spirits while you remain under the guilt and power of these your iniquities tho' it should be only the tyrannizing and not the reigning power of them As therefore you would bear Afflictions and entertain Death and the Thoughts of it comfortably labour after this proof of your sincerity that you keep your selves from your iniquity And now having dispatched the Motives to excite you to look diligently to this great Duty and great Evidence of sincerity I proceed to close all with a few Particulars to direct you to the Ways and Means of God's appointing in his Word whereby you may be inabled through Grace to keep your selves from your iniquity Directions I. Would you keep your selves from your iniquities either your reigning sins or your too prevailing corruptions endeavour to get a deep and thorough sense and conviction of the great sin and evil of this thy special iniquity how dishonourable it hath been is and will be to God and how greatly prejudicial to thee thy Soul and Body too and labour to keep this sense upon thy Spirit all thy days so as to confess and bewail it before the Lord and to be greatly humbled for it this would be a means to keep you from it for the time to come for hereby you will come to taste the bitterness and feel the weight and burden of it Therefore keep the evil of it constantly in the Eye of your Soul that you may flee from it Keep up a sense of the evil of that sin which was your most predominant reigning sin in your Unregenerate state thus did Paul Trusting in his Legal Pharisaical Righteousness and a Persecuting Spirit were his special sins before his Conversion and what a deep humble sense had he of them after his Conversion even all his days 1 Tim. 1.13 15. Phil. 3.7 8 9. He kept far from those sins for ever after Confession and Humiliation are as it were the Souls Vomit caused by its being sick of sin now what hath made persons Heart-sick they will not easily be persuaded to feed on again tho' it may be pleasing to the Palat No more will you taste of those to the Flesh sweet morsels of sin which God by his Spirit and Grace hath made bitter to your Soul But now if the sense of sins odiousness begins to wear off you will be in danger to be again intangled with your old corruptions therefore as you would keep your selves from your iniquities keep a sense of the odiousness and bitterness of them upon your Hearts II. Be earnest and importunate in Prayer to God as for Pardon of so for Power against these thy special iniquities beg earnestly for special Grace and Strength against thy special sins When thou hast found out Indicted and Accused this sin at God's Tribunal then cry out to God as for Mercy to thee through Christ so for Justice against thy sins that God would kill them and inable thee to mortifie and crucifie them drag these Traitors before God's Tribunal and say Lord these are the Arch-Rebels against thy Crown and Dignity slay them before thy face These are some of those Devils or Devilish Lusts that will not be cast out but by Prayer yea by Fasting and Prayer Do by these sins as Paul did by the Messenger of Satan 2 Cor. 12.7 8. Ply the Throne of Grace give God no rest till he return such a Gracious answer as he did to him verse 9. My grace shall be sufficient for thee III. Would you keep your selves from your iniquity then to your sense of humiliation for and Prayers against it be sure you that are Believers to add Faith in Christ and the lively vigorous actings of it upon him as for the forgiveness of it so for power against it and for the sin killing vertue of the Death of Christ to kill and crucifie this thy too prevailing corruption Fetch in from Christ by Faith constant supplies of spiritual strength against these sins of thine You must have more strength than your own more than the strength of Nature of Reason of your own Wills Purposes and Resolutions yea than of Grace already received to keep you from and inable you to prevail against such strong corruptions as these are they will be too strong for your Purposes Duties and Graces if God do not strengthen you with strength in your Souls by his Spirit It is God must keep you you cannot keep your selves Psal 127.1 Except the Lord keep the City the Watchman wateheth but in vain So it will be in relation to your Souls and the keeping them from sin When David says in the Text I kept my self he doth not arrogate to himself only tells you what was his duty and his care and endeavour to perform but he was sensible God only could keep him which made him pray as Psal 19.11 12. Cleanse me from my secret faults and keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins and their dominion and so from the great transgression Dost thou O Soul feel thy iniquity stirring in thee and prevailing over thee if thou be yet in an unconverted state pray that God would work Faith in thee and if thou art converted stir up and act Faith on Christ pray earnestly to God to inable thee so to do lift up an Eye of Faith to Christ and put forth an Hand of Faith to take hold on him and fetch strength from him and cry to him when this sin sets upon thee that he would make thee more than Conqueror over this thy iniquity IV. Would you keep your selves from your particular iniquities make use of the Sword of the Spirit the Word of God Study Apply and Improve the Word both Written and Preached against your most strong and prevailing corruptions Improve the Word in all the parts of it its Precepts Prohibitions Threatnings Promises Examples and Experiences recorded in it against thy particular corruptions whatever you read or hear in and from the Word of God against sin in general apply it against thy iniquity in particular as if it were named Is thy iniquity an Omission living in the neglect