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
THAT Great Duty AND Comfortable Evidence Keeping our selves from our iniquity Opened and applied in some SERMONS upon Psal 18.23 By John Whitlock Minister of the Gospel in Nottingham LONDON Printed for Thomas Parkhurst and are to be sold by John Richards Bookseller at Nottingham 1698. The Epistle to the Reader Christian Reader IT is not any desire of appearing in Print but meer importunity that hath prevailed with me to publish the few following Sheets For tho' I would not decline any thing that might tend to the honour of God and the spiritual good of any and tho' the Subject treated of viz. Mens finding out and keeping themselves from their iniquity be a matter of great and constant importance and that wherein much of the life of Religion and the power of Godliness doth lye yet this hath been so excellently and practically handled by the Reverend Dr. Bates that I could hardly prevail with my self to give my consent to the publishing of these Notes but have been at length overcome by the sollicitations of some whom I must confess I was leath to deny as being bound to honour them for their close walk with God and Zeal to propagate the Kingdom of Christ and the practice of real Holiness These Sermons as now printed with very little variation as to heads or expressions were preached forty years since in publick Anno 1657. and having occasion this year in a Lord's day course of Sermons upon Isa 53. to preach somewhat to the same effect upon those words in the 6th verse of that Chapter We have turned every one to his own way I was desired to print and have printed according to the Notes preached so long since when I spoke more largely to the Subject than I did when I returned upon it this year This is a true account of the occasion of these Sheets appearing thus in publick which it was convenient thou shouldst be acquainted with I shall add no more but my earnest prayers that God would make this Word profitable to my self and all that shall read it and to request thy prayers for me whom God hath graciously brought almost to the close of my seventy third year that God would be pleased more and more to fulfil to me that good Word of his Grace that they that are planted in the House of the Lord shall still bring forth fruit in Old Age they shall be fat and flourishing to the praise of the faithfulness and skill of God the blessed Husbandman and of the fatness and virtue of Christ the true Vine By such Christian remembrances of me at the Throne of Grace thou wilt exceedingly oblige him who earnestly desires more Grace to approve himself while in this Tabernacle The faithful Servant of Christ and Souls JOHN WHITLOCK Nottingham Jan. 1. 1657 8. That Great Duty and comfortable Evidence Keeping our selves from our Iniquity Psalm 18.23 I was also upright before him and I kept my self from mine iniquity THIS Psalm is a Psalm of Thanksgiving the occasion of which the Title of the Psalm acquaints us with viz. the Lord 's delivering of the Psalmist from the hands of all his Enemies and from the hand of Saul But I shall not spend time in looking back to the foregoing verses but come immediately to the Text it self wherein you have these two parts or things considerable 1. David's solemn and serious profession of his sincerity I was also upright before or with him 2. The proof and evidence of this his sincerity and I kept my self from mine iniquity Briefly to open the words I was also upright before him i. e. sincere in the bent of my heart approving my heart to God setting the Lord before me carrying my self in the habitual frame of my heart and in the general course of my conversation as under God's Eye This being upright is in the Scripture in several places stiled being perfect Gen. 17.1 Walk before me and be thou perfect or as it is in the Margin upright or sincere so Job 1.1 8. c. 2. v. 3. Job is said to be a perfect and upright man the latter word explains the former No meer man on Earth is legally perfect with a perfection of degrees for legal perfection is full conformity to God a sinless perfection but every true Believer is Evangelically perfect that is upright and sincere perfect with a perfection of parts as a Child that hath all its faculties and members is a perfect Child tho' it be not arrived at its full growth and stature Yea the Believer is perfect in his design and aim breathing and endeavouring after perfection and shall at last immediately after death be made perfect in holiness And I kept my self from mine iniquity i. e. I watched over my heart observed my self used all means of God's appointing to keep my self from sin David doth not arrogate to himself or ascribe his keeping himself from his iniquity to his own strength either of Nature or of Grace received for he was very sensible and readily acknowledged that he could not keep himself but that it was God his special Grace and the continued and renewed Aids of his Spirit that could keep him from his iniquities and inable him to walk uprightly before him that it was God in Christ it was Jesus he looked to as the Author and finisher of his Faith and all other Graces but he knew God works by means and on men not as stocks or stones but they must use God's approved means to keep them and tho' they be passive in the turning act of Conversion yet God then infuses a principle of spiritual life into them and requires they should use the means depending upon God by Faith Prayer and Watchfulness to make them effectual for the keeping them from their iniquities From mine iniquities i. e. that special sin which he found himself most prone to and was most easily and frequently foiled and overcome by which by his constitution condition of life or temptation he lay more peculiarly open to that which in his unregenerate state was his beloved sin and after his Conversion might be his tyrannizing and too often prevailing corruption He might probably in his distressed condition when persecuted by Saul be tempted to impatience unbelief lying making hast using indirect means revenge and the like and he indeavoured to keep himself from these The Doctrine is Doct. It is the duty of all that profess to be God's people and an evidence of their sincerity to keep themselves from their special sins those which they are most prone to and may properly call their iniquities Now for the handling of this Doctrine I shall 1. Lay down several Propositions for the more clear opening of it 2. Shew wherein mens own iniquities do lye and where men may search for them so as to be able to find out what their special sins are This I shall do somewhat towards in the Doctrinal part but in the Application more fully shew the signs of those
and the different seats wherein Mens special sins are to be sought after of which I shall speak more afterwards There may be several prevailing Diseases at the same time in the Body as Fever Dropsie Stone c. so there may be several beloved Lusts at the same time Reigning in the Heart and breaking forth in the Life As for instance wantonness in one fierce passions or rash anger in another may be their iniquity in regard of their natural Constitution and then Pride if the person be prosperous or Envy and Discontent Cosetousness Over-reaching Over-doing in the World so as to hinder himself in the publick private or secret Duties of Religion c. if the person be mean and low may be at the same time his iniquity in regard of his Condition and Calling in the World So that tho' some particular sin may be most predominant yet thou may'st have many reigning and beloved lusts which if ever thou wouldst attain to evidence of sincerity thou must abandon and vigorously endeavour to keep clear from even all of them Prop. VII Tho' there is a pronesnes and inclination in all Men even in the Regenerate as well as Unregenerate to some sins more than to others which may be properly called their special sins yet there is a great deal of difference in those that may be called Mens own Iniquiries between them as they are in the Godly and in the Ungodly and therefore you must distinguish between a beloved Lust a Dalilah a Darling-Bosom-Sin fully consented to and a prevailing Tyrannizing Corruption which a person may more easily and frequently be foiled by Both may be called their peculiar Iniquities as those they do most frequently fall into yet in the Unregenerate it is a beloved Lust in the Regenerate it is tho' a Prevailing yet but a Tyrannizing Corruption and a continual Grief and Burden to him Thus those sins that proceed much from the natural constitution and other such like Causes of which I shall speak more afterwards tho' they are beloved Lusts in the Ungodly they may in the Godly be Infirmities such as Unruly Passions and the like yet they are oftentimes fixed and continued Infirmities that theymay not get rid of while they live and are usually more than meer Infirmities they are mixt have too much of the Will in them and do proceed much from want of Watchfulness and the Exercise of Grace but are not beloved Lusts the bent of the Heart the Believers Prayers Desires and Endeavours are in some good measure set against them This distinction should be heeded that Men may not pass a wrong Judgment on their Spiritual State So that neither the Ungodly count their Sins only Infirmities or Tyrannizing Corruptions when they are really Presumptuous Sins Beloved Lusts nor on the other hand the truly Godly conclude a total want of Grace because they feel the stirrings of yea the prevalence of Tyrannizing Corruptions It is a certain Truth Grace cannot consist with an intirely heartily beloved Lust yet it is as true that it may consist with very strong Inclinations to some particular sins which may often prevail over them so as to fall into them especially as to the inward workings of Corruptions as unruly Passions Anger Wrath Frowardness c. tho' more seldom into the outward acts of gross sins the sensual Appetite even of a Godly Person may be tickled and at present pleased with some sin he is particularly inclined to yet it is not a beloved Lust if as soon as he doth discover it and the present heat of the Temptation is over he mourns over it Watches Prays Believes and with his most diligent endeavours strives against it and doth not make Provision for it Thus Pride Passion Cowardly Unbelieving fears or Distrust may be a Godly Man's special sins and yet not his beloved Lusts Thus I have dispatched the first General Head in seven Propositions for the better understanding of the Doctrine II. The next General Head I propounded to speak to is What things are the rise and seat of Mens special sins where they are to be sought so as to be found out in order to the casting of them out and then keeping from them 1. Those sins which may properly be called Mens own Iniquities are to be sought for in the natural Constitutions and Tempers of their Bodies Those sins which are beloved ones in the Unregenerate and too often Tyrannizing ones in the Godly do much proceed from the natural Temper and Constitution for these do much incline Men to some particular sins more than to others For tho' no Bodily Constitution be in it self sinful but all sin doth originally rise in and proceed from the Heart Mat. 15.19 yet the Body has an influence upon the Soul and the Natural Constitution is sadly improved and abused oftentimes by Corruption within to carry the Man out to some particular sins and these prove reigning sins in the Wicked and very often such prevailing tyrannizing sins in those that are true Saints at bottom that they often fall into and are foiled by them and are never quite rid of them till they lay down the Body of Sin and Death they carry about them As for Instance Those that are of a Sanguine Constitution in whom Blood is predominant are Hot and Moist the sins such are most inclined to are Vanity and Levity an Airiness of Spirit Pride of Beauty or Apparel affecting excessive Mirth and Jollity Sensuality Riot Intemperance loving Jovial Company whereby they lye very open and are easily drawn to Gluttony Drunkenness Gaming Revelling Wantonness and Unclean and Fleshly Lusts search whether your natural Temper doth not peculiarly incline you to some or other of these sins and if you find it doth it is your Duty in a peculiar manner to Watch Pray and Believe against them peculiarly as ever you would prove the uprightness of your Hearts Those that are of that Constitution in which Phlegm is predominant which is Cold and Moist the sins such are most prone to are Sloth Idleness love of Sleep Drowsiness Dulness and Heaviness at all times especially at times of Worship and in Duties of Religion unwillingness to Work carelesness in Business Forgetfulness Indisposedness to Learn and that which is too often consequent to these sins Lying to excuse the faults that by their Laziness and Carelessness they have been guilty of and these are often the sins of Children and Servants Oh search whether these or some of them be not the sins that your Natural temper leads you to and if they be make Conscience of specially keeping your selves from these Again those that are of a Cholerick Constitution in whom Choler that answers to Fire prevails which is not and dry The sins this temper doth more especially incline Men to are Headiness Rashness in undertaking Violence Fierceness of Spirit Anger Wrath continual Brawling striking Quarrels Contentions Law-suits being uneasie both with themselves and others they converse with O search whether
your selves from these iniquities that they prove not your chief and most prevailing sins And so much for the second General which was to shew where men's special sins may most probably be found III. The next General Head is to give the Scripture-proof of the Doctrine which I shall very briefly dispatch I. That it is the duty of all peculiarly to keep themselves from their own iniquities whether reigning or but prevailing sins It is proved from direct Scripture-commands Matth. 5.29 30. Mark 9.43 45 47. By the right hand right foot and right eye are understood those sins our Text speaks of such as men are as hardly prevailed upon to part with as they would be to part with those Members of the Body So Heb. 12.1 Let us lay aside the sin that doth so easily beset us which as it may have respect to Original Corruption and the body of Death that root and fountain of all other sins so it especially hath an eye to the peculiar reigning or prevailing sins which may be called men's own ways Isa 53.6 For these are the very first-born of Original Corruption they are the sins that have men at every turn Thus Isa 55.7 The wicked is exhorted and directed to forsake his way and his thoughts such ways of sin and such particular corrupt thoughts as he is most guilty of and are most his own as ever he would obtain mercy and be abundantly pardoned Jer. 18. v. 11. Return you now every one from his evil way Every one hath some particular evil way that he most walks in II. This is an evidence of uprightness viz. for persons to keep themselves from their special and most prevailing corruptions this appears in that this is promised by God to be written in the hearts of men as a special and essential part of Repentance Isa 2.20 When those there spoken of repented and were truly converted they cast away their Idols of Silver and Gold which cost them much and they had set an high rate upon but now they shall cast them away to the Moles and to the Batts they account no place no dunghill bad enough for them So it is said Isa 30.22 that when they truly repent they shall defile the covering of their graven Images of Silver cast them away as a menstruous Cloth and say unto them Get you hence they shall throw them away with detestation as most abominable things So Hos 14.3 8. When Israel returns to the Lord he shall say Ashur shall not save us we will not ride upon Horses we will say no more to the works of our hands you are our Gods Ephraim shall say What have I any more to do with Idols Carnal confidence in Assyria and Egypt and in their Horses and strength at home and in their Idols had been Israel's Ephraim's reigning sins but when they truly and sincerely turn to the Lord then they keep themselves from them and will have no more to do with them IV. The next General Head to be spoken to is to explain what is meant by the upright Man's keeping himself from his Iniquity And I. Negatively It is not to be understood in a strict legal sense as tho' every or indeed any upright Man did or in the time of this life while he is in the Body and carries the Body of Sin and Death about him could so keep himself from his iniquity as never to commit it after his conversion or never to relapse into it after his Repentance of it and his Faith for pardon of and power against it especially as to the inward stirrings and workings of corruption or such sins as are meer Infirmities or mixt ones or sins of surprize if this were the meaning of it the best of Saints on Earth no not David a Man after Gods own Heart could never have said I have kept my self from my iniquity David was guilty of dissimulation and of the way of lying more than once There are some sins of Constitution Calling Relation Condition c. as have been mentioned above that even an Upright Man may be pestered with all his days and be foiled by them again and again its true it must be owned that it is the duty of every Man and the hearty desire and endeavour of every Upright Man his habitual aim and design and the bent of his Soul to keep himself from his own special sin and indeed every known sin so as not to allow himself in the commission thereof But if never committing or falling into this his iniquity was the meaning of the Text not a meer Man on Earth would be able to prove his Uprightness That in Eccles 7.20 is true not only of sin in general but also of this special sin There is not a Just man on earth that sinneth not Jam. 3.2 not only in many things but in the special sin which we are most inclined to we sin more or less The foregoing sense would condemn the generation of the Righteous for where is the Upright Man or Woman that hath not cause to complain and confess I have bewailed prayed and endeavoured against my pride passions workings of Corruption Unbelief and other my iniquities and yet have again and again been foiled by them Therefore II. Affirmatively To shew you what it is in an Evangelical sense for the Upright Man to keep himself from his iniquity And I. To keep Mens selves from their iniquities so as to evidence the uprightness of their Hearts thereby is to break off from the practice of those sins they are most inclined to that is from the allowed frequent customary committing of it if it be an outward act of gross scandalous sin yea from the allowed inward actings of his peculiar sins tho' they be but meer infirmities much more if they be mixed infirmities that have too much of the Will or present sensual delight in them or that proceed from carelesness He doth not keep himself from his iniquity who regards iniquity in his Heart Psal 66.18 That makes a Trade of his sin customarily commits it or frequently falls into it He keeps himself from his iniquity that can truly say as Paul Rom. 7.15 That which I do I allow not but if Men allow themselves in any known sin they do not keep themselves from it are not upright and such who customarily and frequently fall into scandalous sins as Tipling Drunkenness Swearing Uncleanness Defrauding or any other sin that they know to be so they do not keep themselves from their Iniquity It is your Duty therefore to break off the allowed customary commission of any sin and more especially of those sins that by reason of Constitution Calling Age Place Condition or any other respect may be Mens own Iniquities as they would prove that they are upright before God thus David 1 Sam. 26.11 II. That keeping Mens selves from their Iniquities which is an Evidence of Uprightness before God consists in the bent and byass of the Soul being set against sin
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
add because if Conscience be erroneous and misinformed or a scrupulous Conscience that charges that to be a sin which is not or if it give a false testimony as to matter of fact as in the case of doubting desponding Souls or those under clouds of Melancholy Conscience may often accuse them falsly and its Judgment then cannot safely be depended on But if it be rightly informed as to the thing being a sin and true in its testimony that thou art greatly guilty of it and that it is thy special iniquity it is what thou should'st take great notice of And especially Conscience is to be attended to in its accusations of thee as to what is more peculiarly thy iniquity at some special seasons such as these 1. That is thy iniquity at least too prevalent in thee which Conscience rightly and truly most accuseth thee of and checks thee for when thou sirest under the Ministry of the Word which Conscience points thee to when sin in general is spoken against when it turns the edge of reproofs precepts threatnings against thy particular sins and saith thou art the man that these reproofs and threatnings belong to tho' the Minister thought not of thee nor knew any special concern thou had in them 2. That is like to be thy special sin which Conscience truly charges thee with in the day of adversity when under some great affliction in thy Body Name Estate Liberty Relations when on a sick Bed or in some eminent danger observe the Voice of Conscience at such seasons when it saith this affliction loss cross is for such a sin for thy sinning against or with or not improving of such a Mercy that which at such a time most startles and affrights thy Soul comes first or fixes most upon thy Thoughts that is like to be thy special sin which thou should'st be more deeply humbled for and by Faith in Christ Prayer and Watchfulness keep thy self from so in time of Sickness that which is most set home upon thee by Conscience and thou hast most thoughts of reforming and takest up purposes and resolutions most against it that looks very like the sin thou hast been peculiarly defiled by for tho' Conscience may be lulled asleep in time of Prosperity Ease and Health yet usually in times of Affliction it will speak out and if it do it is to be heedfully attended to 3. That is like to be thy iniquity which Conscience charges thee with when either thou apprehendest thy self near to Death or when at any time thou art most serious in the Thoughts of Death and Judgment either particular at Death or general at the Resurrection That sin which the thoughts of makes thee most unwilling to dye and afraid to look Death in the Face and make the thoughts of the day of Judgment most dreadful so that thou tremblest to think of appearing at the Tribunal and Judgment-Seat of God when Conscience says how canst thou think of Dying and of appearing before the Judgment-Seat of Christ whilst thou continuest in or art so frequently foiled by such or such a sin those sins are if not beloved Lusts yet at least Tyrannizing Corruptions in thee 4. Another season wherein thou should'st peculiarly attend to the Voice of Conscience in order to finding out what is thine iniquity is when thou settest upon the duty of Self-examination Prayer or receiving the Sacrament of the Lords Supper That sin which Conscience upbraids thee with so that thou dost or art ready to question the truth of the Work of Grace on thy Heart which blots and blurs thy Evidences of Grace so that thou canst not read them and hinders thy boldness at the Throne of Grace or is ready to prove an Objection against thy coming to the Table of the Lord surely that is thy iniquity if not a beloved Lust yet a prevailing corruption which thou are too easily and too often foiled by When thou settest thy self to the duty of Examination before a Sacrament or on any other occasion what sin is that which Conscience casts as a block in thy way as a flaw in thy evidences so that when thou findest something in thee that gives thee some hopes that there is a Work of Grace in thy Heart then Conscience flies in thy Face and saith how can'st thou judge thou hast true Grace when there is still so much Pride Hypocrisie Passion Worldliness Lust so much Deadness and Formality in Duties and thou art so often foiled by some of these Corruptions So when thou goest to set upon the Duty of Prayer what sin is that which hinders thy boldness at the Throne of Grace concerning which Conscience is ready to say to thee how can'st thou go to God as thy Father when thou expressest such an Unichild-like-carriage towards God so that sin which makes thee afraid to go to the Sacrament and Conscience stands in thy way and says how darest thou approach to God in that high Ordinance while thou art so often foiled by such or such a corruption that is thine iniquity which at least too much prevails over thee if Conscience do truly charge thee with it Indeed Conscience may go too far in such a charge especially in a weak doubting tempted Soul when it argues the total want of a Work of Saving Grace because the Soul is frequently overtaken by these corruptions and charges these sins on the Soul as reigning which are really in it but tyrannizing corruptions but tho' if they be bewailed prayed believed watched and striven against and when committed repented of they are not reigning sins and the Soul ought not to conclude it self destitute of Saving Grace yet you may and ought to hearken to the Voice of Conscience charging you with them and may conclude that such sins are your special sins which you are most in danger of being defiled by and therefore it is your duty to use the greatest care and diligence to keep your selves from them IV. That is very probably thy iniquity as which thy best friends most tell thee of so which thy worst Enemies do most upbraid thee with and do most frequently and bitterly charge upon thee provided the charge be true as to matter of fact for otherwise the Devil and Wicked Men do oft charge the people of God with predominant Hypocrisie and many other sins concerning which through the Grace of God they can say as Psal 35.11 They lay to my charge things that I knew not but if the charge be true as to matter of fact that thou art really and especially if thou be frequently guilty of the sin that thy Enemies accuse thee of and do often cast in thy dish tho' it may not be a reigning sin yet it is thy iniquity 1. That sin which the Devil that great Enemy and Accuser of the Brethren doth truly charge thee with in the hour of temptation upon account of which he would prove thee to be an Hypocrite and cause thee to call in question thy