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CHAPTER I.

The first Device that Satan hath to keep souls in a sud, doubting, and questioning condition, and so making their life a pain, is,

BY causing them to be still poring and musing upon sin; to mind their sins more than their Saviour;* yea, so to mind their sins, as to forget and neglect their Saviour, as the Psalmist speaks, The Lord is not in all their thoughts.'. Their eyes are so fixed upon their disease, that they cannot see the remedy though it be near; and they so muse upon their debts, that they have neither mind nor heart to think upon their surety, &c.-Now the remedies against this de

vice are these:

Remedy 1. Weak believers should consider, that though Jesus Christ has not freed them from the being of sin, yet he hath freed them from the damnatory power of sin. It is most true, that sin and grace were never born together, neither shall sin and grace die together; yet while a believer breathes in this world, they may live together, they may keep house together.

* A Christian should wear Christ in his bosom, as a flower of delight, for he is a whole Paradise of delight; he that minds not Christ more than his sin, can never be so thankful and fruitful as he should.

Christ in this life may not free a believer from the presence of any one sin, though he free all believers from the damning power of every sin.* 'There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.' The Law cannot accuse a believer, for Christ hath fulfilled it for him; divine justice cannot punish him, for Christ hath satisfied it; his sins cannot condemn him, for they are pardoned in the blood of Christ; and his own conscience (upon righteous grounds) cannot condemn him, because Christ, who is greater than his conscience, hath acquitted him.

Rem. 2. Consider, that though Jesus Christ have not freed you from the molesting, and vexing power of sin, yet he hath freed you from the reign and dominion of sin. Thou sayest that sin doth so molest and vex thee, that thou canst not think of God, nor go to God, nor speak with God: Oh! but remember, it is one thing for sin to molest and vex thee, and another thing for sin to reign, and have dominion over thee. Rom. vi. 14, For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the Law, but under grace.' Sin may rebel, but it shall

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My sins hurt me not if they like me not.' Sin is like that wild fig-tree, or ivy in the wall, cut off stump, body, bough, and branches, yet some strings or other may sprout out again, till the wall be pulled down.

†The primitive Christians chose rather to be thrown to Hons without, than left to lusts within, saith Tertullian.

never reign in a saint. It fareth with sin in the regenerate, as with those beasts that Daniel speaks of, That had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season, and a time.' Dan vii. 12.

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Now sin reigns in the soul, when the soul willingly and readily obeys it, and submits to its commands, as subjects do actively obey and embrace the commands of their prince. The commands of a king are readily embraced and obeyed by his subjects; but the commands of a ty rant are embraced and obeyed unwillingly. All the service that is done to a tyrant, is out of violence, and not out of obedience. A free and willing subjection to the commands of sin, manifests a soul to be under its reign and dominion; but from this plague, this hell, Christ frees all believers. Sin cannot say of a believer, as the centurion said of his servants, I bid one go, and he goeth, and say to another come, and he cometh, and to another do this, and he doeth it.' No, the heart of a saint, riseth against the commands of sin, and when he would carry his soul to the devil, he hales it before the Lord, and cries out for justice. Lord, saith the be

It is a sign that sin hath not gained your consent, but committed a rape upon your souls, when you cry out to God. If the ravished virgin under the Law cried out, she was guiltless, Deut. xxii. 7. So when sin plays the tyrant over the soul, and the soul cries out, it is guiltless, those gins shall not be charged upon it.

lieving soul, sin plays the tyrant in me; it would have me to do that which makes against thy holiness, as well as my happiness; against thy honour and glory, as well as my comfort and peace; therefore do me justice thou righteous Judge of heaven and earth, and let this tyrant sin die for it, &c.

Rem. 3. Constantly keep one eye upon the promises of remission of sin, as well as the other upon the inward operations of sin. This is a most certain truth, that God will graciously pardon those sins to his people, that he will not in this life fully subdue in them. Paul prays thrice; (i. e. often to be delivered from the thorn in the flesh) all he can get is, My grace is sufficient for thee: I will graciously subdue that in thee, that I will not remove from thee, saith God.

And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me, and whereby they have transgressed against me ;* I, even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.†' - Ah! lamenting souls, who spend your days in sighing and groaning under the sense and burden

* Is. xliv. 22. Mic. vii. 18, 19. Col. ii. 13, 14. The promises of God are a precious book, every leaf drops myrrh and mercy. Though the weak Christian cannot open, read, and apply them, Christ can and will apply

them to their souls.

† An Hebrew particle, and notes, a constant, a continued act of God; I, I am he, blotting out thy transgressions to.day and to-morrow, &c.

of your sins, why do you deal so unkindly with God, and so injuriously with your own souls, as not to cast an eye upon those precious promises of remission of sin, which may bear up and refresh your spirits in the darkest night, and under the heaviest burden of sin.

Rem. 4. Look upon all your sins, as charged upon the account of Christ, as debts which the Lord Jesus hath fully satisfied; and indeed were there but one farthing of that debt unpaid, which Christ was engaged to discharge, it would not have stood with the unspotted justice of God, to have received him into heaven, and given him to sit down at his own right hand: but all our debts by his death being discharged; we are freed, and he is exalted to sit down at the right hand of his Father, which is the summit of his glory, and the greatest pledge of our felicity: For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,' saith the Apostle. 2 Cor. v. 21. All our sins were made to meet upon Christ,* as the evangelical prophet hath it. Is. liii. 5, 6. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every

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Christ was the greatest of sinners' by imputation and reputation.

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