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as they seem to live in fair external conformity to the truths which they have learned. To which I answer, first in general, That there may be a reign of sin, where it is not perceived; and that insensibility is a main argument of it. For this is a certain rule,-the more tenderly and seriously any man is affected with sense and sorrow for the power of sin, the more he is delivered from it. The young man in the Gospel was fully persuaded that he had kept the whole law, and little thought that his own possessions were his king, and that he was a vassal to his own wealth,-till Christ convinced him of a mighty reign of covetousness in his heart. A ship may, in the midst of a calm, by reason of a great mist, and the negligence of the mariners to sound and discover their distance from land, split itself against a rock, as well as be cast upon it by some irresistible storm:-and so that man who never fathoms his heart, nor searcheth how near he may be to ruin, but goes leisurely and uniformly on in his wonted formal and pharisaical security, may, when he thinks nothing of it, as likely perish under the power of sin, as he in whom the rage thereof is most apparent. As there is a great strength in a river when it runs smoothest and without noise, which immediately discovers itself when any bridge or obstacle is set up against it; so when sin passeth with most stillness and undisturbance through the heart, then is the reign of it as strong as ever, and, upon any spiritual and searching opposition, will declare itself. The Pharisees were rigid, demure, saint-like men, while their hypocrisy was let alone to run calmly and without noise: but when Christ, by his spiritual expositions of the law, his heavenly conversation, his penetrating and convincing sermons, had stopped the current, and disquieted them in their course, we find their malice swell into the sin against the Holy Ghost. It is the light of the sun which maketh day, when itself lies shut under a cloud and is not seen: so, in every natural man, there is a power and prevalency of sin, which yet may lie undiscovered under some general moralities. Thus as the serpent in the fable had a true sting, while it lay in the snow, though it shewed not itself but at the fire; so there may be a regal power in sin, when, upon external reasons, it may, for a time, dissemble itself. Ahab and Jeroboam's wife were as truly princes in their disguise

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as in their robes; and a sow as truly a swine when washed in a spring of water, as when wallowing in a sink of dirt. The heart of man is like a beast, that hath much filth and garbage shut up under a fair skin,-till the Word like a sacrificing sword, slit open, and, as it were, unridge the conscience to discover it." All the ways of man," saith Solomon," are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits." He is a discoverer of the secrets, and entrails of every action.

For the more particular opening of this point, it will be needful to answer some few questions, touching the reign of some particular sins, which haply are seldom so thought of. And the first is, touching small sins, Whether they may be said to be reigning sins? Unto which I answer, that it is not the greatness but the power of sin, which makes it a king. We know there are 'Reguli,' as well as 'Reges,' kings of cities and narrow territories, as well as emperors over vast provinces. Nay many times a sin may be great 'in abstracto,' as the fact is measured by the law; and yet in concreto,' by circumstances, it may not be a reigning sin in the person committing it: and on the contrary, a small sin in the nature of the fact, may be a reigning sin in the commission; as in a corporation a man not half as rich as another may be the chief magistrate,-and another, of a far greater estate, may be an underling in regard of government. As a small stone, thrown with a strong arm, will do more hurt than another far greater, if but gently laid on, or sent forth with a fainter impression; so a small sin, committed with a high hand, with more security, presumption, and customariness, than others, will more waste the conscience, than far greater, out of infirmity or sudden surprisal. As we see drops, frequently falling, will eat into a stone, and make it hollower than some few far heavier strokes could have done or as water poured into a sieve with many small holes, or into a bottomless vessel, is equally cast away; a ship may as well perish upon sands as rocks. Daily small expenses upon lesser vanities, may, in time, eat out a good estate, if there be never any accounts taken, nor proportion

i Prov. xvi. 2.

Heb. iv. 12, 13. κ Λανθάνει ἐπεισδίουσα ἡ παράβασις ὥσπερ τὰς οὐσίας αἱ μικραὶ δαπαναὶ δαπανῶσι πολλάκις γινόμεναι. Arist. Polit, lib. 5. c. 8. Qui modica spernit, paulatim decidit. Aug. Confes. 1. 9. c. 8.

observed, no provision made to bring in as well as to expend: so a man, otherwise very specious, may, by a course of more civil and moderate sins, run into ruin.

The second question is, Whether privy and secret sins which never break forth into light, may reign?—To which I answer,that of all other sins, those which are secret, have the chiefest rule; such as are privy pride, hypocrisy, selfjustification, rebellion, malicious projects against the Word and worship of God, &c. The prophet' compares wicked men's hearts to an oven. As an oven is hottest, when it is stopped, that no blast may break forth; so the heart is oftentimes most sinful, when most reserved. It was a great part of the pride and state of the Persian kings, that they were seldom seen by their subjects in public; and the kingdom of China, at this day, is very vast and potent, though it communicate but little with other people: so those "lodging thoughts," as the prophet calls them, which lie stifled within, may be most powerful, when they are least discovered. First, Because they are ever in the throne (for the heart is the throne of sin); and every thing hath most of itself, and is least mixed and altered where it first riseth. Secondly, Because they are in the heart, as a stone in the centre freest from opposition and disturbance,—which, breaking forth into act, they might be likely to meet withal. And this may be one of the depths and projects of Satan against the soul of man, to let him live in some fair and plausible conformity for the outward conversation; that so his rule in the heart may be the more quiet both from clamours of conscience, and from cure of the Word,

The third question is, Whether sins of ignorance may be reigning sins? To which I answer, that it is not man's knowledge of a king which makes him a king, but his own power. Saul" was a king, when the witch knew not of it. For as those multitudes of imperceptible stars in the milky way ° do all contribute to that general confused light which we there see; so the undiscerned power of unknown sins doth add much to the great kingdom which sin hath in the hearts of men. A letter, written in an unknown language, or in dark

1 Hos. vii. 6, 7. m Apud Persas, persona regis sub specie majestatis occulitur. Just. 1. 1. Αὐτὸς μὲν γὰρ, ὡς λόγοι, ἵδρυτο ἐν Σουσοῖς καὶ Εκβατάνοις, παντ' dógaros. Arist. de mundo. n 1 Sam. xxviii. o Arist. Meteor. lib. 1. cap. 8.

and invisible characters, is yet as truly a letter, as that which is most intelligible and distinct; so though men make a shift to fill their consciences with dark and illegible sins,-yet there they are as truly, as if they were written in capital characters. Saint Paul's persecution was a sin of ignorance; that was the only thing which left room for the mercy of God so he saith of himself, "I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly, through unbelief." Which words we are not to understand causally, or by way of external motive to God's mercy, as if St. Paul's ignorance and unbelief had been any positive and objective reason why God shewed him mercy, but only thus ;-I was a grievous persecutor of the Church of Christ; that, had it not been for my ignorance only, I had been a subject incapable of mercy. If I had known Christ's spirit, and had been so convinced as the Scribes and Pharisees", to whom he used to preach, were,--and should, notwithstanding that conviction, have set myself with that cruelty and rage against him as I did,-there would have been no room for mercy left; my sin would have been not only against the members, but against the Spirit, of Christ, and so an unpardonable sin.' His persecution then was a sin of ignorance; and yet we may know what a reigning sin it was, by the description of it, that "he made havock of the church, and haled men and women into prison." And indeed ignorance doth promote the kingdom of sin, as a thief with a vizard or disguise will be more bold in his outrages, than with open face. For sin cannot be reproved, nor repented of, till, some way or other, it be made known. "All things that are reproved, are made manifest by the light "."

The fourth question is, Whether natural concupiscence may be esteemed a reigning sin?-To which I answer, That as a child may be born a king, and be crowned in his cradle, so sin in the womb may reign. And indeed concupiscence is, of all other, the sinning sin, and most exceeding sinful. So that as there is, virtually and radically, more water in a fountain though it seem very narrow,

• 1 Tim. i. 13.

· Τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν καὶ ἄλλοι Ἰουδαῖοι οὐκ ἕλεήθησαν, ὅτι οὐκ ἐξ ἀγνοίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰδότες καὶ σφόδρα ἐπιστάμενοι ἔπραττον ἃ ἔπραττον. Chrys. s Isai. xlii. 25. t Rom. vii. 13.

q Acts viii. 3.

Eph. v. 13.

than in the streams which flow from it, though far wider,-because though the streams should all dry up, yet there is enough in the fountain to supply all again; so the sin of nature hath indeed more fundamental foulness in it, than the actual sins which arise from it, as being the adulterous womb, which is ever of itself prostituted to the injections of any diabolical or worldly temptations, and greedy to clasp, cherish, and organize the seeds of sin. So that properly the reign of sin is founded in lust; for they are our lusts, which are to be satisfied in any sinful obedience. All the subsidies, succours, contributions which are brought in, are spent upon lust"; and therefore not to mourn for and bewail this natural concupiscence, as David and Paul did, is a manifest sign of the reign of lust. For there is no medium: if sin, which cannot be avoided, be not lamented neither, it is undoubtedly obeyed.

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The last question is, Whether sins of omission may be esteemed reigning sins? To which I answer, that the wicked in scripture are charactered by such kind of sins; "Pour out thy vengeance upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not upon thy name.-The wicked through the pride of his heart will not seek after God; God is not in all his thoughts. There is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat; thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; a stranger, and ye took me not in, &c." As in matters of government, a prince's negative voice, whereby he hinders the doing of a thing, is oftentimes as great an argument of his royalty, as his positive commands to have a thing done (nay a prince hath power to command that to be done, which he hath no power to prohibit; as Josias commanded the people to serve the Lord'); so in sin, the power I which it hath to dead and take off the heart from Christian duties, from communion with God, from knowledge of his will, from delight in his word, from mutual edification, from a constant and spiritual watch over our thoughts and ways, and the like, is a notorious fruit of the reign of Sin. So then as he said of the Roman Senate, that It was an as

* Psalm li. 5.

■ Psal. x. 4.

b Hos. iv. 1.

u Rom. iii. 14. James iv. 3. * Jer. x. 25.

y 2 Cor. xii. 8. Rom. vii. 23. c Mat. xxv. 41.

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