and affections of the soul, whereon and by which grace should exert its power and efficacy. And this it doth. It darkens the mind; partly through innumerable vain prejudices and false reasonings, as we shall see when we come to consider its deceitfulness; and partly through the steaming of the affections, heated with the noisome lusts that have laid hold on them. Hence that saving light that is in the mind is clouded and stifled, that it cannot put forth its transforming power to change the soul into the likeness of Christ discovered unto it, which is its proper work, Rom. xii. 2. The habitual inclination of the will to obedience, which is the next way of the working of the law of grace, is first weakened, then cast aside and rendered useless, by the continual solicitations of sin and temptation; so that the will first lets go its hold, and disputes whether it shall yield or no, and at last gives up itself to its adversary. And for the affections, commonly the beginning of this evil is in them. They cross one another, and torture the soul with their impetuous violence. By this way is the rule of the law of grace intercepted by the law of sin, even by imposing upon it in the whole seat of its government. When this is done, it is sad work that sin will make in the soul. The apostle warns believers to take heed hereof, chap. vi. 12, "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." Look to it that it get not the dominion, that it usurp not rule, no, not for a moment. It will labour to intrude itself unto the throne; watch against it, or a woful state and condition lies at the door. This, then, accompanies this rage and madness of the law of sin:-It casts off, during its prevalency, the rule of the law of grace wholly; it speaks in the soul, but is not heard; it commands the contrary, but is not obeyed; it cries out, "Do not this abominable thing which the Lord hateth," but is not regarded,—that is, not so far as to be able to put a present stop to the rage of sin, and to recover its own rule, which God in his own time restores to it by the power of his Spirit dwelling in us.

(2.) Madness or rage is accompanied with fearlessness and contempt of danger. It takes away the power of consideration, and all that influence that it ought to have upon the soul. Hence sinners that are wholly under the power of this rage are said to run upon God, and the thick bosses of his buckler," Job xv. 26;-that wherein he is armed for their utter ruin. They despise the utmost that he can do to them, being secretly resolved to accomplish their lusts, though it cost them their souls. Some few considerations will farther clear this unto us:

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[1.] Ofttimes, when the soul is broken loose from the power of renewing grace, God deals with it, to keep it within bounds, by preventing grace. So the Lord declares that he will deal with Israel,

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Hos. ii. 6;-"Seeing thou hast rejected me, I will take another course with thee. I will lay obstacles before thee that thou shalt not be able to pass on whither the fury of thy lusts would drive thee." He will propose that to them from without that shall obstruct them in their progress.

[2] These hinderances that God lays in the way of sinners, as shall be afterward at large declared, are of two sorts:

1st. Rational considerations, taken from the consequence of the sin and evil that the soul is solicited unto and perplexed withal. Such are the fear of death, judgment, and hell,-falling into the hands of the living God, who is a consuming fire. Whilst a man is under the power of the law of the Spirit of life, the "love of Christ constraineth him," 2 Cor. v. 14. The principle of his doing good and abstaining from evil is faith working by love, accompanied with a following of Christ because of the sweet savour of his name. But now, when this blessed, easy yoke is for a season cast off, so as was manifested before, God sets a hedge of terror before the soul, minds it of death and judgment to come, flashes the flames of hell-fire in the face, fills the soul with consideration of all the evil consequence of sin, to deter it from its purpose. To this end doth he make use of all threatenings recorded in the law and gospel. To this head also may be referred all the considerations that may be taken from things temporal, as shame, reproach, scandal, punishments, and the like. By the consideration of these things, I say, doth God set a hedge before them.

2dly. Providential dispensations are used by the Lord to the same purpose, and these are of two sorts:

(1st.) Such as are suited to work upon the soul, and to cause it to desist and give over in its lustings and pursuit of sin. Such are afflictions and mercies: Isa. lvii. 17, "I was wroth, and I smote them;" -"I testified my dislike of their ways by afflictions." So Hos. ii. 9, 11, 12. God chastens men with pains on their bodies; saith he in Job, "To turn them from their purpose, and to hide sin from them," chap. xxxiii. 17-19. And other ways he hath to come to them and touch them, as in their names, relations, estates, and desirable things; or else he heaps mercies on them, that they may consider whom they are rebelling against. It may be signal distinguishing mercies are made their portion for many days.

(2dly.) Such as actually hinder the soul from pursuing sin, though it be resolved so to do. The various ways whereby God doth this we must afterward consider.

These are the ways, I say, whereby the soul is dealt withal, after the law of indwelling sin hath cast off for a season the influencing power of the law of grace. But now, when lust rises up to rage or madness, it will also contemn all these, even the rod, and Him that

hath appointed it. It will rush on shame, reproaches, wrath, and whatever may befall it; that is, though they be presented unto it, it will venture upon them all. Rage and madness is fearless. And this it doth two ways:

[1st.] It possesseth the mind, that it suffers not the consideration of these things to dwell upon it, but renders the thoughts of them slight and evanid; or if the mind do force itself to a contemplation of them, yet it interposeth between it and the affections, that they shall not be influenced by it in any proportion to what is required. The soul in such a condition will be able to take such things into contemplation, and not at all to be moved by them; and where they do prevail for a season, yet they are insensibly wrought off from the heart again.

[2dly.] By secret stubborn resolves to venture all upon the way wherein it is.

And this is the second branch of this evidence of the power of sin, taken from the opposition that it makes to the law of grace, as it were by the way of force, strength, and violence. The consideration of its deceit doth now follow.

CHAPTER VIII.

Indwelling sin proved powerful from its deceit-Proved to be deceitful—The general nature of deceit―James i. 14, opened-How the mind is drawn off from its duty by the deceitfulness of sin-The principal duties of the mind in our obedience-The ways and means whereby it is turned from it.

THE second part of the evidence of the power of sin, from its manner of operation, is taken from its deceitfulness. It adds, in its working, deceit unto power. The efficacy of that must needs be great, and is carefully to be watched against by all such as value their souls, where power and deceit are combined, especially advantaged and assisted by all the ways and means before insisted on.

Before we come to show wherein the nature of this deceitfulness of sin doth consist, and how it prevaileth thereby, some testimonies shall be briefly given in unto the thing itself, and some light into the general nature of it.

That sin, indwelling sin, is deceitful, we have the express testimony of the Holy Ghost, as Heb. iii. 13, "Take heed that ye be not hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." Deceitful it is; take heed of

it, watch against it, or it will produce its utmost effect in hardening of the heart against God. It is on the account of sin that the heart

is said to be "deceitful above all things," Jer. xvii. 9. Take a man in other things, and, as Job speaks, though he "would be wise and crafty, he is like the wild ass's colt," chap. xi. 12,-a poor, vain, empty nothing; but consider his heart on the account of this law of sin,-it is crafty and deceitful above all things. "They are wise to do evil," saith the prophet, "but to do good they have no knowledge," Jer. iv. 22. To the same purpose speaks the apostle, Eph. iv. 22, "The old man is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." Every lust, which is a branch of this law of sin, is deceitful; and where there is poison in every stream, the fountain must needs be corrupt. No particular lust hath any deceit in it, but what is communicated unto it from this fountain. of all actual lust, this law of sin. And, 2 Thess. ii. 10, the coming of the "man of sin" is said to be in and with the "deceivableness of unrighteousness." Unrighteousness is a thing generally decried and evil spoken of amongst men, so that it is not easy to conceive how any man should prevail himself of a reputation thereby. But there is a deceivableness in it, whereby the minds of men are turned aside from a due consideration of it; as we shall manifest afterward. And thus the account which the apostle gives concerning those who are under the power of sin is, that they are "deceived," Tit. iii. 3. And the life of evil men is nothing but "deceiving, and being deceived," 2 Tim. iii. 13. So that we have sufficient testimony given unto this qualification of the enemy with whom we have to deal. He is deceitful; which consideration of all things puts the mind of man to a loss in dealing with an adversary. He knows he can have no security against one that is deceitful, but in standing upon his own guard and defence all his days.

Farther to manifest the strength and advantage that sin hath by its deceit, we may observe that the Scripture places it for the most part as the head and spring of every sin, even as though there were no sin followed after but where deceit went before. So 1 Tim. ii. 13, 14. The reason the apostle gives why Adam, though he was first formed, was not first in the transgression, is because he was not first deceived. The woman, though made last, yet being first deceived, was first in the sin. Even that first sin began in deceit, and until the mind was deceived the soul was safe. Eve, therefore, did truly express the matter, Gen. iii. 13, though she did it not to a good end. "The serpent beguiled me," saith she, "and I did eat." She thought to extenuate her own crime by charging the serpent; and this was a new fruit of the sin she had cast herself into. But the matter of fact was true, she was beguiled before she ate; deceit went before the transgression. And the apostle shows that sin and Satan still take the same course, 2 Cor. xi. 3. "There is," saith he, "the same way of working towards actual sin as was of old: beguiling, deceiving goes

before; and sin, that is, the actual accomplishment of it, followeth after." Hence, all the great works that the devil doth in the world, to stir men up to an opposition unto the Lord Jesus Christ and his kingdom, he doth them by deceit: Rev. xii. 9, "The devil, who deceiveth the whole world." It were utterly impossible men should be prevailed on to abide in his service, acting his designs to their eternal, and sometimes their temporal ruin, were they not exceedingly deceived. See also chap. xx. 10.

Hence are those manifold cautions that are given us to take heed that we be not deceived, if we would take heed that we do not sin. See Eph. v. 6; 1 Cor. vi. 9, xv. 33; Gal. vi. 7; Luke xxi. 8. From all which testimonies we may learn the influence that deceit hath into sin, and consequently the advantage that the law of sin hath to put forth its power by its deceitfulness. Where it prevails to deceive, it fails not to bring forth its fruit.

The ground of this efficacy of sin by deceit is taken from the faculty of the soul affected with it. Deceit properly affects the mind; it is the mind that is deceived. When sin attempts any other way of entrance into the soul, as by the affections, the mind, retaining its right and sovereignty, is able to give check and control unto it. But where the mind is tainted, the prevalency must be great; for the mind or understanding is the leading faculty of the soul, and what that fixes on, the will and affections rush after, being capable of no consideration but what that presents unto them. Hence it is, that though the entanglement of the affections unto sin be ofttimes most troublesome, yet the deceit of the mind is always most dangerous, and that because of the place that it possesseth in the soul as unto all its operations. Its office is to guide, direct, choose, and lead; and "if the light that is in us be darkness, how great is that darkness!"

And this will farther appear if we consider the nature of deceit in general. It consists in presenting unto the soul, or mind, things otherwise than they are, either in their nature, causes, effects, or present respect unto the soul. This is the general nature of deceit, and it prevails many ways. It hides what ought to be seen and considered, conceals circumstances and consequences, presents what is not, or things as they are not, as we shall afterward manifest in particular. It was showed before that Satan "beguiled" and "deceived" our first parents; that term the Holy Ghost gives unto his temptation and seduction. And how he did deceive them the Scripture relates, Gen. iii. 4, 5. He did it by representing things otherwise than they were. The fruit was desirable; that was apparent unto the eye. Hence Satan takes advantage secretly to insinuate that it was merely an abridgment of their happiness that God aimed at in forbidding them to eat of it. That it was for the trial of their obedience, that