These cry alas! But all in vain; They stick fast in the mire; They would be rid of present pain, Yet set themselves on fire.
Darkness is their perplexity, Yet do they hate the light; They always see their misery, Yet are themselves, all night.
They are all dead, yet live they do, Yet neither live nor die; They die to weal, and live to woe--19 This is their misery.
Now will confusion so possess, These monuments of ire, And so confound them with distress, And trouble their desire,
That what to think, or what to do, Or where to lay their head, They know not: "tis the d.a.m.ned"s woe, To live, and yet be dead.
These castaways would fain have life, But know they never shall; They would forget their dreadful plight.
But that sticks fast"st of all.
G.o.d, Christ, and heav"n, they know are best, Yet dare not on them think; They know the saints enjoy their rest, While they their tears do drink.
[OF THE CAUSE OF THE LOSS OF THE SOUL.]
FOURTH, And now I am come to the fourth thing--that is, to show you the cause of the loss of the soul. That men have souls, that souls are great things, that souls may be lost, this I have showed you already; wherefore I now proceed to show you the cause of this loss. The cause is laid down in the 18th chapter of Ezekiel, in these words--"Behold, all souls," says G.o.d, "are Mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die" (5:4).
[Sin the cause of the loss of his soul.]
First, It is sin, then, or sinning against G.o.d, that is the cause of dying, or d.a.m.ning in h.e.l.l fire, for that must be meant by dying; otherwise, to die, according to our ordinary acceptation of the notion, the soul is not capable of, it being indeed immortal, as hath been afore a.s.serted. So, then, the soul that sinneth--that is, and persevering in the same--that soul shall die, be cast away, or d.a.m.ned; yea, to ascertain us of the undoubted truth of this, the Holy Ghost doth repeat it again, and that in this very chapter, saying, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (5:20). Now, the soul may divers ways be said to sin against G.o.d; as,
1. In its receiving of sin into its bosom, and in its retaining and entertaining of it there. Sin must first be received before it can act in, or be acted by, the soul. Our first parents first received it in the suggestion or motion, and then acted it. Now it is not here to be disputed when sin was received by the soul, so much as whether ever the soul received sin; for if the soul has indeed received sin into itself, then it has sinned, and by doing so, has made itself an object of the wrath of G.o.d, and a fire brand of h.e.l.l. I say, I will not here dispute when sin was received by the soul, but it is apparent enough that it received it betimes, because in old time every child that was brought unto the Lord was to be redeemed, and that at a month old, (Exo 13:13; 34:20; Num 18:15, 16); which, to be sure, was very early, and implied that then, even then, the soul in G.o.d"s judgment stood before Him as defiled and polluted with sin. But although I said I will not dispute at what time the soul may be said to receive sin, yet it is evident that it was precedent to the redemption made mention of just before, and so before the person redeemed had attained the age of a month.
And that G.o.d might, in the language of Moses, give us to see cause of the necessity of this redemption, he first distinguisheth, and saith, "The firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat," did not need this redemption, for they were clean, or holy. But the firstborn of men, who was taken in lieu of the rest of the children, and the "firstling of unclean beasts, thou shalt surely redeem," saith He. But why was the firstborn of men coupled with unclean beasts, but because they are both unclean?
The beast was unclean by G.o.d"s ordination, but the other was unclean by sin. Now, then, it will be demanded, how a soul, before it was a month old, could receive sin to the making of itself unclean?
I answer, There are two ways of receiving, one active, the other pa.s.sive; this last is the way by which the soul at first receiveth sin, and by so receiving, becometh culpable, because polluted and defiled by it. And this pa.s.sive way of receiving is often mentioned in Scripture. Thus the pans received the ashes, (Exo 27:3); thus the molten sea received three thousand baths, (2 Chron 4:5); thus the ground receiveth the seed, (Matt 13:20-23); and this receiving is like that of the wool which receiveth the dye, either black, white, or red; and as the fire that receiveth the water till it be all quenched therewith: or as the water receiveth such stinking and poisonous matter into it, as for the sake of it, it is poured out and spilt upon the ground. But whence should the soul thus receive sin? I answer, from the body, while it is in the mother"s belly; the body comes from polluted man, and therefore is polluted (Psa 51: 5). "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" (Job 14:4). The soul comes from G.o.d"s hand, and therefore as so is pure and clean: but being put into this body, it is tainted, polluted, and defiled with the taint, stench, and filth of sin; nor can this stench and filth be by man purged out, when once from the body got into the soul; sooner may the blackamoor change his skin, or the leopard his spots, than the soul, were it willing, might purge itself of this pollution. "Though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me, saith the Lord G.o.d" (Jer 2:22).
2. But as I said, the soul has not only received sin, but retains it, holds it, and shows no kind of resistance. It is enough that the soul is polluted and defiled, for that is sufficient to provoke G.o.d to cast it away; for which of you would take a cloth annoyed with stinking, ulcerous sores, to wipe your mouth withal, or to thrust it into your bosoms? and the soul is polluted with far worse pollution than any such can be. But this is not all; it retains sin as the wool retains the dye, or as the infected water receives the stench or poisonous scent; I say, it retains it willingly; for all the power of the soul is not only captivated by a seizure of sin upon the soul, but it willingly, heartily, unanimously, universally falleth in with the natural filth and pollution that is in sin, to the estranging of itself from G.o.d, and an obtaining of an intimacy and compliance with the devil.
Now this being the state and condition of the soul from the belly,20 yea, from before it sees the light of this world, what can be concluded but that G.o.d is offended with it? For how can it otherwise be, since there is holiness and justice in G.o.d? Hence those that are born of a woman, whose original is by carnal conception with man, are said to be as serpents so soon as born. "The wicked (and all at first are so) go astray as soon as they be born, speakings lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder, that stoppeth her ear" (Psa 58:3,4). They go astray from the belly; but that they would not do, if aught of the powers of their soul were unpolluted. "But their poison is like the poison of a serpent." Their poison--what is that? Their pollution, their original pollution, that is as the poison of a serpent--to wit, not only deadly, for so poison is, but also hereditary. It comes from the old one, from the sire and dam; yea, it is also now become connatural to and with them, and is of the same date with the child as born into the world. The serpent has not her poison, in the original of it, either from imitation or from other infective things abroad, though it may by such things be helped forward and increased; but she brings it with her in her bowels, in her nature, and it is to her as suitable to her present condition as it is that which is most sweet and wholesome to other of the creatures.
So, then, every soul comes into the world as poisoned with sin; nay, as such which have poison connatural to them; for it has not only received sin as the wool has received the dye, but it retaineth it.
The infection is got so deep, it has taken the black so effectually, that the tint, the very fire of h.e.l.l, can never purge the soul therefrom.
And that the soul has received this infection thus early, and that it retains it so surely, is not only signified by children coming into the world besmeared in their mother"s blood, and by the firstborn"s being redeemed at a month old, but also by the first inclinations and actions of children when they are so come into the world (Exo 26). Who sees not that lying, pride, disobedience to parents, and hypocrisy, do put forth themselves in children before they know that they do either well or ill in so doing, or before they are capable to learn either of these arts by imitation, or seeing understandingly the same things done first by others? He that sees not that they do it naturally from a principle, from an inherent principle, is either blinded, and has retained his darkness by the same sin as they, or has suffered himself to be swayed by a delusion from him who at first infused this sp.a.w.n of sin into man"s nature.
Nor doth the averseness of children to morality a little demonstrate what has been said; for as it would make a serpent sick, should one give it a strong antidote against his poison, so then are children, and never more than then, disturbed in their minds, when a strict hand and a stiff rein by moral discipline is maintained over and upon them. True, sometimes restraining grace corrects them, but that is not of themselves; but more oft hypocrisy is the great and first moving wheel to all their seeming compliances with admonitions, which indulgent parents are apt to overlook, yea, and sometimes, through unadvisedness, to count for the principles of grace. I speak now of that which comes before conversion. But as I said before, I would not now dispute, only I have thought good thus to urge these things to make my a.s.sertion manifest, and to show what is the cause of the d.a.m.nation of the soul.
3. Again; as the soul receives sin, and retains it, so it also doth entertain it--that is, countenance, smile upon, and like its complexion and nature well. A man may detain--that is, hold fast--a thing which yet he doth not regard; but when he entertains, then he countenances, likes, and delights in the company. Sin, then, is first received by the soul, as has been afore explained, and by that reception is polluted and defiled. This makes it hateful in the eyes of justice: it is now polluted. Then, secondly, this sin is not only received, but retained--that is, it sticks so fast, abides so fixedly in the soul, that it cannot be gotten out; this is the cause of the continuation of abhorrence; for if G.o.d abhors because there is a being of sin there, it must needs be that he should continue to abhor, since sin continues to have a being there.
But then, in the third place, sin is not only received, detained, but entertained by the now defiled and polluted soul; wherefore this must needs be a cause of the continuance of anger, and that with aggravation. When I say, entertained, I do not mean as men entertain their enemies, with small and great shot, 21 but as they entertain those whom they like, and those that are got into their affections. 22 And therefore the wrath of G.o.d must certainly be let out upon the soul, to the everlasting d.a.m.nation of it.
Now that the soul doth thus entertain sin, is manifest by these several particulars--
(1.) It hath admitted it with complacence and delight into every chamber of the soul; I mean, it has been delightfully admitted to an entertainment by all the powers or faculties of the soul. The soul hath chosen it rather than G.o.d: it also, at G.o.d"s command, refuseth to let it go; yea, it chooseth that doctrine, and loveth it best, since it must have a doctrine, that has most of sin and baseness in it (Isa 65:12; 66:3). They "say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits" (Isa 30:10). These are signs that the soul with liking hath entertained sin; and if there be at any time, as indeed there is, a warrant issued out from the mouth of G.o.d to apprehend, to condemn, and mortify sin, why then,
(2.) These shifts the souls of sinners do presently make for the saving of sin from those things that by the Word men are commanded to do unto it--
(a) They will, if possible, hide it, and not suffer it to be discovered. "He that hideth his sins23 shall not prosper" (Prov 28:13). And again, they hide it, and refuse to let it go (Job 20:12,13). This is an evident sign that the soul has a favour for sin, and that with liking it, entertains it.
(b) As it will hide it, so it will excuse it, and plead that this and that piece of wickedness is no such evil thing; men need not be so nice, and make such a pother24 about it, calling those that cry out so hotly against it, men more nice than wise. Hence the prophets of old used to be called madmen, and the world would reply against their doctrine, Wherein have we been so wearisome to G.o.d, and what have we spoken so much against Him? (Mal 1:6,7; 3:8,13).
(c) As the soul will do this, so to save sin, it will cover it with names of virtue, either moral or civil; and of this G.o.d greatly complains, yea, breaks into anger for this, saying, "Woe to them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; and put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter" (Isa 5:20)!
(d) If convictions and discovery of sin be so strong and so plain, that the soul cannot deny but that it is sin, and that G.o.d is offended therewith; then it will give flattering promises to G.o.d that it will indeed put it away; but yet it will prefix a time that shall be long first, if it also then at all performs it, saying, Yet a little sleep, yet a little slumber, yet a little folding of sin in mine arms, till I am older, till I am richer, till I have had more of the sweetness and the delights of sin. Thus, "their soul delighteth in their abominations" (Isa 66:3).
(e) If G.o.d yet pursues, and will see whether this promise of putting sin out of doors shall be fulfilled by the soul, why then, it will be partial in G.o.d"s law; it will put away some, and keep some; put away the grossest, and keep the finest; put away those that can best be spared, and keep the most profitable for a help at a pinch (Mal 2:9).
(f) Yes, if all sin must be abandoned, or the soul shall have no rest, why then, the soul and sin will part (with such a parting as it is), even as Phaltiel parted with David"s wife, with an ill will and a sorrowful mind; or as Orpha left her mother, with a kiss (2 Sam 3:16; Ruth 1:14).
(g) And if at any time they can, or shall, meet with each other again, and n.o.body never the wiser, O, what courting will be betwixt sin and the soul? And this is called doing of things in the dark (Eze 8:12).
By all these, and many more things that might be instanced, it is manifest that sin has a friendly entertainment by the soul, and that therefore the soul is guilty of d.a.m.nation; for what do all these things argue, but that G.o.d, His Word, His ways, and graces, are out of favour with the soul, and that sin and Satan are its only pleasant companions? But,
[How sin, by the help of the soul, destroys it.]
Secondly, That I may yet show you what a great thing sin is with the soul that is to be d.a.m.ned, I will show how sin, by the help of the soul, is managed, from the motion of sin, even till it comes to the very act; for sin cannot come to an act without the help of the soul. The body doth little here, as I shall further show you anon.
There is then a motion of sin presented to the soul (and whether presented by sin itself or the devil, we will not at this time dispute); motions of sin, and motions to sin there are, and always the end of the motions of sin are to prevail with the soul to help that motion into an act. But, I say, there is a motion to sin moved to the soul; or, as James calls it, a conception. Now behold how the soul deals with this motion in order to the finishing of sin, that death might follow (Rom 7:5).
1. This motion is taken notice of by the soul, but is not resisted nor striven against, only the soul lifts up its eyes upon it, and sees that there is present a motion to sin, a motion of sin presented to the soul, that the soul might midwife it from the conception into the world.
2. Well, notice being taken that a motion to sin is present, what follows but that the fancy or imagination of the soul taketh it home to it, and doth not only look upon it and behold it more narrowly, but begins to trick and trim up the sin to the pleasing of itself and of all the powers of the soul. That this is true, is evident, because G.o.d findeth fault with the imagination as with that which lendeth to sin the first hand, and that giveth to it the first lift towards its being helped forward to act. "And G.o.d saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth" (Gen 6:5,12,13). That is, many abominable actions were done; for all flesh had corrupted G.o.d"s way upon the earth. But how came this to be so? Why, every imagination of the thoughts, or of the motions that were in the heart to sin, was evil, only evil, and that continuously. The imagination of the thoughts was evil--that is, such as tended not to deaden or stifle, but such as tended to animate and forward the motions or thoughts of sin into action. Every imagination of the thoughts--that which is here called a thought, by Paul to the Romans, called a motion. Now the imagination should, and would, had it been on G.o.d"s side, so have conceived of this motion of and to sins, all to have presented it in all its features so ugly, so ill favoured, and so unreasonable a thing to the soul, that the soul should forthwith have let down the sluice, and pulled up the drawbridge, put a stop, with greatest defiance, to the motion now under consideration; but the imagination being defiled, it presently, at the very first view or noise of the motion of sin, so acted as to forward the bringing the said motion or thought into act.
So, then, the thought of sin, or motion thereto, is first of all entertained by the imagination and fancy of the soul, and thence conveyed to the rest of the powers of the soul to be condemned, if the imagination be good; but to be helped forward to the act, if the imagination be evil. And thus the evil imagination helpeth the motion of and to sin towards the act, even by dressing of it up in that guise and habit that may best delude the understanding, judgment, and conscience; and that is done after this manner: suppose a motion of sin to commit fornication, to swear, to steal, to act covetously, or the like, be propounded to the fancy and imagination; the imagination, if evil, presently dresseth up this motion in that garb that best suiteth with the nature of the sin. As, if it be the l.u.s.t of uncleanness, then is the motion to sin drest up in all the imaginable pleasurableness of that sin; if to covetousness, then is the sin drest up in the profits and honours that attend that sin; and so of theft and the like; but if the motion be to swear, hector, or the like, then is that motion drest up with valour and manliness; and so you may count of the rest of sinful motions; and thus being trimmed up like a Bartholomew baby, 25 it is presented to all the rest of the powers of the soul, where with joint consent it is admired and embraced, to the firing and inflaming all the powers of the soul.
And hence it is that men are said to inflame themselves with their idols under every green tree. "And to be as fed horses, neighing after their neighbour"s wife" (Jer 5:8). For the imagination is such a forcible power, that if it putteth forth itself to dress up and present a thing to the soul, whether that thing be evil or good, the rest of the faculties cannot withstand it. Therefore, when David prayed for the children of Israel, he said, "I have seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee;"
that is, for preparations to build the temple. "O Lord G.o.d," saith he, "keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of Thy people, and prepare their heart unto Thee" (1 Chron 29:17, 18). He knew that as the imagination was prepared, so would the soul be moved, whether by evil or good; therefore as to this, he prays that their imagination might be engaged always with apprehensions of the beauteousness of the temple, that they might always, as now, offer willingly for its building.
But, as I said, when the imagination hath thus set forth sin to the rest of the faculties of the soul, they are presently entangled, and fall into a flame of love thereto; this being done, it follows that a purpose to pursue this motion, till it be brought unto act, is the next thing that is resolved on. Thus Esau, after he had conceived of that profit that would accrue to him by murdering of his brother, fell the next way into a resolve to spill Jacob"s blood. And Rebecca sent for Jacob, and said unto him, "Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee" (Gen 27:42). See also (Jer 49:30). Nor is this purpose to do an evil without its fruit, for he comforted himself in his evil purpose: "Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee."
The purpose, therefore, being concluded, in the next place the invention is diligently set to work to find out what means, methods, and ways, will be thought best to bring this purpose into practice, and this motion to sin into action. Esau invented the death of his brother when his father was to be carried to his grave (Gen 27:41).
David purposed to make Uriah father his b.a.s.t.a.r.d child by making of him drunk (2 Sam 11:13). Amnon purposed to ravish Tamar, and the means that he invented to do it were by feigning himself sick.
Absalom purposed to kill Amnon, and invented to do it at a feast (2 Sam13:32). Judas purposed to sell Christ, and invented to betray him in the absence of the people (Luke 22:3-6). The Jews purposed to kill Paul, and invented to entreat the judge of a blandation26 to send for him, that they might murder him as he went (Acts 23:12-15).
Thus you see how sin is, in the motion of it, handed through the soul--first, it comes into the fancy or imagination, by which it is so presented to the soul, as to inflame it with desire to bring it into act; so from this desire the soul proceedeth to a purpose of enjoying, and from a purpose of enjoying to inventing how, or by what means, it had best to attempt the accomplishing of it.
But, further, when the soul has thus far, by its wickedness, pursued the motion of sin to bring it into action, then to the last thing; to wit, to endeavours, to take the opportunity, which, by the invention, is judged most convenient; so to endeavours it goes, till it has finished sin, and finished, in finishing of that, its own fearful d.a.m.nation. "Then when l.u.s.t hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death"
(James 1:15).
And who knows, but G.o.d and the soul, how many lets, hindrances, convictions, fears, frights, misgivings, and thoughts of the judgment of G.o.d, all this while are pa.s.sing and repa.s.sing, turning and returning, over the face of the soul? how many times the soul is made to start, look back, and tremble, while it is pursuing the pleasure, profit, applause, or preferment that sin, when finished, promiseth to yield unto the soul? for G.o.d is such a lover of the soul, that He seldom lets it go on in sin, but He cries to it, by His Word and providences, "Oh! do not this abominable thing that I hate!" (Jer 44: 4); especially at first, until it shall have hardened itself, and so provoked Him to give it up in sin-revenging judgment to its own ways and doings, which is the terriblest judgment under heaven; and this brings me to the third thing, the which I now will speak to.
3. As the soul receives, detains, entertains, and wilily worketh to bring sin from the motion into act, so it abhorreth to be controlled and taken off of this work--"My soul loathed them," says G.o.d, "and their soul also abhorred Me" (Zech 6:8). My soul loathed them, because they were so bad; and their souls abhorred Me, because I am so good. Sin, then, is the cause of the loss of the soul; because it hath set the soul, or, rather, because the soul of love to sin hath set itself against G.o.d. "Woe unto their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves"(Isa 3:9).
[Through sin the soul sets itself against G.o.d.]
Third, That you may the better perceive that the soul, through sin, has set itself against G.o.d, I will propose, and speak briefly to, these two things:--
I. The law. II. The gospel.