i. 2. Psalm cxix. 71. Heb. xii. 9. And he is not only thus willing that God should, by any methods, take down the power of sin in the heart, but also joins in with the methods of divine grace, and, by watching and praying, and by fighting and striving, seeks the death of every corruption: and from his thus joining in on God's side against the flesh, he is said, in scripture, to crucify it, Gal. v. 24. and to work out his own salvation. Phil ii. 13. From what has been said under this head, we may see that a saving conversion differs very much from the conversion of these four sorts of men: (1.) The worldly hypocrite; who makes a profession of religion; does many things; appears zealous, and pretends to be a good man, merely from worldly considerations, and to be seen of men. Mat. xxiii. 5. (2.) The legal hypocrite; whose conversion is nothing else but a leaving off his vicious practices, and turning to be strict and conscientious in external duties, in hopes thereby to make amends for his past sins, and recommend himself to God; and so escape hell, and get to heaven. Rom. x. 3. (3.) The evangelical hypocrite; whose conversion was nothing else but this: he was awakened to see his sins, and terrified with fear of hell, and humbled, in a measure, but not thoroughly; but great light broke into his mind, and now he believes that Christ loves him, and has pardoned all his sins, and so is filled with joy and zeal, and is become quite another man; but still has no grace. Mat. xiii. 20. Heb. vi. 4. 2 Pet. ii. 20. These usually either fall away to carnal security, or, being puffed up with pride, turn enthusiasts. (4.) The wild, blazing enthusiast; whose conversion all arises from imaginary notions. He has an imaginary sight of his sin; his heart; the wrath of God; of hell and the devil, and is terribly distressed : and then he sees Christ in a bodily shape, it may be on the cross with his blood running, or seated on a throne of glory at his father's right hand; he sees a great light shining all around him: hears the angels sing: sees visions, hears voices; has revelations, and thinks himself one of the very best saints in the whole world, though, in truth, he, by scandalous practices, or heretical principles, or both, soon appears to be seven times more a child of the devil than he was before. However, in his own conceit, he knows infallibly that he is right, and all the world cannot convince him to the contrary. Yea, he is fit, at once, to be a minister, though ignorant of the first principles of religion; he is inspired by God, and whoever likes him not is an enemy to Jesus Christ, he doubts not at all. These are the tares the devil sows, by means of whom the ways of God are evil spoken of. Mat. xiii. 39. 2 Cor. xi. 14. 1 Tim. i. 7. Now these several sorts of religion, the true and the false, growing up from these several roots, do all receive a different nourishment, according to their different nature; through which nourishment they grow and increase ; and through the want of which they decay. The good man, the greater sense he has of God's infinite glory, as he has revealed himself in the law and in the gospel, so, proportionably, does his religion flourish and grow in all its various branches, and shine with a heavenly lustre. The worldly hypocrite lays out himself most in religion, when there are the most to observe and applaud him. The legal hypocrite, when his conscience is most terrified with the thoughts of death, judgment, and eternity. And the evangelical hypocrite has his affections raised, his love, and joy, and zeal, in proportion to his supposed discoveries of the love of Christ to him in particular, and sense of the glories of a (fancied) heaven. And, finally, the blazing enthusiast is more or less lively in religion according as he has dreams, hears voices, has impressions and revelations, and is applauded by his party. And, accordingly, those different sorts of religion will grow and thrive the best under such different sorts of preaching as suits their several natures. And men will cry up those ministers most, whose preaching and conduct agree with their hearts the best. Mic. iv. 5. For all people will walk, every one in the name of his God : And true believers will walk in the name of the LORD their GOD. 6. From all that has been said, we may learn that a sinner is naturally disposed to resist the spirit of God with all his might, when he comes to awaken, convince, and humble him: to take down the power of sin in his heart, and turn him to God. Conversion consists in our being recovered from the sinful state we are in, by nature, to a real conformity to the divine law; i. e. in our being recovered from a disposition to love ourselves supremely, live to ourselves ultimately, and delight in that which is not God wholly, and a practice agreeable to this disposition; to a disposition to love God supremely, live to him ultimately, and delight in him superlatively, and to love our neighbours as ourselves: and a practice agreeable thereto; i. e. in other words, in our being recovered from one disposition, to another directly contrary to it; even so contrary, that the first must die, in order to the other's existence. This disposition, from which we are to be recovered, is not any habit contracted merely by custom, which might more easily be parted with; but it is connatural to us; a disposition rooted, as it were, in our very nature, and which has the full possession of our souls, and the entire government of our hearts; in a word, a disposition which we in every respect perfectly love, and which we perfectly hate should be ever crossed, and which yet must be slain, or we never converted. Now, if ever a sinner be recovered from this disposition, it is evident it must be against the very grain of his heart: his heart, therefore, will make the utmost resistance it possibly can. If we were entirely renewed in an instant, without any previous strivings of the spirit, then, indeed, there would be no room nor time for resistance; but, otherwise, the heart will resist. If there were the least disposition in our hearts, contrary to our natural disposition to love ourselves supremely, live to ourselves ultimately, and delight in that which is not God wholly, it might join in on God's side; be sincerely desirous that God would slay the enmity of our hearts: but there is not. The carnal mind is wholly enmity against God; is not subject to his law, nor can be; and so the whole heart will make resistance. If the disposition, to which we are recovered in conversion, were not so directly contrary to our natural disposition, as that our natural disposition must be slain in order to the very being of that, the sinner's opposition might not be so great; but, when all that is within him is directly crossed and going to be killed, all that is within him will oppose and resist, till slain. We are, by nature, wholly in the flesh, and after the flesh. According to a Scripture phrase, that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and, by conversion, we are to become spirit: that which is born of the spirit is spirit. But the flesh and the spirit are, in Scripture, represented as being contrary the one to the other. Will flesh, then, of its own accord, become spirit? No, surely : for the flesh lusteth against the spirit; i. e. is wholly averse from it, and set against it: so that there is no other way but for the flesh to be crucified, with the affections and lusts: but the flesh perfectly hates this death, and therefore will resist with all its might. Rom. viii. 7, 8. John iii. 6. Gal. v. 17. Rom. vi. 6. As the truth of this point is thus evident, from the reason and nature of things, so it is further confirmed from constant experience: for, let any man read the Bible with attention, and he may plainly see that the very thing which God has always been aiming at, in all the external means he has used with his professing people, in every age of the world, has been to recover them to a conformity to his holy law in heart and life; i. e. to recover them from a disposition to love themselves supremely, live to themselves ultimately, and delight in that which is not God wholly, and a practice agreeable thereunto, to a disposition to love God supremely, live to him ultimately, and delight in him superlatively, and to love their neighbours as themselves, and to practise accordingly: for on these two commands hang all the law and the prophets. And we may also plainly see, that God's professing people have always manifested the greatest aversion to hearken to the law and to the prophets, and so to die to themselves, the world, and sin; and thus to give up themselves to God, to love him, live to him, delight in him, and walk in all his ways. God sent all his servants, the prophets, to the children of Israel, rising early and sending; but they always hated their words, and so stopped their ears, and refused to obey: yea, they fell into a rage at them, and, in their rage, they mocked them; they scourged them; they bound them; they imprisoned them; they stoned them; they sawed them asunder, and made the rest wander about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth, in sheep-skins and goat-skins, destitute, afflicted, tormented. Heb. xi. 35-38. And when God 1 sent his well-beloved Son to call a wicked world to return home unto him, they said, Come, let us kill him, Mat. xxi. 33 -39. And when Christ sent his apostles to carry the glad tidings of pardon and peace to the ends of the earth, and call all men to repent and be converted; to return, and love, and serve the living God, both Jews and Gentiles conspired together against them, and killed them; just as the ten tribes killed the messenger whom Rehoboam sent unto them, to call and invite them to return to their former allegiance. Kings xii. 18. Therefore, says our blessed Saviour to the Jews, who pretended great love to God and to the law, and mightily to honour their prophets, "You are like whited sepulchres; you appear outwardly righteous, but inwardly are full of all hypocrisy and wickedness. Your fathers killed the prophets, whom you pretend to honour, but you are full as bad as they were. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, &c. Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute thein from city to city. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem ! thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as the hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye WOULD NOT!" Mat. xxiii. 27-37. From all which, nothing can be plainer, than that this rebellious, God-hating world always have been set against a return to God, and been disposed to do all they could, to render all means ineffectual, Well might St. Stephen, therefore, say unto the Jews as he did, in Acts vii. 51. "Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye;" nor had they any reason to be angry with him therefor. And as all who have enjoyed the external means of grace have thus been disposed to hate the light, shut their eyes, stop their ears, and refuse to hear, and been utterly opposed to a return to God; so this is evidently the case with all whom God has inwardly wrought upon by his spirit; as all know, who have either had any experience themselves, or have candidly observed the experience of others. And, indeed, it must be so; for the very same tem |