But here I understand particular lufts, as pride, covetoufnefs, &c. which are the spawn of the corruption of nature, the members of the old man, which the apoftle calls us to mortify, Col. iii. 5. These are they from which thefe curfed buds immediately fprout forth. Original fin has the lufts thereof, and thefe are they, Rom. vi. 12. We cannot enumerate them, more than we can count the duft. But in the general, ift, There are fleshly lufts, 1 Pet. ii. 11.; lufts converfant about the body, and gratifying to the flesh, fuch as covetoufnefs, uncleannefs, fenfuality, c. In these the body drags the foul after it, and the foul goes out in thefe to gratify the body. 2dly, There are fpiritual lufts, 2 Cor. vii. 1. Eph. ii. 3. There is a filthiness of the fpirit as well as of the flesh, which lies more inwardly, in the mind and will, having nothing ado with the fenfitive appetite, as pride, felfifhnefs, &c. Thefe are the two bands of lufts which the old man fends forth to maintain and advance the government of hell in the foul; but both forts are under a fentence of conden:nation from the law of God; declared rebels to heaven, and intercommuned, not to be conversed with, harboured, or entertained, but resisted, fought againft, and brought to the crofs. They are in good and bad; but, (1.) In natural men they are reigning lufts, Rom. vi. 12. They have the throne in the heart, and amongst them command all. But there is readily one among them, like Beelzebub, that is the prince of thefe devils, called the predominant fin, to which other lufts will bow, though they will not bow to God. As where pride is the predominant, it will make covetoufnefs bow; and where covetousness predominates, it will make pride bow. Thefe do not always continue their rule; but the old man can pull down one, and fet up another, as luft in youth may be fucceeded by covetoufnefs in old age. (2.) In the regenerate they are but indwelling lufts, Rom. vi. 12. & vii. 24. They are caft down from the throne in converfion, purfued and hunted in progreflive fanctification, and weakened, and utterly extirpated out of the kingdom at death. But their very being there is against the law, though they be not on the throne. Now, these lufts are diverfe lufls, Tit. iii, 3. It is not one or two that are in the heart, but many. Their name may be legion, for they are many, The flesh or corrupt nature is a monfter with many heads; but there is one law for them all, theymuft, die. Though they be all the birth of one belly they are very diverfe, for our natural corruption turns itself into a thousand shapes. But, may The qualities common to them all, whereby ye fee more into their nature, are thefe. They are, 1. Ungodly lufts, Jude 18. There is nothing of God in them, no not fo much as in the devil, who is God's creature; but they are none of God's creatures, he difowns them, 1 John ii. 16. They are the creatures of a corrupt heart, generated of it as vermin of a rotten body, by influence from hell. 2. Hellish lufts, devilish lufts, John viii. 44. They were the devil's before they were ours, and fo it is a forry copy we have to write after. They are eminently in him; and thofe in whom they are grown to the greatest perfection, are but bunglers at the trade, to the perfection of which he has arrived. They came from him, they are pleafing to him where ever they are, and they lead to be with hi for evermore, 3. They are warring and fighting lufts, Jam. iv. 1. (1.) They war against the Spirit where-ever it is, Gal. v. 17. They are enemies to grace and the Spirit of grace; and the more they prevail, the kingdom of grace is the lower in the heart. They war against the entrance of grace, and often prevail to keep it out; like fo many burreo's from VOL. III. E e hell, choking the word that would bring it in, Marki v. 19. They war against the actings and exercise of it, till it is often laid by as in a fwoon. And they war against the very being of it, which they would deftroy if God had not said against it. 1 Like a (2.) They war against the soul, 1 Pet. ii. 11. and will ruin it if they be not ruined. They are no other to the foul than vermin and worms to a dead corpfe, that feed on it till it be deftroyed. Like a fword they pierce the foul, 1 Tim. vi, 10. fire they burn it, Rom. i. 27. And like water they drown it, 1 Tim. vi, 9. for they are in the heart like the devil in the fwine, that will not let the foul rest till it deftroy itself. (3.) They war amongst themselves, Jam. iv. 1. For though there is a sweet harmony amongst all the graces, yet lufts may be moft contrary one to another. This makes the heart often like a troubled fea, and puts a man on the rack, one luft drawing him one way, and another another way. Pride will put one forward to that which covetoufnefs draws him back from. And the fervice of lufts must needs be difficult, in that they that serve them serve contrary masters. 4. They are deceitful lufts, Eph. iv. 22. They are the deceivers of the foul, which, by pleafing the corrupt heart, deftroy the foul; like Ezekiel's roll, fweet in the mouth, but bitter in the belly. They are a hook to the foul covered with a taking bait; the filken cords wherewith Satan draws men into deftruction. 5. They are hurtful lufts, 1 Tim. vi. 9. They are hurtful to the foul and to the body, to ourselves and others. Being the brood of hell from a corrupt nature, they cannot be harmless, and therefore where no hurt can be done they cannot enter, Rev. xxi. ult. The fofteft of them is as a brier, and fharper than a thorn-hedge, and always at length pierce the foul, with many forrows. They never fail to leave a fting behind them in the foul. 6. They are worldly lufts, Tit. ii. 12. They have nothing of heaven in them. They range through the world, and feed on that which it does afford, and nothing but what is carnal can please them. They partake of the nature of the serpent, for duft is their meat, and on their belly do they go. 7. They are unfatiable lufts, greedy dogs that can never have enough, If. lvii. 10. To feed them is but to enlarge their appetite, for they cry, Give, give, like the grave and the barren womb, Eccl. i. 8. Surfeited they may be, fatisfied they can never be. They have a heavy task of it, that have them to provide for; no wonder they can get no other thing minded, as a poor woman that has a company of hungry babes ever hanging about her hand, and crying out of hunger. Laftly, They are former lufts, 1 Pet. i. 14. Their reign is in the black state of nature. And indeed in all they are foremost on the throne, they have the ftart of grace always, being born with us, in the virtue of their caufe, the corruption of nature. And the power of them must be broken by grace coming in on them, or we perifh. A view of these lufts in the glafs of this holy law must needs be very humbling, and stain the pride of all glory. Though the outfide be never fo clean, they make a foul infide. For confider, 1. They are the members of the old man, Col. iii. 5. The corruption of nature is the old man, they are his members, which together make up the body of fin. Now, this old man being entire in all the unregenerate, these lufts are all in them; nay, even in the regenerate, fo far as the corruption of nature ftill dwells in them, though the power of them be broken, yet they ftill remain, and afford work to them for daily mortification. So that there is none who may not proportionally take that cha`racter to themselves, Being filled with all unrighteouf nefs, Rom. i. 29. That is to fay, all manner of lufts whatfoever are in the heart of every men, though they do not all break forth in their lives. Confider, (1.). The fame corruption of nature is in all men whatfoever; all are originally and univerfally corrupt, John iii. 6. There muft then be a difpofition in all to every evil thing habitually, though not actually. Doft thou see the most abominable lufts breaking forth in the lives of the worft? fmite on thy breaft, and fay, God be merciful to me a finner, and read thy own heart in their profligate lives, Prov. xxvii. 19. As in water face anfwereth to face; fo the heart of man to man. When thou readeft the law of God against thefe abominations which are not fo much as to be named, conclude that these lufts are in thy heart, for God gives no laws in vain. (2.) What is it man will not do when grace reftrains not, and temptation draws forward? Who would have thought the luft of adultery had been in David's heart, of idolatry in Solomon's after the Lord had appeared to him twice, blafphemy in the faints mentioned by Paul, Acts xxvi. 11. or incest in Lot's daughters? But in fuch a cafe they broke forth, which they had not done if they had not been within before. (2.) They are the tinder anfwering the fparks of Satan's temptations in the world. It was the peculiar privilege of the man Chrift fince Adam fell, that the prince of this world had nothing in him, John xiv. 30. There is never a temptation goes abroad in the world, but there is a luft in the heart akin to it, fo that no wonder they embrace one another as friends when they meet. Satan by this means, be his temptation what it will, has always fomething to work upon, a fire to blow up. So that in every cafe whatfoever that holds true, He that trufteth in his own heart, is a fool, Prov. xxviii. 26. (3.) They are the filthy matter ready to gather to gether in a boil in the heart, which being ripenel |