-- CHAPTER VI: The corruption of man's nature, a privation of all goodness, and an inclination to al
which we usually call the sin against the Holy Ghost; but such sins are a step to it.
Take heed also how thou speakest against the people of God, contrary to thy own knowledge and conscience, for those dogs that will out of wantonness fall upon sheep, when they have tasted their blood, will kill them in earnest. So there is many a man that will begin to speak against the people of God for some other end at first, but at last God may give them up to the malice of their own hearts; and so thou dost not only run into inevitable danger, but there is the sorest punishment of all other belongs to thee: 'How much sorer punishment,' &c., Heb. 10:29, and therefore it is said, Mat. 21:40, 44,
'The Lord will come and miserably destroy those wicked men;' and ver. 44, 'Whosoever shall fall on that stone shall be broken;' that is, ordinary sinners that rush against Christ shall be broken by him; 'but on whom this stone shall fall,' that is, he that shall out of malice sin against Christ (for that sin is nothing else but revenge against God, that is the form of it), 'he shall grind them to powder.' As if a glass fall upon a stone, it will be broken, but if a rock fall upon it, it will grind it to powder. I speak not to discourage any; but as the apostle, fearing lest some would be discouraged at the delivery of this doctrine, said, Heb. 6:9, so say I, 'We are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.'
CHAPTER VI:
The corruption of man's nature, a privation of all goodness, and an inclination to all evil.
A general division of the corruption of man's nature into the several parts of it, a privation of all goodness, and an inclination to all evil.
—That there is in man fallen, an emptiness of all that is good,
proved; and that all the faculties of his soul are void of that righteousness which ought to be in them For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his
Son: much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
—ROM. 5:6, 8, 10
I have demonstrated the greatness of the sinfulness of the natural inherent defilement in man, which is here called flesh, of which I have discoursed more generally, and but comparatively only, both as compared with our gross sins; or, secondly, as compared with all a man's other sins. Now we will consider it in the parts of it, more absolutely as it is in itself. It is our present business to view and cut up and anatomize this body of sin, which, viewed in the lump and gross only, seems not so ugly; which anatomy is either into the more general parts of it, which express the nature of it, as it is in all the faculties; or, secondly, into the particular parts of it, as it hath diversely corrupted each faculty, as it is darkness in the understanding, lust in the will and affections, &c. And so I shall cut up every particular vein, and let you see what corrupt blood runs there; in each severally.
Now the more general parts of it, which express its general nature, are (as they are usually dissected by divines) two.
First, A total and utter emptiness and privation of all that righteousness and true holiness which God first created in man, and which the law of God requires.
And, secondly, a positive sinful inclination to all that is contrary to grace, namely, a proneness to all sin, of what kind soever, which any law of God forbids; which positive sinfulness is divided into two parts: 1, the inordinate lustings of the faculties after things earthly,
fleshly, sinful; 2, an enmity unto God, and unto what is holy. Or, if you will, you may quarter this our inherent sinfulness into four parts, and that according to the section of the most curious anatomist, the apostle Paul, as it is to be seen Rom. 5 ver. 6 to 11, where, to set forth the greatness of the love and grace of God in Christ, he aggravates the disease of our natures and condition, of which grace was the remedy; for, as the greatness and desperateness of the disease commends the remedy, so 'God commends his love' (they are his words, ver. 8), 'in that whilst,' first, 'without strength,' secondly,
'ungodly,' ver. 6, thirdly, 'sinners,' ver. 8, yea, 'enemies,' ver. 9, 'Christ died for us.'
Which may seem to import out four degrees of the corruption of their natures and lives, for whom Christ died, especially of their natures, as the first of them, without strength, implies; which gradation plainly comprehends the full distemper of man in the general nature of it. And these degrees may come under our former division, wherein are distinguished the corruption of nature into that, which is
(1.) privative, which the apostle's words, ungodly and without strength, import; (2.) the positive part of it, which includes, 1st, the inclination and disposition of sinners to all evil; 2dly, enmity to God, and all that is good; but we will take them as the apostle hath set them down, in so many several degrees of our sinfulness.
The first and lowest degree is weakness, ἀσθενεία, which implies want of power and ability, as to help itself, and to come out of that condition, so unfitly* to be used in the service of God; for, 1 Cor.
15:43, the same word is used to express a dead carcase, that is buried and sown in weakness, so as that dead trunk is unable to stir, and is unfit to be used any way, and is fit for nothing but to be buried; so are we as 'dead in sins and trespasses,' Eph. 2:1, so as we could stand
God no way in stead, nor help ourselves, but were fit for nothing but to be buried in hell, which is our own place.
The second is ungodliness, as being wholly cut off and estranged from God, and all the life of grace, which was the cause of our
impotency; and as there is not one spark of grace left, so there is an awkwardness and unappliableness to what is good, yea, a renunciation, denying of what is good, as well as a weakness and unfitness for it; both which, as being primitive,* I make the two parts of the first general head, viz., an emptiness of all good.
The third degree is, that they are sinners. As they have nothing in themselves which leads them to God, or which can be employed for God, they are thereby also become prone and inclined to sin, and nothing else; for sinners properly notes out one in whom the habitual disposition to sin prevails.
The fourth degree, which is further than this, is, that they are enemies, and that is in their natures too, 'enemies in their minds,'
Col. 1:21, as fighting against all the means that should deliver them out of this condition, opposite to God and all godliness, in themselves irrecoverable. They are not simply such as are ungodly, and so will do nothing for God, or without strength, as unable only, but enemies to him and all his ways.
And both these last are positive acts, and so to be reduced as the parts of the second general head.
The first branch of inherent corruption is an emptiness of whatever is holy and good in the several degrees of it. Rom. 7:18, that which is here called flesh; is an emptiness of all good and grace; and is not this a great accusation laid to the charge of our natures, if it can be proved that there is nothing good in them, not a spark or dram of the least godliness, or grace, or power to do any good? Hath not this cause to humble a man, and pull down all the fly-blown conceits of ourselves, that by nature thou hast nothing in thee which should make thee acceptable in the eyes of God, but that thou art a lump of terra damnata, as the chemists call it, namely, that which is the dross of their distillations, out of which they have distilled all that is good or useful, or rather, to use the Scripture comparison, cursed earth?
Heb. 6:7, 8, 'For the earth, which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft
upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: but that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.' Cursed earth, I say, which hath not one good seed in it, able to bring forth nothing but briars and thorns, not one good herb meet for the dresser's use; this is nigh to cursing, and the end of it is to be burned. Our natures are like the basket of rotten figs, as God compares the Jews, Jer. 24:2, 3, which were bad, and very bad, as they could not be eaten, good for nothing but to be seized on as bad wares, and openly burned; for you use to preserve nothing but that which hath some goodness in it; neither would God destroy infants and damn them for ever, if there was any goodness in them. As in Isa. 65:8, a vine that hath but one cluster of grapes on it, 'one says,
Destroy it not, for there is a blessing in it,' some good and blessed thing which it is a pity to have destroyed. And so likewise, in 1 Kings
14:13, because Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, had 'some good thing in him towards the Lord his God,' therefore God had a care of him to keep him from the evil that was to come, and brought him to the grave in peace. Ay, but thou hast no good thing towards the Lord thy
God in thee, and therefore thou hast cause to judge thyself not worthy to live, and mayest wonder that thou wert not destroyed ere this; and it may humble thee, for nothing lifts up but an opinion of some goodness in one; and, therefore, the contrary may bring thee as low as nothing, to reckon every creature in their kind better than thyself; for they retain most of their native goodness which God put into them, and are good for those ends they were at first appointed; but thou (to use Christ's comparison) art as salt whenas it hath lost all its savour, and is fit for nothing but the dunghill, because, though it hath a being still, yet it hath lost its goodness to that good end for which it was appointed. And so thou, being at first seasoned with grace, whereby thou shouldst have glorified God, which was the adequate end for which thou wert created, having now lost that seasoning, art now good for nothing (though thou hast a being in thee still), for, bonum et finis convertuntur, nothing is good further than it tends to its end; and so far as it is unfit for its end it is said to grow naught. Now thou art by nature altogether unserviceable for
God, to glorify him; and therefore all that is in thee is naught; yea, and as thou hast cause to humble thyself, and think ill of thyself for this, so also to hate thyself; for we naturally love nothing but what is good.
Now to prove and make this good unto you, First, Consider that one place, Rom. 7:18, 'For I know that in me
(that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.' Says St Paul,
'In me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing,' that is, no grace; for the goodness he there speaks of is a spiritual goodness, opposite to sin: ver. 17, 'Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.' And St Paul speaks this of his unregenerate part, which he calls flesh, and though he being regenerate, and having another I in him, as he says in the 17th verse, which gave ground to that blessed distinction, 'In me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing,' as implying that there was something in him that was not flesh, that had some good thing in it; yet take a man as born into the world, and not born again, and he is nothing but flesh: 'That which is born of flesh is flesh,' that is, there is not that thing in him which is not flesh, and therefore there is no good at all in him. And therefore,
Job 11:12, he is called 'empty or hollow man,' as it is in the original, and in the margin so noted; void and empty of all wisdom, much more of spiritual wisdom, grace, and goodness; and this by birth, for it is said, that he is 'born as empty of it as a wild ass's colt.' In the next words, he is a mere empty thing in respect of any good. And answerably the apostle speaks, Rom. 3:10–12, 'As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth; there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.' There is none righteous, none that hath the least spark or part of righteousness or true wisdom; for, ver. 18, he says,
'The fear of God is not before their eyes,' which yet you know is the beginning and first step to wisdom, Prov. 1:7, that is, to grace and righteousness. And if you will see reason for it,
1. Adam lost all grace and goodness by his fall, and therefore we too, and so our natures must needs be brought forth stripped of all. Now if Adam did not lose all grace at his first sinning, then it must have been with him as with a regenerate man now in the state of grace when he sins, of whom the apostle says, 'The seed of God remains in him,' 1 John 3:9. And if so, then Adam needed not to have been born again, and so nor we, if any such seed remained, which was not wholly expelled; for to be born again is to have the immortal seed put into us, 1 Peter 1:23, and Christ says, therefore we 'must be born again,' that is, by a new work of the Holy Ghost. We must have this seed sown anew in us, because we are nothing but flesh, which flesh hath no good in it; and therefore it is said, the new man must be created again, Col. 3:10, which is renewed in knowledge after the image wherein God created him at first, as having now in his corrupt state wholly put it off, as was the condition of Adam after his fall; who says of himself, Gen. 3:10, that he was naked, as having lost every piece of that image, and so had no goodness to cover him, as I proved afore.
2. If Adam, then we all by nature have not the Spirit of God dwelling in us, and then we have no grace, not the least spark dwelling in us; and so è contra, if we had the least grace, then also we must have the Spirit dwelling in us; for as the sun maintains light, so the Spirit, grace; and as, take the sun out of the world, and all the beams of light vanish, so take the Spirit away, and you take all grace away also, for he is the 'Father of lights,' and 'God of all grace.' Now what saith the apostle? Rom. 8:9, 'You are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you.' And so if the Spirit of God dwelt in us by nature, then (according to the apostle's argument) by nature we were not in the flesh; but so we are all in the flesh, and in the gall of bitterness, as a fish in water, even flesh itself. For being in the flesh is used to express our natural estate, as Rom. 7:5, 'For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members, to bring forth fruit unto death.' Whilst we were in the flesh, that is, whilst we were unregenerate in our natural condition, and therefore during that state the Spirit of God dwells not in us.
And in Jude 19, speaking of carnal men, he says, they are 'sensual and have not the Spirit,' that is, dwelling in them; and if so, then no good thing, no grace dwells there.
And if this be true, have you not cause to humble yourselves for this nature of yours, as above measure sinful? For it is not a bare negation of grace that is in you, but an emptiness and privation, which is carentia entitatis debitæ inesse, the want of a goodness which you ought to have; for this grace which thou wantest ought to be in thee, and that not only by the mere law of nature, as the power of seeing ought to be in that eye that is born destitute of it, but it ought to be there by the law of God, which requires that all grace should be in thee, and that you should be filled with grace, and abound therein, enriched with every grace, and nothing wanting. But now in thy nature there is not any one kind of grace, nor any one degree, no, not the least; and therefore thou art to humble thyself, as in this respect guilty of as many sins as there are graces and degrees of graces wanting, for the want thereof is a sin, be it but of the least.
If that servant was condemned that did not increase the talent given him, though he brought his master his own again, Mat. 25:24, how much more thou who hast lost it all! especially seeing every grace is so precious a talent, which God gave man at first, and no creature else. As faith is called 'precious faith,' 2 Peter 1:1, so love may be called precious love, which also he gave him as a token of his dearest love, as his image and picture to remember him by.
Yea, and further, look how many parts and branches of graces there were at first implanted, and they are innumerable, so many sins art thou guilty of. Now there are innumerable graces: 2 Peter 1:3,
'According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.' There is a bundle of them, all things belonging to godliness; he speaks of them as of many, these many, several limbs of that glorious image. And Christ tells us, that a good man hath a 'good treasure' in his heart. A treasure notes out variety and abundance; yea, look how many several branches there
are of the law affirmative, look how many several duties God requires, so many several graces there are, for grace is but the law written in the heart. So many sins art thou to humble thyself for, in that thou wantest all these graces through the ungodliness of thy nature.
And now as for these particular parts of it before mentioned, wherein this emptiness consists, first, a want of strength; secondly, ungodliness; I will speak something of them, though not much.
First, You see it is a want of strength to anything that is good, ἀσθενεία, which word being taken from a dead corpse, as the word is used, 1 Cor. 15:43, may well befit us, in regard of this emptiness of all that is good.
For, 1, it is not only the weakness of men in a consumption or sickness, that have some life or strength, though joined with much feebleness, for this is said of regenerate men, Heb. 12:12, 'Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the feeble knees.' Strengthen the hands that hang down, as unable to stir to what is good, and the feeble knees, which is spoken of such as were regenerate men, that had some strength, yet feebleness joined with it. That as a man that is weak, and yet hath some life, yet through weakness is scarce able to stir, or when he comes to raise himself, falls down again in a swoon; such may be the case of regenerate men, that have some life, as being indeed more than flesh, as was the case of St Paul, Rom.
7:18, 'To will is present with me; but how to perform I know not,' not having strength wherewithal, for 'in my flesh dwells no good thing,' that is, no strength to do any good.
Neither, 2, is it only as the weakness of a man out of joint, all his bones being displaced, though this also is most true: for, Gal. 6:1, when a man falls into sin, set him in joint again, says the apostle, καταρτίζετε, for that fall breaks all, and so weakens a man for whatever is good.
But, 3, it is as the weakness of a dead man, for so the word ἀσθενεία is used, 1 Cor. 15:43, and so we are said to be dead in sins, Eph. 2:1, not having the least principle of life to stir to what is good.*
Yea, 4, it is not only a want of an active principle to stir, but also a want of a passive fitness, an unwieldiness and unfitness to be used or employed. So it is with a dead man, and so with us; therefore it is said of us, 2 Cor. 3:5, 'Not that we are sufficient, οὐκ ἱκανοί ἐσμεν, of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.' Unapt, unfit for to think anything, it is not only a want of sufficiency, as if we had strength, but only so weak as it were not sufficient; but, further, it is inidonietas, inaptitudo (as Beza reads it), an unwieldiness to it. Therefore we are said not to be meet vessels till this corruption is purged out, for God's use, to be employed for him:
2 Tim. 2:21, 'If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work.' And in Ps. 14:3, and Rom. 3:12, we are said to become unprofitable, ἡχρειώθησαν, unfit for use; and in the Hebrew of the psalm it is, spumæ instar putruerunt, as Beza observes, become even as putrefied froth. Froth in itself is unfit for anything, much more putrefied froth, which until sweetened can be put to no use. Or, as the prophet compares us, Ezek. 15:3, 4, we are like the wood of a vine which you cannot make a pin of to hang anything on, so nor of our nature, but we are 'reprobate to every good work:' Titus 1:16, 'They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.' And this the word ἀσθενεία plainly imports.
Secondly, A second and further degree of emptiness of good is, that our natures are ungodly. As the other notes out an impotency and weakness to any good in general, agreeable to any part of the law, this more particularly an unability and averseness of mind to sanctify
God (for whom and by whom are all things), either in our hearts or lives; so that suppose we have strength to do any good things, tending to the good of ourselves and others, to be good subjects and
good commonwealth's men; suppose we had strength and heart to all duties of righteousness to men and ourselves, and do them as exactly as ever Adam should have done, and should give our bodies to be burnt for the common good (as some of the heathen Romans sacrificed their lives for the good of their country); yet, as St Paul says of wanting charity, 'it is nothing,' so may I say, we still being without godliness, may truly be said to be empty of ail good, and all this to be nothing. For as God himself is said by way of eminency to be only good,—'There is none good but God,' Mat. 19:17, (for no creature is good otherwise than as it hath a derived goodness from him),—so indeed nothing in man can be said to be good, unless it ariseth from a principle of godliness in us, which springs from God, and tends to him again. Therefore is that distinction made, 1 Kings.
14:13, 'And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.' Abijah is said to have 'some good thing in him;' but how?
'Towards the Lord his God.' And oppositely it is expressed of Israel, Hosea 10:1, 'Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.' Israel is said to be an empty vine, whenas yet in the next words it is said to have brought forth fruit to itself; how then empty?
Because, though it was fruitful, yet it was not fruitful to God, as those are who are united to Christ: Rom. 7:4, 'Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.' So let what goodness soever be in thee, either of ingenuousness of nature, or parts of wisdom or moral virtues, as Hosea 6:4, hypocritical Ephraim is said to have goodness in him, as empty ears of corn on the house-tops are called corn, yet if godliness be wanting, which is as the kernel in the husk, a man is empty of goodness still; and the reason is, because finis et bonum convertuntur, all things that tend to any end receive goodness from their end they tend to. Now God was the immediate adequate end for which our nature was made, viz. to sanctify him;
and therefore if that be wanting in thy nature which should carry thee on to him as the end, then all thy nature ceaseth to be good, notwithstanding that any other goodness, serving for other subordinate ends, may seem to be in it.
Now I will but in brief explain to you what this ungodliness is, which I will do, First of all, in the general.
Secondly, In the particulars.
I. In general. It is a want and emptiness of those dispositions and abilities in our natures, whereby once we were enabled and inclined to sanctify God as God.
1. I call it a want of that which once we had, for otherwise we could no more be called ungodly, than the stones can be termed blind. And therefore at the first God planted in our natures such dispositions, whereby we were inclined thus to sanctify him, which he planted in no creature else except the angels. But as in the body, to the other members it is necessary there should be an eye to behold things without itself; so besides, among the rest of the creatures it was requisite that there should be some made, that might behold God in all his works, and sanctify him in all, which men and angels were made to do. Therefore I express what this ungodliness is a want of, namely, to sanctify God as God; for so, Rom. 1:21, 'Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful,'
&c. It is expressed, 'they worshipped him not as God;' for as if we do not fear, reverence, and honour a king as a king, we dishonour him; so if we do not so sanctify God as we ought to do, we do it not at all.
Now, then, God is sanctified as God when he is known and exalted above all, in all the faculties of soul and body: Ps. 46:10, 'Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted in the earth;' that is, conceive and apprehend of me as I am in myself, with such thoughts as are fit to be had of my greatness, holiness, majesty, &c., and accordingly
exalt ma above all, set me up above all things in your desires, fears, loves, and rejoicings, and as a commander of all, as your chiefest good and chiefest end. When you do so, then you sanctify him as God.
Now because the mind and heart of man is no way able, nay, utterly unwilling to do this, therefore we are by nature ungodly persons, without religion, and therefore also without God in this world: Eph.
2:12, 'That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.' As a blind man is said to be without the sun, because he sees it not, or an evil servant without a master, when he is not disposed to love, fear, or do anything in reverence to him; so now are we so cut off from God every way, and estranged from him, as Col. 1:20, that it is with us as if there were no such God in the world, and it is thus with us as to every faculty. So the apostle Paul, applying that place of the psalmist to this corruption of man's nature, Rom. 3:11, 18, 'There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. There is no fear of God before their eyes.' He says, there is none of them who either understands God, or seeks after him, or fears him; neither, first, are their understandings capable of such sanctified thoughts as are to be had of him; neither, secondly, are their wills capable of being moved to set the man a-work to seek after him; neither, thirdly, will his affections be stirred with sanctified fear, or lore, or joys in him; for if any affection was apt to stir, it would be fear. Now, he says, that the fear of him is not before their eyes; so as all faculties are empty of this ability to sanctify God at all as God, till God by his exceeding precious promises in Christ makes us again partakers of a divine and God-like nature, 2 Peter 1:4, and by a new covenant makes us new hearts to be able to know him, Jer. 31:33, 34, and 24:7, and puts his fear into our hearts, Jer. 32:40, for by nature there is none of these then, but we are lumps of all ungodliness, and every faculty, we see, is empty of all good.
II. And for particulars, it were infinite to go over all the ungodliness in the nature of man.
1. For the speculative judgment and understanding is so far corrupted and darkened as it would of itself, if left to itself, think there is no God: Ps. 14:1, 'The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.' Fools, not idiots, but all unregenerate men (for he speaks there of the universal corruption of man's nature), having sayings in their hearts, there is no God. And if such thoughts be dispelled by light put into corrupt nature, as Rom. 1:19, 20, by God himself manifested out of the creatures, his eternal power and Godhead, yet by nature they are but as men groping in the dark, Acts 17:27, and the wisest of them confessed but an unknown God, ver. 23; and though men have this glimmering light, yet they became vain in their imaginations,
Rom. 1:21. If not thinking him, as the Gentiles did there, Acts 17:29, like the creatures, yet their hearts are filled with under-conceits of him, they know him not as God, limiting his power, as they did, Ps.
78:41, 'Yea, they turned back, and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.' How did they limit God? Why, by lessening his power: ver. 19, 'Yea, they spake against God: they said, Can God furnish us a table in the wilderness?' And though they saw he smote the rock, ver.
20, yet 'can he give bread also?' thought they. Unregenerate men secretly deny God's providence: Hosea 2:8, 'For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold,' &c. Unregenerate men are not able to see that it is God who is the great householder of the world, that layeth in all the provision which the earth bears: or else they deny his omniscience, saying, as they in Job 22:13, 14, 'Thou sayest, How can God know? can he judge through the dark cloud? He walks in the circuit of the heavens,' &c.
And if these conceits be dispelled in the speculative part, as in us that know the word, yet unregenerate men knowing God notionally, sanctify him not in their thoughts, according to their knowledge, for they think not of him daily: Ps. 10:4, 'God is not all in their thoughts.'
Men spend the dearest of their thoughts on honours, pleasures, riches, but God is not found amongst all their thoughts; and though
they can remember and think of every toy and trifle that belongs to them,—'Can a woman forget her ornaments,' as things she cannot be without? 'but my people have forgot me days without number,' Jer.
2:32,—yea, and if the thoughts of God will needs come in and thrust themselves upon them, yet the thoughts of him are but, as Ahab spoke to Elijah, 1 Kings 21:20, 'Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?'
So they wish they could forget God, because he damps their mirth.
Rom. 1:28, they like not to retain God in their knowledge; or they say (as it is in Job), 'Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways,' Job 21:14.
2. For their practical judgments, those whereby their lives are guided and steered, it is most certain, that however they profess they know him, yet they deny him, Titus 1:16. Deny him they do in their works, and therefore first in their practical judgments, which is the court where all acts are first passed ere they come forth to action; and so those that can discourse of God and all his attributes, are yet utterly ignorant of him: Jer. 2:8, 'They that handle the law' (open it and expound it, and God in it), yet 'knew me not.' There are certain fixed principles which the whole man is guided by, contrary to what else he knows of God; and there are sayings in the heart, that there is no such God as the word describes him to be. Thus in Ps. 10, what is the reason that is there given why a wicked man doth persecute the poor? ver. 2; curseth and deceives, speaks lies, ver. 7; and secretly lies in wait to murder the innocent, ver. 8, 9. Why, ver. 11, 'He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten, he will never see it.' And would men else commit sins in secret, which they dare not do before men, if they had not this principle as most certain in their hearts? And so in Ps. 50, the hypocrite who knew God well enough in his speculative understanding, ver. 16, yet, ver. 18–20, is full of theft, adultery, evil speaking and slander; and what is the reason? 'Thou thoughtest I was a God like thee,' that would approve of thy ways and courses, and as one who delights in the same ways himself. They imagined
God like themselves, and by this principle they walk from day to day, and think their estates to be as good as the best; and this is the reason why men are secure and careless, and settled upon the lees of
all kind of sins, and grow old in them: Zeph. 1:12, 'They are settled on lees; and say in their hearts, God will neither do good nor evil.'
Though indeed men speak not this, nor profess this, yea, know the contrary, yet this is the rule they go by, and there fore men grow old in sin, secure and fearless.
And in their wills and affections they are utterly taken off from him; seek him they will not, to inquire for him, Zeph. 1:6, much less draw nigh to him, as unto their chiefest good: Zeph. 3:2, 'She drew not near to her God,' but can be content to live estranged from him from the womb, Ps. 58:3; and go a whoring from him, Ps. 73:27; after their lovers, and after them they will go, Hosea 2:5; loving of pleasures, even every vanity, rather than God, 2 Tim. 3:4; forsaking God, Jer. 2; though a spring, and that of living waters, that offers itself as a spring, and is perpetual; and they are so averse from God, as they will rather dig for water, for muddy water, and that in broken cisterns, than come to this spring, contemning all the goodness that is in him, and having empty pleasures in this life to live upon, as it is in Job 21, spending their days in wealth, &c., ver. 13. They say to God, 'Depart from us' (we are well enough), ver. 14; 'We desire not the knowledge of thee or 'thy ways,' whereby we may come to enjoy thee, ver. 14; for 'what is the Almighty,' what excellency or goodness is there in him, 'that we should serve him?' that is, what worth is there in God that might allure us to serve him, and what advantage would it be to us if we should pray to him? What good is got by our acquaintance and fellowship with him? And as they contemn his goodness, so also his greatness and power; and as they care not for his friendship, so neither for his hatred and all he can do unto them.
Therefore, Ps. 10:13, they are said to contemn God; and Ps. 36:1, their daring to offend him shews as much, proclaims to all the world, that 'there is no fear of God before their eyes.' They say so in their heart, saith David, 'there is no fear of God before their eyes;' and I cannot but judge so, saith he, for the thing speaks it. When men dare swear and be drunk, lie, whore, and break Sabbaths, contemn the saints, and do thus from day to day, it speaks in all ungodly men's hearts that there is no fear of God before their eyes. They fear not to
offend him to his face, when their consciences tell them he looks on.
Thus they are said to sin to God's face, Gen. 13:13; they sinned before Jehovah, as it were before the presence of a judge, yea, hardening themselves against his fear; and if they may be brought to fear or seek him (as out of self-love they may), yet it is not for himself:
Hosea 7:16, they 'return, but not to the Most High.' Fear his goodness they do not, and for himself they do not seek him, as godly men are said to do; and if they do draw nigh to him, yet it is out of flattery: Ps.
78:34. 'When he slew some of them, then they sought him,' ver. 36, but they did but flatter him. They seek not his friendship for itself; ver. 37, 'their hearts were not right with him;' so as, though 'they draw nigh with their lips, yet their hearts are far from him,' Isa.
29:13. It is not out of a delight in his goodness and holiness, so as to take him to be their portion: Job 27:10, 'Will the hypocrite delight himself in the Almighty?' And though men may seem to delight, as Isa. 58:2 'they take delight in approaching to God,' out of a carnal sweetness they find in his mercy, &c., yet it is no such delight in God, as considered in his holiness and parity, and therefore they continue not to do so long. 'Will he pray always?' saith Job. And why not always? Because he delights not in God, Job 27:10. And for doing him any service, first, they cannot if they would: Rom. 7:8, 'They that are in the flesh cannot please God.' Serve him they may with a form of godliness, but not in the life and power of it: Josh. 24:19, they thought they could, but Joshua tells them they could not; for he is a holy God, whom nothing but holy and spiritual service, out of a pore heart and single eye, will content. Jer. 4:21, But these are wise to do evil, but to do good know not how to go about it: if they could, yet they would not, for they have no hearts for anything but for sin: Jer.
22:17, 'But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence to do it.' And though in some fit they take up resolutions to serve God, as in Deut. 5:29, yet even then God doth complain they want hearts to set seriously to it, and therefore are soon weary. Amos 8:5, 'When will the Sabbath be gone,' or prayer be over? They will not always pray, Job 27:10. And take them out of their fits, and they desire not to hear of their duties, or to come nigh