conceived sin, to bring it forth; - first, Power; secondly, Continuance in
CHAPTER 13.
Several ways that the bringing forth of conceived sin is obstructed.
BEFORE we proceed to the remaining evidences of the power of the law of sin, we shall look at the Scripture which was the foundation of our discourse of the deceitfulness of sin, namely, James 1:14. The apostle tells us that "lust conceiving brings forth sin;" seeming to intimate, that the sin which is conceived is brought forth. Now, placing the conception of sin in the consent of the will to it, and the bringing forth of sin in its actual commission, we know that these do not necessarily follow one another. There is a world of sin conceived in the womb of the wills and hearts of men that is never brought forth. How does that come to pass? I answer, then, -
1. That this is not so, is no thanks to sin nor the law of it. What it conceives, it would bring forth; and that it does not is for the most part but a small abatement of its guilt. A will to sin is actual sin. There is nothing wanting on sin's part that every conceived sin is not actually accomplished. The prevention lies elsewhere.
2. There are two things that are necessary in the creature that has conceived sin, to bring it forth; - first, Power; secondly, Continuance in the will of sinning until it is committed. Where these two are, actual sin will unavoidably follow. So what hinders conceived sin from being brought forth must affect either the power or the will of the sinner. This must be from God. And he has two ways of doing it:
(1.) By his providence, whereby he obstructs the power of sinning.
(2.) By his grace, whereby he diverts or changes the will to sin. There is much of grace in providence, and much of the wisdom of providence seen in grace. But I distinguish them, because they thus appear most important; - providence, in acts towards the creature; grace, in internal working in his will. And we shall begin with the first: -
(1.) When sin is conceived, the Lord obstructs it by his providence, in taking away that power which is necessary for its accomplishment; as,
[1.] Life is the foundation of all power, the principle of operation; when that ceases, all power ceases with it. Even God himself, to show the everlasting stability of his own power, gives himself the title of "The living God." Now, he frequently prevents the power of executing sin by taking away the lives of those who have conceived it. Thus he dealt with the army of Sennacherib, when he had threatened that "the LORD should not deliver Jerusalem out of his hand," 2 Kings 18:35. God threatens to cut short his power, that he should not execute his intention, chap. 19:28; which he does, by taking away the lives of his soldiers, verse 35, without whom his conceived sin could not be brought forth. This obstruction of conceived sin, Moses excellently sets forth in the case of Pharaoh: Exodus 15:9, 10,
"The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied on them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. You blew with your wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters."
Sin's conception is fully expressed, and as full a prevention is linked to it. In like manner he dealt with the companies of fifties and their captains, who came to take Elijah, 2 Kings 1:9-12. Fire came down from heaven and consumed them, when they were ready to have taken him. What is of universal relevance we have in that great providential alteration which put a period to the lives of men. Men living hundreds of years had a long season to bring forth the sins they had conceived; thereon the earth was filled with violence, injustice, and rapine, and "all flesh corrupted his way," Genesis 6:12, 13. To prevent a similar flood of sin, God shortens the course of the pilgrimage of men in the earth, and reduces their lives to a much shorter measure. Besides this general law, God daily cuts off persons who had conceived much mischief in their hearts, and prevents the execution of it: "Blood-thirsty and deceitful men do not live out half their days." They have yet much work to do, if they had enough time to
execute the sinful purposes of their minds. The psalmist tells us, Psalm 146:4, "In the day that the breath of man goes forth, his thoughts perish:" he had many plans about sin, but now they are all cut off. So also, Ecclesiastes 8:12, 13,
"Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with those who fear God: but it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he fears not before God."
As even believers may conceive sin through its power and deceit, does God ever prevents them doing it, by taking away their lives? I answer, -
1st. That God does not take away the life of any of his, to prevent the execution of any particular sin; for, -
(1st.) This is contrary to the patience of God towards them, 2 Peter 3:9. This is the purpose of God's patience towards believers, that before they depart they may come to the sense and repentance of every known sin. This is the unchangeable rule of God's patience in the covenant of grace; which far from being an encouragement to sin, is a motive to universal watchfulness against it, - of the same nature with all gospel grace, and of mercy in the blood of Christ. This would lie in a direct contradiction to it.
(2dly.) Whereas conceived sin contains the whole of it, as our Saviour declares, Matthew 5; and to be cut off under its guilt, to prevent its progress, means there is no time for repentance, they must perish for ever who are so cut off. But God deals not so with his; he casts not off the people whom he foreknew. So David prays for the patience of God, that it might not be so with him: Psalm 39:13, "O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more." But yet, -
2dly. God may take away the lives of his own, to prevent the guilt that otherwise they would be involved in; as, -
(1st.) In the coming of a great trial. When God knows that one of his would not be able to hold out against it, but would dishonour him and defile themselves, he may take them out of the world, to take them out of the way of it: Isaiah 57:1, "The righteous is taken away from the evil to come;" not only the evil judgment, but the evil of temptations, which is often much worse. Thus a captain will call off a soldier from his watch, when he knows that he is not able, through some infirmity, to bear the force of the enemy that is coming on him.
(2dly.) If they start something that is not acceptable to him, through ignorance of his mind and will. This seems to have been the case of Josiah. And, doubtless, the Lord often thus proceeds with his. When any of his own are engaged in ways that please him not, through the darkness and ignorance of their minds, that they may not proceed to farther evil or mischief, he calls them off from their station and takes them to himself, where they shall err no more. But God has other ways of diverting his own from sin than by killing of them.
[2.] God hinders the bringing forth of sin, by cutting short the power of those who had conceived it, so that, though their lives continue, they shall not be able to execute what they had intended, or to bring forth what they had conceived. This was the case with the builders of Babel, Genesis 11. Whatever they aimed at, it was in the pursuit of apostasy from God. One thing they needed to accomplish what they aimed at was oneness of language; so God says, verse 6, "They have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, that they have imagined to do." What does God do to prevent their conceived sin? does he bring a flood to destroy them? does he send his angel to cut them off, like the army of Sennacherib? does he take away their lives? No; their lives continue, but he "confounds their language," so that they cannot go on with their work, verse 7. In like manner he dealt with the Sodomites, Genesis 19:11. They were engaged in their filthy lusts. God smites them with blindness, so that they could not find the door. Their lives continued, and their will of sinning; but their power is cut short. His
dealing with Jeroboam, 1 Kings 13:4, was of the same nature. He stretched out his hand to lay hold of the prophet, and it withered and became useless. And this is an eminent way of God's providence in the world, to stop that flood of sin which would overflow all the earth were it released. He cuts men short of their moral power, whereby they should effect it. Many a wretch who has conceived mischief against the church of God has thus been stripped of the power he thought to accomplish it with. Some have their bodies smitten with disease, that they can no more serve their lusts; some are deprived of the instruments they would work with. There has been, for many days, enough sin conceived to root out the righteous from the face of the earth, had men strength and ability to their will, if God did not cut off and shorten their power. Psalm 64:6,
"They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep."
All things are ready; the design is well laid, their counsels are deep and secret; what shall hinder them from doing what they have planned? Verses 7, 8, "But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; they shall suddenly be wounded." God meets with them, brings them down, that they shall not be able to implement their plans. And this way of God's preventing sin seems to be peculiar to the men of the world; God deals thus with them every day, and leaves them to pine away in their sins. They go all their days big with the iniquity they have conceived, and are greatly burdened that they cannot do it. The prophet tells us that "they practise iniquity that they had conceived, because it is in their power," Micah 2:1. If they have power for it, they will do it: Ezekiel 22:6, "To their power they shed blood." This is the measure of their sin, their power. Many of them do as much evil, as much sin, as they can. Their restraint lies in being deprived of power. Their bodies will not serve them for their uncleanness, nor their hands for revenge, nor their abilities for persecution; but they are still burdened with conceived sin, and are troubled by it all their days. Thus they become in themselves, as well as to others, "a troubled sea, that cannot rest," Isaiah 57:20.
It may be, also, in temptations, or in mistakes, God may thus prevent his own from performing sin in his own. He dealt like this with Jehoshaphat, who had designed, against the mind of God, to join in alliance with Ahab, and to send his ships with him to Tarshish; but God breaks his ships by a wind, that he could not do what he had planned. But in God's dealing with his own in this way, there is a difference from the way he deals with others; for, -
1st. In his own, it is so only in cases of extraordinary temptation. When, through the violence of temptation and craft of Satan, they are hurried from under the conduct of the law of grace, God may take away their power, that they shall not be able to do what they had planned. But this is the ordinary way he deals with wicked men. This hook of God is on them in the whole course of their lives; and they struggle with it, being "as a wild bull in a net," Isaiah 51:20. God's net is on them, and they are filled with fury that they cannot do all the wickedness that they would.
2dly. God does it not so as to leave them to wrestle with sin, and then try other ways of doing it, when their plans fail; but by their disappointment awakens them to think of their condition and what they are doing, and so consumes sin in the womb. Some men's deprivation of power for committing conceived sin has been sanctified, so that it changes their hearts from all dalliances with that or other sins.
[3.] God hinders conceived sin from coming forth by putting forth an opposing power to sinners. He leaves them their lives, and leaves them power to do what they intend; only he raises up an opposite power to forbid and restrain them. So in 1 Samuel 14:45. Saul had sworn that Jonathan should be put to death; and went on resolutely to slay him. God stirs up the spirit of the people; they oppose themselves to the wrath of Saul, and Jonathan is delivered. So also, 2 Chronicles 26:16-20, when king Uzziah would have offered incense, contrary to the law, eighty priests resisted him, and drove him out of the temple.
And there are many such assistances which God stirs up to deliver his people from the fury of persecutors. He raises up saviours or deliverers on mount Zion, "to judge the mount of Edom." So, Revelation 12:16, the dragon, and those acting under him, spirited by him, were in a furious endeavour to destroy the church; God stirs up the earth to her assistance, even men of the world not engaged with others in the design of Satan; and by their opposition stops them carrying out their plans. God deals with his own people in similar manner, Hosea 2:6, 7. They were in the pursuing their iniquities, following after their lovers; God leaves them for a while to act in the folly of their spirits; but he sets a hedge before them, that they shall not be able to fulfil their designs.
[4.] God prevent the accomplishment of conceived sin by taking away the objects on whom, the sin conceived was to be committed. Acts 12:1-11 yields us an instance of this. When the day was coming when Herod thought to have slain Peter, who was shut up in prison, God takes him away from his rage. So also was our Saviour himself taken away from the murderous rage of the Jews before his hour was come, John 8:59, John 10:39. Both primitive and latter times are full of stories to this purpose. Prison doors have been opened, and creatures appointed to die have been rescued from the jaws of death. In the world itself, amongst adulterers, the sin of one is often hindered by the taking away of the other. So wings were given to the woman to carry her into the wilderness, and to disappoint the world in the execution of their rage, Revelation 12:14.
[5.] God does this by diverting the thoughts of men who had conceived sin. Genesis 37:24, the brethren of Joseph cast him into a pit, so he would die of starvation. Whilst they were pleasing themselves with what they had done, God orders a company of merchants to come by, and diverts their thoughts from the killing to the selling of their brother, verses 25-27; and we know how far they were subservient to the infinitely wise counsel of God. Thus, also, when Saul was in the pursuit of David, and was ready to destroy him, God stirs up the Philistines to invade the land, which both diverted his thoughts and
drew the course of his actions another way, 1 Samuel 23:27.
And these are some of the ways God hinders the bringing forth of conceived sin, by opposing his providence to the power of the creature. And we may take a brief view of the great advantages to faith and the church of God which may be found in this matter; as, -
1st. This may give us insight into the providence of God, by obstructing the breaking forth of sin in the world. It is he who makes those dams, and shuts up those flood-gates of corrupted nature, that it shall not break forth in a deluge of abominations, to overwhelm the creation with confusion. As it was of old, so it is at this day: "Every thought and imagination of the heart of man is evil, and that continually." That all the earth is not in all places filled with violence, as it was of old, is merely from the mighty hand of God working to obstruct sin. From hence alone it is that the highways, streets, and fields are not all filled with violence, blood, rapine, uncleanness, and every villany that the heart of man can conceive. Oh, the infinite beauty of divine wisdom and providence in the government of the world! for the conservation of it asks daily no less power and wisdom than its creation required.
2dly. If we will look to our own concerns, they will in force us to adore the wisdom and er of the providence of God in stopping the progress of conceived sin. That we are at peace in our houses, at rest in our beds, that we have any quiet in our enjoyments, is from that alone. Who would not be defiled or destroyed, - whose house would not be ruined, - whose blood almost would not be shed, - if wicked men had power to perpetrate all their conceived sin? It may be the ruin of some of us has been conceived a thousand times. We owe this providence for our lives, our families, our estates, our liberties, for whatever is or may be dear to us; for may we not say sometimes, with the psalmist, Psalm 57:4
"My soul is among lions: and I lie even among those who are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and
their tongue a sharp sword?"
And how is the deliverance of men contrived from such? Psalm 58:6,
"God breaks their teeth, even the great teeth of the young lions."
He keeps this fire from burning, or quenches it when it is ready to break out into a flame. He breaks their spears and arrows, so that sometimes we are not so much as wounded by them. Some he cuts off and destroys; some he cuts short in their power; some he deprives of the instruments whereby they work; some he deprives opportunity, or diverts; and often causes them to spend their lusts among themselves. We may say, therefore, with the psalmist, Psalm 104:24,
"O LORD, how manifold are your works! in wisdom have you made them all: the earth is full of your riches;"
and with the prophet, Hosea 14:9,
"Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? all the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein."
3dly. If this is how God prevents the bringing forth of conceived sin in wicked men, we may learn how miserable their condition is, and in what perpetual torment they spend their days. They "are like a troubled sea," says the Lord, "that cannot rest." As they labour that others may have no peace, so it is certain that they have none; the principle of sin is not weakened in them, the will to sin is not taken away. They have a womb of sin, that conceives monsters every moment. Yea, for the most part, they are framing folly all day long. One lust or other they are contriving how to satisfy. They are either devouring by malice, or tainting by uncleanness, or trampling on by ambition, or swallowing down by covetousness, all that stand before them. Many of their follies they bring to birth, and are in pain to be delivered; but God every day disappoints themt, and shuts up the
womb of sin. Some are filled with hatred of God's people all their days, but can never exercise it. So David describes them, Psalm 59:6,
"They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city."
They go up and down and "belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips," verse 7, and yet are not able to accomplish their designs. What tortures do they live in! Envy, malice, wrath, revenge, devour their hearts by not getting vent. And when God has exercised the other acts of his wise providence in cutting short their power, when nothing else will do, he cuts them off in their sins, and to the grave they go, full of purposes of iniquity. Others are no less diverted by the power of other lusts which they are not able to satisfy. This is the travail they are exercised with all their days: - If they accomplish their designs they are more wicked than before; and if they do not, they are filled with discontent. This is the portion of those who know not the Lord nor the power of his grace. Envy not their condition. Despite their outward show, their hearts are full of trouble, and sorrow.
4thly. Do we see the flood-gates of men's lusts and rage open against the church, and do they dominate, and power is for a season on their side? Let not the saints of God despond. He has effectual ways to stifle their conceptions, to give them dry breasts and a miscarrying womb. He can stop their fury when he pleases. "Surely," says the psalmist," the wrath of man shall praise you: you restrain the remainder of wrath," Psalm 76:10. When so much of their wrath is let out as shall exalt his praise, he can, when he pleases, set up a power greater than the combined strength of all sinning creatures, and restrain the remainder of the wrath that they had conceived. "He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth," verse 12. Some he will cut destroy, some he will terrify, and prevent the rage of all. He can knock them on the head, or break out their teeth, or chain up their wrath; and who can oppose him.
5thly. Those who have received benefit may know to whom they owe
their preservation, and not look on it as a common thing. When you have conceived sin, has God weakened your power for sin, or denied you opportunity, or taken away the object of your lusts, or diverted your thoughts by new providences? - know assuredly that you have received mercy thereby. Though God deal not these providences always in subservience to the covenant of grace, yet there is always mercy in them, always a call in them to consider the author of them. If God had not thus dealt with you, it may be this day you had been a terror to yourselves, a shame to your relations, and under the punishment due to some notorious sins which you had conceived. Besides, there is commonly an additional guilt in sin brought forth, above what is in the conception of it. It may be others would have been ruined by it here, or drawn into a partnership in sin by it, and so have been eternally ruined by it, all which are prevented by these providences; and eternity will witness that there is a singularity of mercy in them. Do not look, then, on any such things as common accidents; the hand of God is in them all, and that a merciful hand if not despised. If it be, yet God does good to others by it: the world is the better; and you are not so wicked as you would be.
6thly. We may also see hence the great use of magistracy in the world, that great appointment of God. Amongst other things, it is subservient to this holy providence, in obstructing the expression of sin, - namely, by the terror of him who bears the sword. God fixes that on the hearts of evil men, which he states, Romans 13:4,
"If you do what is evil, be afraid; for he bears not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath on those who do evil."
God fixes this on the hearts of men, and by the dread of it closes the womb of sin, that it shall not bring forth. When there was no king in Israel, none of whom evil men were afraid, there was woeful work amongst the children of men, as we may see in the last chapters of the book of Judges. The greatest mercies and blessings that in this world we are made partakers of, next to the gospel and covenant of grace,
come to us thus. This is the proper work of magistracy;to be subservient to the providence of God in obstructing the bringing forth of conceived sin.
These are some of the ways whereby God prevents the bringing forth of sin, by putting obstacles to the power of the sinner. But sin is not consumed by them, but shut up in the womb. Men are not burdened for it, but with it; not laden in their hearts and consciences with its guilt, but perplexed with its power, which they are not able to control.
(2.) The way that God prevents the production of conceived sin is by working on the will of the sinner, so making sin miscarry. There are two ways that God prevents the bringing forth of conceived sin by working on the will of the sinner; and they are, -
[1.] By restraining grace;
[2.] By renewing grace.
The first of these is common to the regenerate and unregenerate, the latter peculiar to believers; and God does it variously by them both.
[1.] God operates in restraining grace, by some arrow of conviction, fixed in the heart and conscience of the sinner, regarding the particular sin which he had conceived. This staggers and changes the mind, causes the hands to hang down and the weapons of lust to fall out of them. Thus conceived sin proves abortive. How God does this work we cannot fully know. It is done in unspeakable variety, and the works of God are past finding out. But as to what light may be given to it from Scripture instances, after we have manifested the general way of God's procedure, it shall be insisted on.
God dealt thus in the case of Esau and Jacob. Esau had long conceived his brother's death; he comforted himself with the thoughts of it, and resolutions about it, Genesis 27:41. Upon his first opportunity he comes forth to execute his intended rage, and Jacob concludes that he
would "smite the mother with the children," Genesis 32:11. An opportunity is presented to this wicked and profane person to bring forth that sin that had lain in his heart now twenty years; he has full power in his hand to perform his purpose. In the midst of this posture of things, God comes in on his heart with some secret and effectual working of his Spirit and power, changes him from his purpose, causes his conceived sin to melt away, that he falls on the neck of him with embraces whom he thought to have slain.
He dealt in a similar way with Laban the Syrian, Genesis 31:24. By a vision in the night, God hinders him from so much as speaking roughly to Jacob. It was with him as in Micah 2:1: - he had devised evil on his bed; and when he thought to have practised it in the morning, God interposed in a dream, and hides sin from him, as he speaks, Job 33:15-17. To the same purpose is that of the psalmist concerning the people of. God: Psalm 106:46, "He made them to be pitied of all those who carried them captives." Men usually deal harshly with those whom they have taken captive in war. It was the way of old to rule captives with force and cruelty. Here God turns and changes their hearts, not to himself, but to this particular of respect to his people. And this way in general God every day prevents the bringing forth of a world of sin. He sharpens arrows of conviction on the spirits of men as to the particular that they are engaged in. Their hearts are not changed as to sin, but their minds are altered as to this or that sin. They break, the vessel they had fashioned, and go to work on some other. Now, that we may a little see into the ways whereby God accomplishes this work, we must consider the following: -
1st. That the general way that restraining grace works, whereby God thus prevents the bringing forth of sin, lies in certain arguments presented to the mind of the sinner, whereby he is induced to change his mind as to the sin he had conceived. Reasons against it are presented to him, which prevail on him to give over his purpose. This is the general way of the working of restraining grace, - it is by arguments rising up against the perpetration of conceived sin.
2dly. That no arguments are sufficient to stop any purpose of sinning if the sinner has power and opportunity to bring it forth. They are not in themselves restraining grace; for if they were, the administration of grace would be entrusted to every man who advises against sin. Nothing can be called grace but with respect to its relation to God. God, by the power of his Spirit, can transform mere reasons into restraining grace. We shall now consider some of the arguments he uses: -
(1st.) God stops many men in their ways, on the conception of sin, by pointing out the difficulty, if not impossibility, of doing what they aim at. They want to do it, but God sets a hedge before them, that they shall judge it to be so difficult, that it is better to let it alone. Thus Herod would have put John Baptist to death on the first provocation, but he feared the multitude, because they considered him a prophet, Matthew 14:5. He had conceived his murder, and was free for the execution of it. God raised this consideration in his heart, "If I kill him, the people will riot; he has a great party amongst them, and sedition will arise that may cost me my life or kingdom." He feared the multitude, and dared not execute the wickedness he had conceived, because of the difficulty he foresaw he should be entangled with. And God made the argument effectual for the season; for we know that men will venture the utmost hazards to satisfy their lusts, as he also did afterward. The Pharisees were in the same condition. Matthew 21:26, they wanted to have decried the ministry of John, but dared not for fear of the people; and, verse 46 of the same chapter, by the same argument they were deterred from killing our Saviour, who had provoked them by a parable setting out their deserved and approaching destruction. They dared not do it for fear of a tumult among the people, seeing they looked on him as a prophet. Thus God overawes the hearts of innumerable persons in the world every day, and causes them to desist from attempting to bring forth the sins they had conceived. Difficulties they shall meet with, so that it would prove impossible for them to accomplish them. We owe much of our quiet in this world to the efficacy given to this consideration in the hearts of men by the Holy Ghost; adulteries, rapines, murders, are stifled by it.
Men would go into them daily, but they judge them impossible to fulfil.
(2dly.) God does it by an argument taken from the troubles that befall men in the pursuit of sin. If they follow it, this or that trouble will follow. And this argument, as managed by the Spirit of God, is the great engine in his hand whereby he gives bounds to the lusts of men, that they break not out to the confusion of all that order and beauty which yet remains in the works of his hands. Paul gives us the general import of this argument, Romans 2:14, 15,
"For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law to themselves: which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another."
If any men in the world may be thought to pursue all the sins their lusts can conceive, it is those who do not have the law. "But though they have it not," says the apostle, "they show the work of it; they do many things which it requires, and abstain from many things that it forbids, and so show its efficacy." How do they do so? Why, their thoughts accuse or excuse them. It is from the consideration that they have within themselves about sin and its results, which prevail on them; for conscience is a man's judging of himself with respect to the future judgment of God. Thus Felix was staggered in his pursuit of sin, when he trembled at Paul's preaching of righteousness and judgment to come, Acts 24:25. So Job tells us that the consideration of punishment from God has a strong influence on the minds of men to keep them from sin, Job 31:1-3. The Lord makes use of that consideration, even towards his own, when they have broken the cords of his love and cast off the rule of his grace for a season.
(3dly.) God does this same work by the unprofitableness of what men are engaged in. By this were the brethren of Joseph kept from slaying him: Genesis 37:26, 27, "What profit is it," say they, "if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?" - "We shall get nothing by it; it will
bring in no advantage to us." And the ways that God obstructs conceived sin are so many that it is impossible to describe them all. There is nothing present or to come, nothing belonging to this life or another, nothing desirable or undesirable, nothing good or evil, but an argument may be taken from it for the obstructing of sin.
(4thly.) God accomplishes this work by arguments taken from what is good and honest, what is, praiseworthy, and acceptable to himself. This is the great road wherein he walks with the saints in their temptations, or in their conceptions of sin. He brings back to their minds a consideration of all those motives to obedience which are revealed in the gospel. He reminds them of his own love, mercy, and kindness, - his eternal love, with the fruits of it, of which they have been made partakers; he reminds them of the blood of his Son, his cross, sufferings, mediation, and the attention of his heart, love, honour, name, in their obedience; reminds them of the love of the Spirit, with all his consolations, and privileges he has entrusted them with; reminds them of the gospel, the glory and beauty of it; reminds them of the excellency of obedience, - of doing that duty they owe to God, - of that quietness and serenity of mind that they enjoy in it. On the other side, he reminds them of the offence of sin in the eyes of his glory, saying in their hearts, "Do not do that abominable thing which my soul hates;" reminds them of their wounding the Lord Jesus Christ, and putting him to shame, - of their grieving the Holy Spirit, by which they are sealed to the day of redemption, - of their defiling his dwelling-place; reminds them of the dishonour which they bring on the gospel and their faith in it; reminds them of the terrors, darkness want of peace, that they may bring on their own souls. From these considerations God puts a stop to the law of sin in the heart, that it shall not bring forth the evil it has conceived. One or two examples may be mentioned. Joseph resists his first temptation thus: Genesis 39:9, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" The evil of sinning against God detains him from the least inclination to his temptation. "It is sin against God, to whom I owe all obedience, the God of my life and of all my mercies. I will not do it." The argument wherewith Abigail prevailed on David, 1 Samuel
25:31, to withhold him from revenge and murder, was of the same nature; and he acknowledges that it was from the Lord, verse 32. Sometimes, I confess, God secretly works the hearts of men by his own finger, without such arguments as those shown, to stop the progress of sin. So he tells Abimelech, Genesis 20:6, "I have withheld you from sinning against me." Now Abimelech knew not that the thing he intended was sin; so he pleads, that in the "integrity of his heart and innocency of his hands" he did it, verse 5. God turned his will and thoughts, that he should not accomplish his intention; but by what ways or means is not revealed. Nor is it evident what course he took to change Esau's heart, when he came out against his brother to destroy him, Genesis 33:4. Whether he stirred up in him a fresh spring of natural affection, or caused him to consider what grief by this means he should bring to his aged father, who loved him so tenderly; or whether, being now grown great and wealthy, he more and more despised the difference between him and his brother, is not known. It may be God did it by an immediate act of his Spirit on his heart, without any intervening of these or any of similar considerations. Now, though the things mentioned are in themselves at other times weak, yet when they are managed by the Spirit of God to such purpose, they become effectual, and operate his preventing grace.
[2.] God prevents conceived sin from coming forth by spiritual saving grace, either in the first conversion of sinners or in the following supplies of it: -
1st. This is one part of the mystery of his grace and love. He meets men sometimes, in their highest resolutions for sin, with the highest efficacy of his grace. Hereby he manifests the power of his grace, and gives the soul a farther experience of the law of sin, when it takes such a farewell of it that it is changed in the midst of its resolutions to serve its lusts. By this he melts down the lusts of men, causes them to wither at the root, that they shall no more strive to bring forth what they have conceived, but be filled with shame and sorrow at their conception. An example of this work of God, for the instruction of all generations, we have in Paul. His heart was full of wickedness, blasphemy, and
persecution; his conception of them was come to rage and madness, to exercise them all to the utmost: so the story relates it, Acts 9; and so he himself declares it, Acts 26:9-12, 1 Timothy 1:13. In the midst of all this violent pursuit of sin, a voice from heaven shuts up the womb and dries the breasts of it, and he cries, "Lord, what will you have me to do?" Acts 9:6. The same person seems to intimate that this is the way of God's procedure with others, to meet them with his converting grace in the height of their sin and folly, 1 Timothy 1:16: for he himself, he says, was a pattern of God's dealing with others; as he dealt with him, so also would he do with some such-like sinners: "For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to those who should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting." And we have many examples of it in our own days. This way of God's dealing with sinners is set forth, Job 33:15-18. Dionysius the Areopagite is another instance of this work of God's grace and love. Paul is dragged before him, to plead for his life, as "a setter forth of strange gods," which at Athens was death by the law. In the midst of this frame of spirit God meets with him by converting grace, sin withers in the womb, and he cleaves to Paul and his doctrine, Acts 17:18-34. The like dispensation towards Israel we have, Hosea 11:7-10. God is pleased to leave no generation unconvinced of this truth, if they only attend to their own experiences and the examples of this work of his mercy amongst them. Every day, one or other is taken in the fullness of his purpose to go on in sin, and is stopped in his course by the power of converting grace.
2dly. God does it also by special assisting grace. This is the common way he deals with believers. God puts a stop to the prevalence of the law of sin in them, by giving them special assistance. As David says of himself, Psalm 73:2, "His feet were almost gone, his steps had wellnigh slipped," - he was at the very brink of unbelieving, despairing thoughts and conclusions about God's providence in the government of the world, from whence he was recovered, as he afterwards declares, - so is it with many a believer; he is often at the very brink of some folly or iniquity, when God intervenes by assisting grace, and restores them to an obedient frame of heart again. And this is a
peculiar work of Christ, wherein he manifests his faithfulness towards his own: Hebrews 2:18, "He is able to help those who are tempted." It is not an absolute power, but a power clothed with mercy, that is meant, - such a power as is put forth from a sense of the suffering of poor believers under their temptations. And how does he exercise this merciful ability towards us? Chap. 4:16, he gives forth, and we find in him, "grace to help in time of need," - seasonable help for our deliverance, when we are ready to be overpowered by sin and temptation. When lust has conceived, and is ready to bring forth, - when the soul lies at the brink of some iniquity, - he gives help, relief, deliverance, and safety. Here lies a great part of the faithfulness of Christ towards his poor saints. He will not allow them to be worried with the power of sin, nor to be carried out to ways that dishonour the gospel, or fill them with shame and reproach, and so render them useless in the world; but he steps in with the saving assistance of his grace, stops the course of sin, and makes them in himself more than conquerors. And this lies under the promise, 1 Corinthians 10:13,
"There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted more than you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it,"
Temptation shall try us, - it is for our good; many holy ends does the Lord bring about by it. But when we are tried to the utmost of our ability, so that one assault more would overbear us, a way of escape is provided. And as this may be done several ways, so this we are now on is one of the most eminent, - by supplies of grace to enable the soul to resist, and conquer. And when once God begins to deal in this way of love with a soul, he will not cease to add one supply after another, until the whole work of his grace and faithfulness be accomplished; so, Isaiah 57:17, 18. Poor sinners there are so far captivated to the power of their lusts that the first and second dealings of God with them are not effectual for their delivery, but he will not give them over; he pursues a design of love towards them, and so ceases not until they are recovered. These are the general heads of the second way whereby
God hinders the bringing forth of conceived sin, - namely, by working on the will of the sinner. He does it either by common convictions or special grace, so that of their own accord they let go the purpose and will of sinning. And this is no mean way of his providing for his own glory and the honour of his gospel in the world, whose professors would stain the whole beauty of it if they were left to themselves.
3dly. Besides these general ways, there is one yet more special, that works both on the power and will of the sinner, and this is the way of afflictions. Affliction, work by both these ways in reference to conceived sin. They work on the power of the creature. When a man has conceived a sin, and is in full pursuit of it, God often sends a sickness and abates his strength, or cuts him short in his plenty, and so takes him off from the pursuit of his lusts, though his heart is not weaned from them. His power is weakened, and he cannot do the evil he would. In this sense it belongs to the first way of God's preventing sin. Great afflictions work sometimes not from their own nature, but from the gracious purpose of him that sends them. He insinuates into them grace and power, love and kindness, which take the heart and mind from sin: Psalm 119:67, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept your word." And in this way, because of the power of renewing and assisting grace, they belong to the latter means of preventing sin.
And these are some of the ways God stops the progress of sin, both in believers and unbelievers; and even if we tried to search out his ways to perfection, we still conclude that we only know a small part of him.