Chapter III
That a natural man s conscience is very corrupt, and plays false in the resist
ance which it makes against sin. What conflicts between the light of con
science and lusts unregenerate men may have. The difference of this from the conflict in a godly man s heart against sin, set out as to the causes of the
combat, the quarrel itself, and the issue of the fight.
I come now to those other effects of a natural conscience which have ex
ceeding much affinity with the most inward workings and efficacy of grace itself in the heart of the regenerate.
1. A natural conscience causeth an inward conviction, combat, and strife
in the heart against sin ; it fights against it, and raiseth a reluctancy and
displicency of it. Thus Darius was displeased with himself for his ill and
unjust act in condemning Daniel to be cast into the lions den : Dan. vi. 14, Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with him
self, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him ; and he laboured till the
going down of the sun to deliver him. Thus Herod too was troubled for
his rash oath, and found a reluctancy in his conscience to the murder of John the Baptist
: Mat. xiv. 7-9, Whereupon he promised with an oath
to give her whatsoever she would ask. And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist s head in a charger. And the
: nevertheless for the oath s sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her. Now, unregenerate men
king was sorry
finding in themselves such an opposition against greater and more enormous
crimes, they vainly imagine that this is the true conflict between flesh and
spirit in them, and take it for that renowned battle (and it is indeed the most renowned battle in the world that ever was fought), which is said to be only in a regenerate man; and we find it recorded, Rom. vii, 21-23,
* I
find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For
I delight in the law of God after the inward man : but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin which is" in my members. Gal. v. 17, For the
flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh ; and these
are contrary the one to the other : so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. And so like are the impressions of these two contrary principles, that unregenerate men reading these two chapters are presently ready to
fancy that they find the very same within them. And yet a sensible differ-
266 AN UNKEGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK VII.
ence there is, which the experience of all saints finds, especially they who before conversion have had active, busy consciences, which have striven with them, and fought many a stout battle in their hearts. And yet when that new principle of grace hath come into the field, they have found the
course, and order, and array of the fight clean altered from the former. Like unto Rebekah, who found two children sensibly fighting in her womb, they cry out in a surprisal of astonishment, Why am I. thus ? as she did, Gen. xxv. 22, And the children struggled together within her : and she
said, If it be so, why am I thus ? And she went to inquire of the Lord. She wondered at it, and was amazed what it should mean, as never having heard that any other women bearing children were so affected, who, though they might feel children stir in their womb, yet not two together so as they did. Thus when godly men come to have experience of two contrary wills, two contrary lustings about the same object, such a division in the heart as cannot be matched or paralleled by any instance else, they wonder at it, and
inquire into the meaning of it, as she did. And this they often perceive even in their first quickening, when grace begins to spring within them. Such an instance Austin gives us in the story of his own conversion,* where, speak ing of what he felt in his heart when he was first turned to God, and of the
differing and divided pulse of his heart towards sin, which he found in the
first symptoms of his conversion, his words are memorable to this purpose
: I found (says he) two wills : the one the old will, which I had before to sin, the other a new will ; the one carnal, and the other spiritual, which fought within me one against another, and by their discord divided my soul ; and so (says he) I understood by my own experience that which I had read
before, viz. the manner how the flesh lusteth against the spirit. He had such a new experiment of the manner of it as he never had before.
And how to set out these two battles, and the differences of them, would
require a large field of discourse. To shew you the difference in respect, 1. Of the causes, 2. Of the quarrel, 3. Of the combatants, 4. Of the issue and event of the contest, 5. Of the continuance of it ; would make a large story, and you have
it from others.
1. As that first, that in the conflicts of conscience in unregenerate men, conscience, which is but one faculty, fights against all the other faculties, which are wholly for sin. But in the fighting of spirit against flesh in a
godly man, the seat of the war and battle is in every faculty of the soul, and
all faculties are divided between themselves as it were into several armies. Thus light in the mind fights against darkness there, and grace in the will
against the remainders of sin in it.
2. The natural conscience in men unregenerate fights but against the out ward wings of the army of sin, against gross sins; but grace fights against the whole army, and all the battalions of it, against the whole body of sin, and against all sins of what kind soever ; it fights not only against some great reigning lusts, but against both small and great, against all inward corrup tions, and against spiritual lusts as well as grosser defilements. Though this
* Voluntas autem nova, quse mihi esse cceperat, ut te gratis colerera, fruique te vellem, Deus, sola certa jocunditas, nondum erat idonea ad superandam priorern vetustate reboratam. Ita duse voluntates mese ; alia vetus, alia nova ; ilia carnalis, ilia spirituals, confligebant inter se, atque discordando dissipabant animam meam ; sic intelligebam meo ipso experiraento id quod legeram, quomodo caro concupisceret adversus spiritum, et spiritus adversus carnem. August. Confess, lib. viii. cap. v.
CHAP. III.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 267
indeed is to be added concerning this difference, that the combat is most dis
cernible (even in regenerate men) in regard of conflicting with grosser evils and lusts, though it be as strong and as real in regard of spiritual lusts. Thus poison, and the blood and spirits fight as strongly in the head and
brain, though the contrariety of them is more discerned in the stomach, where it makes a man more sensible and sick. And therefore Paul, when he would represent this combat to the sense and experience of a Christian, and so as he might most clearly discern it in himself, he points him to view
it in the law of his members fighting against the law of the mind ; which he
calls so, because, though that fight is as to all lusts, yet especially those of
the members, bodily lusts.
3. Divines make these two combats, viz. that in an unregenerate man s
conscience, and that in a sanctified heart, to differ in the event. In this combat grace ordinarily gets the victory whenever any set battle is fought ; but in that fight betweeti natural conscience and a corrupt heart, the weapons of conscience are in the end blunted, and beaten back to its own head, and
the victory goes on sin s side, which is all the difference Arminius seems to
acknowledge.
4. These two combats differ as to the continuance of them. This of grace
against sin lasts all a man s life, and grows stronger and stronger on grace s
part, as the house of David waxed stronger and stronger, but Saul s house weaker ; but the combat of conscience ceaseth in the end, and as God s
Spirit leaves off striving with men, so doth conscience also. Thus con
science is like a person who lives in a bad society, where the government sways the worse way ; and who, though a long time he contested, yet being but one man, and overborne by numbers, he is wearied at last, and sees he can do no good, and so is quiet. Thus conscience in unregenerate man is
at last overpowered, by all the other corrupt faculties and affections which
are against it, and so it is beaten clear out of the field, and men in the end
are all given up to a reprobate or injudicious mind ; for so the word adoxifLog
* And even as they did not like to retain God in their
: Rom. i. 28,
signifies
knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which
are not convenient.
5. When the act of sin comes to be done, then the reluctance which natu
ral conscience causeth doth cease, and the will is not only overcome to do
it, but overcome by it. Though, whilst the sinful act was in consultation, and the object afar off, there might be oppositions raised, yet when the lust and the object come to embrace each other, then the will is wholly drawn
out and allured, and sets itself to work out all the pleasure which it can out
of the sin. All the impressions of unwillingness which conscience makes are
before the act comes to be done, and are seen in the sad reflections after the commission ; but when the thing is to be done, the will comes wholly off to
it. As a man who is to do a kindness for another, though perhaps at first he somewhat sticks and deliberates, yet when he doth it, he doth it heartily, without any reluctance ; his heart is wholly in it, and he doth it as a kind
ness ; so doth the will to gratify a lust come off entirely and fully to it. And
therefore in regard of the act itself, and the instant time wherein it is com
mitted, unregenerate men are said to sin with full consent. And therefore
: 2 Peter ii. 20, For if
they are said to be overcome by their corruptions
after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and
overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For
though they strive a while, yet in the issue, when the sin is to be acted, they
perfectly consent, and are so overcome, and their hearts subdued to the lust,
? S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK YII.
268 AN UNREGENERATE MAN
and they therefore may be said to fall totally into the sin. But in a godly man, the inward strife continues even in the very act of sinning, and there
is an inward man in the heart and will which is never overcome ; and there
fore the apostle Paul, in the description of this combat in Rom. vii., useth the present tense when he speaks of the opposition of both combatants : ver. 15-17,
* For that which 1 do I allow not : for what I would, that I do not ; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. It is not L that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me ;
i. e. at that present time when I do it ; shewing that in the very act, when
it is doing, and comes to execution, there is a will resists, and a reluctancy in his renewed nature. There is an / which can say that it had no hand
in it.
6. The opposition which conscience makes, though it restrains the act,
yet it weakeneth not the inward power of the lust by a contrary lusting. A man standing with a cudgel in his hand over a dog who hath meat set before
him, though he may keep every member of him in awe from stirring towards
it, yet he cannot abate his hunger, nor lessen his desire to it ; and so it is here in this case. And the reason is, because the government of conscience
is extrinsecal, forced, and tyrannical. Though it be a principle within a man, yet it is extrinsecal in its working on the will and affections, for it
stamps not on them any inward natural inclinations to what it dictates. Therefore the power of its government is seen in restraining outward acts, and gainsaying inward lusts, and speaking against them, but never raising up an army of contrary desires against them ; but so grace doth, being an
intrinsecal natural principle in the desires themselves. The combat is there
: Gal. v. 17, For the flesh
fore especially expressed by contrary lustings
lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh : and these are
contrary the one to the other : so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. And so the desires of the flesh are weakened by contrary desires
in a godly man. Conscience, indeed, by terrors damps the desires of sin, and also by checks, it may divert desires which rise, and keep them from
parleying with their objects ; as parents may restrain lovers from speaking
together, but their loves they cannot abate or quell, or put contrary desires
or antipathy into them. Thus conscience, though for a time it may keep the will and the lust from holding a correspondence, yet it cannot produce in the will an hatred of it, or averse inclinations to it.
7. In the combat where grace is, this opposition in desires, and this
weakening of desires to sin, may be discerned in and from the very first
rising and setting forth of the desire ; but in the other, the lust springeth up in its full strength, only conscience meets it in its march, and diverts it or
drives it in again. But where grace is ever at the first rising of a lust, the
will breaks itself into a contrary and opposite desire, that watches the desires
of sin, and benumbs them, and fore-slows them in their proceedings. To
clear this difference further by a similitude or two.
(1.) When you throw a bowl out of your hand that hath no bias in it,
though it runs never so directly to the mark, yet a contrary bowl may meet
with it and beat it back again. Or rather a bowl that wants a bias to order
its motion, may be diverted, or stopped, or fore-slowed by an impediment which it meets with after it is thrown out of a man s hand ; and so may a
natural man s desires and lusts after they arise, and are cast out by the will
with its full force, meet with considerations of conscience, which it, being watchful, opposeth against them, and so those desires may be diverted or
taken off. But in a regenerate man s will, there is an inward and innate
CHAP. III.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 280
bias, by which the desire put forth is hindered at its first setting out, that it
cannot move so fully as else it would. The desire carries with it a contrary bias attending upon it, that corrects and slackens it at its first setting out,
all the way throughout. Thus hath the renewed will a contrary bias, which
puts forth a contrary act to retardate the desires of sin, ere checks of con
science meet with them.
(2.) Or secondly, more plainly, a man throws a round hoop out of his hand fairly, and directly, and with all his strength, which yet running from him may, by some rub it meets with, be stopped, or fall, or come back again, when it was thrown out of his hand with his full strength. But if at the same time that a man casts it from him, if, as it is going out of his hand, he
gives it a contrary jerk, and impresseth a contrary impetus upon it towards
him, there being two contrary motions impressed upon it by the hand which
casts it forth ; as it will go forth of itself some small distance, so it will come back again of itself ; for the hand, as it threw it out, pulled it in again. So when the will of a regenerate man puts forth a desire to sin, yet at the same
instant the same will retracts it, and puts forth a contrary desire, so as the
other is lamed and corrected in its first rising, and therefore often comes back again by reason of the contrary desire which it carries with it. The inward bias brings it back again. It hath ever a contrary impression stamped upon that desire to the sin which weakens it. And this is one affection which Paul expresseth that he found to be in his heart in this combat : Rom.
vii. 21, that when he would do good, evil was present with him. As his
will sent forth desires to good, so the same will as readily and as instantly sent forth desires to evil which hindered that good ; therefore he says it is then present when I would do good, and so on the other side when his will
exerted desires to sin, it had contrary desires to good, which hindered him from sinning with a full will. The same will thus breaks itself into contrary motions, contradictory each to other.
And the reason how this comes to pass is, because grace and sin, as they dwell in the same will, arid not in several rooms, but the same, and are con
trary, and never mix, so they are alike active, and never rest. And there
fore, no sooner can a lust creep out of its hole, but a contrary act of grace
is put forth with it. It is up in arms as soon as sin, and as soon comes
forth into the field. It is present with the man then at the same time, and
sets forth with it, and from its first setting out opposeth it. And henco
lusts are often called back again, not so much by the opposition which con
science makes, meeting with them, as by the contrary desires sent out after
them, and with them, by the will.
8. Lust may be most furious, and commit most outrages, when the natu
ral conscience is strongest, and most up in nrms, and makes the stoutest
opposition, as in those who sin against the light of conscience, and against the Holy Ghost. When conscience is most loud and clamorous, their lusts
yet rage most and go against it. Conscience and lust may be both up
together in an unregenerate man ; but now, on the contrary, in one regene
rate, so much as grace is up, so much lust must needs be down ; as in two
scales, by how much the one is up the other is depressed. And therefore, when grace is kept up, and a man walks in the Spirit, he fulfils not the lusts
of the flesh, that is, falls not into outward acts of sin : Gal. v. 16, This I
say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. And the reason which the apostle gives is this, because grace and corruption are opposite as two contraries : ver. 17, For the flesh lusteth against the
spirit, and the spirit against the flesh : and these are contrary the one to the other ; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. They lust one
270 AN UNBEGENERATE MAN*S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK VII.
against another. And therefore when grace is in its heat and courage, and the army of it kept in its array, those impressions which it makes prevail, and must needs do so.