which is in the Word, is fashioned in the hearts of the saints, as the image of the seal in the wax. As the light of the sun doth, by reflection from the moon, illighten that part of the earth, or from a glass that part of a room, from which itself is absent; so though the Church be here absent from the Lord, yet his Spirit by the Word doth illighten and govern it. It is not the moon alone, nor the glass alone, nor the sun without the moon or the glass, that illighteneth those places upon which itself doth not immediately shine,-but that as the principal, by them as the instruments: so the Spirit doth not, and the Word cannot alone by itself, convince or convert,-but the Spirit, by the Word as its sword and instrument. So then, when the Spirit turns a man's eye inward, to see the truth of the Word written in his own heart, makes him put his seal unto it,-frameth the will to search, acknowledge and judge the worst of itself,—to subscribe unto the righteousness of God in condemning sin, and him for it, to take the office of the Word, and pass that sentence upon itself, which the Word doth,-then doth the Word spiritually convince' of sin.

Which should teach us what to look for in the ministry of the Word, namely, that which will convince us, that which puts an edge upon the Word, and opens the heart, and makes it burn,-namely, the Spirit of Christ: for by that only we can be brought unto the righteousness of Christ. We are not to despise the ordinances in our esteem, when we find them destitute of such humane contributions and attemperations which we haply expected, as Naaman did the waters of Jordan; for though there be excellent use of human learning, when it is sanctified for opening the Word, as a baser colour is a good ground for a better; yet it is the Word alone which the Spirit worketh by. The flesh, and fleshly accessions, of themselves, profit no more, nor add no more real virtue or lustre to the Word, than the weeds in the field do unto the corn, or than the ground colour doth unto the beauty of that which is put upon it. We should, therefore, pray for the Spirit to come along with his Word. It is not enough to be at Bethesda, this house of mercy and grace,-unless the angel stir, and the Spirit move

• 2 Cor. iii. 3. Jer. xxxi. 33. xxxii. 40. Eph. iv. 30.

upon, these waters. It is he that must incline, and put the heart into the Word, or else it will remain as impotent as before. But of this point also I have spoken, at large, upon another Scripture.

Having then thus shewed at large, that the Spirit by the commandment convinceth men to be in the state of sin, both actual and original, imputed and inherent ;-what kind of state that is, a state of impotency and enmity;-how it doth it, by quickening the Word, and opening the heart;—now we are very briefly to open the second point, That the Spirit by the commandment convinceth a man to be under the guilt of sin, or in the state of death because of sin. "I died;" from which we must note, First, That there is a two-fold guilt: first, "reatus concupiscentia," which is the meritoriousness of punishment, or liableness unto punishment, which sin brings with it: and "reatus personæ," which is the actual obligation, and obnoxiousness of a person unto punishment because of sin. Now inasmuch as nature is not able to discover, without the Spirit, the whole malignity and obliquity that is in sin; therefore it cannot sufficiently convince of the guilt of sin,-which is a resultancy therefrom, and is ever proportionable thereunto. In which respect the judgements of God are said to be "unsearchable; "P" and the wicked know not whither they go," cannot have any full and proportionable notions of that wrath to come, which their sins carry them unto.

Secondly, We may note, that there is a twofold conviction of this guilt of sin; a natural conviction, such as was in Cain, Judas, Spira, and other despairing men; which ariseth from two grounds: First, The present sense of God's wrath in the first fruits thereof upon their consciences, which must perforce bear witness to God's justice therein. And this is that which the apostle calls torment,' which though it may arise from natural principles (for we know even heathens have had their 'laniatus' and 'ictus,' as the historian speaks, their scourges and rendings of conscience), yet is it much set forward by the Word, because therein is made more apparent to the soul, the glory, and the power of God. Therefore the two prophets are said to torment the inhabit

P Rom. xi. 33.

1 Joh. ii. 11.

r 1 Joh. iv. 18.

• Rev. xi. 10.

ants of the earth, and the law is said to make men guilty,' and to kill," to hew, smite, and destroy those whom it deals withal. Secondly, Such a faith as the Devils have, begotten by the Word, and assented unto by the secret suggestions of the heart, witnessing to itself, that it hath deserved more than yet it feels; and this begets a fearful expectation of the heart with horrid tremblings

being devoured, surpriseth and presumptions of the vengeance to come, which the apostle calls the spirit of bondage" and fear,' But all this being an assent perforce extorted (for wicked men confess their sins, as the Devils confessed Christ, more out of torment, than out of love to God, or humiliation under his mighty hand) amounts to no more than a natural conviction.

a

Secondly, There is a spiritual and evangelical conviction of the guilt of sin, and the damnation due thereunto, arising from the law written in the heart, and tempered with the apprehension of mercy in the new covenant; which begets such a pain under the guilt of sin, as a plaster doth to the imposthumation which withal it cures; such a conviction as is a manuduction unto righteousness:-And that is, when the conscience doth not only perforce feel itself dead, but hath wrought in it by the Spirit the same affection towards itself for sin, which the Word hath, is willing to charge itself, and acquit God, to indite, accuse, arraign, testify, condemn itself, meet the Lord in the way of his judgements, and cast down itself under his mighty hand. That man who can, in secret and truth of heart, willingly and uncompulsorily, thus stand on God's side against sin, and against himself for it,-giving God the glory of his righteousness if he should condemn him, and of his unsearchable and rich mercy, that he doth offer to forgive him; I dare pronounce that man to have the Spirit of Christ. For no man, by nature, can, willingly and uprightly, own damnation, and charge himself with it as his due portion and most just inheritance. This can never arise, but from a deep sense and hate of sin, from a most ardent zeal for the glory and righteousness of God.

Rom. iii. 19.

u Deut. v. 25. 2 Cor. iii. 7. 2 Thess. ii. 8. Isai. ii. 4. * Hos. vi. 5. y Isai. xxxiii. 14. z Heb, ii. 15. x. 27. Gen. iii. 10. Rom. viii. 15. 2 Tim. i. 7.

a Matth. viii. 29.

Mic. vii. 9. Psalm li. 4. Ezra ix. 13, 15. Dan. ix. 7, 8.

iv. 12. Isai, xvi. 8.

b Lam. iii. 30, 43.

1 Cor. xi. 32, Amos

Now then since the conviction of sin, and of the death and guilt thereof, is not to drive men to despair or blasphemy, but that they may believe and lay hold on the righteousness of Christ, which they are then most likely to do, when sin is made exceeding sinful, and, by consequence, death exceeding deadly ;—give me leave to set forth in two words what this guilt of sin is; that the necessity of righteousness from Christ may appear the greater, and his mercy therein be the more glorified.

Guilt is the demerit of sin, binding and subjecting the person in whom it is, to undergo all the punishments, legally due thereunto. This demerit is founded not only in the constitution, will, and power of God over his own creatures, of whom he may justly require whatsoever obedience he giveth power to perform,-but in the nature of his own holiness and justice, which in sin is violated and turned from. And this guilt is, after a sort, infinite; because it springeth out of the aversion from an infinite good, the violation of an infinite holiness and justice, and the conversion to the creatures infinitely, if men could live ever to commit adultery with them. And as the consequence and reward of obedience was the favour of God, conferring life and blessedness to the creature; so the wages of sin, which this guilt assureth a sinner of, is the wrath of God, which the Scripture calleth death and the curse.

C

This guilt being an obligation unto punishment, leadeth us to consider, what the nature of that curse and death is, unto which it bindeth us over. Punishment bearing necessary relation to a command, the transgression whereof is therein recompensed, taketh in these considerations: First, on the part of the commander, a will to which the actions of the subject must conform, revealed and signified under the nature of a law. Secondly, a justice which will; and Thirdly, a power which can, punish the transgressors of that law. Secondly, on the part of the subject commanded, there is required, first, reason and free-will originally, without which there can be no sin. For though man, by his brutishness and impotency which he doth contract, cannot make void the commands of God, but that they now bind men

Ephes. ii. 3.

d John iii. 36.

e Gal. iii. 13.

who have put out their light and lost their liberty;-yet originally God made no law to bind under pain of sin, but that unto the obedience whereof he gave reason and freewill. Secondly, a debt and obligation, either by voluntary subjection, as man to man; or natural, as the creature to God; or both, sealed and acknowledged in the covenants between God and man, whereby man is bound to fulfil that law, which he was originally enabled to observe. Thirdly, a forfeiture, guilt, and demerit upon the violation of that law. Thirdly and lastly, the evil it inflicted; wherein we consider, first, the nature and quality of it, which is to have a destructive power, to oppress and disquiet the offender, and to violate the integrity of his well-being. For as sin is a violation, offered by man to the law,-so punishment is a violation, retorted from the law to man. Secondly, the proportion of it to the offence; the greatness whereof is manifested in the majesty of God offended, and those several relations of goodness, patience, creation, redemption, which he hath to man ;—in the quality of the creature offending, being the chief, and Lord of all the rest below him ;-in the easiness of the primitive obedience ;--in the unprofitableness of the ways of sin, and a world of the like aggravations. Thirdly, the end of it; which is not the destruction of the creature, whom, as a creature, God loveth, but the satisfaction of justice, the declaration of divine displeasure against sin, and the manifestation of the glory of his power and terror. So then, punishment is an evil or pressure of the creature, proceeding from a lawgiver just and powerful, inAlicted on a reasonable creature, for and proportionable unto, the breach of such a law, unto the performance and obedience whereof the creature was originally enabled; wherein is intended the glory of God's just displeasure, and great power against sin, which he naturally hateth. Now these punishments are temporal, spiritual, and eternal. Temporal, and those first without a man; "The vanity of the creatures," which were at first made full of goodness and beauty, but do now mourn and groan under the bondage of cur sins: the wrath of God revealing itself from Heaven, and the curse of God overgrowing the earth. Secondly,

Rom. viii. 20.

g Gen. iii. 17. Jer. xii. 4.

Rev. xi. 10.