12. CHAPTER 12.

CHAPTER 12. The conception of sin through its deceit — What it consists in — The consent of the will to sin — The nature of it — The ways and means by which it is obtained — Other advantages made use of by the deceit of sin — Ignorance — Error. The THIRD success of the deceit of sin in its progressive work is the conception of actual sin. When it has drawn the mind away from its duty, and entangled the affections, it proceeds to conceive sin in order to bringing forth sin: “Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin.” Now, the conception of sin, in order for its perpetration, can be nothing but the consent of the will; for just as sin cannot be committed without the consent of the will, so where the will has consented to it, there is nothing in the soul to hinder its actual accomplishment. God indeed, by various ways and means, frustrates bringing forth these adulterate conceptions, causing them to melt away in the womb, or in one way or another aborting them, so that not the least part of that sin is committed which is willed or conceived; yet there is nothing in the soul itself that remains to check it once the will has given its consent. Often, when a cloud is full of rain and ready to fall, a wind comes and drives it away; and when the will is ready to bring forth its sin, God diverts it by one wind or another: yet the cloud was as full of rain as if it had fallen, and the soul was as full of sin as if it had been committed. This conceiving of lust or sin, is its prevalence in obtaining the consent of the will to its solicitations. And hereby the soul is deflowered of its chastity towards God in Christ, as the apostle intimates:

2 Corinthians 11:2-3, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” To clear up this matter we must observe —

1. That the will is the principle, the next seat and cause, of obedience and disobedience. Moral actions are unto us, or in us, so far as good or evil partake of the consent of the will. He spoke truth who said of old, “Every sin is so voluntary, that if it is not voluntary, it is not sin.” 140 It is most true of actual sins. The formality of their iniquity arises from the acts of the will in them and concerning them — I mean, as to the persons that commit the sins; otherwise, in itself, the formal reason for sin is its aberration from the law of God.

2. There is a twofold consent of the will to sin: —

(1.) That which is full, absolute, complete, and upon deliberation — a prevailing consent; the convictions of the mind are conquered, and there is no principle of grace in the will to weaken it. With this consent, the soul goes into sin as a ship goes before the wind: with all its sails displayed, without any check or stop. It rushes into sin like the horse into battle. Thereby men, as the apostle puts it, “give themselves over to sin with greediness,” Ephesians 4:19. Thus Ahab’s will was displayed in murdering Naboth. He did it upon deliberation, by contrivance, with full consent. Doing it gave him such satisfaction that it cured his malady or distemper of mind. This is that consent of the will which is exercised in finishing and completing sin in unregenerate persons; it is not required for the single bringing forth of sin which we speak of.

(2.) There is a consent of the will which is attended with a secret reluctance, and a volition to the contrary. Thus was Peter’s will in denying his Master. His will was in it, or he would not have done it. It was a voluntary action, which he chose to do at that time. Sin would not have been brought forth, if it had not been thus conceived. Yet, at this very time, there was resident in his will a contrary principle of love to Christ, yes, and faith in him, which did not utterly fail. Its efficacy was intercepted, and its operations were suspended, actually, through the violent urging of the temptation that he was under. Yet reluctance was in his will, and it weakened his consent to sin. Though his will consented, it was not done with that self-pleasing which full acts of the will would produce.141

3. Even though there may be a predominant consent in the will, which may suffice to conceive particular sins, there cannot be an absolute, total, full consent of the will of a believer to any sin; for —

(1.) In his will there is a principle that is fixed on good, on all good: Romans 7:21, “He would do good.” The principle of grace in the will inclines him to all good. This is generally prevalent against the principle of sin, so that the will is denominated from there. Grace has the rule and dominion, and not sin, in the will of every believer. Now, that consent to sin in the will which is contrary to the inclination and generally prevailing principle in the same will, is not and cannot be total, absolute, and complete.

(2.) There is not only a general, ruling, prevailing principle in the will against sin, but there is also a secret reluctance in it against its own act in consenting to sin. It is true, the soul is not sensible sometimes of this reluctance, because the present consent carries away the prevailing act of the will, and takes away the sense of the lusting of the Spirit, or the reluctance of the principle of grace in the will. But the general rule holds in all things at all times: Galatians 5:17, “The Spirit lusts against the flesh.” It does so actually, though not always to the same degree, nor with the same success; and the prevalence of the contrary principle in this or that particular act does not disprove it. It is also true on the other side. There is no acting of grace in the will that sin does not lust against it; even though that lusting is not made sensible in the soul, because of the prevalence of the contrary acting of grace, yet it is enough to keep those actings from perfection in their kind. So it is in this reluctance of grace against the acting of sin in the soul; though it is not sensible in its operations, yet it is enough to keep that act from being full and complete. And much of spiritual wisdom lies in discerning rightly between the spiritual reluctance of the principle of grace in the will against sin, and the rebukes that are given the soul by conscience upon its conviction for sin.

4. Observe that reiterated, repeated acts of the consent of the will to sin may beget a disposition and inclination to similar acts, that may bring the will to a proneness and readiness to consent to sin upon easy solicitations; this is a condition of soul that is dangerous, and greatly to be watched against.

5. This consent of the will, which we have thus described, may be considered two ways: —

(1.) As it is exercised about the circumstances, causes, means, and inducements to sin.

(2.) As it respects this or that actual sin. In the first sense, there is a virtual consent of the will to sin in every inadvertence to prevent it, in every neglect of duty that makes way for it, and in every hearkening to any temptation leading towards it — in a word, in all the diversions of the mind from its duty, and entanglements of the affections by sin, mentioned before. For where there is no act of the will, formally or virtually, there is no sin. But this is not what we are now speaking of; and in particular, the consent of the will to this or that actual sin, so far as that sin is either committed, or prevented by other ways and means, is not our present consideration. This is what the conceiving of sin consists in. These things being supposed, what we consider next is the way in which the deceit of sin proceeds to procure the consent of the will, and so conceive actual sin in the soul. To this purpose observe: —

1. That the will is a rational appetite — it is rational as guided by the mind, and has an appetite as it is excited by the affections; and so in its operation or actings, it has respect to both, and is influenced by both.

2. It chooses nothing, consents to nothing, except sub ratione boni, — as it has an appearance of good, some present good. It cannot consent to anything under the notion or apprehension of its being evil in any kind. Good is its natural and necessary object; and therefore, whatever is proposed to it for its consent, must be proposed to it under an appearance of being either good in itself, or good to the soul at present, or good as it is in the circumstances;142 so that —

3. We may see from this, the reason why the conception of sin is here placed as a consequent of the mind’s being drawn away, and the affections being entangled. Both of these have an influence in the consent of the will, and thereby in the conception of this or that actual sin. Our way, therefore, is made somewhat plain here. We have seen at large how the mind is drawn away by the deceit of sin, and how the affections are entangled by it.

What remains is just the proper effect of these things. To discover them, we must give instances of some of the special deceits — the corrupt and fallacious reasonings mentioned before — and then show their prevalence on the will to consent to sin: —

(1.) The will is imposed upon by that corrupt reasoning, that grace is exalted in a pardon, and that mercy is provided for sinners. This first, as shown, deceives the mind; and that opens the way to the will’s consent by removing a sight of its evil, which the will has an aversion to. And this, in carnal hearts, prevails so far as to make them think that their liberty consists in being “servants of corruption,” 2 Peter 2:19 .143 And the poison of it oftentimes taints and vitiates the minds of believers themselves; this is why we are so cautioned against it in the Scripture.

We will therefore add a few other considerations to what has been said before, as to the use and abuse of the doctrine of the grace of the gospel, and fix on one place of Scripture that will give light to it There is a twofold mystery of grace — of walking with God, and of coming to God. And the great design of sin is to change the doctrine and the mystery of grace in reference to these things; that is done by applying those considerations to the one, which are proper to the other. By this means, each part is hindered; and the influence of the doctrine of grace on them, for their furtherance, is defeated. See:

1 John 2:1-2, “These things I write to you, that you do not sin. And if any man sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins.”

Here is the whole design and use of the gospel briefly expressed. “These things,” he says, “I write to you.” What things were these? Those mentioned in chap. 1 verse 2: “The life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show to you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested to us” — that is, the things concerning the person and mediation of Christ — and in verse 7,144 that pardon, forgiveness, and expiation from sin which is to be attained by the blood of Christ. But to what end and purpose does he write these things to them? What do they teach, and what do they tend towards? A universal abstinence from sin: “I write to you,” he says, “that you do not sin.” This is the only proper, genuine end of the doctrine of the gospel. But to abstain from all sin is not our condition in this world. Verse 8:

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

What, then, shall be done in this case? In supposing sin, that we have sinned, is there no relief provided for our souls and consciences in the gospel? Yes; he says,

“If any man sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins.”

There is full relief in the propitiation and intercession of Christ for us. This is the order and the method of the doctrine of the gospel, and of its application to our own souls: — first, to keep us from sin; and then to relieve us against sin. But here enters the deceit of sin, and it puts this “new wine into old bottles,” by which the bottles are broken, and the wine perishes as to our benefit from it. It changes this method and order of the application of gospel truths. It takes up the last first, and that utterly excludes the use of the first. “If any man sins, there is pardon provided;” this is all the gospel that sin would willingly allow to abide in the minds of men. When we would come to God by believing, it would press the former part of being free from sin — when indeed the gospel principally proposes the latter, the pardon of sin, for our encouragement. And when we have come to God, and should walk with him, sin will have only the latter proposed, that there is pardon of sin, when the gospel principally proposes the former, of keeping ourselves from sin. The grace of God bringing salvation, has appeared to us for that end and purpose.

Now, the mind being entangled with this deceit — drawn away from its watch by it, diverted from the true ends of the gospel — imposes on the will to obtain its consent in several ways: —

[1.] By a sudden surprisal in case of temptation. Temptation is the representation of a thing as a present good, a particular good, which is rather a real evil, a general evil. Now, when a temptation, armed with opportunity and provocation, befalls the soul, the principle of grace in the will rises up with a rejection and detestation of it. But all of a sudden, the mind being deceived by sin, breaks in upon the will with a corrupt, fallacious reasoning from gospel grace and mercy, which first staggers, and then abates the will’s opposition; and then it causes the will to tip the scale, by giving its consent, on the side of temptation, presenting evil as a present good — and sin in the sight of God is thus conceived, even if it is never committed. Thus the seed of God is sacrificed to Moloch, and the weapons of Christ are abused to serve the devil.

[2.] It does this imperceptibly. It insinuates the poison of this corrupt reasoning little by little, until it has greatly prevailed. Just as the whole effect of the doctrine of the gospel in holiness and obedience consists in the soul’s being cast into the frame and mold of that doctrine,145 so the whole of the apostasy from the gospel, is principally casting the soul into the frame and mould of this false reasoning — so that sin may be indulged on account of grace and pardon. By this false reasoning, the soul is gratified in sloth and negligence, and it is taken away from its care as to particular duties, and avoidance of particular sins. It works the soul imperceptibly away from the mystery of the law of grace — to look for salvation as if we had never performed any duty, being unprofitable servants after we have done all;Luke 17:10 resting on sovereign mercy through the blood of Christ, and attending to our duties with all diligence as if we looked for no mercy; that is, with no less care, though with more liberty and freedom. This is what the deceitfulness of sin endeavours by all means to work the soul away from; and thereby debauches the will when its consent is required for particular sins.

(2.) The deceived mind imposes on the will, to obtain its consent to sin, by proposing to it the advantages that may accrue and arise by it; which is one medium by which it is also drawn away itself. It renders what is absolutely evil, into a present apparent good. So it was with Eve, Genesis 3. Laying aside all considerations of the law, covenant, and threats of God, she all at once reflects upon the advantages, pleasures, and benefits which she would obtain by her sin, and she counts them up to solicit the consent of her will. “It is,” she says, “good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise.” What should she do, then, but eat it? Her will consented, and she did so accordingly. Pleas for obedience are laid aside, and only the pleasures of sin are taken into consideration. So Ahab says in 1Kng 21.2; “Naboth’s vineyard is near my house, and I may make it a garden of herbs; therefore I must have it.” A deceived mind imposed these considerations on his will, until it made him obstinate in the pursuit of his covetousness through perjury and murder, to the utter ruin of himself and his family. Thus the guilt and tendency of sin is hidden under the cover of advantages and pleasures, and so it is conceived or resolved in the soul.

Just as the mind being withdrawn greatly furthers the conception of sin in the soul by the consent of the will, so too, the affections being enticed and entangled furthers its conception; they do this two ways: —

[1.] By some hasty impulse and surprisal: the affections being stirred up, incited, and drawn out by some violent provocation or suitable temptation, they combust the whole soul, as it were, and draw the will into consenting to what they are provoked to and entangled with. So was the case of David in the matter of Nabal. A violent provocation from the extreme unworthy carriage of that foolish churl,146 stirs David up to wrath and revenge, 1 Samuel 25:13 .147 He resolves to destroy a whole family, the innocent with the guilty, verses 33, 34.148 Self-revenge and murder were, for the time, conceived, resolved, and consented to, until God graciously took David off it. His entangled, provoked affections surprised his will to consent to the conception of many bloody sins. The case was the same with Asa in his anger, when he struck the prophet;149 and with Peter in his fear, when he denied his Master. Let the soul who would take heed of conceiving sin, take heed of entangled affections; for sin may be suddenly conceived, and the prevalent consent of the will may be suddenly obtained — this gives the soul a fixed guilt, even though the sin itself is never actually brought forth.

[2.] Enticed affections procure the consent of the will by frequent solicitations, by which they imperceptibly gain ground on it, and enthrone themselves. Take the instance of the sons of Jacob,

Genesis 37:4. “And when [Joseph’s] brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.”

They hate their brother, because their father loved him. Their affections being enticed, many new occasions arise to entangle them further, such as his dreams and the like. This rankling lay in their hearts, and never ceased soliciting their wills until they resolved upon his death. The unlawfulness, the unnaturalness of the action, the grief of their aged father, the guilt of their own souls, are all laid aside. That hatred and envy that they conceived against him did not cease until they had gotten the consent of their wills to Joseph’s ruin. In Proverbs 23:31-35 the wise man excellently describes this gradual progress of the prevalence of corrupt affections, to solicit the soul to sin. This is the usual way that sin proceeds in the destruction of those souls who seem to have made some good engagements in the ways of God: — when it has entangled them with one temptation, and brought their will to some liking of it, which presently becomes another temptation, either to neglect some duty or to refuse more light. What usually leads men to utterly fall away from God is not what they are first entangled with. This may briefly suffice for the third progressive act of the deceit of sin. It obtains the will’s consent to its conception; and by this means, multitudes of sins are conceived in the heart which no less defile the soul, or cause it to contract no less guilt, than if they were actually committed. As a close to this discourse, I will add to what has already been said concerning the deceitfulness of indwelling sin in general, one or two particular ways of its deceitful actings which greatly evidence its power and efficacy. These consist in the advantages and means it makes use of to be relieved of the argument made against it by the Word and Spirit for its ruin. We will here name only one heading for each sort: —

1. It takes great advantage of the darkness of the mind, to work out its design and intents. The shades of a mind that is totally dark — that is, utterly devoid of saving grace — are the proper workplace of sin. Hence, its effects are called the “works of darkness,” Ephesians 5:11, Romans 13:12, as springing from it. Sin works and brings forth by the help of a darkened mind. The working of lust under the cover of a darkened mind is, as it were, the upper region of hell; for it lies next door to it in its filth, horror, and confusion.

Now, there is a partial darkness still abiding in believers; they “know but in part,” 1 Corinthians 13:12. Even though there is a principle of saving light in them all — the day-star has risen in their hearts — yet all the shades of darkness are not utterly expelled from them in this life. And there are two parts, or principal effects as it were, of this remaining darkness in believers: —

(1.) Ignorance (or nescience) of the will of God, either juris or facti,151 of the rule and law in general; or of the reference of the particular fact that lies before the mind, as to the law.

(2.) Positive error and mistakes — that is, taking falsehood for truth, and darkness for light.

Now, the law of sin takes great advantage of both of these, to exert its power in the soul.

(1.) Ignorance. If there is a remaining ignorance of anything about the will of God, sin will be sure to make use of it, and improve that ignorance to the utmost. Though Abimelech was not a believer, he had moral integrity in his ways and actions; he declares so in a solemn appeal to God, the searcher of all hearts, even in those things in which he miscarried, Genesis 20:5.¹⁵² But being ignorant that fornication was a sin, or that it was so great a sin that it was not becoming for a morally honest man to defile himself with it, lust hurries Abimelech into that intention of evil in reference to Sarah, as we have it related there.

God complains that his people “perished for lack of knowledge,” Hosea 4:6. Being ignorant of the mind and will of God, they rushed into evil at every command of the law of sin. Whether it concerns any duty to be performed, or any sin to be committed, if there is darkness or ignorance in the mind about these things, sin will not lose its advantage. Many a man — being ignorant of the duty incumbent on him to instruct his own family, and throwing the whole weight of it onto public teaching — is brought into habitual sloth and negligence of his duty, by the deceitfulness of sin. However much ignorance there is of the will of God and duty, that much advantage is given to the law of sin. From this we may see what that true knowledge is, which is acceptable with God. How exactly many a poor soul, who is low as to his conceptual knowledge of sin, may yet walk with God! It seems they know enough, that sin doesn’t have much advantage against them on that account; yet others, high in their concepts of sin, give their lusts an advantage by their ignorance, though they don’t know they are ignorant.153

(2.) Error is a worse part or effect of the mind’s darkness, and it gives great advantage to the law of sin. There is, indeed, ignorance in every error, but there isn’t error in all ignorance; and so they may be distinguished. I need only exemplify this with one consideration, and that is of men who, being zealous for some error, seek to suppress and persecute the truth. Indwelling sin desires no greater advantage than this. How it will, every day, every hour, pour out wrath, revilings, and hard speeches — breathe revenge, murder, and desolation — under the name perhaps of zeal! On this account, we may see poor creatures every day who are pleased with themselves, as if boasting in their excellence, when in fact they are foaming out their own shame. Under their real darkness and pretended zeal, sin sits securely; it fills pulpits, houses, prayers, and streets with bitter fruits of envy, malice, wrath, hatred, evil surmisings, and false speech, full as they can hold. The usual result with such poor creatures is that the holy, blessed, meek Spirit of God withdraws from them, visibly and openly leaving them to that evil, froward, wrathful, worldly spirit, which the law of sin has cherished and heightened in them. Sin dwells nowhere more securely, than in such a frame. Thus, I say, in particular it lays hold of any advantage to practice its deceitfulness; and in this it also exerts its power in the soul. This single instance of improving the darkness of the mind to its own ends, is a sufficient evidence of it.

2. There is another means used to relieve itself against the pursuit made of it in the heart by the Word and Spirit of grace. I will name, for instance, one of its wiles, and that is the alleviation of its own guilt. It pleads for itself that it is not so bad, so filthy, or so fatal as it is pretended; and it proceeds in this course of extenuation in two ways: —

(1.) Absolutely. It will have many secret pleas that the evil which it tends towards is not as pernicious as the conscience is persuaded it is; it may be risked without ruin. It will strongly urge these considerations when it is at work by way of a surprisal, when the soul has no leisure or liberty to weigh its suggestions in the balance of the sanctuary; and not seldom, the will is imposed on by this, and advantages are gained to get itself out from under the sword of the Spirit: — “It’s not so bad that it can’t be let alone, or allowed to die by itself, which it will probably do in a while; there is no need for that forcefulness which is offered in mortification; there is time enough later on to deal with a matter of no greater importance than this;” and it makes other pleas like those mentioned before.

(2.) Comparatively; and this is a large field for its deceit and subtlety to lurk in: — “Though it is an evil that is indeed to be relinquished, and the soul is to watch against it, it is not of that magnitude and degree which we see in the lives of others, even in saints of God, much less those which some saints of old had fallen into.” By these and similar pretences, I say, it seeks to evade and keep its abode in the soul when it is pursued to destruction. And how small a portion of its deceitfulness we have declared!