Five particulars to be observed in praying against the defilement of sin 4/4

    (d) Pray against the power of thy lusts as a branch of the gospel covenant.  God is not bound by the first covenant to stir a foot for man’s help.  Man went of his own accord over to the devil’s quarters. He deserted God and chose a new lord; and in his hands God might have left him, without offering any help for his rescue.  It was not any tie that man had upon God by the covenant of nature which obliged him, but his own free grace that moved him, to undertake his recovery.  And this he doth by making a new covenant on the ruins of the old.  So that, whoever will pray against his lusts with success must first become a covenanter with God, by accepting the terms upon which God in it offers to save us from our sins, and they are faith and repentance.  When the soul doth thus face about from his sins to close with Christ, then he becomes a covenanter with God, and may, with faith, call God into the field for his help against this huge host of lusts and devils that come against him.  God’s chariots are his; the whole militia of heaven is engaged in his quarrel.  ‘Sin shall not have dominion over you’—and why?—‘for ye are not under law but under grace,’ Rom. 6:14; that is, you are not under the law covenant made with Adam, but under the gospel covenant made with Christ, and through him with all believers.  O how many prayers against sin are lost for want of well understanding this grand notion of the gospel!  A great cry is made and complaint by many of their sins to God, and victory over them pretend to be desired; yet they live and grow stronger every day than other.  And what is the reason?  Alas! they stand not in a federal relation to God; neither take they any care how to get into it. Will a prince raise an army to fight for he knows not whom?  Indeed, if his subjects or allies be in distress he is ready to step in for their succour; but strangers cannot expect he should do this for them.  Leagues are made before assistance desired.  God first prom­ised to bring Israel ‘into the bond of his covenant,’ Eze. 20:37; and then, that he will ‘accept them with your sweet savour,’ ver. 41.  David knew this very well, that the carnal world are abandoned by God, to be trod under the foot of every lust; and therefore, when he prays God would order his steps in his word, and let no iniquity have dominion over him, he desires it as a favour peculiar to those that were near and dear to him: Deal with me ‘as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name,’ Ps. 119:132.

           (e) Pray not only against the power of sin, but for the power of holiness also.  A naughty heart may pray against his sins, not out of any inward enmity to them, or love to holiness, but because they are troublesome guests to his conscience.  Believe it for a certain truth, his zeal is false that seems hot against sin but is key‑cold to holiness.  A city is rebellious that keeps their rightful prince out though it receives not his enemy in.  Nay, the devil needs not fear but at last he shall make that soul his garrison again, out of which for a while he seems shut, so long as it stands empty and is not filled with solid grace, Matt. 12:44, 45.  What indeed should hinder Satan’s re-entry into that house which hath not in it to keep him out?

Five particulars to be observed in praying against the defilement of sin 3/4

    (c) Again, God, who bids thee pray against thy lusts, commands thee also to take the sword of his word, by meditating on it, and applying it close to thy heart and conscience, to cut them down and get victory over them.  Thus did David. He hid the word in his heart that he might not sin.  Thou prayest against covetousness.  O that God would rid thy heart of it!  Well, what dost thou towards thy own delivery from this base lust?  Here is a sword put into thy hand, whose edge is sharp enough to cut and kill if thou wilt lay it on in good earnest.  This sets forth the vanity of the creature—how vile and base a sin covet­ousness is; takes away all occasion of inordinate desires and cares for the world by many sweet promises—what he hath laid up in another world for us, and what care in his providence he will take for us in this life.  ‘Let your conversation be without covet­ousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee,’ Heb. 13:5.  Now, what use doth thou make of this weapon?  Dost thou strengthen thy assent to the truth of these promises?—labour to affect thy heart with the sweetness of them, and then draw forth this sword to defend thyself against this lust when the enemy comes with a temptation to it?  If so, thou wert sincere in thy prayer.  A false heart contents it­self with a few idle lay prayers against his lust, but is afraid to use this sword against it.  Or, if he doth, he strikes with the back and not the edge; or lays his stroke so favourably on that it shall not much endanger the life of his sin—like a mountebank, that will be sure to make no worse wound in his side than his balsam will in a day or two cure.

           Now, to raise thy heart to the greater vehemency in praying against thy lusts, labour deeply to affect thy heart what a fearful plague it is—indeed, of all other incomparably the greatest—for a soul to be given up of God to the power of his lusts.  This consideration, if any, will make thee lay close siege to God and set upon him with the utmost importunity, knowing thou art an undone creature if thou speedest not in thy errand.  When God intends to smite home he takes his aim at the heart, he gives the creature over to his lusts.  Thus he hardened Pharaoh to a final obstinacy, ‘I will...send all my plagues upon thine heart,’ Ex. 9:14. They did not only light upon the beasts and fruits of the field, or upon their own bodies, but chiefly upon their hearts and spirits, hardening them into obsti­nacy to their destruction. And this, indeed, is to send all plagues in one.  Other plagues, that reach only to estate or body, are consistent with the love and favour of God.  He can smite the body and smile on the soul; blast the man’s estate and bless him with spiritual riches; make him poor in the world and rich in faith.  But he that is given up to his lusts is abhorred of God.  A saint may be given up to Satan ut lictori—to correct him, for the destruction of the flesh and saving of his spirit; but it is the brand of a reprobate to be delivered up to Satan ut domino —that his lusts may have full power over him; which judiciary act of God portends the sinner’s destruction, Deut. 2:30; II Thes. 2:11.  Outward plagues are some­times in the sinner’s mouth as a bridle to restrain him from sin.  But this is a spur that makes them more mad after their lusts; it takes away the sense of sin, and then the wretch plays the devil.  Nothing will stop him in his way, but to hell he will go over hedge and ditch.

       

Five particulars to be observed in praying against the defilement of sin 2/4

      Question. But how may we come to know that our hearts are sincere or hypocritical in praying against the defiling power of sin?

           Answer [1].  Observe whether thy prayer be uni­form—laid against all sin, one lust as well as another. Sincerity makes not here a balk and there a furrow; is not hot against one lust and cold against another; but goes through stitch in the work: it ‘hates every false way,’ Ps. 119:104.  It shoots its arrows at the whole flock, and singles not this sin out in his prayers which he would have taken, and that left: ‘Let not any iniquity have dominion over me,’ ver. 133.  He knows if all his chains were knocked off, and only one left upon him, he should be as true a slave to Satan as if all the other were still on.  He prays not against one sin because a great one, and pleads for another be­cause it is a little one.  The dust and rubbish help to fill up the wall as well as the great stones; little sins contribute as well as great to make up the partition wall between God and the creature.  Every little speck blemisheth the garment, and every penny increaseth the sums.  So little sins defile the soul and swell the sinner's account.  Therefore he prays against them as well as the other.  David, who desired to be kept back from ‘presumptuous sins,’ did also beg to be ‘cleansed from his secret faults,’ Ps. 19:12.

           Answer [2]. Observe whether thy heart stand firmly resolved to renounce that sin thou prayest God to subdue.  The sincere Christian binds himself, as well as labours to engage God against his sin.  Indeed that prayer is a blank which hath not a vow in it.  ‘Thou...hast heard my vows,’ Ps. 61:5; that is, his pray­ers, which are always to be put up with vows.  Is it a mercy thou prayest him to give?  If sincere, thou wilt vow to praise him for it and serve him with it.  Is it a sin thou prayest against?  Except thou jugglest with God thou wilt vow as well as pray against it.  ‘Remove from me the way of lying,’ Ps. 119:29.  There is David’s deprecation.  Now, mark his promise and vow: ‘I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me,’ ver. 30.  While he prays against the way of lying he chooseth the way of truth.

           Answer [3]. Observe whether thou beest vigor­ous in the use of all appointed means to mortify the lust thou prayest against.  Resolutions in the time of prayer are good when backed with strenuous endeav­ours, else but a blind for a false heart to cover itself with.  Samson did not only pray he might be avenged on his enemies, but set his hands to the pillars of the house.  He that hath bid thee pray against thy lust hath bid thee shun the occasions of it.  ‘Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house, lest thou give thy honour unto others,’ Prov. 5:8; that is, lest thou be hooked in to her by the occa­sion.  Thus Joseph, that he might not be drawn to lie with his mistress, would not stay alone in the room with her, Gen. 39:7-12.  So, Prov. 23:20, ‘be not among wine-bibbers;’ and, ‘look not on the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup,’ ver. 31, be­cause look­ing may breed liking.  Now, art thou con­scientiously careful to keep out of the way that leads to the sin, and to shun the occasion that might betray thee into the hands of that lust thou prayest against? Certainly, he that would not have his house blown up will not have set his gunpowder in the chimney-corner.

       

Five particulars be observed in praying against the defilement of sin 1/4

           (a)  Be sure thou comest with a deep abhorrence of thyself for that sin-filth which cleaves to thee.  This is called ‘knowing the plague of a man’s own heart,’ I Kings 8:38, when a creature is affected and afflicted with the sense of his corruptions, as if he had so many plague sores running upon him, and bathes himself for them, as much as Job did for the boils and sores with which his body was covered.  The leper was commanded, in order to his cure, to put himself into a mourner’s habit: ‘His clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean,’ Lev. 13:45.  Why all this, but to express the deep sense of his sin and misery?  Look upon the saints in scripture, and you shall find this was their way to abase themselves in their prayers with the greatest self-abhorrency that was possible.  Penitent David takes the fool, yea the beast, unto himself; he knows not how to speak bad enough of himself.  ‘So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee,’ Ps. 73:22.  Holy Job cries out, ‘I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes,’ Job 42:6.  Others blush, and are as much ashamed to be seen in the presence of God, as one that had fallen into some puddle or jakes would be in that pickle to come before his prince.

           (b) In praying against thy lusts, look thy heart goes with thy tongue.  In nothing so our hearts put more cheats upon us than in our prayers, and in no requests more than in those which are levelled against our lusts.  That is least oftentimes intended which is most pretended.  And truly we had need be well ac­quainted with ourselves before we can find the bot­tom of our designs.  Austin confesseth, when he was a young man, and forced by conviction in his con­science to pray that God would deliver him out of the bondage of his lust, that yet the secret whispers of his heart were non adhuc, Domine—not yet, Lord.  He was afraid that God would take him at his word. Thus the hypocritical Jews first ‘set up their idols in their heart,’ Eze. 14:3.  This is a great wickedness.  And it were a just, though a heavy plague, for God to answer such according to the secret vote of their hearts, by them up to those lusts which they inwardly crave. When Paul begs prayers for himself, to embolden them in their requests for him, he assures them of his sincerity: ‘Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly,’ Heb. 13:18.  As if he had said, I durst not make you my spokesmen to God, if my heart did not check me that I did secretly comply with any sin, and did not mean in all things to live honestly.  How then canst thou have the face to go thyself to God on an errand to desire that of him which thou wouldst be loath to have.