THE REMAINDERS OF IN-DWELLING SIN, THE NATURE AND POWER AND DECEIT OF IT By Dr. John Owen 1616-1683 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not, for what I would that do I 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. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law of 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. 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. That which he here calls the law of his mind, from the principal subject and seed of it, is in itself no other but the law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus. Chapter 8 Or the effectual power of the spirit of grace, as was said. But the law is applied, and the sin hath a double sense. For as, in the first place, I see a law in my members, it denotes the being and nature of sin. So, in the latter, leading into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members, it signifies its power and efficacy. And both these are comprised in the same way, singly used, chapter 721. Now that which we observe from this name or term of a law attributed unto sin is, that there is an exceeding efficacy and power in the remainders of indwelling sin in believers, with a constant working towards evil. Thus it is in believers. It is a law even in them, though not to them. Though its rule be broken, its strength weakened and impaired, its root mortified, yet it is a law still of great force and efficacy. There where it is least felt, it is most powerful. Carnal men, in reference unto spiritual and moral duties, are nothing but this law. They do nothing but from it and by it. It is in them a ruling and prevailing principle of all moral actions, with reference unto a supernatural and eternal end. I shall not consider it in them in whom it hath most power, but in them in whom its power is chiefly discovered and discerned, that is, in believers, in the others only in order to the further conviction and manifestation thereof. 2. The apostle proposeth a way whereby he discovered this law in himself. I find then, or therefore, a law. He found it. It had been told him there was such a law. It had been preached unto him. This convinced him that there was a law of sin. But it is one thing for a man to know in general that there is a law of sin, another thing for a man to have an experience of the power of this law of sin in himself. It is preached to all, all men that own the Scriptures acknowledge it as being declared therein, but there are but few that know it in themselves. We should else have more complaints of it than we have, and more contendings against it, and less fruits of it in the world. But this is that which the Apostle affirms, not that the doctrine of it had been preached unto him, but that he found it by experience in himself. I find a law, I have experience of its power and efficacy. For a man to find his sickness and danger thereon from its effects is another thing than to hear a discourse about a disease from its causes. And this experience is a great preservative of all divine truth in the soul. This is to know a thing indeed, in reality, to know it for ourselves, when, as we are taught it from the Word, so we find it in ourselves. Hence we observe, secondly, believers have experience of the power and efficacy of indwelling sin. They find it in themselves. They find it as a law. It hath a self-evidencing efficacy to them that are alive to discern it. They that find not his power are under his dominion. Whosoever contend against it shall know and find that it is present with him, that it is powerful in them. He shall find the stream to be strong who swims against it, though he rolls along with it, being sensible of it. Thirdly, the general frame of believers, notwithstanding the inhabitation of this law, is here also expressed. They would do good. This law is present. The habitual inclination of their will is unto good. The law in them is not a law unto them as it is to unbelievers. They are not wholly obnoxious to its power nor morally unto its commands. Grace hath the sovereignty in their souls. This gives them a will unto good. They would do good, that is, always and constantly. 1 John 3.9 To commit sin is to make a trade of sin, to make it a man's business to sin. So it is said, a believer doth not commit sin, and so to do that which is good. To will to do so is to have the habitual bent and inclination of the will set on that which is good, that is, morally and spiritually good, which is the proper subject treated of, whence is our third observation. There is, and there is through grace, kept up in believers a constant and ordinarily prevailing will of doing good, notwithstanding the power and efficacy of indwelling sin to the contrary. This in their worst condition distinguisheth them from unbelievers in their best. The will in unbelievers is under the power of the law of sin. The opposition they make to sin, either in the roots or branches of it, is from their light and their consciences. The will of sinning in them is never taken away. Take away all other considerations and hindrances, whereof we shall treat afterwards, and they would sin willingly always. Their faint endeavors to answer their convictions are far from a will of doing that which is good. They will plead indeed that they would leave their sins if they could, and they would fain do better than they do, but it is the working of their light and convictions not any spiritual inclination of their wills which they intend by that expression. For where there is a will of doing good, there is a choice of that which is good for its own excellency's sake, because it is desirable and suitable to the soul, and therefore to be preferred before that which is contrary. Now this is not in any unbelievers. They do not, they cannot so choose that which is spiritually good, nor is it so excellent or suitable unto any principle that is in them, only they have some desire to attain that in whereunto that which is good doth lead, and to avoid that evil which the neglect of it tends unto. And these also are, for the most part, so weak and languid, and many of them, that they put them not upon any considerable endeavors, witness of that luxury, sloth, worldliness, and security that the generality of men are even drowned in. But in believers there is a will of doing good, and habitual disposition and inclination in their wills unto that which is spiritually good. And where this is, it is accompanied with answerable effects. The will is the principle of moral actions, and therefore unto the prevailing disposition thereof will the general course of our actings be suited. Good things will proceed from the good treasures of the heart, nor can this disposition be evidenced to be in any but by its fruits. A will of doing good without doing good is but pretended. There is yet another thing remaining in these words of the Apostle arising from that respect that the presence of sin hath unto the time and season of duty. When I would do good, saith he, evil is present with me. There are two things to be considered in the will of doing good that is in Believers, number one. There is its habitual residence in them. They have always an habitual inclination of will unto that which is good, and this habitual preparation for good is always present with them, as the Apostle expresses it, verse 18 of this chapter, number 2. There are especial times and seasons for the exercise of that principle. There is a when I would do good, a season wherein this or that good, this or that duty, is to be performed and accomplished suitably unto the habitual preparation and inclination of the will. Unto these two there are two things in indwellings and opposed. To the gracious principle residing in the will, inclining unto that which is spiritually good, it is opposed as it is a law, that is, a contrary principle, inclining unto evil, with an aversation from that which is good. And to the second or the actual willing of this or that good in particular unto this, when I would do good, is opposed the presence of this law. Evil is present with me. Evil is at hand and ready to oppose the actual accomplishment of the good aimed at. Whence, fourthly, indwelling sin is effectually operative in rebelling and inclining to evil, when the will of doing good is in a particular manner active and inclining unto obedience. And this is the description of him who is a believer and a sinner, as everyone who is a former is the latter also. These are the contrary principles and the contrary operations that are in him. The principles are a will of doing good on the one hand, from grace, and a law of sin on the other. Their adverse actings and operations are insinuated in these expressions. When I would do good, evil is present with me. And these both are more fully expressed by the Apostle Galatians 5.17. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary the one to the other, so that I cannot do the things that I would. And here lie the springs of the whole course of our obedience, and acquaintance with these several principles and their actings is a principal part of our wisdom. They are upon the matter next to the free grace of God in our justification by the blood of Christ, the only things wherein the glory of God in our own souls are concerned. These are the springs of our holiness and our sins, of our joys and troubles, of our refreshments and sorrows. It is, then, all our concernment is to be thoroughly acquainted with these things, who intend to walk with God and to glorify Him in the world. And hence we may see what wisdom is required in the guiding and management of our hearts and ways before God, where the subjects of a ruler are in feuds and oppositions one against another. Unless great wisdom be used in the government of the whole, all things will quickly be ruinous and vastate. There are these contrary principles in the hearts of believers, and if they labor not to be spiritually wise, how shall they be able to steer their course aright? Many men live in the dark to themselves all their days, whatever else they know they know not themselves. They know their outward estates, how rich they are, and the condition of their bodies, as to health and sickness they are careful to examine. But as to their inward man and their principles as to God and eternity, they know little or lies in this matter. Few study themselves as they ought, or are acquainted with the evils of their own hearts as they ought, on which yet the whole course of their obedience, and consequently of their eternal condition, doth depend. This, therefore, is our wisdom, and it is a needful wisdom, if we have any design to please God, or to avoid that which is a provocation to the eyes of His glory. We shall find also, in our inquiry hereinto, what diligence and watchfulness is required unto a Christian conversation. There is a constant enemy unto it in every one's own heart, and what an enemy it is we shall afterwards show, for this is our design, to discover him to the uttermost. In the meantime, we may well bewail the woeful sloth and negligence that is in the most even improfessors. They live and walk as though they intended to go to heaven hoodwinked, and asleep as though they had no enemy to deal with. Their mistake, therefore, and folly will be fully laid open in our progress. That which I principally fix upon in reference unto our present design from this place of the Apostle is that which was first laid down, namely, that there is an exceeding efficacy and power in the remainder of indwelling sin in believers, with a constant inclination in working towards evil. Awake, therefore, all of you in whose hearts is anything of the ways of God. Your enemy is not only upon you, as on Samson of old, but is in you also. He is at work by all ways of force and craft, as we shall see. Would you not dishonor God and His gospel? Would you not scandal the saints and ways of God? Would you not wound your conscience and endanger your souls? Would you not grieve the good and holy Spirit of God, the author of all your comforts? Would you keep your garments undefiled and escape the woeful temptations and pollutions of the days wherein we live? Would you be preserved from the number of the apostates in these latter days? Awake to the consideration of this accursed enemy, which is a spring of all these and innumerable other evils, is also of the ruin of all the souls that perish in the world. Chapter 2 IN DWELLING SIN A LAW, IN WHAT SENSE IT IS SO CALLED That which we have proposed unto consideration is the power and efficacy of indwelling sin. the ways whereby it may be evinced are many. I shall begin with the appellation of it in the place before mentioned. It is a law. I find a law of its power and efficacy that it is so called, so is also the principle of grace in believers, the law of the spirit of life, as we observed before, Romans 8.2, which is the exceeding greatness of the power of God in them, Ephesians 1.19. Where there is a law, there is power. We shall, therefore, show both what belongs unto it as it is a law in general, and also what is peculiar or proper in it as being such a law as we have described. There are in general two things attending every law as such. First, dominion. Romans 7.1 The law hath dominion over a man whilst he liveth. It lordeth over a man. where any law takes place it hath dominion. It is properly the act of a superior, and it belongs to its nature to exact obedience by way of dominion. Now there is a twofold dominion as there is a twofold law. There is a moral authoritative dominion over a man, and there is a real effective dominion in a man. The first is an affection of the law of God, the latter of the law of sin. The law of sin hath not in itself a moral dominion, it hath not a rightful dominion or authority over any man, but it hath that which is equivalent unto it. Whence it is said, To reign as a king, Romans 6.12, and To lord it, or have dominion, verse 14, as the law in general is said to have, chapter 7.1. But because it hath lost its complete dominion and reference unto believers, of whom alone we speak, I shall not insist upon it in the utmost extent of its power. But even in them it is a law still, though not a law unto them, yet, as was said, it is a law in them. And though it have not a complete and, as it were, a rightful dominion over them, Yet it will have a domination as to some things in them. It is still a law, and that in them, so that all its actings are the actings of a law. That is, it acts with power, though it have lost its complete power of ruling in them, though it be weakened, yet its nature is not changed. It is a law still, and therefore powerful. And as its particular workings, which we shall afterward consider, are the ground of this appellation, so the term itself teacheth us, in general, what we are to expect from it, and what endeavours it will use for dominion to which it hath been accustomed. Secondly, a law, as a law, hath an efficacy to provoke those that are obnoxious unto it, unto the things that it requireth. A law hath rewards and punishments accompany in it. These secretly prevail on them to whom they are proposed, though the things commanded be not much desirable. And generally all laws have their efficacy on the minds of men from the rewards and punishments that are annexed unto them. nor is this law without this spring of power, it hath its rewards and punishments. The pleasures of sin are the rewards of sin, a reward that most men lose their souls to obtain. By this the law of sin contended in Moses against the law of grace, Hebrews 11, 25 and 26. He chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, for he looked upon the recompense of reward. The contest was in his mind between the law of sin and the law of grace. The motif on the part of the law of sin wherewith it sought to draw him over, and wherewith it prevails on the most, was the reward that it proposed unto him, namely, that he should have the present enjoyment of the pleasures of sin. By this it contended against the reward annexed unto the law of grace, called the recompense of reward. Yet by this sorry reward doth this law keep the world in obedience to his commands. And experience shows us of what power it is to influence the minds of men. It hath also punishments that it threatens men who labor to cast off its yoke. Whatever evil, trouble, or danger in the world attends gospel obedience, whatever hardship or violence is to be offered to the sensual part of our natures in a strict course of mortification, sin makes use of, as it were, punishments attending the neglect of its commands. By these it prevails on the fearful, who shall have no share in life eternal. And it is hard to say by whether of these, as pretended rewards or pretended punishments, it doth most prevail, in whether of them its greatest strength doth lie. By its reward, it entices men to sins of commission, as they are called, in ways and actions, tending to the satisfaction of its lusts. By its punishments, it induces men to the omitting of duties, of course, tending to no less a pernicious Now which of these the law of sin hath its greatest success in and upon the souls of men is not evident, and that because they are seldom or never separated, but equally take place on the same persons. But this is certain, that by tenders and promises of the pleasures of sin on the one hand, by threats of the deprivation of all sensual contentments and the affliction of temporal efficacy on the minds of men, oftentimes on believers themselves. Unless a man be prepared to reject the reasonings that will offer themselves from the one and the other of these, there is no standing before the power of the law. The world falls before them every day, with what deceit and violence they are urged and imposed on the minds of men, we shall afterwards declare, is also what advantages they have to prevail upon them. Look on the generality of men, and you shall find them holy by these means at sin's disposal. Do the profits and pleasures of sin lie before them? Nothing can withhold them from reaching after them. Do difficulties and inconveniences attend the duties of the gospel? They will have nothing to do with them, and so are wholly given up to the rule and dominion of this law. This light, in general, we have into the power and efficacy of indwelling sin from the general nature of the law, whereof it is partaker. We may consider, nextly, what kind of a law in particular it is, which will further evidence that power of it which we are It is not an outward, written, commanding, directing law, but an inbred, working, impelling, urging law. A law proposed unto us is not to be compared for efficacy to a law inbred in us. Adam had a law of sin proposed to him in his temptation, but because he had no law of sin inbred and working in him, he might have withstood it. An inbred law must needs be effectual. Let us take an example from that law which is contrary to this law of sin. The law of God was at first inbred and natural unto man. It was concreated with his faculties and was the rectitude, both in being and operation, in reference to his end of living unto God and glorifying of Him. Hence it had an especial power in the whole soul to enable it unto all obedience, yea, and to make all obedience easy and pleasant. such as the power of an inbred law. And though this law, as to the rule and dominion of it, be now by nature cast out of the soul, yet the remaining sparks of it, because they are inbred, are very powerful and effectual, as the Apostle declares, Romans 2, 14 and 15. Afterward, God renews this law and writes it in tables of stone. But what is the efficacy of this law? Will it now, as it is external and proposed unto men, enable them to perform the things that it exacts and requires? Not at all. God knew it would not, unless it were turned to an internal law again. That is, until, of a moral outward rule, it be turned into an inward real principle. Wherefore God makes His law internal again, and implants it on the heart as it was at first, when He intends to give it power to produce obedience in His people. Jeremiah 31 31-33 This is that which God fixeth on, as it were, upon a discovery of the insufficiency of an outward law leading men unto obedience. The written laws sayeth he will not do it. Mercies and deliverances from distress will not effect it. Trials and afflictions will not accomplish it. Then, saith the Lord, will I take another course. I will turn the written law into an eternal living principle in their hearts, and that will have such an efficacy as shall assuredly make them my people, and keep them so. Now such is this law of sin. It is an indwelling law. Romans 7 17 It is sin that dwelleth in me. Verse 20 Sin that dwelleth in me. Verse 21 It is present with me, it is in my members, yea, it is so far in a man, as in some sense it is said to be the man himself. I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. The flesh, which is the seat and throne of this law, yea, which indeed is this law, is in some sense the man himself, as grace also is the new man. now from this consideration of it, that it is an indwelling law, inclining and moving to sin. As an inward habit or principle, it has sundry advantages, increasing its strength and furthering its power as number one. It always abides in the soul. It is never absent. The apostle twice uses that expression, it dwelleth in me, there is its constant residence and habitation. If it came upon the soul only at certain seasons, much obedience might be perfectly accomplished in its absence. Yea, and as they deal with usurping tyrants whom they intend to thrust out of a city, the gates might be sometimes shut against it, that it might not return. The soul might fortify itself against it. But the soul is its home, there it dwells, and is no wanderer. Wherever you are, whatever you are about, this law of sin is always in you, in the best that you do, and in the worst. I mean, little consider what a dangerous companion is always at home with them. When they are in company, when alone, by night or by day, all is one, sin is with them. There is a living coal continually in their houses, which, if it be not looked unto, will fire them, and it may be consumed them. O the woeful security of poor souls! How little do the most of men think of this inbred enemy that is never from home! How little, for the most part, doth the watchfulness of any professors answer to the danger of their state and condition. 2. It is always ready to apply itself to every end and purpose that it serves unto. It doth not only dwell in me, saith the Apostle, but when I do good, it is present with me. There is somewhat more in that expression than mere indwelling. An inmate may dwell in a house and yet not be always meddling with what the good man of the house hath to do. that so we may keep to the illusion of indwelling used by the Apostle. But it is so with this law, it doth so dwell in us, as that it will be present with us in everything we do. Yea, oftentimes, when with most earnestness we desire to be quit of it, with most violence it will put itself upon us. When I would do good, it is present with me. Would you pray? Would you hear? Would you give alms? Would you meditate? Would you be in any duty acting faith on God and love towards Him? Would you work righteousness? Would you resist temptations? This troublesome, perplexing indweller will still, more or less, put itself upon you and be present with you, so that you cannot perfectly and completely accomplish the thing that is good, as our Apostle speaks, verse 18. Sometimes men, by hearkening to their temptation, do stir up, excite, and provoke their lusts, and no wonder, then, they find them present and active. But it will be so when, with all our endeavors, we labor to be free from them. This law sent dwelleth in us, that is, it adheres as a depraved principle unto our minds in darkness and vanity, unto our affections in sensuality, unto our wills in a loathing of and aversion from that which is good, and by some, more, or all of these, is continually putting itself upon us in inclinations, motions, or suggestions to evil, when we would be most gladly quit of it. 3. It being an indwelling law, it applies itself to its work with great facility and easiness, like the sin that doth so easily beset us. Hebrews 12 1. It hath a great facility and easiness in the application of itself unto its work. It needs no doors to be opened unto it, it needs no engines to work by. The soul cannot apply itself to any duty of a man, but it must be by the exercise of those faculties wherein this law hath its residence. Is the understanding or the mind to be applied to anything? There it is, in ignorance, darkness, vanity, folly, madness. Is the will to be engaged? There it is also in spiritual deadness, stubbornness, and roots of obstinacy. Is the heart and affections to be set on work? There it is in inclinations to the world and present things and sensuality, with proneness to all manner of defilements. Hence it is easy for it to insinuate itself into all that we do, and to hinder all that is good, and to further all sin and wickedness. It hath an intimacy, an inwardness with the soul, and therefore in all that we do doth easily beset us. It possesses those very faculties of the soul, whereby we must do what we do, whatever it be good or evil. Now all of these advantages it hath, as it is a law, as an indwelling law, which manifests power and efficacy. It is always resident in the soul. It puts itself upon all its actings, and that with easiness and facility. This is that law which the apostle affirms that he found in himself. And this is the title that he gives unto the powerful ineffectual remainder of indwelling sin, even in believers. And these general evidences of its power from that appellation have we. Many there are in the world who find not this law in them. Whatever they have been taught in the world have not a spiritual sense, an experience of the power of indwelling sin, and that because they are wholly under the dominion of it. They find not that there is darkness and folly in their minds because they are darkness itself, and darkness will not discover anything. They find not deadness and an indisposition in their hearts and wills to God because they are dead, wholly in trespasses and sins. They are at peace with their lusts by being in bondage unto them. And this is the state of most men in the world, which makes them woefully despise all their eternal concernments. Whence is it that men follow and pursue the world with so much greediness, that they neglect heaven and life and immortality for it every day? Whence is it that some pursue their sensuality with delight? They will drink, and revel, and have their sports, let others say what they please. Whence is it that so many live so unprofitably under the word, that they understand so little of what is spoken unto them, that they practice less of what they understand, and will by no means be stirred up to answer the mind of God and His calls unto them? It is all from this law of sin and the power of it that rules and bears sway in men, that all these things do proceed. But it is not such persons of whom at present we particularly treat. From what hath been spoken, it will ensue that, if there be such a law in believers, it is doubtless their duty to find it out, to find it so to be. The more they find its power, the less they will feel its effect. It will not at all advantage a man to have an hectical distemper, and not to discover it, a fire lying secretly in his house, and not to know it. So much as men find of this law in them, so much they will abhor it in themselves, and no more. Proportionably also to their discovery of it will be their earnestness for grace, nor will it rise higher. Our watchfulness and diligence and obedience will be answerable also thereunto. Upon this one hand, your finding out and experiencing the power and the efficacy of this law of sin turns the whole course of our lives. Ignorance of it breeds senselessness, carelessness, sloth, security and pride, all which the Lord's soul abhors. Eruptions into great, open, conscience-wasting, scandalous sins are from want of a due spiritual consideration of this law. Inquire, then, how it is with your souls. What do you find of this law? What experience have you of its power and efficacy? Do you find it dwelling in you, always present with you, exciting itself, or putting forth its poison with facility and easiness at all times and all your duties, when you would do good? What humiliation! What self-abasement! What intenseness in prayer! What diligence! What watchfulness! replies of grace, what assistance of the Holy Ghost will be hence also discovered? I fear we have few of us a diligent proportion to our danger. Chapter 3 The Seat or Subject of the Law of Sin, the Heart Having manifested indwelling sin, whereof we treat, and the remainders of it in believers, to be a law, and evinced in general the power of it from thence, we shall now proceed to give particular instances of its efficacy and advantages from some things that generally relate unto it as such. And these are three. First, its feat and subject. Secondly, its natural properties. And thirdly, its operations and the manner thereof, which principally we aim at and shall attend unto. First, for the seed and subject of this law of sin, the Scripture everywhere assigns it to be the heart. There indwelling sin keeps its especial residence. It hath invaded and possessed the throne of God Himself, Ecclesiastes 9.3. Madness is in the heart of man while they live. This is their madness, or the root of all that madness which appears in their lives. Matthew 15, 19. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies, and so on. There are many outward temptations and provocations that befall men, which excite and stir them up unto these evils, but they do but, as it were, open the vessel, and let out what is laid up and stored in it. The root, rise, and spring of all these things is in the heart. Temptations and occasions put nothing into a man, only draw out what was in him before. Hence is that summary description of the whole work and effect of this Law of Sin, Genesis 6.5. Every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually. Go also chapter 8.21. The whole work of the Law of Sin from its first rise, its first coining of actual sin, is here described. In its seat, its workhouse, is said to be the heart. And so it is called by our Savior the evil treasure of the heart. Luke 6 45 An evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things. This treasure is a prevailing principle of moral actions that is in men. So, in the beginning of the verse our Savior calls grace the good treasure of the heart. of a good man, whence that which is good doth proceed. It is a principle constantly and abundantly inciting and stirring up unto, and consequently bringing forth, actions conformable and like unto it, of the same kind in nature with itself. And it is also called a treasure for its abundance. It will never be exhausted. It is not wasted by men spending on it. Yea, the more lavish men are of the stock, the more they draw out of this treasure, the more it grows and abounds. As men do not spend their grace but increase it by its exercise, no more do they their indwelling sin. The more men exercise their grace and duties of obedience, the more it is strengthened and increased. And the more men exert and put forth the fruits of their lust, the more is it enraged and increased in them. It feeds upon itself, swallows up its own poison, and grows thereby. Yet the more men sin, the more are they inclined unto sin. It is from the deceitfulness of this law of sin whereof we shall speak afterward at large. that men persuade themselves that by this or that particular sin they shall so satisfy their lusts as that they shall need to sin no more. Every sin increases the principle and fortifieth the habit of sinning. It is an evil treasure that increases by doing evil. And where doth this treasure lie? It is in the heart. There it is laid up. There it is kept in safety. All the men in the world, all the angels in heaven, cannot dispossess a man of this treasure. It is so safely stored in the heart. The heart in the Scripture is variously used, sometimes for the mind and understanding, sometimes for the will, sometimes for the affections, sometimes for the conscience, sometimes for the whole soul. Generally it denotes the whole soul of man, and all the faculties of it, not absolutely, but as they are all one principle of moral operations, as they all concur in our doing good or evil. The mind as it inquireth, discerneth, and judgeth what is to be done, what refused, the will as it chooseth, refuseth, or avoids, the affections as they like or dislike, cleave to or have an aversion from, that which is proposed to them, the conscience as it warns and determines, are altogether called the heart. And in this sense it is that we say the seed and subject of this law of sin is the heart of man. Only we may add that the scriptures, speaking of the heart as a principle of man's good or evil actions, doth usually insinuate together with it two things belonging unto the manner of their performance. 1. A suitableness and pleasingness unto the soul in the things that are done. When men take delight and are pleased in and with what they do, they are said to do it heartily, with the whole heart. Thus, when God Himself blesses His people in love and delight, He says He doth it with His whole heart and with His whole soul." "Jeremiah 32, 41. 2. Resolution and constancy in such actions, and this also is denoted in a metaphorical expression before used of a treasure. from whence men do constantly take out the things which either they stand in need of or do intend to use. This is the subject, the seat, the dwelling place of this law of sin, the heart. as it is of the entire principle of moral operations, of doing good or evil, is out of it perceived good or evil. Here dwells our enemy. This is the fort, the citadel of this tyrant, where it maintains a rebellion against God all our days. Sometimes it hath more strength, and consequently more success. sometimes less of the one and of the other, but it is always in rebellion whilst we live, that we may in our passage take a little view of the strength and power of the sin from the seed and subject of it. We may consider one or two properties of the heart that exceedingly contribute thereinto. It is like an enemy in war, whose strength and power lie not only in his numbers and force of men or arms, but also in the unconquerable force that he doth possess. And such is a heart to this enemy of God and our souls, as will appear from the properties of it, whereof one or two shall be mentioned. Number one, it is unsearchable. Jeremiah 17, 9. Who can know the heart? I, the Lord, search it. The heart of man is pervious to God only. Hence he takes the honor of searching the heart to be as peculiar to himself and as fully declaring him to be God as any other glorious attribute of his nature. We know not the hearts of one another. We know not our own hearts as we ought. Many there are that know not their hearts as to their general bent and disposition, whether it be good or bad, sincere and sound, or corrupt and not. But no one knows all the secret intrigues, the windings and turnings, the actings and aversions of his own heart. Hath anyone the perfect measure of his own light and darkness? Can anyone know what actings of choosing or aversion his will will bring forth upon the proposal of that endless variety of objects that it is to be exercised with? Can anyone traverse the various mutability of its affections? Do the secret springs of acting and refusing in the soul lie before the eyes of any man? Doth anyone know what would be the motions of the mind, or will, in such and such conjunctions of things, such a suiting of objects, such a pretension of reasonings, such an appearance of things desirable? All in heaven and earth, but the infinite all-seeing God, are utterly ignorant of these things. In this unsearchable heart dwells the law of sin. And much of its security, and consequently of its strength, lies in this, that it is past our finding out. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available, free and for sale, in audio, video, and printed formats. Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail-order catalog, Thank you. by phone at 780-450-3730 by fax at 780-468-1096 or by mail at 4710-37A Edmonton Alberta, abbreviated capital A, capital B, Canada, T6L3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart. From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since He condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle is adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.