An Alarm to the Unconverted 5 of 5 — Joseph Alleine

The Glory of Heaven and the Folly of Rejecting It

AN ALARM TO THE UNCONVERTED CENTER By Joseph Alain. A Sure Guide to Heaven By Joseph Alain. Concluded Tape 5. Behold a city of pure transparent gold, Whose foundations are garnished With all manner of precious stones, Whose gates are pearls, Whose light is glory, Whose temple is God.

Believest thou this? If ye do, are ye not beside yourself That will not take possession When the gates are thrown open to you, And ye are bidden to enter? O ye sons of folly, Will ye embrace a dunghill And refuse a kingdom?

Behold, the Lord takes you up into the mountain, Shows you the kingdom of heaven, And all the glories thereof, And tells you, All this will I give you, If ye will fall down and worship me, If ye will submit to mercy, Accept my Son, And serve me in righteousness and holiness.

O fools, and slow of heart to believe! Will ye seek and serve the world, And neglect eternal glory? What? Not enter into paradise When the flaming sword, Which was once set to keep you out, Is now used to drive you in?

But ye will say, I am uncharitable to think you infidels And unbelievers. What then shall I think of you? Either you are desperate unbelievers That do not credit it, Or you disturb aside yourselves That ye know and believe The excellence and eternity of this glory, And yet do so fearfully neglect it.

Do but attend to what is offered you, A blessed kingdom, A kingdom of glory, A kingdom of righteousness, A kingdom of peace, And an everlasting kingdom. Here ye shall dwell, Here ye shall reign forever, And the Lord shall seat you on a throne of glory, And with his own hands Shall set the royal diadem upon your head, And give you a crown, Not of thorns, For there shall be no sinning or suffering there, Not of gold, For this shall be viler than the dirt in that day, But a crown of life, A crown of righteousness, A crown of glory.

Yea, ye shall put on glory as a robe, And shall shine like the sun In the firmament of your Father. Look now on your worthless flesh. This flesh, Which is mere dust and ashes, Shall be brighter than the stars, In short, Ye shall be made like unto the angels of God, And behold his face in righteousness.

Look now and tell me, Do you not yet believe? If not, Conscience must pronounce you an infidel, For it is the very word of God that I speak. But if you say you believe, Let me next know your resolution.

The Call to Renounce Sin and Choose Eternal Life

Will you embrace this for your happiness? Will you forgo your sinful gains, Your forbidden pleasures? Will you trample on this world's esteem And stop your ears to its flatteries And wrest yourself out of its embraces?

Will you be content to take up with reproach, Lying the way to heaven, And follow the Lord with humble self-denial In a mortified and flesh-displeasing life? If so, All is yours, And that forever. And is not the offer a fair one?

Is it not just that he should be damned, That will go on and perish, When all this may be had by taking it? Will you not take God at his word? Will you not let go your hold of the world And lay hold on eternal life?

If not, Let conscience tell you Whether you are not beside yourself, That you should neglect so happy a choice By which you might be made happy forever. 3. God will give you unspeakable privileges in this life, Though the fullness of your blessedness Shall be reserved till hereafter.

Present Blessings and Privileges of Salvation

Yet God will give you no little things in hand. He will redeem you from your thralldom. He will pluck you from the paw of the lion. The serpent shall bruise your heel, But you shall bruise his head. He shall deliver you from this present evil world.

Prosperity shall not destroy you. Adversity shall not separate him and you. He will redeem you from the power of the grave And make the king of terrors a messenger of peace to you. He will take out the curse from the cross And make affliction the refining pot to purify the metal, The fan to blow off the chaff, The medicine to cure the mind.

He will save you from the arrest of the law And turn the curse into a blessing to you. He has the keys of hell and of death And shutteth, and no man openeth. And he will shut his mouth, As once he did the lions, That you shall not be hurt of the second death.

Besides, he will not only save from misery, But install you into unspeakable prerogatives. He will bestow himself upon you. He will be a friend and a father to you. He will be a son and a shield to you.

In a word, he will be a god to you. And what more can be said? What may you expect that a god should do for you and be to you? That he will be, that he will do. She that marries a prince Expects he should do for her like a prince, That she may live in suitable state And have an answerable dowry.

He that has a king for his father or a friend Expects he should do for him like a king. Alas, the kings and monarchs of the earth, So much above you, Are but like the painted butterflies Amongst the rest of their kind, Or the fair-colored palmer worm Amongst the rest of the worms, If compared with God.

As he infinitely exceeds the glory and power Of his glittering dust, So he will, beyond all proportion, Exceed in doing for his favorites Whatever princes can do for theirs. He will give you grace and glory And withhold no good thing from you.

He will take you for his sons and daughters And make you heirs of his promises And establish his everlasting covenant with you. He will justify you from all that law, Conscience and Satan can charge upon you.

He will give you free access into his presence And accept your person and receive your prayers. He will abide in you And hold a constant and friendly communion with you. His ears shall be open, his door open, His door open at all times to you.

His blessings shall rest upon you And he will make your enemy serve you And work out all things for good unto you. And now, beloved, let me know your mind. What do you intend to do? Will you go on and die Or will you turn and lay hold on eternal life?

The Urgency of Immediate Conversion

How long will you linger in Sodom? How long will you halt between two opinions? Have you not yet resolved Whether Christ or Barabbas, Whether bliss or torment, Whether this vain and wretched world Or the paradise of God Be the better choice?

Is it a disputable case Whether the Abana or Farpar of Damascus Be better than all the streams of Eden? Or whether the vile pool of sin Is to be preferred before the water of life, Clear as crystal, Proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb?

Can the world in good earnest Do that for you which Christ can? Will it stand by you to eternity? Will pleasures, lands, titles, and treasures Descend with you? If not, had you need not look after something that will?

What do you mean to stand wavering? Shall I leave you at last like Agrippa? Only almost persuaded? You are forever lost if left here. Is good be not all? Is not altogether a Christian? How long will you rest in idle wishes And fruitless purposes?

When will you come to a fixed, firm, and full resolve? Do you not see how Satan cheats you By tempting you to delay? How long has he drawn you on In the way of perdition? Well, do not put me off with a dilatory answer.

Tell me not later. I must have your immediate consent. If you are not now resolved, While the Lord is treating with you and infighting you, Much less likely are you to be later, When these impressions are worn off And you are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Will you give me your hand? Will you set open the door And give the Lord Jesus a full and ready possession? Will you put your name unto his covenant? What do you resolve upon? If you still delay, my labor is lost And all is likely to come to nothing.

Come, cast in your lot. Make your choice. Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. Today a few will hear his voice. Why should not this be the day From which you are able to date your happiness?

Why should you venture a day longer In this dangerous and dreadful condition? What of God should this night require your soul? O that thou mightest know in this thy day The things that belong to thy peace Before they be hid from thine eyes.

This is your day, And it is but a day. Others have had their day And have received their doom, And now are you brought upon the stage of this world, Here to act your part for your eternity. Remember, you are now upon your good behavior Forever lasting.

If you do not make a wise choice now, You are undone forever. What your present choice is, Such must be your eternal condition. And is it true indeed, Are life and death but your choice? Why then, what hinders but that you should be happy?

Nothing does or can hinder But your own willful neglect or refusal. It was the saying of the eunuch to Philip, See, here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? So I may say to you, See, here is Christ.

Here is mercy, pardon, life. What hinders but that you should be pardoned and saved? One of the martyrs, as he was praying at the stake, Had his pardon set by him in a box, Which indeed he rightly refused, Because upon unworthy terms.

But here the terms are most honorable and easy. O sinner, will you perish with your pardon by you? Do but henceforth give your consent to Christ, To renounce your sins, deny yourself, Take up the yoke and the cross, And you carry the day.

Christ is yours. Pardon, peace, life, blessedness are all yours. And is not this an offer worth embracing? Why should you hesitate or doubtfully dispute about the case? Is it not past controversy Whether God be better than sin and glory than vanity?

Why should you forsake your own mercy And sin against your own life? When will you shake off your sloth And lay by your excuses? Boast not of tomorrow. You know not where you may lodge this night. Now the Holy Spirit is striving with you.

He will not always strive. Have you not felt your heart warmed by his word And been almost persuaded to leave off your sins And come to Christ? Have you not felt some motions in your mind In which you have been warned of your danger And told what your careless course would end in?

It may be you are like young Samuel Who, when the Lord called once and again, Knew not the voice of the Lord. But these motions are the offers and callings And strivings of the Spirit. O take advantage of the tide And know the day of your visitation.

Christ’s Invitations to the Thirsty and Weary

Now the Lord stretches wide his arms to receive you. He beseeches you by us. How movingly, how meltingly, How compassionately he calls. The church is put into a sudden ecstasy At the sound of his voice.

The voice of my beloved. O will you turn a deaf ear to his voice? Is it not the voice that breaks the cedars And makes a mountain to skip like a calf? That shakes the wilderness And divides the flames of fire?

It is not Sinai's thunder, But a soft and still voice. It is not the voice of Mount Ebal, A voice of cursing and terror, But the voice of Mount Gerizim, The voice of blessing And glad tidings of good things.

It is not the voice of the trumpet Nor the noise of war, But a message of peace from the King of Peace. I may say to you, O sinners, Martha to her sister, The Master is come and he calleth for thee. Now then, with Mary, arise quickly and come unto him.

How sweet are his invitations! He cries in the open concourse, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. John 7, 37. How bountiful is he! He excludes none. Whosoever will, let him come, Takes the water of life freely.

Revelations 22, 17. My bread and drink of the wines that I have mingled, Forsake the foolish and live. Come unto me, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, And ye shall find rest to your souls. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

How does he bemoan the obstinate refuser? O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, How often would I have gathered thy children, As a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, And you would not. Behold me, behold me, I have stretched out my hands all the day To a rebellious people.

O be persuaded now at last To throw yourselves into the arms of his love. Behold, O ye sons of men, The Lord Jesus hath thrown open the prison, And now he comes to you by his ministers And beseeches you to come out.

If it were from a palace or a paradise That Christ did call you, It were no wonder that you were unwilling. And yet how easily was Adam beguiled from it. But it is from your prison, From your chains, From the dungeon, From the darkness that he calls you.

And yet will you not come? He calls you unto liberty, And yet will you not hearken? His yoke is easy, His laws are liberty, His service is freedom, And whatever prejudice you may have against his ways, If God may be believed, You shall find them all pleasure and peace, And shall taste sweetness and joy unutterable, And take infinite delight and felicity in them.

The Final Appeal to Repentant Faith

Beloved, I am loath to leave you. I cannot tell how to give you up. I am now ready to close, But I would see a covenant made Between Christ and you before I end. What? Shall I leave you at last as I found you?

Have you read thus far and not yet resolved To abandon all your sins And to close with Jesus Christ? Alas, what shall I say? What shall I do? Will you turn off all my importunity? Have I run in vain? Have I used so many arguments And spent so much time to persuade you?

And must I sit down at last in disappointment? But it is a small matter that you turn me off. You put a slight upon the God that made you. You reject the compassion and beseechings of the Savior, And will be found resistors of the Holy Ghost If he will not now be prevailed upon To repent and be converted.

Although I have called you long and you have refused, I shall yet this once more lift up my voice like a trumpet And cry from the highest places of the city Before I conclude, With a miserable exclamation, All is over.

Once more shall call after regardless sinners That if it be possible I may awaken them. O earth, food of the Lord! Jeremiah 22, 29. Unless you are resolved to die, Lend your ears to the last calls of mercy.

Behold, in the name of God, I make open proclamation to you. Hark unto me, O ye children. Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not. O every one that thirsteth, Come ye to the waters, And he that hath no money, Come ye buy and eat.

Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend your money for that which is not bread, And your labor for that which satisfieth not. Harken diligently unto me, And ye eat that which is good, And let your soul delight itself in fatness.

Incline your ear and come unto me. Here your soul shall live, And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, Even the sure mercies of David. O every one that is sick Of any manner of disease or torment, Or is possessed with an evil spirit, Whether of pride, fury, lust, or covetousness, Come ye to the physician.

Bring your sick. Lo, here is he that healeth All manner of sicknesses, And all manner of diseases among the people. O every one that is in distress, Gather yourselves unto Christ, And he will become a captain over you.

He will be your protection from the arrests of the law. He will save you from the hand of justice. Behold, he is an open sanctuary to you. He is a known refuge. Away with your sins, and come in unto him, Lest the avenger of blood seize you, Lest devouring wrath overtake you.

O every blind and ignorant sinner, Come and buy eyesalves that you may see. Away with your excuses. You are forever lost if you continue in this state. But accept Christ for your prophet, And he will be a light unto you.

Cry unto him for knowledge. Study his word. Take pains about religion. Humble yourself before God, And he will teach you his way, And make you wise unto salvation. But if you will not follow him, But sit down because you have but one talent, He will condemn you for a wicked and slothful servant.

Matthew 25 verses 24 -26. O unclean sinner, come in and live. Return unto the Lord, And he will have mercy on you. Be entreated, O return, come. You have filled your mouth with those execrations. All manner of sins and blasphemy shall be forgiven you, If you will but thoroughly turn unto Christ and come in.

O unclean sinner, put away your whoredoms out of your sight, And your adulteries from between your breasts. Give yourself unto Christ as a vessel of holiness, Alone for his use. And then, though your sins be as scarlet, They shall be as white as snow.

Though they be red like crimson, They shall be as wool. Hero, you drunkards, how long will you be drunk? Put away your wine. Though you have rolled in the filthiness of your sin, Give yourselves unto Christ to live soberly, Righteously and godly.

Embrace his righteousness. Accept his government. And though you have been vile, he will wash you. Revelations 1 .5. Hero, ye loose companions, Whose delight is in vain and wicked society, To sport away your time and carnal mirth.

Come in at wisdom's call, And choose her and her ways, And you shall live. Hero, ye scorners, hear the word of the Lord. Though you make a sport at godliness and its professors, Though you have made a scorn of Christ and his ways, Yet even to you does he call To gather you under the wings of his mercy.

In a word, though you should be found Among the worst of that black roll, Yet upon your thorough conversion you shall be washed. You shall be sanctified. You shall be justified in the name of the Lord Jesus And by the Spirit of God.

1 Corinthians 6 .10 -11. Ho, every formal professor, You that are but lukewarm and resting In the form of godliness, Give over your halting. Be a true Christian. Be zealous and repent. And then, though you have been in offense to Christ, Ye shall be the joy of his heart.

And now bear witness that mercy has been offered you. I call heaven and earth to record against you this day That I have set before you life and death, Blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life that you may live.

Deuteronomy 30 .19. I can only entreat you and warn you. I cannot otherwise compel you to be happy. If I could, I would. What answer will you send me with to my master? Let me speak to you as Abraham's servant To Nahor's family.

And now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, Tell me. Oh, for such a happy answer as Rebekah gave them! And they said, We will call the damsel and inquire at her mouth. And they called Rebekah and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man?

And she said, I will go. O that I exist from you! Why should I, who agonize for your salvation, Be your accuser? Why should the passionate pleadings of mercy Be turned into horrid aggravations Of your obstinacy in addition to your misery?

Judging yourselves, Do you not think their condemnation Will be doubly dreadful? That shall still go on in their sins After all endeavors to recall them? Doubtless it shall be more tolerable For Tyre and Sidon, Yea, for Sodom and Gomorrah, In the day of judgment, Than for you.

Matthew 11 22 -24. Beloved, if you have any pity For your perishing souls, Close with the present offers of mercy. If to God that made you Have any authority with you, Obey his commands and come in. If you were not despisers of grace, And would not shut the doors of mercy Against yourselves, Repent and be converted.

Let not heaven stand open for you in vain. Let not the Lord Jesus open his doors And bid you buy without money And without price in vain. Let not his Spirit and his ministers Strive with you in vain, And leave you now at last unpersuaded, Lest a sentence go forth against you.

The bellows are burned, The lettuce consumed of the fire, The founder melteth in vain. Reprobate silver, Shall men call them, Because the Lord hath rejected them. Jeremiah 6 29 -30. Father of spirits, Take the heart in hand That is too hard for my weakness.

Do not thou win, Though I have done. A word from thy effectual power Will do the work. O thou that hast the key of David, That openest, And no man shutteth. Open thou this heart, As thou didst Lydia's, And let the King of glory enter in, And make this soul thy captive.

Let not the tempter Harden him in delays. Let him not stir from this place, Nor take his eyes from these lines, Till he resolve to forego his sins, And accept life on thy self-denying terms. In thy name, O Lord God, Did I go forth to these labors.

In thy name do I close them. Let not all the times That have cost be lost hours. Let not all the thoughts of the heart And all the pains That have been about them Be lost labor. Lord, put thy hand Upon the heart of this listener, And send thy spirit As once thou didst Philip To join himself To the chariot of the eunuch, While he was reading the word.

And though I should never know it While I live, Yet I beseech thee, O Lord God, Let it be found it the last day That some souls are converted By these labors. Let some be able to stand forth And say that by these persuasions They were won unto thee.

Amen. Amen. Let him that heareth say, Amen. From the book An Alarm to the Unconverted Sinner By Joseph Alain. I'd like to close out this cassette From reading from the book The Scripture Doctrine of Sanctification Being a critical explication and paraphrase Of the sixth and seventh chapters Of the Epistle to the Romans By the Reverend James Fraser Written in 1769.

Romans 7 and the Believer’s Struggle with Indwelling Sin

First let me read the verses From the King James Version of the Bible Romans 7 .14 and so on. 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 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 In bringing me into captivity To the law of sin which is in my members.

O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God But with the flesh the law of sin.

A dissertation concerning the general scope and purpose Of the latter part of chapter 7, 14 to 25 In order to determine whether it represents The case of a regenerate or unregenerate person The case of a person under the law Or of one under grace Wherein the particular expressions of that context Are explained.

The Present-Tense Interpretation of Romans 7

Section 1. Containing general considerations Tending to explain the scope and purpose Of this context. The first consideration arises From the difference in the style and expressions Between the former and this latter context.

He had been speaking of himself in the past tense Showing how matters had been with him formerly When under the law. And in his own case representing How it is with persons under the law Who as long as they are so Are in the flesh and under the dominion of sin.

He now from verse 14 Speaks of himself in the present tense. It naturally occurs to one's mind From this change of the tense That as formerly he had been showing His own case whilst under the law So now he shows how things go with him at present In this state of grace as he was when he wrote.

They would need to bring very cogent reasons Who would have us to understand him in a sense So very different from what his expression Naturally leads us to. He could easily set forth in plain speech The case of persons unregenerate As he had done before in this and the preceding chapters Without darkening matters And making his discourse quite ambiguous By altering his style.

He had in a very plain manner Represented from his own past experience The case of persons under the law What good reason can possibly be given For his becoming obscure now By speaking in the present tense As of himself a person regenerate And under grace.

What must be understood of the persons Unregenerate and under the law Without giving any hint that he so means. It has been said that the apostle does On a number of occasions speak in his own name When he does indeed personate others.

Several instances are adduced Some of which cannot be justly so interpreted. But if it be allowed that on some occasions He does in very few words express The arguments, objections, and reproaches Used by others against himself His doctrine or conduct.

Yet in every such case The thing evidently appears By the obvious import of the expressions And by the answers immediately subjoined So that there is not room left for mistaking. But it is quite unlikely That he would continue to speak as of himself Through so long a passage And yet mean it of others all the time Without intimating by any expression or hint That to be his design.

Let us now go a little further In observing the variation of the apostle's style And compare his expression here Verses 14 to 25 With what he has in this And the preceding and following chapters Concerning the unregenerate.

These, chapters 16 and 17 And 19 through 20 Yielded, that is, presented themselves Servants to sin. They yielded their members as servants To uncleanness and to iniquity Which implies the full and habitual consent Of the will.

But here, verse 23 There is a law in a man's members Warring and bringing into captivity To that which is against the habitual bent And inclination of the man's will. As to the unregenerate Who after the flesh and in the flesh They are, chapter 8, 7 Enmity against God and not subject to His law.

But the man in our context From verse 14 Consents to the law that it is good Delights in the law of God After the inner man And with his mind himself Serves the law of God. As to the man in our context What is holy and good is what he wills Sin is what he willeth not.

But in the context preceding verse 14 When the case of the unregenerate man Under the law is certainly set forth Sin does, by occasion of the law Work in him all manner of concupiscence Deceives him, slays him And reviving in him Destroys all his confidences.

But it is not said of him that he hates it That it is a thing he would not Nor does he cry out of wretchedness by it As in the latter context. Those who interpret this latter context Of a man in the flesh and under the law Do ascribe all the good mentioned in it To the man's understanding, reason And natural conscience.

But those these are in the unregenerate Who are certainly meant in the context Preceding verse 14 Yet in no part of that context Are they said to love To hate To delight. In the latter context Is there any mention of the inner man Of the mind Or of the law of the mind.

The several expressions In the latter context Come again in our way To be more particularly explained. I here only observe The variation of the apostle's style And expression upon a general view. The great difference In variation of the style and expression Gives good cause to think That from verse 14 There is represented a person and state Very different from being under the law In the flesh.

As we have here a style and expression Never used concerning such. Number two. Here we see that the apostle speaks With a special view to the spirituality Of the law of God As it gives role to a man's heart And spirit within And to all inward thoughts And motions in the soul.

It seems indeed to be clear That it is with this view He speaks all along Even in the preceding context. The motions of sins Working in a man's members Verse five are inward. The particular instance Specified in verse seven Thou shalt not covet Is inward.

So it is verse eight When sin works in a man All manner of concupiscence And when verse nine Sin revives. If it were to the practice of sin In outward works and behavior That were meant in that context Certainly what he says Would not universally suit The case of persons in the flesh And under the law.

Many such have been outwardly As to the righteousness Which is in the law blameless. So if the apostle himself Was when in that state And in appearance very religious Yea, having much at heart to be so It had been a too partial Restricted and incomplete view Of the general character of persons In the flesh and under the law If he had considered and represented Only the outward practice Nor would it give a just account Of the character in general Of persons in the flesh.

Whereas upon the view we are taking Of the apostle's discourse It answers to that character And states universally Those in the flesh as the apostle represents Do mean in their way to serve God If not in the newness of spirit Yet according to the oldness of the letter.

It is so that the distinction is stated Verse six Not that the one sort serve God And the other sort do not Intend to serve him at all If those in the flesh Have their unholiness And unholy lustings And affections Which in many of them Break forth outwardly In much impurity and iniquity Yet they have also Their carnal religion And their carnal confidence Founded upon it.

The impurities and iniquity of the flesh Have fearfully prevailed in the world A carnal religion In one form or other Has no less overspread the world. But what the apostle does Verse fourteen Where he begins to speak of himself In the present tense Mention expressly That the law is spiritual It serves as a key To the following context With which that expression and assertion Is more precisely connected.

Now it is not only that His nature and heart had been As to its inward workings In the utmost rebellious And unholy opposition to the law In his unregenerate state. But as if he had said When I consider the law in this point of view As it is spiritual Alas I am Yet I am still carnal Even in my present more comfortable state.

Alas what of impurity And iniquity remains Inwardly with me. If he had considered the law As a role only to the outward actions And behavior He might at any rate say That it is holy, just, and good But might easily at the same time Think himself likewise holy, just, and good.

But when he views the law spiritually Finds great opposition and disconformity To its holiness To observe with sorrow Even now in its better state under grace When he considers that the law Requires not only the external acts Of worship, but also requires A worshiping of God in spirit and in truth.

That it not only requires The external acts of obedience But also demands to love God sincerely Yea, intensely To the utmost of our faculties and powers With all our might and strength. That it not only Prohibits outward acts of impurity And iniquity, but also Prohibits all deviation of the heart From God and from holiness By evil lusting inwardly.

That it not only requires all outward Duty to our neighbor, including our enemies But also that our heart Inwardly be sincerely well Affected to him. That not only killing a man, but also Being angry at him without a cause Is a transgression of the sixth commandment.

That not only The outward act of adultery, but also To look on a woman to lust after her Is a transgression of the seventh. It is, I say, considering The law as thus spiritual Thus giving will to his heart And spirit within him And prohibiting the inward motions And activity of sin And comparing himself and the inward motions And inclinations of his heart With the strict holiness and spirituality Of it, that he represents His present feelings And observation concerning himself As he does.

It has been argued by some That whatever may pass inwardly in the heart Even of a true Christian. Yet the expressions of this context Convey more than what is merely inward Even the doing of evil in the ordinary Outward course and practice of life Which is certainly inconsistent With a state of grace.

It has been said that the three words here Rendered to do or to perform Can be understood Of no less than external work Action and course. But this is not so clear or evident Not to enlarge more Than is needful on this point.

It is enough to observe in general That in all languages commonly the actions And operations of the mind Are very often expressed by words Which do primarily signify bodily action Or operation in general Or bodily sensation.

So although the words mentioned Should be allowed to be used Most commonly concerning outward doing or work It does not follow that the operations Of the mind may not be Yet are not often Meant by them in the use of speech.

It is likewise to be observed That in this same chapter, verse 8 The apostle says Sin wrought in me all manner of concupiscence Where it is plain that the word Respects the motions and lustings Of sin inwardly.