the sight of God is our inherent Holiness they blaspheme the imputed Righteousness of Christ as a fantastick Apprehension they declare that good Works have the merit of Conâ—… and Condignity to eternal Life and that by Penance Satisfaction is paid to God for their Sins as if there were a Proportion between the one and the other They succeed the Pharisees in their proud and stubborn Resistance of the Gospel And among other carnal Motives that fasten Men in that corrupt Religion these have a special force as quieting Conscience and gratifying their Lusts that they can make Compensation for their Offences against God and that the Absolution of a Priest seals their Pardon thus being clear they may begin a new Score and return to their old Lusts with new Affections 2. As Self implies the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts so Self-denial and Sin-denial are of the same extent The whole Body of Corruption with all the parts of it even the dearest the most tender and most cherish'd by carnal Men must be mortified Severe Restraints are laid upon the desiring and the angry Appetites the Springs of all the Sins and Miseries in the World We are strictly commanded to pluck out the right Eye and to cut off the right Hand upon the most fearful Penalties the suffering Torments insupportable and everlasting The Gospel has the Perfections of a Rule 't is clear and compleat in the Direction of our Duty It teaches us to deny all Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this World Now carnal Men are apt to say with the Capernaites This is an hard saying Every one has a peculiar Favourite Lust the Sin of his Complexion or of the Country wherein he lives which if you pluck out of their Bosoms they will fly in your Face Men willingly enough hear Reproofs against Sins to which they are disinclin'd but if directed against their own Sins whether of Pleasure or Profit they will scorn the Reproof and storm at the Reprover They will perform some Duties that are consistent with their Carnal Ease and Interest but obstinately stick at others Herod is a notorious Instance of this 't is related he heard John Baptist gladly and observed him and when he heard him he did many things but his incestuous Affection made him prefer a filthy Harlot before the pure Law of God One indulged Lust captivates the Soul and keeps it under the Power of Satan If one Leg of a Bird be catch'd in the Net 't is as surely held as if its whole Body were entangled One Lust separates from Christ and is a Bar against our entrance into Heaven for Christ is the only way to it The Word of God is sharper than a two-edg'd Sword but carnal Men will interpose their Souls between their tender Lusts and the Word and receive its deadly Strokes to spare them The Lord Christ tells the Jews Ye will not come to me that ye may have Life They would readily embrace a Saviour that would allow the Pleasures of Sin and free them from the Punishment but their Wills were so strongly engaged they would suffer no Divorce from their beloved Lusts they chose Hell with Sin rather than Heaven with Holiness 3. The denial of Self includes all that in the order of Nature belongs to us Life and all the Supports the Comforts the Ornaments and Endearments of it the sweetest Relations Father and Mother Brother and Sister Wife and Children the richest Possessions Houses and Land must be always parted with in the Preparations of our Heart and Resolutions of our Wills and actually rather than desert our Duty Such a Supremacy of Affection is required by our Saviour that suspends the Operation of our Love upon all inferior things when they are in Competition with his Interest and Glory This Command binds all without exemption therefore he directs his Followers to be arm'd with Expectation of hard Entertainment in the World Now this Precept seems so severe to carnal Men that no Motives can reconcile their Affections to it If they are spoiled of the Advantages and deprived of the Pleasures of this World they are ready to complain as Micah to them who robb'd him of his Image and Teraphim You take away my Gods As if the Son of God were such a poor or illiberal Rewarder either defective in Power or Love that they should be Losers for his sake Thirdly The promised Rewards of the Gospel have no affective Force upon the Carnal Mind and Affections 'T is true the Gospel has open'd Heaven and brought Life and Immortality to light a State of entire endless Joy in the Presence of God Is it possible that Men should be indifferent and careless of their final Happiness 'T is almost equally difficult to induce Men to believe and chuse the Favour and Fruition of God as their only Felicity as to convince them they do not believe and choose it But their Actions declare their Choice and their Choice declares their Esteem for if his Favour were esteem'd an unvaluable Treasure it would be the chief Object of their Desires they would not forfeit it for all the World 't is therefore evident that the chusing the Pleasures of Sin and the Profits of the World is the direct despising the Favour of God And the account of it is clear for tho Heaven be a State of eternal and inexpressible Blessedness yet 't is future and spiritual it makes but a weak Impression upon their Minds and is unsutable to their Affections Can carnal Men have but an imaginary Representation of the World to come and their Assent to it is overshadowed and eclips'd by the present World with its Advantages and Pleasures they cannot relish a Happiness purely spiritual 'T is not the Goodness of the Object but the Inclination of the Heart that makes it desirable The wise Philosopher observes That such as the radicated Disposition and Habit of a Man is such will the End appear of him Therefore a supernatural spiritual Good cannot appear to a sensual Man so attractive as to be chosen as his Felicity Only the pure in Heart can see God and love him and enjoy him in his amiable Excellencies the Unrenewed have no certain nor satisfying Notions of the Happiness that his Presence diffuses among the Blessed above This will be discoursed of more particularly under another Head Fourthly Satan has a great Agency in Mens Opposition to the Gospel and their neglect of Salvation His Title the Tempter implies his constant Practice 'T is true he cannot hurt us against our Wills the Enemy without could not surprize us if the Traitor within the corrupt Nature did not give him Admittance he cannot immediately work upon the Will nor discern the Mind without our Consent he cannot obtain a Conquest over us therefore his prevailing Temptations do not disculpate Sinners that yield to them he rules only in the Children of Disobedience they are his
may stain the Execellence of an understanding Creature To live righteously which respects the State and Situation wherein God has disposed Men for his Glory It comprehends all the respective Duties to others to whom we are united by the Bands of Nature or of Civil Society or of Spiritual Communion And to live godly which includes all the internal and outward Duties we owe to God who is the Soveraign of our Spirits whose Will must be the Rule and his Glory the End of our Actions In short The Law is so form'd that prescinding from the Authority of the Law-giver its Holiness and Goodness lays an eternal Obligation on us to obey it Now Sin is not only by Interpretation a Reproach to the Wisdom and other Perfections of God but directly and foimally a Contrariety to his Infinite Sanctity and Purity for it consists in a not doing what the Law commands or doing what it forbids 'T is therefore said That the Carnal Mind is Enmity against God An active immediate and irreconcilable Contrariety to his holy Nature and Will From hence there is a reciprocal Hatred between God and Sinners God is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity without an infinite Displicence the Effects of which will fall upon Sinners and tho 't is an Impiety hardly conceivable yet the Scripture tells us that they are Haters of God 'T is true God by the transcendent Excellence of his Nature is uncapable of suffering any Evil and there are few in the present State arrived to such Malice as to declare open Enmity and War against God In the Damned this Hatred is explicit and direct the Fever is heightned to a Frenzy the blessed God is the Object of their Curses and Eternal Aversation If their Rage could extend to him and their Power were equal to their Desires they would dethrone the most High And the Seeds of this are in the Breasts of Sinners here As the fearful Expectation of irresistible and fiery Vengeance increases their Aversation increases They endeavour to raze out the Inscription of God in their Souls and to extinguish the Thoughts and Sense of their Inspector and Judg. They wish he were not All-seeing and Almighty but Blind and Impotent uncapable to vindicate the Honour of his despised Deity The Fool hath said in his Heart there is no God The Heart is the Fountain of Desires and Actions interpret the Thoughts and Affections from whence the Inference is direct and conclusive that habitual Sinners who live without God in the World have secret Desires there was no Soveraign Being to observe and require an Account of all their Actions The radical Cause of this Hatred is from the Opposition of the sinful polluted Wills of Men to the Holiness of God for that Attribute excites his Justice and Power and Wrath to punish Sinners Therefore the Apostle saith They are Enemies to God in their Minds through wicked Works The naked representing of this Impiety that a reasonable Creature should hate the blessed Creator for his most Divine Perfections cannot but strike with Horror O the Sinfulness of Sin 4. Sin is the Contempt and Abuse of his excellent Goodness This Argument is as vast as God's innumerable Mercies whereby he allures and obliges us to Obedience I shall restrain my Discourse of it to three things wherein the Divine Goodness is very conspicuous and most ungratefully despised by Sinners 1st His creating Goodness 'T is clear without the least shadow of Doubt that nothing can give the first Being to it self for this were to be before it was which is a direct Contradiction and 't is evident that God is the sole Author of our Beings Our Parents afforded the gross matter of our compounded Nature but the Variety and Union the Beauty and Usefulness of the several Parts which is so wonderful that the Body is composed of as many Miracles as Members was the Design of his Wisdom and the Work of his Hands The lively Idea and perfect Exemplar of that regular Fabrick was modell'd in the Divine Mind This affected the Psalmist with Admiration I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvellous are thy Works and that my Soul knows right-well Thine Eyes did see my Substance yet being imperfect and in thy Book all my Members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them And Job observes Thy Hands have made me and fashioned me round about The Soul or principal Part is of a Celestial Original inspired from the Father of Spirits The Faculties of Understanding and Election are the indelible Characters of our Dignity above the Brutes and make us capable to please and glorify and enjoy him This first and fundamental Benefit upon which all other Favours and Benefits are the Superstructure was the Effect from an eternal Cause his most free Decree that ordained our Birth in the spaces of Time The Fountain was his pure Goodness there was no Necessity determining his Will he did not want external declarative Glory being infinitely happy in himself and there could be no superiour Power to constrain him And that which renders our Maker's Goodness more free and obliging is the Consideration he might have created Millions of Men and left us in our native Nothing and as I may so speak lost and buried in perpetual Darkness Now what was God's end in making us Certainly it was becoming his Infinite Unerstanding that is to communicate of his own Divine Fulness and to be actively glorified by intelligent Creatures Accordingly 't is the solemn Acknowledgment of the Representative Church Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power For thou hast created all Things and for thy Pleasure they were created Who is so void of rational Sentiments as not to acknowledg 't is our indispensable Dutry Our reasonable Service to offer up our selves an intire living Sacrifice to his Glory What is more natural according to the Laws of uncorrupt Nature I might say and of corrupt Nature for the Heathens practised it than that Love should correspond with Love as the one descends in Benefits the other should ascend in Thankfulness As a polish'd Looking glass of Steel strongly reverberates the Beams of the Sun shining upon it without losing a spark of Light thus the understanding Soul should reflect the Affection of Love upon our blessed Maker in Reverence and Praise and Thankfulness Now Sin breaks all those sacred Bands of Grace and Gratitude that engage us to love and obey God He is the just Lord of all our Faculties Intellectual and Sensitive and the Sinner employs them as Weapons of Unrighteousness against him He preserves us by his powerful gracious Providence which is a renewed Creation every Moment and the Goodness he uses to us the Sinner abuses against him This is the most unworthy shameful and monstrous Ingratitude This makes forgetful and unthankful Men more brutish than the dull Ox and the stupid Ass who serve those that feed
to add Drunkenness to Thirst. This casts such a foul Blemish upon the Justice of God that he threatens the severest Vengeance for it The Lord will not spare him but the Anger of the Lord and his Jealousy shall smoke against that Man and all the Curses written in this Book shall be upon him and the Lord shall blot out his Name from under Heaven Consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver 6. The Sinner implicitly denies God's Omniscience There is such a Turpitude adhering to Sin that it cannot endure the Light of the Sun or the Light of Conscience but seeks to be conceal'd under a Mask of Vertue or a Vail of Darkness There are very few on this side Hell so transform'd into the likeness of the Devil as to be impenetrable by Shame What is said of the Adulterer and Thief Sinners of greater Guilt and deeper Dye is true in proportion of every Sinner If a Mans sees them they are in the Terrors of the shadow of Death Now from whence is it that many who if they were surpriz'd in the actings of their Sins by a Child or a Stranger would blush and tremble yet altho the holy God sees all their Sins in order to judg them and will judg in order to punish them are secure without any fearful or shameful Apprehensions of his Presence Did they stedfastly believe that their foul Villanies were open to his piercing pure and severe Eye they must be struck with Terrors and cover'd with Confusion Will he force the Queen before my Face was the Speech of the King inflam'd with Wrath and the Prologue of Death against the fallen Favourite Would Men dare to affront God's Authority and outragiously break his Laws before his Face if they duly consider'd his Omnipresence and Observance of them it were impossible And Infidelity is the radical Cause of their Inconsideration It was a false Imputation against Job but justly applied to the Wicked Thou sayest How does God know can he judg through the dark Cloud Thick Clouds are a Covering to him that he sees not And such are introduced by the Psalmist declaring their inward Sentiments The Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it Lastly The Sinner slights the Power of God This Attribute renders God a dreadful Judg. He has a Right to punish and Power to revenge every Transgression of his Law His Judicial Power is supreme his Executive is irresistible He can with one Stroke dispatch the Body to the Grave and the Soul to Hell and make Men as miserable as they are sinful Yet Sinners as boldly provoke him as if there were no danger We read of the infatuated Syrians that they thought that God the Protector of Israel had only Power on the Hills and not in the Vallies and renewed the War to their Destruction Thus Sinners enter into the Lists with God and range an Army of Lusts against the Armies of Heaven and blindly bold run upon their own Destruction They neither believe his All-seeing Eye nor All-mighty Hand They change the Glory of the living God into a dead Idol that has Eyes and sees not and Hands and handles not and accordingly his Threatnings make no Impression upon them Thus I have presented a true View of the Evil of Sin consider'd in it self but as Job saith of God How little a Portion of him is known may be said of the Evil of Sin How little of it is known For in proportion as our Apprehensions are defective and below the Greatness of God so are they of the Evil of Sin that contradicts his Soveraign Will and dishonours his excellent Perfections SERMON II. Genesis xxxix 9. How can I do this great Wickedness and sin against God 2. I shall proceed to consider the Evil of Sin relatively to us and prove it to be most pernicious and destructive If we compare it with Temporal Evils it preponderates all that Men are liable to in the present World Diseases in our Bodies Disasters in our Estates Disgrace in our Reputation are in just Esteem far less Evil than the Evil of Sin for that corrupts and destroys our more excellent and immortal Part. The vile Body is of no account in comparison of the precious Soul Therefore the Apostle enforces his Exhortation Dearly beloved Brethren abstain from fleshly Lusts that war against the Soul The Issue of this War is infinitely more woful than of the most cruel against our Bodies and Goods our Liberties and Lives for our Estates and Freedom if lost may be recover'd if the present Life be lost for the Cause of God it shall be restor'd in greater Lustre and Perfection but if the Soul be lost 't is lost for ever All Temporal Evils are consistent with the Love of God Job on the Dunghil roughcast with Ulcers was most precious in God's sight Lazarus in the lowest Poverty and wasted with loathsome Sores was dear to his Affections a Guard of Angels was sent to convoy his departing Soul to the Divine Presence But Sin separates between God and us who is the Fountain of Felicity and the Center of Rest to the Soul Other Evils God who is our wise and compassionate Father and Physician makes use of as Medicinal Preparations for the Cure of Sin and certainly the Disease which would be the Death of the Soul is worse than the Remedy tho never so bitter and afflicting to Sense Sin is an Evil of that Malignity that the least degree of it is fatal If it be conceiv'd in the Soul tho not actually finish'd 't is deadly One Sin corrupted in an instant Angelical Excellencies and turn'd the glorious Spirits of Heaven into Devils 'T is Poison so strong that the first Taste of it shed a deadly Taint and Malignity into the Veins of all Mankind Sin is such an exceeding Evil that 't is the severest Punishment Divine Justice inflicts on Sinners on this side Hell The giving Men over to the Power of their Lusts is the most fearful Judgment not only with respect to the Cause God's unrelenting and unquenchable Anger and the Issue everlasting Destruction but in the quality of the Judgment Nay did Sin appear as odious in our Eyes as it does in God's we should account it the worst part of Hell it self the Pollutions of the Damned to be an Evil exceeding the Torments superadded to them Sin is pregnant with all kinds of Evils the Seeds of it are big with Judgments The Evils that are obvious to Sense or that are Spiritual and Inward Temporal and Eternal Evils all proceed from Sin often as the Natural Cause and always as the Meritorious And many times the same Punishment is produc'd by the Efficiency of Sin as well as inflicted for its Guilt Thus Uncleanness without the miraculous Waters of Jealousy rots the Body and the Pleasure of Sin is revenged by a loathsom consuming Disease the natural Consequence of it
Wit to dispute and deride the most sublime and sacred Truths out of the World Their Faces are full of Death the Tokens of Reprobation are visible upon them The Issue will discover them to be the wretched Examples of that fearful Rule Those who are destin'd to final Ruin are infatuated Others are Believers in Profession and their own Conceit but Infidels in Practice Their Faith is but a vain Opinion a loose Assent to the Christian Doctrine because 't is the Religion of the Country but with our Radication and Establishment This is evident considering that the Doctrines of the Gospel are not meerly intellectual the Objects of Theory and Speculation but moral and practical the Objects of our choice and seeking This is a faithful saying and worthy of all Acceptation that Jesus Christ is come into the World to save Sinners Accordingly the unfeigned belief of them is seated not only in the Mind but in the Heart and is correspondent to the infallible Truth and transcendent Goodness of the thing revealed they make such an Impression on the Soul that the value of them is above Life and whatever comes in Competition is with despising Disdain rejected But when Men seldom remember and little regard eternal Things how specious soever the Profession is can there be a reasonable Belief of their Words against their Works Therefore in the Language of the Scripture all that do not first seek the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof are Unbelievers it being morally impossible that Men should sincerely believe and have a due Apprehension of it but it must be the great Design of their Souls and the main Business of their Lives to obtain it 2. Security is the constant Effect of Infidelity and hardens Men in their Sins and the neglect of Salvation so dearly purchas'd and graciously offered to them in the Gospel Direct Infidels set their Mouth against Heaven and defy the Furnace of Hell They are blindly bold and fearless of that Judgment that makes the Devils tremble Others tho not open and palpable Infidels are in a dead Calm not sensible of their Sins and have slight Apprehensions of their great Danger Infidelity lies at the bottom of their Security As the Egyptians in the thick Darkness that covered the Land moved not from their Places so many in ignorant Darkness sit down and are at rest careless of the Saviour that can deliver from the Wrath to come Only those who have strong Apprehensions of Evils imminent and destructive will fly to Christ as a Sanctuary and Shelter and submit to his Terms of saving them Secondly The Corrupt Nature will not submit to the Sanctity and Purity of the Gospel The forecited Scripture tells us the Carnal Mind is Enmity against God and that Enmity is arm'd with many strong Lusts-opposing his Law The principal Cause of rejecting the Gospel is common to all We will not have this Man to reign over us 'T is observable that as Holiness is that Attribute wherein God doth most excel and Men are most defective so the corrupt Will is most opposite to it The Justice and Power of God in some cases Men do approve and apply themselves to if injuriously accused or opprest they desire his Justice to vindicate their Innocence and revenge their Wrongs if in Distress and Exigencies they pray that his powerful Providence may regard and relieve them but they are extreamly averse from his Holiness shining in his Laws which excites his Justice and Power to punish those who rebel against it They are ready to say to Christ what the rebellious Israelites said to Rehoboham Thy Father made our Yoke grievous now therefore make thou the grievous Service of thy Father and his heavy Yoke which he put upon us lighter and we will serve thee They will measure out the scantling of their Obedience how far he shall rule and farther they will not yield But our Saviour declares I am not come to destroy the Law but to fulfil it 'T is true the Gospel is a Covenant of Grace a soveraign Composition of precious Promises of recovering Grace and pardoning Mercy but 't is also a Law and enjoins Repentance towards God and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. As without Compensation to the Justice so without Conformity to the Holiness of God we can never be restored to his Favour and enjoy him as our Felicity Our Saviour prescribes this indispensable Rule to his Disciples If any Man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me This is a comprehensive Fundamental Duty and the natural Man has a strong Reluctancy to every part of it 1. Self-dependance upon our own Vertues and Duties for the obtaining the Favour of God and the Eternal Reward is very natural to Men it was the Condition of the first Covenant to which they cleave Men of a fair Conversation and unblemish'd in the Eyes of the World have some Sparks of the Pharisee in them who justified himself that he was no Extortioner nor Unjust nor an Adulterer nor as the profane Publican and that he fasted and paid Tithes Upon such Reasons many presume of the Goodness and Safety of their Spiritual State they take Pride and Content in themselves in their Moral Goodness and do not feel the want of a Saviour nor apply themselves with humble mournful Affections to him for Reconciliation to God Others think by the Worthiness of their Works to compensate for the Unworthiness of their Sins to commute one Duty for another and ballance their Accounts with Heaven not considering that if their Works were perfectly good they are but the Performance of their Duty if they had never sinn'd It was one great Obstruction that hinder'd the Jews from receiving the Gospel They being ignorant of God's Righteousness and going about to establish their own Righteousness did not submit themselves to the Righteousness of God One of a high Spirit will rather wear a mean Garment of his own than a rich Livery the Mark of Servile Dependance Pride resists Grace and Grace resists Pride The Law of Faith requires us to renounce not only our Unrighteousness but our Righteousness even the most excellent Graces and the Fruits of them in comparison of Christ and as a Foundation of obtaining the Pardon of Sin and Salvation for ever Our Righteousness is defective and defiled and cannot endure the trial of God's inlightning Tribunal All our Doings and Sufferings cannot expiate the least Sin we must only rely upon the Lord our Righteousness to reconcile us to God and that we may stand in Judgment He was made Sin for us who knew no Sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him not in our selves How hard it is to awaken Men out of the Pharisaical Dream of their own Righteousness is evident both in the Doctrine and Practice of those of the Roman Communion They assert the formal Cause of our Justification in