the world sin is very light Well know That as Christ himself felt sin to be a heavy burden so one way or other they must feel it either here or hereafter but blessed is that man or woman that feels the weight of sin while he may be delivered from it that he be not hereafter prest under the weight of it We read of Pharoah when the people of Israel came for ease he bids them go to their burdens that that he did unjustly Christ might do to many righteously hereafter when you upon your sick beds or death beds hereafter shal cry for mercy Christ may say to you go to your burdens when any thing of the Word came to press sin upon your souls you cast it off O! 't is a dangerous Condition when men and women cannot only sin enough but now when any truth of God should lay sin upon their hearts they cast it out and they think hardly of those Truths of God that would come and â—ind their sins to their Consciences and so burden them with their sins but it should be otherwise with us If those that be thus laden with their sins be those that Christ doth call to him we should not think so hardly of those Truths of God that doth reveal the evil of sin unto us but rather let us joyn with those Truths of God and labor to burden our own hearts for you see that those that are burdened Christ cals them to him that they might have rest there is no other burdens that we are to bring upon our selves but rather seek to avoid them but as for the burden of sin we are to burden our hearts with that and to labor to lay our sins to our hearts and to press them there and to charge them upon our own Spirits with all the aggravations we can and to joyn with the work of Gods Spirit when the Spirit of God comes to lay sin upon the soul to joyn with it and to say Lord I begin to be more sensible of my sins than I was before Lord humble me through it let me be under thy hand as long as thou pleasest only work thy good work upon me Object But you wil say We may sink under the burden of Sin Answ O no those that cast off the burden of sin they are most like to sink under it now can you think that the Lord wil Suffer such a soul to sink under the burden that doth burden it self that God might have glory But those that are unwilling and are forced to be burdened that never are sensible of the burden of sin til al the props and Comforts of the creature are taken away Upon their sick beds and death beds then men are burdened with Sin and why because the props are taken away before they had comforts and estates and such things which are as so many props but now God comes and takes the props and down they fâ—l upon us That is the reason that many upon their death beds lie Roâ—ring and Crying out so bitterly for their sins and why because the Lord hath cut asunder the props and now it lies heavy upon their hearts Now Christ cals come to me you that are weary and heavy laden come to me saith Christ Know that you are in a faâ— better condition than you were when you went on with delight in sin you are now in the way that God doth use to bring them in that he hath a purpose to do good unto I remember in the Gospel where the poor blind man cryed to Christ O Son of David have mercy upon me and stil cryed at length Christ heard the cry of the blind man and asked what it was Now those that were by him they go to the poor blind man and say to him be of good comfort he calls he might say I but my eyes be not opened I but be of good comfort he calls So I say to al burdened Sinners be of good comfort troubled soul Christ calls thee he saith come to me al ye that are weary and heavy laden he doth not say thou that art so much laden Christ cals thee to him Object I but thou wilt say I have no ease if I were sure that my sins were pardoned I should be saved then I should have ease and comfort Answ I but poor soul be of good comfort thou art called he doth not say thou art a wretched wicked creature and depart from me thou cursed as he wil say to sinners hereafter that might have been thy condition but thou didst not heare the voice from Christ this day depart from me but thou doest heare this voice this day from Christ Come to me al you that are weary and heavy laden Christ is neer to you the Lord is neer to the broken heart he is neere to the contrite spirit And know this the longer thou art under the burden of thy sin there wil come the more comfort hereafter Now there is a burden of sin upon thee and there wil be a weight of glory hereafter So the Scripture speakes of a weight of glory as wel as of a weight of Sin be willing to beare the weight of sin quietly say with the Prophet I wil be willing to beare the indignation of the lord because I have sinned against him So say thou 't is fit my soul should beare a burden be content to wait now do you the same thing that Christ did when he was under his burden mark what he did in Heb. 5.7 See how the heart of Christ was affected when he felt the weight of our sins upon him In the dayes of his flesh he offered up prayers and supplications with strong Cryes and teares unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he Feared Goe thy way O Soul and get into the presence of God and tel God of thy burdens that thou feelest make thy moan unto him and let it be with praiers and supplications and strong Cryes and tel him Lord I fear least my soul should be prest down to eternal death under this burden tel him of thy feares this way and it is very probable that thy soul shal be heard and according to this invitation here surely there is rest for thee as wel as for any while thou art crying out under thy burden for ought thou knowest or any Angel in heaven the pardon of thy sins may be sealling in heaven and therefore do not make any desperate Conclusion against thy own Soul for thy pardon may be a sealing and then the Lord wil send a messenger to tel thee of this Nay do I tel thee that theâ—e wil a messenger come Behold here in this text the Lord Jesus Christ comes the Angel of the Covenant cryes to thee Come O Come come freely though thou hast no good at al in thee there is enough in me to give rest unto that soul that doth most labor under the greatest burden of sin that ever
Christ for ease and Rest Fourthly the burden of the law is exceeding great in this respect That upon any one breach of the law the soul comes to be broken so as to lose ability to be able to keep any part of the Law for ever I said there is this in the Law more then in the Gospel that upon any one breach of the Law in the Covenant of works the soul comes to be so broken as to loose all the abilities of ever keeping any part of the Law again as thus I shewed you in Adam Adam was the Head of the first Covenant of works of the Law now Adam he breaks it in one particular failed in one Particular of what God required of him and in breaking of it in that one thing he and al his posterity was so broken that they lost all their abilities of keeping of the Law for ever except God come and create any ability they have lost what ability was given at first in their Creation so then this is a very great mistery that one by doing a thing that is evil should weaken the contrary habit that by doing a thing that is evil we should quite loose the Habit that is quite loose the habit by one act and not only loose the habit that is contrary to the particular evil that we do but loose al habits of al good whatsoever and that by one act now this is a thing above Nature this is only by vertue of the covenant of works God makes such a covenant it runs upon such tearms as if Adam did but sin in one thing he must die that is his Soul as wel as his body must die a spiritual death and so loose al habits of al Grace And this is the Reason why we are by Nature dead in sin Further such is the condition of the Law that suppose God should restore us al to be as perfect as ever Adam was in the state of innocency void of al sin and having the Image of God perfect and then God should come and put us upon the covenant of works again I say if we then should but fail in any one thing it would break us so as we should loose al our abilities to perform any duty ever after this is the condition of the law But it is not so with the Gospel though we sin against the Gospel we do not presently loose al our habits of Grace But the Reason of the difference That though Adam when he sinned against the Law he lost al his habits to do any good after and that though we sin against the Gospel yet we do not loose those habits That I shal shew afterwards when I shal come to shew that the yoke of the Gospel is easier then that of the Law And that is the fourth thing in the burden of the Law Fiftly The first thing is this That the Law upon every breach it doth take advantage against the soul presently I say takes advantage against the soul presently and binds it over to death to eternal death presently binds it over Yea and doth actually put it under a curse upon every breach instantly it doth it its true the law it may be is not presently executed as soon as a sinner hath broken it but this is certain that though God doth not come upon you as soon as you have broken the Law yet know that there are these three things come upon every one that is out of Chirst as soon as any one sin is committed there are these three things come upon him presently First He is bound over by Gods Justice by such abond as hath more strength in it then al the power of Heaven and Earth is able to break as a man that hath done that that is evil it may be the Law hath not present execution upon him I but he is bound over presently And not only so but in the Second place the Law passeth sentence the binding over that is the guilt but the Law passes sentence upon the sinner and condemns it the Soul is presently under the sentence of condemnation Thirdly The Law puts the sinner under a curse for so it is in the latter end of the 27. of Deu. Cursed is every one that abides not in every thing that is written in the Book of the Law to do it Mark every one that abides not in every thing he is pronounced accursed and that is a fift perticular Sixtly And in the Sixt place This Law requires constant Obedience also and such is the rigour of it that if you should obey it never so much for a great part of your lives If you should conceive you could obey it perfectly for a great while yet if at last you should offend in any one particular you are cast for al and al that you have done before is utterly rejected it wil take advantage against you for any one particular If it were possible that all your life time you should keep it and at the last houre of your life break it in any one particular certainly you would be condemned by it this is the condition of the Law for so it is in those words that are named though you do it if you do not abide to do every thing If there be but any one thing whereby it can take advantage it will certainly condemn you for it This is the condition of al that are under the covenant of works and is not this a load Would not this burden the Soul If so be the soul comes to understand it and whether it understands it or not yet certainly it is the truth of God Seventhly A seventh Burden of the Law is this that when once the sinner hath broke it the Law cannot be satisfied with any obedience which may make amends afterwards by any thing that the sinner can do suppose a man should be never so angry and offended he that hath offended him may make amends again a Servant thinks though I have offended my Master and done so many faults Yet I wil make amends for al. So many people think though we have broken the Law of God and lived a great while in sin and done that which is evil yet we wil make amends again and we wil give almes and come to Church and the like These are the Reasonings of many poor Ignorant hearts that do not understand upon what tearms they stand with God al the Children of men stand before God either under a Covenant of works or under the Covenant of Grace one of the two now those kind of men that Reason after this manner surely they are not acquainted with the Covenant of Grace they are under the Covenant of Works and now let them know that the covenant of Works admits of no such amends as they speak of but when once you have broken the Law all that ever you can do If you could live a thousand years never so strictly or be willing to suffer never so much for God
them but they have arts to make their tankerds light as can be but now if they carried their water in tankards of Lead though the water were no heavier yet this would make it more burdensome so sickness poverty loss of estate they are burdensome to al that beare them but yet the corruption of sin when the heart is corrupted with sin that is as lead that makes it the greater burden and therefore sin in the heart is such a thing as makes al other things burdensome that are burdensome Though a man should loose al his estate in one night this might be some burden but he that hath sin upon him that makes al other burdens to be burdensome The Fifth property of the Burden of Corruption Fifthly Sin is a burden unto God himself much more to the saints God cries out that he is prest under sin as a Cart is pressed that is ful of sheaves it is a burden to the spirit of God and therefore it is said that the spiâ—it of God is greived and it must needs be a great burden to thy soul when thou seest and knowest it is a burden to thy father it is a burden to the spirit of God whereby thou art sealed to the day of redemption Is it not a burden to the heart of any ingenious spirit when he shal consider that that which I have done is a burden to my father to the spirit of grace any ingenious child it wil be a burden to him that he hath done any thing against his father now so long as thou hast any sin in thee thou art a burden to God and to the spirit of God The Sixth property of the burden of Corruption Sixthly As it is a burden to God so it is that that makes us burdensome unto al that we converse with al and the more Corruption that remaines in our Hearts the more burdensome we are to all that we converse withal some there are though truly godly yet they have so much Corruption in them that they are burdensome to all that they converse withal as in a family take those that are passionate though they have godliness lies at the bottome yet how burdensome are they to those that converse with them others they have extream stout and stubborn Spirits others have sullen Hearts extream sullen spirits others have slight and vain spirits others proud and envious spirits and others Covetous now there is reason they should feel the burden themselves for others feel the Burden when it breaks forth from them and therefore it much more aggravates their Burden those that are truly godly that are overcome with passion when they think thus Oh! what a Wretched Heart have I that I should break forth into passion in such and such company Oh! what a Wretch am I that I should not only be burdensome to my self but to those that I converse withal I make no Question but I speak to many that have lamented their condition in this kind alone in that they have been so burdensome to others it is true I have been a Burden to such and such but the Lord knows it is much more a burden to mine own heart and to my self therefore the remaining part of Corruption is such a Burden to the godly because it is a burden to others whenas all the people of God should be useful in the places where they live they should live so as that all that live by them and with them should bless God for them this they should endeavor to do to live in such a manner as all that come neer them should bless God that ever they came neer or had converse with them The Seventh Property of the Burden of Corruption Seventhly This Burden is such a Burden as makes those that are godly to be burdensome to themselves yea even to be weary of their lives many times Why For their Corruption in them is a great deal more grievous then Death would be to them We use to express a thing that is very grievous to us and say it is death to us those that are godly can say so of their sin and that is one Reason that Paul gave that Name to his sin a Body of Death Oh! Wretched Man that I am who shal deliver me from this Body of Death Why because the remaining Corruption that then was in his Heart was as Death to him so it is with the Saints the Corruption that remaines in their hearts it is Death to them and they can appeal unto God and speak thus in his presence The bitterness of death would not be so much to me a thousand parts as this Corruption that is in my heart Oh! this Corruption that is in my heart that overcomes me after so many resolutions so many Prayers so many Sacraments so many ingagements it is that which makes me weary of my life as Rebeccah said if Jacob should marry a Wife of the Daughters of Heth it would make her weary of her Life so saith the godly this remaining Corruption in my Heart makes me weary of my Life what shal I do that carry such a Body of Death about me so as I do There are many Men and Women that in a discontented mood say they are weary of their lives but this is in a discontented mood but when could you say so in respect of your Hearts when did you say I lookt into my Heart and I saw a great deal of sin Corruption worldliness Pride Passion and the like and this is that which makes me weary of my Life The truth is the great thing that makes the people of God to be willing to die is this because they know when they die they shal be delivered from this Burden and therefore when Death comes they entertaine it willingly because they know they shal sin against God no more There is many of you when you have lived a long time in sickness and poverty and are in great straites many waies you think if Death should come to me I could be willing to die because then I should suffer no such things as now I do I but that is no argument of Grace but this is an argument of Grace that because of the great burden of Corruption that thou carryest about in thy Soul therefore thou would'st be willing to die The Eighth property of the Burden of Corruption Eightly Sin is a grievous Burden while we have it and makes us weary of our Lives and yet it is such a Burden as we must certainly carry about with us such a Body as we know we shal never be freed from wholly while we live in this world it is true we may be freed from it in a great measure Christ saith come to me and you shal have Rest that is some Rest for the present and whole Rest in the Life to come but we cannot be wholly freed from this Burden whilst we are in this World And thus much for the properties of this Burden what