were the Seat of God and exalts it self in the Soul above all that is called God It reigns over us instead of God and is most notoriously therefore our Predominant and reigning in Thus by these plain Rules may one easily be directed to discover and distinguish our Darling our Bosom our reigning Sin Which having once found out our next concern must be to quit it abstinence from such Sins being the first step to real Goodness I haste therefore to my last general Head Which was IV. Lastly To shew you the necessity of keeping our selves from such Sins as these especially in order to our becoming upright before God For tho the Sin you love possibly may be but one yea and that in your own esteem at least but a very little one yet is there an Absolute Necessity of your Resolving to part with it especially and above all others And bending all your Forces against it alone to try this Method of the Psalmist's for your becoming Vpright before God For consider 1. Tho your Peculiar Lust may possibly be but One yet it is Sin however It is a Transgression of the most reasonable just and holy Law of God and Religion And consequently a stain and blemish of our Natures the reproach of our Reason and Understanding the disease and deformity of our Souls the great Enemy of our Peace the cause of all our Uneasiness and Fears and Troubles yea and that too for which even the Son of God was forced to die a most shameful and painful Death that it might not be our Unavoidable Ruine This is the least we can say of any Sin And tho then your Sin be but one yet hath it you see a monstrous Aspect and God cannot approve of it tho but single and we must therefore keep our selves from it before ever he will accept of us as upright before him But 2. If the Sin be but one then you may consider that 't is by so much the easier to part with and the more reasonable to relinquish it He that is bound with a strong Cable or multitude of smaller Cords may pretend some Necessity for his Thraldom from the strength of his Bonds But he that is tied with one single Thread such as one Resolute Struggle would be lure to break he is Prisoner only to his own either Sloth or Humour And who will pity his Captivity where 't is so apparently his own Choice Do not therefore say My Sin is but one and therefore I need not leave it But My Sin is but one therefore I need not keep it So single a Pleasure one may dispense with and find no great miss This single Profit one may resign and 't will be no breach in one's Estate And if my Saviour hath required a Renunciation of all my multitude of Sins tho never so dear shall I scruple to renounce one and that in my own esteem but a very small one Nay 3. We may yet argue higher and from the singleness and smallness of the Sin deduce the inhancement of the Guilt Great Acquisitions carry some Temptation in their face but despicable Prizes do rather avert than tempt 'T was therefore the sign of a Common Harlot to be hired with a Kid Gen. 38.17 And sure he must be of a strange prostitute Soul that can adulterate for such low trivial Wages To dishonour God tho the whole World were to be gained by it were great Impiety but to do it for handfuls of Barley and pieces of Bread upon such trivial inconsiderable terms himself brands as a yet higher pitch of Prophaneness Ezek. 13.19 And sure it argues a very light esteem of God indeed when one poor contemptible Lust shall be able to over-poize him in our Hearts Like wretched Judas this is to betray our Lord for a contemptible Piece A Smile a Word prevails more than the Love and Bounty of our Creator And do we not then deserve to perish Nor 4. Is the Folly less than the Prophaneness For the most Doting Affection when 't is summ'd up can amount to no more than this viz. That it makes a Man expose himself to the greatest Pain and the greatest Loss for the thing Beloved And this is most visible here Hell being certainly acquir'd and Heaven as certainly forfeited by one Sin as by many And then tho there may be odds in other respects yet what is there in this between us more modest and the most Licentious Sinners but that We put the very same value upon one which the other do put upon many Sins Which renders our Folly but so much more apparently the greater because we sell our Souls so much the cheaper Let Men pretend then what they will in extenuation of their Bosom Sin that they are not so prophane as many others that they neither have so many nor so great Sins to answer for as their Neighbours that setting aside possibly some one foolish Custom they have took up and are addicted to they can challenge all the World to accuse them of any they denying themselves in most of the Sins they can see others commit with greediness yet notwithstanding all this so long as they harbour but one Beloved Sin they are certainly as miserably cheated in their bargain as others and are no less guilty of the most egregious Madness For 't is apparent all the Love which other Men scatter and distribute upon several they have united and concenter'd in this One Lust And when then the parting with one Sin might save their Souls surely 't is a doting Passion indeed that will make Men hazard their Salvation for it Alas if our Sin be but One let us never be so foolish so stark mad as to be damn'd for it To make it the price of all those Pleasures which are at God's Right-hand for ever-more Of that Fulness of Joy which Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor ever yet enter'd into the Heart of Man fully to conceive But since it is but One let us never be so rediculously fond as to be undone for a Trifle but with the upright Psalmist resolve rather to endeavour henceforward to keep our selves carefully from it And that more especially because 5. Tho it be but One yet it is the most malignant and mischievous one that can be harbour'd There 's no Sin among the whole mass of Vice which we have more reason to relinquish than our peculiar Sin because none is capable to do us more Mischief And that 1. Because this we have made our intimate and have not that Jealousy over it which we can have over other Sins This is our Bosom Intimate is got into our own Quarters shuffled with our own Forces entred our Holds and Defences and mixes in all our Counsels having full power of our Affections and therefore may easily do us the most injury it being observed that the Risque is ever the greatest when the Foe is thus Rebel and Traitor too A false Friend is certainly the worst
Geffery Mayor Martis xii o die Octobris 1686. Annoque RR. Jacobi Secundi Angl. c. Secundo THis Court doth desire Mr. New-come to print his Sermon preached at Guildhall-Chappel on Sunday Morning last before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of this City Wagstaffe IMPRIMATUR Octob. 14. 1686. Hen. Maurice RRmo in Christo Patri ac Dnō Wilhelmo Archiepisc Cantuar a Sacris Peccata in Deliciis A Discourse of Bosom Sins A SERMON Preach'd before the LORD MAYOR And Court of Aldermen AT Guild-Hall Chappel October the 10th 1686. By PETER NEWCOME M. A. And Vicar of Aldenham in Hertfordshire LONDON Printed by J. D. for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-yard 1686. To the Right Honourable Sir Robert Geffery Lord Mayor of the City of London And to the Court of ALDERMEN My LORD IN Obedience to your Lordship's particular Desire as well as the publick Order from the Court to me I here present you from the Press what your Lordship was pleased so much to favour with your liking from the Pulpit The Discourse is rustick plain and purely practical and was design'd not so much to work the Head or tickle the Fancy as to affect the Heart and reform the Life to a real and universal Uprightness before God which end if it answer I am not at all sollicitous how it may fare in other respects That the Blessing of God may attend both it and the Government of this City is the hearty Prayer of Right Honourable Your most humble and most obedient Servant PETER NEWCOME A Sermon preach'd before the Lord Mayor at Guild-hall Chappel PSAL. 18.23 I was also upright before him and I kept my self from Mine Iniquity ORder and Method in Spirituals as in Temporals is the Life or Action that which facilitates and succeeds our Enterprize rendring it both pleasant and profitable to us We might certainly become much better Men and much sooner too did we but begin at the right end and proceed regularly in a good way A neglect whereof doubles our Task and disappoints mightily our Labour This therefore is of vast consequence for us all to learn even the best and shortest way to be Good which the Words before us may instruct us in as declaring not only an Evidence of the Psalmist's Vprightness but intimating also the successful Method of his attaining thereto which was by keeping himself from his Iniquity I was also upright says he before him and I kept my self from mine Iniquity A due Abstinence from our Own Iniquity as it is the Effect so it is a certain Cause of a Religious Vprightness before God The first step or likeliest method to become effectually Good is diligently to keep our selves from our Own Sin This Position as the words afford us so shall I endeavour to illustrate by briefly insisting on the following Particulars First of all I shall shew what is here meant by a Man 's Own Iniquity Secondly Whence it is that some Sin more peculiarly becomes so Thirdly How this may be discover'd and distinguish'd by us from all other Sins And then Lastly The necessity of keeping our selves from such Sins especially in order to our becoming Vpright before God The first of these I begin with which is I. To explain what we are here to understand by a Man 's Own Iniquity Because every Man 't is evident since that first fatal laps from Human Innocency do's remain a bruised and corrupted Being having a Principle of Vice within which do's strongly cncline to all Sin So that what ever Enormity we at any time stand guilty of it may most properly be termed our Own it proceeding from our own Choice and depraved Inclination nor can any thing but himself challenge a Propriety therein But even yet All Sin is not in the same degree apparently his Every Crime cannot claim an Equal Interest in him The Appetite of the Old Man is not without its Longings too discovering a greater lust after some Food more than others never moving with an equal pace towards every Sin Some it craves after with a greater thirst pursues it with more eagerness and swallows it with more delight and gust than it does others Some it singles out and makes special choice of to follow and prey upon with the most earnest Delight and sensual Sweetness Hereby owning it more peculiarly his own the Sin which he chiefly respects to which he most ordinarily conforms himself and is most conversant in and to which therefore he makes all Occasions and Circumstances Friends and Acquaintance Religion and Conscience all the Powers both of Soul and Body and outward Estate tributary and subservient Thus in the Body of Sin as in the Body Natural there is ever some one prevailing Humour which shews it self and lords it or'e the rest And therefore as good Men tho they have the seed of every Grace in them yet some one may be be said to be their's in an eminent manner above the rest as Abraham was eminent for Obedience Moses for Meekness Job for Patience So wicked Men tho they have the seed of every Sin in them Jews and Gentiles being all under Sin as the Apostle argues Rom. 3.9 i.e. all alike corrupt by Nature yet does not this Corruption operate alike in all Bodies but in every particular Person it vents it self in one way rather than another Whence it is that we find also wicked Men marked out in Scripture for their several Sins Cain for his Murder Simeon and Levi for their Treachery Corah and his Company for their Rebellion Nebuchadnezzar for his Pride Manasses for his Cruelty Balaam for his Covetousness Some vicious Humour or other ever gets the predominancy in all Constitutions Every Man hath his Peccatum in deliciis some sweet Morsel which he roles under his Tongue and is loth to spit out Even as in every Man's Body there is a seed and principle of Death yet in some there is a proneness to one kind of Disease more than to another so tho in every Man's Soul there is naturally the seed and principle of every Sin yet hath every Man his Inclination to one kind rather than another and this is that which we are here to understand by His Iniquity as being so in a more peculiar and eminent manner so as no other Sin besides it is Consider we therefore II. Whence this comes to pass From what Cause it proceeds that every Man thus singles out his particular Sin This I conceive to be from one or possibly all these following 1. From the Natural Constitution and particular Complexion of Bodies 2. From distinct and particular ways or manner of Education and Breeding 3. From the present Age or season of Life 4. From particular Callings or Professions of Life 5. From the present Outward Estate or Condition And 6. Lastly From Custom and long Usage 1. The Natural Constitution and particular Camplexion of Bodies will be apt to incline Men to particular and suitable Sins For
the different and various Humours of which Human Constitution is compos'd are 't is evident even to common Experience never in any Man mixt so equally but that one does abound which as it gives denomination to that Man's Complexion so like a strong Biass inclines the Affections to what delights and pleases mostly it self Hence comes it that every Man is not alike inclined to every Sin but this Man loves what another loaths A Man of a dull and torpid Disposition we observe to be seldom ambitious and one of a quick and active Spirit as seldom idle The Cholerick Man is not obnoxious to those Evils which Melancholy does hatch nor the Melancholy to those which Choler is apt to ferment into Every Humour is not nourishing to every Sin nor can every Sin be fit entertainment for every Humour Therefore not only do Men according to their several Humours to be gratified apply themselves differently to the Body of Sin Sin affording different Viands suitable to the Appetite to be feasted as the Plant does whereon we may see the Bee feeding on the Flower the Bird on the Seed the Sheep on the Blade and the Swine on the Root But the Enemy likewise applies his Temptations according to the Humour he is to allure suiting his Weeds to the nature of the Soil he sows upon which is one Reason why they grow so rank and increase so fast Nor does it hence become any just Excuse for the Sinner to say for his Sin It 's his Inclination to do thus and thus because where Grace hath had its Work all prevailing Inclination to that which is Evil is turn'd a quite contrary way even to that which is Good and the predominant Humour which before byass'd us to such a darling Sin being now regulated and refined strongly inclines to its contrary Vertue Hence this is called most properly A Conversion because the Change is so remarkable and mighty making us quite other Men to what we were before of another Inclination and Disposition As good Physick purging out all Depravity and turning our loathing only to that which is really wholsome So that it is no Excuse for a sick Man to vindicate the irregularity of his Appetite by to say It is his Inclination since it is wholly owing to the Depravity of his Inclination which aggravates his Crime in that he neglects such Medicines as might correct it For do we think God will excuse us because we sin with an Appetite and strong Inclination Does not this rather inhaunce our Guilt since God hath shewn us what is good and woo'd us to accept it and offer'd his Grace to work in us a Will thereto and yet after all this to commit Sin with Appetite and greediness If therefore it be our Constitution that hath endear'd any Sin to us then is our Constitution still unsanctified and this is our own fault and if not amended will be our certain Damnation but can never be our just Excuse The sum is this The Complexion 't is certain of every Man's Body hath naturally and while unsanctified a very great Influence on our Souls to draw them to that particular Vice in an especial manner which is fitted and accommodated particularly to its frame and wherewith it self is mostly delighted Nor is this any Excuse for our being seduced because being regenerated by the Grace of God our Complexion will be new moulded and may as strongly incline us to the contrary Vertue Hence therefore as a predominant Grace so a predominant Sin you see may come to rule and govern peculiarly in us 2. A predominant Sin may arise and reign in us likewise from the distinct and particular ways or manner of our Education and Breeding For this being the frame of our future Growth we usually prove just as it works us And therefore any little Vice taught and indulg'd in our tender Years the season of our Education is very apt to stick by and govern us as long as we live If they who should in our Minority govern us either set us any bad Example themselves or suffer us to follow them that do the Contagion 't is odds will always hang about us and the Habit increasing with our Years become Ours in a very eminent degree Any little bruise or scisure in the young and tender Plant shews it self we see a great fault and blemish when it becomes a full grown Tree 'T is the wise Man's Advice therefore upon this Consideration that we should Train up a Child in the way he should go because Prov. 22.6 when he is old he will not depart from it Men's Minds in Childhood are much like their Joynts pliant and tractable which being distorted by any ill accident then will ever 't is odds remain so afterwards and the Deformity much increase with their Age and Strength And this methinks by the by should be sufficient caution to all Parents and others with whom the Education of Youth is entrusted carefully and betimes to sow the seed of Vertue in their Souls lest through their neglect some cunning and merciless Sin wind it self with their Education into their future Practice and take a full possession of their Hearts and so not only prove their Master it self but draw in more as bad as it self and never leave the Man who will hence sure have reason to curse his Guardians till they have hurried him to Perdition and buried him in the unquenchable Infernal Flames Again 3. Another Ground whence a particular Sin may shew it self eminently Ours may be possibly our present Age or season of Life For Sin commonly varies its complexion with our Bodies and that which is predominant in us at one time may become extinct and quite laid aside at another The Appetite changes we know with Age and Sin will change with the Appetite So that we love and nauseate just as our season of Life prompts us Thus Levity and Inconstancy are observ'd to be Vices peculiar to Childhood Wantonness and Prodigality to Youth Pride and Stateliness to Manhood Covetousness and Frowardness to Old Age. As the Nations in times of darkness had each of them their particular Idols which they worshipped alone and neglected others tho they all agreed in dishonouring the one only true God So every stage or season of a Sinner's Life hath it's adored and darling Polution which tho it expires therewith yet reigns while that lasts and is ever succeeded by a new Age and Lust together For indeed if the Devil had but one Bait to allure us by we should when we had but once past over the season it was accommodated to be out of the possibility of sinning any more the alteration of Age rendring the beloved Sin of the past nauseous to the present state or season of our Life And therefore hath that subtile Enemy multiply'd his Snares by the number of our Years and dogs them in a circuit from one Vanity to another till Death surprize frequently the Presumer Thus a
new Deputy he still sets up to the Humour of the Times which that his Government may never grow uneasie he ever continues to change therewith so that there 's no Inter Regnum in the Kingdom of Darkness one Sin or other is continually enthron'd which is renew'd and chang'd with the Times and so remains ever belov'd and the People's darling Again 4. A Sin may become peculiar and eminent in us further from our particular Calling or Profession of Life For every Employment is accompanied with its particular Temptation the Devil having way-lay'd us in every Path and hid his Snares for us under every Concern we can apply our selves unto insomuch that it sometimes proves hard to leave such a Sin unless we quite forsake the Employment it haunts The Merchant therefore is most of all concern'd to ward off allurements to Deceit and Lying especially Ministers to Flattery and Magistrates to Bribery and Injustice and the Souldier to Rapine and Violence these becoming from those their several Callings the Sins they stand most in danger of and are peculiarly theirs as they are so employ'd Of this last therefore St. John Baptist had so warily observ'd this That being demanded what the Souldiers should do Luke 3.14 he warns such especially that they should do Violence to no Man neither accuse any falsly and be content with their Wages their Employment addicting them to these Sins especially So that Violence Revenge and Murmuring may justly be called the great Sins of the Camp they naturally accompanying that Employment shewing themselves without great and more than ordinary care in those especially who are exercised therein And as thus then to our Callings so farther 5. A predominant Sin may owe no less its rise and greatness to our present outward State or Condition Thus in Poverty may we observe Envy Rapine and Discontent cry the loudest in Prosperity Pride Arrogance Oppression and Ambition lord it or'e the rest Pleasures expected or enjoy'd are apt to thrust out of the Heart the thoughts of God and all sense of Goodness And Wealth too casts it self into some Idol Sin which we presently fall down before and are ensnar'd to worship Those that will be rich says the Apostle fall into Temptation and a Snare 1 Tim. 6.9 and into many foolish and hurtful Lusts which drown Men in Destruction and Perdition Thus whatever Condition we are in we still meet with Temptations therein strongly soliciting us to peculiar and proper Sins thereto Once more and to conclude this Head 6. Lastly Particular Sins may become peculiar and predominant in us also from Custom and long Vsage For Custom being the Genius or Spirit of Action introduces a Nature Facility and Delight so that a Sin which can once plead this hath as strong a Title to us even as our very Nature it self and as difficult too to be shaken off Can the Ethiopian change his Skin Jer. 13.23 or the Leopard his Spots saith the Prophet then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do Evil. Custom introduces an inseparable Union and makes the Sin it waits on not only Ours but we indeed that Sins for so the Scriptures represent us as Slaves to such Vices having sold our selves to do wickedly and being led Captive by Satan at his pleasure We are not only bound by such Sins but robb'd likewise of all our strength whereby we should break loose from those Bonds so that we must continue to the commission of accustomed Sins upon the very same account that the Historian extravagantly said Cato was vertuous quia aliter non potuit because he could not otherwise Every Repetition of any Action is like a Blow from the Hammer on the Nail's Head which the more we multiply the further is it driven by it and the harder to wrench out again Custom rivits the Sin to our practice rendring it thereby so peculiarly ours that we shall scarce ever have the Heart or Resolution to leave it Time and Use will have so bent and cnur'd our Inclination towards it that it becomes as hard to be rectified or turn'd from it as a Body bowed down by Age is to be recovered to its youthful streightness These and the like Temptations then every Man may find by a small observation of himself and others whereby Peculiar and Reigning Sins which are the great Obstructors of our Vprightness before God are introduced These are the Avenues by which the Usurper enters our Hearts In so many places are we assaultable and lie open to Infernal Malice And since then it thus appears that every Man hath his Peculiar Sin and by what Means it is but time that we now proceed to consider particularly What is ours in order to the keeping of our selves from it that we may become Vpright before God And this is the Subject of our next General Head which is III. To consider how every Man 's Own particular Sin may be discovered and distinguish'd by him from all his other Sins To this end such Characteristicks as these are wont to be given us of it 1. The Sin that is peculiarly Ours we may know by its commanding Power by its Guards and Attendants A reigning Sin never sits solitary This great seisure in the Soul like a great Wound in the Body draws all the bad Humours about it So that all our other Sins are but Streams emptying themselves into this Ocean All are subservient to it and drudg for it Thus for instance in the Worldly Niggard where Covetousness reigns Lying Deceit Oppression and Injustice are ready upon all occasions to act in subserviency to it And in the Vnclean where Lust flames Consumption of Fstate Body and Time are ready to be cast in for fuel Thus the predominant Sin is ever attended by all our other Sins and therefore that to which we find our common Sins mostly directed and which gives Life and Motion to them that is our peculiar our darling our reigning Sin 2. This we may farther discover by our easiness to be overcome by it We don't find those struglings and relentings in this which we cannot for our Lives avoid in the commission of other Sins For all Sin indeed is uncouth and uneasy to the Mind of Man at first and there are few Sinners so monstrously deprav'd but they will even yet startle at the Practice of some Sins whereas there are other and perhaps no less heinous Sins Job 15.16 which they can drink down like Water as the Scripture phrases it with greediness and delight at the first motion Thus you may observe it with the Common Swearer who possibly does abhor the very thought of Murther Oppression or Covetousness and declaim too against them as much as any Man yet so easily is he induced to what many other Sinners do as much startle at and abhor the Prophanation of the holy Name of the great God in idle Oaths that he is as he himself will not rarely confess insensible of it